A red-letter day: LANDINGS on the MARIANAS and the BOMBING of JAPAN. I found out at 0800 and met only one person who didn't know. Everywhere I went it was, "Hey! Henry! Come here a moment..." and the smirk on their faces showed they knew. "Later," I'd reply, deciding to be discreet — no sense getting tabbed now.

Daihon-ei: "143 U.S. planes downed in China; 88 vessels sunk." It's propaganda by headline: For a start it's for 12-days — "From June 1 to June 12." Of 21 planes shot down, 5 were "probables." Of the rest, 54 were "set ablaze" and 68 were "damaged." Total 143. "Ships loaded with troops and war materials sunk or damaged — 88." (See? It's done with smoke and mirrors.) Japanese losses: "8 planes."

The Germans are at it too: Today's German Hour from Tokyo speaks of Allied casualties in France for the first ten days as 200,000: Killed in action, 30,000; wounded in action, 100,000 to 120,000; captured, 5,000; and drowned, 50,000. The first week it was 85,000; three days later it's 200,000. Nuts! The Germans frequently mention that they have to save Allied crews bailing out over France from lynching by French mobs. Enough said.

Commentator says that as a result of the "devastating loss exacted from the U.S. Air Force in China ... the two-year old plan of the enemy to raid the Japanese mainland would be impossible to realize, not in any near future." By the time the article hit the streets, the Japanese in Kyushu were battling flames from a raid two hours earlier.

Rumors:

The Japanese are thinking of re-concentrating the USAFFE because many of them appear to be slipping out of Manila and are up to something. The rumor itself is forcing some of them to do just that.

An American General arrived in the Visayas and found things surprisingly in order. He's the big shot there.

General Lim is a cancer patient at the PGH. Some were skeptical of why he was there.

La Vanguardia: "Kyushu bombing fails" — of 20 B-29s and B-24s, "some were immediately shot down and the rest repelled." Damage was "insignificant."