Air Operations, CBI

• More than 20 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, horses, motor vehicles, and buildings at 4 locations.
• 10 fighter-bombers attack the airfield at Aungban.
• 4 P-47s support Allied ground troops.
• 3 14th Air Force B-25s attack a bridge at Hawng Luk.
• 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 2 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters over the Arakan region at 1050 hours.

• 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack stores at Kengtung.
• 31 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity around Wanting.
• 16 P-51s attack targets of opportunity at 3 locations.

Air Operations, Formosa

During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack Heito with 500-pound bombs and incendiary clusters.

Air Operations, Europe

• 158 Lancasters of No. 3 Group hit the railway yards at Saarbrücken. The bombing appears to be accurate, though with some overshooting.
• 1 Lancaster crashes in France.

• 1 Hudson is on a Resistance operation.

• 274 aircraft including 242 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Saarbrücken. Bomber Command assesses this raid, on the railway yards, as being extremely accurate and effective.
• 1 Halifax crashes in France.
• 218 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group attack the oil plant at Politz, near Stettin. This raid had been planned as a blind-bombing attack but, because the weather conditions are better than forecast, low-level marking is carried out and very accurate bombing follows. Bomber Command, on the basis of photographic reconnaissance, states that the oil plant was 'reduced to a shambles'.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.

• 10 Lancasters lay mines off Swinemünde, and there are 22 Mosquito patrols and 19 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito of No. 100 Group is lost.

Air Operations, Philippines

• Task Group 77.4 TBMs and FMs support US 6th Army ground forces in the Lingayen Gulf area.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Batangas airfield on Luzon, a barracks and stores at Tarlac, and troops at 4 locations on Luzon.
• V Bomber Command A-20s attack the airfields at Calingatan and Lucena, the town area at Batangas, and rail and highway targets.
• V Fighter Command P-47s attack motor vehicles and parked airplanes between Tarlac and Laguna de Bay.
• 5th Air Force aircraft mount numerous small attacks throughout the Philippines.
• In what turn out to be the last effective kamikaze missions against the US 7th Fleet in the Philippines, 1 US Navy transport and an LST departing the Lingayan Gulf area are damaged in separate attacks. And at 0858 hours, the escort carrier USS Salamaua becomes the final victim of kamikaze strikes in the Philippines. She loses one engine along with 15 men killed and 88 wounded, and must depart the area for Leyte.
• A VC-80 FM downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter over Luzon at 0800 hours.
• A VOC-1 FM downs a Ki-57 'Topsy' transport plane over Luzon at 1715 hours.
• A VC-90 FM downs a D3A 'Val' dive bomber over Luzon at 1715 hours.
• A 58th Fighter Group P-47 downs a Ki-45 'Nick' near the Balaria airfield on Luzon at 1805 hours.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

14 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Iwo Jima.

Burma

In the Arakan sector the British XV Corps extends and strengthens the bridgehead at Myebon, with a landing by the 25th Indian Div.

Eastern Front

The 1st Ukraine Front and 2nd Belorussian Front mount heavy and brilliantly executed attacks to continue their advance. The 47th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front surrounds Warsaw.

The Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front (2nd Guards, 5th, 11th Guards, 20th, 31st and 39th Armies) opens its offensive and runs into strong enemy resistance around Kattenau.

The 1st Ukrainian Front's 59th Army is nearing Krakow, although German resistance is stiffening. After defeating a counterattack by the XXIV Panzer Corps at Chmielnik in a bruising battle, the 4th Tank Army continues to advance.

The XLVIII Panzer Corps is shattered by assaults by the 3rd Guards Tank, 5th Guards and 52nd Armies.[MORE]
[ | ]

Philippines

On Luzon Gen Walter Krueger takes over direct command of the US 6th Army. Troops of the XIV Corps ocupy Guagua, while naval forces occupy an area on the coast off which a flying-boat base is to be installed. The I Corps occupies Damortis without firing a shot, but there is fighting inland only a few miles away.

The escort carrier Salamaua (CVE-96) is badly damaged in a kamikaze attack. These are now becoming rare, however, because most of the kamikaze aircraft have been lost and the rest withdrawn.

Western Front

In the British 2nd Army sector, the XXX Corps finishes its task in the Ardennes when the 51st Div reaches the Ourthe River south of Laroche. The VI Corps, US 1st Army, heads steadily for Houffalize. In the region between Stavelot and Malmédy the XVIII Airborne Corps launches a new offensive with the 106th Div on the right ant the 30th on the left. The 2 American formations reach Hénumont and Hédomont. In the US 3rd Army sector advance patrols of the 87th Div, VIII Corps, reacht the Ourthe River. Units of the 11th Arm Div reach the Houffalize-St Hebert road near Bastogne, and St Hubert is surrounded. On the right flank of the corps units of the 101st Airborne Div capture Foy, on the Bastogne-Houffalize road.

The US XXI Corps under Gen Frank W. Milburn goes into the line on the left flank of the 7th Army.

In the southern sector of the front fighting continues around Strasbourg, where the 3rd Algerian Div of infantry holds off the repeated German attacks.

Images from January 13, 1945

Dead German lies in ditch along route of Third Army Division advance near Langlir, Belgium, 13 January 1945

Dead German Lying in a Ditch

Men of the US 347th Infantry Regiment taking a meal break while en route to La Roche, Belgium, 13 Jan 1945. (US National Archives)

Lining Up To Eat

Vickers machine gun crew of 'A' Company, 2nd Middlesex Regiment, 3rd Division at Grubbenvorst, Holland, 13 January 1945.

Vickers Machine Gun Crew

In an image often incorrectly attributed to Typhoon Cobra, a SUMNER-class destroyer plunges in a trough in the South China Sea on 13 January 1945. This image was taken from NEW JERSEY BB-62. (US Navy photo in NARA record group 80-G-470284)

Rough Water in the South China Sea

Heavy seas and rain on the morning of 13 January 1945. USS LEXINGTON CV-16 attempts to fuel from ATASCOSA AO-66 while a destroyer takes a heavy roll to starboard. -U.S. Navy photo in NARA record group 80-G-299869)

Heavy Seas and Rain

Sometimes the flak was accurate, sometimes it was not. The flak gunners had it just right on 13 January 1945 when the 303rd Bomb Group was given a rail bridge at Mannheim to destroy. The weather was clear and cold and the radar prediction was precise, for the flak salvos brought down three, severely damaged fourteen and caused minor damage to seven of the 38 B-17s involved. The losses were all from the 427th Bomb Squadron formation. 2/Lt O.T. Eisenhart's 338689/GN:A took a direct hit in the tail and plummeted earthwards. No one escaped, probably held by the gravitational forces of the rapid descent. The leadplane of a higher squadron caught the plunge with its strike camera. Over 900 bombers were out that day and only four others were lost. (USAAF)

Shot Down By Flak

13 January 1945. A tank destroyer of the 703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 3rd Armored Division, moves past disabled German tank to engage the enemy 1/2 mile ahead, south of Langlir, Belgium." US Army signal Corps photo #412456. Photo furnished by Henri Rogister.

Tank Destroyer of the 703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion

Two German prisoners being brought in under guard by men of the 63rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division. Near Longchamps, 13 january 1945

German Prisoners Under Guard