Air Operations, CBI

• 12 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack troops and supplies at Mong Ngaw.
• 11 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces advancing along the Irrawaddy River.
• 6 P-47s attack a bridge at Namhkai.
• Small formations of fighter-bombers attack a variety of targets in northern Burma.
• 14th Air Force B-25s and fighter-bombers attack Wan Pa-Hsa.
• 33rd Fighter Group P-38s down 3 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters near the airfield at Meiktila during the early afternoon.

• When rough seas oblige the cancellation of powerful planned strikes against Formosa air bases, Task Force 38 aircraft mount search-strike missions to Amoy, Hong, Kong, Swatow, and the Pescadore Islands in search of 2 Japanese battleship-carriers last seen in Camranh Bay. Beginning with the launch of night fighters at 0400 hours and a first-strike launch at 0730 hours, the various groups are able to attack shipping and sweep airfields and ground installations on Formosa and along the China coast from Amoy to within 50 miles of Hong Kong. Some aircraft are diverted by bad weather against targets in the Pescadore Islands and Prates Reef.
• Carrier aircraft sink a Japanese destroyer and a transport in Takao Harbor, Formosa and a destroyer in the Pescadore Islands. Also, 18 Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground. Operational accidents and heavy anti-aircraft fire over many of the targets result in the loss of 12 Task Force 38 aircraft.
• VF-11 F6Fs down 4 A6M Zeros and a trainer 50 miles east of Hong Kong at 0930 hours.
• VF-3 and VF-81 F6Fs down an A6M Zero, a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter, and a Ki-44 'Tojo' fighter over Canton and the Tienho airfield there between 0940 and 0945 hours.
• A VF-80 F6F downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane at sea at 1040 hours.
• a VF-3 F6F pilot downs an E13A 'Jake' reconnaissance plande over Formosa at 1130 hours.
• A VF-11 F6F downs a B6N 'Jill' torpedo bomber 50 miles from Task Group 38.2 at 1340 hours.
• VF-80 F6Fs down 4 A6M Zeros within 25 miles of Task Group 38.3 at 1730 hours.
• 18 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 20 14th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack Hankow, shipping at Amoy, and targets of opportunity in the Hsiang and Siang-Chiang valleys and between Foochow and Hong Kong. More than 130 fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity, including many coastal targets, throughout southern China.

Air Operations, East Indies

FEAF B-24s attack the Jesselton airfield complex on Borneo.

Air Operations, Europe

• 82 Lancasters of No. 3 Group attack a benzol plant at Recklinghausen. The bombing appear to be excellent.
• There are no losses.
• 63 Lancasters of No. 3 Group carry out a G-H raid through thick cloud on the Robert Muser benzol plant at Bochum. The results of the bombing are unknown.
• There are no losses.

• 1 Hudson is on a Resistance operation.

• 619 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack six marshalling yards and four towns in western Germany.
• 62 VIII Fighter Command P-51 fighter-bombers bomb a marshalling yard.
• 2 of 511 VIII Fighter Command escorts are lost.

• 16 9th Air Division bombers attack a bridge.

• 12th Air Force B-25s mount nearly 150 effective sorties against six bridges.
• During the night, XII TAC A-20s attack road targets around Genoa and Milan.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack marshalling yards and other rail targets near Vienna.

• 15th Air Force heavy bombers attack a marshalling yard at Treviso.

Air Operations, Formosa

During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack the Okayama airfield.

Air Operations, Marianas

A 318th Fighter Group P-47 downs a C6N 'Myrt' reconnaissance plane1 near Tinian at 1202 hours.

Air Operations, Philippines

• 5th Air Force aircraft cover an unopposed landing by US 8th Army units in the Camotes Islands. Task Group 77.4 TBMs and FMs support US 6th Army ground forces in the Lingayen Gulf area. FEAF B-24s, V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack numerous targets on Luzon and Palawan and throughout the central Philippines.
• The USS Hoggatt Bay is damaged when a 100-pound bomb detonates aboard a VC-88 TBM that has just landed on her flight deck. Among the 10 dead is the VC-88 commanding officer, who was pilot of the TBM.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

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

Atlantic

The escort carrier Thane is torpedoed by U-482 off the Clyde.

CBI

In the British 14th Army's XXXIII Corps sector, the Indian 19th Division establishes another bridgehead over the Irrawaddy at Kyaukmyaung.

In the NCAC area, the first convoy to inaugurate the new Burma road, starting from Ledo, reaches Myitkyina, where it has to wait until the rest of the route is cleared of the enemy. The Chinese 30th Division takes Namhkam with ease, gaining control of the lower end of Shweli Valley.

Lt-Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer, commander of the China theater, Lt-Gen George E. Stratemeyer, commander of Eastern Air Command, and Lt-Gen Daniel. I. Sultan, commander of the India-Burma theater, meet at Myitkyina. They agree to establish a new headquarters in China to command both the 10th and 14th Air Forces.

In southeast China the Japanese open an offensive to capture the American airfields at Suichuan, southeast of Changsha.

East China Sea

A squadron of fast aircraft carriers under the command of Vice-Adm John S. McCain attacks Japanese airfields and shipping in Formosa and off the Chinese coast from Hong Kong to Amoy. The weather is poor but some success is achieved. Two Japanese destroyers, Hatakaze and Tsuga, and the transport No. 14 are sunk.

Eastern Front

The 4th Ukraine Front under Ivan Petrov joins in the fighting in southern Poland, breaking into the Carpathians from the Sanok area, southwest of Krakaw. Kielce falls to the 1st Ukraine Front.

The 2nd Belorussian Front, supported by the 4th Air Army, has ripped apart the German 2nd Army on the Narew, incurring heavy casualties. To the south, the Soviet 8th Guards Army advances toward Radom, and the 1st Guards Army to Lodz and Posen. The Polish 1st and 47th Armies are enveloping Warsaw while, At Kielce, the XLII Corps is annihilated by the Soviet 3rd Guards and 13th Armies.[MORE]

Pacific

The Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.1 Kyo Maru is sunk by mine, laid by British submarine Porpoise on January 9, south of Penang, Malaya.

Philippines

In the XIV Corps area, elements of the 40th Division begin probing in the Dasol Bay-Balinao Peninsula area, where action is insignificant through the 18th. The 2nd Battalion of the 160th Infantry takes San Clemente, forcing an enemy party back toward Camiling. Elements of the 129th Infantry and the 37th Reconnaissance Troop, 37th Division, intercept the enemy party near Camiling and disperse it.

In the I Corps area, the 6th Division, while continuing its holding action, extends the left flank to Cabanbanan, between Manoag and Urdaneta. Patrols find the enemy in possession of Urdaneta and the Cabaruan Hills. In the 43rd Division's zone, the 158th Infantry, assisted by artillery, naval gunfire, and aircraft, begins clearing the defile near Amlang, on the road to Rosario. The 63rd Infantry drives northward in an effort to make contact with the 158th but stops for night well south of Amlang. The 172nd Infantry clears Hill 665 and reaches the Damortis-Rosario road with 1-1/2 miles of Rosario. The 169th, unable to take Hill 355 from the west and south, prepares to strike from the east. The 103rd gains mose of the Hill 200 area.

The 2nd Battalion of the 21st Infantry, driving on Calapan, meets delaying opposition along Gusay Creek. The 503rd Parachute Infantry, which has been assisting guerrilla forces, terminates operations on Mindoro.

Some of the smaller islets in the archipelago, not manned by the Japanese, are occupied by the Americans.

An accidental explosion damages the US escort carrier Hoggatt Bay (CVE-75) in the Philippine Islands area.

Spain

An Italian naval squadron, interned in Port Mahon (Minorca) since September 8, 1943, leaves for Malta.

Western Front

In the British 2nd Army sector units of the 7th Arm Div, XII Corps, capture Bakenhoven, about a mile and a quarter northwest of Susteren, in advance of Operation BLACKCOCK, the elimination of the German salient between the Meuse and the Rur, going south from Roermond. The 2nd Arm Div, US VII Corps, 1st Army, having taken Achouffe, Mont and Tavernaux, sends forward patrols toward the Ourthe River and into Houffalize, which the forces of the German 5th Panzer Army have evacuated. In the XVIII Airborne Corps sector the 75th Div opens an offensive across the Salm, reaching Salmchâteau and Bech, while the 30th Div takes Beaumont, Francheville and Pont.

The units of the US 3rd Army also advance, but while the 11th Arm Div and the 101st Airborne Div, VIII Corps, push on without opposition, the 35th and 90th Divs, III Corps, run into violent resistance from the German LXXXV Corps.

The 6th Army Group headquarters sends the French 1st Army preliminary instructions for the offensive against the Colmar pocket.[WE]

Images from January 15, 1945

Germans Leave the Destroyed City of Warsaw

Riding into the Attack

Preparing for a Patrol

Units of 1st Ukranian Front

POWs Line Up for a Meal

30th Division Vehicles

US Soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division

12th SS Panzer Division Tanks