Air Operations, CBI

• 4 10th Air Force B-25s attack bypass bridges at Ho-hko.
• 75 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops and supplies at 8 locations.
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• 20 P-47s support Allied ground forces advancing along the Irrawaddy River.
• 8 P-47s attack Mansam.

• 8 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s unable to reach their primary target in Formosa attack targets of opportunity on the southeastern coast.
• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Ishan.
• 3 B-25s and 8 14th Air Force P-40s attack stores and sampans near Hengshan.
• 2 B-25s attack troops at Chaling and an oil dump in the Hsiang Valley.
• More than 180 fighter-bombers attack numereous targets between Shanghai and the Burma frontier, especially airfields at Shanghai, Wuchang, and Wuchou.
• 81st Fighter Group P-47s down a Ki-61 'Tony' fighter and a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter near Hankow at 1115 hours.
• 20 74th Fighter Squadron and 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-51s destroy an estimated 47 Japanese aircraft on the ground at Shanghai-area airfields. In addition, the P-51s down 2 Ki-51 'Sonia' bombers, a G4M 'Betty' bomber, another bomber, and a Ki-44 'Tojo' fighter near the airfield at Tachang at 1315 hours.

• 4 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a bridge at Phu Lang Thuong.

Air Operations, Europe

• In minor ops, 1 Hudson makes a Resistance flight.

• 72 Mosquitos are sent to Magdeburg, 8 to the Ruthen oil storage depot and 3 each to Cologne, Frankfurt, Koblenz and Mannheim, and there are 13 Mosquito patrols and 33 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Formosa

• 77 of 92 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s dispatched from Chengtu attack the airfield at Shinchiku with 553 tons of bombs.
• 1 B-29 is lost.
• During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack the airfield at Okayama.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s attack Daliao, rail facilities at Legaspi, and the Talisay airfield on Negros.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack roads and rail lines east of Manila.
• B-25s, A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack airfield, bridges, ports, shipping, and targets of opportunity throughout Luzon and the central Philippines.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

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

Burma

In the north, the US 5332nd Bde and the Chinese 38th Div begin mopping up in the area along the Burma Road beyond Myitkyina.

Eastern Front

In Poland, the Russians give the Polish 1st Army the honor of launching the final offensive and of being the first to enter Warsaw. The city is reduced to a pile of rubble. A few hundred people who have managed to live in shelters and cellars come out to welcome the liberators. After crushing the Warsaw uprising, the Germans deported the whole of the remaining population, about 600,000 people, to concentration camps.

North of Warsaw, the 2nd Belorussian Front takes Ciechanow. To the north Konstantin Rokossovsky's troops take Modlin. In the south, advancing rapidly beyond Kielce, the 1st Ukraine Front overcomes German resistance on the Warta River and occupies Czestochowa.

Following the loss of Warsaw Hitler relieves Gen Josef Harpe of the command of the Army Group A and replaces him with Gen Ferdinand Schörner.

The Red Army captures what is left of Warsaw as the 3rd Guards Tank and 5th Guards Armies near Krakow. Zawiercie falls to the 52nd Army, and Radomsko to the 3rd Guards Army.

The IV SS Panzer Corps deploys to attack the 4th Guards and 26th Armies between Lakes Balaton and Velencei.[MORE]

Pacific

• The US escort carrier Nehenta Bay (CVE-74) is damaged by a storm in the Philippine Islands area.
• The Japanese transport No. 15 is sunk by the US submarine Tautog (SS-199) off Kyushu, Japan.

Philippines

On Luzon the Americans advance slowly in all directions around their beachhead. MacArthur asks Gen Walter Krueger for more speed.

Western Front

In the course of Operation BLACKCOCK units of the 7th Arm Div, XII Corps, British 2nd Army, advance and capture Echt and Susteren.

Units of the US 3rd Army captures Diekirch.

Images from January 17, 1945

Carrier Raids in the East China Sea, January 1945: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9) and a destroyer refueling from the fleet oiler USS Pamanset (AO-85) during an East China sea storm on 17 January 1945. Note the wave sweeping past the oiler's bow

Refueling During Storm at Sea

17 January 1945 - Warsaw was liberated by the Red Army and 1st Polish Army. They found a completely devastated city. 2,000 Jewish survivors were found in underground hideouts but only 174,000 people were left in the city, less than six per cent of the prewar population. At Mlawa, 320 Poles, mostly partisans, are shot by the Germans in one of many last-minute executions around Warsaw. In the next 18 days, Soviet troops will advance a further 300 miles into German-held territory

Scene from Devastated Warsaw

On 17 January 1945, Warsaw was liberated from the Gerrmans by the Red Army and the 1st Polish Army. They found a completely devastated city. 2,000 Jewish survivors were found in underground hideouts but only 174,000 people were left in the city, less than six per cent of the prewar population

Scene from Devastated Warsaw

While Company 'C' was moving through the Bovigny forest, Company 'A', 774th Tank Battalion is seen here whitewashing their tank in Joubieval on January 17, 1945, while supporting the 83rd Division in counter-attacks against the remnants of the bulge.

Whitewashing a Tank

Mules haul supplies up difficult terrain in the Reipertswiller, January 17, 1945

Mules Haul Supplies

A warm welcome to the Soviet troops in the streets of a liberated Polish town. January 17, 1945 - Soviet troops capture Warsaw, Poland

Poland Meets Its Liberators

Soviet troops march through the ruins of Warsaw in January 1945. Little survived of Jewish Warsaw, and few survived to rebuild what had once been a flourishing Jewish community. From the rubble, some Jews emerged from hiding, their joy mixed with anguish over the loss of so many loved ones

Marching Through Warsaw

Bari, Italy. 17 January 1945. Many RAAF members comprise the crews of Douglas C47 Dackotas of No. 267 Squadron RAF, a transport squadron in Italy, which carries supplies to Yugoslavia. Seen here are Yugoslavian refugees, including women and children, about to board a transport aircraft prior to returning to Belgrade

Supply Carrying Transport Squadron