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.

• 397 1st Air Division B-17s attack a marshalling yard at Paderborn>
• 37 1st Air Division B-17s attack a rail viaduct at Bielefeld.
• 78 2nd Air Division B-24s attack an oil refinery at Harburg.
• 74 3rd Air Division B-17s attack two oil refineries at Hamburg.
• 73 3rd Air Division B-17s attack the U-boat base at Hamburg.
• 9 heavy bombers and 7 of 240 VIII Fighter Command escorts are lost.

• 12th Air Force B-25s and XXII TAC P-47s attack rail targets at numerous locations.
• During the night, XXII TAC A-20s attack crossings in the Po River valley.

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.

Allied Planning

Although there are 71 Allied diviions available, most of them are seriously understrength. Noncombat units have been stripped to provide riflemen. In violation of army policy and tradition, black soldiers are asked to volunteer to serve in all-black units as infantrymen. Gen Eisenhower now examines future operations in three phases. Destroying German forces west of the Rhine is the first phase; seizing a bridgehead over the Rhine is the second phase; and destruction of German forces followed by an advance into central Germany is the third phase. The destruction of German forces will be accomplished by two axes of advance--one north of the Ruhr into the open space of the north German plain and the other attacking from Mainz through Frankfurt to Kassel. The goal is a double envelopment of the Ruhr. Eisenhower wants to push 35 divisions across the Rhine north of the Ruhr and get as many divisions as possible across in the south to draw German units away from the main effort in the north. SHAEF headquarters estimates that eight divisions will be available in March, including six airborne divisions and between five and eight French divisions.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-2523 is bombed in an Allied air raid on the port of Hamburg.

U-2523

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.

CBI

The Mars Task Force (the 5332nd Brigade Provisional) reaches the Burma Road with the intention of forcing the Japanese out of their defenses south of Wantung. The Chinese 50th and British 36th Divisions attack south toward Lashio and Mandalay to cut the Burma Road between the two cities. The Chinese 38th and 30th Divisions begin the attack toward the Burma Road to drive Japanese forces south.

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.
• The British submarine Stygian sinks the small Japanese cargo vessel Nichinan Maru (1945t) off Perak.
• The Japanese cargo ship Minka Maru is sunk by mine on the Yangtze, above Kiukiang, China.

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

Refueling During Storm at Sea

Scene from Devastated Warsaw

Scene from Devastated Warsaw

Whitewashing a Tank

Mules Hauling Supplies

Poland Meets Its Liberators

Marching Through Warsaw

Supply Carrying Transport Squadron