Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands
19 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Chichi Jima and Haha Jima while 10 B-24s attack Iwo Jima.
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]Air Operations, CBI
BURMA- 12 10th Air Force B-25s attack the airfield at Nawnghkio.
- 23 10th Air Force P-47s and 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack Anisakan and Hsumhsai.
- 20 P-47s support Allied ground forces at 3 locations.
- Fighter-bombers attack troops, supplies, and targets of opportunity at 8 locations.
- 29 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Hong Kong.
- 7 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Chinchenchiang and Ishan.
- 4 B-25s attack Wanting and troops at Chaling.
- 4 B-25s and 12 14th Air Force P-40s attack shipping around Puchi.
- 25 P-40s attack shipping and rail facilities in the Hong Kong area.
- Nearly 140 fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity across southern China from Hong Kong to the Burma frontier.
- 11 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 12 51st Fighter Group P-51 fighter-bombers attack Phu Lang Thuong.
| ]Air Operations, East Indies
FEAF B-24s attack the Miti area of Halmahera.
[ | ]Air Operations, Europe
RAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
Minor Ops:
- 56 Mosquitos are sent to the Sterkrade oil refinery, 12 each on H2S trials to Düsseldorf, Kassel and Koblenz, and 7 to the Ruthen oil storage depot. 1 Mosquito from the Sterkrade raid crashes in Belgium.
| ]Air Operations, Formosa
During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack the airfield at Okayama.
[ | ]Air Operations, Philippines
- V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Cotabato area and troops at Bamban.
- A-20s attack highway traffic and stores near the Bataan Peninsula.
- Task Group 77.4 TBMs and FMs support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.
- V Fighter Command P-38s attack the Tuguegarao airfield on Luzon and motor vehicles at 3 locations.
| ]Japan, Policy
The Japanese government directs the military to 'concentrate converting all armament production to special attack weapons of a few major types.' This meant Japan's limited facilities are to be concentrated on suicide planes, human torpedoes, and high-speed small attack boats.
5th Air Force aircraft mount numerous light attacks against targets throughout Luzon and the central Philippines.
With assurance that all civilians have been evacuated from Bamban, Luzon, Japanese Army field fortifications in and around the town are attacked by 494th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s.
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Burma
In the north, the US 5332nd Bde, given the job of reopening the Burma Road, digs in on some positions that overlook the road. The Japanese are sending reinforcements to the area of Namhpakka.
[ | ]Eastern Front
The 1st Belorussian Front wipes out the last remaining Germans in Warsaw, and the 1st Ukraine Front begins the struggle for Upper Silesia. The 2nd Belorussian Front captures Modlin.
In Hungary the last defenders of Pest, south of the Danube, surrender.
EAST PRUSSIAThe 43rd Army pushes backe the 3rd Panzer Army toward Königsberg.
POLANDThe Grossdeutschland Panzer Corps has engaged the 1st Guards Tank Army near Lodz, and the remnants of XXIV Panzer and XLVII Corps are retreating west. The Soviet 4th Guards Tank, 59th and 60th Armies are threatening Krakow and the German 17th Army with encirclement.
HUNGARYPest falls to the Red Army as the IV SS Panzer Corps tries to relieve the city.[MORE]
[ | ]Occupied Poland
In sub-zero temperatures the Nazis evacuate more than 50,000 prisoners from Auschwitz west toward Germany. Many thousands will die from starvation or hypothermia in the march to other camps; others will be shot when they fail to keep up. Most of the survivors will end up in other concentration camps, such as Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald and Dachau.
[]Pacific
The Japanese submarine RO-47 is sunk by the US destroyer escort Fleming (DE-32) in the central Pacific area.
[ | ]Palau Islands
2 special Japanese units land at Peleliu and try unsuccessfully to blow up American ammunition dumps and aircraft stores. They do no damage and are wiped out.
[ | ]Philippines
On Luzon the US XIV Corps is ordered to advance in force across the Agno River toward the south, from the present line Bayambang-Urbiztondo-Bogtong. In the US I Corps sector, the 6th Div takes Urdaneta and penetrates in between the Cabaruan hills without making contact with the main body of the enemy. The 43rd Div, near Sison, retains a road block despite heavy Japanese pressure. The 63rd Div opens an attack against a ridge known as Blue Ridge, near Amlang.
[ | ]Poland
The Communist Lublin committee arrives in Warsaw to assume control over liberated Poland.
[ | ]Western Front
Despite firm opposition by the units of the German 1st Parachute Army, Operation BLACKCOCK goes ahead with the advance of the XII Corps, British 2nd Army, and the capture of Schilberg and Heide, northeast of Susteren.
In the US 3rd Army sector, the 17th Airborne Div, VIII Corps, advances from Hardigny towards Houffalize. The XII Corps mounts an offensive with the 4th Div and 5th Arm Div across the Sauer, between Reisdorf and Ettelbruck.
The French 1st Army receives orders to prepare to mount the attack on the Colmar pocket by January 20; the Allied Supreme Command considers that the pocket must be liquidated to restore the situation in Alsace. It is held by the German 19th Army under Gen Friedrich Wiese and comprises 2 Panzer corps, the LXIV and LXIII, in the south, with altogether 8 divisions. Gen Jean de Lattre de Tassigny also has 2 corps, I under Gen Emile Béthouart and the II under Gen Joseph de Monsabert.
[ | ]Images from January 18, 1945
British Troops near Havert, Germany |
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British Troops in the Attack towards Stein |
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Interrogating German Prisoners |
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Crossing the Sauer River |
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German Tanks Fighting near Czestochowa |
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'CCA' of the 8th Armored Division |
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US Jeep Enters Houffalize |
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Overlooking Damortis-Rosario Road on Luzon |
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