Air Operations, CBI

• 10 10th Air Force B-25s attack the airfield at Heho.
• More than 50 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, supplies, and targets of opportunity at 7 locations.
• 26 P-47s support Allied ground forces at Si-U and along the Irrawaddy River.
• 12 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack a bridge at Nampawng.

• 30 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Hong Kong area.
• 30 14th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack various targets of opportunity.
• 12 P-51s attack the airfield at Nanking.
• 12 fighter-bombers support Chinese Army ground forces in the Wanting area.
• A 3rd CACW Fighter Group P-51 downs a Ki-44 'Tojo' fighter over the airfield at Taichiaochan.

Air Operations, Carolines

30 B-29s of the 313th Very Heavy Bomb Wing’s 504th and 505th Very Heavy Bomb groups attack the Truk Atoll.
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Air Operations, Europe

A V-1 rocket hits Antwerp, killing 76 and wounding 57.

• 76 Mosquitos are sent to Kassel and 4 to Mainz, 2 Hudsons are on Resistance operations, and there are 9 Mosquito patrols and 23 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Kassel raid.

Air Operations, Formosa

• Nearly 80 8th and 49th Fighter group P-38 fighter-bombers based on Luzon mount their first sweep of the Formosa air interdiction campaign during the afternoon. Opposition over southern Formosa is nil.
• A planned attack by 22nd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s is canceled after the lead B-24 crashes into a Marine Corps F4U during takeoff. All aboard the B-24 are killed, including the group commander, Col Richard W. Robinson.

Air Operations, Philippines

• Task Group 77.4 TBMs and FMs support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.
• FEAF B-24s attack the airfield at Marikina and coast artillery and barracks at Calabasan.
• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack numerous targets throughout Luzon and the central Philippines, including the heavily fortified Battery Warwick in Manila Bay.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

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

Air Operations, Western Pacific

• Task Force 38 carrier aircraft mount a total of 1,164 sorties against shipping in the morning and airfields in the afternoon at Formosa, Okinawa, the Sakishima Gunto, and the Pescadore Islands. 10 Japanese vessels, including 5 tankers, are sunk in Takao harbor, a Japanese destroyer is damaged in the Pescadores, and an estimated 104 aircraft are destroyed on the ground at various airfields.
• Only 3 Japanese aircraft are encountered over Formosa during the strikes, but numerous kamikazes are dispatched against Task Force 38. At 1206 hours, a single-engine airplane evades the Task Group 38.3 combat air patrol and screen to drop two small bombs on the light carrier USS Langley. A large hole is ripped in the Langley’s flight deck, but she is able to resume flight operations by about 1500 hours. At 1208 hours, a kamikaze with a 550-pound bomb attached strikes the fleet carrier USS Ticonderoga, also in Task Force 38.3, as she is about to launch a deckload of fueled and armed aircraft. At the same time, a force of 7 kamikazes and 6 escorts arriving from Luzon via the Babuyan Islands attempts to attack Task Group 38.1, but a flight of 8 F6Fs downs most of them and the survivors retire. It is thought that this strike was composed of the last operational Japanese aircraft on Luzon. At 1250 hours, the burning USS Ticonderoga is struck again by 1 kamikaze from a flight of 8 kamikazes and 5 escorts based on Formosa. Fresh fires break out around the island structure. At 1310 hours, a kamikaze severely damages and kills 7 aboard a US picket destroyer patrolling in the direction of Formosa. And, at 1328 hours, a TBM landing aboard the fleet carrier USS Hancock loses a 500-pound bomb as it taxies out of the barrier. The explosion and raging fires kill 52 crewmen, injure 105, and result in heavy damage.
• US Navy F6Fs down 38 Japanese aircraft in the Formosa area and the southern Ryukyu Islands between 0830 and 2245 hours.
• All fires are out on the twice-struck USS Ticonderoga by 1415 hours, but by the time she retires toward Ulithi Atoll with the damaged picket destroyer and an escort composed of 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers, explosions and fires have killed 143 and wounded 202 members of her crew. Also, 36 Fleet Carrier Air Group 80 aircraft have been destroyed.
• During the night, 7 radar-equipped night TBMs sink a 10,000-ton tanker in Kiirun harbor.
• 3 TBMs are lost.

Burma

There are Brisith landings at the northern tip of Ramree Island. The 4th British and 71st Indian Bdes are put ashore. The battleship Queen Elizabeth and an escort carrier are in support but there is little resistance. The town of Kyaukpyu is taken. The 25th Indian Div by now occupies the whole of the Myebon peninsula. In the XXIII Corps sector on the mainland Monywa on the Chindwin is taken by 20th Indian Div.

Eastern Front

In East Prussia the 1st Baltic Front advances in all directions from Tilsit (now Sovetsk). On the right it reaches the stretch of sea enclosed by the long tongue of land stretching almost from Memel (Klaipeda) to the area of Königsberg (Kaliningrad). On the left it occupies Gumbinnen (Gusev). The 2nd Belorussian Front, advancing from the south, captures the historic town of Tannenberg (Stebark).

In Poland, the 1st Ukraine Front penetrates into the German region of Upper Silesia west of Czestochowa, taking a number of villages.

In East Prussia the Soviet attack pushes forward once more. Gumbinnen is taken.

Tannenberg is evacuated by the Germans as the 2nd Shock Army threatens to cut off the German 2nd, 4th and 3rd Panzer Armies in East Prussia. Gumbinnen is captured by the Soviet 28th Army. The entire civilian population of East Prussia is fleeing west.[MORE]
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Formosa and Ryukyus

Over the next 2 days there are more operations by the fleet carriers of TF 38 commanded by Vice-Adm John S. McCain. Over 1,150 sorties are flown over Formosa on the 21st, and 104 Japanese aircraft are shot down and 10 ships sunk. The carriers Langley (CVL-27), Ticonderoga (CV-14) and Hancock (CV-19) are all hit in Japanese attacks as is the destroyer Maddox (DD-731). On this day US carrier-based planes sink two Japanese transports, Nos. 101 and 102. On the 22nd Okinawa is the main target. After this operation the carrier groups all return to Ulithi. Since they were last in port on Dec 30, 1944 the carriers have sunk 300,000 tons of shipping and shot down 615 Japanese planes. They have lost 201 planes and 167 pilots.

Philippines

On Luzon in the US XIV Corps sector the 40th Inf Div occupies Tarlac without opposition and advances as far as San Miguel. In the US I Corps sector the Americans mop up Blue Ridge, near Amlang, and 1 or 2 hills overlooking the village of Rosario. Several Filipino battalions are now deployed among the American units.
On Luzon the US 40th Div takes Tarlac and pushes sough toward Clark Field.

Western Front

The VII Corps, US 1st Army, prepares for an offensive in the Gouvy-Beho region between Houffalize and St Vith.

The VIII and III Corps of the US 3rd Army increase their pressure. The 17th Airborne Div, VIII Corps, continues to advance northeast of Tavigny, while the divisions of the III Corps take Crendal, Lullange, Hoffelt and Hachiville, 6th Arm Div, Derenbach, 90th Div, and Wiltz, 26th Div, a town in Luxembourg only a few miles from the Belgian frontier.

Wiltz falls to the US III Corps in the Ardennes.

Images from January 21, 1945

USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) afire off Formosa, January 21, 1945, just after her initial kamikaze hit on the forward flight deck. Photographed from USS Miami (CL-89). A Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane is on the cruiser’s starboard catapult, in the foreground

USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) Afire off Formosa

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) lists to port in the aftermath of a kamikaze attack in which four suicide planes hit the ship, 21 January 1945. Note her camouflage scheme measure 33/10A and the Fletcher-class destroyer in the background.

US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Ticonderoga

It was also a hard day on the USS Hancock. The scene moments after bombs fell off an Avenger and exploded, killing 62 men.

Explosion Aboard the USS Hancock

USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) Ticonderoga listing after kamikaze attacks, 21 January 1945

USS Ticonderoga After Kamikaze Attack

Dead German soldiers lie in the snow after an engagement with US troops in Dendenburg, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, 21 January 1945. The Germans’ MG-42 can be seen in the foreground

Dead German Soldiers Lie in the Snow

British troops in landing craft make their way ashore on Ramree Island, 21 January 1945

British Troops Heading for Ramree Island

Sherman tanks of 8th Armoured Brigade advance through the snow to support 7th Cameron Highlanders in an attack on the village of Hontem near Heinsberg, 21 January 1945

Sherman Tanks Support Attack on Hontem

773rd TD Bn. M10 Tank Destroyer (3-inch GMC), camouflaged for snow, near Benonchamps, Belgium, 21 January 1945

M10 Tank Destroyer near Benonchamps, Belgium