Air Operations, CBI

BURMA

• More than 140 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, supplies, rail lines, artillery positions, and targets of opportunity at 16 locations.
• 8 fighter-bombers support Allied ground troops in the Namhkam area.

• 15 14th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack the airfield at Chenghsien and transportation targets at Nanking and Sinsiang.

Air Operations, Europe

In Operation THUNDERCLAP the British Chief of the Air Staff decides that RAF Bomber Command should launch 'one big attack on Berlin and Dresden . . . where a severe blitz will not only cause confustion in the evacuation from the East but will also hamper the movement of troops . . .'

13 V-2 rockets hit London.

• 8 Mosquitos bomb the Castrop-Rauxel synthetic oil refinery without a loss.

Air Operations, Philippines

• Task Group 77.4 TBMs and FMs support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.
• FEAF B-24s attack Balete Pass, coast artillery positions on Corregidor, and several targets of opportunity.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cavite naval base.
• V Bomber Command B-25s and V Fighter Command P-38s attack the Cabcaben airfield, Likanan, Sasa, and coast artillery on Carabao Island.
• P-38s attack Padada.
• 5th Air Force aircraft attack various targets in the central Philippines and elsewhere on Luzon.
• A 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-40 downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter near Manila at 0915 hours.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

• 17 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Iwo Jima.
• During the night, 9 VII Bomber Command B-24s conduct snooper raids against Iwo Jima.

Burma

There are British landings on Chedube Island south of Ramree. A small force of Marines goes ashore on the first day and they are later reinforced by the 36th Indian Bde. On the mainland to the north the 81st African Div takes Myohaung. Inland in the advance of IV Corps to the Irrawaddy, Pauk is taken by 7th Indian Div.

China

The Imperial GHQ orders Japanese forces to withdraw to the coast.

Eastern Front

The 2nd Belorussian Front advances between East Prussian and Danzig, occupying Marienburg (Malbork) and reaching the Baltic north of Elbing (Elblag). Some 500,000 German soldiers are cut off. In Poland the Russians surround Poznand and Thorn.

Troops of the 1st Ukraine Front capture Hindenburg, in Silesia.

In northern Poland the 1st Belorussian Front captures Bromberg (Bydgoszcz).

Russian troops reach the Auschwitz concentration camp, freeing 2,819 inmates.

The Soviet 2nd Shock Army assumes control of Marienburg, although the 48th Armi around Elbing is encountering stiff resistance from the German 4th Army.

The Soviet 3rd Shock Army takes Bromberg as 100,000 German troops of the 17th Army are threatened by encirclement in Silesia. Inside Posen, 60,000 German troops and Volkssturm are holding off attacks by the 8th Guards Army.[MORE]

Germany, Armed Forces

The OKW renames ist army groups: Army Group North, trapped in Kurland becomes Army Group Kurland; Army Group Center, isolated in East Prussia, is now Army Group North; and Army Group A is renamed Army Group Center. There is also the newly raises Army Group Vistula, comprising the 2nd and 11th Armies and commanded by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler.

Philippines

On Luzon the Americans make some progress in the XIV Corps sector, where the 37th Div occupies one of the runways on Clark Field, one of the prime objetives.

Western Front

Operation BLACKCOCK is brought to a close by the XII Corps, British 2nd Army; begun on January 16, it has led to the elimination of the German salient between the Meuse and the Rur, the 'Roermond triangle'. The Germans now have only a small bridgehead in the area of Vlodrop.

During the night the 102nd Div of the XIII Corps, US 9th Army, occupies the region between Brachelen, Himmerich and Randerath, west of the Rur River.

In the US 3rd Army sector the units of the VIII Corps push on northeast in the Weiswampach area, while the German 7th Army continues to withdraw behind the Siegfried Line. Further south, the 80th Div, XII Corps, widens its bridgehead across the Clerf, while in the area of the Saarlautern bridgehead the 95th Div, XX Corps, improves its positions.

In the US 7th Army sector, the 101st Airborne Div approaches the area of Hochfelden.

The 1st Moroccan Div of the II Corps, French 1st Army, captures the road joining Jebsheim and Illhäusern, which is about 6 miles north of Colmar.

Lt Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier of World War II, single-handedly repels repeated Panzer and infantry attacks on his position, near Colmar. He will be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Images from January 26, 1945

26 January 1945: Soviets liberate Auschwitz

Soviets Liberate Auschwitz

26 January 1945. The Alligator or Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) was an amphibious vehicle developed by the Americans. Originally intended as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they rapidly evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles as well. Most were armed with two .50 calibre Browning Machine Guns. Although primarily used in the Pacific theatre, toward the end of the war LVTs were employed in Europe as well

Alligator Coming over the Ice

German people fleeing from Pillau, 26 January 1945

German people fleeing from Pillau

Red Army soldiers bring in the 280mm Br 5 heavy gun to East Prussia

Soviet 280mm Br-5 Heavy Gun

Overturned German tank provides a bridge for 102nd Infantry Division troops crossing a small stream near Brachelen, Germany on January 26, 1945

Overturned German Tank Used as a Bridge

Camouflaged men of the 406th Regiment give the town of Brachelen, Germany, a careful going over in their search for Nazi snipers, January 26, 1945

Searching for Nazi Snipers in Brachelen

Young survivors at Auschwitz, liberated by the Red Army on January 26, 1945

Young survivors at Auschwitz

American soldiers of the 4th Armored Division push a trapped car carrying two seriously wounded German soldiers. World War II, 26 January, 1945

Pushing a Trapped Car with Wounded Germans