Air Operations, CBI

• 13 10th Air Force B-25s attack road bridges at two locations and nearby targets of opportunity.
• More than 70 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops and supplies at 9 locations.
• 26 P-47s support Allied ground forces in the Namhkai area.
• 16 P-47s and 11 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack the airfields at Aungban and Heho.
• 8 P-47s support Allied ground forces near Banwe.

• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack numerous targets.
• Japanese Army ground forces occupy the 14th Air Force’s airfield at Suichwan.

Air Operations, East Indies

• Royal Navy light bombers and fighter-bombers from the British Pacific Fleet severely damage a major refinery at Palembang, Sumatra, and carrier-borne fighters and anti-aircraft fire down a large number of Japanese aircraft.
• 11 British carrier aircraft are lost in combat.
• Following the attack, the British Pacific Fleet retires toward Sydney, Australia.

Air Operations, Europe

• 148 Lancasters of No. 3 Group attack the Uerdingen railway yards at Krefeld without a loss. Bombing is claimed to be accurate, but a short Krefeld report states that bombs fall over a wide area.

• 59 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin which 50 reach and bomb.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Formosa

• 18 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield at Heito.
• 18th Fighter Group P-38s down 4 A6M Zeros over Formosa between 1040 and 1140 hours.
• During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack the airfield at Takao.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s attack Corregidor.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cavite naval base.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Cabcaben.
• A-20s support US Army ground forces on Luzon.
• A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack various targets throughout Luzon.
• A 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-40 downs an A6M Zero at 0810 hours.
• A flight of V Fighter Command P-51s accidentally strafes US Army ground troops near the Pampanga River on Luzon, and a US Marine Corps SBD accidentally jettisons its bomb on a US landing craft.
• Supported by carrier aircraft from Task Group 77.4 and 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s, US 6th Army ground forces land in Luzon’s Zambales Province. Scheduled air strikes are cancelled in the face of light opposition and the 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s are released to attack other targets on Luzon. Subic and Olongapo fall into US Army hands by the end of the day.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

28 313th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s and 19 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Iwo Jima.

Baltic Sea(?)

The Prinz Eugen and some destroyers bombard the advancing Russian forces on the East Prussian coast.

Burma

The Japanese withdrawing from the northern sector inflict heavy losses on Chinese units which try to intercept them in the area north of Lashio.

China

The Japanese occupy the US 14th Air Force base at Suichuan.

Eastern Front

While the fighting continues in East Prussia, where the Germans, now on the counterattack, have advanced about 20 miles toward Marienburg, the 1st Belorussian Front penetrates into Germany in the region of Pomerania, taking the towns of Schönlake and Woldenberg. It is opposed by the recently formed Vistula Army Group which is commanded by Heinrich Himmler.

There are German counterattacks from East Prussia against Konstantin Rokossovsky's troops to the west, but toward the south of the German pocket Bischofsburg falls to the Soviets.[MORE]

Pacific

• British carrier-based bombers largely destroy the main Japanese aviation supply source, the refineries on Sumatra.
• The US cargo ship Serpens (AK-97) is sunk by an explosion near Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

Philippines

On Luzon the Gen Charles P. Hall's US XI Corps, of which 2 regiments have already landed, lands the rest of its 30,000 men at San Antonio, in the central-western part of Luzon, southwest of Clark and Del Carmen airfields and northwest of the Bataan peninsula. Their task is to advance across the neck of the Bataan Peninsula and clear it of Japanese.

Japanese air attacks damage two US vessels, the transport Cavalier (APA-37) and the repair ship Amycus (ARL-2), in the Philippine Islands area.

Western Front

Now Gen Patton's US 3rd Army, protecting the flank of Gen Hodges' 1st Army, opens an offensive to force a way through the defenses of the Siegfried Line. The 90th Div, VIII Corps, covering the right flank of the corps on the east bank of the Our River, crosses the river and the German frontier, taking Walchenhausen and Staupach.

In the French 1st Army sector, the US XXI Corps crosses the Colmar Canal.

Images from January 29, 1945

US soldiers and two Filipino Resistance members examine two destroyed Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks. The dead bodies of two of the Japanese crewmen lay sprawled on top of one of the tanks. Binalonan, Pangasinan, Luzon, Philippines. 29 January 1945. (Image taken by Frank Phelan)

Destroyed Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go Tanks

Operation Meridian 2 - Attack on oil refineries at Soengi Gerong near Palembang, Sumatra 29 January 1945.

Attack on Oil Refineries

Troops of the US 8th Army under command of Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger, pour off Navy LCI’s (Landing Craft Infantry) and wade ashore between San Narciso and San Antonio on the west coast of Luzon on January 29, 1945, in a brilliant move calculated to cut off Bataan Peninsula and to capture the naval base at Olangapo. Tactical surprise was achieved to such a degree that not a man, ship or plane was lost in the landing

Landing on West Coast of Luzon

Netherlands East Indies. 29 January 1945. Flames and smoke rising from the Sungei Gerong oil refinery in southern Sumatra, Netherland East Indies (NEI), after a bombing attack by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm from HMS Illustrious of the British Eastern Fleet.

Fire at an Oil Refinery

Troopers with the 1st Battalion, 505th PIR, take a few minutes to read The Stars and Stripes newspaper in the woods outside Weneck, Belgium, shortly after the town was taken, January 29, 1945

Reading the Newspaper