Air Operations, CBI
BURMA- More than 100 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, artillery positions, communications targets, and supplies at numerous locations.
- 65 fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces in the Banwe, Hsenwi, Molo, Mongmit, and Yenya-u areas.
- 27 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 32 14th Air Force P-40s and P-51s attack Hankow.
- 8 P-51s attack targets of opportunity at 3 locations.
- A 426th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 crew downs a Ki-48 'Lily' bomber near Laohokow during the early evening.
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]Air Operations, Formosa
35th Fighter Group P-47s down an A6M Zero over Okayama at 0930 hours, 3 single-seat biplanes over the Taichu airfield at 1000 hours, and 6 fighters near the airfield at Shinchiku at 1015 hours.
[ | ]Air Operations, Philippines
- Despite bad weather that grounds most of the FEAF, XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cavite naval base and some V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack several targets on Luzon.
- Task Group 77.4 TBMs and FMs support US 6th Army ground forces in the Zambales area of Luzon.
- Following a daring raid deep within enemy territory by a US Army Ranger battalion, 8 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-40s cover the withdrawal of the Rangers and the 512 Allied prisoners of war they have liberated.
| ]Air Operations, Volcano Islands
- 17 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Iwo Jima.
- During the night, 10 VII Bomber Command B-24s conduct snooper raids against Iwo Jima.
| ]Allied Planning
Over the next 3 days Churchill and Roosevelt and their advisors meet in Malta to make preparations for the Yalta Meeting with Stalin. This first stage of the Argonaut Conference, code-named Cricket takes place. They leave for Yalta on the 2nd.
[ | ]Baltic Sea
In the worst sea disaster in history, 7,000 soldiers and civilians drown when the Russian submarine S-13 sinks the 25,000-ton liner Wilhelm Gustloff. Only about 900 of 6,000(?) survive.
[ | ]Burma
In the British V Corps sector, the 25th Indian Div overcomes tenacious Japanese resistance against the Kangaw bridgehead. The 82nd East African Div advances south of Kangaw toward Myohaung. In the northeast sector, the Chinese 38th Div is now at the junction of the Burma Road with the road from Ledo, in Assam, and is preparing to advance on Lashio, northeast of Mandalay.
[ | ]Eastern Front
In East Prussia, the 3rd Belorussian Front routs the Tilsit Group; the German 3rd Panzer Army, which forms a part of the group, manages to break free and, by-passing Königsberg to the north, to occupy part of the peninsula, which divides it from the sea. The 1st Baltic front completes the capture of Memel. The German forces in east Prussia are now cut into three: 4 divisions are resisting on the peninsula north of Königsberg, 5 are surrounded in Königsberg and 20 divisions are containing Russian pressure southwest of the city.
Northwest of Bydgoszcz, in Poland, the Red Army crosses the German frontier in several places. It also penetrates into Germany west of Poznan, taking Stolzenburg, a little more than 70 miles from Berlin.[MORE]
[ | ]Germany, Home Front
Hitler marks the 12th anniversy of his accession to power in a speech still filled with defiance. In Hitler's last broadcast he says: 'German workers, work! German soldiers, fight! German women, be as fanatical as ever! No nation can do more.'
[ | ]Philippines
On Luzon Gen Walter Krueger issues detailed instructions for the next operations: the XI Corps, which has just landed, will advance on Manila along the base of the Bataan peninsula as far as the line Dinalupihan-Hermosa, where it will link up with the XIV Corps, also advancing on Manila. The I Corps, further north, is to advance southeast with San José as its objective. During the day the XI Corps advances quickly and takes Olongapo, on the west coast, while units of the XIV Corps are engaged by the Japanese in hard fighting north of the Bamban River. Some US patrols thrust further south, coming within little more that 1,000 yards of Calumpit.
A US battalion is landed to take Gamble Island in Subic Bay.
[ | ]Western Front
The 78th Div, XIX Corps, US 9th Army, opens its offensive towards the Rur River along the north border of the Monschau forest.
The 3 divisions of the American V Corps, the 9th, 99th and 2nd, attacking from north to south, open the offensive against the Siegfried Line fortifications. The 3rd Army units also continue their attack against the defenses of the line, and Rodgen, Auel and Steinkopf are taken by the US XII Corps.
On the southern flank of the front, the French 1st Army sector, while the US XXI Corps advances alowly north of Colmar, the 1st Moroccan Div, French II Corps, liberates the wooded region east of Illhäusern.
[ | ]Images from January 30, 1945
M4 Sherman Tank at the Matain River Bridge |
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US Vehicles near Wallerode, Belgium |
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POWs Celebrate Rescue |
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Hotchkiss H39 |
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Troops Ferry Jeep Across River |
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An Equipment Exhibition |
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Attending to a Child |
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Wreckage of Japanese 'Betty' Bombers |
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