Air Operations, CBI

• 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.

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.

CBI

In ALFSEA's XV Corps area, the Indian 25th Division overcomes tenacious Japanese resistance against the Kangaw bridgehead and then goes on the offensive and takes Kangaw village. The East African 82nd Division advances south of Kangaw toward Myohaung.

In the NCAC area, the main body of the Chinese 38th Division 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. With the Chinese 30th Division established north of Hpa-pen village between the 114th Regiment of the Chinese 38th Division and the US 5332nd Brigade, preparations are made for a combined attack by the Chinese 30th Division and the Americans to clear the heights near Hpa-pen and thus block the enemy escape from the Burma Road, but the attack is postponed until 2 February at the request of the Chinese.

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

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 XIV Corps is to drive southward on Manila with the 37th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions to the line Malolos-Plaridel-Babanatuan. The I Corps, further north, is to advance southeast with San José as its objective.

In the XIV Corps area, the 129th Infantry of the 37th Division overruns Ft Stotsenburg and Sapangbato and begins an attack on the enemy's main resistance line on the heights to the west. Right flank elements clear the hills in the Dolores area. Other elements of the 37th Division patrol along Route 3 to within a mile of Calumpit. The 160th Infantry, 40th Division, battles the enemy's main line north of the Bamban River, making slow and costly progress. The 108th Infantry, in local advances, now holds Hill 5 and Thrall Hill, virtually completing the reduction of the pockets in that area.

In the I Corps area, the 6th Division reconnoiters in force toward Talavera and Munoz. The 1st Infantry secures Talavera area without difficulty but the 20th, in a limited attack on Munoz, is pinned down about 1,000 yards short. The 32nd Division (less the 126th Infantry, in army reserve) passes to corps control and is committed on the left flank of the 25th Division.

The XI Corps, which is transferred from the command of Adm Struble to that of Gen Hall and from the 8th to the 6th Army, gains all of its initial objectives. The 34th RCT of the 24th Division, leading the assault, quickly takes the town of Subic and drives to the Kalaklan River, where the Japanese force defending the Route 7 bridge is driven off, crosses the river and seizes Olongapo. With the unopposed capture of Grande Island in an amphibious operation by the 2nd Battalion of the 151st Infantry, 38th Division, the corps gains control of Subic Bay.

During the night 5 officers and 115 Rangers from the 6th Ranger Battalion, led by Lt-Col Henry A. Mucci and supported by the Alamo Scouts and Philippine guerillas, attack the prisoner of war camp at Cabanatuan, killing the Japanese guards and freeing 513 Allied prisoners. Among those rescued are 486 Americans, most of them survivors of Bataan and Corregidor. The Rangers lose 2 killed and 1 wounded while inflicting over 200 casualties on the Japanese. The guerillas destroy 12 tanks and add another 300 casualties to Jaanese forces.

The XXIV Corps continues mopping up on Leyte while the relief of the X Corps by the Americal Division is begun. The 1st Battalion of he 182nd Infantry, Americal Division, is sent to Samar to relieve the 3rd Battalion of the 381st Infantry, 96th Division, in the Catbalogan area.

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.[WE]

Images from January 30, 1945

M4 Sherman Tank at the Matain River Bridge

US Vehicles near Wallerode, Belgium

POWs Celebrate Rescue

Hotchkiss H39

Troops Ferry Jeep Across River

An Equipment Exhibition

Attending to a Child

Wreckage of Japanese 'Betty' Bombers