Air Operations, CBI

• 12 10th Air Force B-25s attack troops and stores at Namlan.
• More than 50 10th Air Force P-47s attack troops and supplies at numerous locations.

• 14th Air Force P-51s strafe targets of opportunity along rail lines near Pinghan.

Air Operations, Europe

• 8 Mosquitos are sent to the Hansa benzol plant at Dortmund and 6 to Duisburg.
• 1 Mosquito from the Dortmund raid crashes in Holland.
• The weather starts to improve at the beginning of February and Bomber Command commences an almost unbroken period of operations of the most intense and concentrated nature which will continue until a halt is called to the strategic-bombing offensive in April. The first round of raids, however, are not very effective because of poor weather at the targets.

Air Operations, Formosa

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack airfields.
• 18th Fighter Group P-38s down a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter and an A6M Zero over the airfield at Koshun at 1210 hours.
• 35th Fighter Group P-47s down 6 A6M Zeros near Formosa between 1516 and 1530 hours.
• During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack the Okayama airfield.

Air Operations, Pacific

B-29s sink a giant floating dock at Singapore.

Air Operations, Philippines

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cavite naval base.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s strafe landing beaches to help cover a US Army landing force going ashore at Nasugbu, Luzon.
• Rotating flights of 4 P-38 or P-47 fighter-bombers are available throughout the day for on-call support missions, and a number of these are employed against buildings and the Batangas airfield on Luzon.
• When 12 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s locate 3 Japanese destroyers on their way from Formosa to Luzon, 1 destroyer is sunk and the other 2 are severely damaged.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

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

Baltic

The German liner Wilhelm Gustav, which is filled with civilian refugees from East Prussia, is sunk by the Soviet submarine S13 off the Hela Peninsula. More than 7,000 peopole drown.

China

China is sliced in half as the Japanese capture Kukong (Shaokuan), the last Chinese strongpoint on the Hankow railroad.

Diplomatic Relations

The Czechoslovakian Government in London recognizes the Polish Lublin Government as the Provisional Government of Poland.

Eastern Front

In East Prussia, the Russians occupy Heilsberg (Lidzbark Warminski) and Friedland (Mieroszow), south of Königsberg. In Germany, the 1st Belorussian Front occupies Zehden on the east bank of the Oder, but for some time this is to be the nearest that the Red Army gets to Berlin. East and southeast of Zehden, several Brandenburg towns - Landsberg, Schwiebus, Miedzyrzecz and Züllichau - fall into Russian hands.

In Hungary the German garrison in Budapest holds out doggedly. The violent counterattack by the German armor north of Lake Balaton has breached the line of the 3rd Ukraine Front. The Russians have had to send huge reinforcements to plug the gap, and now they are pressing hard to restore the position.

Heilsberg and Freidland fall to the Soviets.

The 2nd Guards Tank Army is now ins Zehden, only 60 miles from Berlin. The Soviet 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies are also on the Oder, but have been halted by resistance. A unit of the Soviet 5th Shock Army, commanded by Col Khariton Episenko, occupies Kienitz. At the railway station the station master asks Episenko if he is going to allow the Berlin train to leave. Episenko replies: 'I am sorry, station master, but that is impossible, the passenger service to Berlin will undergo a short interruption - let's say until the end of the war.'[MORE]

Germany, Command

Gordon Gollob, with 150 victories, succeeds Adolf Galland as General der Jagdflieger.

Pacific

• The US submarine chaser PC-1129 is sunk by a suicide boat in the Philippine Islands area.
• The Japanese destroyer Ume is sunk by US Army aircraft off Formosa.

Philippines

On Luzon the US 6th Army begins the final phase of the attack on Manila. The XIV Corps advances on Calumpit and the XI advances to the base of the Bataan peninsula, coming near to some strong enemy positions in the area of Zigzag Pass, 3 miles northeast of Olongapo. The strongest Japanese resistance is encountered by the I Corps, in the area of Muñoz.

South of Manila Bay, after the usual preparation by aircraft and warships, the US 8th Army lands most of Gen Joseph Swing's 11th Airborne Div (8,000 men) near Nasugbu. Adm William M. Fechteler leads the naval support with a cruiser and 8 destroyers. The operation is completely successful, and there is little Japanese resistance. The Americans occupy Nasugbu, Guagua and Lian and penetrate quickly into the interior toward Mount Tagaytay.

United States, Home Front

16 war workers' children are killed in a fire at a nursery in Auburn, Maine.

Western Front

Advance guards of the US 1st and 3rd Armies meet near Widdau. While the V Corps, 1st Army, advances in Monschau forest east of Elsenborn, the XVIII Airborne Corps penetrates into Buchholz Forest, where it crosses the German frontier.

Units of the VI Corps, US 7th Army, launch an attack along the line Oberhoffen-Drusenheim.

Images from January 31, 1945

US soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, move towards Murrigen after continuously fighting for 47 days during the Battle of the Bulge, 31 January 1945.

1st Infantry Division Moving toward Murrigen

Japanese motor column knocked out by infantry weapons in the Philippines, 31 January 1945

Japanese Motor Column Knocked Out

Snow camouflaged M4A3 Sherman tank with a 76mm gun, of the 709th Tank Battalion, supporting the 75th Division, Colmar region of France, 31 January 1945

Tank Support of Infantry

As fighting rages in and around Manila, the capital of the Philippines, refugees pour out of the city. This bridge was built by US engineers

Refugees Leaving Manila

SB2C-3 of Bombing Squadron Eleven (VB-11) flies over a Japanese oiler smoking furiously a few moments after being hit by carrier-based aircraft in the vicinity of French Indochina. VB-11 operated from USS Hornet (CV-12) during the period October 1944-January 1945, participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and flying numerus strikes over the Philippines, Formosa, and Hong Kong. Note the white dot tail symbol indicating the aircraft's assignment to Hornet

SB2C-3 of Bombing Squadron Eleven (VB-11)

Three Filipinos approach landing craft in an outrigger canoe flying the stars and stripes near Nasugbu on 31 January 1945

Canoe Approaches Landing Craft

The American Forces in front of the Old Municipal Building. Finally on January 31, 1945, after few bombardments and assaults, the troops of the 1st Battalion and the 188th Glider of the Infantry of the Airborne Division headed by the US 8th Army took the shores of Nasugbu unopposed.

Taking the Shores of Nasugbu Unopposed

A young group of Luftwaffe antiaircraft artillery, waiting for the Soviet Army attack near Koenigsberg, armed with 88 mm cannon. rifles and Mk. 98 January 1945

Waiting for an Attack

After the heavy fighting occurred in the town of Kesternich, two American soldiers of the 78th Infantry Division, move ahead of two Hetzer destroyed, 31 January 1945.

US Soldiers Advancing

Sergeant Adolf Yost, of Stiles, Pennsylvania, searches a German soldier (the 25,000th captured by the 90th Infantry Division in World War II) Binsfield, Luxembourg, January 31, 1945

Searching a POW

M4A3 (76) Sherman tanks of the 29th Infantry Division's 747th Tank Battalion in the German town of Schleiden. Spare tracks and sandbags were installed on the tanks for extra protection, all covered with canvas. January 31, 1945

Sherman Tanks in Schleiden