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Post by emron on Jan 9, 2020 19:33:56 GMT 12
9 January 1945
Commonwealth of the Philippines: Battle of Luzon; Operation Mike I; Covered by the US Third Fleet and preceded by heavy bombardments, the US Sixth Army commanded by Lt-Gen Walter Krueger, landed at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, 110 miles north of Manila. The bombardment force, Task Group 77.2 (Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf) consisting of six battleships; two Australian and three USN heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and one RAN and 20 USN destroyers and aircraft from the escort carrier force, Task Group 77.4 (Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin), consisting of 20 escort aircraft carriers. Japanese air attacks and assault demolition boats continued to vex the invasion forces off the beaches. Kamikazes crashed battleship USS Mississippi, light cruiser USS Columbia, and destroyer escort USS Hodges, in addition to Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, which was finally sent to the rear areas for repairs. Japanese assault demolition boats damaged transport USS War Hawk and tank landing ships USS LST-925 and LST-1028. Task Force 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) supported the landings at Lingayen Gulf with attacks on Japanese airfields and shipping in the Formosa, Ryukyus, and Pescadores Islands areas. This Task Force was composed of 12 aircraft carriers, five small aircraft carriers, five battleships, two heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers and 60 destroyers. Off Formosa, TF 38 planes sank a coast defence vessel north of Keelung; a submarine chaser; and a fleet tanker, a merchant tanker and a cargo ship south of Formosa; and a small cargo vessel off Keelung; and a cargo ship.
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Post by emron on Jan 11, 2020 10:46:52 GMT 12
11 January 1935
Hawaii: American aviatrix Amelia Earhart (Putnam) took off from Wheeler Field, Oahu, at 1644 hours local on a solo flight in her single-engine Lockheed Vega 5C, msn 171, NC965Y for destination Oakland, California. Hawaiian commercial interests had offered a US$10,000 award to whoever accomplished the flight first.
11 January 1938
American Samoa: Sikorsky S-42B flying boat, msn 4207, NC16734 “Samoan Clipper” operated by Pan American Airways, crashed near Pago Pago, killing all seven crewmen aboard, including Captain Edwin Musick. This was Pan American Flight 1 en route from Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, to Auckland, New Zealand, via American Samoa. It was on a return flight after making the first airmail delivery from NZ to Hawaii and was carrying only airmail and express freight; no passengers were aboard. The aircraft exploded in mid-air as the crew attempted to dump fuel for an emergency landing. Neither the plane nor the bodies of the crew members were ever found.
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Post by emron on Jan 12, 2020 17:47:05 GMT 12
12 January 1945
France: In the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area, the Germans have shifted from aggressive offensive to stubborn defensive in the bitche salient. Efforts of the 45th Infantry Division to regain ground lost yesterday were only partly successful. The 14th Armoured Division attacked to relieve the 315th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division, in Hatten and Rittershoffen; Combat Command A cleared part of Rittershoffen. The situation in the Gambsheim bridgehead was unchanged.
Belgium: In the U.S. First Army VII Corps area, the 2nd Armoured Division attacked in the vicinity of the junction of the Manhay-Houffalize and Laroche-Salmchâteau roads: Combat Command A took Chabrehez, continued about a mile south in the Bois de Belhez, and reduced a strongpoint east of Bois de St Jean; Combat Command B captured Les Tailles and Petite Tailles. The 83rd Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion drove south, crossed the Langlir River, and cleared Bois de Cedrogne east of the Manhay-Houffalize road and blocked the road there running west from Mont le Ban. Task Force Hogan moved to Bihain and cleared the high ground south-west of the town. The 83rd Infantry Division completed the capture of Petite Langlir and Langlir and gained a bridgehead south of the Langlir-Ronce River. In the XVIII (Airborne) Corps' 106th Infantry Division sector, a bridgehead was established across the Ambleve River south of Stavelot. In the U.S. Third Army's VIII Corps area, the Germans continued withdrawing. The 87th Infantry Division took Tonny, Amberloup, Lavacherie, Orreux, Fosset, Sprimont and a road junction north-east of Sprimont. The 17th Airborne Division recaptured Flamierge. In the III Corps area, Combat Command A of the 6th Armoured Division captured Wardin and advanced to within a few hundred yards of Bras.
Europe: Eastern Front: the Vistula-Oder Offensive; From Memel, on the Baltic, to Warsaw, some 300 miles further south, the Red Army was poised to attack. Two Fronts of the Red Army were directly involved. At 0435 hrs today the attack began from the Baranow bridgehead on the Vistula River, with an intense bombardment by the guns of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev's formidable 1st Ukrainian Front, against the positions of the 4th Panzer Army. At 0800 the 1st Belorussian Front led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, to Konev's north, opened its attack on the German 9th Army from the Magnuszew and Pulawy bridgeheads again commencing with a heavy bombardment. Zhukov and Konev had 163 divisions for the operation with a total of: 2,203,000 infantry, 4,529 tanks, 2,513 assault guns, 13,763 pieces of field artillery (76 mm or more), 14,812 mortars, 4,936 anti-tank guns, 2,198 Katyusha multiple rocket launchers and 5,000 aircraft. Against them, the German Army Group A commanded by Colonel-General Josef Harpe was outnumbered 5:1.
Burma: In the Indian XV Corps area, the 3rd Commando Brigade conducted an amphibious assault on the Arakan coast at Myebon. After an air and naval bombardment (2 Indian Navy sloops Narbada and Jumna with Fairmiles of the 59th Burma ML flotilla in support) they established a firm beachhead, which the Japanese soon attempted to destroy. without success. The Allied position now threatened the enemy line of retreat.
Commonwealth of the Philippines: In the U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area on Luzon, the 40th Infantry Division's 185th Infantry Regiment took Port Sual, the west terminus of the Army beachhead line, without a fight and continued west toward Alaminos. The 37th Infantry Division was consolidating on the Army beachhead line; elements moved into Bayamhang and Urhiztondo without opposition. USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators bombed the San Jose del Monte area and bivouac areas on northern Luzon; other B-24s hit Legaspi, and Batangas Airfields on Luzon, and Matina Airfield on Mindanao Island while B-25 Mitchells bombed Fabrica warehouses on Negros Island.
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Post by emron on Jan 16, 2020 20:25:42 GMT 12
16 January 1945
Belgium: The 506th Parachute Infantry, working with Combat Command B, 11th Armoured Division, attacked north and north-east. The 11th Armoured Division seized Houffalize to close off the German salient in the Ardennes. The 506th attacked with three battalions abreast. The 2nd Battalion crossed to the east side of the Bastogne - Houffalize road and seized Rachamps, by 1400. Soon after the Germans shelled the village heavily. The 3rd Battalion attacked and seized its objective in the Neuf Moulin area, 2 miles south of Houffalize The 3rd Battalion seized the high ground between the 1st and 3rd Battalions.
Germany: Hitler departed for Berlin for the last time, from the Adlerhorst (Eagle’s Nest) bunker complex near Bad Neuheim in the Taunus mountains on the Führersonderzug, his personal train. With the Ardennes Offensive failed, and no new military plans or the resources with which to carry them out, the German military high command accepted that the western front was lost. On his return Hitler moved permanently into his final Headquarters in the concrete Fuhrerbunker located underground at the Reich Chancellery.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 16, 2020 21:39:56 GMT 12
I did not realise Hitler had moved into the bunker that early.
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Post by emron on Jan 17, 2020 19:49:43 GMT 12
He was rapidly running out of Fuhrerhauptquartieres. He had vacated his Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair) near Rastenburg, East Prussia on 20 November 1944 and by then the Russians were less than 10 miles away. The Red Army captured the abandoned remains on 27 January. The Eagle’s Nest lasted longer. Once the Allies learnt of it’s existence and purpose they subjected the castle and surrounding area to a 45-minute fire bombing air raid by a squadron of P-51s on 19 March. On March 28, with the American army only 12 miles away, using all available motor pool equipment, Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring ordered all civilian employees and families of military personnel to evacuate. German troops were instructed to dynamite the Fuehrer's compound. The castle and village were captured by units of the U.S. Army on 30 March.
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Post by emron on Jan 21, 2020 19:19:08 GMT 12
20 January 1945
France: The German counter-offensive in Alsace, Operation North Wind, has brought the enemy within eight miles of Strasbourg and caused near-panic in the city. The Germans have established a bridgehead over the Rhine and are poised to link up with another German force striking northward from the "Colmar pocket". The French First Army under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny are set to contain the advance despite atrocious weather.
Eastern Front: The Red Army was advancing all along the line. In the north General Cherniakhovsky had torn a 40-mile hole in the East Prussian defence zone and was 30 miles inside Germany. Marshal Rokossovsky was driving through northern Poland and was on the East Prussian border 110 miles south-east of Danzig and was threatening to cut off the whole of East Prussia. Zhukov, having taken Warsaw, had now captured Lodz, the great textile and engineering city and an indispensable base for the advance on Berlin. At the southern tip of the line, Konev had taken Cracow, opening up the road from the north into Czechoslovakia. He had also taken Praszka and so reached the borders of German Silesia.
Commonwealth of the Philippines: American forces of XIV Corps pushing inland from their beach-head at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon were tonight on the outskirts of San Miguel, some 90 miles from Manila. The US troops had met no opposition on the beaches when they landed on 9 January, but the fighting had since been fierce, particularly at the Agno river.
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Post by emron on Jan 22, 2020 19:45:01 GMT 12
22 January 1945
Europe: Western Front; In the U.S. Third Army's VIII Corps area, units of CCA, 11th Armoured Div, entered Bois de Rouvroy and crossed the Luxembourg border without encountering the enemy. 17th Airborne Div occupied Steinbach and Limerle. In III Corps area, CCB of 6th Armoured Div entered Basbellain; CCA took Asselborn and Weiler. 359th Infantry of 90th Div occupied Donnange, Deiffelt, Stockem, and Rumlange; elements of 357th moved to Boxhorn and Sassel. 26th Div and 6th Cav Gp finished clearing Wiltz and secured Eschweiler, Knaphoscheid, and Kleinhoscheid. 28th Cav Sq proceeded through Weicherdange. In XII Corps area, 4th Div gained ground along west bank of Our River and took Walsdorf but was still unable to clear Fuhren. In the French 1st Army area, 2nd Corps began southward drive on Colmar, in the region between Sélestat and Ostheim, which, in conjunction with 1st Corps' northward attack, was aimed at enveloping and destroying the Colmar Pocket. The 3 assault divs--U.S. 3rd, 5th Armoured, and 1st Moroccan Infantry were protected by French 2nd Armoured Div, holding the Rhine Plain. U.S. 3rd Div led off, attacking at 2100 SE across Fecht River at Guemar. To the West, U.S. 28th Div conducted raids.
Europe; Eastern Front; In East Prussia the Third White Russian Front took Insterburg; Second White Russian Front seized Allenstein and Deutsch-Eylau. In Poland the First White Russian Front captured Inowroclaw, threatening Bromberg, and Gniezo, on the road to Posen. First Ukrainian Front, fighting astride Polish-Silesian border, seized the Silesian towns of Konstadt and Gross Strehlitz.
Burma: In ALFSEA's 15 Corps area, brigade of the Indian 26th Div, after co-ordinated air and naval bombardment, landed on the north coast of Ramree Island and captured Kyaukpyu. Indian 25th Div now held all of Myebon Peninsula. 3rd Commando Brigade landed at Kangaw, on Arakan front, after preparatory bombardment. Enemy soon reacted sharply, since forces along coast to the south were being cut off.
Commonwealth of the Philippines: In U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area, forward elements of 40th Div reached Capas, north of Bamban. 37th Div extended its right flank to San Miguel to maintain contact with 40th Div and with left flank elements took La Paz. In I Corps area, 27th Infantry of 25th Div continued toward Asingan against little opposition. 161st, driving on San Manuel, took hill NW of objective.
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Post by emron on Jan 24, 2020 20:24:36 GMT 12
24 January 1945
Western Front: In the French 1st Army's 2nd Corps area, French and U.S. troops fought to expand the Ill River bridgehead. The French were stopped by enemy tanks concealed in the woods near Elsenheim. U.S. 3rd Div continued toward Canal de Colmar; 7th Infantry moved South toward Houssen; taking over from battered 30th Infantry; 15th Infantry attacked from Maison Rouge and reached edge of woods near Riedwihr.
Eastern Front: Berlin reported a Soviet offensive in Latvia. Third and Second White Russian Fronts made further progress in East Prussia. In German Silesia, First Ukrainian Front overran industrial centres of Oppeln (on the Oder) and Gleiwitz; North of Breslau, elements cleared Trachenberg and across Polish border, Rawicz.
Netherlands East Indies: Operation Meridian One; A Fleet Air Arm strike on the Japanese-held oil refinery at Pladjoe, north of Palembang, Sumatra. The British Task Force 63, was en route to Sydney, Australia, where it would translate into the British Pacific Fleet. It comprised aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable, Illustrious, Indefatigable and Victorious with battleship HMS King George V, three anti-aircraft cruisers and nine destroyers, under command of Rear Admiral Philip Vian. Prior to the attack refuelling at sea was required and this was supplied on 20 January by Task Force 69 of the British Eastern Fleet; three escorted tankers. The attack was launched at 6am today, forty-three Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers, twelve Fairey Firefly fighter bombers with rockets and fifty Grumman Hellcat, Vought Corsair and Supermarine Seafire fighters, dived from 9000 to 3000 feet to release their bombs on the target. Despite the presence of barrage balloons the refinery was successfully attacked; the combined result of this and the second raid January 29 on Soengei Gerong was to reduce the output of critical aviation fuel from the plants by seventy-five percent. Losses were heavier than on previous raids; 32 aircraft were lost due to enemy action and crash landings. Avenger squadrons that participated included 820, 849, 854 and 857 Naval Air Squadrons.
Pacific: In the Volcano Islands, USN Task Group 94.9 (Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger) consisting of the battleship USS Indiana, three heavy cruisers, seven destroyers and a light minelayer and preceded by a barrier patrol of PB4Y Liberators, bombarded Iwo Jima, together with USAAF B-24 Liberators escorted by P-38 Lightnings. North-east of Iwo Jima, destroyers USS Dunlap and Fanning sank transport I-Go Yoneyama Maru and auxiliary minesweepers Keinan Maru and No.7 Showa Maru, a small Japanese three-ship convoy that had just arrived this morning.
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Post by emron on Jan 25, 2020 11:54:28 GMT 12
25 January 1945
Western Front: End of the Battle of the Bulge: The German lines had been pushed back to their positions at the start of the Ardennes counter-offensive on 16 December. 21 Army Group: In the British Second Army's 12 Corps area, 7th Armoured Div captured Linne and Putbroek. 52nd Div took Kirchhoven without opposition. 43rd Div reached the Wurm River between Heinsberg and Randerath. 12th Army Group: In U.S. First Army's XVIII Corps (A/B) area, 7th Armoured Div consolidated in immediate vicinity of St Vith and took Wallerode and Medel. In V Corps area, 1st Div's 16th Infantry gained Amblève and Mirfeld. In U.S. Third Army's III Corps area, bulk of corps was now across Clerf River; 359th Infantry 90th Div, took Hupperdange and Grindhausen; 357th seized Heinerscheid and Lausdorn. 26th Div's 101st Infantry, together with elements of 6th Cav Group, occupied Clerf; 328th Infantry took Reuler and Urspelt. In XII Corps area, 5th Div continued north taking Merscheid. 317th Infantry, 80th Div. cleared Wilwerwiltz and established bridgehead across the Clerf; captured Pintsch, east the river. 6th Army Group: In VI Corps area, Germans penetrated 103rd Div positions, reaching Schillersdorf and Nieffern, 103rd Div restored line between Muhlhausen and Schillersdorf. Germans attacked across the Moder between Haguenau and Kaltenhouse in sector of 242nd Infantry but were driven back across river. In French 1st Army area, French made slow progress in Elsenheim woods, where armour was held up by enemy tanks. U.S. 3rd Div's 7th Infantry, assisted by armour, entered Houssen; 15th renewed attack on Riedwihr.
Eastern Front: Third and Second White Russian Fronts were compressing the German pocket in East Prussia. First Ukrainian Front took Ostrow, south-west of Kalisz in Poland, and Oels, in German Silesia. Berlin reported that the Russians were attempting to cross the Oder at Steinhau and between Gleiwitz and Brieg. Operation Hannibal commenced: The mass evacuation of civilians and troops by sea from ports in occupied Poland to other Baltic destinations outside of the Soviet area of operations, forced by the Red Army advance during the East Prussian and East Pomeranian Offensives.
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Post by emron on Jan 26, 2020 16:38:58 GMT 12
26 January 1945
Western Front: Operation Blackcock (named after the Scottish black male grouse) was successfully concluded today by the British Second Army. Their objectives had been to clear German troops from the Roer Triangle formed by the towns of Roemund and Sittard in the Netherlands and Heinsberg in Germany; to drive them back across the rivers Roer and Wurm and to move the front-line further into Germany.
Eastern Front: The Red Army drove a salient between East Prussia and Danzig as the Second White Russian Front captured Marienberg and reached the Gulf of Danzig north-east of Elbing. Koenigsberg was being invested by the Third White Russian Front. In Poland, Soviet forces were encircling Thorn and Posen. First Ukrainian Front seized Hindenburg (Silesia).
Burma: In ALFSEA's 15 Corps area, Royal Marines from the East Indies Fleet invaded Cheduba Island south-west of Ramree I., with support of naval aircraft. In the Northern Combat Area Command area, Chinese 38th Div. troops, working along the Burma Road, got to within 5 miles of China Y-Force. Commonwealth of the Philippines: Luzon; In U.S. Sixth Army area, Gen Krueger ordered a rapid drive on Manila. XIV Corps, in addition to securing Clark Field area, was to cross the Pampanga at Calumpit; reconnoitre south and south-east to a line Hagonoy-Malolos-Plaridel. In XIV Corps area 37th Div's 145th and 148th Regiments advanced to general line Culayo-Magalang, taking Magalang and Clark Field Runway No. 1, 1½ miles north-west of Culayo. In I Corps area, 158th Infantry of 43rd Div finished clearing the ridge north-west of Cataguintingan. Some elements of 172nd secured Rosario; other elements were moving toward Udaio road junction.
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Post by emron on Jan 27, 2020 8:56:28 GMT 12
27 January 1945
Eastern Europe: Liberation of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp; 231 Red Army soldiers died in the fighting around Monowitz camp, Birkenau and Auschwitz I as well as the towns of Oswiecim and Brzezinka, situated 30 miles south-west of Krakow in German occupied Poland. The first in the camp complex to be liberated was Auschwitz III, the IG Farben camp at Monowitz; four soldiers on horseback from the 100th Infantry Division entered the camp around 9 am this morning, Saturday. The 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front arrived in Auschwitz I and II around 3 pm. They found 7,000 prisoners alive in the three main camps, 500 in the other sub-camps, and over 600 dead. Beginning on 17 January, some 58,000 Auschwitz detainees (about two-thirds Jews)—over 20,000 from Auschwitz I and II and over 30,000 from the sub-camps—were evacuated under guard, at first heading west on foot, then by open-topped freight trains, to concentration camps in Germany and Austria. It was only those considered too sick to move that remained.
Burma: In NCAC area the blockade of China was broken as Chinese 38th Div, assisted by artillery and armour, linked up with Y-Force troops on the Burma Road, thus opening the land route to China.
Pacific Ocean Area: Joint Expeditionary Force for the Iwo Jima operation departed from Hawaii for the Marianas, completing movement by 5 February and resupplying in Marianas until 7 February. Ulithi: USAAF General Curtis LeMay met with Admirals Spruance and Mitscher for a conference to discuss the projected American invasion of Iwo Jima.
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Post by nuuumannn on Jan 28, 2020 15:42:11 GMT 12
27 January 1945 The first in the camp complex to be liberated was Auschwitz III, the IG Farben camp at Monowitz; four soldiers on horseback from the 100th Infantry Division entered the camp around 9 am this morning, Saturday. Interestingly enough, the Dwory (the nearest railway station to the factory site) factory was not entirely abandoned after liberation and was brought to operational standard with haste, reopening for business making synthetic fuels 8 months later on 1 September 1945. It is today known as Synthos Chemical Innovations. Under its former operators the factory was known as I G Farben Buna Werke and made synthetic rubber, including for the aviation industry. The following image was taken from within the Birkenau Auschwitz II site and looks due east toward the infamous guardhouse. Behind in the distance can be seen the Dwory plant. Auschwitz II 13 At what became Auschwitz I, a former Polish army artillery unit's barracks to the south west of Oświęcim town, prisoners were marched three miles to Dwory to work in the factory until Auschwitz III was completed.
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Post by emron on Jan 28, 2020 20:11:44 GMT 12
28 January 1945
Western Europe: 12th Army Group: U.S. First Army opened a drive toward West Wall and Euskirchen before dawn. 1st Div's 16th Infantry took Valender, 18th gained Heppenbach and Hepscheid, and 26th cleared Richelbusch. Eastern Europe: Lower Silesia; Stalag Luft III POW camp near the town of Sagan 100 miles south-east of Berlin; Just before midnight on 27 January, with Soviet troops only 16 miles away, the remaining 11,000 POWs were marched out of camp with the eventual destination of Spremberg. In freezing temperatures and 6 in. of snow, 2,000 prisoners were assigned to clear the road ahead of the main group. After a 34 mile march, the POWs arrived at Bad Muskau where they rested for 30 hours, before marching the remaining 16 miles to Spremberg
Lithuania: Memel was occupied by the First Baltic Front, completing their occupation of Lithuania. Poland: Konev's Red Army troops captured the Dabrowa coal mining area and the towns of Beuthen and Katowice. In the Carpathians, Fourth Ukrainian Front drove to Poprad (Czechoslovakia). Burma:; In NCAC area, the first convoy from Ledo resumed it’s journey toward Kunming, crossing the border into China. Ceremonies were held at Mu-se, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek renamed the road the Stilwell Road.
Commonwealth of Philippines: Luzon; In U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area, 129th Infantry of 37th Div attacked west from Culayo area toward Clark Field and Ft Stotsenburg. Mindoro: 9th Infantry concentrated in San Jose area, having completed offensive operations on Mindoro.
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Post by emron on Jan 29, 2020 20:46:55 GMT 12
29 January 1945
Eastern Europe: Germans continued a stubborn defence of Koenigsberg and Elbing in East Prussia. First White Russian Front invaded Pomerania, taking German towns of Schoenlanke and Woldenberg. In the Carpathian sector, the Fourth Ukrainian Front gained Nowy Targ, on the south border of Poland.
Burma: In NCAC area, 114th Regiment of Chinese 38th Div, the closest unit to enemy withdrawing from Burma Road, suffered heavily from enemy attacks; a single Chinese company blocking the road about 80 miles from Lashio was almost annihilated. This ended efforts to block the road.
Netherlands East Indies: Operation Meridian II. The raid by aircraft from British Task Force 63 on the second Sumatran oil refinery at Soengei Gerong near Palembang. Despite poor visibility, the flying-off was delayed by less than half an hour and the air strike went ahead. Allied aviators claimed 30 Japanese planes shot down in dog-fights and another 38 destroyed on the ground, for the loss of 16 British aircraft. A small Japanese counter-attack was attempted, but was defeated by fighter cover and anti-aircraft fire.
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Post by emron on Jan 30, 2020 21:30:15 GMT 12
30 January 1945
Baltic Sea: Operation Hannibal; MV Wilhelm Gustloff an ex-Kraft Durch Freude ship (Strength Through Joy) in the service of the German Kriegsmarine, was sunk in the Baltic Sea by Soviet submarine S-13 while evacuating German civilians, German officials, refugees from Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Estonia and Croatia and military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia) as the Red Army advanced. By modern estimate almost 9,400 people may have died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
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Post by emron on Feb 1, 2020 10:07:24 GMT 12
1 February 1945
Western Front: 21 Army Group, U.S. Ninth Army prepared for Operation Grenade, the large-scale offensive to cross the Roer River between Roermond and Duren. In U.S. Third Army area, VIII Corps continued the attack to breach West Wall along the Schnee Eifel. French 1st Army continued operations against the Colmar Pocket. 2nd Corps, against disorganized resistance, completed task of clearing the Rhine Plain from Erstein in the north to Artzenheim in the south and overran Artzenheim.
Eastern Europe: The Red Army continued the reduction of enemy within East Prussia; in Poland, took Torun communications centre on the Vistula by storm and maintained pressure on encircled Posen; in Germany, invested Schneidemuehl, thrust to Ratzebuhr, continued toward the middle Oder and Berlin; in Hungary, continued the elimination of the Budapest garrison. Commonwealth of the Philippines: Luzon; In U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area, 1st Cavalry and 37th Infantry Divs drove quickly southward toward Manila.
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Post by emron on Feb 2, 2020 17:19:18 GMT 12
2 February 1945
Western Front: In the French 1st Army's U.S. XXI Corps area, 7th Infantry of 3rd Div, with tank support, drove south through Artzenheim astride the highway between Rhine-Rhône Canal and the Rhine River toward Biesheim, north-east of Neuf-Brisach. 75th Div overran Andolsheim and moved south-east toward Neuf-Brisach. Upon reaching the edge of Colmar, 28th Div paused to let tanks of 5th Armoured Div enter first; the city was captured but mopping up continued.
Commonwealth of the Philippines: Luzon; News broke of a daring raid on the Japanese prison camp near Cabuantan City on 30 January, by U.S. Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerillas. A group of over 100 Rangers and Scouts and 200 guerrillas travelled 30 miles behind enemy lines to reach the camp. Under the cover of darkness and with distraction by a P-61 Black Widow night fighter the group surprised the Japanese forces in and around the camp. Hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the 30-minute coordinated attack; the Americans suffered minimal casualties. They rescued and led to freedom 489 Prisoners of War and 33 civilians; Many of the 464 American soldiers were survivors of the Bataan Death March of 1942.
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Post by emron on Feb 3, 2020 12:23:52 GMT 12
3 February 1940
United Kingdom: North Yorkshire; Heinkel He111 1H+FM (Pilot Fw Hermann Wilms) became the first Luftwaffe aircraft to come down on English soil since the First World War, when it crash landed at Bannial Flat Farm, Whitby, today. This Heinkel had just made an attack on a trawler off the North East coast of Britain when it was intercepted by three Hurricanes piloted by F/Lt Peter Townsend (L2116), F/O Patrick Folkes (L1723) and Sgt Jim Hallowes (L1847) of 43 Squadron based at Acklington. Townsend (later Equerry to King George VI), made the first attack and damaged the HeIII's starboard engine, his attack also killed one of the German crew, Uffz Leushake. Folkes was next to attack, his bullets also found their mark damaging the fuselage and hitting another German crewman in the stomach, Uffz Meyer, who later died from these injuries. Pilot Wilms and Wireless operator Uffz Karl Missy survived the crash.
3 February 1945
Commonwealth of the Philippines: In the U.S. Sixth Army area, Gen. MacArthur ordered Manila Bay to be reopened, a task that entailed clearing Bataan, Corregidor, and the south coast of the bay in the Ternate area. In XIV Corps area, 1st Cavalry Div, when forward elements reached the city limits of Manila, was given permission to enter and did so. 37th Div, whose progress was slower, was to clear a narrow zone along the waterfront. Slowed because they had to move on foot and cross numerous streams, forward elements of 37th Div were still short of Manila, at Meycauayan. In the U.S. Eighth Army area, 511th Para Infantry of 11th Airborne Div was dropped along Tagaytay Ridge. Drops were widely scattered, but paratroopers were unopposed and regrouped by 1500hrs to make contact with 188th Infantry at the west end of the ridge and seized the road junction at the east end. With the ridge secured, plans were made to employ 511th Infantry in the northward advance on Manila.
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Post by emron on Feb 4, 2020 12:40:47 GMT 12
4 February 1940
United Kingdom: Destroyers HMS Basilisk and Brilliant sailed from Dover; the former with the Prime Minister, War Cabinet and Chief of Staff for Boulogne. They were on their way to attend a meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme War Council in Paris.
4 February 1945
U.S.-British-Soviet conference (Magneto) opened at Yalta in the Crimea to consider Allied strategy and related political issues. This was the second phase of the Argonaut Conference. In attendance were President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin.
India-Burma-China: The first convoy of 113 vehicles that had departed 12 January from Ledo, Assam, India, led by Brigadier-General Lewis Pick, made a triumphal entry into Kunming, China. General Pick had overseen the construction of the Ledo Road which ran 465 miles to the Mong-Yu road junction, where it met the Burma Road. To get to the Mong-Yu junction the Ledo Road had to span 10 major rivers and 155 secondary streams, averaging one bridge every 2.8 miles. In the six months following its opening, trucks carried 129,000 tons of supplies from India to China Twenty-six thousand trucks that carried the cargo (one way) were handed over to the Chinese.
Commonwealth of the Philippines: Battle of Manila; In U.S. Sixth Army's XIV Corps area, elements of 1st Cavalry Division, within Manila, conducted local patrolling while awaiting arrival of reinforcements and they attempted unsuccessfully to take Quezon Bridge, the only crossing over the Pasig River that the Japanese had not destroyed. As the squadron approached the bridge, Japanese heavy machine guns opened fire from a formidable roadblock thrown up across Quezon Boulevard, forcing the cavalry to stop its advance and withdraw until nightfall. As the Americans and Filipinos pulled back, the Japanese blew up the bridge. The 37th Infantry Division freed more than a 1,000 prisoners of war, mostly former defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, held at Bilibid Prison which had been abandoned by the Japanese. The 1st Cavalry Division in the north and the 11th Airborne Division in the south reported stiffening Japanese resistance to further advances into the city.
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