World war II chronology - January 1945

1 January 1945	The German Luftwaffe launches Operation North Wind, 1000 sorties of fighter planes in a series of major raids on 27 Allied airfields in Holland, Belgium, and northwest France. They destroy over 300 Allied aircraft, but lose nearly 200 of their own. German anti-aircraft batteries, which were not informed of the raids, shoot down many of their own returning planes. (This is the German air force's largest single-day loss of the war.) 104 British bombers attack the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Germany, causing a large breach. 157 British bombers attack the Mittelland Canal, breaching it.
2 January 1945	Over 500 British Lancaster bombers attack Nuremberg, destroying most of the centre of the old city, and inflicting great damage to the industrial areas. 381 British Lancaster bombers attack the industrial area of Ludwigshafen, Germany.
3 January 1945	In Burma, Japanese forces abandon Akyab. US forces complete the capture of Mindoro in the Philippines. In France, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery launches his force's attack from the north on German forces. In Canada, the first of the conscripted soldiers leave Halifax, Nova Scotia, for overseas duty.
4 January 1945	Sixty-nine American B-29 bombers from the Marianas Islands attack Kobe, Japan, with incendiary bombs, destroying 2.5 million square feet of the city. Over 350 British bombers attack German gun positions at Royan, France. Most of the town is destroyed. Hundreds of civilians are killed, but the German garrison does not surrender.
5 January 1945	British Bomber Command makes an air raid against rail yards at Ludwigshafen, Germany. 659 British bombers attack Hanover, Germany, inflicting great damage. 31 planes are shot down.
7 January 1945	British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery gives a press conference about British and American cooperation in the Ardennes offensive. What he says comes pff as arrogant and belittling. About 600 British bombers attack Munich, Germany. They inflict great destruction to the centre and industrial areas.
8 January 1945	Adolf Hitler orders panzers to withdraw from the farthest reach of the bulge in France.
9 January 1945	The US 6th Army lands on central Luzon in the Philippines.
12 January 1945	Soviet forces begin an assault toward Berlin, 300 miles away. 70 divisions of the 1st Ukrainian Front cross the Vistula River near Baranov, 120 miles south of Warsaw, Poland.
13 January 1945	British Royal Marine Commando unit launches a third assault on Kapelsche Veer, Holland, at night. Germans, safely underground, fire mortar shells on their own positions, inflicting heavy casualties on the British attackers.
14 January 1945	British bombers conclude three air raids over two days on rail targets at Saarbrücken, Germany. 568 sorties are flown, dropping 1660 tons of bombs. Only one plane is shot down. 587 British bombers attack an oil plant at Leuna, Germany.   France issues a postage stamp to commemorate the liberation of the country.
16 January 1945	In Germany, Arthur Nebe is arrested. He had been director of Reich Criminal Police and member of Nazi resistance since 1938. He was in hiding since July 24. In Athens, Greece, the National People's Liberation Army is defeated by government and British forces. 328 British bombers attack Zeitz, near Leipzig, Germany. 237 British bombers attack the oil plant at Brüz, in Czechoslovakia.   A German naval mechanic accidentally fires a torpedo at a flotilla of 30 Biber midget submarines. They all explode in a chain reaction. War action in Italy halts at the Senio River for the winter. The German Messerschmidt Me-262 jet fighter-bomber is released for use. Americans suspend plans for large-scale anthrax production.
17 January 1945	Soviet forces liberate Warsaw, Poland. Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is picked up by Russian NKVD secret police in Budapest, Hungary. (He is not ever seen again in the West. During his time in Europe, he saved about 20,000 Jews from Nazi detainment.)
19 January 1945	Soviet forces reach the German frontier in Silesia.
20 January 1945	The commander of the American airforce on the Mariana islands, General Haywood Hansell, is replaced by General Curtis Le May. German forces in Hungary surrender to the Soviet army.
22 January 1945	Four squadrons of British Spitfire planes knock out a German liquid oxygen factory at Alblasserdam.
23 January 1945	German Dr. Hans Gisevius crosses from Germany into Switzerland, after hiding since July 20, 1944.
24 January 1945	Soviet armored units reach the Oder River south of Breslau.
25 January 1945	The British Joint Intelligence Committee recommends air attacks on Berlin and other east German towns. 172 American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, Japan, burning 27,000 buildings.
26 January 1945	In Holland, the Canadian 4th Armoured Division launches Operation Elephant, to take Kapelsche Veer on a small island in the Maas River from German occupation. American Audie Murphy kills or wounds about fifty German soldiers. (He is later awarded the Medal of Honor medal.) British Air Ministry head Charles Portal seeks and receives approval from SHAEF Chiefs of Staff and General Spatz for one big air attack on Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, or Chemnitz, where such an attack would hamper German troop movement and evacuation from the eastern front.
27 January 1945	The Soviet Red Army liberates Auschwitz. The British Air Ministry instructs Bomber Command to bomb east German cities to exploit confused conditions during the Russian advance.
28 January 1945	American troops regain the front lines against the Germans held on December 16. Allied armies suffered about 83,000 casualties, and lost about 800 tanks. Germany lost over 100,000 men, 800 tanks, and 1000 aircraft.
29 January 1945	More American forces land on central Luzon.
30 January 1945	German passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff is struck by three Soviet torpedoes off Danzig. The ship quickly capsizes, with the loss of 5200-5400 of estimated 6100 on board. Worst sea loss ever. In Malta, British and American representatives meet over five days to discuss military strategy, Italy, China, and occupation zones in Germany.
31 January 1945	Final German forces abandon Kapelsche Veer island in the Maas River, Holland. American private Edward Donald Slovik of the 28th Infantry Division is executed by firing squad for desertion. Soviet forces reach the lower Oder River near Küstrin. More American forces land on central Luzon, the Philippines.