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The following events occurred in January 1945:

January 1, 1945 (Monday)

  • The Luftwaffe executed Operation Bodenplatte, an attempt to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries. The operation was a tactical German success but failed in its aim of achieving air superiority.
  • Chenogne massacre: American soldiers retaliated for the Malmedy massacre by killing German prisoners of war near the village of Chenogne, Belgium.
  • Britain refused to recognize the Polish Committee of National Liberation.[1]
  • German radio broadcast a New Year's Day address by Adolf Hitler. The 26-minute speech offered no information on the battlefield situation or any hint that the war was nearing its end, only a declaration that the war would continue until victory was won. The foreign media speculated as to whether the speech was live or pre-recorded, and even whether it was Hitler's voice at all.[2][3]

January 2, 1945 (Tuesday)

  • RAF bombers conducted heavy raids on Nuremberg and Ludwigshafen; in both cities over 2,300 tons of bombs were dropped.[4] Some ninety percent of Nuremberg's old medieval town center was destroyed.[5]
  • Philippines Campaign: A U.S. bombardment fleet bound for invasion beaches on Luzon left Leyte with a force including six battleships, twelve escort carriers and thirty-nine destroyers.[6]
  • Died: Bertram Ramsay, 61, British admiral (plane crash near Paris)

January 3, 1945 (Wednesday)

January 4, 1945 (Thursday)

January 5, 1945 (Friday)

January 6, 1945 (Saturday)

  • Japanese kamikaze attacks against American ships in the Lingayen Gulf region damaged the battleships USS New Mexico and California, two cruisers and four destroyers.[9]
  • Turkey severed diplomatic relations with Japan.[9]
  • British Field Marshal Harold Alexander arrived in Athens as the Dekemvriana clashes continued.[10]
  • The British destroyer Walpole struck a mine in the North Sea and was rendered a constructive total loss.
  • U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the State of the Union message. For the first and only time during his presidency, Roosevelt did not deliver the message as a speech before a joint session of Congress. Rather, he delivered it to Congress as a written message and recited a summary of the speech over the radio.[11] The message concluded: "1945 can and must see the substantial beginning of the organization of world peace. This organization must be the fulfillment of the promise for which men have fought and died in this war. It must be the justification of all the sacrifices that have been made-of all the dreadful misery that this world has endured. We Americans of today, together with our Allies, are making history-and I hope it will be better history than ever has been made before. We pray that we may be worthy of the unlimited opportunities that God has given us."[12]
Wedding of Barbara and George H. W. Bush.
  • Future United States President George H. W. Bush and future First Lady Barbara Bush were married.
  • Died: Herbert Lumsden, 47, British lieutenant general (killed by a kamikaze attack on the bridge of the battleship New Mexico during the bombardment of Luzon); Vladimir Vernadsky, 81, Russian/Ukrainian mineralogist and geochemist

January 7, 1945 (Sunday)

January 8, 1945 (Monday)

January 9, 1945 (Tuesday)

January 10, 1945 (Wednesday)

  • The British Fourteenth Army captured Gangaw, Burma.[15]
  • Born: Gunther von Hagens, anatomist, in Skalmierzyce, Poland; Jennifer Moss, actress and singer, in Wigan, Lancashire, England (d. 2006); Rod Stewart, singer, in Highgate, North London, England
  • Died: Pfc. Alex M. Penkala, Jr., Paratrooper assigned to Company E ("Easy Company"), 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He and his comrade Warren H. "Skip" Muck were killed by German artillery fire on the outskirts of the Belgian Luxembourg town of Foy. They were taking cover in a foxhole from the artillery when a direct hit landed on them. He and his comrades had their story told by historian Stephen Ambrose in his 1992 work Band of Brothers.

January 11, 1945 (Thursday)

January 12, 1945 (Friday)

January 13, 1945 (Saturday)

January 14, 1945 (Sunday)

January 15, 1945 (Monday)

January 16, 1945 (Tuesday)

January 17, 1945 (Wednesday)

January 18, 1945 (Thursday)

January 19, 1945 (Friday)

January 20, 1945 (Saturday)

January 21, 1945 (Sunday)

  • Hungary declared war on Germany.[1]
  • The 3rd Belorussian Front captured Gumbinnen, while the 1st Belorussian Front crossed the Warthen and approached Poznań.[27]
  • To prevent their desecration by the Soviets, the Germans began demolishing key structures of the Tannenberg Memorial and disinterred the remains of Paul von Hindenburg and his wife ahead of the Red Army's advance.
  • Hitler ordered that every commanding officer from division level upward was required to notify him of all planned movements so he could override them if he saw fit.[27]
  • German submarine German submarine U-1199 was depth charged and sunk off the Isles of Scilly by British warships.
  • USS Ticonderoga is struck by two Kamikaze.
  • Died: Archibald Murray, 84, British Army officer

January 22, 1945 (Monday)

January 23, 1945 (Tuesday)

January 24, 1945 (Wednesday)

January 25, 1945 (Thursday)

January 26, 1945 (Friday)

  • The Battle for the Kapelsche Veer began in the Netherlands.
  • The battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket began on the Eastern Front.
  • The Przyszowice massacre began in Upper Silesia. Between this day and January 28, soldiers of the Red Army killed between 54 and 69 civilian inhabitants of the Polish village of Przyszowice. The reason for the massacre remains unknown.
  • American Lt. Audie Murphy earned the Medal of Honor near Holtzwihr, France, when he saved his company from potential encirclement by climbing onto a burning U.S. tank destroyer and single-handedly killing or wounding 50 Germans with its .50 caliber machine gun until its ammunition was exhausted. Despite taking a leg wound Murphy made his way back to his company and organized a counterattack that forced the Germans to withdraw.[29]
  • British frigate HMS Manners was torpedoed and broken in two in the Irish Sea by German submarine U-1051, which was then sunk in turn by depth charges from Royal Navy frigates.
  • The war film Objective, Burma! starring Errol Flynn premiered in New York City.
  • Born: Jacqueline du Pré, cellist, in Oxford, England (d. 1987)
  • Died: Tom Pendergast, 72, American political boss, convicted felon and mentor to the then-newly inaugurated Vice President Truman.

January 27, 1945 (Saturday)

January 28, 1945 (Sunday)

January 29, 1945 (Monday)

January 30, 1945 (Tuesday)

  • While evacuating German civilians, Nazi officials and military personnel from Gdynia, the German military transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13. 9,400 people died, making it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
  • On the twelfth anniversary of the Nazis coming to power, a speech by Adolf Hitler was broadcast wearily appealing once again for the German people to keep up a spirit of resistance. It was the last public speech Hitler ever made.[33]
  • The Second Battle of Kesternich began just inside the German border with Belgium.
  • U.S. and Filipino forces conducted the Raid at Cabanatuan and liberated more than 552 Allied prisoners of war from a camp near Cabanatuan.
  • Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester became Governor-General of Australia.
  • In Italy, the Ivanoe Bonomi government issued a decree granting women the right to vote.[34] The Mussolini regime had granted women the right to vote in 1925, but only at local levels.[35]
  • President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at Malta for discussions preparatory to next week's Yalta Conference.[36]
  • The German historical film Kolberg premiered in Berlin. The film, telling the story of the Prussian city of Kolberg successfully holding out against a siege by the French during the Napoleonic Wars, was intended as Nazi propaganda to encourage the German population to continue the fight against the Allies.
  • Born: Michael Dorris, novelist and scholar, in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1997)
  • Died: William Goodenough, 77, British admiral

January 31, 1945 (Wednesday)

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mercer, Derrik, ed. (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 616. ISBN 978-0-582-03919-3.
  2. Kershaw, Ian (2001). Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis (ebook). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-192581-3.
  3. "Hitler Confident of Victory". The Advocate. Burnie: 5. January 2, 1945.
  4. "Was war am 02. Januar 1945". chroniknet. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  5. Ring, Trudy, ed. (1995). International Dictionary of Historic Places, Volume 2: Northern Europe. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-63951-7.
  6. Ross, Steven T. (1997). American War Plans, 1941–1945: The Test of Battle. Routledge. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-7146-4634-3.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "1945". Burma Star Association. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  8. "British Burma (1920–1948)". University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Events occurring on Saturday, January 6, 1945". WW2Timelines.com. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  10. "E.L.A.S. Resistance Crumbling in Greece". The Advocate. Burnie: 1. January 8, 1945.
  11. Peters, Gerbhard; Woolley, John T. "State of the Union Address and Messages". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  12. "President Roosevelt's Message to Congress on the State of the Nation". ibiblio. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  13. "War Diary for Sunday, 7 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  14. "War Diary for Monday, 8 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  15. "War Diary for Wednesday, 10 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "1945". MusicAndHistory.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  17. "War Diary for Sunday, 13 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  18. Davidson, Edward; Manning, Dale (1999). Chronology of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. p. 231. ISBN 0-304-35309-4.
  19. 1 2 Bergström, Christer (2014). The Ardennes, 1944–1945. Casemate Publishers. p. 379. ISBN 978-1-61200-277-4.
  20. "War Diary for Monday, 15 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  21. 1 2 "War Diary for Tuesday, 16 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  22. "War Diary for Wednesday, 17 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  23. 1 2 "1945". World War II Database. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  24. 1 2 Lerski, George (1996). Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. Greenwood Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-313-03456-5.
  25. 1 2 3 "War Diary for Friday, 19 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  26. "War Diary for Saturday, 20 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  27. 1 2 "War Diary for Sunday, 21 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  28. 1 2 "War Diary for Tuesday, 23 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  29. "Audie Murphy's Single Handed Battle, Kills 50, HOlds Line". World War II Today. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  30. "War Diary for Sunday, 28 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  31. Muraca, Ilio (2008). "E quei generali marciavano, marciavano e morivano". Patria Indipendente (in Italian). No. 9. Roma. pp. 21–23. ISSN 0031-3130.
  32. 1 2 "War Diary for Monday, 29 January 1945". Stone & Stone Books. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  33. Fest, Joachim (1974). Hitler. Harcourt Books. p. 723. ISBN 978-0-544-19554-7.
  34. "Suffrage Granted to Italian Women". The Milwaukee Journal: 1. January 30, 1945.
  35. Donati, Sabina (2013). A Political History of National Citizenship and Identity in Italy, 1861–1950. Stanford University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-8047-8733-8.
  36. Leonard, Thomas M. (1977). Day By Day: The Forties. New York: Facts On File, Inc. p. 468. ISBN 0-87196-375-2.
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