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• » 2 Jan 1945

• In Copenhagen, Denmark, a V2 Rocket factory was destroyed by saboteurs. ww2dbase [TH]

• USS Barbero arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Barbero | Fremantle, Western Australia | CPC]

• Indian 2nd Division reached Yeu and crossed the Mu River in Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Yeu | CPC]
• Anglo-Indian XV Corps captured Akyab (now Sittwe), Burma without resistance. ww2dbase [Third Battle of Arakan | Akyab | CPC]

• Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, the mastermind behind the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 and now in charge of Allied ports in France, was killed when his aircraft crashes on take-off at Toussus-le-Noble, becoming the fourth senior Allied leader to die in a plane crash. He was en route to a conference with General Bernard Montgomery in Brussels, Belgium. ww2dbase [Bertram Ramsay | Toussus-le-Noble, Île-de-France | TH]

• Japanese convoy HI-84 arrived at Tourane, Annam, French Indochina at 0105 hours. ww2dbase [Stewart | Awa Maru | Kaiyo | Tourane, Annam | CPC]

• British bombers attacked Nürnberg, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Nürnberg, Franken | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Kyllburg, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Kyllburg | DS]

• USS Missouri and USS Tuscaloosa with USS Bailey, Bancroft and Wadsworth as escorts departed US Territory of Hawaii for Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Missouri | Bailey | Tuscaloosa | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 53 was formed this date, from Air Groups 42, 43, and 48, which were aboard. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides and Tambor-class submarine USS Tautog departed Saipan, Mariana Islands bound for their patrol area. ww2dbase [Tautog | Silversides | Saipan | DS]

• USS Becuna sank two small vessels in the Java Sea in two separate engagements with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Becuna | Java Sea | CPC]
• USS Spot sank a Japanese trawler with her deck gun in the Yellow Sea. ww2dbase [Spot | Yellow Sea | CPC]
• Destroyer USS Saufley rendezvoused at sea with Task Force 79, the attack force for Lingayen Gulf bound from Manus to Lingayen Gulf, Philippines. Saufley delivered the secret intelligence to the flagship and joined the destroyer screen. ww2dbase [Saufley | DS]

• USS Kimberly departed Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands to screen a battleship group toward Luzon. ww2dbase [Kimberly | Leyte Gulf | CPC]

• Dutch national Gerrit van der Waals, under employment of British SOE but nevertheless placed under arrest by the Soviets in Hungary, was transferred to another prison in Bucharest, Romania. ww2dbase [Bucharest | CPC]

• 46 American B-29 bombers based near Calcutta, India attacked a railroad bridge near Bangkok, Thailand and other targets in the area. ww2dbase [Bangkok | CPC]

2 Jan 1945 Interactive Map