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• On Luzon, Philippine Islands, American troops captured the Bataan Peninsula while paratroopers assaulted the island of Corregidor at the tip of the peninsula. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | TH]
• US 83rd Infantry Division became part of the XIX Corps of the Ninth Army of US 12th Army Group. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Wake Island arrived 49 miles southwest of Iwo Jima, Japan and provided spotter aircraft for the battleship gun crews for the next three days. ww2dbase [Wake Island | CPC]
• USS Sennet sank Japanese minelayer Nariu south of Japan, hitting her with 2 of 3 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]

• Indian 17th Division began crossing the Irrawady River in Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | CPC]

• USS Shamrock Bay departed Ulithi, Caroline Islands as a part of Task Unit 50.8.25 in support of the invasion of Iwo Jima, Japan. ww2dbase [Shamrock Bay | Ulithi | CPC]

• German 39.Panzer Korps and 10.SS-Panzer Korps began their parts of Operation Sonnenwende in Pommern, Germany. ww2dbase [East Pomeranian Offensive | Pommern | TH]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against a coke plant at Dortmund, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Dortmund | DS]

• Air Group 80 flew 6 strikes against Tokyo, Japan as part of the first carrier-borne air attack on Japan since the Doolittle Raid 3 years earlier; 3 men and 3 aircraft from Air Group 80 were lost. ww2dbase [Hancock | Albert O. Vorse, Jr. | Tokyo | DS]
• USS Wasp's aircraft conducted a fighter sweep over Japan; several fighters were lost in the ensuing engagement. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and TF58 strike the Tokyo area of Honshu, Japan in the first carrier-borne air strikes against the Japanese home islands since the Doolittle Raid on 18 Apr 1942. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Battle of Iwo Jima | Tokyo | DS]
• Aircraft from USS Sargent Bay made their first attack of Japanese positions on Iwo Jima on Day D -3. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | Battle of Iwo Jima | Iwo Jima | DS]

• USS Bennington launched her first offensive strikes of the war against targets around Tokyo and Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Bennington | DS]
• USS Anzio, USS Tabberer, and the rest of their task group arrived southwest of Iwo Jima where the carriers launched pre-invasion strikes against the island. ww2dbase [Battle of Iwo Jima | Henry Plage | Anzio | Tabberer | DS]

• German V-2 rocket hit Crownford Road in Leyton, London, England, United Kingdom at 2345 hours, killing 25 and seriously injuring 10. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 2 | V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | CPC]

• USS St. Louis departed San Pedro, California for shakedown exercises off the California coast. ww2dbase [St. Louis | San Pedro, California | DS]

• USS Parche received fuel at Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Parche | Midway | CPC]

16 Feb 1945 Interactive Map