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• With its war over, Finland lifted the ban on dancing, which was made illegal during the war. ww2dbase [TH]
• Japanese special attack aircraft sank minesweeper USS Long at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• USS Sea Robin sank the Japanese tanker Tarakan Maru in the Luzon Strait, hitting her with 2 of 3 torpedoes fired. She also fired another 9 torpedoes at a destroyer and another tanker, but none of them struck their targets. ww2dbase [Sea Robin | CPC]
• U-869 reported in to German submarine control, revealing its location to be 600 miles southwest of Iceland to both her German comrades as well as to American eavesdroppers. ww2dbase [U-869 | CPC]
• George Bush married Barbara Pierce. ww2dbase [George Bush | CPC]
• USS Pompon departed Majuro, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Pompon | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against rail facilities at Cologne, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Köln, Köln-Aachen | DS]

• USS Whale set sail for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii via Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]
• USS Columbia was struck by two special attack aircraft off the Philippine Islands. The second aircraft and its bomb penetrated two decks before the bomb detonated. 13 were killed and 44 were wounded. ww2dbase [Columbia | CPC]
• US Navy Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler was severely injured after being drenched in flaming gasoline when the cruiser USS Louisville was struck by a Japanese kamikaze special attack during the pre-assault bombardment off Lingayen Gulf in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Theodore Chandler | South China Sea | AC, DS]

• USS Ticonderoga launched Air Group 80 aircraft for strikes on Japanese positions in northern Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | DS]
• USS New Mexico shelled Japanese positions in the area of Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands. She was struck by Japanese special attack aircraft. Among the 30 men killed were her commanding officer Captain Robert Walton Fleming and members of an observing British military mission, including Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden, Winston Churchill's personal military representative to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Lingayen Gulf | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched planes against airfields on Luzon, Philippines and on anti-shipping strikes. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]
• USS Portland entered Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines for the first time in support of the landings there 3 days later. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Portland | Luzon | DS]
• USS Kimberly arrived at Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands. Her gunners shot down two Japanese aircraft that day. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Kimberly | Lingayen Gulf | CPC]
• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Steamer Bay and her task group arrived on station northwest of Luzon and began providing air cover for the Lingayen Gulf landings. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Steamer Bay | DS]

• Four Jewish women, Ella Gartner, Róza Robota, Regina Safir, and Estera Wajsblum, were executed by hanging in the female camp of Auschwitz Concentration Camp; they had smuggled explosives out of their workplace which were used during the 7 Oct 1944 uprising in the camp. About 100 other Auschwitz prisoners were also executed on this date, having sentenced to death by the Kattowitz Gestapo on the previous day; they faced a firing squad at Auschwitz II-Birkenau and were sent to Crematorium V. These prisoners were among the last to be executed at Auschwitz. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

6 Jan 1945 Interactive Map