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• Light cruiser USS Amsterdam (CL-101) was commissioned with Captain Andrew P. Lawton in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• HMAS Australia was damaged by Japanese special attack aircraft at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Australia | CPC]
• The Japanese Navy 2nd Air Fleet was officially disbanded after suffering major losses in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Rear Admiral Bunji Asakura was named the chief of staff of the Japanese 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Vice Admiral Minoru Tayui was named the commanding officer of the Japanese 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Another unpowered J8M Shusui/Ki-200 aircraft took flight, with water ballast installed in place of the rocket engine. ww2dbase [J8M Shusui / Ki-200 | CPC]
• USS Marcus Island's air group shot down four Japanese aircraft. ww2dbase [Marcus Island | CPC]
• Soviet 5th Army formally granted Roza Shanina the permission to fight on the front lines. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Speyer, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Speyer | DS]

• USS Brill arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Brill | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
• Submarine USS Thresher completed her overhaul and refit at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. ww2dbase [Thresher | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• I-401 was commissioned into service at Sasebo, Japan under the command of Lieutenant Commander Nobukiyo Nambu. The ceremony was attended by very few, as she was a top secret submarine. She departed Sasebo later in the same day for the Inland Sea. ww2dbase [I-401 | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler was buried at sea from the deck of USS Louisville after being killed in an aerial special attack two days earlier. ww2dbase [Theodore Chandler | South China Sea | DS]

• Allied convoy JW-63 arrived at the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• The US Fast Carrier Task Force refueled then sailed toward Taiwan. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Kamoi departed Takao, Taiwan at 1200 hours but anchored outside the port due to engine trouble of convoy mate Kaiho Maru. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Takao | CPC]

• German V-2 rocket hit the junction of LMS and Met. railway lines behind 114 Iverson Road between West End Lane and Kilburn High Road in Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom at 1630 hours. 2 were killed, 64 seriously injured, and 57 lightly injured. The rocket destroyed 14 houses, badly damaged 152 houses, and lightly damaged 1,600 houses. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | London, England | CPC]

• USS Springer departed Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Springer | Vallejo, California | CPC]

8 Jan 1945 Interactive Map