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• Operation Blackcock: British forces cleared the Roer Triangle in Germany, which was known for dams that powered the German industry. ww2dbase [Advance to the Rhine | CPC]
• The RaLa Experiment of the Manhattan Project conducted its second test using exploding bridgewire detonators. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
• Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Nida River and moved toward Radomsko and the Warta River in central Poland. ww2dbase [Vistula-Oder Offensive | CPC]
• Hauptmann Alfred Banholzer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Dwight Eisenhower wrote to George Marshall recommending Omar Bradley to be promoted to the rank of a full general, citing Bradley's past success and the need to close the rank gap between Bradley and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. ww2dbase [Omar Bradley | CPC]

• The Norwegian 1,591-ton steam merchant Polarland was on route to Philadelphia, United States when she was torpedoed by German submarine U-1232 (Kurt Dobratz). The ship, carrying 1,200 tons of Feldspar sank within fifteen seconds of the explosion. Two crewmen saved themselves on a raft that had floated free and were joined by 3 others who managed to surface after the ship had gone under, they were picked up by the minesweeper HMCS Kentville (J 312) and landed in Halifax, Canada. The master Finn N. Abrahamsen and 15 crew were lost as was Bjarne Johnsen who had joined the ship as a gunner. ww2dbase [HM]

• After sundown, Indian 19th Division crossed the Irrawady River near Kyaukmyaung, Burma, 20 miles south of Thabeikkyin and 40 miles north of Mandalay. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Kyaukmyaung | CPC]

• Soviet 2nd Byelorussian Front launched its winter offensive from the Narev bridgehead toward Elbing, Germany (now Elblag, Poland). ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | Elbing, Danzig-Westpreußen | CPC]

• USS Spot sank two Japanese trawlers with her deck gun in the East China Sea 150 kilometers southeast of Shanghai, China. ww2dbase [Spot | East China Sea | CPC]

• 54 US 20th Air Force B-29 bombers from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China attacked Kagi Airfield in southern Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kagi Airfield | Kagi, Tainan | CPC]

14 Jan 1945 Interactive Map