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• US First and Third Armies linked up near Houffalize, Belgium, while British Second Army attacked near Maas River. The Germans were pushed back to the line prior to the launch of the Ardennes Offensive. ww2dbase [Battle of the Bulge | TH]

• HMS King George V departed Trincomalee, Ceylon. ww2dbase [King George V | CPC]

• USS Ticonderoga launched Air Group 80 aircraft for strikes on Hainan island in southern China; 5 men and 3 aircraft were lost. ww2dbase [Raid into the South China Sea | Ticonderoga | DS]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) struck Canton (Guangzhou), China again and Hong Kong. ww2dbase [Raid into the South China Sea | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• Adolf Hitler arrived in Berlin, Germany, and would remain here until the end of his life. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]
• Roza Shanina wrote in her diary "What I've actually done? No more than I have to as a Soviet man, having stood up to defend the motherland." ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | CPC]

• US aircraft attacked Hong Kong harbor. Japanese sources noted 1,000 civilian deaths and 3,000 wounded, although these numbers were likely to be inflated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Kamoi, at anchor off Kennedy Town in Hong Kong, was heavily damaged at 1240 hours during an air raid by aircraft of US Navy Task Force. The direct bomb hit destroyed the engine room and disabled her. Later in the day, she was strafed by a P-51 fighter of USAAF 14th Air Force. ww2dbase [Kamoi | CPC]

• Soviet foreign office in Budapest, Hungary told Sweden that Raoul Wallenberg was in Soviet custody. ww2dbase [Raoul Wallenberg | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 119 was completed and was transferred to the Japanese Army. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• ShCh-307 sank German merchant ship Henrietta Schulze southwest of Liepaja, Latvia. ww2dbase [ShCh-307 | CPC]

• USS Luce arrived at San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Luce | CPC]

• Soviet troops liberated concentration camps at Czestochowa (800 prisoners) and Lodz (870 prisoners) in Poland. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• German troops evacuated Kielce, Poland. ww2dbase [Vistula-Oder Offensive | CPC]

• Aircraft from USS Enterprise struck neutral Portuguese Macau, destroying stores of aviation fuel at the Naval Aviation Center. ww2dbase [Raid into the South China Sea | Enterprise | CPC]

16 Jan 1945 Interactive Map