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• Weather data for 21 Jan 1945

• USS Sennet attacked a Japanese tanker off the Bonin Islands; all 8 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• In Burma, the Chinese Expeditionary Force supported by USAAF aircraft based in China captured Wangting. ww2dbase [AC]

• Norwegian 1,152-ton merchant freighter Galatea (Master Peder Brendsdal) was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo from German submarinew U-1051 and sank immediately off Bardsey Island in the St. Georges Channel. The master, 16 crew members and three gunners were lost. The sole survivor, stoker Harald Hvidtsten was picked up from a raft by the frigate HMS Tyler a few hours later. ww2dbase [HM]

• Indian 26th Division landed on Ramree Island, Burma. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Tasked with making a precision attack on V-1 launch sites in northern France, "Mickey" Martin of No. 617 Squadron (The "Old Lags" squadron because it was made up of experienced and skilled veterans who had volunteered to continue flying missions beyond the end of their normal tours) used a four-engine Lancaster bomber to dive-bomb the target in order to accurately position marker flares for the following aircraft. Pulling out of his dive at a mere 400 feet Martin so accurately placed the markers that a reconnaissance on the following day showed the target to have been completely demolished. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• Red Army units captured Tannenburg, East Prussia, Germany (now Stebark, Poland), but only after the Germans destroyed the monument memorializing the 1914 German victory over the Soviets. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Bauyrzhan Momyshuly was made the commanding officer of 9th Guards Rifle Division while fighting in Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Submarine I-369 departed Yokosuka, Japan with supplies for Minamitorishima (Marcus Island). ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Ticonderoga launched Air Group 80 aircraft for strikes on Taiwan; 1 man and 3 aircraft were lost. Later that day, Ticonderoga was struck by two special attack aircraft at about 120 miles southeast of Taiwan, killing 143 men and injuring 202 others. Commander Harmon Vedder Briner took temporary command of the carrier as Captain Dixie Kiefer was injured in the attacks. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]
• USS Boarfish attacked a Japanese convoy three times in the South China Sea in a period of three hours before dawn; all 16 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Miami shot down a Japanese A6M fighter. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Dixie Kiefer sustained injuries aboard USS Ticonderoga during an attack by a Japanese special attack aircraft at about 120 miles southeast of Taiwan. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• Raoul Wallenberg was transferred to the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, Russia. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on Formosa (Taiwan). ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | DS]

• Allied convoy RA-63 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

21 Jan 1945 Interactive Map