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• Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front established two bridgeheads over the Oder River near Küstrin, Germany (now Kostrzyn, Poland). ww2dbase [Vistula-Oder Offensive | TH]
• The Duke of Gloucester became the Governor-General of Australia, an appointment designed to ensure that Australia did not become a dependency of the United States. ww2dbase [AC]
• American submarine chaser PC-1129 intercepted Japanese Shinyo special attack boats in the Philippine Islands, but she was in turn rammed by one of the boats and was sunk. ww2dbase [Shinyo-class | CPC]

• USS Wake Island completed her repairs at Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Wake Island | Ulithi | CPC]

• Togo arrived at Pillau, Germany (now Baltiysk, Russia). ww2dbase [Togo / Coronel | East Prussian Offensive | Pillau, Ostpreußen | CPC]

• Submarines USS Thresher, USS Peto, and USS Shad departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi as a wolfpack bound initially for Saipan in the Mariana Islands. Thresher was starting her fifteenth war patrol, Peto her eighth, and Shad her ninth. Commander John Middleton aboard Thresher was the wolfpack commander. The wolfpack would be known as "Middleton's Mobsters." Submarine USS Tilefish sailed with the wolfpack bound for Saipan but would not be a part of the wolfpack after that. ww2dbase [Tilefish | Peto | Thresher | Shad | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Japanese Navy landing ship No. 148 was completed; this vessel was later turned over to the Army and was recommissioned as SB No. 113. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• USS Sennet arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Sennet | Saipan | CPC]

• USS Boarfish attacked a Japanese convoy three times in the South China Sea, sinking cargo ship Enki Maru (1 of 2 torpedoes hit) and damaging cargo ship Taietsu Maru (1 of 2 torpedoes hit; she would later be finished off by US aircraft). ww2dbase [Boarfish | South China Sea | CPC]
• While on patrol duty outside Apra Harbor, Guam, USS Bailey was detailed to search for downed airmen. With direction from rescue aircraft, Bailey recovered two Navy airman whose airplane had run out of fuel. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• In the Philippine Islands, elements of the 11th US Airborne Division came ashore at Nasugbu Bay, some 50 miles south of Manila and opposite Bataan at the mouth of Manila Bay. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | AC]
• Destroyer USS Shaw covered the landings at Nasugbu, Luzon south of Manila. ww2dbase [Shaw | Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Nasugbu, Luzon | DS]
• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Steamer Bay and her task group departed the Luzon area bound for Ulithi via Leyte. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | Luzon | DS]
• Destroyer USS Saufley and cutter USCGC Ingham arrived west of Luzon, Philippines. Saufley was assigned to escort rescue and salvage ship USS Grasp to Nasugbu Cove, Luzon. On arrival later that day, Saufley patrolled off Nasugbu covering the landings there. ww2dbase [Saufley | Nasugbu, Luzon | DS]

• The US Navy expanded the piston-jet mix-powered fighter contract with Ryan Aeronautical to 700 examples. ww2dbase [FR Fireball | CPC]
• [appx date] Fragments of a paper balloon envelope from a Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb were found near Nogales, Arizona, United States near the Mexican border. ww2dbase [Nogales, Arizona | DS]
• [appx date] Fragments of a paper balloon envelope from a Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb were found near Nogales, Arizona, United States near the Mexican border. ww2dbase [Fu-Go | Nogales, Arizona | DS]

31 Jan 1945 Interactive Map