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• » 17 Feb 1945

• US Third Army penetrated the Siegfried Line/Westwall and launched massive assault into German territory. ww2dbase [Advance to the Rhine | TH]
• Captain Ryo Kurusu, son of Japanese diplomat Saburo Kurusu, was killed in an accident on the ground at an airfield. ww2dbase [Saburo Kurusu | CPC]
• Soviet Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs Dekanozov sent a note to his superior Vyacheslav Molotov suggesting that Hungarian Count István Bethlen, who was already in Soviet custody, should be transferred to Moscow, Russia for interrogations for his past pro-British actions. ww2dbase [CPC]
• HMS Bluebell (Lieutenant G. H. Walker) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-711 in the Kola Inlet off Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | AC]
• USS Snook ended her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
• Venezuela declared war on Germany and Japan. ww2dbase [AC]

• Dmitry Karbyshev was doused with cold water and was left outside in the winter night at Mauthausen Concentration Camp in occupied Austria. ww2dbase [Dmitry Karbyshev | Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp | Mauthausen, Oberdonau | CPC]

• Indian 17th Division completed its crossing of the Irrawady River in Burma. Meanwhile, the Japanese counterattack on the Indian 7th Division at Nyaungu, Burma was turned by the Anglo-Indian troops, and the Japanese troops began falling back into the town. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Nyaungu | CPC]
• Despite being wounded in both ankles and then hit in both legs, Lieutenant Prakash Singh dragged himself around the battlefield to direct his troops against a Japanese force in Burma. Even when hit again and mortally wounded, he inspired his men to victory by shouting their traditional Dogra war cry until he died. Singh was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [AC]

• Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden arrived in Berlin, Germany to negotiate for the repatriation of Swedish woman who had married a German man but now widowed or deserted. ww2dbase [Folke Bernadotte | Berlin | CPC]

• USS Springer departed Guam, Mariana Islands for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Springer | CPC]

• USS Wisconsin arrived off Iwo Jima, Japan and bombarded Japanese positions on the island. ww2dbase [Wisconsin | Iwo Jima | CPC]
• Air Group 80 aircraft from USS Hancock flew 2 strikes against Tokyo, Japan; no men and no aircraft were lost. ww2dbase [Hancock | Tokyo | DS]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and TF58 strike the Tokyo area of Honshu, Japan before heading toward the Bonin Islands. ww2dbase [Battle of Iwo Jima | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Tokyo | DS]

• The Japanese Army SB craft formerly known as Navy landing ship No. 114 was sunk by US aircraft in the Pacific Ocean off Taiwan. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Allied convoy RA-64 departed the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• Nicholas Winton was promoted to the brevet rank of flying officer. ww2dbase [Nicholas Winton | CPC]

• USS Saint Paul was commissioned into service with Captain Ernest Herman von Heimburg in command. ww2dbase [Saint Paul | CPC]

17 Feb 1945 Interactive Map