World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 17 Feb 1945

• USS Snook ended her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• US Third Army penetrated the Siegfried Line/Westwall and launched massive assault into German territory. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Venezuela declared war on Germany and Japan. ww2dbase [AC]
• HMS Bluebell (Lieutenant G. H. Walker) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-711 in the Kola Inlet off Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• 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]
• Captain Ryo Kurusu, son of Japanese diplomat Saburo Kurusu, was killed in an accident on the ground at an airfield. ww2dbase [Main Article | 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]
• 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 [Main Article | CPC]

• 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 [Main Article | CPC]

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

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

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

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

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

17 Feb 1945 Interactive Map