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• » 17 Oct 1944

• Pavel Haas passed away. ww2dbase [Pavel Haas | CPC]
• Adolf Eichmann returned to Hungary. ww2dbase [Adolf Eichmann | CPC]
• USS Croaker damaged a small Japanese sampan with the deck gun. ww2dbase [Croaker | CPC]
• Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi took command of the 1st Air Fleet based in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Takijiro Onishi | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland bombarded airfields on Nicobar Islands with HM Cruisers London, Suffolk and Fleet destroyers as Task Group 63.2 (Operation Millet. Note: This was a diversionary operation during the US assault on Leyte and included attacks on Japanese positions). ww2dbase [London | Cumberland | DS]
• The US coastal minesweeper YMS-70 was lost in a storm off Leyte, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [AC]
• USS Hawkbill arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Hawkbill | CPC]
• Lavrentiy Beria informed Joseph Stalin that Viktor Abakumov had transferred 100 SMERSH personnel to reinforce the staff of the Main Information Directorate (under Piotr Kozuszko) of the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation. ww2dbase [Lavrentiy Beria | CPC]

• Four TDR drones were launched against Japanese installations near East Rabaul, New Britain. One of the four hit the objective, one hit a target of opportunity, a third was lost due to the failure of a tube in the receiver of the drone, and a fourth may have been shot down (light and inaccurate antiaircraft fire was noted). ww2dbase [TDR | Rabaul, New Britain | DS]

• 15 B-25 bombers of US 14th Air Force, escorted by 12 P-40 and 10 P-51 fighters, attacked Tianhe Airfield in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. ww2dbase [Tianhe Airfield | Guangzhou, Guangdong | CPC]

• Karl von Le Suire was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. ww2dbase [Karl von Le Suire | CPC]
• U-1234 was recommissioned into service with Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Christian Wrede in command. ww2dbase [U-1234 | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against rail facilities at Cologne, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Köln, Köln-Aachen | DS]

• USS St. Louis arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Kamoi departed Hong Kong at 0711 hours for a trial run, returning to Hong Kong at 0900 hours. ww2dbase [Kamoi | CPC]

• The major Soviet attacks near Debrecen, Hungary, were held off by German troops. ww2dbase [Budapest Strategic Offensive Operation | Debrecen | TH]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• USS Escolar sent her final ship-to-ship message to her wolfpack mates USS Perch, after which she was never heard from again. She was probably mined in the Yellow Sea on or shortly after this day. ww2dbase [Escolar | Yellow Sea | AC, CPC]

• USS Columbia supported landing operations at Dinagat Islands, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Columbia | CPC]

• Roza Shanina visited her family in Arkhangelsk, Russia. ww2dbase [Roza Shanina | Arkhangelsk | CPC]

• B-29 bombers of 40th Bombardment Group attacked Takao harbor, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Takao | CPC]

• Some 70 houses were damaged in the village of Kirby-le-Soken in Essex, England, United Kingdom when a V-1 came down. This date marked an increase in the number of flying bombs launched over the rest of the month. More night fighters were now sent up to the east coast. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | Kirby-le-Soken, England | HM]

• Bulgarian troops captured Kursumlija, Yugoslavia. ww2dbase [Belgrade Strategic Offensive Operation | Kursumlija, Serbia | CPC]

17 Oct 1944 Interactive Map