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• In the Philippine Islands, Japanese aircraft attacked the American invasion fleet bound for Luzon. Special attack aircraft damaged cruiser USS Louisville, Australian cruiser HMAS Australia, destroyer USS Helm, destroyer USS Stafford, Australian destroyer HMAS Arunta, escort carrier USS Manila Bay, and escort carrier USS Savo Island. Meanwhile, American aircraft sunk Japanese destroyers Momi and damaged destroyers Hinoki and Sugi west of Manila Bay. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• Three American light cruisers and nine destroyers bombarded various targets in the Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Wake Island took on 19 survivors of sunken USS Ommaney Bay. In the afternoon, the task group she sailed with was subjected to heavy air attacks; her anti-aircraft gun crews claimed three Japanese aircraft shot down. ww2dbase [Wake Island | CPC]
• USS Hawkbill arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Hawkbill | CPC]
• Aircraft from USS Marcus Island damaged a Japanese midget submarine in the Mindanao Sea in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Marcus Island | CPC]

• The German attack on Bastogne, Belgium was called off. ww2dbase [Battle of the Bulge | CPC]

• 28 P-40N and P-51D fighters of the US 14th Air Force and Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional) from Laohekou, Hubei, China attacked the Japanese airfield at Wuhan in the same province, destroying 50 Japanese aircraft in the air and on the ground. One Chinese fighter was shot down. Two of the Chinese victories was scored by Tan Kun, flying a P-40N fighter, against one Ki-43 aircraft and one Ki-44 aircraft at 1400 hours. ww2dbase [Tan Kun | CPC]
• Kamoi and the rest of convoy HI-87 departed Zhoushan Islands off the coast of Zhejiang Province, China. ww2dbase [Kamoi | CPC]

• USS Sennet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Sennet | CPC]

• American cruisers, destroyers, and carrier aircraft attacked the Bonin Islands. At Iwo Jima, a Japanese landing ship was sunk by destroyer fire. At Chichi Jima, destroyer USS Fanning sank a Japanese freighter by gunfire and a torpedo, while destroyer USS David W. Taylor was damaged by a mine. ww2dbase [Battle of Iwo Jima | CPC]

• USS Boarfish departed Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Boarfish | CPC]

• USS Whale searched for survivors of a downed B-29 Superfortress bomber east of Tokyo, Japan without success. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]
• SB No. 123 (formerly landing ship No. 107) was sunk by a US destroyer in the Pacific Ocean west of Hahajima, Bonin Islands, Japan. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• The Japanese Army SB craft previously known as the Navy landing ship No. 154 was sunk by a US destroyer in the Pacific Ocean off Iwo Jima, Japan. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• The last session of the police summary court of the Kattowitz Gestapo took place in block 11 in Auschwitz I camp. Around 100 Polish prisoners were condemned to death, to be executed by firing squad on the next day. The court was presided by Johannes Thuemmler. These prisoners were under the jurisdiction of the Gestapo and not of the commandant of the concentration camp. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | CPC]

• German V-2 rocket hit the golf course at Croydon, London, England, United Kingdom, making a crater 40 feet wide. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | CPC]

• USS Segundo arrived at Apra, Guam, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Segundo | CPC]

5 Jan 1945 Interactive Map