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• The RaLa Experiment of the Manhattan Project conducted its first test using exploding bridgewire detonators. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
• Light cruiser USS Dayton (CL-105) was commissioned with Captain Paul William Steinhagen in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• US ace Major Thomas McGuire (38 victories) was killed in a low level combat with a group of Japanese Zero fighters led by Shiochi Sugita, the third-highest scoring ace of the Japanese Navy Air Force over Los Negros island. It was believed that McGuire failed to release his drop tanks whilst attempting a fast turn which caused his P-38 to stall and spin into the ground in a ball of fire. ww2dbase [P-38 Lightning | AC]
• Masafumi Arima was posthumously promoted to the rank of vice admiral. ww2dbase [Masafumi Arima | CPC]

• Anglo-Indian troops reached the outskirts of Shwebo, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | Shwebo | CPC]

• The German Navy began the first of a series of evacuation convoys between the Gulf of Danzig and the trapped German Army in Latvia. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Spot sank two small Japanese trawlers with her deck gun in the Yellow Sea. ww2dbase [Spot | Yellow Sea | CPC]
• The Japanese Army SB craft formerly known as Navy landing ship No. 112 was sunk by US aircraft in the South China Sea west of Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | South China Sea | CPC]
• Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler died aboard USS Louisville from wounds sustained the day before in an aerial special attack against the ship. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Theodore Chandler | South China Sea | DS]
• While escorting the Lingayen Gulf attack force off Manila, destroyers USS Shaw, Charles Ausburne, Braine, and Russel detected Japanese escort ship Hinoki at night. Following a barrage of gunfire, Hinoki sank with all hands with no damage to the American ships. ww2dbase [Invasion of Poland | Shaw | South China Sea | DS]

• USS Ticonderoga launched Air Group 80 aircraft for strikes on Japanese positions in northern Luzon, Philippine Islands; 4 men and 2 aircraft were lost. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | DS]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched planes against airfields on Luzon, Philippines and on anti-shipping strikes. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• Kamoi arrived in Takao, Taiwan after dodging several US submarine attacks during the day. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Takao | CPC]

7 Jan 1945 Interactive Map