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• Despite being wounded, US Army 2nd Lieutenant Audie Murphy single-handedly repelled tank and infantry attacks on his unit's position at Colmar, France. The action earned Murphy America's highest award for bravery, the Medal of Honor. Beginning as a private and earning a battlefield commission, he finished the war as his country's most decorated soldier with 33 medals and was personally credited with killing 240 enemies. After the war, the baby-faced hero made a fortune as a B-movie film star before being killed in a plane crash in 1971, aged 46. After President John F Kennedy, his grave was the most visited plot in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Audie Murphy | AC]
• German 17th Army received permission to withdraw from Katowice, Poland. ww2dbase [Vistula-Oder Offensive | CPC]
• USS Sennet attacked a Japanese patrol boat off the Bonin Islands; the single torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• Captain Edmund Wooldridge was named the commanding officer of USS New Jersey. ww2dbase [New Jersey | CPC]

• Anglo-Indian troops landed on Cheduba Island, Burma; the landing was unopposed. ww2dbase [Third Battle of Arakan | Cheduba | CPC]

• USS Astoria arrived at Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Astoria (Cleveland-class) | Ulithi | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and TF38 entered Ulithi lagoon, Caroline Islands for arming, provisioning, and upkeep. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Ulithi | DS]

• Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was put in command of Armeegruppe Weichsel, or Army Group Vistula, as Soviet troops broke through the Gulf of Danzig and isolated three German armies in East Prussia, Germany. Soviet forces were now within 95 miles of Berlin, Germany. Meanwhile, thousands of German refugees were killed while waiting for ships to evacuate them from East Prussia when a nearby ammunition depot was detonated by a Soviet aerial attack. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | TH]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her 23th voyage with the Japanese Navy. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Kamikaze departed Moji, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan to escort Convoy HI-91 for part of the convoy's journey. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Moji, Fukuoka | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Saufley arrived at Leyte Gulf, Leyte, Philippines. ww2dbase [Saufley | Leyte Gulf, Leyte | DS]

• An air burst from a German V-2 rocket over Cotswold Gardens, London, England, United Kingdom caused widespread damage. Another rocket hit Clapham, London at 1045 hours, seriously injuring 25 and lightly injuring 42. Another rocket hit Croydon, London in an open space without causing any injuries. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 2 | V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | CPC]

• USS Whale arrived at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States for a scheduled overhaul. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Whale | Vallejo, California | CPC]
• USS Capitaine was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander E. S. Friedrick in command. ww2dbase [Capitaine | CPC]

26 Jan 1945 Interactive Map