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• Weather data for 31 Dec 1944

• Light carrier Ryuho departed Moji, Japan with convoy HI-87 with 58 Ohka weapons on board. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Cruiser Köln was damaged by Allied aerial attacks. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The British Home Guard was officially disbanded. ww2dbase [CPC]
• One B-17 Flying Fortress bomber of USAAF 8th Air Force attacked Helgoland, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German troops launched Operation Sylvester/Operation Nordwind, attacking south near Strasbourg, France. ww2dbase [TH]
• Otto Skorzeny arrived at Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Germany. He received care for his wounded left eye from Hitler's personal doctor Stumpfecker. Later in the day, he reported to Hitler regarding his commando mission during the Ardennes Offensive. As he departed, Wilhelm Keitel invited him to remain to join the rest of the German leaders for the New Year's celebration, but Skorzeny declined, opting to re-join his men in Cologne, Germany instead. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Theodor Osterkamp retired from the German Luftwaffe with the rank of Generalleutnant (equivalent to Air Vice Marshal in the British RAF). ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery took over command of the British Eighth Army in Italy from Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese. ww2dbase [AC]

• US troops re-captured Rochefort, Belgium, while the US Third Army began an offensive from Bastogne. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

• Japanese troops evacuated Akyab (now Sittwe), Burma. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens was invested with the royal powers of Greece pending his regency and called upon General Nikolaos Plastiras to form a Government. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• The Hungarian Provisional Government switched sides and declared war on Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Moji, Japan with convoy HI-87 for Takao, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• USS Ancon transited the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Jack Heyn arrived on Mindoro island, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• German V-2 rocket hit near the intersection of Stroud Green Road and Stapledon Hall Road in Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom at 2340 hours, killing 15 and seriously injuring 34. 15 homes were destroyed by this attack. This rocket was the 382nd, and the last, rocket to hit England in 1944. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]

• Lockheed delivered 13 YP-80A jet aircraft to the USAAF. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

31 Dec 1944 Interactive Map