January 2, 1945
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

TUESDAY, 2 JANUARY 1945

CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): Six B-25s bomb Kentung, Burma. 30+ P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance attack targets of opportunity, mainly railroad traffic, at or near Lohochai, Pengpu, and Sinyang, China; and Man Pong, Wanling, and Wan Pa-Hsa, Burma.

HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 24: 49 B-29s, operating from the Calcutta area, are dispatched to attack a railroad bridge at Bangkok; 44 hit the primary target and 2 hit an alternate and a target of opportunity; they claim 0-1-1 Japanese aircraft.

INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, troop concentrations and supplies are attacked at Mabein, Panghka, Mansut, Letpangon, Loi-mun, Panghkai, Namhsan, Thabeikkyin, and in the Lashio area by 66 P-47s and 13 P-38s. 546 transport sorties are flown to forward bases and frontline areas. In India, the 13th Combat Cargo Squadron, 4th Combat Cargo Group, moves from Sylhet to Agartala with C-46s.

AAFPOA: 12 Guam based B-24s hit Haha Jima while 14 others pound Iwo Jima; during the night of 2/3 Jan, 10 B-24s, flying snooper strikes out of Guam, hit Iwo Jima over a 7-hour period.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: P-38s and A-20s hit shipping in San Fernando Harbor on Negros; on Luzon, B-24s pound Clark Field and B-25s hit Batangas; airfields in the C Philippine area are bombed by B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers while B-24s strike Likanan; Menado; and the Wasile Bay area. Other FEAF aircraft make armed reconnaissance and harassing strikes on targets of opportunity throughout the C Philippine area and the Netherlands East Indies. The 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group, moves from Tacloban to San Jose with P-38s. Lost is P-38L "Putt Putt Maru III" 44-24843 (MIA). Crashed on take off is P-51D 44-15235 (survived).