SATURDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Four B-25s provide air coverage for a naval task force en route to Paramushiru.
Burma: In ALFSEA's 15 Corps area, Ind 25th Div expands bridgehead on Arakan coast to Ru-ywa village against continued light resistance. In NCAC area, Br 36th Div holds Shweli River bridgehead, which is supplied entirely by air, against major enemy counterattack.
China: General Wedemeyer warns Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek that enemy may try to take airfields at Hsian, Laohokou, and Chihchiang. Changting is the only airfield still held by U.S. Fourteenth Air Force in E China.
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 30 B-25s bomb Linfen and Yuncheng; a single B-25 hits railroad targets of opportunity from Hengyang to Lingling; 27 P-40s and P-51s attack animal transport, barracks, railroad targets, and the town area at Puchi; Sixteen P-47s hit the Hankow-Wuchang area;
37 other fighter-bombers attack railroad yards and targets of opportunity and road and river traffic near Tsinan, Changsha, and Kweiyi, and at Sinyang, Linfen, and Lung Hai.
INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): 14 P-47s support ground forces in the Mongmit-Myitson area; 140+ fighter-bombers strike at troop concentrations, supply points, transport, animal concentrations, tanks, and arms and ammunition stores are pounded in N Burma including at Hko-lawng, Hai-pu, Na-kyeh, Man Sang, Samlan, Hkummanmao, Mong Lang, Na-leng, Honwo,
and Loi-pyek; and 10 B-25s bomb troops and supplies at Hai-hseng. 603 transport sorties are flown. The detachment of the 24th Combat Mapping Squadron, 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, operating from Chanyi with F-7s returns to base at Guskhara.
AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 42 B-24s from Saipan blast
defense installations and a bivouac area on Iwo
Jima; Three B-24 on an armed reconnaissance flight bomb Marcus; Three B-24s from Guam escorting a photo plane over Truk bomb Param, Uman, and Eten. During the night of 17/18 February, five B-24s from Saipan fly
individual snooper strikes against Chichi Jima. The air echelon of the 548th Night Fighter Squadron, VII Fighter Command, begins operating from Saipan with P-61s (ground echelon is enroute from Hawaii to Iwo Jima).
HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Mission 35: Eight of nine B-29s from Saipan bomb
the submarine pens on Dublon without loss.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s, with fighter
support attack the airfield, railroad yard, and aluminum plant at Takao. B-24s on an antishipping sweep over the South China Sea, sink Japanese landing ship T.114 off southern coast of Formosa at roughly 23°04'N, 120°30'E. On Luzon, A-20s support ground forces in the Mariveles area and hit caves and dugouts in hills west of Ft Stotsenburg; A-20s, B-25s, and
fighter-bombers attack Tuguegarao and
the coastal town of San
Fernando. B-24s pound Miri Airfield in Borneo.
HQ ,375th Troop Carrier Group moves from Biak to San Jose.
U.S. Army: On Luzon, In U.S. Sixth Army area, XIV Corps begins intensive artillery barrage against the outer stone wall of Intramutros in Manila in preparation for assault. 6th Div, less RCT 1, is transferred to XIV Corps from I Corps in order to participate in offensive to clear region E of Manila and thus insure safety of that city. In I Corps area, 43d Div (less RCT 169) is placed in army reserve; RCT 169 is given mission of holding W part of Central Plain N of line Tarlac-Palauig and W of the Agno. In XI Corps area, East Force, now backed up by units released from the Zigzag (149th Inf, 38th Rcn Tr, and supporting units), starts W on Bataan along Pilar-Bagac Road without opposition. From Mariveles, South Force is working northward. Rock Force is methodically clearing Corregidor. 1st Bn, 503d Para RCT, arrives there by landing craft.
On Mindoro, U.S. Eighth Army activates Palawan Task Force composed of 41st Div's 186th Inf, reinf, and under command of Brig Gen Harold Haney bound for an amphibious assault, Operation VICTOR III at Princessa on Palawan on February 28, 1945. 41st Div is also to clear Zamboanga Peninsula (Mindanao) beginning March 10, 1945.
U.S. Navy:
Fifth Fleet surface vessels and carrier-based and land-based planes continue to pound Iwo Jima as underwater demolition teams go into action.
Task Force 58 (TF 58) carrier planes strike Tokyo ahead of the Iwo Jima landing.
Fire support ships, minesweeping units, and underwater demolition teams (UDT) arrive off Iwo Jima and encounter fire from shore batteries. Carrier planes of TF 58 again provide general support of the imminent Iwo operation with attacks on Tokyo. UDT reconnaissance discloses that no underwater obstacles exist, and that the surf and beach conditions are suitable for landings. Infantry landing craft (gunboat) LCI(G)-474 is sunk by shore battery, while supporting UDT operations. Japanese guns also account for damage to battleship Tennessee (BB-43), 24°44'N, 141°19'E; heavy cruiser Pensacola (CA-24) and destroyer Leutze (DD-481), 24°46'N, 141°19'E; as well as to infantry landing craft (gunboats) LCI(G)-346, LCI(G)-348, LCI(G)-438, LCI(G)-441, LCI(G)-449, LCI(G)-450, LCI(G)-457, LCI(G)-466, LCI(G)-469, LCI(G)-471, and LCI(G)-473. On board the damaged LCI(G)-449, her commanding officer, Lieutenant Rufus G. Herring, although badly wounded, cons his crippled ship himself, maintaining her position in support of the unfolding UDT operations until she is able to move to safety. For his heroism, Herring earned the Medal of Honor.
Light cruisers Phoenix (CL-46) and Boise (CL-47), along with three destroyers, provide call-fire support for continuing operations on Corregidor. Light cruiser Cleveland (CL-55) and destroyers O'Bannon (DD- 450) and Taylor (DD-468) bombard the Ternate area. Fleet tug Hidatsa (ATF- 102) is damaged by mine in Mariveles harbor, Luzon, 14°25'N, 120°30'E.
Destroyer Haynesworth (DD-700) sinks Japanese guardboat No.36 Nanshin Maru southwest of Mikimoto light and auxiliary submarine chaser Wafu Maru off Omaezaki Light.
Submarine Bowfin (SS-287) sinks Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.56 five miles east of Mikura Jima, central Honshu, 33°53'N, 139°43'E. Bowfin and aircraft sink guardboat No.26 Nanshin Maru southwest of Mikimoto light, 30°05'N, 135°15'E.
Minesweeper Champion (AM-314) is damaged by horizontal bomber, 26°00'N, 128°00'E.
Coast Guard cutter Atalanta (WPC-102), en route to assist lighthouse tender Bramble (WAGL-389) (damaged by grounding the previous day) collides with and damages mail boat Neptune near Steamer Point Light, Aleutians. District patrol craft YP-251 escorts the damaged Neptune to Naval Section Base, Ketchikan, while Atalanta, undamaged, continues on her mission.
District patrol craft YP-94, returning from landing supplies on Chirikof Island runs aground at the southern end of Tugidak and Sitkinak Islands; rescue tug ATR-68 is dispatched from Kodiak, Alaska, to render assistance, while air-sea rescue coordination succeeds in rescuing all hands on February 23, 1945.
Royal Navy: British submarine HMS Statesman attacks Japanese convoy off Ujong Tamiang, 04°26'N, 98°16E, sinking motor sailships No.3 Matsujima Maru and 19 Nippon Maru and 17 Nanyo Maru and No. 14 Nippon Maru.
Japanese merchant tanker No.28 Nanshin Maru is sunk by aircraft, 30°00'N, 138°30'E.
Japanese merchant cargo ship Daibi Maru is sunk, by aircraft, off Chichi Jima.
Japanese submarine chaser Ch 47 is damaged by aircraft, 32°45'N, 111°56'E.
During diving operations in the West Loch of Pearl Harbor, on the wreckage of tank landing ships sunk in the ammunition explosions on May 21, 1944, Boatswain's Mate Second Class Owen F. P. Hammerberg risks his own life to save two fellow divers trapped while tunnelling under a wrecked LST. Although Hammerberg's efforts are successful, he suffers mortal injuries in a cave-in, to which he succumbs 18 hours later. For his heroism, Hammerberg is awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously.
USMC: Ditched is F4U Corsair 57834 pilot 1st Lt. Philip S. "Pots" Wilmot (survived).
