Germany is hit hard air blow
3,000 planes over Reich – Berlin battered by Mosquitos
…
50 die in Utah when sections of flier crash
Two military hospital cars escape damage – others telescoped in jumbled mass
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Lynchings in U.S. drop to 2 in year
One less than in 1943 – Mississippi and Tennessee have one each
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‘Is he even still alive or is this a prerecorded speech broadcast across the nation by Nazi high command to keep people’s morale up?’ -Everyone in 1945 before the fall of the nazi reich.
The Evening Star (January 1, 1945)
Washington begins new year at work – celebration quiet
War, Sabbath and fog curb gayety – dance draws 3,000 servicemen
(AP) – Washington started the New Year today by going back to work at the tasks of winning the war and running the government.
Lights were on in all federal departments and agencies, which were operating as usual despite the holiday, and employees on the early schedules of wartime hours made their way to their offices in both dark and fog.
War and the Sabbath made the greeting of the turn of the year less noisy last night than in the past. The weather was another dampener. Police said the midnight crowd yesterday, which used to be a shouting, tooting mass, was not up to a good Saturday night.
3,000 at dance
There was some cheering when the whistles blew, but gayety seemed to have as much difficulty in penetrating the fog as the street lamps and the lights on the movie marquees. Store windows were dark.
The biggest crowd of the night was at the Uline Arena, where more than 3,000 servicemen and women danced to the music of an Army Ground Force band and a Navy band, each made up of musicians from top-flight dance orchestras. The affair was put on by the National Catholic Community Service Club of Washington. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt made a brief appearance.
Church services draw many
Many churches held watch night services. The Rev. J. W. Rustin, president of the Washington Federation of Churches, said interest in these services was greater than ever before.
Catholic churches were crowded this morning for the annual holy day of obligation, the Feast of the Circumcision, which starts the year.
With official Washington at work, there was not as much open-house entertaining scheduled for today as in pre-war years and it has been years since the day was marked by the annual White House receptions.
Völkischer Beobachter (January 2, 1945)
Das Kampfjahr 1944 im Pazifik
Von unserem Marinemitarbeiter Erich Glodschey
…
Führer HQ (January 2, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Im Raum südwestlich und südlich Bastogne nahm die Heftigkeit der Kämpfe noch zu. Die mit starken Kräften angreifende 3. amerikanische Armee erlitt schwere Ausfälle und Verluste, ohne zu dem angestrebten Durchbruch in Richtung auf Houffalize zu gelangen, und büßte erneut 48 Panzer ein. Die Gesamtzahl der seit dem 16. Dezember in der Schlacht zwischen Maas und Mosel abgeschossenen oder erbeuteten feindlichen Panzerkampfwagen ist damit auf über tausend gestiegen.
An der Saarfront und der lothringischen Nordostgrenze wurde der Geländegewinn aus der Neujahrsnacht vertieft,’ unser Brückenkopf nordwestlich Forbach erweitert und der Blies-Abschnitt nordöstlich Saargemünd überschritten. Im Gebiet nördlich Rohrbach und in den Unteren Vogesen wurde der Feind in verschiedenen Frontabschnitten aus seinen Stellungen geworfen. Im Nachstoße eroberten unsere Divisionen zahlreiche Ortschaften südöstlich der Maginot-Linie.
Starke Geschwader deutscher Kampf-, Schlacht- und Jagdflieger führten am Neujahrsmorgen einen überraschenden Schlag gegen die feindlichen Flugplätze im belgisch-holländischen Raum. Nach bisherigen Meldungen wurden durch diesen Großangriff mindestens 400 feindliche Flugzeuge auf dem Boden zerstört, 100 weitere schwer beschädigt. Darüber hinaus wurden die Flugplätze selbst und ihre Einrichtungen stark getroffen. Bei diesen Angriffen kam es zu heftigen Luftkämpfen, in denen weitere 79 Flugzeuge abgeschossen wurden. Damit verlor der Feind im Westen- gestern mindestens 579 Flugzeuge, wahrscheinlich mehr.
Das Fernfeuer auf Lüttich und Antwerpen wurde fortgesetzt.
In den meisten Frontabschnitten in Mittelitalien hält die Kampfpause an. Nur im Raum nördlich Faenza lebte die Gefechtstätigkeit gestern wieder auf.
Im ungarischen Kampfgebiet wiesen unsere Truppen stärkere sowjetische Angriffe im Abschnitt südwestlich Felsögalla zurück. Im Übrigen kam es zwischen der Drau und der slowakischen Grenze zu keinen großen Kampfhandlungen. Die Besatzung von Budapest schlug an der Ost- und Westfront der Stadt heftige von Schlachtfliegern unterstützte Angriffe der Bolschewisten ab und beseitigte einzelne Einbrüche im Gegenstoß.
Im Grenzgebiet der Slowakei sind nördlich der Eipel Kämpfe mit den nach Norden drängenden Sowjets im Gange. Bei einem überraschenden Vorstoß im Quellgebiet des Sajó machten Gebirgsjäger über 359 Gefangene und erbeuteten eine große Anzahl Waffen.
An der gesamten übrigen Ostfront kam es zu keinen größeren Kämpfen.
Deutsche Schlachtflieger bekämpften im Raum von Budapest bei Tag und Nacht den feindlichen Nachschubverkehr. Im Monat Dezember verloren die Sowjets durch unsere Jäger und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe 588 Flugzeuge.
Anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber flogen am Neujahrstage in das westliche und nordwestliche Reichsgebiet ein. Durch Abwurf zahlreicher Spreng- und Brandbomben entstanden vor allem in Wohnvierteln von Kassel erhebliche Gebäudeschäden. Das Gebiet westlich des Rheins war verstärkten Angriffen feindlicher Tiefflieger und schneller Kampfflugzeuge ausgesetzt, die wahllos Bomben auf kleine Ortschaften warfen und die Zivilbevölkerung mit Bordwaffen angriffen. Nachtangriffe richteten sich besonders gegen den rheinisch-westfälischen Raum. Luftverteidigungskräfte schossen über dem Reichsgebiet gestern 25 feindliche Flugzeuge, fast ausschließlich viermotorige Bomber, ab.
Groß-London wird weiterhin beschossen.
Art dem Gelingen des Durchbruchs eines unser Armeekorps aus dem Raum von Podgorica nach Nordmontenegro hatte eine Kampfgruppe unter Führung von Oberst Neumann hervorragenden Anteil. In schwierigsten Gebirgskämpfen gegen einen mit dem Gelände genau vertrauten Feind durchdrang die Kampfgruppe zahlreiche feindliche Bergstellungen und zerschlug die gegnerischen Kräfte, die ihr den Weg verlegen wollte. Nach wochenlangen Gefechten gelang es ihr schließlich, den von Norden zu ihrem Entsatz herunterstoßenden deutschen Kräften unter Führung von Generalleutnant Friebe die Hand zu reichen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (January 2, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
021100A January
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR
(2) NAVY DEPARTMENT
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(3) TAC HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) MAIN 12 ARMY GP
(5) SHAEF AIR STAFF
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) UNITED KINGDOM BASE
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM ZONE
(18) SHAEF REAR
(19) NEWS DIV. MINIFORM, LONDON
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 269
Allied artillery has dispersed enemy patrols which have again been active across the Maas River in the area of Roermond.
There has been increased enemy artillery fire in the area south of Düren.
In the Ardennes Salient, Allied forces along the southern flank have reached points less than two miles south of Saint-Hubert. Progress has been made northeast of Moircy; we have entered Remagne and taken Hoûmont and Chenogne.
Two enemy counterattacks in the Bastogne sector were repulsed, one in the area of Champs, the other near Villers-La-Bonne-Eau. We are in the vicinity of Wardin, three miles southeast of Bastogne.
Stiff fighting is in progress near Nothum, southeast of Wiltz, following an enemy counterattack. Enemy artillery was active in the vicinity of Rollingen just south of Wiltz.
We have made small gains in the Saarlautern bridgehead.
Yesterday morning, between 250 and 300 enemy aircraft, mainly single-engined fighters strafed our aircraft on a number of airfields in Holland and Belgium. A few bombs were also dropped. Fighters and anti-aircraft guns engaged the enemy and 125 of the attacking force were shot down.
In Holland, enemy troop quarters north of the Maas River, barges east of Dordrecht, and two bridges near Utrecht were among the targets for our rocket-firing fighters.
Escorted heavy bombers in great strength attacked railway bridges and marshalling yards in the Koblenz area and an oil refinery at Dollbergen, east of Hanover, and other targets in north-central Germany. Heavy bombers operating with fighter cover again breached the Dortmund-Ems Kanal.
Medium and light bombers attacked targets in the Ardennes salient including objectives at St. Vith, La Roche and Dasburg, and fighter-bombers struck at railway communications and armored vehicles south and west of Prüm. Other fighter-bombers hit railway yards and focal points in the enemy’s supply and reinforcement routes in the areas of Trier, Kaiserslautern, Homburg and south to Haguenau. Light bombers attacked a number of railway tunnels on main lines leading to the salient. Medium bombers struck at a railway bridge at Konz-Karthaus, southeast of Trier, a road and railway bridge over the Moselle River at Bullay, and barracks, storage dumps and workshops at Kaiserslautern.
Thirty-five enemy aircraft were shot down in addition to the 125 destroyed in the airfield attacks. From all of our air operations during the day, according to incomplete reports, two medium bombers and 27 fighters are missing.
Last night, heavy bombers were over Germany with a marshalling yard at Vohwinkel, and a benzol plant among the objectives. our intruder aircraft attacked enemy movement in the area of Zülpich, Mayen and Clervaux. Night fighters shot down five enemy aircraft.
From the area of Bitche to the Rhine River, the enemy ground forces were aggressive. One of a series of enemy attacks made a slight gain in the wooded area south of Bannstein. Other attacks, in the vicinity of Bitche and Dambach were repulsed.
Enemy artillery harassed towns in the Alsace Plain. Hostile patrols were turned back at several points west and east of Mulhouse.
COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S
THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
/s/
Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others
ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section
NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA2409
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/U.S. Navy Department (January 2, 1945)
Communiqué No. 565
The submarine USS HARDER (SS-257) is overdue from patrol and presumed lost. The next of kin of officers and crew have been informed.
The LSM 318 has been lost as the result of enemy action in the Philippine Area. Next of kin of fatalities and most other casualties have been notified and notification is en route to next of kin of other casualties.
The PT 300 has been lost as a result of enemy action in the Philippine Area. Next of kin of casualties have been informed.
The PT 311 was lost in the Mediterranean Area as the result of enemy action. Next of kin of casualties have been informed.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 220
An enemy twin‑engined bomber attacked air installations on Saipan in the Marianas on January 1 (West Longitude Date), dropping a single bomb which caused no damage.
Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, on December 31 bombed Iwo Jima in the Volcanos. Our aircraft struck at enemy air installations and encountered moderate anti-aircraft fire.
Fighters of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing strafed fuel dumps and other targets on Babelthuap in the Palaus on December 31.
Targets on Rota in the Marianas were strafed by 4th MarAirWing fighters on the same date.
Fourth MarAirWing and Fleet Air Wing Two aircraft continued neutralizing attacks on enemy‑held bases in the Marshalls on the same date.