January 31st, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
FRANCE: The US Army today shot dead Private Eddie Slovik for desertion. It was the first such execution since the American Civil War 80 years ago. Slovik, aged 24, a sub-literate petty criminal, failed to join his unit in Normandy and latched on to a Canadian corps instead. When he finally caught up with his own unit, he deserted for a second time.
Slovik was executed on January 31st in the courtyard of a villa in the town of Ste-Marie-aux-Mines, deep in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace. There were severe manpower problems and also problems with desertion and self-inflicted wounds in the theater at the time and Eisenhower probably thought that Slovik's execution would help remedy these. D'Este writes that the execution was publicized in the 28th Infantry Division but not in other units in the ETO. I was in Alsace at the time and never heard a word about Slovik until I read Huie's book. I doubt that many other soldiers knew of the event. No one will ever know what Eisenhower was thinking about when he approved Slovik's execution. Shortly after this he commuted the sentences of two other soldiers who had been convicted of desertion. (William J. Stone)
GERMANY: East Prussia: Soviet troops surround Königsberg.
U-3520 (Type XXI) is sunk by mines in the Baltic Sea, northeast of Bülk, at position 54.28N, 10.12E. 59 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The first congress of the Russian Orthodox Church since the Revolution opens, with prayers for Stalin and victory.
Moscow: General Zhukov has crossed the German frontier, thrust 12 miles deep into Pomerania and captured Driesen, 95 miles from Berlin. His men stand on the bank of the Oder river. The new advance has cut the railway line from Berlin to Danzig, and poses a threat to Frankfurt an der Oder, just 45 miles east of Berlin.
The imminence of danger to the capital of Germany has been admitted by Dr. Ley, the Labour Front leader. Writing in Der Angriff, he pledges in a pale echo of Churchill's words: "We shall fight before Berlin, inside Berlin and behind Berlin." German hopes rest to some degree on the defence of the fortified towns which have been bypassed by the Red Army. Poznan, some miles behind the front on the Warsaw to Berlin road, is one of these towns and, with 60,000 troops behind its concrete defences, is resisting fiercely. The front-line troops are supported by the Volkssturm and cadets from an officers' training school who are used in defence while regular units mount counter-attacks, sometimes several battalions strong, with Panzer elements.
Elsewhere, the Red Army's advance continues. Marshal Rokossovsky has now cut off three German armies in East Prussia. When he captured Tannenburg, the scene of the crushing German victory over the Czar's army in the last war, he discovered that the Germans had removed the sarcophagus of the victor, von Hindenburg, and blown up the monument commemorating his victory. Von Hindenburg won his victory as czarist officers advancing into East Prussia were trying to decide which horses to ride into Berlin. It is doubtful if even he could have saved Berlin in this war.
Danzig: The German "Strength Through Joy" liner Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by the Russian submarine S-13 off the Hela peninsula last night. Crowded with refugees and wounded from East Prussia, the liner sank swiftly in the freezing seas and it is feared that some 7,000 people died, the greatest sea tragedy yet recorded. The refugees had struggled to get on board the doomed liner. As she cast off small boats appeared and women held up their children crying: "Take us with you. Save the children." The liner drifted while the ship's crew put out nets and the refugees scrambled aboard. Few survived.
The S-13 is one of the Baltic submarines now active following the uncorking of the Baltic after Finland's departure from the war. Commanded by Captain Third Class Sasha Marinescu, she is based at the Finnish port of Turku. The tragic irony of this disaster is that Marinescu might not have been in position to intercept the Wilhelm Gustloff if he had not put to sea to escape the secret police after a heavy drinking bout.
BURMA: Myitkyina: The Burma Road from India to China has re-opened, bringing supplies to Chiang Kei-shek's Nationalist armies. The road - which Chiang has named the "Stilwell Road" - runs via Ledo, Myitkyina and Bhamo. The first convoy, carrying 75mm and 105mm guns, has crossed the Chinese border and been greeted with fireworks. "During the years that China stood alone the Japanese militarists told their people that if the Burma Road were closed our courage would collapse," Chiang said. "Now comes this caravan, roaring into China over an area which they thought just yesterday to hold in everlasting peace."
Lt. George Arthur Knowland (b.1922), Royal Norfolk Regt., held up 300 Japanese with a Bren gun, standing firm for 12 hours before being fatally hit. (Victoria Cross)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Luzon: General MacArthur's US forces are closing fast on all sides on Manila since landing at Lingayen on Luzon three weeks ago. Clark Field, a key airbase 50 miles north of the Philippines capital, was recaptured today by XIV Corps. South of the city US paratroops of the 11th Airborne Division landed at Nasagbu, on the west coast, taking the Japanese defence forces by surprise.
The fierce seven-day battle for Clark Field's cave and tunnel complex ended with survivors of the 30,000-man Kembu Group retreating further into the Zambales Mountains. General Yamashita, the Japanese Philippines C-in-C is fighting similar delaying actions in the north-east with his 150,000-man Shobu Group, hoping to prevent Luzon from becoming the launching pad for an attack on Japan.
BONIN ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24s begin the task of softening up Iwo Jima's defenses.
U.S.A.: Hanford, Washington: The first weapon-grade plutonium is ready for shipment.