February 7th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
GERMANY:
SOUTH AFRICA: The following UP report was released to the newswires - Capetown, South Africa - The British liner Orcades, the largest and finest ship of the Orient line, was sunk near here October 12, 1942, the Navy revealed today. More than 1000 survivors were rescued by the Polish liner Narwik, and approximately 40 lives were lost. En route to England with a passenger load of soldiers and several hundred civilians, many of who were women and children, the Orcades was hit by six torpedoes. The Narwik steamed up in the darkness to pick up survivors while covering the submarine - which surfaced several miles away - with its stern gun. [The Orcades was actually sunk on 10 October 1942 by U-172 (Emmermann)].
BURMA: Flt Sgt Stanley James Woodbridge (b.1921), RAFVR, was beheaded. he was one of six airmen caught after crashing; the Japanese tortured and beheaded his comrades, then tortured him further to try to learn radio secrets. They failed. (George Cross)
PACIFIC OCEAN: 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 4th FS (Commando), 3rd FG (Commando), shoots down a Japanese Dinah, while flying a P-51D thirty miles SW of Formosa. This feat makes him one of three aces to have shot down enemy aircraft of three Axis powers. (Stuart Kohn)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: General Douglas MacArthur enters Manila, Luzon. (Drew Halevy)
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS Merrittonia departed St John's to escort Convoy ON-283.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "Ministry of Fear" opens at the Paramount Theater in New York City. Directed by Fritz Lang, this spy drama based on a Graham Greene novel stars Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds and Dan Duryea.
Submarine USS Carbonero commissioned.