February 10th, 1945 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Repair ship HMS Buchan Ness launched.
FRANCE: U-275 put in to Lorient due to Schnorkel problems.
GERMANY: The Germans open the Schwammenauel Dam to slow the US 1st Army. This makes it impossible to bridge the Roer river.
Elbing, on the Baltic, falls to the Soviets, cutting off East Prussia.
For ten days now, Marshal Zhukov has been halted on the Oder river after securing a small bridgehead at Kustrin, some 40 miles short of Berlin. The halt has caused disappointment in Moscow, where it was hoped that the German capital would be captured this month.
There are, however, good reasons for Zhukov's reluctance to attack. He has suffered heavy casualties in his storming advance across Poland, has begun to outrun his supply lines and has had to divert strong forces to deal with the Festung [fortress] city of Poznan. At the same time "General Mud" has come to the aid of the Germans with a thaw turning the battlefield into a quagmire and melting ice on the Oder. Zhukov therefore needs time to reorganize, resupply and prepare for a river crossing.
He is also conscious of the presence of strong German forces along his exposed northern flank in Pomerania. These forces, named Army Group Vistula, are commanded by SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, a man with no military training. His appointment reveals how little Hitler trusts his generals.
Nevertheless, Himmler, the most feared man in Germany, is under orders to strike at Zhukov in five days time. The Russian high command, however, has already given Marshal Rokossovsky orders to strike into Pomerania to clear away the danger. This morning the Russians headed north.
U-3040 launched.
NORWAY: In a daring move, U-995 entered the Soviet-held harbour at Kirkenes and fired at the Norwegian freighter Idefjord, but missed.
BALTIC SEA: The German cruise ship General von Steuben, carrying over 5,000 passengers and crew including at least 1,000 German evacuees from East Prussia, is sunk by two torpedoes from the Soviet submarine, S-13. 4,500 go down with the ship. there are 659 survivors. The S-13 had left the Finnish port of Hangö and returned to Turku (Åbo). (Peter Kilduff and Mikko Härmeinen)
HUNGARY: Budapest falls to the Soviet Army. The Germans fought for 2 months to hold this city. The city was also defended by numerous foreign volunteer formations, including thousands of Hungarian forces in many Waffen-SS units.
AUSTRALIA: The British Pacific Fleet sails into Sydney Harbour.
Submarine USS Bream ends her 4th war patrol at Fremantle.
JAPAN: US B-29 bombers destroyed the Nakajima aircraft plant at Ota, near Tokyo, today in the largest daylight raid yet over the Japanese mainland. Out of the 84 B-29s that took off from US airbases on the Mariana Islands, 12 were lost over the target area as Japanese fighters put up heavy opposition, suffering 21 losses in the fight.
In a separate raid today, B-24s based on Guam bombed Iwo Jima and Okimura.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 4th FS (Commando), 3rd FG (Commando), shoots down an American C-47 which is attempting to land on a Japanese-held airstrip in the Batan Islands, a chain of small islands north of Luzon. The aircraft force landed and thirteen crew and passengers are rescued. One of the passengers was a nurse that he later married. An American flag was added to the German, Italian and Japanese flags painted on his P-51D. (Stuart Kohn)
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Smiths Falls departed Halifax for workups at Bermuda.
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Hawkins commissioned.
LCdr. A.H. Higgs relieves LCdr. T.S. Baskett as Commanding Officer of USS Tautog.