February 16th, 1945 (FRIDAY)
NORTH SEA: U-309 is sunk east of the Moray Firth, in position 58.09N, 02.23W, by depth charges from the Canadian frigate HMCS St. John. 47 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)
GERMANY: U-2538 commissioned.
NORWAY: U-681 sailed from Kristiansand on her first and final patrol.
BURMA: Jemadar Prakash Singh (b.1919), 13th Frontier Force Rifles, although shot in both legs and forced to crawl, fearlessly directed his men in repelling an attack before he was killed. (Victoria Cross)
JAPAN: US ships attack Tokyo and Yokohama. Admiral Mitscher's aircraft sweep in to strike Nakajima's Ota plant.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: USN surface warships and aircraft of Task Group 52.2 plus 42 Seventh Air Force Consolidated B-24 Liberators are scheduled to open the bombardment of Iwo Jima. However, the weather is poor and the B-24s are recalled and attacks by carrier-based Eastern Aircraft TBM Avengers are hindered. The naval support force of Admiral Blandy's Task Force 52, meanwhile, has moved into position of Iwo Jima, and at 0800 hours, an hour behind schedule, the big guns on the battleships and cruisers open up. Mist has delayed the bombardment and low visibility and intermittent rain make it difficult for spotter planes to observe results. The escort carriers manage to put up 239 sorties during the day, but when 42 B-24s come up from the Marianas to hit at targets on Suribachi, Blandy cancels the mission because of unfavourable weather.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Corregidor Island, in Manila Bay, is attacked. One battalion, the 503rd PRCT, is air dropped and one battalion lands from the sea.
After a naval bombardment and an air strike, American paratroopers and a seaborne assault force have landed on the island fortress of Corregidor which dominates the entrance to Manila Bay. Corregidor is defended by some 5,200 Japanese sailors in superb condition and amply supplied with ammunition. The fort is the scene of the heroic last stand of the American and Filipino forces which were overwhelmed by the Japanese in 1942. The Japanese defenders, holed up in a mass of tunnels and caves, are putting up a fanatical resistance.
On 29 January an American force of 30,000 men landed uncontested north-west of Subic Bay in a move to seal off the Bataan peninsula. Two days later another force was landed south of Manila Bay at Nasugbu. The strategic Clark Field airbase fell to the Americans on 31 January and by 3 February the 1st Cavalry Division had reached the outskirts of Manila.
Six weeks after the landing at Lingayen, Manila is practically surrounded, but MacArthur's expectation of a quick liberation of the "Pearl of the Orient" has not been realized. The Japanese army had organized evacuation of the city, but a force of 16,000 Japanese sailors is fighting on to the bitter end.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS West York departed St John's to join Convoy HX-338.
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Dunlin commissioned.
VENEZUALA: Caracas: Venezuala declares war on Germany and Japan.