American troops breach the Siegfried Line — Germany’s western defensive barrier – east of Echternach. Wikimedia Commons.

By Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.

American paratroopers and Philippines Commonwealth troops land on Corregidor Island, in Manila Bay, the Philippines, on February 16. The first large-scale air attack made from a U.S. Navy carrier fleet targets Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, resulting in the destruction of over 500 Japanese aircraft. Venezuela declares war on Germany.

U.S. troops on February 17 are regaining control of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. In Germany, Canadian troops reach the west bank of the Rhine River along a 10-mile front. German scientists evacuate the Peenemünde Army Research Center, on the Baltic Sea in northeastern Germany. They head for the Messerschmitt research and development facilities in Oberammergau, Bavaria, in far southern Germany.

On February 18, A torpedo from a Soviet submarine hits and sinks a German cruise liner departing Danzig for Denmark with 5,000 refugees and 3,800 U-boat personnel on board. Only 1,000 are reported as saved. In Luxembourg, American troops breach the Siegfried Line — Germany’s western defensive barrier – east of Echternach.

Some 30,000 U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima, in the Volcano Islands group, on February 19. As the island is part of metropolitan Japan, it is fiercely defended, and the Marines suffer 2,420 casualties on the first day. Control of the island is important to the Allies as it is within fighter-plane range of Tokyo. By controlling the three airfields on Iwo Jima, American B-29 bombers from the Mariana Islands (Saipan and Tinian) can be escorted by fighter planes from Iwo. American intelligence officials — not having seen much Japanese troop presence or activity after two weeks of heavy, pre-landing bombardment — are convinced the Japanese garrison has been devastated and confident that the island will fall “within one week.”

The RAF launches the first of 36 consecutive night raids on Berlin on February 20. On Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines make slow progress toward Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the island, to the south of their landing zone, and toward the first airfield, to the north.

The British 2nd Division on February 21 establishes yet another Irawaddy River bridgehead, while the British 36th Division breaks through Japanese lines at Myitson, in northern Burma. Meanwhile, additional British and Indian troops cross the Irawaddy in the central portion of the country. Off Iwo Jima, the American escort aircraft carrier USS Bismarck Sea is attacked by two kamikazes and sinks with the loss of 318 of her crew. Other vessels in the area rescue 605 of her other officers and men.

On February 22, Uruguay declares war on Japan. In eastern Switzerland, U.S. Army Air Forces planes bomb the villages of Stein am Rhein, Ruti, Taegerwilen, Ratz and Vals by accident, killing 21 Swiss citizens. (Reparations will be paid by the U.S. government after the war.)

The U.S. flag is raised at the pinnacle of Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. A subsequently world-famous photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal of a second flag-raising there by five U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman freezes the iconic moment in time for posterity. (The second raising was of a larger flag so that it could be seen more easily by marines and sailors below.) The Soviets capture Poznań, Poland, after a one-month siege. Turkey declares war on the Axis countries.

Over 9,000 Allied bombers participate in a massive attack on targets across Germany on February 24. In Berlin, a haggard and aged-looking Adolf Hitler addresses his top-level leaders in the Reich Chancellery for what proves to be the last time. It is the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the Nazi Party program. Perhaps sensitive to the likelihood of public skepticism and derision, der Führer refuses to allow the speech to be broadcast or even reported to the public at large. Syria and Egypt declare war on the Axis. Immediately after his reading of the declaration, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Maher Pasha is assassinated by a member of a rival political party believed to have pro-Axis sympathies.

After 10 days of intense fighting, U.S. and Filipino troops on February 25 recapture Corregidor Island, in Manila Bay, from the Japanese. More than 5,000 Japanese dead are found on the island, with more bodies discovered in collapsed tunnels.

The Germans on February 26 begin evacuations of wounded and refugees from Kołobrzeg (Kolberg, in German), in northwestern Poland, about 137 miles west of Danzig. Other Baltic-coast ports are used as well, and operations continue until the various ports are captured by the Red Army. The first bombing of Osaka, Japan, is carried out. In the U.S., a midnight curfew for bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues goes into effect nationwide in an effort to save coal.

On February 27, Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) reports that spectacular gains have been made by the U.S. First and Ninth Armies on the Cologne Plain in west-central Germany. The U.S. 8th Air Force launches another heavy attack against Berlin that devastates the center of the city. Under heavy Soviet pressure, the Romanian monarch, King Michael I, reluctantly appoints a pro-Soviet government, to be headed by Petru Groza. Lebanon declares war against Germany and Japan. In Manila, U.S. Gen. of the Army Douglas MacArthur officially turns over the civil administration of the Philippines to Commonwealth President Sergio Osmeña.

The U.S. Sixth Army, along with Philippines Commonwealth troops and aligned guerrilla forces, secures Manila, the Philippines capital, on February 28. In Burma, British forces reach the Japanese communications center of Meiktila, some 280 miles north of Rangoon, and mount an attack in strength. Saudi Arabia declares war on Germany; one month later, the Kingdom declares war against Japan.

Fighting ends in Manila, the Philippines, on March 1. On Iwo Jima, U.S. troops hold two of the island’s three airfields and gain a foothold on the southern end of the third. There is fierce fighting all along the line.