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WWII On This Day: January 17

What happened on January 17 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1944
Polish and British flags raised over the shattered Monte Cassino monastery after Polish troops entered the ruins on 18 May 1944.
Polish official photographer / Imperial War Museums MH 1680 · UK Government public domain
Cassino and Anzio: The Road to Rome

British X Corps crosses the Garigliano

British X Corps opened the January offensive by crossing the lower Garigliano under German artillery and infantry fire. Bridgeheads on the north bank threatened the western portion of the Gustav Line. German formations reacted to the new crossings while Allied engineers laboured to move vehicles and supplies across a narrow river corridor. The operation contributed to the pressure meant to precede the landing at Anzio.

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1945
Child survivors of Auschwitz, wearing adult-size prisoner jackets, stand behind a barbed wire fence.
USHMM
The Holocaust: Timeline and Evidence

The SS begins the final evacuation of Auschwitz

As Soviet forces approached, the SS began the final evacuation of the Auschwitz camp complex on 17 January 1945. Nearly 60,000 prisoners, most of them Jews, were forced west on foot toward Gliwice, Wodzisław Śląski and other collection points before onward rail transport. Guards murdered prisoners who could not continue, while cold, exhaustion and exposure killed many others. Thousands died during the evacuation routes from Auschwitz as the concentration-camp system was compressed westward into the remaining territory of the Reich.

Continue in The Holocaust: Timeline and Evidence →
Ruins of Warsaw Central Station on 17 January 1945, when Polish and Soviet forces entered the city.
Ruins of Warsaw Central Station on 17 January 1945, when Polish and Soviet forces entered the city. Wojskowa Agencja Fotograficzna · public domain, anonymous Polish photographic work Source
The Vistula–Oder Offensive

The Vistula defensive system collapses

On 17 January troops of the 1st Polish Army and Soviet 1st Belorussian Front entered the ruins of Warsaw as the German river defence in central Poland collapsed. The Soviet fronts cleared the Vistula line from east of Kraków to west of Modlin. Konev's spearheads reached Częstochowa and Radomsko while 1st Belorussian Front entered Warsaw. The German withdrawal from Warsaw prevented another isolated fortress battle inside the already devastated city.

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Red Army combat engineers building a pontoon bridge across the Oder beside a destroyed bridge, photographed 22 January 1945.
Semyon Alperin / RIA Novosti RIAID 42325 · Public domain (per Commons file record)
The Vistula–Oder Offensive

The death marches begin

On 17 January 1945 the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its sub-camps. About 56,000 prisoners were driven toward railheads and camps farther west as the Soviet advance threatened the remaining camp system. Guards shot people who collapsed or could not continue; thousands more died from cold, exhaustion and later transports. Guards shot people who fell behind or attempted to escape. Exposure, exhaustion, shootings and later rail transports killed at least 9,000 and probably as many as 15,000 prisoners.

Continue in The Vistula–Oder Offensive →