A force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffers heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attack on German destroyer Z33 and escorting vessels sheltering in Førde Fjord, Norway. February 10 – WWII: German troopship is sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13; 3,608 drown. February 10–20 – WWII: Operation Kita: The Imperial Japanese Navy returns "Completion Force", containing both its Ise-class battleships, safely from Singapore to Kure in Japan despite Allied attacks. February 13 – WWII: The Budapest Offensive and the Siege of Budapest end with Nazi troops surrendering Budapest (Hungary) to Soviet-Romanian forces. Bombing of Dresden (Germany) by the British Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces; 25,000-35,000 are estimated to have died. February 16 – WWII: The Bombing of Wesel begins, destroying 97% of the town over three days. American and Filipino ground forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines. Combined American and Filipino forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula. Venezuela declares war on Germany. February 19–20 – 980 (Actual figure is disputed) Japanese soldiers die as a result of being attacked by long saltwater crocodiles in Ramree, Burma. February 19 – WWII: Battle of Iwo Jima – About 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima. February 21 – The last V-2 rocket is launched from Peenemünde. February 22 – WWII: Italian Front: The Battle of Monte Castello ends, after nearly three months of fighting, Brazilian troops expel German forces from a pivot point in the (Tuscan) North Apennines, where their artillery was impeding the advance of Eighth British Army toward Bologna. Uruguay declares war on Germany and Japan. February 23 – WWII: Battle of Iwo Jima: A group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island, and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (taken by Joe Rosenthal), later wins a Pulitzer Prize. The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp. The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined American and Filipino ground troops. American and Filipino troops enter Intramuros. The German garrison in Poznań capitulates to Red Army and Polish troops. Bombing of Pforzheim: The heaviest of a series of bombing raids on Pforzheim, Germany by Allied aircraft is carried out by the British Royal Air Force. As many as 17,600 people, or 31.4% of the town's population, are killed in the raid and