Today in World War II History—January 8, 1940 & 1945

British ration book, WWII. (National Archives UK)
80 Years Ago—January 8, 1940: Britain begins food rationing—each person to receive 4 oz of bacon or ham, 8 oz of butter, 12 oz of sugar, and one egg weekly.
75 Years Ago—Jan. 8, 1945: Germans demolish floodgates on the Ruhr River, flooding the area west of Cologne.
Japanese execute Filipino resistance leader Col. Pastor Martelino.
In Placer County, CA, the home of a recently returned Japanese-American family is attacked (shed burned and shots fired), the first of 30 similar incidents on the West Coast.