Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against the Cape Gloucester airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 6 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attacking ships near Rangoon claim one vessel sunk.
• 15 23rd Fighter Group P-40s attack barges at Bhamo and various targets of opportunity in northern Burma.

Air Operations, Europe

• 10 Bostons attack a whaling factory ship at Cherbourg but score no hits. 6 Wellingtons make a cloud-cover raid to Norden, but only 1 plane drops its bombs.

• 157 aircraft are sent to Lorient: 65 Wellingtons, 48 Halifaxes, 40 Stirlings and 4 Lancasters.
• Bombing is more accurate than the previous night's. 800 buildings are destroyed, but only 12 people are killed as most of the residents of the town had fled during the day.
• 1 Stirling and 1 Wellington are lost.

• 2 Mosquitos using Oboe are sent to Aachen, 9 Wellingtons lay mines off Lorient and St Nazaire and there are 3 OTU sorties.

Air Operations, Libya

In a move to thwart German efforts to seal the entrance to the Tripoli harbor, IX Bomber Command B-24s attack the remains of previously disabled and wrecked ships at Tripoli that can be used for that purpose.

Supporting the British 8th Army's final drive to clear Tripoli, 57th Fighter Group P-40s strafe and bomb German Army positions.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

XII Bomber Command B-25s and B-26s leave an Axis vessel in flames while conducting anti-shipping searches. While escorting the bombers, 14th Fighter Group P-38 pilots down 3 Ju-52s near Marettimo Island and 2 Ju-52s and a 6-engine transport at an undisclosed locations. On the return flight, P-38 pilots strafe German Army trucks along the coast.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack supply dumps at Lae.
• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against a bridge under construction at Wewak.
• 3d Light Bomb Group A-20s strafe targets around Sanananda in support of a US Army ground attack.

Air Operations, Solomons

• Cactus Air Force SBDs, XIII Bomber Command B-17s, and XIII Fighter Command fighters organized into several waves attack 9 Japanese destroyer-transports in New Georgia Sound. Japanese Army fighters escorting the ships down 5 Cactus Air Force fighters and an SBD.
• AirSoPac PBYs attack Kahili.
• 1 B-17 attacks Ballale Island.
• 347th Fighter Group P-39s provide direct support for US ground forces effort on Guadalcanal.
• 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s based at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal again airdrop supplies to US Army ground troops who have outrun their supply line.
• VF-10 F4Fs down 6 A6M Zeros over Guadalcanal at 1520 hours.
• 347th Fighter Group P-39s and P-4s down 13 F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance float plane 50 miles north of New Georgia during a mid-afternoon sweep.
• VMF-121 and VMO-251 F4Fs down a total of 20 A6M Zeros in several aerial engagements over Guadalcanal, other islands, and New Georgia Sound, beginning at 0735 hours. During the last of these engagements, at 1820 hours, VMF-121 F4Fs down 7 A6M Zeros off Vella Lavella.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-26s attack the rail and highway bridge across the Oued el-Akarit River. An escorting P-38 pilot downs a Bf-109.
• When 9 Ju-88s, escorted by Luftwaffe fighters, attack the Thelepte fighter base without warning about 1420 hours, 33rd Fighter Group P-40s on patrol drive off the escorts while P-40s scramble through falling bombs to take on the bombers. Flak accounts for 1 Ju-88 and the P-40 pilots are credited with the remaining 8. A similar attack on the 33rd Fighter Group's other base at Youks-les-Bains is not challenged and results in heavy damage upon facilities and aircraft.

Britain, Home Front

Hugh McAteer and 3 other IRA 'officers' escape from Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast. McAteer is recaptured in September 1943.

Eastern Front

The battles continue south of Lake Ladoga and in and around Stalingrad where the Germans' situation is desperate. The Russian Voronezh Army goes over to the offensive and reaches a point near Rossosh, on the railway line from Voronezh to Rostov.

Hitler ordres the Luftwaffe to airlift 300 tons of supplies daily to the 6th Army at Stalingrad. This impossible requirement is never attained, although German efforts are speeded up under the most adverse conditions. For the 2 months that the 6th Army is under siege, Luftwaffe airlift deliveries average only 94 tons per day.

Heavy fighting rages around Sinyavino as the 67th and 2nd Shock Armies make slow but steady progress.

After a ferocious battle and a desperate break-out attemp, Velikiye Luki falls to the 3rd Shock Army. Just over 180 men from the garrison make it back to the German lines. Some 5,000 men have been lost during the battle while the LIX Corps loses an additional 12,000 fighting around the pocket. The Soviet forces engaged in the battle have lost 31,600 killed and missing and 72,300 wounded.

The fall of Velikiye Luki brought the largely unsuccessful Soviet offensive in the central sector to an end. Zhukov's plan to isolate Army Group Center while the 6th Army was destroyed at Stalingrad had failed in the face of overwhelming German resistance. This crucial battle clearly underscored thet when faced by German troops in well established defensive positions, the Red Army still had some difficult lessons to learn.

The isolated garrison of Chertkovo begins break-out attempst while the 19th Panzer Division launches repeated attacks in an effort to link up.

In Stalingrad the panic gripping the 6th Army spreads as Pitomnik airfield comes under heavy arty fire.

Guadalcanal

The 2nd Marine Div continues to make slow progress in the coastal sector, despite the use of tanks and a flame thrower. B Company, 35th Infantry, reinforced by a platoon from D Company, takes over the westward attack from C Company. After a half hour artillery concentration followed by machine gun and mortar fire, B Company outflanks the enemy position barring advance and finds it to be a bivouac area held by a single platoon. The Americans use loudspeakers to call on the Japanese to surrender, but their repeated calls are ignored. Japanese resistance is as stubborn as ever. The enemy positions in the Gifu remain practically intact despite further efforts of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, to reduce them.[MORE]

A wounded United States Army soldier is assisted off of the line in the hills near the Matanikau River on 15 January 1943

Wounded US Soldier Helped off the Line

Mediterranean

During January and February the 'Inshore Squadron' of the British Mediterranean Fleet delivers supplies to the 8th Army advancing along the North African coast.

New Guinea

The Allies prepare a major offensive to drive the Japanese out ot the Sanananda area.

North Africa

The British 8th Army opens its drive on Tripoli moving forward in 3 columns. Gen Montgomery personally commands the right and center columns. The outflanking force on the left is under the XXX Corps command. The enveloping force, the 7th Armored Div and the New Zealand 2nd Div, drive the enemy back to Wadi Zem Zem. A coastal advance by the 51st Div begins at 2230 hours and meets little opposition. The 22nd Armored Bde moves forward in the center prepared to assist wherever needed.