Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack shipping and airfields at Rabaul and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against shipping at Rabaul.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Wellingtons of No. 6 Group are sent to Wilhelmshaven on a cloud-cover raid. All drop their bombs in the area without a loss. 4 Mosquitos hit the Osnabrück railway yarts.
• 1 Mosquito is lost.

• 121 aircraft including 75 Halifaxes, 33 Stirlings, 8 Lancasters and 5 Wellingtons are sent to Lorient. All claim successful bombing of the target area.
• 1 Stirling is lost.
• 180 Lancasters and 3 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 5 and 8 Groups are sent to Düsseldorf and bomb through cloud cover.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.

• 4 OTU Whitleys drop leaflets over France without loss.

Air Operations, Libya

57th Fighter Group P-40s continue to support the British 8th Army.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

XII Bomber Command B-26s attacking an Axis convoy between Sicily and Tunisia leav 1 ship listing and another exploding and capsizing. An escorting 82nd Fighter Group P-38 pilot downs and Italian Air Force flying boat near Pantelleria Island while other escorting fighters attac Axis trucks and tanks near Enfidabille, Tunisia on their return flight.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack dumps at Lae.
• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against Finschafen and Madang.

Air Operations, Sicily

During the night, IX Bomber Command B-24s attack Palermo harbor.

Air Operations, Solomons

• VMO-251 F4Fs down 3 A6M Zeros over Guadalcanal.
• A VMSB-233 radioman-gunner downs a float biplane over Munda Point airfield on New Georgia.

Allied Planning

The Casablanca Conference ends. The Allies have agreed on the following: the principle of 'unconditional surrender'; completion of the Tunisian campaign; a landing in Sicily to be called Operation HUSKY in July, or if possible, in June; an air offensive against European countries under German control; advance in the Pacific to recapture the Philippines; and offensives in Burma and China.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-175 torpedoes and sinks the US freighter Benjamin Smith (7177t) off Cape Palmas, Liberia. All hands, the 43-man crew and the 23-man Armed Guard, survive and reach Sassandra, French Ivory Coast the next day.

Eastern Front

Golikov's forces try to extend the front of their advance northward by attacking Voronezh with increased strength.

The tragedy of the 6th Army at Stalingrad continues. Rations have by now been reduced to 1-3/4 oz of bread and 1-3/4 pints of vegetable soup per day. After nearly a month on this diet, which began on December 26, 1942, the physical condition of the defenders is horrible. Supplies dropped by the Luftwaffe are increasingly inadequate; often they are useless. For example, one day they brought five tons of sweets, and on another 200,000 propaganda leaflets were delivered.

In the Caucasus, where von Kleist is rapidly withdrawing, Armavir, a railway junction on the Rostov-Baku line, is taken by the Soviet forces.

The Germans now have only 495 operational tanks left on the entire Russian front. Since the invasion the Germans have lost 7,800.

The Voronezh launches new attacks with the 38th Army against the German 2nd Army.

Gumrak falls to the 21st Army as the battle for Stalingrad draws toward its bloody conclusion. Paulus moves his headquarters into the city to the Univermaag department store.

In the Manych bridgehead, the 11th Panzer Division, with an infantry division in support, hits the 2nd Guards Army. The Soviets are down to just 30 tanks and a handful of riflemen after their fierce battles since December. Bitter fighting erupts as the Germans crush the Soviet positions, rolling up the bridgehead.

In the Caucasus, Armavir falls to the 37th Army as the German withdrawal continues.

Guadalcanal

The XIV Corps makes substantial progress, overrunning Kokumbona and pocketing the enemy remaining east of the Poha River in a ravine east of Hill 99 between the CAM and the 25th Divs. Continuing west in the coastal sector, the CAM Div reaches Hill 91 on the south and to the north takes Hill 92. In the 25th Div zone, the 3rd Battalion, 27th Infantry, drives northward to the coast, taking Hills 98 and 99. The 1st Battalion seizes Kokumbona in a 2-pronged attack and the 2nd Battalion on the southern flank pushes northwest to Hill 100. The 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, meets only slight resistance as it finishes clearing the Gifu, ending all Japanese resistance on Mount Austen. The Americans fail to realize that progress made this day is mainly because of Japanese withdrawals toward the Cape Esperance position.[MORE]

New Guinea

Japanese troops on the coast in the Buna-Gona area and at Sanananda and inland have been eliminated, and MacArthur now prepares the second phase of the offensive to drive the enemy from Lae and from the rest of the island.

North Africa

8th Army enters Tripoli at 5:00a.m. Repairs on the harbor, which had been deliberately wrecked by the Germans, begin immeadiately. The Allies will be able to start using the port by the end of the month.

January 23, 1943 - Montgomery's Eighth Army takes Tripoli.

The French XIX Corps, helped by British and US units, stabilizes positions along the general line Bou Arada-Djebel Bargou-Djebel Bou Dabouss. The enemy breaks off their attack and consolidates their newly won positions. Elements of the US 1st Div join Combat Command B, US 1st Armored Div, and are temporarily attached to Combat Command B in preparation for an attack on the 24th to recover Kairouan Pass. Isolated French forces in the hills east of Ousseltia Valley withdraw to positions south of Ousseltia covered by Combat Command B, US 1st Armored Div. The US II Corps constitutes Combat Command C, US 1st Armored Div, and gives it the task of raiding Sened Station.

Pacific

• The American submarine Guardfish (SS-217) sinks the Japanese destroyer Hakaze off New Ireland.
• The cruisers Nashville (CL-43) and Helena (CL-50), the 'Cactus Striking Force' and planes from the Saratoga (CV-3) batter Vila airfield on Kolombangara Island in the Solomons.