Air Operations, Bismarcks

• During a fighter sweep against Rabaul-area targets, VF-33 F6Fs down 6 A6M Zeros over Rabaul at 1130 hours. VMF-211, VMF-214, and VMF-321 F4Us down 8 Zeros between 1150 and 1210 hours. 1 F6F is lost.
• V Fighter Command P-40s attack barges, dumps, and antiaircraft batteries at Cape Hoskins.
• During the night, 39 RAAF Beauforts based at Kiriwina attack airfields at Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• 27 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 16 10th Air Force P-39s attack oilfields and a refinery at Yenangyaung. 13 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Yenangyaung refinery and a power station. 4 B-24s attack Akyab. 30 311th Fighter Group A-36s and 15 P-51s attack a bridge and the town area at Loilaw. 8 14th Air Force P-40 fighter-bombers attack a Japanese Army headquarters and barracks at Hopong.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Amboina Island and Pombelaa, Celebes.

Air Operations, Europe

• The RAF sends 383 planes to attack Berlin. These include 362 Lancaster, 12 Mosquitoes and 9 Halifaxes. A total of 60 planes abort.
• German fighter controllers follow the bombers all the way to the target. Night fighters are sent to a radio beacon between Hannover and Bremen but these fighters miss the bomber stream and do not come into action until they are directed to Berlin. Most of the bomber casualties occur in the Berlin area. The time over the target is 2:48-2:56. About 1,066 tons of bombs are dropped which include 624 tons of high explosives and 442 tons of incendiaries. The planned route is one that is straight-in and straight-out to allow the bombers to fly into Berlin from the northwest to take advantage of a strong following wind from that direction. The bombers take off about midnight. Some of the German airfields are closed because of bad weather, but the Germans mount a large effort anyway. Between 150 and 200 nightfighers are in the air waiting the bomber stream. German controllers, however, get the timing wrong and the bombers fly past without the German fighters being released. The Pathfinders have difficulty concentrating their markings. The main force is depleted and arrives later than planned because of the weather. About 70 bombers drop their loads at various places in Berlin

  central, eastern and southeastern districts. Most of the bombers miss Berlin altogether. 87 people are killed in the raid. Bad weather in England on the return causes many planes to be diverted to other airfields, but ther are no crashes.

• 26 Lancasters are lost on the raid. The casualties include 10 Pathfinder aircraft; No 156 Squadron, from Warboys, loses 5 of its 14 aircraft taking part in the raid. The aircrew casualties include 168 killed and 31 POWs.

• 8 Mosquitos are sent to Duisburg, 3 to Bristillerie, 2 Beaufighters are on Serrate patrols, 26 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and off French ports and there are 25 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Marshalls

VII Bomber Command B-24s passing through Hawkins Field on Betio attack the Maloelap Atoll. 9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Jaluit Atoll. 9 VII Fighter Command P-39s attack shipping at the Mille Atoll. 3 B-24s are downed by antiaircraft fire over Maloelap, which results in the termination of daytime heavy-bomber attacks against this target.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Despite continuing bad weather which caused an earlier attack to be aborted, 40 V Bomber Command B-24s attack inland targets with nearly 100 tons of bombs, and 40 A-20s directly support the landing force with 36 tons of bombs dropped from extremely low levels. V Bomber Command B-25s and B-26s attack the airfield at Madang Airdrome to thwart Japanese efforts to attack the Saidor invasion force.
• P-40s with the 49th Fighter Group’s 7th Fighter Squadron down 2 of 9 Ki-49 'Helen' bombers and 3 of an estimated 20 fighter escorts near Saidor at 1610 hours.
• The airfield and harbor at Saidor are quickly overrun. Also, Australian Army ground troops driving along the coast occupy Sialum.
• During the night, Japanese nuisance bombers attack the Saidor invasion force.

Air Operations, Pacific

The first of 14 Allied bombing raids on airfields and shipping at Rabaul during the month takes place.

Air Operations, Solomons

24 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack supply dumps at Buka.

Eastern Front

The Russian Southern Fronts continue with their attacks, driving back the German troops in the area northwest of Kiev. The Soviets caputer Radovel, west of Korosten, just 18 miles from the 1939 Polish border.

France, Politics

Gen Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed commander-in-chief of Free French forces in North Africa.

Italy

Gen Alexander, commanding the XV Army Group in Italy, decides that Operation SHINGLE, the combined operation on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea near Anzio, should take place between January 20 and 31. Some days before the operation the 5th Army is to launch a strong attack against Cassino and Frosinone to keep as many as possible of the German forces occupied.

New Britain

The US 7th Marine Regt mounts an attack against Borgen Bay to expand the bridgehead near Cape Gloucester but it meets strong resistance and does not reach its objectives.

New Guinea

Adm Daniel E. Barbey's Task Force 38 lands 2,400 men of Gen Clarence A. Martin's 126th Regt of the 32nd Div at Saidor to begin Operation DEXTERITY. The airfield and the harbor are quickly captured. There is little direct air support because of bad weather but other targets are attacked to prevent the dispatch of reinforcements. Adm Victor Crutchley leads an Allied cruiser and destroyer force as further cover. The invasion is roughly at the midway point between the Allied advances on New Guinea from the west and the east, and severs Japanese rearguard forces from their main base 55 miles farther up the coastline at Madang. Troops of the Japanese 20th and 51st Divisions, however, do escape entrapment. About 20,000 Japanese soldiers are now forded into the jungle-covered interior of the Huon Peninsula. To the east the Australians advance along the north coast of the Huon peninsula from Finschhafen and reach the village of Sialum.

Images from January 2, 1944

Loading bombs, 2 January 1944

A reconstruction of a battle patrol preparing to go out into enemy territory in the 56th Division sector, 2 January 1944.

Preparing To Go On Patrol

A Mulholland changes into softer ‘patrol boots’ during a reconstruction of a battle patrol preparing to go out into enemy territory in the 56th Division sector, 2 January 1944.

Changing Boots

Scharnhorst Survivors at Scapa Flow, 2 January 1944

Cub plane which will be used for artillery observation, being unloaded from an LST, during landing operations near New Guinea. 2 January 1944

Artillery Observation Plane

Lancaster I R5729/KM-A of No 44 Squadron at Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire, before setting out for Berlin on 2 January 1944.

Lancaster at Dunholme Lodge

The 1st assault wave at Saidor, New Guinea. These are likely from the 126th Infantry, 2 January 1944.

First Assault Wave at Saidor, New Guinea

M-10 motor carriage mounting 3-inch gun on a rough and stony beach near Saidor, 2 January 1944.

M-10 Motor Carriage Mounting 3-inch Gun

'The difficult we do now, the impossible takes a little longer' sign at the Bougainville Navy Yard, 2 January 1944.

Sign at the Bougainville Navy Yard

2 January 1944: US Marines at Cape Gloucester are dive bombed. Marine mortar in action. Supporting the attack on Cape Gloucester, Marine mortarmen behind their riflemen buddies, form a bucket brigade line to pass the ammunition as they fire into Japanese positions with their 81mm mortar.

US Marines with a Mortar in Action

Depth charges explode astern of HMS Starling of the 2nd Escort Group in the Atlantic, January 1944.

Depth Charges Explode