Air Operations, Bismarcks

• More than 30 AirSols fighters sweep the Rabaul area.
• VF-33 F6Fs and VMF-211, VMF-214, VMF-223, and VMF-321 F4Us down 9 Japanese fighters in the Rabaul area between 0815 and 0835 hours.
• Despite bad weather that causes many aborts, 6 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Kavieng and more than 20 V Bomber Command A-20s attack Borgen Bay.
• The US 1913th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at Cape Gloucester to rehabilitate and improve the airfield there on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 19 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 16 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack oil facilities at Yenangyaung. 10 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack oil facilities at Yenangyaung. 22 10th Air Force A-36s and P-51s attack a dump and a warehouse at Sahmaw. 5 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack the town area at Pingkai.

• 28 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail facilities at Lampang.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to Solingen and 2 to Essen without a loss.

• XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s attack a rail station, gun emplacements around Cassino, the harbor at Civitavecchia, assorted rail and tactical targets, and motor vehicles.

• XII Bomber Command B-25s attack Sibenik, Spilt, and German Army troop concentrations at Projedor.

• 53 B-17s of the 5th Heavy Bomb Wing's 2nd and 99th Heavy Bomb Groups attack the ballbearing plant at Villarperosa, scoring 12 direct hits.
• 50 B-17s of the 5th Heavy BGomb Wint's 97th and 301st Heavy Bomb Groups attack a marshalling yard at Turin.

Air Operations, Marshalls

24 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s attack a radar station and communications facilities at the Mille Atoll while 24 VII Fighter Command P-39 escorts strafe fuel storage and runways.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• More than 50 V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack the Alexishafen area.
• Col Neel E. Kearby, the V Fighter Command commanding officer, downs a Ki-21 'Sally' bomber near Wewak at 1015 and an A6M Zero, also near Wewak, at 1445 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

15 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack supply dumps near Buka and 6 B-25s attack a bivouac near Kahili.

Allied Planning

The CCS temporarily allocates 87 LSTs to the Mediterranean theater to support Operation SHINGLE, the Anzio landings. Gen Eisenhower reports to the JCS that he believes the SHINGLE operation is very risky. The Germans can rapidly concentrate on the beachhead and quickly crush the two-division force. He is also concerned that there is insufficient means to resupply and sustain the landing force by sea. He believes that if the Anzio landing force and the rest of 5th Army do not make the planned link-up within eight days of the first landing, then the operation must be considered a failure and the landing force must be withdrawn.

Atlantic

• The US destroyer Turner (DD-648) is sunk by internal explosion 3 miles north of Ambrose Lightship, New York Harbor. A Coast Guard helicopter transports needed blood plasma in the Navy's first operational use of the helicopter in treating casualties.
• The US destroyer Somers (DD-381) sinks the German blockade runner Weserland (6528t) 900 miles west of St. Helena and recovers 130 survivors.

Burma

In the extreme north of the country the Chinese 38th Div resumes its encounters with the Japanese in the area of Taihpa Ga.

Eastern Front

The Soviets capture Olevsk, only 10 miles from the 1939 Polish frontier, and Novograd-Volynskiy, west and southwest of Korosten. The railway line that leads from this area to Korosten is also taken.

Olevsk falls to the 13th Army and Novgorod Volnysky to 60th as the LIX Corps is forced back. The 3rd Guards Tank Army is only 40 miles north of Vinnitsa and the 1st Tank a similar distance northwest of Uman, both of these armies having swung to the south following their initial westward advance. However, the III Panzer Corps is beginning to deploy at Uman in order to block the path of the Russian advance behind the 8th Army. The 3rd Ukrainian Front is assaulting Kirovograd with its 5th Guards, 7th Guards and 53rd Armies, tying down the XL Panzer and LII Corps in the process.

The 3rd Ukrainian Front launches a strong attack around Kirovograd with its 53rd, 5th Guards and 7th Guards Armies, pinning down the XL Panzer and LII Corps.

Germany, Home Front

Millions of counterfeit foot coupons have been dropped over Germany during recent RAF Bomber Command raids. Proffered for redemption, these superbly produced fakes cause confusion and consternation among shoppers and the authorities.

Italy

Gen Alphonse Juin's French Expeditionary Force takes up positions on the north flank of the 5th Army, while the US VI Corps under Gen John P. Lucas is withdrawn from the front line to prepare to carry out Operation SHINGLE against Anzio.

New Britain

The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, repulses a Japanese attack on Target Hill. The fighting in the Borgen Bay area continues but the US forces are not yet able to bring up armor, but three Sherman medium tanks arrive on the banks of Suicide Creek on a corduroy road built with great difficulty and extraordinary effort by engineers. The Japanese resist and counterattack, preventing the Americans from building a bridge over a stream required to allow their tanks to cross.

A battalion of US engineers begins work on the reactivation of Cape Gloucester airfield.

Pacific

• The headquarters of the US joint expeditionary force, Task Force 51 commanded by Vice-Adm R. K. Turner, issues the operational plan for the invasion of the Marshall Islands, detailing the units to take part and laying down a 'calendar' of preliminary bombing for the air forces.
• The US submarine Kingfish (SS-234) attacks a Japanese convoy northwest of Miri, Sarawak, Borneo and sinks fleet tankers Bokuei Maru (5135t) and Ryuei Maru (5144t).
• The US submarine Scorpion (SS-278) departs Midway for her fourth war patrol. After her rendezvous with the US submarine Herring (SS-233) on January 5th, she is never seen again. She is most probably lost on a mine in either the Yellow or East China Sea. She is listed as overdue and presumed lost on March 6, 1944.
• The US submarine Tautog (SS-199) sinks the Japanese transport Saishu Maru (2082t) south of Honshu.

Images from January 3, 1944

Lt Johann Muhr and His Flak Gun

Lancasters over Germany

Freyberg at Cassino

Infantry Advancing Under Tank Cover