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.

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.

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

A battalion of US engineers begins work on the reactivation of Cape Gloucester airfield. The fighting in the Borgen Bay area continues but the US forces are not yet able to bring up armor. The Japanese resist and counterattack, preventing the Americans from building a bridge over a stream required to allow their tanks to cross.

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.

Images from January 3, 1944

Lt Johann Muhr and His Flak Gun

This is Leutnant Johann Muhr, who received the Knight’s Cross on 22 November 1943, and one of his men stand idly next to their rather successful 8.8cm FlaK gun. There are silhouettes of eight destroyed enemy tanks on the Schützschild (splinter shield) and many more “kill rings” on the sectional gun tube. The two cylinders situated side-by-side below the gun tube housed counter-balance springs, while the cylinders arranged horizontally above and below the gun tube were part of the recoil system. Isthmus of Perekop, Crimea, winter 1943/44.

Lancasters over Germany in early January. At this time the RAF was sufering losses of up to 10 percent per month. In a large-scale air raid on Berlin, the RAF loses 27 Lancasters out of 383 aircraft committed, plus 168 crew members. The damage to the German capital is negligible.

Lancasters over Germany

Freyberg at Cassino, Italy, 3 January 1944

Infantry elements advance along with Panzer IV tanks offering cover and fire support. Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. G, Nr. 312, Pz.Abt. 21, Russia center, January 1944

Infantry Advancing Under Tank Cover