Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Fighter Command B-25s and A-20s attack Japanese Army ground positions near Arawe and fighters strafe a sawmill in the Cape Gloucester area.

Air Operations, CBI

• 20 311th Fighter Group A-36s and P-51s attack a bridge near Hopin and numerous rail targets at Tigyaingza.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Kendari (Celebes) and nearby targets.

Air Operations, Europe

• 10 Mosquitos are sent to Frankfurt, 8 to Solingen, 3 to Aachen and 2 to Dortmund.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost.

Air Operations, Marshalls

15 VII Bomber Command B-24s pass through Hawkins Field, Betio to attack the Jaluit, Maloelap, and Wotje atolls. 2 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack shipping and gun emplacements in the Jaluit Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and B-26s attack Bogadjim and the Bogadjim road, Madang, and Uligan Harbor.

Air Operations, Solomons

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Kahili. 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Japanese Army ground troops on small islands near Bougainville.
• US surface warships bombard Japanese bases, including bypassed airbases, in the Shortland Islands.

Britain, Command

ACM Sir Sholto Douglas is appointed C-in-C Coastal Command.

Eastern Front

The Soviets retake Kirovgrad, another important road and rail junction, south of the great bend of the Dniepr. Further north the German Army Group Center launches a counteroffensive in the Zhlobin area, northwest of Gomel, on the Dniepr.

After heavy fighting Kirovograd falls to the 5th Guards Tank Army, a reserve unit of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

Italy

The 139th Bde of the 46th Div, British X Corps, takes Monte Cedro without meeting any resistance. In the Tyrrhenian sector, where the American II Corps is engaged, a task force surrounds and takes Height 1109.

Italy, Politics

Over the next 4 days Mussolini's Italian Socialist Republic puts the 19 members of the Fascist Grand Council who overthrow him on trial at Verona. Only 6 of them are actually in custody, including Count Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law. Several are convicted in their absence.

Solomons

An American task force of cruisers and destroyers commanded by Rear-Adm Walden L. Ainsworth shells Japanese coastal installations at Faisi and Poporan and in the Shortlands.

United States, Planning

The operations division of the US War Dept asks for the Allies to maintain the initiative in Burma and China and for US Air Force effectives in this theater to be increased. Strengthening of the Far Eastern sector would help the American offensive by drawing off Japanese forces.

United States, Preparations

The first flight of the Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter takes place at Muroc Dry Lake. 5,000 are ordered, but none become operational before V-J Day.

Images from January 8, 1944

Heavily Damaged Town of Mastrogiovanni, Italy, 8 January 1944

8 January 1944: Living Conditions in the Eastern Front Trenches

Moroccan Troops in Italy,8 January 1944

LST-68 at Oro Bay, New Guinea, with US Marine casualties returning from Cape Gloucester, New Britain being assisted into WC54 ambulances, 8 January 1944 (US Army Signal Corps)

LST with Casualties from Cape Gloucester

Burning US Vehicle in San Pietro, Italy,8 January 1944

A Patrol Squadron VP6 ground crewman adjusts the engine of one of the squadrons PBY-5A Catalina's, Greenland 8 January 1944

PBY Engine Maintenance

Frank Feola (right), shows PFC Webb (first name unknown) of the Overhead Team the distance to Chicago, Illinois (Note the sign fourth from the top). Fergusson Island, Dutch New Guinea. 8 January 1944. (Signal Corps photo)

Distance to Chicago

Tiger tanks of the 3rd Battalion Company 502 heavy trucks in action for Northern Army Group in January 1944.

Action for Northern Army Group