Air Operations, Bismarcks

• More than 60 AirSols SBDs, escorted by 90 AirSols fighters, attack targets around Cape St. George.
• A P-38 with the 18th Fighter Group’s 44th Fighter Squadron downs 1 A6M Zero over the Rabaul area in an engagement at 1300 hours.

Air Operations, CBI

• 36 10th Air Force A-36s, P-40s, and P-51s attack a large Japanese Army encampment.

• Before dawn, 17 Japanese bombers mount an uncontested attack against the airfield at Suichwan. Later, all 3 bombers mounting a follow-on attack against Suichwan are downed by 23rd Fighter Group fighters.
• 23rd Fighter Group P-40s and P-51s down 3 Ki-48 'Lily' bombers over Suichwan airfield during a morning engagement.
• 8 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack an aluminum plant and the airfield at Takao, Formosa. 4 B-24s mine the harbors at Hong Kong and Takao and 1 B-24 attacks oil stores at Swatow.
• 1 B-24 is lost.

Air Operations, Europe

US P-38 Lightning and P-47 Thunderbolt long-range fighters flying over Germany are joined for the first time by the P-51 Mustang, but heavy losses are suffered as the Luftwaffe use rocket-firing fighters in new tactical formations against the incoming flights of bombers and escort fighters. The experience prompts the Allies to strengthen fighter escorts on such missions. Luftwaffe leaders cite evidence of the fresh successes of their fighter units to urge an increase in production, but Hitler, concentrating on the broader program of retaliation, orders more bombers.

• The Allies strategic air offensive against Germany (Operation POINTBLANK is officially inaugurated withe the dispatch of 663 8th Air Force heavy bombers against several industrial targets in Germany.
• 159 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack aircraft-iundustry targets at Oscherslaben.
• 34 B-17s are lost, 83 damaged by intense flak and fighter attacks; 9 crewmen killed, 349 missing
• 107 1st Bomb Division B-17s attack aircraft-industry targets at Halberstadt.
• 8 B-17s are lost, 42 are damaged
• Escort for the 1st Bomb Division is provided by 177 P-47s and 44 P-51s, who down 27 Luftwaffe fighters.
• 2 P-47s and their pilots are lost
• 234 3rd Bomb Division B-17s and 138 2nd Bomb Division B-24s briefed to attack aircraft-industry targets at Brunswick, are recalled because of bad weather. By then the bomber formations are over Germany, so a total of 285 heavy bombers attack various targets of opportunity through holes in the clouds.
• 16 B-17s and 2 B-24s are lost
• Escort for the Brunswick mission is provided by 49 P-38s and 322 P-47s. 2 Luftwaffe fighters are downed by P-47s.
• 1 P-38 and 1 P-47 are lost

• XII Bomber Command B-25s attack a rail yard and a rail junction.
• XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s attack numerous gun emplacements and rail and road targets in the battle area and central Italy.

• 15th Air Force B-17s attack the port and shipping in the harbor at Piraeus. 1st Fighter Group P-38s down 2 Bf-109s over the harbor area about 1310 hours.
• 6 B-17s are lost in a series of midair collisions in dense overcast

Air Operations, Marshalls

• 5 US Navy PB4Ys attack the Roi airfield on Kwajalein and 5 PB4Ys attack shipping in Kwajalein lagoon.
• 9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack land targets and shipping in the Maloelap Atoll. four VII Fighter Command P-39s attack the airfield on Mille. One Japanese Navy gunboat is sunk in the Kwajalein atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s and V Fighter Command P-39 and P-40 fighter-bombers attack Alexishafen, the Hansa Bay area, Uligan Harbor, and the Bogadjim road.
• 5th Air Force C-47s begin flying personnel and supplies into the newly reconditioned airfield at Saidor.

Air Operations, Pacific

43 Japanese landing barges are sunk off Cape Gloucester, New Britain.

Air Operations, Solomons

XIII Fighter Command P-39s attack targets of opportunity on Bougainville.

Eastern Front

The Red Army offensive in the central sector of the front in the Mozyr area continues. Hitler refuses to allow any rectification of the front and any strategic withdrawal, thus sacrificing men and materials in the vain hope of being able to regain the Dniepr line.

The Russian salient in eastern Poland is now 64 km across.

Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Front joins the offensive in the Dniepr elbow, attacking the IV and XVII Corps with its 3rd Guards and 5th Shock Armies as it tries to link up with the 3rd Ukrainian Front.

Indian Ocean

• The cruiser Kuma is sunk by the British submarine Tally Ho. 138 men are lost.
• U-boats of the Monson group sink 17 ships over the next 3 months, but British warships intercept 2 re-fuelling tankers. Both are scuttled.

Italy, Politics

5 Fascist leaders, including former Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano and Marshal Emilio De Bono, are executed in Verona. Ciano's 'crime' was to have voted with other fascists to oust Mussolini in July 1943. Ciano and his wife had been lured to Bavaria in August 1943 following a report that their children were in danger. Having been promised safe passage to Spain, they were handed over to Italy's puppet fascist government.

Marshall Islands

US naval aircraft based in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands attack Japanese shipping and installations on Kwajalein atoll. 2 vessels are sunk and 4 others are damaged. The task of destroying enemy installations and lines of communication is taking shape in readiness for the invasion.

New Britain

Fighting continues in the jungle around the Cape Gloucester beachhead. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, captures Aogiri Ridge and discovers a hidden trail, well built and solid, that leads to Brogen Bay. It is the main Japanese supply route. The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, supported by tanks, clears out a Japanese strongpoint between Hill 150 and Aogiri Ridge. The strongpoint was protecting a major logistics base.

New Guinea

The American forces at Saidor repair the airfield and it becomes operational.

Pacific

• By 1944, Allied submarines are tightening the stranglehold on Japanese shipping travelling to and from the mainland. On January 8 alone, a US Navy communiqué states that US submarines have sunk 10 Japanese vessels, including an oil tanker.
• The Japanese cruiser Kuma is sunk by the British submarine HMS Tally Ho.
• The US submarine Seawolf (SS-197) continues operations against the convoy attacked the previous day sinking the army cargo ship Yakiko Maru (5747t) about 50 north of Naha, Okinawa.
• The US submarine Sturgeon (SS-187) attacks a Japanese convoy in the approaches to Bungo Suido sinking the army cargo ship Erie Maru (5493t) about 20 miles east of Saeki, Kyushu.

Soviet Union, Home Front

Moscow announces that the Soviet-Polish border established in the 1939 Russian-German partition will remain. Russian thus reclaims permanent possession of the western Ukraine and western Byelorussia.

United States, Home Front

• Roosevelt appeals to Congress for a new national service law to prevent damaging strikes and to mobilize the whole of the adult work force for war work.[MORE]
• John W. Christie, brilliant designer of armored fighting vehicles, dies at age 87.

Images from January 11, 1944

Roosevelt Radio Broadcast

High Wind Damage

Captured German Prisoner

Ground Crew Extinguishing Fire aboard B-17

Damage from Brunswick Raid

Damaged German Truck

Examining the Remains of German Artillery Weapon

Examining the Remains of German Artillery Weapon