Air Operations, Bismarcks

• In their unit’s first mission against Rabaul, 13 of 24 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s sent from the airfield at Stirling in the Treasury Islands are able to broach bad weather to attack the Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul during the morning. 19 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, escorted by approximately 50 AirSols fighters, attack the Tobera airfield at Rabaul late in the morning.
• VMF-215 F4Us down 3 A6M Zeros over the Tobera airfield at Rabail at 1140 hours. VF-40 F6Fs down 2 Zeros over the Vunakanau airfield at noon.
• During the night, 16 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 20 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack a marshalling yard at Letpadan and 10th Air Force fighters attack Myohaung.

• 14 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Bangkok.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Balikpapan, Dili, and Makassar.

Air Operations, Europe

Operation POINTBLANK gets under way, a strategic air offensive designed to cripple the German aeronautical industry and render the Luftwaffe ineffective befor the cross-Channel invasion. About 650 bombers of the US 8th Air Force attack factories in Halberstadt, Brunswick and Ochersleben. While the bombing may have had the desired effect, the price paid by the American air formations is very high. 60 aircraft are shot down in the course of the raid.

Air Operations, Marshalls

21 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s attack dumps and antiaircraft batteries in the Mille Atoll. 20 VII Fighter Command P-39s strafe the airfield on Mille.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack targets in the Alexishafen area as A-20s attack Warai.

Air Operations, Solomons

• AirSols fighters and fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army ground troops and targets of opportunity on Bougainville.
• A VMF(N)-531 PV crew downs a single-engine Japanese Navy plane near the Torokina airfield on Bougainville at 2205 hours.

Eastern Front

The Soviets capture Sarny, well inside former-Polish territory, after some violent fighting. The German Army Group South counterattacks in the area of Vinnitsa, southwest of Kiev.

The 1st Baltic Front attacks the II Corps of the 16th Army with the 3rd Shock Army and 10th Guards Army. Heavy fighting erupts around Novosokolinikov.

Sarny falls to the 13th Army as it reaches the Styr and Goryn Rivers. The 60th Army closes up to Shepetovka but German resistance is beginning to stiffen, slowing the pace of the attacks.

Bitter fighting rages at Nikopol as the 3rd Guards Army tries to break open the German positions and encircle the left flank of the 6th Army between itself and the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The 6th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front is attack the XXX Corps behind Nikopol, trying to trap Fretter Pico between itself and the 3rd Guards.

Italy

The Allied air offensive in preparation for the Anzio landing begins. Gen John P Lucas' VI Corps receives orders to carry out the landing in the Anzio-Nettuno sector at 2:00a.m. on January 22. The US 34th Div completes the capture of Cervaro and pushes forward toward Cassino. Farther north troops from the French Corps begin attacks toward Sant'Elia Fiumerapido with the 3rd Algerian Div on the left of the line and the 2nd Moroccan Div on the right.

United States, Planning

The operations division of the US War Dept rejects the proposed Operation CULVERIN, the landing on Sumatra, and supports Gen Stilwell's point of view that priority should be given to operations in Burma that will allow land communciations to be reopened between India and China. This means an offensive in Burma and strenghtening of the US air forces in the Far East with the object of collaborating with the operations in the Pacific.

Images from January 12, 1944

Amphibious Training Maneuvers in Morro Bay, California, 12 January 1944

German Troops March Past a Tiger Tank, Somewhere on the Eastern front, January 1944

Drivers of New Zealand Division Vehicles, Washing Down Trucks in a Stream near Alife, Italy, 12 January 1944

Three New Zealand soldiers stroll alongside the ancient wall that partly surrounds the town of Alife and pass Italian women washing clothes in the stream at the foot of the wall, 12 January 1944

Italian Women Washing Clothes

New Zealand soldiers cleaning a truck, and local Italian women washing their linen, near Alife, Italy, 12 January 1944

New Zealand Soldiers Cleaning a Truck

US soldier Receives a Chave in San Vittore, Italy, 12 January 1944

Moroccan Troops Prepare a Meal in Mount Castel Nuovo, Italy, 12 January 1944

Chaplain Speaks at Mass in Italy, 12 January 1944