Air Operations, Bismarcks

• In their first anti-shipping strike over Rabaul, 6 AirSols TBFs are forced to abort due to bad weather during the morning. Later in the day, 36 AirSols SBDs and 16 TBFs, escorted by more than 70 AirSols fighters, attack merchant ships and Japanese destroyers in Simpson Harbor after finding their primary target, the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul, beneath heavy cloud cover. 9 direct hits are scored on 7 merchant ships, and 2 Japanese destroyers are also damaged. 8 AirSols fighters are lost with 4 of their pilots, and a TBF and two SBDs are also downed in persistent attacks by an estimated 60 Japanese fighters during the approach and withdrawal phases of the strike.
• VMF-211, VMF-215, and VMF-321 F4Us and VF-40 F6Fs down 29 A6M Zeros, and VMTB-232 and VMSB-236 TBF and SBD crews down 4 Zeros, all in the Rabaul area, between 1225 and 1300 hours.
• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cape Busching area, B-25s and A-20s attack targets along the New Britain coasts, and 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Au and Cape Gazelle.

Air Operations, CBI

• 2 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping off St. John Island. 4 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Weichow Island.

Air Operations, Europe

• 496 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes are sent to Brunswick, the first major raid on this city of the war.
• The German running commentary is heard following the progress of the bomber force from a position only 40 miles from the English coast and many German fighters enter the bomber stream soon after the German frontier is crossed near Bremen. The German fighters score steadily until the Dutch coast is crossed on the return flight. Brunswick is smaller than Bomber Command's usual targets and this raid is not a success. The city report describes this only as a 'light' raid, with bombs in the south of the city which reports only 10 houses destroyed and 14 people killed. Most of the bombs fall either in the countryside or in Wolfenbüttel and other small towns and villages to the south of Brunswick.
• 38 Lancasters are lost 11 of which are Pathfinders.
• 82 aircraft, including 59 Stirlings, 13 Halifaxes and 10 Mosquitos, are sent to attack the flying bomb sites at Ailly, Bonneton and Bristillerie.
• There are no losses.

• 11 Mosquitos are sent to Magdeburg, 6 to Berlin, there are 9 RCM sorties, 2 Serrate patrols, 29 aircraft laying mines off Brest and in the Frisians, and there are 36 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Lancaster in Flight

A Lancaster of No 1661 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) seen in flight, 7 January. These units were responsible for the final training of Lancaster crews, and many nearing the end of their training were sent on leaflet raids over France for a taste of what was to come on operational duties.

Air Operations, Gilberts

39 F4Us from VMF-113 and VMF(N)-532 are delivered to Hawkins Field, Betio aboard the escort carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66). [ | ]

Air Operations, Marshalls

12 VII Bomber Command B-24s pass through Hawkins Field, Betio to attack the Kwajalein Atoll. 3 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack shipping at the Wotje Atoll while other B-25s attack the airfield and other targets there.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 50 V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s and V Fighter Command P-40 fighter-bombers attack the Alexishafen and Erima areas.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Buka. and AirSols SBDs and P-39s attack Japanese Army ground troops on Bougainville.
• A P-38 with the 18th Fighter Group’s 44th Fighter Squadron downs a B5N 'Kate' torpedo bobmer near Cape Torokina, Bougainville, at 1550 hours.

China

In a letter to Chiang Kai-shek, Pres Roosevelt asks him to use his forces in Yunnan against the Japanese occupying Burma, at the same time as the British launch an offensive from India. He makes it clear to the Generalissimo that, if he does not agree, the United States may review its policy of aid to China.

Eastern Front

In the central sector the Soviets break through the German lines on a broad front and recapture Mozyr and Kalinkovichi, southwest of Gomel, forming a salient in the enemy line. In the north the troops of the Leningrad Front under Leonid Govorov, Volkhov under Kiril Meretskov and 2nd Baltic Fronts begin a major offensive to relieve Leningrad. 1,000 guns and 17 warships of the Baltic Fleet pour 500,000 shells into the Finnskoyo-Koirovo sector. The 42nd Army and the 2nd Assault Army are making for Oranienbaum and the 59th Army is attacking in the direction of Novgorod. The German Army Group North under Georg von Küchler is hard pressed to hold the vigorous Russian thrust.

The Soviet offensive by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts to free Leningrad begins, the customary arty barrage softening the German defenses before the main attack is launched. The attack by the 2nd Shock Army from the Oranienbaum bridgehead takes the German entirely by surprise, ripping Steiner's III SS Panzer Corps apart. The 2 Lufwaffe divisions allocated to the corps take the full force of the blow and collapse almost immediately.

South of Leningrad the guns of the 42nd and 67th Armies pound the well dug in German forces in preparation for their attack on the 15th.

To the south, the 2nd Baltic Front's 22nd Army gains ground north of Novosokolnikov.

New Britain

The fighting around the Cape Gloucester bridgehead continues. While the Japanese can score no positive success they do manage to hold up some of the American plans to expand their possessions.

Pacific

The Japanese destroyer Sazanami is sunk by the US submarine Albacore (SS-218) in the Central Pacific area.

United States, Home Front

The major rail unions accept terms suggested by the president, avoiding a threatened strike. The railroads have in fact been run under the authority of Secretary Stimson since December 27 but they are returned to private ownership and operation on January 18.

Images from January 14, 1944

14 January 1944 was the 937th day of the war… During the Kalinkovichi-Mozyr operation the Belarusian Front liberated the towns of Mozyr and Kalinkovichi.

937th Day of the War

Algerian troops of Genereal Alphonse Juin's French Expeditionary Corps in action at Monte Cassino Italy, in the middle of January

Algerian Troops at Monte Cassino

Soviet Soldiers Take Up Positions

Soviet soldiers take up positions in front of the Detskoye Selo railway station in Pushkin during the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive. Launched by the Soviets on 14 January 1944 with an attack on the German Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord) by the Soviet Volkhov and Leningrad Fronts, along with elements of the 2nd Baltic Front, the aim of the offensive was lifting the Siege of Leningrad.

Braunschweig (Brunswick) in 1944. Bomber Command lost 41 Lancasters and a Mosquito on this operation, either due to fighters, flak or crashing upon return. 233 air crea are killed, 43 are made prisoners of war, 1 evades capture and 1 is injured.

Brunswick Damage