Air Operations, Bismarcks

5 Air Force B-25s and P-39s attack Japanese Army troop positions along New Britain’s southern coast.

Air Operations, CBI

• 1 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 4 10th Air Force P-40s attack a train near Pinwe.

• 2 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a lighthouse on Nampang Island and a vessel off Swatow.

• 2 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a power plant and a Japanese gunboat at Hongay.

Air Operations, Europe

Sofia is attacked by Allied bombers, the beginning of a series of raids on Balkan cities.

Air Operations, Gilberts

A P-39 with the 15th Fighter Group’s 46th Fighter Squadron downs a G3M 'Nell' bomber over Makin at 2020 hours.

Air Operations, Marshalls

9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount a low-level attack against shipping and other targets in the Maloelap Atoll. 1 B-25 is lost to antiaircraft fire.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack Uligan Harbor. B-25s and V Fighter Command P-40s and P-47s attack targets in the Alexishafen, Bogadjim, Erima, and Madang areas.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 24 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, escorted by 60 AirSols fighters, attack East Cape and XIII Fighter Command P-39s attack barges and motor vehicles at Chabai.
• 3 VMF-211 F4Us down an A6M Zero near Torokina Field on Bougainville at 1720 hours.

Argentina

An earthquake destroys the city of San Juan. About 1,600 people are killed.

Atlantic

U-377, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Kluth, is sunk by an acoustic torpedo fired from U-972, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Klaus König, who is to suffer a similar fate later in the month.

Britain, Politics

A British cabinet committee headed by Clement Atlee recommends the partition of Germany after the war.

Burma

Local actions are reported in Upper Burma between Japanese contingents and small units of the Chinese 38th Div.

Eastern Front

There is heavy fighting in the northern sector, especially just north of Lake Ilmen and just south of Leningrad itself. Units of the Soviet 59th Army make a surprise crossing of the frozen Lake Ilmen and make for the southern flank of the German strongpoint at Novgorod. This sector is defended by the German 18th Army. Further north the armies of the Leningrad Front push forward vigorously in the direction of Krasnoye Selo.

Maslennikov's 42nd Army and the 67th Army attack. Both armies meet fierce resistance from the LIV and XXVI Corps south of Leningrad, while the 8th Army hits the XXVIII Corps as it launches diversionary attacks toward Mga. The 54th Army also attacks toward Lyuban,hitting the I Corps, while the 59th Army, on the left flank of the Volkhov Front, begins to cross the frozen surface of Lake Ilmen to assault the German forces in Novgorod.

Italy

Supported on the right flank by the French Expeditionary Corps troops of Gen Geoffrey Keyes' II Corps capture Monte Trocchio, the last important bastion before the defenses of the Rapido valley and the formidable Cassino position itself. 5th Army has now closed up to the 'Gustav' Line all along its front and despite the heavy fighting of the past weeks it must continue to attack to play its part in drawing off German reserves before the Anzio operation. The moment has come for the Americans to try to break through the 'Gustav' Line and reach the valley of the Liri.

New Guinea

The troops of the Australian 9th Div on the north coast of the Huon Peninsula attack and capture Sio, but not before it has been evacuated by the Japanese. There is now a gap of only 50 miles between Australian troops at Sio and US forces at Saidor, and the Japanese defense of the Huon Peninsula is in complete disarray.

Images from January 15, 1944

British Soldiers in Combat in Italy, 15 January 1944

US Tanks in Italy, 15 January 1944

Italian Railroad Becomes Allied Road in Italy, 15 January 1944

British Soldiers under Enemy Fire in Italy, 15 January 1944

British Soldiers with Machine Guns in Italy, 15 January 1944

American humor brings a laugh to the battlefront in Italy on 15 January 1944. Lt. Ralph W. Hoffman, of Little Rock, Arkansas, admires a cartoon of Uncle Sam chasing Hitler with a bayonet on his M-4 Sherman tank.

American Humor Brings a Laugh

Two Sikh soldiers from the Indian Army using a Bren light machine gun in the Italian campaign near Villa Grande, 15 January 1944.

Indian Army Sikh Soldiers

Soldiers Examining Tank in Italy, 15 January 1944

Members of the Polish 27th Home Army Infantry Division relax in the forest. It was recreated on 15 January 1944 from small partisan units of self-defense during the Volhynia massacre, in which the Ukrainian Insurgent Army led an ethnic cleansing operation carried out in German-occupied Poland.

Members of the Polish 27th Home Army Infantry Division

Destroyed Bridge near Cevaro, Italy, 15 January 1944