Air Operations, Bismarcks

• In support of a US Army ground offensive, 18 V Bomber Command B-24s and 20 B-25s attack Japanese Army ground forces around Arawe with 136 1,000-pound bombs.
• Japanese Army ground forces around Cape Gloucester break contact with the US 1st Marine Division and begin withdrawing eastward.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 14 Air Force P-40s attack Pingkai and nearby targets of opportunity.

Air Operations, East Indies

Several 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Amboina Island.

Air Operations, Europe

B-17s attack the Messerschmitt factory at Klagenfurt, Austria.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• 25 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s, 16 46th Fighter Squadron P-39 fighter-bombers, and 45th Fighter Squadron P-40 fighter-bombers attack antiaircraft batteries and barracks in the Mille Atoll. 2 P-39s are lost.
• P-39s with the 15th Fighter Group’s 46th Fighter Squadron down 2 G4M 'Betty' bombers over the Mille Atoll at 0600 hours.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 5th Air Force B-25s, A-20s, and P-40s attack Bogadjim, Erima, and Madang. V Fighter Command P-39s strafe the area between Bogadjim and Sio. V Bomber Command B-25s attack coastal targets.
• P-40s with the 8th Fighter Group’s 35th Fighter Squadron down a D3A 'Val' dive bomer and 17 Japanese fighters near Saidor at 1030 hours.

Allied Command

Gen Eisenhower formally assumes his duties as Commander in Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-544 is sunk by aircraft (VC-13) from the US escort carrier Guadalcanal (CVE-60) in the mid-Atlantic area.

Burma

Units of the Chinese 38th Div cross the Sanip River, but are held up by an enemy strongpoint near the confluence of the Tanai and Tarung Rivers. The Chinese 112th Regt seizes Gum Ga and advances as far as Warang, where it halts.

Eastern Front

The Soviets break through in their attacks just north of Velikiye Luki. While the chief thrust of the Russian offensive is in the north, south of Leningrad, in the central sector the Red Army deepens the Sarny salient beyond the pre-war Polish frontier.

The 42nd and 67th Armies are bogged down in heavy fighting in the GeErman trenches south of Leningrad.

The 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts call off their attacks against Hollidt's 6th Army. The Soviets have suffered extremely heavy casualties because the 6th Army had constructed a string of strong defenses in the Dniepr elbow. The Stavka decides instead to reinforce and regroup both fronts prior to the next phase of the attack.

China

Chiang Kai-shek, in reply to the recent message from Roosevelt, threatens to cut off supplies from the American forces in China and to turn them out of their quarters with effect from March 1, 1944 unless the United States grant China a credit of a thousand million dollars. This blackmail arouses violent criticism in Washington. Adm Mountbatten suggest that the Chinese army in India should be put under command of the British, but Gen Stilwell refuses the offer, preferring to retain operational control of such large units himself.

New Britain

There are considerable Japanese counterattacks toward Cape Gloucester but these are driven off with heavy loss. Moving from the perimeter of the Arawe beachhead, American units with armored support assault the enemy positions and advance one mile.

New Guinea

Australian forces take over the Finisterre range in the north of the Huon Peninsula.

Images from January 16, 1944

German Prisoners of War in Italy, 16 January 1944

Soldier Being Rescued in Italy, 16 January 1944

Private Ralph Forrester of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada places flowers on the grave of his brother killed in Ortona, near the River Garigliano, 16 January 1944.

Placing Flowers on a Grave

German Prisoners of War Evacuating French Casualties in Cerasuolo, Italy, 16 January 1944

Soldiers in Bomb-damaged Town in Italy, 16 January 1944

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel Inspecting the Atlantic Wall, Northern France, 16 January 1944