Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 29 AirSols SBDs and 18 VMTB-232 TBFs, escorted by 70 AirSols fighters, attack shipping in Simpson Harbor. 79 Japanese fighters are launched to intercept the bombers, but 5 Japanese merchant ships are confirmed sunk.
• 18th and 347th Fighter group P-38s down 6 A6M Zeros over the Rabaul area at 1230 hours. VMF-211, VMF-212, and VMF-321 F4Us down 10 Zeros, and VMTB-232 TBF crews down 2 Zero over the Rabaul area between 1230 and 1320 hours. VF-40 F6Fs down 2 Zeros over the Rabaul area between 1320 and 1330 hours. 5 P-38s, 1 F4U, 1 F6F, 1 SBD, and 1 TBF are lost.
• Japanese Army positions around Arawe are mopped up, but it has been decided that Arawe will not be the site of a new airfield after all.
• During the night, several XIII Bomber Command B-24s in two separate formations attack the Rabaul area.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10th Air Force A-36s and P-51s attack Japanese Army ground troops around Shaduzup, Ngamaw Ga, and Taro. A-36s and P-51s bomb rail cars, supply dumps, and warehouses at Sahmaw. P-40s attack the airfield at Myitkyina.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Bandanaira, Celebes.

Air Operations, Marshalls

9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s based at O’Hare Field, Abemama and 4 45th Fighter Squadron P-40s based at Starmann Field, Butaritari attack the Mille Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

47 V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack targets around Hansa Bay, B-25s attack Nubia, and V Fighter Command P-39s attack Rai Coast.

Air Operations, Solomons

During the night, 2 US Navy PVs attack a Japanese coastwatcher station on Choiseul.

Australia, Home Front

Meat rationing is introduced.

Burma

The 113th Regt of the Chines 38th Div, bypassing a Japanese strongpoint on the Brangbram stream, advances on Taihpa Ga.

Eastern Front

Vatutin's troops take Slavuta, continuing the advance toward Rovno.

The German forces at Leningrad begin to crack under the weight of the Russian attacks. The dam at Krasnoye Selo is blown to flood the area and hold up the Russians. So far the 42nd Army has pushed 6 miles into the positions of the LIV and XXVI Corps and is about to turn toward Ropsha to link up with the 2nd Shock Army. However, the German defenses hold up the advance, enabling Kuchler to extricate his battered divisions despite Hitler's order to fight for every yard. Kuchler expects the Russians to attempt an encirclement operation at Uritsk and Ropsha.

In an effort to slow down the 8th Army at Mga, the 18th Army throws its last reserve of 3 infantry divisions into a counterattack.

The 60th Army takes Slavuta.

Italy

The US VI Corps ends its brief but intensive training for the amphibious landing at Anzio-Nettuno. Towards evening the artillery of the British X Corps opens fire on the enemy positions on the north bank of the Garigliano, while the Allied fleet off Gaeta shells the lines of communication between the German units in the front line and their rear areas. Late in the day the British X Corps from 5th Army begins formal attacks on the German positions along the Garigliano. 3 divs make the assault. On the left 5th Div, aided by a small seaborne left hook, get successfully across the river as do 56th Div on their right. On the right flank of the attack, however, the efforts of 46th Div at Sant'Ambrogio and to the south are frustrated by the German defense. The defenders are from the 94th Inf Div of Gen Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin's XIV Pzr Corps.

New Britain

The Americans continue with the mopping up of the territory captured from the enemy on the edge of the Arawe beachhead.

Soviet Union, Home Front

The official Soviet newspaper Pravda charges the Britain is planning to negotiate a separate peace with Germany. London, of course, denies the charge.

United States, Command

Lt-Gen Omar N. Bradley is appointed to command the US Army in the Field, under Eisenhower.

Images from January 17, 1944

Artillery Observer in Cassino, Italy, 17 January 1944

Canadian gunners un-hitch their 6-pdr anti-tank gun from the rear of a Sherman tank of the 12th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Three Rivers), 17 January 1944.

Canadian Gunners with Anti-tank Gun

Men of 141 Field Ambulance RAMC Attend to a Wounded Soldier, 17 January 1944

Laying Signal Lines in Cassino, Italy, 17 January 1944

Gun Crew During Shelling in Italy, 17 January 1944

Soldiers Examine Weapon in Italy, 17 January 1944

Perth Regiment Moving into the Line, 17 January 1944

The Battle of Monte Cassino, 17 January 1944

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr Reading Mail in Italy, 17 January 1944

Allies Attack Toward Cassino, 17 January 1944

Tank of 27th RCTR (Sherbrooke Fusiliers) Hauls Perth AT Gun out of the Mud, 17 January 1944

US Soldiers Working on Weather Reports in Caserta, Italy, 17 January 1944