Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 2 V Fighter Command P-39 fighter-bombers attack barges around Cape Raoult.
• During the night, XIII Bomber Command B-24s organized into two waves attack Rabaul and the Vunakanau airfield there.

Air Operations, CBI

• 26 10th Air Force A-36s and P-51s attack road targets, and 4 P-40s attack an occupied town.

• 2 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 14 14th Air Force P-40s attack a barracks at Mon Kay.

• 16 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a rail station in Bangkok.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Halong (Celebes) and Amboina Island.

Air Operations, Europe

Wing-Cmdr Lance Wade, American-born RAF fighter 'ace' with 25 victories, is killed in a flying accident over Italy. He was 28.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• 17 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount a low-level attack against the Mille Atoll. 2 B-25s are lost.
• During the night, 13 VII Bomber Command B-24s pass through Hawkins Field, Betio to attack the Wotje Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

57 V Bomber Command B-24s attack Boram, 2 B-24s attack a freighter at Aitape, and 65 V Bomber Command B-25s join RAAF bombers in supporting Australian Army ground troops clearing Shaggy Ridge.

Britain, Home Front

In a speech to the House of Commons Eden warns the Spanish government against continued aid to Germany by maintaining Spanish troops on the Russian front.

Eastern Front

The troops of the Leningrad Front take Krasnoye Selo, Popsha and Peterhof, linking the sectors of 42nd Army and 2nd Shock Army. The advance units of the 2 armies join up at Russko-Vysotskoye, a place southwest of Krasnoye Selo and Leningrad, thus cutting off the Germans from the Gulf of Finland. A hundred miles farther south the troops of the Volkhov Front make further encircling advances near Novgorod.

The 2nd Shock and 42nd Armies link up at Ropsha. A small part of the LIV Corps is encirled at Peterhof and quickly destroyed. However, large amounts of the German siege arty are captured as Ropsha and Strelna fall, the siege of Leningrad finally being broken for good. The 42nd Army also takes Krasnoye Selo and the heights of Voronya Gora. The 1st Corps loses a division in Novgorod as the advancing 59th Army encircles the town.

Italy

The British 5th and 56th Divs further widen their bridgeheads over the Garigliano. Minturno is taken by the British 5th Div in the continuing attacks by X Corps. The 56th approaches Castelforte.

New Britain

In the Cape Gloucester area American troops try to maintain contact with the Japanese as they retreat, and at the same time to extend the occupied area in the western part of the island as far as a line Borgen Bay-Itni River.

Images from January 19, 1944

German Prisoners of War in Italy, 19 January 1944

Sherman Tank Crosses the River Garigliano on a Raft, 19 January 1944

New Britain, January 1944, A patrol in the Natamo area searches for signs of the enemy. A few minutes after this photo, the patrol was ambushed by a Japanese machine gun, killing two Marines and wounding several others. (USMC Photo)

A Patrol in the Natamo Area Searches for Signs of the Enemy

New Britain, January 1944 – The crew of a 75mm GMC in Wpns Co, 1st Marines, scans the jungle for signs of the enemy. While the Marines behind the gun shield search to the front, the machine gunner keeps watch for snipers in the tops of the canopy. (USMC Photo)

Scanning the Jungle for Signs of the Enemy