Air Operations, Bismarcks

38 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Borpop airfield on New Ireland. V Bomber Command B-25s and V Fighter Command P-39s strafe barges and targets of opportunity between Cape Raoult and Rein Bay. B-24s mount individual attacks against the Cape Hoskins airfield on New Britain and attack shipping near Kavieng.

Air Operations, CBI

• 11 10th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge at Loilaw and a nearby town. 11 A-36s and P-51s attack Japanese Army ground troops near Kamaing. 16 A-36s and P-51s support Allied ground forces near Sumprabum.

Air Operations, East Indies

2 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Waingapoe, Sumatra.

Air Operations, Europe

In Operation STEINBOCK (IBEX), also known as the 'Little Blitz' on London, a motley force of 447 aircraft, including He-177 heavy bombers, are sent to bomb London. Only 32 tons of bombs are dropped on target. 9 planes are lost. There will be 13 similar attacks from January 29 to April 18.

• 648 aircraft are sent to Madgeburg. In this total are 421 Lancasters, 224 Halifaxes and 3 Mosquitos.
• The German controller again follows the progress of the bomber stream across the North Sea and many night fighters are in the stream before it crosses the German coast. The controller is slow to identify Magdeburg as the target, but this does not matter because most of the night fighters are able to stay in the bomber stream, a good example of the way the Tame Boar tactics are developing. The raid is not classified as a success. Some of the Main Force aircraft now have H₂S and winds which are stronger than forecast bring some of these into the target area before the Pathfinders' Zero Hour. The crews of 27 Main Force aircraft are anxious to bomb and do so before Zero Hour. The Pathfinders blame the fires started by this early bombing, together with some very effective German decoy markers, for their failure to concentrate the marking.
• 57 aircraft including 35 Halifaxes and 22 Lancasters are lost. It is probable that three quarters of the losses are caused by German night fighters. During this raid, 2 German night fighter 'aces' are killed: Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn Wittgenstein with 83 victories and Manfred Meurer with 65 victories.
• 22 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos. 5 and 8 Groups carry out a diversionary raid to Berlin.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.
• 111 aircraft including 89 Stirlings, 12 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos, are sent to hit 6 flying bomb sites in France.
• There are no losses.

• 8 Mosquitos are sent to Oberhausen, 5 to Rheinhausen, there are 6 RCM sorties, 5 Serrate patrols, 8 Wellingtons lay mines of St Nazaire and there are 16 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Marshalls

6 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Arno Atoll, 12 B-25s attack the Aur Atoll, 9 B-25s attack the Mille Atoll, and 23 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s and 11 45th Fighter Squadron P-40 fighter-bombers attack barracks, two small ships, antiaircraft batteries, and fuel stores in the Jaluit Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command P-39 fighter-bombers attack targets and Japanese Army ground troops in the Erima, Madang, and Saidor areas. P-40 dive-bombers support Australian Army ground forces clearing Shaggy Ridge. Also, B-24s mount individual attacks against shipping near Lorengau in the Admiralty Islands.

Air Operations, Pacific

For the third successive night American aircraft based on Attu, in the Aleutians, bomb targets in the area of Paramushiru-Shimushu, in the Kuril Islands.

Air Operations, Solomons

XIII Fighter Command P-39s strafe the Kahili and Kara airfields on Bougainville. XIII Bomber Command B-24s and US Navy PVs attack airfield at Buka and targets on Bougainville while conducting armed reconnaissance missions.

Allied Planning

In London, Gen Eisenhower has his first meeting with his commanders about Operation OVERLORD, the landing of Allied troops in France.

Burma

Gen Stilwell decides to attack towards Walawbum. The 113th Regt of the Chinese 38th Div digs in at Ningru Ga, a little more that three-quarters of a mile from Taihpa Ga.

Eastern Front

The Soviet attacks near Leningrad continue. Troops of the Soviet 8th Army of the Volkhov Front occupy Mga, 25 miles southeast of Leningrad, and the advance goes on toward Tosno. In the Ukraine, troops of Vatutin's 1st Ukraine Front and Konev's 2nd Ukraine Front have the 1st Pzr Army trapped in a pocket in the area of Korsun-Shevchenkosky, west of Cherkassy and south of Kiev. The Germans are supplied by an improvised air lift as they try to fight their way out.

Mga falls to the 8th Army. Tosno, another major site for the German siege arty, is threatened but the 18th Army is powerless to halt the Soviet advance. Kuchler has his hands tied by Hitler's rigid insistence on a static defense.

Italy

The attacks of US II Corps continue but only very small holdings across the Rapido can be gained and these are quickly attacked and eliminated by the Germans. South of Sant' Angelo in Theodice the 143rd Regt succeeds in crossing the river but is forced back on to the south bank almost at once. North of Sant' Angelo some units of the 141st Inf Regt have managed to establish a bridgehead, but it remains isolated.

In the afternoon a new attack by the 143rd Regt allows 5 companies to stabilize another bridgehead, but during the night it is wiped out by the Germans. The US 36th Div loses very heavily in the day's action.

The forces for the Anzio landing sail from Naples.

Secret War

German agents in Iceland report the departure of British Convoy JW-56A.

Images from January 21, 1944

Sherman Tanks Move North from the Garigliano River towards Lorenzo, 21 January 1944

A British Soldier with a Young German Prisoner Sitting on the Hood of a Jeep, 21 January 1944

Italian Refugees near Cassino, Italy, 21 January 1944

LTJG D. F. Walton's F4F VF #7, aircraft bursts into flames on touchdown when the aircraft's drop tank separates and rolls down the flight deck of the Guadalcanal, 21 January 1944

Aircraft Bursts into Flames on Touchdown

Flight Deck Crewmen Fight the fire around LTJG Walton's F4F, 21 January 1944

Men of 143rd Inf Regt Move Up to the River Rapido, 21 January 1944

French Soldiers Picking Up Telephone Wire in Collemacchia, Italy, 21 January 1944

A Sherman Tank near the River Garigliano, 21 January 1944. (©IWM)