Admiralty Islands

Relays of American bombers begin the 'softening-up' offensive in advance of the invasion, attacking Japanese shipping in the area. Photographic reconnaissance missions are carried out over Lorengau and Momote.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

• V Bomber Command A-20s, V Fighter Command P-40s, and RAAF aircraft attack targets of opportunity along the New Britain coast.
• 27 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, escorted by more than 90 AirSols fighters, attack the Lakunai airffield at Rabaul. 1 B-25 and 4 fighters are lost.
• A VMF-321 F4U downs an A6M Zero over New Ireland at 1415 hours. VMF-211 and VMF-215 F4Us down 15 A6M Zeros and Ki-61 'Tony' fighters in the Rabaul area between 1420 and 1440 hours. A VF-40 F6F downs an A6M Zero near Rabaul at 1450 hours.
• During the night, 33 XIII Bomber Command B-24s and 6 42d Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the town area in Rabaul. This is the largest night mission of the Rabaul campaign.

Air Operations, CBI

• 16 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Prome. 1 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25 and 16 10th Air Force A-36s and P-51s attack supply dumps and communications targets between Kumnyen and Ngamaw Ga. 12 A-36s and P-51s provide direct support for Allied ground forces around Sumprabum. 11 P-40 fighter-bombers attack a rail bridge at Namkwin.

• 12 449th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack bridges at Shektan and Sheklung. 16 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s attack the airfield at Nanchang.

Air Operations, Europe

Allied aircraft drop 2 million leaflets on Rome announcing the imminent arrival of the liberation forces.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• 18 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s based at Hawkins Field, Betio attack targets in the Jaluit, Kwajalein, and Mille atolls. 10 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Maloelap Atoll. 9 B-25s attack the Wotje Atoll. In the day's action, 3 B-25s are lost.
• The B-24s undertaking pre-invasion attacks on targets in the Kwajalein Atoll are not engaged by Japanese Navy defensive fighters for the first time since the bombing program began. In fact, Japanese Navy aerial resistance around the Kwajalein Atoll has ended.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 11 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s and V Fighter Command P-38s working together attack numerous coastal targets and shipping. P-40 dive-bombers support Australian Army ground forces in the final clearing of the main Japanese Army defensive strongpoints on Shaggy Ridge.
• Along with the capture of Saidor, the seizure of Shaggy Ridge leaves the Allies in complete control of the Huon Peninsula.
• Japanese Army ground forces withdrawing toward Madang from Saidor and the Shaggy Ridge area of the Ramu Valley are attacked from the air.
• After a perios of bad weather, 2 F-5s of the 5th Air Force’s 8th Photographic Reconnissance Squadron are able to obtain good coverage of several invasion objectives in the Admiralty Islands.

Eastern Front

The Germans announce that they have repulsed the attacks of the Russian armies of the 1st Baltic Front under Yeremenko against Vitebsk, northwest of Smolensk. But Vitebsk, a crucial German strongpoint, is now completely surrounded by the Russians.

Despite a desperated appeal to Hitler, Kuchler is unable to gain authorization for a withdrawal.

Italy

In the small hours of the morning the Allied landings at Anzio begin. The landing forces are from Gen John P. Lucas's VI Corps with the US 3rd Div and the British 1st Div, under Gen Sir William Penney, providing the bulk of the assault troops. Also involved in the landing will be the US 45th Inf Div under Gen William W. Eagles, the US 1st Arm Div and a number of British Commando and US Ranger units. They are supported by 4 cruisers, 24 destroyers and 6 transports with numerous landing craft and amphibians. The Allied attacks on the 'Gustav' Line, particularly those of X Corps, have been successful in drawing in some of the German reserves so that only light forces are in the Anzio area. Only 2 battalions of the 29th Panzergrenadier are deployed in this sector and they are completely taken by surprise. The landings against the initial light opposition are an exemplary success

of the 36,000 men landed by the end of the first day only 13 are killed and the port of Anzio is taken virtually intact as well as Nettuno harbor. North of Anzio the British 1st Div is landed with some Commando units; between Anzio and Nettuno, 2 American parachute battalions; and south of Nettuno, the US 3rd Div. The American 1st Arm Div and 45th Inf Div are in reserve with the rest of the British 1st Div as 'flying reserve'.

Adm Thomas Troubridge commands the British landing north of the town and Adm Frank J. Lowry the US landing to the south.

The Luftwaffe deploys He-177 bombers against the landings, but the effectiveness of their guided bombs is reduced by the jamming techniques of the US destroyers supporting the operation. There is one US ship casualty in the operation; the minesweeper Portent (AM-106) sinks when it hits a mine near Anzio.

New Britain

Squadrons of Zero fighters drawn from the Japanese 2nd Fleet's aircraft carriers arrive to reinforce the defenses of Rabaul, bringing the total to 92 fighters.

Pacific

• The main body of the invasion force for the Marshall Islands sails for its objectives.
• The Japanese submarine RO-37 torpedoes the US tanker Cache (AO-67). The ship is damaged, but does not sink. This is the last success by a Japanese submarine in the southwest Pacific.
• The Japanese submarine RO-37 is sunk by the US destroyer Buchanan (DD-484) in the South Pacific area.
• US Army aircraft sink the Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No. 40 off the Admiralty islands.

Images from January 22, 1944

New landings by 5th Army! Landing craft at Anzio, Italy

Hands stand by their twin 4 inch gun turrets to repel any lurking enemy aircraft as HMS MAURITIUS fires a broadside at German positions in the Anzio beachhead.

Gun Crews at the Ready

New landings by 5th Army! Yanks wade ashore from L.C.I.’s [two LCI’s and an LSM] as 5th Army establishes a new beach-head near Anzio

Wading Ashore near Anzio

A Sherman tank of 23rd Armoured Brigade coming ashore from a landing craft at Anzio, Italy, 22 January 1944.

Sherman Tank Coming Ashore

German prisoners watch Allied troops disembark from British landing craft during the landings on the beaches at Anzio, Italy, on 22 January 1944.

German Prisoners Watch Allied Troops Disembark

Sherman tanks of 23rd Armoured Brigade and a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun on the beach at Anzio, 22 January 1944. The tank is fitted with deep wading equipment.

On the Beach at Anzio

Universal Carriers and a Sherman tank on the Beach at Anzio, 22 January 1944

US Troops Landing at Anzio, Italy, 22 January 1944

A British soldier guards a group of German prisoners at Anzio, 22 January 1944

Moving away from the Beach at Anzio, 22 January 1944

Soldiers from 141 Infantry Regiment Evacuate the Wounded near La Pieta, 22 January 1944

German paratroopers on their way to attack the Allied bridgehead at Anzio, which had been contained by late January

Germans Moving to Attack the Anzio Bridgehead