Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 18 VMTB-143 and VC-40 TBFs, escorted by 84 AirSols fighters, attack ships in Simpson Harbor, and 5 merchant vessels are confirmed sunk. As a result of this attack, the Japanese cease concentrating large numbers of merchant ships at Rabaul.
• 347th Fighter Group P-38s down 4 A6M Zeros in the Rabaul area at 1220 hours. VMF-211, VMF-215, and VMF-321 F4Us, VF-38 F6Fs, and a VMTB-143 TBF crew down 18 Zeros and Ki-61 'Tony' fighters in the Rabaul area between 1220 and 1235 hours.

Air Operations, CBI

• 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack numerous vessels while conducting anti-shipping sweeps off China.

Air Operations, Europe

• The 8th Air Force's briefed mission against aircraft-industry targets and marshalling yards at Frankfurt am Main turns into a complete shambles when 857 B-17s and B-24s encounter immense problems forming up over England. Only 563 bombers are actually dispatched, none from the 2nd Bomb Division, which is recalled while still over England. Finally, as the lead 3rd Bomb Division combat wing is approaching the German frontier at 1020 hours, the mission is canceled and all bombers are recalled. Some 56 3rd bomb Division B-17s in the lead wing, plus 2 stray 1st Bomb Division B-17s, elect to carry out ant attack on a target of opportunity, and they drop 143 tons of bombs on a power station at Eschweiler.
• 2 95th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s are downed by enemy fire and 2 other B-17s are lost in operational accidents during takeoffs
• VIII Fighter Command dispatches 678 fighters to escort and support the heavy bombers. 21 Luftwaffe fighters are downed over France, Belgium, and western Germany between 1115 and 1310 hours.
• 4 P-38s, 3 P-47s, and 2 P-51s and their pilots are lost

• Approximately 175 IX Bomber Command B-26s attack V-weapons sites along the Channel coast.

• XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40 fighter-bombers attack various communications targets in central Italy.
• 12th Air Force fighters provide continuous cover over the Anzio beachhead.
• 52nd Fighter Group Spitfires down 2 Do-217s and damage another near Pisa at 1635 hours.

• 15th Air Force B-17s attack marshalling yards at two locations. 3 Luftwaffe fighters are downed and 4 others are damaged or possibly downed over Sofia by 1st and 82nd Fighter Group P-38s between 1215 and 1230 hours.

• 15th Air Force B-24s attack the town airdrome at Skoplje.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• 24 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s, 12 VII Fighter Command P-39s, and 7 45th Fighter Squadron P-40s attack barracks, artillery batteries, and storage dumps in the Mille Atoll. 8 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfield on Wotje during the late afternoon.
• During the night, 12 VII Bomber Command B-24s and 9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Maloelap Atoll while 1 B-24 attacks the Mille Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

More than 40 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Boram and Wewak. B-25s and V Fighter Command P-47s attack Hansa Bay and Japanese Army ground troops in the Madang area. 38 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack port facilities and shipping at Manus Island in the Admiralty group. Also destroyed on the ground during the Manus attack are 8 or 9 Japanese fighters, the last seen in the Admiralty Islands.

Allied Planning

Gen Eisenhower informs the Combined Chiefs of Staff that five divisions are required for the initial assault for NEPTUNE. One US and one British division will be added. On D+2, another two divisions will be landed. This leads to a requirement to increase LSTs from 149 to 168. Eisenhower also requests that the Combined Bomber Offensive concentrate on eliminating the German fighter threat, to include fighter production facilities.

Arctic

German submarines attack the Murmansk-bound Convoy JW-56A. The US freighter Penelope Barker (7177t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-278 about 115 miles from North Cape, Norwwy. 10 crewmen and 5 Armed Guard sailors are lost in the explosion. The British destroyer Savage rescues 33 crewmen and 23 Armed Guard sailors.

Eastern Front

In the Leningrad sector Pushkin and Pashovsk are captured and the rail line between Narva and Krasnogvardeisk cut. In the south the 1st and 2nd Ukraine Fronts begin a major offensive to encircle and eliminate the German salient around Korsun-Sevchenovsky, west of Cherkassy and the Dniepr. 5 Soviet armies, 3 of them with large tank units, move in against the German XLII and XI Corps. In this sector the Germans have 9 infantry divisions, the SS Viking Panzer Div and the SS Valonja Motor Bde, the 8th Army and the 1st Pzr Army. The attacking pincers are designed to meet at Zvenigorodka. From the south a number of German armored divisions try to penetrate the Russian lines to open a gap for the surrounded forces. A little further south, other troops of Konev's 2nd Ukraine Front mount an offensive in the Kirovograd area.

Pushkin and Pashovsk fall to the 42nd Army while the railway line to Narva is severed by the 2nd Shock Army.

The Soviet Korsun-Cherkassy Offensive begins against the German Cherkassy salient (held by XLII Corps). The XLII Corps still holds a small section of the west bank of the Dniepr despite the retreat of the 1st and 4th Panzer Armies and is therefore in a very vulnerable position. The corps is assaulted by the 1st Ukrainian Front's 27th Army, while the 2nd Ukrainian Front's 4th Guards, 52nd and 53rd Armies attack the German XI Corps.

The XLII Corps is attacke by the 27th Army (1st Ukrainian Front), while the 2nd Ukrainian Front throws its 4th Guards, 52nd and 53rd Armies against the XI Corps. Despite fierce resistance the German line begins to crack near Shpola.

Italy

The slow expansion of the Anzio beachhead continues. The line is advanced to the left towards the Moletta River with Gen Penney's British 1st Div, and to the right, where the US 3rd Div reaches the Mussolini Canal.

On the 'Gustav' Line the French Corps attack Monte Santa Croce while units of II US Corps attack over the Rapido toward Caira, a little to the south. The Germans counterattack in the southern sector, driving back the divisions of the British X Corps back and recapturing Castelforte and Monte Rotondo, but suffering heavy losses. Further north, during the night, the American 34th Div opens its attack on the Rapido River to secure a bridgehead over the river north of Cassion.

An Order of the Day from Hitler instructs German troops to hold the 'Gustav' Line at all costs.

Mediterranean

• Three US ships are damaged in the ongoing Anzio operation: the destroyer Plunkett (DD-431) by a dive bomber; the destroyer Mayo (DD-422) by an external explosion; and the minesweeper Prevail (AM-107) by a horizontal bomber.
• US tank landing craft LCT-185 founders and sinks in heavy weather off Bizerte, Tunisia.

Pacific

The US submarine Sturgeon (SS-187) attacks a Japanese convoy in the eastern approaches to Bungo Strait and sinks the army cargo ship Chosen Maru (3110t).

Images from January 24, 1944

B-17G Showing Flak Damage

Raising a Flag in Leningrad

Unloading at Anzio