Air Operations, Bismarcks

• V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command P-40s attack Gasmata. AirSols light bombers attack targets in the Rabaul area.
• During the late evening, 19 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul in the light of flares dropped by 3 other B-24s.

Air Operations, CBI

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

Air Operations, Europe

• 76 aircraft including 56 Stirlings, 12 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos, attack flying bomb sites in the Pas de Calais and near Cherbourg. There are no losses.
• 14 Mosquitos are sent to Aachen and there are 18 OTU sorties. 1 OTU Wellington is lost.

• Escorted and supported by 174 P-47s from four other groups, 44 353rd Fighter Group P-47s conduct a dive-bombing attack with 500-pound bombs against the Leeuwarden Airdrome.

• XII Bomber Command B-26s attack Amelia, marshalling yards at two locations, and a road.
• XII Bomber Command B-25s attack Valmontone.
• XII Air Support Command A-20s attack Terelle.
• XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s cover the Anzio beachhead and attack motor vehicles, railroads, and rolling stock throughout central Italy, and a bridge on the British 8th Army front.
• 79th Fighter Group P-40 pilots down 3 Bf-109s and damage 5 other Luftwaffe fighters over the Anzio beachhead area during two separate engagements, one in the morning and one at 1215 hours.

• XII Air Support Command P-40s and P-47s attack ships off Dubrovnik and road and rail traffic around the city.

• Although many 15th Air Force B-17s dispatched to attack the marshalling yards at Arezzo and Perugia are thwarted by bad weather and poor visibility, a number attack targets of opportunity, including severalr road and rail bridges.

Air Operations, Marshalls

8 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Taroa Island in the Maloelap Atoll. 24 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s and 12 VII Fighter Command P-39s attack artillery batteries in the Mille Atoll. At dusk, 18 VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Roi airfield on Kwajalein and antiaircraft batteries in the Kwajalein Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• More than 50 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Hansa Bay region. 37 B-25s attack Alexishafen and Madang. V Fighter Command P-39s strafe barges on the Rai Coast.
• 64 38th and 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Lorengau airfield on Manus and the Momote airfield on Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands. 2 B-25s are lost and 1 damaged B-25 ditches.

Air Operations, Pacific

(24th?)An Allied raid by 200 planes launched from carrier groups on Rabaul results in heavy Japanese losses, including the destruction of 83 planes. Japan is suffering unsustainable aviation losses in the Pacific, both of aircraft and pilots, and the US is coming to rely more and more on achieving air supremacy in the theater.

Battle of the Atlantic

7 U-boats attack convoy JW-56A near Bear Island sinking 3 ships.

Eastern Front

The Soviet attacks around Korsun are driven forward ruthlessly. The south wing of the drive with the 4th Guards Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army make good progress. In the north, 6th Tank Army, led by an armor expert, Gen Kravchenko, does scarcely less well. Late in the day the Soviets begin an all-out assault in the Leningrad sector against Krasnogvardeisk, a railway junction. The town is carried early next morning.

The 1st and 2nd Ukraine Fronts continue their offensive west of Cherkassy and Kirovograd against the opposition of von Manstein's Army Group South. Over the next few days 10 German divisions will be encircled in the 'Korsun Pocket'. Further north the 3rd and 4th Ukraine Fronts under Rodion Malinovsky and Fedor Tolbukhin, keep up the pressure on von Kleist's Army Group A.

The 2nd Ukrainian Front commits its 5th Guards Tank Army to the Cherkassy battle, advancing quickly toward Shpola and into the rear of the XLII and XI Corps.

Italy

The fruitless attacks on the 'Gustav' Line continue, especially by the US II Corps, 34th Div. They still cannot establish a bridgehead across the Rapido. The French Corps to the right makes some gains on Colle Bevedere. At Anzio the Allied forces attempt to extend their perimeter inland but only make a little progress.

Mediterranean

The US motor minesweeper YMS-30 sinks on a mine off Anzio.

New Guinea

The Australians complete the capture of Shaggy Ridge, overlooking the Ramu valley.

Occupied Norway

Edvard Munch, a Norwegian expressionist artist, dies at age 80.

Pacific

The Japanese cargo ship Nanshin Maru (1391t) sinks after running aground on a shoal off the Miyagiken peninsula.

Images from January 25, 1944

Sherman Tanks near Anzio

Inspecting an He-111

Digging In at Anzio

German PoWs in Italy

US Troops Board LCVP in Italy

US Troops Land on Beach in Italy

A Sherman Tank of 46th Royal Tank Regiment

Directing Traffic in Italy

Shot Down German Fighter

A Knocked-out German Armored Car

US Troops and Landing Ships on Beach

Lt-Gen Mark Clark Talks to Allied Troops