Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 40 AirSols SBDs, escorted by nearly 60 AirSols fighters, attack the Tobera airfield at Rabaul. 19 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, also escorted by AirSols fighters, attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.
• VMF-211, VMF-212, and VMF-215 F4Us, and 2 VMTB-143 crews down a total of 13 A6M Zeros in the Rabaul area between 1050 and 1123 hours. VF-17 F4Us down 10 Zeros over Cape Gazelle between 1105 and 1115 hours. A VF-38 F6F downs 1 Zero over the Tobera airfield at Rabaul at 1115 hours.
• 45 V Bomber Command A-20s attack Japanese Army ground positions in coastal areas around Cape Gloucester.

Air Operations, CBI

• 13 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack oil refineries at Yenangyaung. 1 B-24 attacks Akyab. 6 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack bridges at Meza and Pyintha.

Air Operations, Europe

• 800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force make a massive attack on the industrial center of Frankfurt-am-Main killing 736 people.
• German bombers raid Britain. Losses on this raid and another that was carried out on the 21st total 57 aircraft, cutting sharply into available Luftwaffe resources.

• 12 Mosquitos are sent to Duisburg, 10 to the Herbouville flying bomb site, and there are 6 OTU sorties. There are no losses.

• In the largest USAAF strategic mission to date, 863 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s are dispatched against industrial targets in and around Frankfurt am Main. In the end, 806 heavy bombers release more than 1895 tons of bombs against the primary or, in the case of one 3rd Bomb Division formation, against targets of opportunity at Ludwigshafen.
• 35 B-17s and 5 B-24s are lost to flak and fighter attacks, 5 lost in operational accidents; 22 crewmen killed, 299 missing
• Escort and support for the Frankfurt am Main mission is provided by 632 USAAF fighters, whose pilots down 44 Luftwaffe fighter along the bomber route over France, Belgium, and Germany between 1100 and 1305 hours.

• Approximately 80 IX Bomber Command B-26s attack V-weapons sites along the Channel coast.

• XII Bomber Command B-26s attack bridges north of Rome.
• XII Bomber Command B-25s attack a marshalling yard.
• XII Air Support Command P-47 fighter-bombers attack a munitions plant.
• XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s attack tactical targets in and around the Anzio beachhead and the US 5th Army battle area.
• 12th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers down 3 Bf-109s and 1 Fi-156 in several early-afternoon engagements over central Italy.

• 15th Air Force B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Siena.
• 15th Air Force B-17s attack marshalling yards at Ancona, Fabriano, Prato, and Rimini.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• Beginning with a dawn fighter sweep againt the Roi airfield on Kwajalein as a US Navy invasion fleet approaches the area, US surface warships, carrier aircraft, and USAAF and US Navy land-based aircraft begin the final neutralization of Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands.
• Throughout the day, US Navy carrier aircraft from Task Force 58 mount nearly 700 effective sorties against airfields and other targets throughout the Kwajalein Atoll, thoroughly neutralize the Taroa airfield on Maloelap, and repeatedly attack the airfield on Wotje. 2 TBFs and their crews are lost in a mid-air collision over Maloelap.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Roi, Namur, and Kwajalein islands in the Kwajelein Atoll and other targets in the Aur, Jaluit, Maloelap, Mille, and Wotje atolls. 9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack ground targets and shipping in the Wotje Atoll. 18 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s and 12 45th Fighter Squadron P-40s attack the Jaluit Atoll. VII Fighter Command P-39s operating in four-plane flights strafe the airfield on Mille throughout the day to deny its use by the Japanese.
• In US Navy fighter action, VF-9, VF-31, and VF-33 F6Fs down 13 A6M Zeros over the Roi airfield, Kwajalein between 0700 and 0720 hours. VF-10 F6Fs down 4 Zeros over the Taroa airfield at Maloelap between 0715 and 0800 hours. VF-6 and VF-9 F6Fs down 6 G4M 'Betty' bombers, 1 Zero, and 1 Ki-57 'Topsy' transport over or near Burlesque Island at about 0840 hours. A VF-5 F6F downs 1 B5N 'Kate' torpedo bomber over Wotje Island at 1445 hours. A VF-9 F6F downs 1 B5N 'Kate' Roi Island at 1550 hours.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• More than 40 V Bomber Command B-25s attack landing grounds at Bogia and Nubia.
• The US 863d Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at Saidor to help improve the airfield there.

Eastern Front

In the northern sector the Russian 59th Army and the 2nd Guards Army liberate Chudovo and mop up the whole area between Tosno and Chudovo, southeast of Leningrad. The railway line to Moscow is now completely safe.

Hitler appoints Walter Model to command Army Group North in place of Georg von Küchler. The 18th Army continues to withdraw toward the Luga River.

South of Cherkassy the German 8th Army evacuates the town of Smela, in the area where the battle of Korsun-Shevchenkosky continues. Chudovo is taken by Kiril Meretskov's men and Novosokolniki by Markian Popov's.

Hitler forces Kuchler to retire from command Army Group North following his unauthorized withdrawal order of January 28. Gen Model, commanding the 9th Army, is appointed to command Army Group North and is allocated 2 panzer divisions to halt the Soviet offensive. In fact, Model will carry out the withdrawal already ordered by Kuchler. Chudovo falls to the 54th Army and Novosokolniki to elements of the 1st Baltic Front.

The 13th and 60th Armies cross the Styr River, forcing back the thinly stretched LIX and XIII Corps.

Manstein tries to pull together his relief force as Group Stemmerman redeploys inside the pocket. Already the Soviets have thrown up strong inner and outer defense rings, ready for any break out or relief attempt. Renewed attacks by the 2nd Ukrainian Front hit Wohler's 8th Army, forcing the XLVII Panzer Corps out of Smela.

Italy

At Anzio the Allies now have 69,000 men, 508 guns and 237 tanks ashore. Lucas is at last ready to attack. But instead of the scattered units of the Geman 29th Panzergrenadier Div that manned the area when they landed, the Allies now face an improvised but none the less efficient, 14th Army, a total of 8 German divs, under the command of Gen August von Mackensen. There have been intermittent German air attacks on the beachhead and shipping offshore. A token of the growing German strength is that on this one day a cruiser and a transport are sunk. The US 3rd Div and British 1st Div attack towards Cisterna and Campoleone, but are held up before they reach their objectives. However, the front is advanced slightly.

In the Monte Cassino sector the 168th Regt of the US 34th Div, with appropriate tank and artillery reinforcements, advances swiftly towards Heights 56 and 213.

Marshall Islands

In preparation for the coming landings, Adm Mitscher's TF 58 bombs and shells targets on Roi, Namur, Maloelap and Wotje. Over the next 9 consecutive days 6,232 sorties are flown. 49 planes are lost. Land-based aircraft also attack Jaluit and Mille.

Mediterranean

The British light cruiser Spartan is sunk by a German glider bomb off Anzio. 66 of those on board are lost. Survivors are picked up by the British light cruisers Dido and Delhi. Also sunk in the German aerial attack on Allied shipping off Anzio is the US freighter Samuel Huntington (7176t). 3 crewmen are lost in the explosions, 1 will die later from wounds received. The survivors are rescued by the tank landing craft LCT-277.

Pacific

The US submarine Tambor (SS-198) attacks a Japanese convoy in the Nansei Shoto and sinks the merchant cargo ship Shuntai Maru (2253t) north of Okinawa.

Images from January 29, 1944

Canadians in Orsogna, Italy

Rail Bridge Bombed

Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXs

French Generals Listen to Report

German Troops on the Eastern Front

German Pak Anti-tank Gun

The Wehrmacht In Retreat