Air Operations, Bismarcks

• AirSols SBDs, escorted by many AirSols fighters, attack the Tobera airfield at Rabaul immediately following which 17 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, escorted by many fighters attack, the same target.
• VMF-211, VMF-212, and VMF-217 F4Us and a VF-38 F6F down 7 A6M Zeros in the Rabaul area between 1005 and 1055 hours.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping off Cerman.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• Operation FLINTLOCK, the invasion of the Marshall Islands, opens in northern Kwajalein Atoll with the seizure by US Marines of 5 preliminary island objectives. Highly efficient close support is provided by naval gunfire and aircraft from 3 escort carriers (Task Unit 53.1.6) and 2 fleet carriers and 1 light carrier (Task Group 58.2). Little opposition is encountered on the ground at this time, but continuous on-call air support is available throughout the day.
• ;With somewhat less direct support, owing to the much larger pre-landng bombardment of Kwajalein Island, US. Army troops occupy 4 islands and islets in southern Kwajalein Atoll against weak to moderate opposition. The main southern landing of the day, on Enubuj Island, is preceded by intense naval gunfire support and rocket, bombing, and strafing attacks by 51 fighters and bombers from Task Unit 52.9.1 (Southern Attack Force Carrier Support Unit) escort carriers.
• By this date, ongoing strikes by Task Group 58.2 carrier warplanes have crippled or destroyed every one of the 83 Japanese Navy aircraft thought to be based at the Roi airfield on Kwajalein on January 29, at the start of the pre-landing carrier offensive. By day’s end, Task Group 58.1 aircraft have joined Task Group 58.2 aircraft in pummeling ground defenses on Roi and adjacent Namur, the primary objectives of the bulk of the US 4th Marine Division. Despite the heavy air and naval bombardment, the Roi airfield on Kwajalein is spared to the extent possible as it is to be rehabilitated as quickly as possible for use by regional land-based aviation units.
• 19 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s attack the airfield on Mille, which is patrolled and harassed by VII Fighter Command P-39s and P-40s for the entire day. 45th Fighter Squadron P-40s strafe targets in the Jaluit Atoll and Task Group 58.3 carrier aircraft continue to pound targets in the Eniwetok Atoll.
• Before a scheduled amphibious assault by US Army troops can get underway, the Majuro Atoll is secured in its entirety by US Marine scouts—without a fight. Majuro is the first of Japanese pre-war holdings to fall into Allied hands. It will be turned into a major advance US Navy fleet anchorage.
• Throughout the night, 8 VII Bomber Command B-24s mount individual attacks against the Wotje Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command A-20s attack Uligan Harbor and V Fighter Command P-39s strafe Bogadjim, Bostrem Bay, and the landing ground at Alexishafen.

Atlantic

German MTBs attack Convoy CW-243. 2 ships are sunk.

Australia, Home Front

A commission is established to investigate Japanese war crimes.

Eastern Front

Soviet troops reach the outskirts of Kingisepp in their drive west from Leningrad.

The fighting in the Leningrad sector has carried the 2nd Shock Army and 42nd Army to the Luga River north and south of Kingisepp.

Heavy fighting rages east of Krivoi Rog and around Nikopol as the German 6th Army is crushed by the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts.

In the Crimea the Germans have erected strong defensive positions. The XLIX Mountain Corps deploys 1 infantry division on the Perekop Isthmus and 1 infantry and 2 Rumanian divisions on the Zivash coast facing the 51st Army. The V Corps is near Kerch with 2 infantry and 1 Rumanian cavalry division facing the Independent Coastal Army. In the Jaila Mountains is the I Rumanian Mountain Corps, fighting Crimean partisans, while in operational reserve is another infantry division, Mountain Regiment Krym and the 9th Flak Division. The 17th Army has a total strength of 235,000 men.

1 panzer division, 1 infantry and 2 Luftwaffe field divisions have been struck off the German order of battle during January but in return 1 SS motorized division, 1 infantry and 1 ski division are commited, bringing the total German commitment to 23 panzer, 10 panzer grenadier and 139 infantry divisions. The Luftwaffe has 1,800 aircraft against 8,500 Soviet planes.

English Channel

The British minesweeping trawler Pine is sunk by a German s-boat of the 5th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla southeast of Beachy Head with the loss of 10 of her crew.

Italy

In the southern sector of the 'Gustav' Line the 138th Bde of the 47th Div, British X Corps, reaches Monte Purgatorio. North of Cassino the 168th Regt of the US 34th Div takes Caira and repulses vigorous enemy counterattacks. Further north on their right the French Corps retakes Monte Abate.

Marshalls

The landing operations against Kwajalein Atoll begin Operation FLINTLOCK. Adm Nimitz has assembled the biggest force so far employed in a single operation in the Pacific

40,000 men of the Marines and army, against Rear-Adm Monzo Akiyama's forces of about 8,000. The archipelago, made up of 36 atolls comprising at least 2,000 islands and islets, is about 620 miles long and cannot be 'skipped' in any attack from the South Pacific toward Japan. The Japanese, well aware of this, have strengthened their defenses, especially those of the major atolls, on which thay have built a number of airfields. For some time, however, the 750 aircraft of Task Force 58 and hundreds more from bases in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands have been hammering the military installations and sea traffic. Adm Spruance is in overall command with Gen Holland Smith in charge of the various landing forces, the souther attack force under Rear-Adm Richmond K. Turner, the northern attack force under Rear-Adm Richard L. Conolly, the Majuro attack group and the reserve force under Rear-Adm Hill.

During the night the Majuro attack force lands units of the 106th Regt of the 27th Inf Div on Majuro atoll. By the evening the atoll is firmly in their hands. At the same time a large number of US torpedo-boats attack the twin islands of Roi and Namur, the first of which consists almost entirely of the airfield. Starting at first light, Marines and army troops land on undefended islets a short way from Roi-Namur and Kwajalein, the southernmost island in the atoll of that name, and locate guns there so that they direct fire on the bigger islands, which are then subjected to an intense barrage of fire from B-24 Liberator bombers, carrier based aircraft and the battleships Tennessee (BB-43), Colorado (BB-45) and Maryland (BB-46). Never before has a landing been preceded by such a heavy barrage. The islands of Roi and Namur disappear under a cloud of smoke and dust, and many of the defenders are killed.

At 12:15p.m. the Marines of the 23rd and 24th Regts launch their assault. They advance fairly quickly on Roi, but on Namur they are held up by some Japanese pillboxes which have escaped destruction. The explosion of a big dump of torpedoes and of 2 ammunition depots blown up by the Japanese causes numerous casualties among the attacking troops. During that night the Japanese put in furious counter-attacks, which are driven off with the support of tanks.

Two US naval vessels are damaged in the day's operations: the heavy cruiser Louisville (CA-28) by naval gunfire; and the destroyer Colahan (DD-658) by grounding.

Majuro is quickly made ready to become a major American base. It becomes operational on Febrary 2. The main carrier forces of TF 58 continue their attacks on these objectives and against Eniwetok and Maleolap.

Occupied France

The Resistance blows up the Ratier aircraft propeller works at Figéac.

Pacific

• The Japanese submarine I-171 is sunk by the US destroyers Guest (DD-472) and Hudson (DD-475) in the Bismarck Archipelago area.
• The Japanese minelayer Nasami is sunk by the US submarine Trigger (SS-237) in the Central Pacific area.
• The Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No. 33 is sunk by aircraft in the Central Pacific area.

Images from January 31, 1944

Amtrac Carries US Forces Ashore at Kwajalein, 31 January 1944

USS Idaho (BB-42) off Kwajalein Early Softens Up Shore Positions, 31 January 1944

General View of Anzio, Italy, 31 January 1944

German POWs Captured north of Anzio, 31 January 1944

Devastation on Kwajalein Island Caused by Pre-assault Bombardment

Troops of the 7th Infantry Division Go Ashore at Enubuj Island, Kwajalein Atoll

Gun Motor Carriage M10 (Tank Destroyer), Used to Blast Pillboxes on Kwajalein, circa 31 January 1944