Air Operations, Bismarcks
- 32 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, escorted by more than 60 AirSols fighters, attack Rabaul's Lakunai airfield, after which the airfield is attacked by 19 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, escorted by nearly 50 AirSols fighters.
- VF-17 F4Us and VF-38 F6Fs down 10 Japanese fighters over the Rabaul area between 1105 and 1120 hours. VMF-217 and VMF-218 F4Us down 3 A6M Zeros over the Rabaul area between 1100 and 1130 hours.
- V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s mount light attacks against Talasea and artillery batteries at Cape Dampier.
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]Air Operations, CBI
BURMA- 12 10th Air Force P-51s attack Wuntho.
- 11 14 Air Force P-40s attack Yangtze River traffic between Puchi and Yoyang.
- 6 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack bridges and trains.
| ]Air Operations, Europe
200 Russian planes attack Helsinki.
US 9th AIR FORCEFRANCE:
- IX Bomber Command B-26s attack the Amiens/Glisy Airdrome, a factory, and several V-weapons sites in northern France.
ITALY:
- XII Bomber Command B-25s attack a road junction at Frascati.
- XII Bomber Command B-26s attack a marshalling yard at Orte.
- XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s attack numerous towns, motor vehicles, and rairoad cars.
- 12th Air Force fighter pilots down 8 Luftwaffe aircraft during the course of the day.
- 1 Spitfire and its pilot are lost
| ]Air Operations, Marshalls
Task Group 58.4 carrier aircraft continue to pound targets in the Eniwetok Atoll. VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Maloelap and Wotje atolls. 531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s and 15th Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers attack the Mille Atoll. VII Fighter Command P-39s attack the Jaluit Atoll.
[ | ]Air Operations, New Guinea
- V Bomber Command B-25s attack Bunabun and Madang as well as coastal targets between Bogia and Cape Croisilles. A-20s attack Kairiru and Muschu islands. V Fighter Command P-39s attack barges near Nubia.
- ;90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Madang after encountering heavy weather on their way to bomb targets in the Admiralty Islands, but 24 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 24 V Fighter Command P-38s are able to attack targets on Los Negros Island.
- 49th Fighter Group P-40s down 4 Japanese fighters over the Wewak area between 0925 and 0950 hours and a 49th Fighter Group P-40 downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance aircraft over Hansa Bay at 1220 hours.
| ]Air Operations, Solomons
US Navy PVs and XIII Fighter Command P-39s attack barges in the Green Islands.
[ | ]Battle of the Atlantic
The German submarine U-177 is sunk by US naval land-based aircraft (VB-107) in the South Atlantic area.
| Class | Type IXD2 |
| CO | Korvettenkapitän Heinz Buchholz |
| Location | S Atlantic, W of Ascension Island |
| Cause | Air attack |
| Casualties | 50 |
| Survivors | 14 |
| ]CBI
BURMABritish forces begin pulling back on the Arakan front after being threatened by Japanese movements to drive a wedge between them. The Japanese overrun the headquarters of the Indian 7th Division and separate it from the Indian 5th Division. From Ledo, in Assam the advance guards of the 'Special Force' under Gen Orde Wingate, commander of the Chindits, move into Burma. They comprise 2 Indian brigades, the 77th and the 111th, and 3 independent brigades of the British 70th Div, the 14th, the 16th and the 23rd, supported by a US air force group.
Wingate's columns have the task of dislodging Japanese troops from the Myitkyina and so facilitating the dispatch of Gen Joseph Stilwell's Chinese troops from Yunnan, while inflicting the greatest possible losses on the Japanese in northen Burma.
[ | ]Eastern Front
The 3rd Ukraine Front under Malinovsky captures Manganets, east of Nikopol. A wide breach is opened in the German lines in the area northeast of Krivoy Rog and Nikopol. 5 German divisions are trapped near Nikopol. More significantly, the area west of the town Apostolovo also falls, threatening a further encirclement.
In the northern sector the Germans are driven back across the Narva River. The coast of the Gulf of Finland is now firmly in Russian hands.
SOUTHERN SECTORThe III Panzer Corps abandons its relief attack. The XLVII Panzer Corps is finding it equally difficult to move in the face of fierce Russian resistance.
Farther south the 8th Guards Army breaks through the 6th Army and storms across the Ingulets River near Shirokoye.
[ | ]Italy
During the night, about midnight, the Germans begin a diversionary attack on the Moletta River in company strength and is engaged by the 2nd Battalion, 157th Infantry of the VI Corps.
The fighting in the hills just north of Cassino continues, with the American forces striving to recapture recently lost ground.
[ | ]Marshall Islands
KWAJALEIN ATOLLMarine aircraft begin landing on Roi Island airfield, named Dyess airfield, after a winner of the Medal of Honor. The Roi-Namur battle costs the 4th Marine Division 313 marines killed and 502 wounded. Japanese casualties are 3,563 dead, the majority killed during the opening air and naval bombardment.
In the Southern Landing Force area, Western Force of the 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry, occupies Cohen (Ennugenliggelap), the next island north of Clifton (Eller), without opposition, bringing to an end the offensive against the southern Kwajalein Atoll. Southern Landing Force losses total 142 killed, 845 wounded, and 2 missing. Japanese losses are estimated at 4,938 killed and 206 captured. Northern Landing Force continues uneventful reconnaissance of the islands of the northern Kwajalein Atoll.
[ | ]Images from February 6, 1944
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