Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 23 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, escorted by many AirSols fighters, attack the Tobera airfield at Rabaul. 21 XIII Bomber Command B-24s, escorted by many AirSols fighters, attack Rabaul's Vunakanau airfield. AirSols TBFs and SBDs, escorted by many AirSols fighters, attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.
• VMF-215, VMF-217, and VMF-218 F4Us, and a VF-38 F6F down eight A6M Zeros in the Rabaul area between 1145 and 1212 hours.

Air Operations, CBI

• 40 10th Air Force P-51s, and A-36s attack bivouacs, a road junction, supply dumps, and a motor pool at Chishidu, Padaw, and Walawbum. 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and P-51s attack bivouacs, bridges, a motor convoy, a motor pool, and several town areas. 8 P-40s attack a town and a motor convoy near Sumprabum. 9 P-40s attack warehouses at Wanling.

• During the morning, 449th Fighter Squadron P-38s and a 76th Fighter Squadron P-51 down 7 of 19 Ki-43 'Oscar' and Ki-44 'Tojo' fighters intercepted on their way to attack the airfield at Kanchow.
• 1 P-38 is lost, but its pilot returns safely.

• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack shipping in the Gulf of Tonkin and coastal targets near Haiphong. 6 14th Air Force P-40 fighter-bombers attack a barracks at Vinh, the airfield at Dong Cuoung, rail yards at Cam Duong, and sampans at Phu Tho.

Air Operations, Europe

• 10 Lancasters of No 617 Squadron attempts to bomb the Anthéor Viaduct, an important railway link between France and Italy but, as on two earlier raids, are not successful despite low-level runs by Wing Commander Cheshire and Squadron Leader Martin. The sides of the valley are very steep and the target is defended by guns which damage both of the low-level aircraft. Flight Lieutenant R. C. Hay, the bomb aimer in Martin's aircraft and the Squadron Bombing Leader since No 617's formation, is killed.

• 8 Mosquitos are sent to Elberfeld and 4 to Duisburg, there are 3 Serrate patrols, and 25 Halifaxes and Stirlings lay mines in the Frisians and off Cherbourg.
• 1 mine-laying Halifax is lost.

A Lancaster III of No 619 Squadron Caught in Flight, 14 February, 1944.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• An estimated 6 to 12 Japanese Navy four-engine patrol bombers based at Ponape Island in the Caroline Islands attack Roi Island in the Kwajalein Atoll from high altitude at about 0300 hours. After dispersing foil strips (known as “chaff”) to disable ground radar, each bomber drops a single 250-kilogram antipersonnel bomb and several light incendiary bombs. The very first bomb ignites the island’s main ammunition dump, which is turn destroys numerous facilities and an estimated 50 percent of aviation equipment and 80 percent of food suipplies on the island. 26 US servicemen are killed and 130 are wounded.
• 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Maloelap and Wotje atolls.531st Fighter-Bomber Squadron A-24s and VII Fighter Command P-39s attack the Mille Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

Nearly 50 V Bomber Command A-20s attack Japanese Army ground defenses near Wewak.

Allied Planning

Allied planners set May for the cross-Channel invasion of France.

Atlantic

Over the next 3 nights German MTBs lay mines off the Humber and near Greater Yarmouth.

Bismarcks

The marines on New Britain take Gorissi, 25 miles east of Cape Gloucester. The Allies land on Rooke (Umboi?) Island in the Dampier Strait, Bismarck Sea.

Burma

In the Arakan the 26th and 5th Indian Divs converge from north and south to free the 7th Indian Div from its encirclement by the Japanese. This unexpected step by the enemy surprises Terauchi, who has been expecting to launch the bulk of his own forces about this time in an attack against India which might prove decisive. Meanwhile, troops inside the Box come to rely entirely on air supply, which provides them with sufficient ammunition and food to bead off numerous and increasingly desperate attacks.

Eastern Front

The battle for the Korsun pocket grows in intensity. In the north the troops of the Volkhov Front under Kiril A. Meretskov take the important railway junction of Batetskaya also push forward and reach Luga. The entire east bank of Lake Peipus is cleared of German troops. Russian units reach a point within 45 miles of Pskov which controls the approaches to Latvia.

The 67th Army enters Luga from the north but becomes embroiled in bitter fighting with the XXVIII Corps. The 59th and 54th Armies are also attacking the city from the east, pounding the German defenses.

Elements of the III Panzer Corps take Vinograd. There are fierce tank battles with the 6th Tank Army and 5th Guards Army. Lysyanka falls after bitter fighting, the closest the III Panzer Corps will get to the Korsun pocket. Due to the difficult ground conditions the III Panzer Corps is being air dropped fuel. Inside the pocket the SS Wiking Division launches a determined counterattack at Shenderovka, aimed at taking the village in preparation for the breakout. However, the Russian forces prove too strong and the SS are beaten back with heavy casualties. Despite this setvack, an attack by the 72nd Infantry Division at Novo buda is successful and the village falls.

Indian Ocean

The British troopship Khedive Ismail is sunk by I-27. About 2,000 are killed. The destroyers Paladin and Petard sink the attacker after a protracted struggle.

Italy

Gen Bernard Freyberg's New Zealand Corps replaces the exhausted US II Corps opposite Cassino. The sector of the US 34th Div, north of Cassino, goes to Gen Sir Francis Tucker's 4th Indian Div, while south of Cassino the 2nd New Zealand Div takes the place of the American 34th Div. Gen Freyberg announces that, before any other attack is made on Monte Cassino, the abbey will have to be bombed. In the Anzio sector there is a comparative lull. The British 1st Div is taken out of the line because of its heavy losses and Lucas is busy organizing an inner defensive perimeter.

Marshalls

Marines land on Arno Atoll beginning the occupation of the smaller atolls in the archipelago. The powerful Task Force 58 sails from its anchorage off Majuro for the biggest Japanese base in the Pacific, Truk atoll in the center of the Carolines. Vice-Adm Spruance is hoping to surprise the backbone of the Japanese fleet at Truk. He does not know, however, that a few days earlier Imperial Headquarters have ordered Vice-Adm Hitoshi Kobayashi, Governor of Truk, to withdraw the fleet to Palau Island. All the same, the 'neutralization' of Truk could be regarded as a great strategic victory.

New Guinea

The Australian 8th Brigade and 5th Division meet up with US troops at Saidor, having advanced around 50 miles from Sio. Now only 60 miles of the northern coastline of the Huon Peninsula remains in Japanese hands.

United States, Politics

Wendell Willkie formally announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. Gen MacArthur has also been suggested as a Republican candidate. Roosevelt's name has been put forward for several of the Democratic primaries but he has made no formal announcement himself.

Images from February 12, 1944

Bomb Damage at the 56th Evacuation Hospital Caused by Enemy Shelling, while the Unit Was Operating on the Anzio Beachhead, 12 February 1944

Douglas A-20's On The Line At Ladd Field, Alaska Are Covered With Snow Just After A Snowstorm, 12 February 1944

US troops Firing a Bazooka near Cassino, Italy

On 12 February 1944, infantrymen of Company B, from Lt-Col Walker A. Reaves's 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, advance inland on Rooke Island, west of New Britain, but find that the Japanese have withdrawn.

Marines Advance on Rooke Island