Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 70 AirSols TBFs and SBDs escorted by more than 40 AirSols fighters attack shipping in Keravia Bay.
• VMF-217, VMF-222, and VF-17 F4Us down 9 A6M Zeros and 1 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter over the Rabaul area between 0830 and 0905 hours. 2 F4Us are lost.
• 40 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Panapai airfield on New Ireland and Talasea. 16 B-25s attack a submarine and two ships off New Hanover.
• ;During the night, US destroyers coached by airborne observers aboard Navy PB4Ys bombard Rabaul and Kavieng at close range.

Air Operations, Carolines

• Beginning with a dawn strafing attack by 72 F6Fs, US carrier aircraft from Task Force 58 support Operation CATCHPOLE, the impending invasion of Eniwetok Atoll, by mounting powerful attacks against the Japanese Navy regional base at the Truk Atoll. TBMs, SBDs, SB2Cs, and F6Fs damage or destroy as many as 150 aircraft on the ground and attack 4 Japanese warships and as many as 50 transports and other vessels in the lagoon.
• While supporting carrier-based SBDs and TBMs, as well as conducting their own strafing attacks against all manner of targets, F6Fs down 121 Japanese Navy aircraft, mostly A6M Zeros. A VT-9 TBFM gunner also downs 1 A6M. This is the highest one-day victory total so far in the Pacific War. 4 F6Fs are lost in the action.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack Ponape and Kusaie islands.
• During the night, 6 radar-equipped B6N 'Kate' torpedo bombers mount an unopposed attack against Task Force 58, and 1 torpedo hit is scored on the fleet carrier USS Intrepid, which retires to the Majuro Atoll.
• Also during the night, 12 VT-10 TBMs armed with 500-pound bombs mount the war’s first carrier-based night radar attack against shipping in Truk Lagoon. Several hits are claimed and several ships are apparently sunk.

Air Operations, CBI

• 2 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 6 10th Air Force P-51s attack a road bridge and rail facilitues in the Pyingaing area. 2 B-25s and 6 P-51s attack a bridge near Ye-u. 28 P-51s and A-36s attack Japanese Army ground troops and supply dumps between Lonkin and Kamaing. 2 P-51s attack a road junction near Maingkwan. 6 P-51s attack supply dumps around Lonton and Manywet.

• 4 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a freighter near Vinh, a bridge, and 2 locomotives.

Air Operations, Europe

There are ceaseless Allied raids on the German spearheads at Anzio. More than 1,000 tons of bombs are dropped by Allied planes as part of a massive bombardment to prevent a German breakthrough to the sea at Anzio. Naval gunfire and artillery barrages help contain the Germans who had driven a wedge into the center of the US 45th Div.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• The landing phase of Operation CATCHPOLE, the invasion of the Eniwetok Atoll (originally scheduled to take place in May), begins with intense air and naval bombardment. US Marine reconnaissance and scout troops secure outlying islands without opposition.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Jaluit Atoll, and 15th Fighter Group P-40s attack Japanese Navy floatplanes in the Jaluit Atoll.
• Escorting and supporting the Eniwetok invasion fleet and providing pre-landing and on-call air support are the carrier aircraft of Task Group 58.4 and Task Group 53.6. [See February 16, 1944.]

Air Operations, New Guinea

16 V Fighter Command P-47s attack targets of opportunity around Alexishafen.

Air Operations, Solomons

VMF(N)-531 PVs down 2 E13A 'Jake' reconnaissance float planes in the Green Islands at 0210 and 0330 hours, respectively.

Bismarcks

During the night American destroyers bombard Rabaul and Kavieng. Each of these ports is shelled twice more later in the month on nights chosen to coincide with other operations, particularly the landings on Los Negros.

Caroline Islands

Vice-Adm Spruance's formidable Task Force 58, which, although incomplete since the group engaged on the Eniwetok landing has been detached, still counts 9 aircraft carriers and 6 battleships, attacks installations and shipping at Truk. American bombers and torpedo-planes cause tremendous damage. 265 Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground or in combat among which were 200 designated to be moved to Rabaul for reinforcement there. The light cruiser Naka, the training cruiser Katori, the destroyer Maikaze, the destroyer Oite, the destroyer Tachikaze and some 30 other ships including 5 tankers are sunk. The airfields and port installations are disrupted. The Americans lose only 25 aircraft and the aircraft carrier Intrepid (CV-11) is damaged during the night by an enemy torpedo plane. In their night counterattack the Japanese lose another 31 aircraft. The battleships Iowa (BB-61) and New Jersey (BB-62) intercept the light cruiser Katori and a destroyer which escaped from the first attack on Truk, and sink them.

Eastern Front

The battle of the Korsun pocket comes to an end when the bulk of the surviving German forces reach their own lines. Of Gen Wilhelm Stemmermann's original force of 56,000, 35,000 have escaped but with little equipment. Stemmermann is himself killed. All of the 6 divs involved are totally unfit for further operations for the moment, leaving von Manstein even more desperately short of manpower.

A special Order of the Day announces the liquidation of the Korsun-Shevchenkosky pocket. According to the Soviet announcement the Germans have lost 100,000 men although Marshal Konev's memoirs give 55,000 German dead and 18,200 prisoners. A substantial haul of arms and ammunitions falls into Russian hands. The next day, in Moscow, the great victory is celebrated by the firing of 12 salvos of 224 guns.

Group Stemmerman begins to link up with the III Panzer Corps. Hundreds have been killed on the march though, freezing to death as they try to cross the icy Gniloy Tikich or falling under Russian fire. Among the casualties is Stemmerman, who is killed as his force reaches safety. Realizing that the Germans were escaping, the 2nd Ukrainian Front launches an all-out attack upon the pocket, striking the 57th and 88th Infantry Divisions hard.

Green Islands

The New Zealanders continue 'cleaning up' the islands, while a base for US motor torpedo boats is made effective.

Italy

The German attacks on Anzio beachhead continue, with infantry divisions still leading the battle. The Germans almost achieve a breakthrough on the front of US 45th Div. There are heavy losses on both sides.

The remaining monks at Monte Cassino are evacuated by the German military authorities and taken to Rome. During the night units of the 4th Indian Div make an assault on Height 593 but remains in German hands after being held briefly by 4th Indian Div.

Marshalls

The first US landings on Eniwetok Atoll are carried out. Adm Harry W. Hill's TF 51.11 lands small parties on islets near Engebi with artillery to cover later operations. There are 3 battleships, Pennsylvania (BB-38), Colorado (BB-45) and Tennessee (BB-43) and 3 escort carriers in the supporting force. The total Japanese garrison of the islands is about 3,400 men, led by Gen Yoshima Mashida, mostly concentrated on Eniwetok and the neighboring islet of Engebi. The tactics are the same as those so successful at Kwajalein: the occupation of objectives smaller and less strongly defended that the main objective and the landing on them of guns which can hammer the main objective and support operations on it.

Having sited their guns on the islets of Rujoru and Aitsu, the Americans begin to bombard Engebi from the air, sea and land. During the night groups trained in the demolition of underwater obstacles approach the beaches chosen for the landing.

Mediterranean

The cruiser HMS Penelope is torpedoed by U-410 off Anzio. The ship does not survive a second attack delivered the next day.

Pacific

• The Japanese minesweeper No. 26 is sunk by aircraft off Rabaul, New Britain.
• The US destroyer Nicholas (DD-449) sinks the Japanese submarine I-11 in the Marshall Islands area.
• The Japanese submarine chaser No. 24 is sunk by the US destroyer Burns (DD-588).

Unitd States, Home Front

A bomber crashes into Navy barracks in San Diego, California causing 34 casualties.

Images from February 17, 1944

US Marines Landing on Eniwetok, 17 February 1944 (US Marine Corps Photo)

Soldiers of Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. 'Hermann Göring' pass by immobilized Panzerjäger "Elefant" of Oberleutnant Ulbricht, 1./653 sPzJgAbt and continues to advance during counterattack against the allied beachhead at Anzio, Italy. 17 February 1944.

Hermann Göring Division near Anzio

A Japanese freighter in Truk Atoll is hit by a torpedo dropped from a TBF Avenger from USS Enterprise during Operation HAILSTONE, February 17, 1944.

Japanese Freighter Hit by Torpedo

A towering pillar of smoke marks the grave of a Japanese tanker, one of 23 ships sunk in the US Navy task force raid on Truk on 16 and 17 February 1944.

Japanese Tanker Sinking

Navy Bombers Surprise Japanese Warships at Anchor during the US Raid on Truk, February 17–18, 1944

Breakout of the Korsun Pocket, 17 February 1944

Aerial photo showing the destruction resulting from the surprise US raid on Truk. In addi­tion to US Navy carrier strikes, land-based Army Air Force B-24 and B-29 bombers carried out their own extensive bombing campaign on Truk Atoll.

Destruction at Truk

Operation HAILSTONE was a massive naval air attack launched on 16-17 February 1944 by the United States Navy against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk Island. The American attack was extraordinarily successful, sinking 15 Japanese warships, 32 merchant ships, and destroying 270 warplanes.

Operation HAILSTONE