Air Operations, Bismarcks
12 V Bomber Command B-24s attack shipping at Kavieng. 35 XIII Bomber Command B-25s attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.
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]Air Operations, East Indies
18 V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Laha airfield on Ceram.
[ | ]Air Operations, Europe
On this day Operation ARGUMENT begins. The US strategic air force mounts a series of heavy attacks against German aircraft factories. Brunswick, Leipzig and Regensburg are among the targets. In the operations on the 20th, 940 bombers and 700 fighters are sent on attacks and 21 bombers are lost. Operations on the 25th are less successful, with 65 of a force of 800 bombers being lost. The series of attacks becomes known as 'Big Week'. The losses on the 25th are not typical of the present US operations and the continuing high German losses in the fighting are beginning to tell in the strength and quality of their forces.
A total of 3,800 sorties with powerful fighter escort drop 10,000 tons of bombs in an attempt ot knock out major fighter assembly and component plants in Germany and Austria. The Americans claim 517 German fighters are shot down.
RAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
- 598 aircraft are sent to Stuttgart. Included in this total are 460 Lancasters, 126 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos. The North Sea sweep and the Munich diversion successfully draw the German fighters up 2 hours before the main bomber force flies inland.
- 7 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes are lost. 4 more Lancasters and 1 Halifax are lost when they crash upon returning to England.
- 156 aircraft fly a large training exercise across the North Sea as a preliminary feint, 24 Mosquitos attack airfields in Holland, 7 Mosquitos make a diversionary raid on Munich, there are 7 Serrate patrols, and 28 Stirlings and 6 Wellingtons lay mines off French ports.
- 1 Wellington is lost.
| ]Air Operations, Marshalls
- Preceded by strafing attacks mounted by Task Group 53.6 F6Fs, US ground forces continue to advance against firm opposition on Eniwetok Island. Other Task Group 53.6 aircraft and the main body of Task Force 58 attack targets elsewhere in the Eniwetok Atoll, and Fleet Carrier Air Group 10 (USS Enterprise) mounts strong attacks against the Jaluit Atoll, which is to be bypassed.
- 9 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfield on Wotje. 15th Fighter Group P-40 fighter-bombers attack the airfield on Mille and ships in the lagoon.
| ]Air Operations, New Guinea
38 V Bomber Command B-24s attack targets in the Alexishafen-Hansa Bay area.
[ | ]Battle of the Atlantic
U-413 sinks the British destroyer Warwick 15 miles off Cornwall with the loss of 67 of her crew. There are 93 survivors.
[ | ]Eastern Front
Popov's 2nd Baltic Front sends 22nd Army on a new attack toward Kholm which is quickly successful.
[ | ]Green Islands
New Zealand contingents crush the last resistance of the Japanese garrison on the islands which are located opposite New Ireland.
[ | ]Italy
Allied forces have driven a wedge into the middle of the German line at Anzio and have inflicted heavy losses, but the German are already preparing another offensive. The German 1st Parachute Div under Gen Richard Heidrich begins to replace the 90th Panzergrenadiere in the Monte Cassino sector. The German 71st Inf Div is also withdrawn from the front to be deployed in a sector of the Aurunci mountains to the north of the 94th Div.
[ | ]Marshalls
Aircraft form Adm John W. Reeves' TG 58.1 attack targets on Jaluit Atoll. The fighting on Eniwetok continues with the American forces gaining the upper hand. A landing is being prepared on Japtan and Parry, this last one of the three biggest islands in the atoll. Parry, close to Eniwetok, is shelled.
A group of aircraft carriers commanded by Rear-Adm J. W. Reeves take part in the bombardment of Japanese positions on Jaluit atoll.
[ | ]Mediterranean
British patrol aircraft catch a nest of German U-boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, sinking 3 and damaging several others.
[ | ]Norway, Resistance
The ferry Hydro carrying a stock of heavy water on the first stage of the journey from the Ryukan hydroelectric plant to laboratories in Germany is sunk in Lake Tinnsjö and the cargo lost in an attack by resistance fighters let by Norwegian Lt Knut Kaukelid acting on instructions from the British and Norwegian governments. The ferry was carrying rail tank cars from the Norsk Hydro facility at Vermork. The material was being shipped to Germany. Haukelid planted explosives with a time charge set to go off when the ferry reached the deepest part of the lake, making i impossible to recover most of the heavy-water containers. Of the people on board, 26 drowned and 27 rescued. Heavy water is used in atomic research.
[]Pacific
The Japanese submarine chaser No. 48 is sunk by US Army aircraft off New Ireland.
[ | ]Images from February 20, 1944
Damage at 10 Downing Street |
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US Atillery Fires on Enemy Positions in Nettuno, Italy, 20 February 1944 |
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B-24J Liberator Dropping Bombs on Gotha |
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US Medical Personnel Examine a Red Cross Banner Hit by Bombs in Nettuno, Italy, 20 February 1944 |
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Degrelle, Gille and Hitler |
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Photographic-Reconnaissance Aerial over Stuttgart |
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| Vertical photographic-reconnaissance aerial taken over Stuttgart, Germany following the raid by aircraft of Bomber Command on the night of 20/21 February 1944, showing damaged industrial premises in the Feuerbach district. At top centre can be seen the heavily-damaged ignition equipment plant of Robert Bosch AG, while at centre right smoke still pours from the partially-destroyed works of Leichtmetallbau GmbH. |