January 8th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Davidstow Moor airfield, Cornwall. No. 269 Squadron RAF becomes operational. They are the first squadron to be equipped with lifeboat carrying Lockheed Hudsons for the ASR role.
London: General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson takes over as supreme Allied commander in the Mediterranean theatre.
WESTERN EUROPE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 180: During the evening, five B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 2.292 million leaflets on Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium; and Rennes, Brest and Nantes, France without loss.
GERMANY: During the night of 8/9 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 23 Mosquito to hit four targets: two each bomb Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe and Solingen and one bombs Heidelberg.
ITALY: Members of the Italian Fascist Grand Council are placed on trial by Mussolini's Social Republic of Salo. Count Ciano is among those, who shortly will be convicted and executed. They had been captured by the Germans and turned over to the Italian fascists. (Mike Yaklich)
In the U.S. Fifth Army's British X Corps area, the 139th Brigade, 46th Division, takes Mt. Cedro without opposition. In the U.S. II Corps area, Task Force B outflanks and captures Hill 1109. The Germans have now been forced back to Mt. Trocchio and the hills above Cervaro to defend the approaches to the Liri Valley, which leads to Rome.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit railway stations at Frosinone and in the Colleferro-Segni area; B-26 Marauders bomb marshalling yards at Grosseto and Lucca; P-40s support the U.S. Fifth Army in the mountains east and southeast of Cassino, and, with A-36 Apaches, hit railway targets south of Rome at Aquino, Frosinone, Palestrina and Castelforte; other P-40s hit Avezzano, and A-36s blast trains and vessels in the vicinity of Tarquinia.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses hit the Reggio Emilia aircraft factory with P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts flying escort.
U.S.S.R.: The Red Army captures Kirovograd, the highway and rail centre of the Dnepr river bend.
YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the harbour, warehouses, and railway at Metkovic.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the airfield at Mostar.
ALGERIA: U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower turns over command of Allied Forces in the Mediterranean to British General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Lieutenant General Jacob Devers takes command of North African Theatre of Operations, U.S. Army.
BURMA: Twenty USAAF Tenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs and A-36 Apaches knock out a bridge north of Hopin, destroy a warehouse and railroad tracks in the area, and destroy a locomotive and damage numerous railroad cars at Tigyaingza.
EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kendari and other targets on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies.
NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, medium bombers, and a few fighters, attack the Madang area, bomb Uligan Harbour, and hit Bogadjim and the Bogadjim Road.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force fighters strafe the Sag Sag sawmill in the Cape Gloucester area and B-25 Mitchells and A-20 Havocs hit positions near Arawe.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Fifteen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators, staging through Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, bomb shipping and shore installations at several locations on Wotje, Maloelap and Jaluit Atolls; and two B-25 Mitchells from Tarawa hit shipping and gun positions on Jaluit.
Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: eight USN PB4Y-1 Liberators of Bombing Squadrons One Hundred Eight and One Hundred Nine (VB-108 and VB-109), flying from Apemama Atoll, Gilbert Islands, mine the waters off Wotje Atoll and then strafe Japanese facilities on the island and shipping offshore; seven USN PBY-5 Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Seventy Two (VP-72), flying from Tarawa Atoll, mine Wotje anchorage and Schischmarov Strait.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US ships raid the Shortland Islands.
PACIFIC: From the diary of Glen Boren: We finally made it to Espiritu Santo on the 8th for another stay on the beach. We launched our fighters just a short ways out and then we went into the harbor and dropped anchor. We grabbed our gear and headed for the fighter strip.
The fighter pilots continued their training program which was never finished before we went into combat.
USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kahili, Bougainville Island; and B-25 Mitchells hit concentrations on Siposai and Kondakanimboko Islands.
Task Force 38 (Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth), consisting of the light cruisers USS Honolulu (CL-48) and St. Louis (CL-49) and three destroyers, bombards Japanese shore installations on Faisi, Poporang, and Shortland Islands starting large fires.
CANADA:
Destroyers HMCS Iroquois, Haida and Huron arrived Loch Ewe with Convoy RA-55B.
U.S.A.: War Department Operations Division planners decide that the present positions in the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations (CBI) should be maintained and that airpower should be built up so that the CBI can support a main offensive against Japan to be made in the Pacific. .
Developed in only 143 days, the prototype Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star, USAAF serial number 44-83020, "Lulu Belle," makes its first flight at Muroc Dry Lake (now Edwards AFB), California., with Milo Burcham at the controls. It is the first American fighter to exceed 500 miles per hour (805 kilometres per hour) in level flight.
Top songs on the Pop Music Charts are: "My Heart Tells Me" by The Glen Gray Orchestra with vocal by Eugenie Baird; "Paper Doll" by The Mills Brothers; "People Will Say We're in Love" by Bing Crosby; and "Pistol Packin' Mama" by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters.
Destroyer escorts USS Raymond, Oliver Mitchell, McNulty and Leslie LB Knox launched.
Submarine USS Spadefish launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-426 Sunk west of Nantes, France, in position 46.47N, 10.42W, by depth charges from an Australian Sunderland aircraft (RAAF Sqdn. 10/U based at Mount Batten). 51 dead (all hands lost). This is remarkable because this was one of the first Sunderlands to have increased bow armament of four extra machine-guns to combat the 37 and 20mm guns mounted in the conning towers of U-boats. The aircraft opened fire at 1,200 yards and succeeded in knocking out all the u-boat gunners before attacking with depth charges. (22)
U-757
(OLtzS Friedrich Deetz, CO)
Sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Iceland, in position
50.33N, 18.03W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS
Bayntun and the Canadian corvette HMCS
Camrose. 49 dead (all hands lost). The escort for Liverpool Convoy
OS-64 detected U-757
as she closed to attack. A series of 8 depth charge attacks were conducted by
Camrose and Bayntun supported by
HMCS
Snowberry and Edmunston. The sound of a submarine blowing tanks was heard after
the last attack but then the contact faded and was lost. Wreckage was found on
the surface and the action ceased. The convoy arrived safely at Freetown
26 Jan 44 with all of its 38 merchantmen.
(Alex Gordon)
U-343 shot down RAF 179 Sqn aircraft.