January 10th, 1944 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: No. 605 Sq. RAF shoot down their 101st enemy aircraft, a Junkers Ju 188 raiding London during the 'little blitz'. (22)
Prime Minister Churchill"> Churchill and President Roosevelt"> Roosevelt, in a joint announcement, reported that merchant shipping losses due to U-boats were 60 percent less than losses for the preceding year.
The report of the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission was issued - A Caribbean Research Council had been set up (representing Britain, United States, and the Netherlands); steps had been taken to establish an organization for coordinating and expanding the purchase of imported food; an inter-island distribution system was developed.
Submarine HMS Sanguine laid down.
Frigate HMS Trollope commissioned.
FRANCE: Paris: The SD connive with the Milice in the murder of 84 year-old Victor Basch, formerly president of the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme, together with his 79 year-old wife.The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 181: During the evening, five B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 4.8 million leaflets on Orleans, Chateauroux, Rouen, Le Mans and Tours without loss.
GERMANY: An announcement is made of a Swedish-German trade agreement for 1944, providing for reduction of Swedish exports to Germany.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 40 Mosquitos to hit eight targets: eight Mosquitos bomb Berlin, three hit Solingen, two each attack Cologne, Emden, Koblenz, the Zwillingswerke Engineering Works at Solgingen and the marshalling yard at Koblenz and one bombs Krefeld.
U-1273 launched.
U-956 assisted the weather reporting ship Hessen, which was experiencing some difficulties.
NORWAY: The damaged U-277, which had gone aground and stranded in Norwegian waters, was towed free by another vessel.
BULGARIA: One hundred forty two USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Sofia causing considerable damage in the marshalling yards. P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts provide escort. Around 60 Luftwaffe fighters attack the force and a fierce air battle ensues; one B-17 is lost; the USAAF claims 28 aircraft shot down.
During the night of 10/11 January, 42 RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb communications centers in Sofia; one aircraft is lost.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops cut the Smela to Kristinovka rail link, and annihilate a Nazi pocket north of Kirovgrad.
A Moscow radio broadcast a statement by the Soviet Government replying to the Polish statement of 5 January. The Soviet statement declares that the Polish assertions about the Soviet-Polish frontier are incorrect, and defends the incorporation of the territories of the western Ukraine in the Soviet Ukraine, and those of western White Russia in the Soviet White Russia. The Soviet Government does not regard the 1939 frontiers as immutable. The Soviet-Polish frontier could pass approximately along the so-called Curzon line, but Poland's western borders must be extended to incorporate Polish land previously stolen by Germany. The Soviet Government repeats its desire for the reestablishment of a strong, independent Poland, and for friendship between Poland and the Soviet Union.
ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, the 34th Infantry Division's 168th Infantry Regiment columns push toward Cervaro across hills north of the St. Vittore-Cervaro road; the 2d Battalion of the 135th Infantry Regiment, to the left, advances northwest from La Chiaia to threaten Cervaro from the south; Task Force B, on the right, heads toward Capraro Hill. The Germans strongly resists all these thrusts.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit San Benedetto de Marsi; P-40s, and RAAF, RAF and SAAF aircraft hit communications, gun positions, trucks, and tanks at numerous points in and northwest of the battle area; other P-40s give close support to ground forces in the Chieti area; and A-36 Apaches hit trucks, tanks, trains, and other targets of opportunity north of Rome. During the night of 10/11 January, B-26 Marauders attack the iron and steel works at Piombino.
YUGOSLAVIA: Thirty one USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit the marshalling yard at Skoplje. .
CHINA: Eight USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs bomb the approach to the Kienchang bridge and attack a troop train north of Teian damaging the train and killing an estimated 100 Japanese soldiers; three B-25 Mitchells and eight P-40s sweep the area from Anking to Chiuchiang, sinking a large motor launch, two 100-foot (30,5 meter) barges, and a tug on the Yangtze River, and attacking a bridge at Teian and tracks south of Chiuchiang; two B-25s and four P-40s attack shipping on the Yangtze River near Wusueh, sinking a launch and leaving three tankers burning.
BURMA: Lt-Gen William Slim's British Fourteenth Army last night overran Maungdaw, the strategically important Burmese port on the Bay of Bengal. The victory was announced today in New Delhi by Mountbatten's recently-established South-east Asia Command (SEAC).
Despatches from the front report that the Fourteenth Army has opened a limited offensive in the Arakan, and that the success of Maungdaw was the culmination of weeks of infiltration by British and Indian troops. Slim's objectives are to secure the mouth of the Naf river, Maungdaw and Buthidaung before moving southwards with the ultimate aim of capturing Akyab.
The seizure of Maungdaw was preceded by heavy night artillery bombardment, followed by a ground assault by British and Indian troops. The Japanese garrison was forced to withdraw after suffering heavy casualties.
SEAC had been planning Operation Buccaneer, a major amphibious campaign to seize the Andaman Islands. But the combined chiefs of staff decided that the allocation of the assault ships and landing craft needed would jeopardize plans for the invasion of Europe and American operations in the Pacific. Admiral Mountbatten thereupon postponed Buccaneer and released nearly half of his assault shipping for Europe.
THAILAND: USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the marshalling yard and airfield in the Bangkok area.
EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Koepang, Dutch Timor.
NEW GUINEA: Since a Japanese attack on Saidor, Northeast New Guinea is expected, Brigadier General Clarence Martin, Assistant Division Commander, 32nd Infantry Division, asks Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, Commanding General Sixth Army, for reinforcements and is granted Battalion Combat Teams 1 and 3 of Regimental Combat Team 128.
In Northeast New Guinea, over 100 USAAF Fifth Air Force heavy, medium, and light bombers, and fighters attack the Madang, Alexishafen, and Bogadjim areas and the coastline from Madang to Sio.
NEW BRITAIN:
The ADC Group (7th Marine Regiment reinforced by a battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment and supporting units) repels Japanese charges against Aogiri Ridge, beginning at 0115 hours, then continues their attack southward toward Hill 660. The Arawe beachhead is being reinforced.
USAAF Fifth Air Force P-39 Airacobras strafe scattered villages and barges on New Britain Island.
Ten USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Vunakanau Airfield at Rabaul, New Britain Island. USMC and USN TBF Avengers and SBD Dauntlesses, escorted by USAAF and USN fighters, are prevented from attacking Lakunai Airfield at Rabaul because of bad weather but hit the lighthouse at Cape St. George on New Ireland Island.
Major General Hubert R Harmon, Commanding General USAAF Thirteenth Air Force, begins a heavy bomber campaign of night strikes tonight sending 20 B-24s on a strike against Lakunai Airfield, New Britain Island.
GILBERT ISLANDS: 392d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) with B-24's moved from Canton to Abemama and then to Kwajalein on 17 Mar 44.
Japanese planes again bomb the advanced base at Apamama Atoll, but inflict neither casualties nor serious damage to installations.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Five USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit the Kahili supply area, Bougainville Island, while four others hit the Chinatown area of Buka Island.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Four USAAF Seventh Air Force P-39 Airacobras from Makin Island, Gilbert Islands strafe Mille Atoll; one of the P-39s drops two 500-pound (227 kilogram) bombs on the fuel storage area. During the night of 10/11 Jan,uary 16 B-24 Liberators, staging through Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands from the Ellice Islands, bomb Maloelap Atoll; four others, staging through Baker Island from Canton Island, Phoenix Islands, hit Mille Atoll.
Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: two PBY-5 Catalinas of USN Patrol Squadron Seventy Two (VP-72), flying from Tarawa, mine Meichen Channel and Legediak Strait, Wotje Atoll.
U.S.A.:
Destroyer minelayer USS Robert H Smith laid down
Destroyer escort USS Kenneth M Willett laid down
Destroyer escort USS Jack Miller launched.
Destroyer escort USS Strickland commissioned.