ITALY: USAAF aircraft attack Luftwaffe targets in the Po valley.

At 0100 outside Salerno, while attached to the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, a part of the U.S. VI Corps, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions participated in an attack on Cisterna. The 3rd Division's mission was to seize Cisterna, cut Highway 7, be prepared to continue on to Velletri and if all went well, interdict Highway 6 at Valmonte. The 1st and 3rd Rangers were to infiltrate between German strongpoints and sneak into Cisterna where they would hold the town while wreaking havoc behind German lines easing the way for the main attack an hour later by the 15th Infantry and the 4th Rangers.

A 3rd Division reconnaissance report stated that the road to Cisterna was lightly held by elements on the Hermann Göring Division. Indeed, that was true the day before the attack but General Lukas, VI Corps commander, had postponed the attack for 24 hours in order to allow the UK 1st Infantry Division and CCA to complete preparation for their attack on the left flank of VI Corps.

The 1st and 3rd Rangers entered a ditch for their approach to Cisterna. Not long afterwards the battalions lost contact with each other. Soon after a German tank spotted the Rangers and had killed the commander. Soon after crossing the LD the 4th Rangers ran into heavy German resistance where none had been expected. The ditch gave cover to the other battalions until 1.5 miles short of Cisterna. The remainder of their approach had to be made across open fields. During the delay ordered by Lukas the Germans had moved many units into the area in front of Cisterna. The plan called for the Rangers to be in Cisterna before dawn but they were still 800 yards short of the town at first light. When the Rangers were hit by the newly arrived Germans they were in a column formation making it impossible to conduct fire and manouvre. The Germans surrounded the ditch cutting off a retrograde movement. In the end only six Rangers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions made it back to Ranger headquarters. The remainder were casualties. (Jay Stone)(265, p.160)

WAKE ISLAND: Chet Smith, a PB2Y Coronado pilot and his crew make their first mission over this island.
"Lieutenant Commander Connolly led the first group over the target in a stepped up 'V' formation. Our plane's radar altimeter indicated altitude below 50 feet.
"I asked the bow turret gunner, 'How much return fire?' He said, 'Very little.' From the waist hatch, 'Moderate fire.' The tail gunner answered, 'All hell broke loose.'" (224)

PACIFIC: USN Task Group 38.3 conducted a pre-dawn air attack on Engebi Island.

During the night, we moved up to Engebi island and launched a pre-dawn attack.  8 to 10 "Betty" aircraft were caught on the ground and set on fire.

     One was caught starting to taxi out for take-off but did not make into the air. The airfield was ruined. (Glen Boren, aboard the USS Bunker Hill)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-364  Listed as missing in the Bay of Biscay as of January 31, 1944. No explanation exists for its loss. 49 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

Whilst escorting convoy JW.56B, destroyer HMS Hardy is struck by a torpedo fired by U-278 (Kapitanleutnant Joachim Franze) and her magazine explodes. She then has to be scuttled with a torpedo fired by HMS Venus. There are 40 casualties. Location: South of Bear Island at 73 37N 18 06E. (Alex Gordon)(108)

At 0346 and 0354, U-957 fired two Gnats at the escorts of the Convoy JW-56B and heard two detonations, which were claimed by Schaar as hits on two destroyers, but they were end-of-run detonations. At 0357, U-278 fired a Gnat that struck HMS Hardy. This hit was observed and claimed by U-957 and also by U-472, which had fired a Gnat at 0357 hours, but missed KNM Stord. At 0420, U-957 fired a spread of three FAT torpedoes at two corvettes, which laid stopped (probably the destroyer HMS Venus rescuing survivors from the torpedoed destroyer HMS Hardy) and heard one detonation after four minutes, but no destroyer had been hit at this time. Hardy had been seriously damaged and had to be sunk by a coup de grâce by HMS Venus. This detonation was heard by U-601, which thought that her Gnat, fired at 0524 had hit this destroyer. The U-boat then crossed the sinking position of Hardy and sighted an oil slick and debris.

U-314 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the Barents Sea southeast of Bear Island, Norway, at position 73.41N, 24.30E, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Whitehall and Meteor. 49 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)

U.S.A.:

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