February 4th, 1944 (FRIDAY)
BALTIC SEA: U-854 mined and sunk in the Baltic Sea north of Swinemünde, in position 54.44N, 14.16E. 51 dead and 7 survivors.
BURMA: Arakan: The British XV Corps' offensive in the Arakan has ground to a halt, with the veteran Japanese 55th Division making an attack on Taung Bazaar in the British rear. This evening the Japanese counter-attack (Operation Ha-Go) made its first contact with the British 7th Indian Division, led by Major-General Frank Messervy, in the Ngakyedauk Pass.
Since early December the British have been advancing down the Arakan towards Akyab, a vital airfield for any attack on Rangoon, but at the Maungdaw to Buthidaung road they were confronted by defences consisting of impenetrable tunnel systems. Now, with their rear threatened, the British risk a repeat of last year's defeat in the Arakan peninsula.
MARSHALL ISLANDS:
Glen Borens' diary reads:
At about 0615 hrs, land was sighted. We kept coming in
til you could almost count the branches on the coconut trees. We dropped anchor
at 1035 hrs in Majuro Lagoon.
We were told that we were approximately 18 days ahead of schedule in the Marshalls campaign. Practically all of the Marshall Islands are in our hands. Just before dark, I was on the flight deck and looked out over the lagoon and it was solid ships everywhere I looked. Every kind of ship you could think of was anchored there in the lagoon. What a sight and "what a target" !!!!! Anyway, all went well.
Kwajalein: After four days of fierce fighting against Japanese troops prepared to fight to the death rather than surrender, US forces have captured all the main atolls in the Marshall Islands, securing a strategic staging post for future Allied offensives in the central Pacific.
The Japanese-mandated islands, an important defensive link in Japan's Pacific perimeter are the first territory in the Japanese empire to fall to the Allies. Their loss was reported to the Japanese imperial Diet by the premier, General Tojo. He said: "The war situation is increasing in gravity day by day. For the first time, the enemy has really attacked Japanese soil."
The landings four days ago by 40,000 US infantry and marines on the three main islands of Kwajalein atoll - Kwajalein, Roi and Namur - were the largest operation yet staged by the Allies in the Pacific. Namur and Roi fell within two days. But mopping-up operations are still going on against a Japanese garrison holding out in a 400-yard stretch in the north-east of Kwajalein, where US troops of Major-General Charle Corlett's 7th Division now control 80 islands in the 60-mile-long atoll.
Although outnumbered, the Japanese have fought to the death. On Namur and Roi 3,742 were killed and only 91 taken prisoner, US casualties were 737, including 190 dead. On Kwajalein, 7,870 of the 8,000-strong garrison died; US losses were 372. Roi puts the Allies within bomber range of the Japanese naval base at Truk.
U.S.A.:
Escort carrier USS Shamrock Bay launched.
Escort carrier USS Salamaua laid down.
ARGENTINA severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria, Vichy France, Hungary, and Romania.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-519 shot down RAF 172 Sqn Wellington. The U-boat was possibly lost in this attack.
U-763 shot down two Liberators from RAF 53 Sqn. One at 0821, the second at 2211.