Today in
World War II History

Ruins of Aprilia, Italy, WWII (US National Archives)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 9, 1944: In counterattack at Anzio, Italy, Germans retake Aprilia (“the Factory”).

Soviet artillerymen firing at German fortifications, Nikopol, Jan 1944 (Photo: mil.ru Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 8, 1944: In counterattack at Anzio, Italy, Germans retake Carroceto and secure Buonriposo Ridge.

Soviets take important manganese center of Nikopol in Ukraine.

US 56th Evacuation Hospital after an air raid, 1944 (US Army Medical Department)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 7, 1944: US secures Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

At Anzio, Italy, US 95^th Evacuation Hospital is accidentally bombed when a German fighter pilot jettisons bombs under Allied fighter attack; 28 hospital personnel and patients killed, including 3 nurses and the first female American Red Cross worker to be killed in action in WWII; the German pilot is shot down and treated in the same hospital. Read more: “Courage under Fire – US Army Hospitals at Anzio.”

John Hersey’s best-selling novel A Bell for Adano is published; it will win the Pulitzer Prize.

P-47 Thunderbolt piloted by Capt. Raymond Walsh of the US 406th Fighter Group is silhouetted against the exploding ammunition truck he just strafed, France, 23 Jun 1944 (US National Archives)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 6, 1944: Soviets make major breakthrough in Ukraine and reach the Dnieper River near Nikopol.

US Eighth Air Force sends out its first fighter aircraft ground strafing mission.

Poster for the Captain America film serial, 1944 (Republic Pictures, public domain via Wikipedia)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 5, 1944: Germans deploy the first U-boat with a “Schnorchel” to increase time a submarine could stay submerged.

New songs in Top Ten: “Besame Mucho” and “Mairzy Doats.”

Movie premiere of first of 15-part Captain America serial, starring Dick Purcell & Lorna Gray.

Submarine USS U-3008 (former German sub U-3008) with snorkel raised, Key West, FL, 25 July 1947 (US Navy photo: 80-G-442938)

US Marine signalmen setting up a command post in the streets of Roi-Namur, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, 1 Feb 1944 (US National Archives)

Bronze star (US Army Institute of Heraldry)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 4, 1944: US secures Kwajalein and Majuro Islands in Kwajalein Atoll.

Japanese open offensive against Indian troops on the Arakan Peninsula in Burma.

US authorizes Bronze Star medal for meritorious or heroic achievement, less than the Silver Star, retroactive to 7 Dec 1941.

US Navy blimp K-29 makes the first carrier landing by a nonrigid airship, on escort carrier USS Altamaha off San Diego, CA.

K-29 of Airship Patrol Squadron ZP-31 lifts off from escort carrier USS Altamaha off the California coast, 24 Feb 1944 (US Navy photo: 80-G-220075)

Lt.-Gen. Sir Bernard Freyberg, WWII (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 3, 1944: In Italy, New Zealand Corps is formed under Lt.-Gen. Sir Bernard Freyberg, over New Zealand 2^nd Division and Indian 4^th Division.

Italian Fascists violate Vatican City sovereignty and arrest several Jews hiding there.

Remains of Italian barracks near Cassino, Italy, February 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 2, 1944: Soviets enter German-occupied Estonia.

In Italy, US II Corps enters outskirts of Cassino town and takes Italian barracks area at Montevilla.

Gen. Omar Bradley, Adm. Bertram Ramsay, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Gen. Bernard Montgomery, Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, and Gen. Walter Bedell Smith at a SHAEF conference in London, England, 1 Feb 1944 (Imperial War Museum TR 1541)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 1, 1944: Countdown to D-Day: Allied leaders issue Neptune Initial Joint Plan for D-day, including a 5-division front.

US Marines land on Roi & Namur in Kwajalein Atoll in Marshall Islands.

Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI) is officially established, unifying resistance fighters in France and Free French troops abroad.

Article by Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty published in Journal of Experimental Medicine identifies the “transforming factor” as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

US landing craft approaching Namur, 1 February 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

US Army troops land at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, 31 Jan 1944 (US National Archives: 187435-442)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 31, 1944: US Army and Marines land on Kwajalein & Majuro in the Marshall Islands, with the first use of the DUKW amphibious vehicle in the Pacific and of underwater demolition teams in the Pacific.