Today in
World War II History

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.

Soldiers of the US 3rd Ranger Battalion board LCIs bound for Anzio; two weeks later, nearly all will be killed or captured at Cisterna (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 30, 1944: At Anzio, the Allies resume the offensive, but find the Germans fortified and reinforced.

At Anzio, US 1^st & 3^rd Ranger Battalions assault Cisterna and are almost wiped out when surrounded by elite Hermann Göring Division (of 767 Rangers, 12 are killed, 743 are captured, and only 6 return).

” Battleship USS Missouri firing a salvo, Aug 1944 (US National Archives: 80-G-K-4546)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 29, 1944: USS Missouri is launched at New York Navy Yard, the US Navy’s last battleship, christened by Margaret Truman, daughter of Sen. Harry Truman of Missouri (currently a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, HI).

Shelburne escape line is begun by Canadian MI9 agent Lucien Damais, carrying downed Allied airmen by boat from Brittany to Britain.

Guns of the battleship USS Missouri keeping watch over the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Photo: Sarah Sundin, 7 Nov 2016)

Men of the US 99th Fighter Squadron (“Tuskegee Airmen”) and a P-40 fighter in North Africa, 1943 (US Air Force photo: 25502027)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 28, 1944: Over Anzio, the US 99^th Fighter Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) in P-40s shoots down 3 German Fw 190 fighter planes—the previous day they shot down 10 Fw 190s.

Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley, circa 1944 (US Army photo)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 27, 1944: Soviets break siege of Leningrad after 872 days and 1.5 million deaths.

Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley succeeds Lt. Gen. George Grunert over US First Army, which is preparing for Operation Overlord (D-day).

LSTs landing US troops at Anzio, 22 January 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 26, 1944: British landing ship LST-422 is damaged by a mine off Anzio; of 700 aboard, 454 US soldiers & 29 British sailors are killed.

Allied ships are ordered to withdraw from the Anzio beachhead to reduce risk from air raids.

Argentina severs relations with Germany and Japan after a vast Axis spy ring is uncovered in the country.

Soviet tank assault force on a T-26 light tank in the Korsun area, 1944 (Russian International News Agency image #606710/I. Ozerskij/CC-BY-SA 3.0)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 25, 1944: Soviets surround 60,000 German troops in Korsun-Cherkassy pocket in Ukraine.

US II Corps successfully crosses the Rapido River north of Cassino in Italy.

The Cassino area of Italy, WWII (US Army Center of Military History)

Anzio town, looking south toward Nettuno (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Jan. 24, 1944: German bombers sink British hospital ship St. David off Anzio with Hs-293 guided missile; 96 killed, including 2 British nurses.

The US 93^rd Evacuation Hospital opens in Anzio and is hit by German shells, injuring a sergeant, the first of many casualties in the Anzio hospitals.