8 January 1939

1933 (SUNDAY)

SPAIN: Anarchists and Syndicalists in Barcelona lead a large uprising which reflects the impatience of the lower classes of the government's social reform movement. The Spanish army quells the revolt.

1937 (FRIDAY)

U.S.A.: U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 3 is passed. This resolution prohibits the exportation of arms, ammunition, and implements of war from the U.S. to Spain.

January 8th, 1939 (SUNDAY)

FRANCE: Paris: Picasso paints La Femme Accoudeé.

U.S.A.: The Philadelphia Orchestra, with Eugene Ormandy conducting and featuring Marian Anderson as contralto, records "Von ewiger Liebe" by Johannes Brahms.

The US embassy in Paris sends a report to Washington detailing an eyewitness account of a Japanese seaplane ramp and airplane hangar on Jaluit in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific.

8 January 1940

January 8th, 1940 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Rationing is introduced today, housewives had to take their ration books with them to buy butter, sugar and bacon from the shops with whom they have registered. Butter is rationed at four ounces a week. Adults are allowed 12 ounces of sugar and four ounces of bacon or uncooked ham - less of cooked ham. Hotels are allowed to serve one-sixth of an ounce of butter - a circular pat the thickness of three pennies - with each meal, including afternoon tea. Some have installed special weighing machines. They can serve one-seventh of an ounce of sugar, or two lumps.

British housewives will be allowed extra sugar for making marmalade by the Ministry of Food, providing that the Treasury and Board of Trade permit the import of Seville oranges. Obtaining rationed food from Eire is punishable by six months imprisonment, unless it is sent as small gifts.

NORTH SEA: A converted Wellington bomber fitted with an energised metal hoop to explode magnetic mines does its first successful trials.
This was Wellington Mk IA, RAF serial number P2516. The aircraft was equipped with a 48 foot (14.63 meter) dural hoop under the fuselage energized by an auxiliary motor mounted in the fuselage. Several Wellingtons were converted to Wellington D.W. Mk Is and successfully used for mine duty in British coastal waters and later in the Mediterranean harbours and the Suez Canal.

GERMANY: A new army headquarters is reported to have been established at Recklingshausen, ten miles from the Dutch border.

The Italian Ambassador, Alfieri Dio, delivers a message from Benito Mussolini to Adolf Hitler cautioning the Fuhrer against waging war against Britain. Mussolini asked if it was truly necessary "to risk all-including the regime-and to sacrifice the flower of German generations."

U-754 laid down.

U-575, U-576, U-577, U-578, U-579, U-580, U-581, U-582, U-583, U-584, U-585, U-586 ordered.

FINLAND: Details of the Finnish victory over two Russian Divisions at Suomussalmi are released. The 44th Division was completely destroyed, trapped while going to the support of the defeated 163rd Division. The Finns captured 102 field guns, 43 tanks, over 300 vehicle and 1,170 horses.

Tonight in Helsinki the Church bells are ringing, flags are flying and strangers embracing on the streets in celebration.

Many Soviet tanks were burnt-out by Molotov cocktails thrown by Finns hiding in pits by the forest tracks, other Soviet troops froze to death with nothing to protect them from the cold except crude shelters of spruce branches.

When the Finns attacked some of the Soviet troops were too weak to stand, too cold to fight.

The Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner authorises the author and playwright Mrs. Hella Wuolijoki to discuss the possibility of peace with the Soviet Ambassador at Stockholm, Madame Alexandra Kollontay.

The commander of the Swedish volunteers, Lieutenant General Ernst Linder visits the Finnish GHQ to receive his orders.

Group Sisu is formed at Lapua, west-central Finland. It's composed of non-Scandinavian foreign volunteers. At the moment only eight men are present.

CHINA: Japan claims to have killed 25,000 Chinese in battle north of Canton.

U.S.A.: Quezon tells Sayres that MacArthur"> MacArthur is “crazy”. (Marc Small)

8 January 1941

January 8th, 1941(WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Just as de Gaulle is about to give the British an ultimatum to set Muselier free - failing which all relations between Free France and Britain would be immediately severed - when he is informed that the whole affair is a deplorable mistake: the documents are fakes, the culprits had confessed - they were two men introduced into the Free French security services on British recommendation. These men, Commandant Howard and Adjutant Colin, had a personal grudge against the vice-admiral, and had contrived to compromise him by forging Vichy documents.

FRANCE: Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired) presents his credentials as U.S. Ambassador to France at Vichy.

GERMANY: Berchtesgaden: Hitler holds a council of war at the Berghof. He is optimistic that the British cannot endanger his position in Europe even if the Axis are defeated in North Africa. He concedes that the direct invasion of Britain is "...not feasible unless she is crippled ...and Germany has complete air superiority..." Germany should make herself so strong on the continent that "... we can handle a further war against England and America." Hitler determines to prevent Italy losing North Africa, but not to divulge their plans to the Italians as he is convinced that the Italian Royal Family is transmitting intelligence to Britain.

Hitler also discusses the plans to assist the Italians in Albania and the invasion of Greece, along with the plans to seize the French fleet at Toulon.

During the night of 8/9 December, RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb Wilhelmshaven where the battleship Tirpitz is berthed - the first of many attempts in the war to sink the vessel.

U-559 is launched.

ITALY: RAF Wellington bombers raid Naples hitting Italian Battleships "Giulio Cesare and Vittorio Veneto. The Guilio Cesare is badly damaged while moored in the harbour. The Vittorio Veneto is also hit but lightly damaged.

ALBANIA: The Greeks begin to attack Klisura in their continuing offensive but their progress farther north is not as successful, especially around Berat.

EGYPT:

Reply from Wavell to Churchill:

...I can assure you that I have always had question of rearward services constantly in mind and have been as anxious as anyone to cut down on non-fighting units. Except for anti-aircraft. ...

But the more I see of War, especially present-day War, the more I am impressed by the part that administration plays.

The Air Ministry is also becoming concerned about the build-up of German forces in Romania and the halting of the Greek advance without capturing the port of Valona in Albania. Thus leaving the way forward for an Italian offensive in the spring perhaps with German assistance especially from the Luftwaffe.

AUSTRALIA: Destroyer HMAS Nizam commissioned.

CANADA: Despite citizenship, Japanese Canadians are excluded from military service.

U.S.A.: Washington: President Franklin D. Roosevelt presents his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 1942 to the Congress. It outlines a total expenditure of $17.5 billion with $10.8 billion going to defence. (Fiscal Year 1942 extended from 1 July 1941 to 30 June 1942.)
American mogul William Randolph Hearst, owner of the Hearst newspaper chain, forbids any of his newspapers from accepting ads for Orson Welles' motion picture “Citizen Kane,” slated for release later in the year. The film was generally interpreted as a psychological study of Hearst, portrayed as the fictional Charles Foster Kane. In March 1941, Welles threatens to sue Hearst for trying to suppress the film, and RKO movie studio if it fails to release it. The film premieres 1 May 1941, at the RKO Palace in New York. The members of the American Film Institute have voted this film as Number 1 on the list of the 100 Greatest American Films Ever Made.

8 January 1942

January 8th, 1942 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Major General James E Chaney is designated Commanding General US Army Forces in British Isles (USAFBI); he continues as the Chief, Special Observer Group, US Army (SPOBS).

Destroyer HMS AIREDALE is commissioned.

FRANCE: During the night of 8/9 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 151 aircraft to bomb German warships and the port area at Brest; 69 aircraft attack the warships and 49 hit the port area. In a second raid, 11 of 31 aircraft attack the port area at Cherbourg.

GERMANY: U-611 is launched.

U-604 and U-660 are commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet troops attack Mozhaysk west of Moscow. On the Northern front, the Soviet Army begins an offensive near Lake Ilmen.

IRAQ: Baghdad: A court sentences Rashid Ali, who led an anti-British coup last year, to death in absentia.

NORTH AFRICA: A flag of truce waving from the Italian positions around Hellfire [Halfaya] Pass has for a moment brought a flash of chivalry and mercy into this ruthless war of tanks and bombs and bayonets. The white flag have immunity to an Italian medical officer bringing out five wounded Imperial airmen so that they could receive attention from the South Africans besieging the position. He passed unmolested through the lines - lines from which only a few minutes before men had been sniping and shelling, aiming only to kill - and explained that the besieged Italians had no medical supplies with which to treat the wounded. It was therefore, he said only humane that the airmen - crew of a British bomber that had crashed in the enemy's lines - should be brought out to their friends.

Then the Italian officer was sent back under a safe conduct with a large supply of surgical dressings for his own wounded.

Daily Mail

Mike Yaklich explains why these Italians were so far behind enemy lines.

A primarily-Italian garrison, built around the Savona Division and under the orders of that division's commander, Gen. De Giorgis, was still holding on despite being completely surrounded, badly outnumbered, 500 miles in the British rear, and (as seen by the situation with medical supplies cited below) running out of every essential. A sort of advanced outpost position to begin with (protecting the coastal route through the pass but easily outflanked by movement through the desert, which was exactly how the British began the "Crusader" offensive), they had been left behind but refused to surrender. The Italians tried to run some supplies into them using submarines (on one such run the sub in question was attacked by German Stukas as it surfaced near Sollum), but could only bring in a meagre amount in that fashion. The garrison at Halfaya/Sollum would finally give up their resistance on January 17, when they ran out of water...

LIBYA: Axis forces retreat from El Agheila to Agedabia.
Pilots of No. 3 Squadron RAAF flying Curtiss Kittyhawks attack 35 Italian aircraft and 8 Luftwaffe Bf 109s that are preparing to attack advancing British forces southeast of Agedabia. The Aussies claim 7 aircraft destroyed and 4 probably destroyed vs. 1 Kittyhawk lost.

BRITISH NORTH BORNEO: Japanese troops have advanced into Jesselton [Kota Kinabalu], the capital of British North Borneo, and hauled down the Union Flag. The British had little choice but to quit the town. On 15 December, when the Japanese 124th Infantry Regiment came ashore at the burning oilfields at Miri, all the British Empire had to oppose them was one Indian battalion, the local Sarawak Rangers and the police. From Miri two Japanese battalions sailed west to the airfield at Kuching, where they are still fighting; a third sailed east and took Jesselton. Japanese forces also occupy Beaufort.

MALAYA: General Archibald Lord Wavell, who has been named Commander in Chief Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) Command, South West Pacific, visits the Malayan front, where preparations are being made for withdrawal of Indian 3 Corps into Johore. The Australian 8th Division (less the 22nd Brigade Group) is ordered to move to north-western Johore to meet the main Japanese drive on the Gegamat-Mount Ophir-Muar line. The Australians will be supplemented by the last four battalions of the Indian 9th Division.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Luzon, the front is quiet as the Japanese regroup for drive on Bataan and U.S. and Philippine forces organize defence positions.

THAILAND: The Japanese 21st Infantry Regiment and supporting units land on the Kra Peninsula at Singora and Patani.
Pilots of the 3d Fighter Squadron of the American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) shoot down three Mitsubishi Ki-30, Army Type 97 Light Bombers (later given the Allied Code Name “Ann”) over Mesoht.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Whyalla is commissioned.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-19 launches a Yokosuka E14Y, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (later given the Allied Code Name “Glen”) to fly a reconnaissance mission over Pearl Harbor.

CANADA: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Federal Minister Ian Mackenzie announces that the Royal Mounted Canadian Police will be registering all Japanese-Canadians in British Columbia; a national security matter under the War Measures Act. They are later moved inland to detention camps.

U.S.A.: The War Department orders that only Air Corps, antiaircraft, and service troops be sent to Australia, where emphasis will be placed on rapid build up of air forces.
Congress establishes the Office of Civilian defence which will be headed by New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia.
The federal government orders the distillery industry to convert 60 percent of its whiskey-making capacity to ethyl alcohol production, a move that will sharply increase the availability of explosive smokeless powder.

8 January 1943

January 8th, 1943 (FRIDAY)

GERMANY: During the night of 8/9 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches three Mosquitos and 38 Lancasters to attack Duisburg; 36 aircraft attack with the loss of three Lancasters.

U-194 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet General Konstantin Rokossovsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Don Front, issues a surrender ultimatum to the troops of German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus' Sixth Army in Stalingrad, guaranteeing "their lives and safety, and after the end of the war return to Germany, and promising that "...medical aid will be given to all wounded, sick and frost-bitten..." Since Paulus had been ordered by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler not to surrender or attempt to breakout of the city, the summons is ignored.

Soviet forces seize Zimovniki, on the Stalingrad-Novorossisk rail line.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British submarine HMS/M P 311 (P 311) is reported overdue today. The ship is lost while engaged in Operation PRINCIPLE, the Chariot attack on Italian cruisers at La Maddalena, Sardinia. HMS/M P 311 left Scotland in November 1942 with sister-boats HMS/M Thunderbolt (N 25) and Trooper N 91) after addition of human torpedo deck-mounted watertight containers, direct for Malta. P 311 departed from Malta on 28 December 1942. She sent her last signal on 31 December when she was about 88 nautical miles (163 kilometres) west of Palermo, Sicily. After this signal she is not heard from again and she is presumed sunk by Italian mines in the approaches to La Maddalena on or around 2 January 1943. She is reported overdue today when she fails to return to base.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (US Ninth Air Force):

TUNISIA: Eight USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24s hit Tunis after weather and engine trouble prevent a planned attack on Bizerte.

LIBYA: RAF Liberators, under operational control of the IX Bomber Command, attack a rail junction near Tripoli.

WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (US Twelfth Air Force):

TUNISIA: Fifteen USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17s hit the docks at Ferryville and the naval base at Bizerte.

B-25s hit bridges and rail junctions at Graiba and at Kalaa Srira while P-47s hit Kairouan Airfield. The heavy and medium bombers are escorted by P-38s.

A-20s, escorted by P-40s, bomb tank concentrations near Gabes. Other fighters fly numerous patrols and reconnaissance missions.

The 59th Fighter Squadron, 33d Fighter Group moves with its P-40s from Casablanca, French Morocco to Thelepte, Tunisia.

The 443d and 444th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium), 320th Bombardment Group (Medium) arrive at La Senia, Algeria from England with B-26s.

From

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MADAGASCAR: British General Sir William Platt, Commander in Chief East Africa Command, formally hands over the running of the island, except for the Diego Suarez area, to the Free French General Paul-Louis Legentillhomme, High Commissioner of the French possessions in the Indian Ocean, Governor-General of Madagascar and General Officer Commander in Chief Madagascar.

CHINA: In a message to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek turns down a proposal for an offensive in the spring of 1943.

BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force P-40s bomb and strafe Watugyi and Nsopzup and strafe other targets. Six B-25 Mitchells bomb the storage area at Bhamo.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Companies A, C, and F of the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, overrun Tarakena. The 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, begins an offensive to clear the road to Sanananda: 1st Battalion attacks two Japanese perimeters located between Musket and Kano, making limited progress.

In Northeast New Guinea USAAF Fifth Air Force heavy, medium and light bombers, with fighter cover, join RAAF aircraft in the continued attack of the Japanese convoy as it unloads about 4,000 reinforcements at Lae. Japanese fighter cover and Allied aircraft continue fierce aerial combat. During this action, 2d Lieutenant Richard I. Bong, flying a P-38F Lightning, shots down an "Oscar" fighter (Nakajima Ki-43, Army Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa) over the Huon Gulf, 5 miles (8 kilometres) offshore. This is Bong's fifth victory making him an "Ace."

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Major General J. Lawton Collins, Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, issues Field Order 1 to the division concerning the upcoming offensive. The 35th Infantry Regiment moves secretly up Mt Austen toward the line of departure.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberator flies photographic reconnaissance over Amchitka Island. Another B-24 aborts a weather run over Kiska Island because of instrument trouble.

CANADA: Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada announced appointment of first Canadian Minister to the Soviet Union.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Spence commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The first man lost from a U-boat in 1943 was during a storm when one man was washed overboard while saving the I WO. Also the commander was wounded and so the boat was brought back to base with the IWO in command on 16 Jan. [Obersteuermann Walter Schliephake].

At 2237, U-436 fired three single torpedoes on the convoy TM-1 and two of them hit the Oltenia II, which exploded and sank. The third torpedo hit the Albert L. Ellsworth, which fell behind the convoy and was abandoned by all hands. Her lifeboats picked up 20 survivors of the Oltenia II, but some of them died from their injuries. Destroyer HMS Havelock picked up the survivors. At 2043 the next day, the wreck of the Albert L. Ellsworth was shelled and sunk by U-436 in 27.57N/28.50W.

U-436 sank SS Yorkwood in position 04.10S, 35.30W - Grid FC 7416

8 January 1944

January 8th, 1944 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Davidstow Moor airfield, Cornwall. No. 269 Squadron RAF becomes operational. They are the first squadron to be equipped with lifeboat carrying Lockheed Hudsons for the ASR role.

London: General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson takes over as supreme Allied commander in the Mediterranean theatre.

WESTERN EUROPE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 180: During the evening, five B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 2.292 million leaflets on Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium; and Rennes, Brest and Nantes, France without loss.

GERMANY: During the night of 8/9 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 23 Mosquito to hit four targets: two each bomb Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe and Solingen and one bombs Heidelberg.

U-1103 commissioned.

U-400 launched.

ITALY: Members of the Italian Fascist Grand Council are placed on trial by Mussolini's Social Republic of Salo. Count Ciano is among those, who shortly will be convicted and executed. They had been captured by the Germans and turned over to the Italian fascists. (Mike Yaklich)

In the U.S. Fifth Army's British X Corps area, the 139th Brigade, 46th Division, takes Mt. Cedro without opposition. In the U.S. II Corps area, Task Force B outflanks and captures Hill 1109. The Germans have now been forced back to Mt. Trocchio and the hills above Cervaro to defend the approaches to the Liri Valley, which leads to Rome.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit railway stations at Frosinone and in the Colleferro-Segni area; B-26 Marauders bomb marshalling yards at Grosseto and Lucca; P-40s support the U.S. Fifth Army in the mountains east and southeast of Cassino, and, with A-36 Apaches, hit railway targets south of Rome at Aquino, Frosinone, Palestrina and Castelforte; other P-40s hit Avezzano, and A-36s blast trains and vessels in the vicinity of Tarquinia.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses hit the Reggio Emilia aircraft factory with P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts flying escort.

U.S.S.R.: The Red Army captures Kirovograd, the highway and rail centre of the Dnepr river bend. The Germans are reporting an offensive in the Zhlobin area.

YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the harbour, warehouses, and railway at Metkovic.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the airfield at Mostar.

ALGERIA: U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower turns over command of Allied Forces in the Mediterranean to British General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Lieutenant General Jacob Devers takes command of North African Theatre of Operations, U.S. Army.

BURMA: Twenty USAAF Tenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs and A-36 Apaches knock out a bridge north of Hopin, destroy a warehouse and railroad tracks in the area, and destroy a locomotive and damage numerous railroad cars at Tigyaingza.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kendari and other targets on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, medium bombers, and a few fighters, attack the Madang area, bomb Uligan Harbour, and hit Bogadjim and the Bogadjim Road.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force fighters strafe the Sag Sag sawmill in the Cape Gloucester area and B-25 Mitchells and A-20 Havocs hit positions near Arawe.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Fifteen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators, staging through Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, bomb shipping and shore installations at several locations on Wotje, Maloelap and Jaluit Atolls; and two B-25 Mitchells from Tarawa hit shipping and gun positions on Jaluit.

Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: eight USN PB4Y-1 Liberators of Bombing Squadrons One Hundred Eight and One Hundred Nine (VB-108 and VB-109), flying from Apemama Atoll, Gilbert Islands, mine the waters off Wotje Atoll and then strafe Japanese facilities on the island and shipping offshore; seven USN PBY-5 Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Seventy Two (VP-72), flying from Tarawa Atoll, mine Wotje anchorage and Schischmarov Strait.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: US ships raid the Shortland Islands.

PACIFIC: From the diary of Glen Boren: We finally made it to Espiritu Santo on the 8th for another stay on the beach. We launched our fighters just a short ways out and then we went into the harbor and dropped anchor. We grabbed our gear and headed for the fighter strip.

The fighter pilots continued their training program which was never finished before we went into combat.

USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kahili, Bougainville Island; and B-25 Mitchells hit concentrations on Siposai and Kondakanimboko Islands.

Task Force 38 (Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth), consisting of the light cruisers USS Honolulu (CL-48) and St. Louis (CL-49) and three destroyers, bombards Japanese shore installations on Faisi, Poporang, and Shortland Islands starting large fires.

CANADA:

Tug HMCS Lawrenceville assigned to Esquimalt.

Destroyers HMCS Iroquois, Haida and Huron arrived Loch Ewe with Convoy RA-55B.

U.S.A.: War Department Operations Division planners decide that the present positions in the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations (CBI) should be maintained and that airpower should be built up so that the CBI can support a main offensive against Japan to be made in the Pacific. .

Developed in only 143 days, the prototype Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star, USAAF serial number 44-83020, "Lulu Belle," makes its first flight at Muroc Dry Lake (now Edwards AFB), California., with Milo Burcham at the controls. It is the first American fighter to exceed 500 miles per hour (805 kilometres per hour) in level flight.

Top songs on the Pop Music Charts are: "My Heart Tells Me" by The Glen Gray Orchestra with vocal by Eugenie Baird; "Paper Doll" by The Mills Brothers; "People Will Say We're in Love" by Bing Crosby; and "Pistol Packin' Mama" by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters.

Destroyer escort USS Parle laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Raymond, Oliver Mitchell, McNulty and Leslie LB Knox launched.

Submarine USS Spadefish launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-426 Sunk west of Nantes, France, in position 46.47N, 10.42W, by depth charges from an Australian Sunderland aircraft (RAAF Sqdn. 10/U based at Mount Batten). 51 dead (all hands lost). This is remarkable because this was one of the first Sunderlands to have increased bow armament of four extra machine-guns to combat the 37 and 20mm guns mounted in the conning towers of U-boats. The aircraft opened fire at 1,200 yards and succeeded in knocking out all the u-boat gunners before attacking with depth charges. (22)

U-757 (OLtzS Friedrich Deetz, CO) Sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Iceland, in position 50.33N, 18.03W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Bayntun and the Canadian corvette HMCS Camrose. 49 dead (all hands lost). The escort for Liverpool Convoy OS-64 detected U-757 as she closed to attack. A series of 8 depth charge attacks were conducted by Camrose and Bayntun supported by HMCS Snowberry and Edmunston. The sound of a submarine blowing tanks was heard after the last attack but then the contact faded and was lost. Wreckage was found on the surface and the action ceased. The convoy arrived safely at Freetown 26 Jan 44 with all of its 38 merchantmen. (Alex Gordon)

U-343 shot down RAF 179 Sqn aircraft.

8 January 1945

January 8th, 1945 (MONDAY)

BELGIUM: In the U.S. First Army's VII Corps area, the 4th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) and 84th Infantry Division pursue the Germans on the right of the corps to Marcourt and Cielle; other elements of the 84th Infantry Division start clearing the woods south of the main road junction southeast of Manhay, the 2d Armoured Division drives on Samre, Combat Command A moving south from Dochamps and Combat Command B pushing southeast along the Salmchteau-Samre Road. The 3d Armoured Division gains their intermediate objective line, taking Hebronval, Ottre, Joubieval, and Provedroux. In the XVIII Corps (Airborne) area, the 82d Airborne Division consolidates along the line Grand Sart-Salmchâteau-Trois Ponts and clears Comté.

In the U.S. Third Army's VIII Corps area, the Germans drive 87th Infantry Division units from Bonnerue and maintains pressure in the Tillet region. Some 17th Airborne Division elements gain and then lose high ground north of Laval and others are forced out of Flamierge. In the III Corps area, the 6th Armoured Division recovers lost ground in the Neffe-Wardin sector. Task Force Fickett occupies the zone between the 35th and 26th Infantry Divisions, along the high ground before Villers-la-Bonne-Eau and Betlange. Belgium, and Harlange, Luxembourg.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 788: A B-17 Flying Fortresses and two B-24 Liberators drop leaflets over St Hubert.

FRANCE: Strasbourg: Battle rages, with the US 7th Army fending off a strong German attack at Rimling.

In the U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps area, the Germans enter Rimling. The 100th and 36th Infantry Divisions improve their positions in local attacks. In the VI Corps area, the 45th Infantry Division makes slight progress against the western flank of the German salient; Task Force Herren becomes responsible for the eastern flank. The 79th Infantry Division withstands pressure near Aschbach and moves reinforcements to the Soultz-Rittershoffen area. The Germans check efforts to reduce the Gambshelm bridgehead. The 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division, is unable to advance in Drusenheim or southeast of Rohrweiler. Combat Command B, 12th Armoured Division, attacks with the 714th Tank Battalion toward Herrlisheim.

Sergeant Russell Dunham is awarded the MOH for actions today leading a platoon in the 30th Infantry, Third Infantry Division, when the soldiers among them, including his brother Ralph, are pinned down by German fire. They are at the bottom of a hill near the village of Kaysersberg. He charges up the snow covered hill killing, wounding or capturing 18 German soldiers. (Mark W. Carver)

GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 787: 736 bombers and 269 fighters are dispatched to make PFF attacks on communications centres, rail targets and bridges in Germany; two bombers are lost. The heaviest attack is made against the Ost marshalling yard at Frankfurt-am-Main which is hit by 137 aircraft. Sixteen other targets are also bombed.

AUSTRIA: Over 300 USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators bomb seven marshalling yards (M/Ys): 205 hit the Main M/Y at Linz, 46 bomb Klagenfurt M/Y, 42 attack the Main M/Y at Graz and 17 aircraft hit four other M/Ys.

ITALY: Bad weather sharply reduces daytime operations of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force. Of three medium bomber missions dispatched, only one reaches the target (the Chivasso railway bridge) where only six medium bombers bomb through the overcast; less than 20 XXII Tactical Air Command fighters hit scattered targets in the Po Valley.

BURMA: In the Northern Combat Area Command area, the U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (Long Range Penetration, Special) at Mong Wi is ordered to move forward for action.

Twenty one USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit troops and supply areas at Nampeng and Mong Long; 74 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-38 Lightnings attack troop concentrations and supply areas at Tunhunghkam, Monguy, Hpa-hpun, and Man Om; and 12 P-47s knock out a bypass bridge at Namhkai. Transports complete 470+ sorties to forward bases and frontline areas.

Eight USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs hit targets of opportunity east of Muse and east of Wanling.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: On Leyte, U.S. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief South West Pacific Area, sends a message to Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Australian Military Force and Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces South West Pacific Area, in New Guinea and states that his communique tomorrow will "carry announcement Australian troop as requested by you" in a message on 6 January. Tomorrow's announcement states: "Australian forces have relieved United States Army elements along the Solomons axis, in New Britain and British New Guinea. Continuous actions of attrition at all points of contact have been in progress. So far 372 Japanese have been killed, 20 captured and 10 friendly nationals recovered."

Preinvasion aerial and naval bombardment of Lingayen Gulf area of Luzon continues. Mine sweeping is completed.

In the main strikes during the day on Luzon Island, USAAF Far East Air Forces P-51 Mustangs and P-40s strafe airfields in the Lingayen Gulf area; A-20 Havocs hit railroad yards at Cabanatuan, motor convoys between Cabanatuan and Bongalion and between Bongabon and Mojon, Rosales and San Quintin rail installations, bridges at Cuyapo, Paniqui, and near Santa Rosa; P-47 Thunderbolts hit rail yards and a truck convoy in the San Jose area; and B-24 Liberators and A-20s attack Nichols Field and Nielson, Lipa, and Calingatan Airfields. B-25 Mitchells with P-47 cover, bomb Fabrica Airfield on Negros Island, while B-24 Liberators bomb Likanan Airfield and oil storage at Matina on Mindanano Island.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: Twenty six USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb airfields on Iwo Jima, while, during the night of 8/9 January, ten more B-24s subject the island to individual snooper strikes over a 6-hour period.

PACIFIC OCEAN: During continuing Japanese aerial onslaught on the Lingayen Gulf invasion force in the South China Sea, kamikazes damage escort aircraft carriers USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) about 63 nautical miles (117 kilometres) west-southwest of Lingayen, Luzon in position 15.48N, 119.09E, and Kadashan Bay (CVE-76), about 87 nautical miles (161 kilometres) southwest of Lingayen, Luzon in position 15.10N, 119.08E. A suicide also crashes close aboard Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (D 84), ending her support operations this day.

The USN coordinated submarine attack group, Task Group 17.21 (Commander Charles E. Loughlin) attacks a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea about 52 nautical miles (97 kilometres) west-southwest of Taihoku, Formosa. USS Barb (SS-220) sinks two merchant cargo ships (the second explodes violently, forcing Barb deep and tearing off deck gratings); and a merchant tanker and damages an army cargo ship; USS Picuda (SS-382) damages a cargo ship and USS Queenfish (SS-393) damages a tanker. In the confusion generated by TG 17.21's attack, a merchant tanker runs aground in Tungshiao Bay.

CANADA:

Frigate HMCS Sussexvale departed Halifax for workups Bermuda.

Destroyers HMCS Sioux and Algonquin arrived Kola Inlet with Convoy JW-63.

U.S.A.: Admiral Jonas H. Ingram, Commander-in-Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet, says that it is possible and probable that New York City or Washington will be hit by buzz bombs within the next 30 to 60 days. The Admiral states that he will take charge of coastal defences of New York and Washington, and that he has moved 'plenty of forces' to take every possible precaution against the attack. He predicts that the bombs might come in one of three ways: 1) surface ships; 2:) submarines; 3) long-range planes.

He believes that the bombs will be smaller that the V-1 or V-2s launched against Great Britain -- and that the greatest danger to expect was from fires -- and that the bombs were not expected to seriously damage any large buildings. He warns against panic, which would increase the damage... 'I don't think there is anything to worry about too much,' he says, 'they might try to hit the Empire State Building to cause panic...they might kill a few people and cause some damage...but they won't be able to launch more than 10 or 12 robot bombs."

"He adds, 'the next alert will be the real McCoy, the danger area would be in a 300 mile arc from which either New York, Washington, or Boston will be hit.' He declares that 'The Germans had 300 submarines at least in the Atlantic, and that the Navy was prepared to keep them from coming close enough to fire, or to stop them before they fired very many bombs." (Neal D. O'Brien)

In California, the packing shed of the Doi family is burned and dynamited and shots are fired into their home. The family had been the first to return to California from the Amache Relocation Camp for Ethnic Japanese located 1.5 miles (2,4 kilometres) west of Granada, Colorado, and the first to return to Placer County, having arrived three days earlier. (Placer County is located northeast of Sacramento.) Although several men are arrested and confess to the acts, all would be acquitted. Some 30 similar incidents would greet other Japanese Americans returning to the West Coast between January and June.

Light cruiser USS Amsterdam (CL-101) commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Cross commissioned.

BRITISH WEST INDIES: Martin Model 130 Flying Boat, msn 558, registered NC14716 and named "China Clipper" by the U.S. airline Pan American Airways, crashes at Port of Spain, Trinidad, at 2116 hours local. This is Pan Am Flight 161 from Miami, Florida, to Leopoldville, Belgian Congo. The aircraft crashes 1.25 miles (2 012 kilometres) short of the intended landing area in a nose-down attitude at too great a speed and breaks up in the water. The crash is blamed on the first officer's failure to realize his proximity to the water and to correct his attitude for a normal landing and the lack of adequate supervision by the captain during the landing, resulting in the inadvertent flight into the water in excess of normal landing speed and in a nose-down attitude. Twenty three of the 30 people aboard the aircraft are killed. The is the last Martin 130 in service.

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