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• Submarine Becuna was launched, sponsored by the wife of Commander George C. Crawford. ww2dbase [Becuna | CPC]
• German submarine U-278 fatally damaged Allied arctic convoy escort HMS Hardy; HMS Venus scuttled HMS Hardy after the damaged destroyer was abandoned. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• USS Seahorse sank Japanese cargo ship Toko Maru south of Japan, which she had been chasing for many hours, hitting her with all three of three torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Seahorse | CPC]

• In the mid-Atlantic, planes and escorts from escort carrier USS Card encountered an unidentified ship refusing all challenges and making erratic course changes. After numerous challenges and even firing on the ship by means of an aircraft dropping two bombs off the ship’s bow with no acknowledgement, escorting destroyer USS Livermore came close aboard and made direct contact. Only then did the ship respond correctly to all challenges and identify herself as the Canadian merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Henry. The communications difficulty was attributed to poor weather and rough seas. ww2dbase [Card | DS]

• Camp Four of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) in Xamba, Suiyuan Province, China sent its first weather report to the SACO headquarters in Chongqing, China. ww2dbase [Xamba, Suiyuan | CPC]

• 534 RAF aircraft (440 Lancaster, 82 Halifax, and 12 Mosquito) attacked Berlin, Germany; 33 aircraft were lost. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Berlin | CPC]
• Robert Johnson shot down a German Me 410 heavy fighter and a Bf 109 fighter over Lingen, Germany. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | Lingen | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Hanover, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hanover | DS]

• Allied forces attacked out of the Anzio, Italy beachhead, advancing toward Cisterna and Campoleone, but none of the two forces would be able to capture the objectives; during the process, an entire US Army Ranger battalion was destroyed. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | Anzio, Lazio | TH, CPC]

• USS Alabama bombarded Japanese positions on Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Alabama | Kwajalein | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) struck targets on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands to begin softening up the island for the landings set for the next day. ww2dbase [Marshall Islands Campaign | J. J. Clark | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Kwajalein Atoll | DS]
• USS Bailey screened the bombardment group during the landings on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Marshall Islands Campaign | Bailey | Kwajalein | DS]

• USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Honolulu | St. Louis | Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo | DS]

• USS Finback damaged a fishing trawler with gunfire in the East China Sea. ww2dbase [Finback | East China Sea | CPC]
• 470 miles northeast of Saipan, submarine USS Spearfish intercepted a Japanese convoy of three cargo ships and two escorts. Spearfish fired four torpedoes with two hits that caused the 7,000-ton freighter Tamashima Maru to go dead in the water. Spearfish then endured a three-hour depth charge attack that expended 46 depth charges. Eleven hours after the first attack, Spearfish approached the stricken cargo ship well after dark. Another cargo ship from the original convoy had come alongside Tamashima Maru, presumably to pass a tow line, and one of the escorts was alongside as well. Spearfish made surface attack and fired four more torpedoes at the overlapping ships. Three explosions set off Tamashima Maru's cargo of ammunition and all three ships disintegrated as Spearfish bridge personnel watched. ww2dbase [Spearfish | DS]

• The opening installment of "The Dyess Story" was published by the newspaper Chicago Tribune. ww2dbase [Ed Dyess | The Davao Escape | CPC]

30 Jan 1944 Interactive Map