Wednesday, February 23, 1944. Truscott assumes command at Anzio.

Lucian Truscott on the  Anzio beachhead, wearing cut down U.S. Army cavalry boots (not M1943 boots which they resemble) and an A2 flight jacket, which he routinely wore, with General Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Allied Armies in Italy, who is wearing a  British sherling flight jacket and riding boots.

Today in World War II History—February 23, 1944: Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott assumes command of US VI Corps at Anzio. First US Army blood bank in the Mediterranean Theater opens at Naples medical center.

Cavalryman Lucian Truscott was one of the great ones.

Of interest, Truscott, who had started off his adult life as a school teacher before entering the Army during World War One (he did not see overseas service), was replacing another cavalryman, Gen. Lucas.  His entry into teaching was based upon a lie, in that he represented, at age 16, that he was a high school graduate, which he was not.  His entry into the Army, which was combined with a petition to become an officer, was based upon a compounded lie that he had attended, but not graduated from, college.

Truscott with British troops, later in Anzio.  In this photograph we see the same A2 jacket but he's wearing riding breeches and three strap riding boots.

Truscott was an extremely able commander and the author of the excellent cavalry memoir, Twilight of the Cavalry.  He's an example, additionally, on how the era allowed capable individuals to excel without full accreditation, something that does not occur nearly as much now.

The Soviet mass deportation of the Chechens commenced.

Resistance on Parry Island ended, and with it the hard fought Eniwetok campaign.  Of the 3,400 Japanese troops committed to the defense of the atoll, 66 survived.

The Battle of Admin Box also ended in an Allied victory.

The late bluesman Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas.  He passed away in 2014 at age 70.

Saturday, February 5, 1944. The Battle of Admin Box

 

Sikh troops fighting in the Battle of Admin Box.

The Battle of Admin Box, so named as it was in a rectangular shaped area of the Indian Army's 7th Division administrative area, began, with the British Indian Army defending its position against a Japanese offensive in Burma which was calculated to draw off British troops from a larger Japanese offensive.

The Chindit 16th Long Range Penetration Brigade left Ledo and marched south toward the "Aberdeen" area in Burma.

The Red Army took Lutsk and Rovno in the Ukrainian sector.

The Germans withdrew to a smaller perimeter within the Korsun Pocket, which the Germans were able to resupply by air.