The Krasnoye Selo-Ropsha Offensive ended, the objective of aiding in the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad having been obtained.
The Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive in Ukraine began.
The Battle of Cisterna, a portion of the Battle of Anzio, also began.
Gen. Lucas would deploy Rangers in the battle as a spearhead, resulting in the lightly armed formations being destroyed and the Ranger units committed to Italy disbanded.
The British 5th Division broke through the Gustav Line on this day and captured Monte Natal.
The U-278 sank the destroyer HMS Hardy. The HMS Meteor and the HMS Whitehall sank the U-314.
Hitler spoke on the radio, in recognition of the 11th year of the Nazi's coming to power in Germany. The topic was on Germany being Europe's only bulwark against Communism, in his view. He didn't discuss the war much.
The Brazzaville Conference meeting of the Free French took place in Brazzaville, a city in then French Equatorial Africa, which is famously mentioned in the film Casablanca.
The conference convened to deal with the topic of the post-war future of the French colonies. Independence was rejected completely in favor of a post-war association which keep the French Empire intact, but allow for semi autonomous assemblies in the colonies, equal rights with French citizens, the right to vote in elections for the French National Assembly, civil service positions for the native populations, and economic reforms making the colonies less dependent upon France.
The positions were never fully implemented, with Algeria being a good example. Average Algerians never received the equal rights promised by the conference. The French Empire, of course, began to fly apart during the war itself.
