On this day in 1874 supporters of Queen Emma attacked supporters of King Kalākaua in Honolulu over who would be the reigning monarch following the election for the same, which the king had won.
Marines and blue jackets from US and British warship intervened, and King Kalākaua was able to take the oath of office the following day.
Last prior:
German forces escaped the Korsun Pocket but abandoned most of their heavy equipment, ending the Battle of Korsun-Cherkassy.
35,000 troops out of the original 56,000 escaped. General Stemmerman was killed in the breakout. Six German divisions were rendered combat ineffective.
While the bulk of the German forces escaped, their evacuation is not regarded as particularly triumphal, given that these formations were basically destroyed.
At Anzio the German counterattacks continued, with the Germans nearly breaking through the 45th Infantry Division. The HMS Penelope was damaged offshore by a torpedo attack. A British counterattack briefly takes Point 593, but the Germans retake it. On this day, therefore, the Germans nearly prevailed in pushing the Allies back into the sea.
The U.S. Navy launched a massive areal offensive against the Japanese at Truk Lagoon in Operation Hailstorm. Japanese losses would be massive.
A large scale air raid on the 400 year old Monte Cassino involving B-17s, B-25s, and B-26s reduced the abbey to rubble, but highly defensible rubble. Not a single German defender was injured in the raid.
It was an example of the gross overestimation of the effectiveness of air power in this context, and a human tragedy as well.
The Soviets commence the first Narva Offensive.
The Japanese cruiser Agono was badly damaged north of Truk by the USS Skate. It would sink two days later.
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The Norwegian cargo ship Henry and passenger ship Irma were sunk off Kristiansund by two ships of the Royal Norwegian Navy due to their not having markings, according to the Royal Norwegian Navy.
The sinking became controversial, and remains so.
The USS Macaw ran aground at Midway and sank.
The U.S. 14th Air Force raided Hong Kong.
The Germans assassinated Cretan resistance fighter Yiannis Dramoutanis.
The Red Army took Luga, Polna and Lyady. Trapped German units pulled out of Korsun-Sevchenkosky late in the day, but did not break out of encirclement.
The Petrella, in German service, was sunk off Crete with 2,670 Italian POWs losing their life in the sinking.
The Japanese troop ship Lima Maru went down off of Gotō Islands when sunk by the USS Snook, with 2,765 lives lost.
The Brazzaville Conference concluded.
The Red Army captured the Ukrainian manganese production center of Nikopol.
The British held out at "the Factory" at Anzio under ongoing German efforts to displace them.
The Red Army commenced the Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive on the Leningrad Front.
Kingisepp was taken on the first day.
The French Forces of the Interior (FFI), uniting all French Resistance movements, was formed.
Clothing restrictions were lifted in the United Kingdom.
"The butcher of Warsaw", Austrian Nazi SS-Brigadeführer Franz Kutschera, age 39, was assassinated by the Polish Home Army. He was a figure in the repression of the region and was noted for his extreme harshness. The Poles had subjected him to a trial in absentia, and carried out the operation once his location in Poland was learned. 300 Poles were executed as a reprisal for his assassination.
He left behind a pregnant Norwegian girlfriend, Jane Lilian Gjertsdatter Steen, who was subsequently "posthumously married" to him, in a pagan ceremony. Posthumous marriages had been introduced by Hitler during the war to legitimize the offspring of German soldiers under these circumstances. She had been serving as a German Army nurse and remarried after the war and lived in Norway, in spite of the feelings of post-war Norwegians towards those who had sympathized with the Nazis. Their son, Sepp Kutschera, became a notable mountain climber.
She had several more children by her second, Norwegian, husband.
Sarah Sundin notes:
Today in World War II History—February 1, 1944: 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.
The Umikaze was sunk off of Truk by the USS Guardfish.
The Bolu–Gerede earthquake killed nearly 4,000 people in northern Turkey.
Enzi was a really decent guy who liked to work behind the scene in Wyoming's politics. He was never flashy, he was highly intelligent, and he did not tend to be controversial. He frankly is one of the politicians who would not fit in well into today's' GOP.
Enzi's term as Senator may have ironically, in retrospect, have been extended by Liz Cheney, who assumed he was retiring earlier than he intended to, and therefore ran briefly against him in 2014. At least by appearances, when Cynthia Lummis ran to replace him, Cheney was still considering a Senatorial run in 2020 when Lummis announced, seemingly causing some animosity between them. Had Cheney announced first, she might well be our Senator now, as it would be less likely that she would have been defeated in 2020, and Tim Stubson would have been our Congressman going into that election.
The Battle of Kwajalein commenced with landings by the 4th Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division under the command of Marine Corps General Holland "Howlin Mad" Smith, an acknowledged expert on amphibious warfare that some have called the "father of amphibious warfare".
Smith went to Auburn University, graduating in 1901, but his goal was to become an Army officer. He was already a cavalry 1st Sergeant in the Alabama National Guard. Nonetheless, following his undergraduate degree, he went to law school and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree (JD's were not yet common) from the University of Alabama. He thereafter practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama for a year.
Apparently he had second thoughts about that and determined to revive his interest in joining the Army. He sought a commission, but none were available, so he instead obtained one from the Marine Corps, entering the Corps on March 20, 1905. He'd later claim not to have known of the existence of the Marine Corps until the Army recruiter told them they were not accepting applicants, and referred him to the Marine recruiter down the block, although that's almost certain false. The Marines were well known by 1905, and as he was seeking entry through a direct commission, an application process would have existed, rather than simply joining.
His first assignment as a Marine was in the Philippines. He first saw action in 1916 in the Dominican Republic. He was deployed to France in World War One in June 1917. He was awarded the Purple Heart for service in the Great War, for merit, something that was not done after World War One. During World War Two, he became instrumental in training both Marine and Army units in amphibious operations.
Smith, during World War Two, tended not to plan for disengagement of his forces once they were committed, something the Army regarded as foolhardy but which reflected the reality of amphibious operations. The "no plan for retreat" ethos, however, crept into the Marine Corps as a result, and was evidenced in it long after.
He retired in 1946, and lived until 1967, dying at age 84. His wife had already passed, but he was survived by a son, Rear Admiral John V. Smith, a 1934 Naval Academy graduate.
Sarah Sundin's entry on this event:
Today in World War II History—January 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 .
The Allies took Majuro in the Marshall's.
The landing force had expected opposition, but the Japanese had withdrawn to Kwajalein and Eniwetok, leaving a single warrant officer as a caretaker in what must have been an anxiety filled roll. He was captured, and along with him, one of the largest anchorages in the Pacific.
The U-592 was sunk by three Royal Navy sloops. All hands were lost.
The USS Missouri was launched. The long serving ship is now a Museum Ship in Pearl Harbor.
While occasionally taken out of service, she's serve all the way through 1998 in various recalls.
The massive battleship was far larger than the pre-war US battleships.
The Battle of the Green Islands began when American and New Zealand reconnaissance forces landed on the islands, which are located between Bougainville and New Ireland. They'd only remain for 24 hours and then withdraw, with larger operations to begin on February 5.
In the Marshalls, US Task Force 58 bombed and shells Japanese targets on Roi, Namur, Maloelap and Wotje. Land-based aircraft bomb Jaluit and Mille.
The Red Army captured Chudovo.
Soviet Partisans killed 38 civilians in German occupied Koniuchy, Lithuania.
The HMS Spartan was sunk off of Anzio by a Hs 293.
The U-364 was sunk in the Ba of Biscay by an RAF Halifax.
