7 February 1944
EASTERN FRONT: Hitler ordered German troops trapped in the Korsun pocket to break out. Group Stemmermann, under continuous pressure from Soviet attacks, contracted its perimeter, abandoning Gorodische and Yanovka, and prepared for a breakout attack. Meanwhile, the break-in attack continued against very heavy resistance.
WESTERN FRONT: The first schnorkel equipped German U-boat entered the Atlantic.
MEDITERRANEAN: The German attacks at Anzio intensified as the British positions at Aprilla and "The Factory" were hit hard. The British 56th and US 45th Infantry Divisions were landed at Anzio and moved to the front.
At Anzio, Maj. William Philip Sidney (b.1909), Grenadier Guards, led two attacks which forced off the enemy; later, he refused to have wounds seen to until the position was secure. (Victoria Cross)
Destroyer
'Ludlow' (DD-438) was damaged by dud shell from a German shore battery off Anzio, Italy.
In Italy, B-26s bombed the bridge approach S of Manziana; B-25s hit the Viterbo marshalling yard and, in support of US Fifth army troops, bombed the town of Cisterna di Latina as the enemy counterattack began in the Anzio area; A-20s hit Piedimonte and the road junction and railway station at Campoleone; A-36s hit San Stefano al Mare and nearby railroad siding, Pontecorvo and Belmonte in Sabina, plus several targets of opportunity and targets in support of ground forces in the battle areas; P-40s attacked an observation tower at Littoria, trucks at Villa Santa Lucia degli Abruzzi, Campoleone, a railroad gun, the Sezze railroad yards, Cisterna di Latina and gun positions in battle areas. Fighters encountered heavy aircraft activity over the Anzio battle area and claimed 16 shot down. Three Bf 109s from Stab JG 77 were scrambled and made contact with 20 P-47s in the Padova-Verona area. After combat, Uffz Wolters belly-landed north of Treviso unhurt. Fw. Eckhardt Kruger from 1./JG 77 went missing in action near Verona. No Thunderbolts were claimed by the German fighters.
GERMANY: 19 RAF Mosquitos were dispatched to Frankfurt, 8 to Elberfeld, 5 to Krefeld, 2 to Aachen and 1 to Mannheim, 4 Serrate patrols. No losses.
UNITED KINGDOM: A Halifax bomber crew from Rufforth airfield were detailed for three engined daylight exercises using the airfield at Lissett near Bridlington. After several successful landings they were again in the circuit at 600' with the starboard outer engine shut down, the undercarriage down and on the final approach, when the starboard inner engine exploded. All that, plus the obvious loss of power made the outcome dependent on the pilot's skill. The bomber hit the ground in a landing attitude, lost the undercarriage in a ditch, cut through several hedges and demolished a number of lighting poles, coming to rest 30 yards from the back door of a farmhouse at Harpham Farm, near Lissett. The following encounter is copied, almost word for word from 'Action Stations 4.' by Bruce Barrymore Halpenny. " The farmer rushed from the house and called out,
On being told the crew were shaken-up but unharmed he replied,
'What about my bloody turnips? - seven of you buggers in the last week!'
Doug Bancroft, the pilot of the crashed Halifax recalls,
'Sure enough, when I looked over his fields there were six or more aircraft scattered about, either with their tails in the air or on their bellies with broken backs'.
Doug hadn't made a friend and later, when they were posted to Lissett their sleeping quarters were just outside this farmers gateway. The farmer passed them many times on his way to the mess for the pig scraps but he always left them to walk the mile or so - rain, snow or sunshine. Not all their enemies were in Germany!