Attack On Eniwetok

SAT 19 FEB 1944
Pacific
Marines and Army troops (Brigadier General Thomas E. Watson, USMC) supported by naval bombardment land on Eniwetok Island. The operation is under the command of Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill.

USAAF, USN and USMC land-based aircraft bomb airfield and other Japanese installations at Rabaul. The area has been repeatedly pounded, and after this date the Japanese abandon air defense of Rabaul.

Submarine Cero (SS-225) attacks Japanese cargo ship No.18 Shinsei Maru while en route to Palau, 03°34'N, 136°36'E, but does not score any damage on her quarry.

Submarine Grayback (SS-208) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Taikei Maru southwest of Takao, Formosa, 21°48'N, 119°50'E; subsequently, Grayback sinks army cargo ship Toshin Maru, 21°46'N, 120°06'E, which had arrived on the scene and rescued Taikei Maru's survivors.

Submarine Jack (SS-259) attacks Japanese convoy of six tankers shepherded by escort vessel Shimushu in South China Sea about 300 miles west of Luzon, sinking merchant tankers Kokuei Maru and Nanei Maru, 14°34'N, 114°11'E; Nichirin Maru, 15°40'N, 115°48'E; and Ichiyo Maru, 15°46'N, 115°57'E.

USAAF B-25s (5th Air Force) sink auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 34 west of Kavieng, 02°45'S, 150°47'E; B- 25s, A-20s, and P-38s (5th Air Force) wipe out Japanese convoy O-902 off Kavieng, sinking submarine chasers Ch 22 and Ch 40, 03°04'S, 150°42'E, and cargo vessels No.1 Shinto Maru and Shinkiku Maru, 02°46'N, 150°42'E.

USAAF B-24s and B-25s sink Japanese cargo vessel Ebon Maru at Kusaie.

USAAF B-24s (14th Air Force) sink Japanese cargo ship Tairyu Maru and damage auxiliary submarine chaser Chikuzen Maru in Formosa Strait, 25°25'N, 121°30'E.

Japanese cargo ship Kogen Maru is sunk in collision in Kii Channel, 35°00'N, 135°00'E.

Mediterranean
Motor torpedo boats engage German convoy southeast of Elba.

Light cruiser Philadelphia (CL-41) arrives off Anzio to provide gunfire support; she is thrice under shore battery fire but suffers no damage in the encounters.

Destroyer Madison (DD-425) conducts unsuccessful hunt for enemy submarine believed off Anzio.