http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1944/jan44/f23jan44.htm
Australians crossing the Finisterres
Sunday, January 23, 1944 www.onwar.com
Australian troops on the Finisterre Range [photo at link]
In New Guinea... Australian forces in the Ramu valley advance up the Finisterre Range toward Shaggy Ridge, taking Maukiryo. Allied air superiority in the area influences the battle.
In Italy... There are now about 50,000 Allied troops concentrated in the Anzio beachhead. General Lucas commands. German resistance is light but the Allied forces advance slowly. Meanwhile, Kesselring believes it is possible to maintain the Gustav Line defenses at the same time as containing the Anzio landings. The commander of the German 10th Army, von Vietinghoff favors a withdrawal from the southern defensive line.
From Berlin... The German High Command allots German reserves from France, northern Italy and the Balkans as well as the German 14th Army headquarters to organize defenses around Anzio. Within a week a total of 8 German divisions are concentrated in the area.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/23.htm
January 23rd, 1944 (SUNDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: Marcel Bucard of the Franciste party (French Fascist) writes in the newspaper Le Franciste, “If everything cracks up, the men from Moscow will be cutting off our heads.”
ITALY: 50,000 men are now ashore at Anzio. A German air attacks sinks the British destroyer HMS JANUS at 41 26N, 12 38E and damages her sister ship, HMS JERVIS. An air-launched torpedo sets off the magazine of JANUS and she blows up with heavy loss of life. There are 162 casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)
Pte George Allen Mitchell (b.1911), London Scottish, took two gun posts alone and led two further assaults before being killed - by a soldier who had surrendered. (Victoria Cross)
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Swerve commissioned.