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• Weather data for 31 Jan 1944

• Fleet aircraft carrier USS Franklin was commissioned into service with Captain James M. Shoemaker in command. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul, New Britain and departed later on the same day. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• USS Seahorse sank Japanese cargo ship Toei Maru south of Japan, which she had been chasing for many hours, hitting her with two of eight torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Americans landed on Kwajalein and Majuro atolls in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• The Royal Navy's Second Escort Group (Captain F. J. Walker) sank the German submarine U-592. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• J. J. Clark was selected for promotion to Rear Admiral. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• USS Luce completed a period of anti-submarine patrol off Attu in the Aleutian Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of ACORN-22 departed. Part of GROPAC-2 departed. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• US 34th Division crossed the Rapido River in Italy. Nearby, French Moroccan colonial troops were halted by troops of German 5th Mountain Division near Cassino and Monte Belvedere, Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH, CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) aviators continued their strikes on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands in support of the troops landing on that atoll. The Yorktown air group conducted similar strikes the first three days in February. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | DS]
• USS New Mexico shelled Japanese positions on Kwajalein Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]
• USS Portland bombarded Djarrit Island, Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands for 30 minutes before receiving word that there were no Japanese on the island. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | DS]

• USS Finback sank a fishing trawler with gunfire in the East China Sea. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Soviet GKO issued two secret orders to deport ethnic Chechen and Ingush peoples to Kazakhstan and Kirghizia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Wasp departed Hampton Roads off Virginia, United States for Trinidad. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Proteus was commissioned into service with Captain Robert W. Berry in command. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

31 Jan 1944 Interactive Map