WWII On This Day: January 23

British troops meet U.S. Rangers on the road out of Anzio on 23 January 1944; IWM NA 11324. No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / Imperial War Museums · UK Government public domain Source

January 23, 1944 Cassino and Anzio: The Road to Rome

German formations move to contain the bridgehead

Kesselring ordered formations from central Italy and other sectors to converge on the Anzio approaches as the Allied lodgement expanded inland. German road and rail movements aimed to establish a continuous line between the beachhead and the Alban Hills. British and American troops patrolled the local roads while landing ships continued to bring men and ammunition ashore. The defensive line began to form faster than the landing force could exploit the initial surprise.

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Men of the 101st Airborne Division moving toward Bastogne on 19 December 1944 as Allied reserves enter the Ardennes battle. — 101st Airborne Division on the road between Bastogne and Houffalize, 19 December 1944 · US Army Signal Corps SC 329953 · NARA · Public domain · Source

January 23, 1945 · 12:00 The Battle of the Bulge

St Vith is retaken

American troops re-entered St Vith on 23 January after fighting through the eastern part of the salient. The road centre that had delayed Fifth Panzer Army in December was now again behind the Allied line. The recapture did not restore the exact tactical geometry of 15 December everywhere. Units were still fighting toward the original frontier positions and the German army continued withdrawing into prepared ground closer to the West Wall. St Vith nevertheless provides a useful late-campaign marker because the same road network appears at both ends of the…

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Red Army combat engineers building a pontoon bridge across the Oder beside a destroyed bridge, photographed 22 January 1945. — Semyon Alperin / RIA Novosti RIAID 42325 · Public domain (per Commons file record)

January 23, 1945 · 18:00 The Vistula–Oder Offensive

Himmler arrives to command the northern gap

Heinrich Himmler assumed command of the newly created Army Group Vistula as the German defence of the lower Vistula and Pomeranian approaches had become dangerously disjointed. The newly created Army Group Vistula was ordered to connect the lower Vistula with the Oder and protect the widening northern flank. Himmler arrived without an experienced army-group staff, reliable communications or enough formations to build the front his orders described.

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