Status - John Skinner - USS Daly:
USS Daly (DD-519) -New Guinea
December 31st: Underway at 9 AM for Buna Roads, New Guinea; temperatures 80s-90s, light winds. Stopped for fueling at about 10 AM. Underway again late evening escorting LSTs to Saidor, New Guinea.
January 1st: At sea all day, temperatures 80s, light winds. Continuing to Saidor, conducting anti-submarine operations. Went to General Quarters late evening.
January 2nd: At sea all day, temperatures 80s, light to moderate winds. Reached Saidor, New Guinea, early morning; patrolling near landing area as bombardment force shells the landing zone.
January 3rd: At sea all day, temperatures 80s, light to moderate winds. Patrol continuing as landings are accomplished. At Saidor all day.
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On the 2nd, US troops were landed at Saidor, on the north coast of New Guinea. This landing was to gain the airfield there, but also to leapfrog the Japanese forces at Sio, New Guinea, about 66 miles to the east, also on the north coast. Sio was later captured, and the Japanese troops had to march overland all the way to Madang, 65 miles west of Saidor.
Preparations for the invasion of the Marshall Islands continue and several carrier strikes are conducted. The invasion will take place at the end of January.
Soviet troops continue forward in Ukraine; they are nearing the pre-war Polish border. Fighting continues in Italy around Monte Cassino.
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More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 424-426.
- Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 187-212.
- Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 366-398.
- War at the End of the World, James P. Duffy, pp, 275-278.
- Events of December, 1943
- Events of January, 1944
- Logbooks of the US Navy at the National Archives, USS Daly, DD-519, December 1943
- Logbooks of the US Navy at the National Archives, USS Daly, DD-519, January 1944
NEXT POST: JANUARY 7TH
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