Air Operations, Europe

34 Halifax bombers attack the Tirpitz in a fjord near Trondheim. They do not find the Tirpitz. Flak positions are bombed by 3 of the aircraft. 1 Halifax is lost at sea.

The German Battleship Tirpitz

Arctic

U-585 is sunk by hitting a mine in the German Bantos field probably as a result of a navigation error. The entire crew is lost.

U-585

Ascension Island

A US detachment arrives on this small island between Africa and South America.

Burma

Unable to withstand Japanese pressure any longer, Toungoo is abandoned by the Chinese 200th Div of the 5th Army. The special force from I Burma Corps falls back on Prome from Paungde. In the evening the Japanese attack the 63rd Indian Bde at Prome and quickly put them to flight, so that the 17th Indian Div's flank is dangerously exposed.

Eastern Front

Only 8 of the 162 German divisions are at full strength at the conclusion of the great Russian counteroffensive. The 15 Panzer divisions have a grand total of only 140 serviceable tanks.

Indian Ocean

Japanese land troops on Christmas Island, south of Java.

Pacific, Command

The Joint Chiefs of Staff divide the Pacific into 2 commands. Adm Nimitz is to control the Pacific Ocean Zone and Gen MacArthur the Southwest Pacific which includes Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, the Bismarcks, the Solomons and much of the Dutch East Indies. This division presages the later controversy between the two as to how the reconquest should be attempted. Nimitz prefers the 'great leaps' strategy while MacArthur supports a policy of reconquest 'from island to island'.

A Pacific War Council is set up in Washington. Countries represented include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Philippines and China.

Japanese-Americans Being Removed from Seattle