Air Operations, Europe

US 9th Air Force Liberators attack Naples, sinking the light cruiser Muzio Attendolo in the harbor. 2 other cruisers, the Eugenio di Savoia and Raimondo Montecuccoli, are badly damaged. Italian sources state that 159 are dead and 358 are wounded in the raid. This is the first US raid on the mainland of Italy.

• 29 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and in the Baltic off Gdynia and Danzig; there are 3 OTU sorties; there are no losses.

Air Operations, North Africa

9 Bisley Blenheim Mk V light bombers, led by Wing-Cdr Malcolm, V.C., attack Thouigui landing ground in Tunisia. 50 Me-109s annihilate the unescorted bombers. Thereafter all RAF bombing operations over Tunisia are carried out at night.

Winston Churchill, cigar in mouth, gives his famous 'V' for victory sign during a visit to Bradford on 4 December 1942

Winston Churchill

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting rages along the Chir as the XLVIII Panzer Corps struggles with the 5th Tank Army. Knobelsdor's XLVIII Panzer Corps moves to Nizhne Chirskaya to be better able to deal with the attacks by the 5th Tank. The 13th Panzer Division remains on the left wing to bolster the remnants of the Rumanian 3rd Army. Knobelsdorf also takes into his command the 11th Panzer and the 336th Infantry Divisions plus another Luftwaffe field division. Group Adam, an ad hoc formation, defends the Nizhne Chirskaya bridgehead.

Heavy fighting rages around Kotelnikovo as the 6th Panzer Division throws the 51st Army out of the town.

Vasilevsky reports to Stalin that the armies surrounding Paulus need substantial reinforcement before they can destroy his army. Stalin had planned to use Malinovdky's 2nd Guards Army, currently in reserve, to bolster the forces of the Don Front. Heavy fighting rages around Stalingrad.

Guadalcanal

Carlson's raiders, the 2nd Raider Battalion, reach the Lunga perimeter, having marched west from Aola Bay. During the month-long journey, more than 400 enemy dead have been counted for the loss of 17 raiders.

Mediterranean

• 3 Italian battleships subsequently leave Naples for La Spezia in northern Italy.
• The British submarine Traveller sinks on a mine in the Taranto approaches on or about this day with the loss of the entire crew of 65.

New Guinea

American advance elements reach Dobodura.

North Africa

In the Tebourba area the Germans destroy 25 British tanks, 7 armored cars, 41 guns, 300 vehicles and large amounts of ammunition, capturing 400 prisoners.

United States, Politics

Roosevelt receives a petition from 244 Congressmen supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.