Air Operations, Europe

• 5 Wellingtons lay mines off Lorient and St Nazaire without a loss.

Air Operations, Libya

9th Air Force B-25s and P-40s continue to attack tactical ground targets in support of the British 8th Army. 18 12th Medium Bomb Group B-25s join with 36 RAF light bombers in a particularly effective attack against a motor vehicle concentration west of the Marble Arch. A 57th Fighter Group 79th Fighter Group P-40 pilot downs a Bf-109.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a wrecked ship off Gona.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army ground forces along the Mambare River.

Air Operations, North Africa

The RAF and the USAAF batter the retreating German columns west ot El Agheila throughout the day, against negligible Luftwaffe opposition. There is a huge 'traffic jam' at the 'Marble Arch' which was erected by Mussolini.

Air Operations, Solomons

2 radar-equipped VP-12 'Black Cat' PBYs arrive at Guadalcanal to begin night-patrol operations. These are the first American dedicated night-patrol aircraft deployed to a forward combat area. The remainder of VP-12 will arrive by December 25th.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 3 15th Light Bomb Squadron A-20s attack several bridges linking Gabes with Sfax.
• 6 A-20s attack Pont-du-Fahs.
• XII Bomber Command B-26s attack Tunis/El Aouina Airdrome.
• XII Bomber Command B-17s attack port facilities at Bizerte.
• In IX Bomber Command's first mission to Tunisia, 9 376th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a railroad yard, roundhouse, and repair facilities at Sfax.

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-626 is sunk in the North Atlantic by the Coast Guard cutter Ingham (PG-35).

U-626

CBI

The all-black 45th Engineer General Service Regiment and the 823rd Engineer Aviation Battalion begin construction of the Ledo Road. Beginning at Ledo in India, the goal is to connect with the old Burma Road at Kunming, 271 miles away.

Eastern Front

The XLVIII Panzer Cors evacuates the Nizhne Chirskaya bridgehead. Fighting at Verkhne Kumski intensifies.

The Stavka completes the planning of Operation LITTLE SATURN. The attack has been revised so that the aim of the campaign is the capture of the Tatsinskaya and Morozovsk airfields and the disruption of communications between Army Groups Don and A. Golikov's Voronezh Front employs Kharitonov's 6th Army. Kuznetsov's 1st Guards Army, Lelyushenko's 3rd Guards, Romanenko's 5th Tank and Popov's 5th Shock Armies of the Southwest Front will also join the offensive in varying forms. The 5th Tank and 5th Shock Armies are already committed to the Chir sector against the XLVIII Panzer Corps and Group Hollidt, but increases their attacks to prevent the transfer of German units from the Chir to the Don. Total Soviet forces committed to the offensive numbers 425,000 ment supported by 5,000 arty pieces. Garibaldi's 8th Army fields 216,000 men and just 50 tanks while Army Detachment Hollidt, the remnants of the 3rd Rumanian Army and the XLVIII Panzer Corps has between them 110,000 men and 70 tanks.

Mediterranean

The German steamer Germania (9851t) scuttles herself when intercepted by the British sloop Egret and destroyer Tanatside west of Cape Finisterre. 71 survivors are picked up by the British ships.

A soldier wounded being helped during the fighting on Guadalcanal for Mount Austen, December 1942.

Wounded Soldier on Guadalcanal

New Guinea

In Oro Bay a Dutch cargo ship lands war materials including tanks. The new tanks are taken to Hariko, where an Australian tank regiment is being formed.

North Africa

The New Zealand 2nd Div, after their detour through the desert, advances quickly towards the coast in the area of Merduma to trap the defenders of El Agheila, who are engaged by the 7th Arm Div from the east.

The British 1st Army is slowly preparing its deployment. The British 6th Armored Div completes its concentration in Tunisia and is followed in early February 1943 by the 46th Div. Tanks and selected personnel of the 1st Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, are sent back to Oran to rejoin the 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Div. The US 9th Air Force begins a series of raids on Tunisian ports where Italian troops and material are being landed, attacking Sfax and damaging port installations there.

Solomons

Over the next 10 days, in addition to their usual duties Tanaka's flotilla carries out several missions to help build an airfield on Munda, New Georgia to support the operation on Guadalcanal.