Air Operations, Algeria

14th Fighter Group P-38s scrambled from their base at Youk-les-Bains down 3 Ju-88s during the afternoon.

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Air Operations, Europe

• 9 Venturas and 6 Bostons are sent to attack railway targets in Belgium, France and Holland. Only 2 Venturas find targets at Monceau and Valenciennes.
  • There are no losses.

• 137 aircraft of 1 and 5 Groups and the Pathfinder Force are sent to Munich: 119 Lancasters, 9 Stirlings and 9 Wellingtons.
• 110 aircraft claim to have bombed Munich and started fires, but photographs show that almost all of the bombs fall in open country, possibly attracted by decoy fires.
• 8 Lancasters, 3 Stirlings and 1 Wellington are lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack shipping in Finschhafen harbor. 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against a cargo ship and landing craft near Finschhafen and Cape Ward Hunt.

Air Operations, Tunisia

Although XII Bomber Command bombers are prevented from attacking due to bad weather, XII Fighter Command P-40s destroy a tank and several motor vehicles near Kairouan.

Aleutian Islands

The American supreme command orders the capture of Amchitka Island from which it will be easier to bomb Kiska Island, which is occupied by the Japanese. | ]

Burma

The British forces advancing toward Akyab capture Alethangyaw.

Eastern Front

The Red Army makes a deep advance with the troops of Gen Yevgeny Golikov's Voronezh Front. Von Manstein appeals to Hitler to order von Paulus to break out, but Hitler quotes von Paulus' reports of fuel shortage and refuses. Advance Red Army forces are now more than half-way between the Don and the Donetz.

As units of the 6th Army digs in around Kantemirovka the XVII Tank Corps thrust south.

A tank cemetery which the Germans are stated to have established at Rzhev on December 21, 1942. Some 2,000 tanks were said to be in this cemetery in various stages of disrepair. (AP Photo)

A Tank Cemetery at Rzhev

Guadalcanal

Ordered to cut the Maruyama Trail, C Company, 132nd Infantry, pushes 1,000 yards south without making contact with the enemy or finding the trail.

New Guinea

Gen Kensaku Oda, the commander of the Japanese troops, reaches Giruwa from Napapo. Fighting begins again in all sectors, starting at Sanananda and the road-block. The Japanese in the 'Triangle' suffer considerable losses as the result of a feint attack in a nearby area which brings the defenders out of their bunkers. After mopping up the area east of Simemi Creek the Americans cross the stream and dig in a favorable position about three-fourths of a mile from the mouth.

Stuart Tanks Penetrate the Strongly Held Japanese Perimeter at Buna

North Africa

LIBYA

Martin 187 Baltimore Attack-Bomber in Flames, North Africa, 21 December, 1942