Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain, the harbor at Arawe, and several ships at sea.

Air Operations, Europe

• 3 Oboe Mosquitos attack Essen and Meiderich without a loss. Bombs dropped in Essen hit the northern parts of the Krupps factory.

Air Operations, New Guinea

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Lae and 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s strafe Japanese Army ground troops.

Air Operations, Pacific

Hawaii-based B-24s of the 7th Air Force start big fires on Wake Island.

Air Operations, Solomons

• A 347th Fighter Group P-39 downs an A6M Zero over Guadalcanal.
• During the morning, in their unit’s combat debut, 12th Fighter Squadron P-39s down 4 A6M Zeros over the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia while escorting 9 Marine Corps SBDs against the base. Marine F4Fs on the same mission down 10 A6M Zeros that are caught as they take off from the base. 10 ohteen A6M Zeros are also destroyed on the ground. This is seen as such an immense loss by the Japanese that, hereafter, no Japanese aircraft will be permanently based at airfield at Munda Point. the base will be used only to service Japanese aircraft in need of fuel or repairs on their way to or from Allied bases to the south.
• During the afternoon, 9 Cactus Air Force SBDs, 4 F4Fs, and 4 P-39s destroy 9 of 13 troop-carrying barges near Munda.

Burma

Japanese advances in two areas of the Chin Hills are repelled by Allied troops.

Eastern Front

The Soviets drive Hoth's 'relief force' back from the Myshkova River to the Aksay River. Despite stubborn resistance Generalovsky is taken. In Stalingrad fresh forces attached to 62nd Army retake the Red October Factory.

The German line on the Chir is falling apart, the Soviet XXV Tank Corps and I Guards Mechanized Corps surrounding Morozovsk and the XXIV Tank Corps capturing Tatsinskaya and its airfield (a Luftwaffe base for relief flights to Stalingrad). Some 56 Luftwaffe aircraft are destroyed attempting to take off from the airfield. The 6th Panzer Div completes its switch to Group Hollidt, leaving LVII Panzer Corps with only the weak 17th and 23rd Panzer Divs

28 tanks and 20,000 troops. Facing them are the 51st and 2nd Guards Armies

149,000 troops and 635 tanks. The latter now counterattack, forcing the Germans back, a situation made worse by the annihilation of the Romanian VI and VII Corps on the flanks. Operation WINTER STORM is over.[MORE]

Guadalcanal

The 3rd Battalion, 132nd Infantry, moves out at 0730 in column of companies followed by the 1st Battalion in reserve. L Company is in the lead, followed by I, Headquarters Company, a medical detachment, M and K Companies. The battalion moves west and reaches Hill 31 in the afternoon after routing enemy riflemen trying to oppose the advance. The troops are stopped by heavy machine-gun fire from well-concealed postions, a Japanese strongpoint called Gifu, between Hills 31 and 27 west of the summit of Mount Austen. The Gifu position, with fixed defenses and interconnecting pillboxes, is held by about 500 Japanese from Oka's forces. Col Franco, the battalion commander, decides it is too late in the day to develop the enemy positions and continue attack. The 3rd Battalion establishes a perimeter defense for the night in a ravine between Hills 31 and 32. The 1st Battalion has completed its move. B Company holds the west spur of Hill 30, C Company, Hill 29 and A Company, Hill 20.

The strongest part of the Gifu position is a horseshoe-shaped line of 45 inter-connecting pillboxes between the 2 hills. The pillboxes are made of logs, dug into the ground reinforced inside and out with earth. The roofs are three logs thick, the walls two. Each contains at least one machine gun plus two or three riflemen. Mortar fire does little damage to the area but the 105-mm howitzers are more effective, but only on direct hits can damage be done to the pillboxes. Even though it is strong, the position is not invulnerable. It is a fixed position and the Japanese are not able to supply or reinforce it. The west side of the Gifu is weak and the omission of Hill 27 from the perimeter of the strong point leaves the Gifu open to eventual envelopment.

American soldiers on the Soputa front near Buna, New Guinea, bear their wounded to headquarters as they return from 11 days fighting the Japs. Note the automatic gun by the soldiers side on the stretcher. (AP Photo 12-24-42)

Bringing Home the Wounded

Hot food has come up to these soldiers in the line on the Soputa front near Buna, New Guinea. These Americans were in the line 11 days. Hot food was brought up through the jungle and underbrush as often as possible despite the danger. L. to R.: Private William Mills, Sommerville, Mass.; Private Hebert Van Lier, Boston, Mass.; Private Edward K. Fairbanks, Sommerville, Mass.; and Sgt. Joseph P. Doran, Nahant, Mass.” (AP Photo

12-24-42).

Hot Food Comes to a Fox Hole

Mediterranean

The British submarine P-48 is sunk by the Italian destroyer escort Ardente in the Gulf of Tunis with the loss of her entire crew of 34.

New Guinea

The Allied forces break into the new defensive positions of the Japanese near Buna, but the casualties are heavy and the last serviceable tanks of the small group which has been in support for the last few days are also lost.

Soldiers carrying rations along a trail to the front lines near New Strip, Buna Area, New Guinea, on 24 December 1942.

Soldiers Carrying Rations

North Africa

Adm François Darlan is assassinated. Darlan, once Marshal Pétain's right-hand man, and on November 13th was appointed French governor in Africa by the British and Americans after crossing over to their side at the time of the landing in Algeria, is shot in Algiers by a young student. The assassin, Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle who supports both royalist and Gaullist policies, is executed by firing squad 2 days later. Giraud succeeds Darlan as high commissioner in French Africa.

The fighting in Tunisia continues. Although 'Longstop Hill' (Djebel el Ahmera) near Medjez is once again taken by a British Guards battalion, Eisenhower, Gen Kenneth Anderson and Gen Sir Charles W. Allfrey, V Corps commander, decide to end their attacks for the moment until the rainy season is over.

Pacific

The US submarine Triton (SS-201) sinks the Japanese water tanker No. 1 Amakusa Maru (1913t) south of Wake Island.