Air Operations, Aleutians

6 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 9 343d Fighter Group P-38s claim direct hits on two cargo ships in Kiska harbor. 2 343d Fighter Group P-38s down an A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bomber over Kiska at 1430 hours.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain and shipping near Rabaul.
• Combat and reconnaissance aircraft on missions over the Rabaul area note the largest concentration of Japanese shipping ever sighted in the region—21 Japanese Navy warships and 70 merchant-type vessels.

Air Operations, CBI

• 23d Fighter Group P-40s mount an armed reconnaissance and attack rail targets of opportunity between Naba and Pinbaw.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos attack various targets in France without a loss.

• In a trial raid, 8 Lancasters and 2 Oboe Mosquitos are sent to Düsseldorf. The Mosquitos are to drop target markers using Oboe. Only 1 of the planes does so. Reports from the ground indicate 6 industrial areas are hit without causing serious damage. 12 peopla are killed and 34 are injured. Later in the night 3 more Oboe Mosquitos are sent to hit the night-fighter control room at the Florennes airfield in Belgium. 2 Mosquitos use their Oboe equipment and drop 6 high-explosive bombs through the clouds. The results are not known.
• There are no losses.

• 29 aircraft lay mines off the Biscay ports and there are 8 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Wellington is lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-26s attack targets along the Markham River.
• 3d Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army ground troops in the Sanananda and Giruwa areas and along the Amboga River.
• 39th Fighter Squadron P-38s shoot down 10 A6M Zeros near the airfield at Lae between 1210 and 1235 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

In their combat debut from their new base on Guadalcanal, 69th Medium Bomb Squadron B-26s, escorted by P-38s and P-39s, attack the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• IX Bomber Command B-24s, accompanied by RAF Liberators, attack shipping and port facilities at Sfax.
• XII Bomber Command B-17s, with fighter escort, also attack Sfax harbor.
• 12th Air Force A-20s, with fighter escort, mount two attacks against the marshalling yards and port at Sousse.
• 12th Air Force B-26s, with fighter escort, attack Gabes Airdrome and shipping and rail bridges in the Bizerte and Tunis areas.
• XII Fighter Command P-38s on recon missions claim the destruction of several motor vehicles.

Atlantic

Battle of the Barents Sea or Operation REGENBOGEN (RAINBOW). The Lützow and the Admiral Hipper make repeated, bungled, attempts to destroy Convoy JW-51B, after which the Lützow is to break out into the Atlantic in Operation MORGENRÖTE (AURORA).

Resourceful tactics by British destroyers and cruisers plus extraordinary vacillation of German commanders results in a fiasco. The British destroyer Achates and the minesweeper Bramble are lost, but the convoy escapes intact and the Germans retire ignominiously to Norway losing 1 destroyer. 113 are lost on the British destroyer, 81 are rescued. 120 are lost on the minesweeper.

Painting depicting the sinking of German destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt by HMS Sheffield at the Battle of Barents Sea.

Sinking of the Friedrich Eckoldt

31st December 1942: Arctic Convoy Cmbushed by German Cruisers

An Image from the Battle of the Barents Sea, 31 December 1942.

Hitler is beside himself with fury and orders the immediate scrapping of the battle fleet.

Diplomatic Relations

The International Red Cross is now spending £375,000 per month on food parcels for PoWs.

Crusader Mk III tanks in Tunisia, 31 December 1942

Eastern Front

The Soviet 5th Shock Army recaptures Tomorsin as the Germans recreate XXIX Corps around Morozovsk. Operations URANUS and LITTLE SATURN have compelled Hitler to order an evacuation from the Caucasus, with XL Panzer Corps withdrawing from the Terek.

The Red Army has achieved much since November 19. However, it has paid a high price in blood for its successes: Southwestern Front, 64,600 killed and missing; Stalingrad Front, 43,000 killed and missiong; Northern and Black Sea Groups, 132,000 killed and missing.

There has also been operational shortcoming, especially with regard to coordinating infantry and armored units: as the tank corps advanced, the infantry fell behind and were unable to catch up once German forces moved in. Such was the fate of the XXIV Tank Coprs at Tatsinskaya, for example. In addition, poor coordination between the tanks corps allowed the Germans to engage them in a piecemeal fashion and inflict heavy casualties.[MORE]

Guadalcanal

The 2nd Battalion, 132nd Infantry, reaches Hill 11, east of the Gifu strongpint, the line of departure for the enveloping movement.

Japan, Strategy

The Japanese decide to evacuate Guadalcanal and establish a new defense line in New Georgia.

New Guinea

Fighting continues around Buna Mission, where the Allies are trying to surround the Japanese defenders.

Three American soldiers lie dead in the sand on Buna Beach in New Guinea. The photo was taken by George Stock on December 31, 1942, but was not published until September 1943. It was the first image published in World War II that depicted American troops who had died in combat without the bodies being draped, in coffins, or otherwise covered up.

American Dead on Buna Beach