Air Operations, Bismarcks

• More than 60 V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack the Cape Gloucester airfield on New Britain. Other B-24s mount anti-shipping attacks.
• During the night, 32 RAAF Beauforts attack the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 14th Air Force P-40s attack a barracks at Wanling.

Air Operations, East Indies

More than 20 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Waingapoe, Sumatra.

Air Operations, Europe

• There is a heavy raid on Leipzig carried out by all the Halifaxes available and 307 Lancasters. The raid is a complete success. The Germans are fooled into thinking it was a Berlin raid. 41% of all the housing in the city of Leipzig is either destroyed or damaged. 4 bombers are lost over the target area, but about 12 more are lost on the homeward flight when the wander into the Frankfurt flak defenses.

• Operation CROSSBOW, the campaign against German V-weapons sites is given top priority for the Allied tactical air forces.

• XII Air Support Command B-25s attack the marshalling yard and port facilities at Sibenik.
• XII Air Support Command fighter-bombers attack ships in the harbor at Sibenik.

• Despite bad weather, 15th Air Force B-24s are able to attack the Rome/Casale Airdrome, but 15th Air Force b-26s are recalled on their way to the day's targets.
• NATAF fighter-bombers attack Anzio and Nettuno, and tanks and motor vehicles in the battle area and north of Rome.
• A 27th Fighter-Bomber Group A-36 downs 1 He-111 north of Rome at 1415 hours.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack occupied villages around Finschhafen.
• 348th Fighter Group P-47s down 3 A6M Zeros and 2 Ki-61 'Tony' fighterss in the Wewak area between 1100 and 1115 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 21 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Bonis. B-24s also attack numerous targets of opportunity while conducting armed reconnaissance missions.
• 23 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Kieta. 6 other B-25s attack Aitara Mission.
• AirSols fighters attack numerous targets on Bougainville and the northern Solomons area.
• A VMF(N)-531 PV crew downs an unidentified airplane at sea at 2211 hours.

Allied Planning

The Second Cairo Conference (Sextant) begins, attended by President Roosevelt, Prime Minster Churchill, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and lasts until December 7. The proposed amphibious operation in Burma is cancelled to focus priorities on the cross-Channel invasion. The Americans reject Churchill's requests fo cancellation of ANVIL in favor of offensive operations in Italy and Yugoslavia. Chiang is displeased and refuses to commit Chinese forces for an offensive in Burma. Chiang's stubborness only reinforces the view that China is seen as less important to the Allied effort than the Soviet Union.

There is a discussion on the best option for securing air bases to force th unconditional surrender of Japane through strategic bombing. Suggested bases for the new B-29 strategic bomber include Tinian, Saipan, and Guam in the Marians--already suggested by the CCS.

Operation CROSSBOW directed against secret weapons bases in Germany is accorded absolute priority for the Allied air forces in the west.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US tanker Touchet (10,172t) is torpedoed by U-193 and abandoned by most of the 50-man crew and 30-man Armed Guard. 10 of the Armed Guard stay with the ship, manning the 5-inch gun until hit by another torpedo which sinks the ship taking 9 of the 10 that stayed on board.

Eastern Front

The Soviets capture Dovsk north of Gomel and make other gains around Rogschev in the same sector. To the south they also push forward west of Cherkassy.

The Belorussian Front captures Dovsk.

Germany, Planning

Göring orders Dietrich Peltz, commanding the German bomber forces in the west, 'to avenge the terror attacks of the enemy, I have decided to intensify the air war over the British Isles by means of concentrated attacks on [British] cities, especially industrial centers and ports'. (See January 21, 1944.)

Italy

In the US 5th Army's British X Corps area, the 56th Division makes substantial progress, taking Monte Camino Monastery Hill, but is forced back from the latter. In the II Corps area, 1st SSF units, continuin their attack from Monte la Difensa before dawn, reach Monte La Remetanea and take it. The 142nd Infantry of the 36th Division capture the slightly lower Monte Maggiore. In the VI Corps area, the 45th Division is unable to make further progress against La Bandita or Hill 769. Elements of the 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry, 34th Division, upon relief by elements of the 135th Infantry, move to the first knob of Monte Pantano and relieve the 1st Battalin, 168th Infantry. The 3rd Battalion then attacks toward the third knob but is driven back.

In the British 8th Army's V Corps sector the Indian 8th Division and British 78th Division reach the Moro River by-passing San Vito Chietino and Lanciano. They do not, however, exploit German weakness around Orsogno where the New Zealand Division is driven back by a desperate counterattack by 26th Panzer Div. The 78th Division is relieved by the Canadian 1st Division which is transferred from the XIII to the V Corps.

Occupied Norway

Capt Nordahl Grieg, a Norwegian airman, poet and playwright and relative of the famous composer, is killed in a bomber over Berlin. He was 41.

Pacific

• The dates for the landings on Arawe peninsula and Cape Gloucester, in New Britain, are confirmed for December 15 and December 26.
• The US submarine Tinosa (SS-283) sinks the Palau-bound Japanese fleet tanker Azuma Maru (6646t) northwest of Sonserol.

Images from December 3, 1943

US Tank Crew in Italy

US Troops Near Cassino

Royal Signals Laying Wire

Germans Between Zhitomir and Kiev