Air Operations, Bismarcks

• During the morning, after being thwarted by bad weather over the Cape Hoskins airfield on New Britain, more than 100 V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack Lindenhafen with 1,000-pound bombs.
• During the afternoon, 26 V Bomber Command B-24s and 24 B-25s attack Ring Ring Plantation near Gasmata.
• V Fighter Command P-38s down 2 A6M Zeros near Gasmata between 1110 and 1150 hours.
• During the night, RAAF Beauforts resume regular night-harrassment missions against Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield at Heho.

• 12 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Kungan and Li-Chou, 8 B-25s attack Wuchang, and 16 14th Air Force P-40s attack targets of opportunity between Changte and Li-Chou.

• 20 Japanese twin-engine bombers, escorted by 25 fighters, attack the airfield at Dinjan without opposition. While the Japanese force is withdrawing, however, 311th Fighter Group P-51s and 80th Fighter Group P-40s arriving in two separate waves down 3 Ki-21 'Sally' bombers and 6 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters over the Dinjan airfield and Chabua between 1150 and 1215 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

710 radar-directed bombers of the US 8th Air Force with P-51 fighter escorts attack Kiel.

• The 67th Fighter Wing's 359th Fighter Group, in P-47s, completes its first combat mission, an unchallenged fighter sweep over the Pas de Calais area.

• 169 1st Bomb Division B-17s and 4 pathfinder B-17s attack the Bremen port area with 457 tons of bombs about noon.
• There are no losses
• 467 VIII Bomber Command B-17s, 99 B-24s, and 8 pathfinder B-17s attack the Kiel port area with 1,147 tons of bombs between 1245 and 1305 hours.
• 5 heavy bombers are lost
• The 2nd Bomb Division's 445th Heavy Bomb Group, in B-24s, make its combat debut.
• Bomber escort is provided by 322 P-47s, 31 P-38s, and 41 P-51s, which down 1 Ju-88.
• 1 P-47 and 1 -51 are lost

• 208 IX Bomber Command B-26s attack the Amsterdam/Schipol Airport with 787 1,000 pound bombs.
• 2 B-26s are lost to heavy flak concentrations

• XII Air Support Command A-36s and P-40s conduct a wide variety of attacks against targets in and around the battle area.

• XII Air Support Command B-25s attack warehouses, an oil depot, port facilities, and a railway yard at Sibenik and Split.

Air Operations, Marshalls

10 VII Bomber Command B-24s based at Canton Island pass through the Baker Island airfield to attack the Wotje Atoll.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack occupied villages along the Bogadjim road.
• V Fighter Command P-39s strafe barges along the Huon Peninsula coast.

Air Operations, Pacific

The US 5th Air Force drops 433 tons of bombs on Arawe, New Britain.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 24 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Bonis.
• 17 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Porton, and their escort fighters strafe a bivouac at Tenekow. 6 B-25s mount low-level attacks against Japanese Army ground troops at Numa Numa.
• 3 Marine Corps SBDs and 3 TBFs that happen to be at the Torokina airfield on Bougainville are called upon to support US Marine ground troops against 300 entrenched Japanese Army ground troops. Unfortunately, one aircraft misdrops its bomb, which kills 6 Marines and wounds 2.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-172 is outbound for the Indian Ocean and looking for U-219 to refuel when she is spotted by aircraft from the carrier Bogue (CVE-9) the evening of the 12th. More aircraft and the destroyers Badger (AVD-3) and Dupont (DD-152) join the chase. The aircraft and the destroyers tried several attacks but without success. These two destroyers are replaced by Clemson (DD-186) and the Osmond Ingram (DD-255). The Badger, however, remained. The destroyers delivered four more attacks which damaged the U-boat enough to cause her to surface. Shelling ensued as the submarine opens up with her deck gun. After being raked with gunfire from the three destroyer, U-172 is rocked by a heavy explosion, sinks and then explodes underwater.

U-172 Class Type IXC CO Oberleutnant zur See Hermann Hoffmann Location Atlantic, W of the Canary Islands Cause Air attack Casualties 13 Survivors 46

U-391 Class Type VIIC CO Oberleutnant zur See Gert Dultgen Location Bay of Biscay Cause Air attack Casualties 51 Survivors None

• U-391 is sunk by Liberator 'B' of No 53 Squadron after it was spotted by Liberator 'R' of the same unit. The U-boat is found and illuminated with the Leigh Light. The submarine opened up with accurate flak damaging the aircraft. The light is switched off and the aircraft attacked with six depth charges in a good straddle sinking the U-boat.

Mediterranean

• (12th?) The British destroyer Holcombe is sunk by U-593 off Bougie, Algeria.
• The German submarine U-593 is sunk by the US destroyer Wainwright (DD-419) and British surface craft in the Mediterranean area.

Pacific

• The Task Force detailed for the invasion of Arawe peninsula, New Britain, sails from Goodenough Island for Buna, New Guinea, from which they will go on to their objective.
• The US submarine Sailfish (SS-192) sinks the Japanese army cargo ship Totai Maru (3195t) east of Tanegashima.

Images from December 13, 1943

Indian Mortar Team in Italy

Massacre of Kalavryta

US and Brazilian Joint Commission

US Banshee Aircraft on Makin Island

B-17 'Nasty Habit' Returning to Base

US B-26 Blowing Up Over Amsterdam

U-593 Settling by the Stern