Air Operations, CBI

• 10 10th Air Force B-25s attack the main bridge and a bypass bridge at Bawgyo.
• 15 10th Air Force P-47s support Allied ground troops around Bhamo.
• 12 P-47s attack troops, artillery positions, and supplies at Banmauk, Namhkam, and on the shore of Indawgyi Lake.
• 9 P-47s attack bridges at Mongmit and Namhkai.
• 8 P-47s strafe anti-aircraft batteries at Bawgyo.
• 8 14th Air Force P-51s attack road traffic between Hsenwi and Wanling.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s attack the Boroboro and Kendari airfields on Celebes.
• B-25s and A-20s attack the Namlea airfield on Boeroe.
• B-25s and fighter-bombers attack airfields on Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

There is 'round-the-clock' bombing of the Leuna oil plant.

• 1 Hudson makes a Resistance flight.

• 475 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 3 and 8 Groups are sent to Leuna. This is the first major attack on an oil target in Eastern Germany. Leuna, near the town of Merseburg, just west of Leipzig, is 250 miles from the German frontier and 500 miles from the bombers' bases in England. There is considerable cloud in the target area but post-raid photographs show that considerable damage had been caused to the synthetic-oil plant.
• 5 Lancasters are lost.
• 453 aircraft including 363 Halifaxes, 72 Lancasters and 18 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to hit Osnabrück. This is the first major raid on Osnabrück since August 1942. The raid is only a partial success. The railway yards are only slightly damaged, but 4 factories are hit, including the Teuto-Metallwerke munitions factory. 203 houses are also destroyed.
• 7 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster are lost.
• 255 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group are sent to bomb Giessen. There are two aiming points for this raid. 168 aircraft are allocated to the town center and 87 to the railway yards. Severe damage is caused at both places.
• 8 Lancasters are lost.

Severe damage to the marshalling yards at Gieesen after the attack by 265 Lancasters and Mosquitos of No 5 Group on this night. The semi-circular building in the centre of the picture was the locomotive sheds.

Railway Yards at Giessen

Recce picture of Giessen taken in March 1945 which clearly shows that the yards will still unusable three months after this second, and final, attack.

Railway Yards at Giessen

• 42 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 10 to Schwerte and 2 to Hanau, and there are 47 Mosquito patrols and 37 RCM sorties.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost, 1 from the Berlin raid and 1 Intruder which crashes in France.

Air Operations, Japan

• 4 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield at Suribachi. A B-24 weather-reconnaissance plane force-lands in the USSR after it experiences mechanical problems over the Kurile Islands.
• During the night, 3 73d Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s mount the first in a series of so-called weather strike missions. The aircraft, usually 2 or 3 at a time, gather vital weather information while dropping incendiary bombs on populated areas to lower civilian morale.

Air Operations, Pacific

A US B-29 Superfortress is destroyed and 2 others damaged during an early morning air raid on the Marianas by 10 Japanese Betty bombers. 6 of the attackers are shot down by anti-aircraft fire.

Air Operations, Philippines

• Japanese Army paratroopers are dropped over several US airfields on Leyte as part of an ambitious counter-offensive aimed at regaining control of the bases. Flying from the Angeles airfield on Luzon, the transports and paratroops are only partially successful in even landing. 2 Ki-57 'Topsy' transport planes are shot down with all aboard by anti-aircraft fire over the Tacloban airfield on Leyte. 2 Ki-57 'Topsys' crash land at the Dulag airfield on Leyte, where all of only 5 survivors are rapidly killed. A large force is dropped at the recently abandoned San Pablo airfield on Leyte. An estimated 80 paratroopers land at the recently abandoned Buri airfield on Leyte, where they are later joined by a small Japanese Army infantry force that fights its way in. A handful of paratroopers destroy a C-45 and 5 L-5s at the Bayug airfield on Leyte. US Army ground forces immediately surround and seal off the occupied bases, and begin clearing operations.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Bacolod airfield on Negros.
• V Bomber Command B-25s and V Fighter Command P-47s attack the Cagayan and Del Monte airfields on Mindanao and the airfield at Jacgol.
• P-38s attack a convoy off southern Leyte.
• A 49th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane near Siargao Island at 0730 hours.
• 475th Fighter Group P-38s down 4 J2M 'Jack' fighters near Ponson Island at 0845 hours.
• A 348th Fighter Group P-47 downs a Ki-46 'Dinah' reconnaissance plane over Negros at 0945 hours.
• A 35th Fighter Group P-47 downs a B6N 'Jill' torpedo bomber over the Del Monte airfield on Mindanao at 1100 hours.
• 475th Fighter Group P-38 downs a J2M 'Jack' fighter over the Tanza airfield on Negros at 1355 hours.
• 475th Fighter Group P-38s down 2 Ki-48 'Lily' bombers over Negros at 1415 hours.
• A 475th Fighter Group P-38 downs a Ki-45 'Nick' fighter over Cebu at 1630 hours.

Burma

The Japanese contingent sent to reinforce the troops besieged at Bhamo crosses the Shweli River and advances on Tonk-wa, where part of the Chinese 22nd Div is in position and toward which the US 475th Regt is making its way.

Eastern Front

The Russian offensive against Hungary is intensified. Against the advancing Russians the Germans have deployed the Army Group South under Otto Wöhler, supported on the right flank, in Yugoslavia, by Army Group F under Maximilian von Weichs. The Army Group South, actually defending Hungarian soil, comprises the German 6th and 8th Armies, the Hungarian 3rd Army and the German 2nd Panzer Army, south of Lake Balaton, the Hungarian 9th Cavalry Army, north of Debrecen, and the Hungarian 1st Army.

Against these forces the Russians deploy, from northeast to southwest, the 4th Ukraine Front under Petrov, with 3 armies, the 2nd Ukraine Front under Rodion Malinovsky, with 5 armies plus a group of mechanized cavalry and the Rumanian 1st Army, the 3rd Ukraine Front under Fedor Tolbukhin with 3 armies and a group of mechanized cavalry, plus the Bulgarian 1st Army and the Yugoslav 1st and 3rd Armies.

The German Army Group South, the direct descendant of the South Ukraine Army Group, has 550 aircraft, while the Russians have more than 2,000.

On this day the German High Command announces that the 2nd and 3rd Ukraine Fronts have attacked in force both east and west of Budapest, and that some of their units have succeeded in crossing from Csepel Island to the west bank of the Danube, south of Budapest. Rumanian forces are engaged with the Russians in the capture of northeast Hungary, while Bulgarians and Yugoslavs, with part ot the 3rd Ukraine Front are mopping up the region between the Danube and the Sava, in northern Yugoslavia, driving back Army Group F under von Weichs, to the northeast. The Russians take the road and rail junction of Sid.

Germany, Home Front

The He-162 Volksjäger ('People's Fighter') is flight-tested over Vienna.

(5th-7th?)The Nazi women's leader, Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, appeals for all women over 18 to volunteer for service in the army and air force to release men for the front.

Philippines

On Leyte in the north, the renewed efforts by the US 112th Cav to drive the Japanese from the line of hills southeast of Limon are still unsuccessful. In the south, the 7th Div pushes on toward Ormoc, taking Balogo and Kang Dakit. The 77th Div, protected by huge air and naval forces, sails for the landing in Ormoc Bay. The Japanese make a surprise attack on Buri airfield.

Western Front

Assault craft of the 90th Div, XX Corps, US 3rd Army, cross the Saar between Rehlingen and Wallerfangen and establish a small bridgehead in the area of Patchen-Dillingen.

The battalions of the 95th Div which have already crossed the Saar continue to battle for Saarlautern and Roden, Fraulautern and Ensdorf, on the Siegfried Line. On the corps' southern flank the 5th Div continues to advance across the river, accepting the surrender of the St Quentin forts.

2 divisions of the XII Corps, the 6th Arm and the 35th Inf, reach the west bank of the Saar between Grosbliederstraff and Wittrin.

The 2nd Army is held up southwest of Arnhem by the German demolition of dykes and the consequent flooding.

Images from December 6, 1944

The ELAS communist group of Greek resistance fighters had been the best organised during the occupation – but were now being asked to disarm.

ELAS Communists Disarmed

Paratroops from 5th (Scots) Parachute Battalion, 2nd Parachute Brigade, take cover on a street corner in Athens during operations against members of ELAS, 6 December 1944

Paratroops Taking Cover

The 8th army Polish 2nd corps liberated Aresso and by December had ceased operations and were held in reserve. Recce stuart tank with turret removed. Pintle mount for removed 50 cal between angel and bishop. 6 December 1944

Liberated Toscane/Aresso

Japanese paratrooper entering in a Ki-57 transport plane before the attack on American air bases on Luzon and Leyte on the night of 6 December 1944

Loading for an Attack

Ordinary Seaman P S Buckingham, keeping a record of U-boat kills on the side of the wheelhouse on board HMS HESPERUS, docked at Liverpool, 6 December 1943

Recording U-boat Kills

Japanese army paratrooper of the 2nd Raiding Brigade preparing his ammo bag before entering in a transport plane during the attack on American air bases on Luzon and Leyte on the night of 6 December 1944

Preparing for an Attack

Japanese commander of the 2nd Raiding Brigade Rikichi Tsukada adjusting his helmet, Some 750 men, mainly from the 2nd Raiding Brigade, of this group were assigned to attack American air bases on Luzon and Leyte on the night of 6 December 1944. They were flown in Ki-57 transports, but many of the aircraft were shot down. Some 300 commandos managed to land in the Burauen area on Leyte. The force destroyed dozens of planes and inflicted numerous casualties, before they were annihilated.

Preparing for an Attack

Martin B-26C Marauders 42-107614 (RJ-H) 'Lady Luck III' and 41-35253 (RJ-S) 'Black Magic IV', 454th Bomb Squadron, 6 December 1944

Martin B-26C Marauders