Air Operations, CBI

• 8 10th Air Force B-25s attack bridges at 3 locations.
• 34 10th Air Force P-47s attack troops at 5 locations.
• 11 P-47s attack supplies at Pangpao.
• 8 P-47s attack stores and a distribution facility at Hsenwi.
• 2 P-47s attack a ferry at Myitson.
• 6 14th Air Force B-25s attack Wan Lai-Kam.
• Fighter-bombers attack Man Pong and Mong Long.
• During the night, 4 10th Air Force B-25s mount offensive reconnaissance sweeps along Japanese Army lines of communication. Such missions will be continued on a frequent basis.

• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack targets of opportunity at Changsha and the Formosa Strait area.
• 12 P-51s attack the airfield at Tsinan.
• Fighter-bombers attack targets of opportunity around Anking, Kinkiang, and Ka-chun.
• During an attack against the airfield at Sinsiang, 530th Fighter Squadron P-51s destroy an estimated 10 fighters and 20 bombers on the ground, and a P-51 downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter.

• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Lampang.

Air Operations, East Indies

FEAF B-24s, B-25s, and fighter-bombers attack Galela and Lolobata on Halmahera, Hate Tobako, and other targets of opportunity on Halmahera, northeastern Celebes, and northern Borneo.

Air Operations, Europe

• The weather at last improves and allows Bomber Command to intervene in the Ardennes battle. 294 aircraft including 146 Lancasters, 136 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos of all the bomber groups attack German troop positions near St Vith. This is the first time since mid-October that aircraft from all the bomber groups have joined together in one raid. The bombing appears to be concentrated and accurate.
• 2 Halifaxes are lost.

A Lancaster seen during the attack on German positions near St Vith in the Ardennes.

St Vith

• 1 Halifax flies a signals patrol.

Air Operations, Marianas

6th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 crews down 3 G4M 'Betty' bombers north of Saipan between 2030 and 2325 hours.

Air Operations, Philippines

• 22nd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Clark Field on Luzon.
• FEAF B-24s attack Libby Field on Mindanao.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Matina airfield on Mindanao, Samal Island, and shipping in the Davao River.
• 49th and 475th Fighter group P-38s down 14 Japanese fighters in the Clark Field area of Luzon between 1045 and 1100 hours.
• Following sightings by 7th Fleet PB4Ys at 1600 and 2030 hours of a Japanese Naval surface force approaching Mindoro, the 5th Air Force launches every available fighter and bomber to intercept. Beginning at 2100 hours, the Japanese Navy battle force is attacked piecemeal by a total of 13 17th Reconnaissance Squadron B-25s, 3 7th Fleet PBYs and 5 PBMs based at Leyte, 44 8th Fighter Group P-38s, 20 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-40s, and 28 58th Fighter Group P-47s. 3 B-25s, 7 P-38s, 6 P-40s, and 10 P-47s are downed by anti-aircraft fire or lost in crash-landings after dark. Nearly all the Japanese warships sustain damage in the running battle, but despite heroic air and PT-boat attacks, the Japanese force is able to bombard the Mindoro beachhead between 2300 and 2340 hours. 1 USN cargo ship is left in sinking condition, but damage ashore is slight. During the retirement, a brand-new Japanese fleet destroyer is sunk by a PT-boat.

Air Operations, Volcano Islands

13 30th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Iwo Jima.

Burma

In the coastal Arakan area the 25th Indian Div reaches Foul Point long before it was expected. The Japanese have decided to withdraw to Akyab.

China

Gen Wedemeyer submits to Chiang Kai-shek his plans for an offensive against Kweilin, Luchow and Canton.

Eastern Front

Budapest is now almost completely encircled by Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukraine Front as they take the fortified town of Esztergom.[MORE]

Italy

The 1st Arm Div is sent to the Lucca sector. Units of the German 14th Army launch a series of counterattacks against the positions of the 92nd Div, IV Corps, along the banks of the Serchio River.

Philippines

A Japanese naval force which has come from Indochina undetected by American air and naval surveillance bombards the American beachhead on Mindoro. There are 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers in the attack. The destroyer Kiyoshimo is sunk by an American PT-Boat. This is the last sortie by a Japanese naval force in the Philippines area.

Western Front

Bastogne is relieved by units of the 4th Arm Div. Only the tanks are able to penetrate initially as the Germans contested any advance through the corridor. Elsewhere in the Ardennes sector the Allied attacks have not yet really begun to have real effect. Thus ended the Ardennes offensive, a tactical victory for the Germans. But it was so costly that the German army was never able to recover from its staggering losses, including 220,000 men half of which became prisoners, and more than 1,400 tanks and heavy assault guns. The net effect of the final German offensive was to delay the Allies by 6 weeks.

Images from December 26, 1944

Troops of US 101st Airborne Division watching C-47 Skytrain aircraft delivering supplies to their unit, Bastogne, Belgium, 26 December 1944. (US Army Signal Corps)

Delivering Supplies to Bastogne

Members of the 702nd Tank Battalion inspect a burned out PzKfpw V, an abandoned Sturmgeschütv IV, knocked out Stug and SdKfz 251 of the Führer-Begleit-Brigade at Heiderscheid 26 December 1944

Inspecting German Vehicles

Prime Minister Winston Churchill leaving HMS AJAX to attend a conference ashore. Athens can be seen in the background

Churchill Attending Conference

Abandoned German Panther and Panzer IV Tanks in the Ardennes in late December

Aerial view from the north-west of the damage resulting from a V-2 rocket missile which exploded in Mackenzie Road, Islington, London N7, England on the evening of 26 December 1944 sixty-eight people were killed.

V-2 Damage in Islington, London

American ambulance waiting outside a bombed building in Bastogne, while a searcher looked for persons injured during the ten-day defense by US 101st Airborne Division, 26 december 1944.

Looking for the Injured

The body of the pict above are not a dead American soldier, but the body of a German Grenadier wearing GI uniforms and equipment. He was one of Otto Skorzeny's men who was shot dead at Hotton on 26 December 1944, one round in the Battle of the Bulge

German Wearing GI Uniform

The crew of the M20 is ready to defeat the attacking German Army, Belgium, 26 December 1944

M20 Crew