Air Operations, Europe

British bomber targets in Germany include Frankfurt, Duisburg and Munich. In France American attacks are made on Abbeville and Rouen as well as other joint British and American raids with lighter forces. RAF bombers from bases in Britain attack Turin on 3 occasions while targets raided by the British and American forces from North Africa include Naples (5 times), Palermo and Taranto. RAF Bomber Command drops 3,000 tons in these operations and the US 8th Air Force based in Britain drops 370 tons.

The navigational aid Oboe comes into service with the RAF. It gives accurate and reliable results, but its range is comparatively limited, reaching only as far as the Ruhr from bases in Britain. Only a very limited number of planes can be operated on the system at a time so it is used mostly for target marking. Theoretically it is very vulnerable to jamming, but the Germans only begin this in August 1943. More advanced versions of Oboe, which enter service from late in 1943, remain almost immune to interference until the end of the war.

Battle of the Atlantic

This month the U-boats sink 60 ships of 330,000 tons in the Atlantic convoy battles. (Allied Ships Lost to U-boats this month) The most important development during the month is the change in the standard of the Allied intelligence information that occurs in the second week when the U-boat cipher Triton is broken for the first time. For several months there will be delays, often of 3 or 4 days or sometimes as much as a week, before new settings on the code machine can be broken. Even when messages can be decoded promptly it will not always be possible to route convoys away from U-boat concentrations. One problem here is the shortage in Britain of bunker fuel for the merchant fleet. There are only 2 months' reserves outside RN stocks.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s, B-26s, and A-20s, and V Fighter Command P-400s mount an all-out effort against Buna in support of a renewed Allied ground attack that fails to secure the objective. An Australian Army brigade,however, takes Gona.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• A regular pattern of air attacks is opened by 12th Air Force against the Tunis/El Aouina Airdrome. In the first attack, before 0900 hours, 6 A-20s and 13 B-17 attack the base followed closely by 9 A-20s and 6 RAF Bristol Bisley light bombers. An estimated 30 aircraft are destroyed on the ground and a 14th Fighter Group pilot downs a Bf-109 in the air over the airdrome. During the afternoon, an attack by 12 B-26s destroys and estimated 15 Luftwaffe aircraft on the grouns.
• XII Fighter Command P-38s attack German Army tanks near Djedeida.

Allied Command

Responsibility for the India-China air lift is transferred from Gen Stilwell to Air Transport Command, based in India.

Battle of the Atlantic

The British anti-submarine trawler Jasper (581t), escorting Convoy PW-256, is sunk by German motor torpedo boat S-81 in the English Channel with the loss of 10 of her crew.

Britain, Home Front

The House of Commons receives the Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services prepared by the Beveridge Committee. The report proposes far-reaching measures of social reform which are designed to eliminate poverty in Britain. The laws which will emerge from the consideration of the report are the foundation of Britain's modern welfare system. The Report is a bestseller as 635,000 copies are sold.

In London, Sydney Silverman, MP, reports that more than 2,000,000 Jews have been exterminated by the Nazis up to the end of September.

Burma

After a period of rest and re-equipping the Japanese man a line Tengchung-Myitkyina-Kamaing-Kalewa-Akyab.

Diplomatic Relations

Ethiopia declares war on Germany, Italy and Japan.

Eastern Front

The 20th Army continues its futile attacks for five days, failing entirely to break the now solid German defenses between Osuga and Sychevka. To the west the battle for Belyi is equally unsuccessful, the Germans driving the salient back with heavy losses. At the end of four days' fierce fighting, the 41st Army has been contained, having pushed a ten-mile salient into the German lines. To the north the 22nd Army is similarly beaten, being contained by German counterattacks.

Guadalcanal

The 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, is withdrawn from forward positions west of the Matanikau River, leaving Americal Division units to hold the west sector.

Tanaka is back at Shortland. 3 more destroyers are assigned to supply duty: Arashi, Nowaki, and Yugure.

Mediterranean

Axis supply problems are well illustrated by events during the next two days. There are 4 Italian convoys at sea which are threatened by a British squadron, Q Force, of 3 cruisers and 2 destroyers. 3 of the convoys are recalled. The 4 freighters and 1 of the escorts of the 4th convoy are sunk and 2 more escorts damaged. The British later lose 1 destroyer, the Quentin, to an air attack. During December the Italians will try to convoy over 200,000 tons of cargo to Tunis and Tripoli, but of this 90,000 tons, in 32 ships, will be lost to British and Allied naval and air attacks.

New Guinea

The Australian 21st Brigade captures Gona. The Japanese retire to Gona Mission to carry on their resistance. Elsewhere they show no sign of giving way; they press very vigorously on the roadblock set up on the Soputa-Sanananda track by units of the US 32nd Division, repelling American counterattacks. Allied attacks on Buna and Cape Esperance are unsuccessful.

Air Operations, Europe

• 112 aircraft are sent to Frankfurt: 48 Halifaxes, 27 Lancasters, 22 Stirlings and 15 Wellingtons.
• There is thick haze and the Pathfinders do not locate Frankfurt; most of the bomb loads fall in the country southwest of the city.
• 3 Halifaxes, 1 Lancaster, 1 Stirling and 1 Wellington are lost.

• There are 4 OTU sorties without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-17s, B-25s, and A-20s, and 35th Fighter Group P-400s force 4 Japanese destroyer-transports to land 800 Japanese Army troops much farther than intended from the hard-pressed Japanese defensive positions at Gona. Also attacked are Japanese Army defensive positions at Buna, the airfield at Buna, and various targets between Cape Killerton and Watutu Point.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 12th Air Force A-20s, followed by B-26s, attack Tunis/El Aouina Airdrome.
• 12th Air Force B-17s attack Bizerte/Sidi Ahmed Airdrome and Bizerte harbor.
• 12th Air Force B-25s attack the flak batteries near Gabes Airdrome.
• A total of 9 Luftwaffe fighters are downed during the day by pilots of the 1st, 14th, and 52nd Fighter Groups in a number of escort missions and aggressive sweeps into enemy territory.

Atomic Research

The first man-made, self-sustaining chain reaction, fission of the uranium isotope U-238, is achieved in the atomic pile at Chicago University. Under the direction of physicists Arthur Compton and Enrico Fermi, an anti-fascist Italian who fled his native country, a chain reaction is initiated in a makeshift laboratory under the University of Chicago football stadium.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US steamship Coamo is torpedoed and sunk by U-604 off Bermuda. Some survivors of the 186 men on board manage to escape on rafts only to perish in a gale that is in the area the following day.

Eastern Front

The Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts receive orders to launch Operation ISKRA at the beginning of January 1943. This operation is intended to break the siege around the city.

Fighting along the Chir intensifies as the 5th Tank Army pins the XLVIII Panzer down. Battles rage at Oblivskaya, Surovokino and Nizhne Chirskaya. To support the 5th Tank Army the Stavka orders the 5th Shock Army up to the Chir Front. It will arrive in a week's time. The 51st Army is involved in costly fighting around Kotelnikovo. Around Stalingrad, the 21st, 66th and 24th Armies attack the 6th Army perimeter.

Guadalcanal

US Marines ambush a Japanese patrol around the Lunga River, killing 35 of the 60 enemy soldiers.

Italy, Home Front

Mussolini breaks his 18-month silence to refute Churchill's broadcast of November 29. He also reports Italian casualties after 30 months of war: 40,210 killed; 35,964 wounded; 233,778 prisoners; and 38,513 missing.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17 attacks a Japanese submarine at sea near Rabaul.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s and 35th Fighter Group P-400s attack Buna and Sanananda.
• During the night 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the airfields at Lae and Salamaua.

Air Operations, Solomons

• Following several weeks of intense photographic surveillance, AirSoPac intelligence officers confirm that the Japanese are well along in the construction of a well-camouflaged airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.
• 8 Marine Corps SBDs and 7 VMSB-131 TBFs attack 10 Japanese destroyer-transports in New Georgia Sound. 1 destroyer is slightly damaged and 1 TBF and its crew are lost. 2 F4Fs each down 3 F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance float planes and 347th Fighter Group P-39s down 4 F1M 'Petes' over New Georgia Sound, all around 1830 hours.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 97th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack shipping and port facilities at Bizerte around 1030 hours. Luftwaffe fighters attack the bombers, but they are attacked in turn by 1st Fighter Group P-38s.
• 3 Bf-109s are downed to the loss of 5 P-38s.
• 15th Light Bomb Squadron A-20s, escorted by P-38s, attack Tunis/El Aouina Airdrome.
• P-38s and Spitfires attack a variety of ground targets while on far-ranging sweeps and recon missions. 3 Bf-109s are downed by 14th and 52nd Fight Group pilots.

Battle of the Atlantic

The British destroyer Penylan, escorting Convoy PW-257, is sunk in the English Channel by German motor torpedo boat S-115 with the loss of 36 of her crew.

Eastern Front

Russian troops break through German positions west of Rzhev.

The 5th Tank Army has established a bridgehead across the Chir at Nizhne Kalinovski. Romanenko halts to regroup and consolidate. The 51st Army launches strong attacks upon the rail terminals at Kotelnikovo, bringing the sidings under heavy fire. Elements of the LVII Panzer Corps are detraining as the 51st Attacks and in fierce fighting it throws the Soviets back. The arrival of the 6th Panzer Division surprises the 51st but also alerts the Stavka to the concentration of fresh German forces on this axis.

As the fighting escalates, the Stavka confirms its intentions for Operation SATURN. The offensive calls for the Southwest and Voronezh Fronts to isolate the Italian 8th Army and advances south to take the German airbases supplying Stalingrad before Rostov is captured and Army Group Don and A against the Azov Sea and in the Caucasus.

Guadalcanal

The movement of Aola Force, less the 2nd Raider Battalion, to Koli Point, where an airfield is to be constructed, is completed. Aola Force is joined by the 18th Naval Construction Battalion and the rest of the 9th Defense Battalion.

Tanaka in his flagship the Naganami along with 10 other destroyers sails again to supply Guadalcanal. 7 ships are loaded w/supplies, 3 are for escort. 12 Zeros are also assigned to escort duty. Late in the afternoon this force is attacked by American fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers. Each side loses several planes. A near miss on the destroyer Makinami causes minor damage and kills several men but does not impair the ship's capacity. The fleet steams on. They reach the Guadalcanal coast at midnight and begin dumping their drums overboard. The only opposition encountered comes from several PT boats, but the 3 escorts keep them away and the supply ships do their job. The supply mission is not really a success because of Vandegrift's troops on shore which keep a large portion of the Japanese troops from reaching the shore to retrieve the drums. Only 300 of the 1,500 dropped actually come into Japanese hands. The rest are washed out to sea or sunk by machine gun fire of the Cactus Air Force.

Mediterranean

The German steamer Menes (5609t) is sunk by torpedo off the Libyan coast.

Air Operations, Europe

US 9th Air Force Liberators attack Naples, sinking the light cruiser Muzio Attendolo in the harbor. 2 other cruisers, the Eugenio di Savoia and Raimondo Montecuccoli, are badly damaged. Italian sources state that 159 are dead and 358 are wounded in the raid. This is the first US raid on the mainland of Italy.

• 29 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and in the Baltic off Gdynia and Danzig; there are 3 OTU sorties; there are no losses.

In the first USAAF air attack directly upon the territory of a European Axis natin, Italian navy warships and port facilities in Naples harbor are attacked by 20 IX Bomber Command B-24s. Hits are claimed on several of the warships, including a battleship. There are no USAAF losses.

Air Operations, North Africa

9 Bisley Blenheim Mk V light bombers, led by Wing-Cdr Hugh Malcolm, V.C., attack Thouigui landing ground in Tunisia. 50 Me-109s annihilate the unescorted bombers. Thereafter all RAF bombing operations over Tunisia are carried out at night.

Air Operations, Tunisia

XII Bomber Command B-17s, followed half an hour later by B-26s, attack shipping and port facilities in Bizerte harbor. While escorting bombers and conducting far-ranging sweeps and recon missions, pilots of the 1st, 14th and 52nd Fighter Groups down 5 Bf-109s and 1 Bf-110.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting rages along the Chir as the XLVIII Panzer Corps struggles with the 5th Tank Army. Gen Otto von Knobelsdor's XLVIII Panzer Corps moves to Nizhne Chirskaya to be better able to deal with the attacks by the 5th Tank. The 13th Panzer Division remains on the left wing to bolster the remnants of the Rumanian 3rd Army. Knobelsdorf also takes into his command the 11th Panzer and the 336th Infantry Divisions plus another Luftwaffe field division. Group Adam, an ad hoc formation, defends the Nizhne Chirskaya bridgehead.

Heavy fighting rages around Kotelnikovo as the 6th Panzer Division throws the 51st Army out of the town.

Gen Aleksandr Vasilevsky reports to Stalin that the armies surrounding Paulus need substantial reinforcement before they can destroy his army. Stalin had planned to use Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army, currently in reserve, to bolster the forces of the Don Front. Heavy fighting rages around Stalingrad.

Winston Churchill

Air Operations, Bismarcks

In their unit's combat debut, 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Kavieng airfield on New Ireland.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 OTU sorties are flown to France without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

v Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s attack targets in the Buna area.

Air Operations, Solomons

VMD-154 PB4Y reconnaissance bombers confirm the existence of a new, nearly complete, cleverly camouflaged Japanese Navy airfield at Munda Point on New Georgia. Intent upon denying the Japanese an aerial toehold so close to Guadalcanal, an immediate offensive against the Munda Point airfield by the the Cactus Air Force is planned.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by 14th Fighter Group P-38s, attack shipping and port facilities at Tunis. 14th Fighter Group P-38s pilots down 2 Bf-109s near Bizerte Airdrome.
• 12th Air Force B-25s attack Bizerte/Sidi Ahmed Airdrome, A-20s attack German Army positions at Faid Pass.

Atlantic

The British anti-submarine trawler Bengali, the naval trawler Canna and the anti-submarine trawler Spaniard are sunk in an explosion at Lagos, Nigeria. The Bengali loses 1 crewman, the Canna 12 and the Spaniard 2.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting continues along the Chir, around Kotelnikovo and at Stalingrad.

Mediterranean

The German hospital ship Graz is torpedoed and sinks off the Libyan coast.

New Guinea

The Australian 21st Brigade is still in action in the Gona area. A reinforced Australian battalion tries to prevent the landing of enemy supplies near Basabua, while another battalion advances westwards to hole up the Japanese who have landed at the mouth of the Kumusi River. The road-block on the Soputa-Sanananda track is surrounded by the Japanese and cannot be supplied.

Combat groups called Urbana and Warren Forces are thrown into the attack on the village of Buna and get within 50 yards of the houses. Gen Waldron is wounded and the command of the US 32nd Division is taken over by Gen Clovis E. Byers. Heavy losses are suffered in the actual fighting and to heat prostration and malaria.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack Rabaul and the Lakunai airfield at Rabaul.

Air Operations, Europe

• 93 aircraft, 47 Venturas, 36 Bostons and 10 Mosquitos, are sent to raid the Philips radio and valve factories in Eindhoven.
• The raid is a low-level one in clear weather conditions; bombing is accurate and severe damage is inflicted upon the factory which is located in the center of the town; being Sunday, there are few casualties in the factory but bombs falling in nearby streets kill 148 Dutch people and 7 German soldiers.
• 9 Venturas, 4 Bostons and 1 Mosquito are lost over Holland while 3 more planes crash upon their return to England; almost all the aircraft suffer some kind of damage.

• 272 aircraft are sent to Mannheim: 101 Lancasters, 65 Halifaxes, 57 Wellingtons and 49 Stirlings.
• The target are is completely covered by clouds and the Pathfinders do not drop their flares; 220 aircraft drop their bombloads on dead-reckoning positions; Mannheim reports some incendiaries and leaflets fall in the city, but there are no casualties.
• 5 Wellingtons, 3 Halifaxes, 1 Lancaster and 1 Stirling are lost.
• US B-17s attack the Lille locomotive works. 500 RAF, USAAF and Allied fighters fly escort and diversionary sorties. There are RAF night raids on Karslruhe and Pforzheim in southwest Germany.
• 4 bombers are lost.

• 14 Lancasters and Wellingtons lay mines in the Frisians without a loss.

• 37 of 66 VIII Bomber Command B-17s are sent to attack a locomotive factory at Lille.
• 1 B-17 is lost, 9 damaged; 1 crewman killed, 2 wounded, and 10 missiong
• 44th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s are sent against the Abbeville/Drucat Airdrome. The group is recalled, but 6 fail to receive the order and press on.
• 1 B-24 is lost, 1 damaged; 3 crewment wounded, 10 missing.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s attack the airfield at Lae.

Air Operations, Solomons

AirSoPac P-39s strafe the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 15 XII Bomber Command B-17s attack the port of Tunis.
• 15th Light Bomb Squadron A-20s attack the bridge over the Medjerda River at El Bathan.
• 14th Fighter Group P-38 pilots down a Ju-88, 2 Bf-110s and a Ju-52 in two separate actions.

Eastern Front

Paulus is brought under sustained attack as the Don and Stalingrad Fronts probe the German defenses.

Gen Walther Lucht's 336th Infantry Division takes up defensive positions along the Chir north of Gen Hermann Balck's 11th Panzer Division which is at Nizhne Chirskaya. Gen Otto von Knobelsdorff intends to operate in tandem with Gen Hermann Hoth's relief attack from Kotelnikovo.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack a tanker off Gasmata.

Air Operations, Europe

• 36 aircraft lay mines from the southern Biscay coast to the Frisians. This is the first operation of this kind by Group 4 aircraft.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack targets in and around Buna and the airfield at Lae. 43d Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack a ship off Gona.
• Japanese Navy bombers attack the US Army’s 2nd Field Hospital in Port Moresby in retaliation for the inadvertent bombing of a Japanese field hospital at Buna some days earlier.
• 8th and 35th Fighter group P-39s down 6 D3A 'Val' dive-bombers and 5 A6M Zeros over Buna between 1120 and 1150 hours. A little later, between 1320 and 1330 hours, 49th Fighter Group P-40s down 6 Japanese Navy bombers, also over Buna.

Air Operations, North Africa

Axis aircraft bomb the Philippeville harbor and the RAF bomb Tripoli.

Air Operations, Pacific

Japanese aircraft make 3 attacks on US and Australian field hospitals in the Buna-Gona area of New Guinea. Dates of the attacks: November 28, December 2 and December 7. There are 36 fatal casualties from the raids.

Air Operations, Solomons

13 Marine Corps SBDs attack 11 Japanese destroyer-transports in New Georgia Sound at 1635 hours. 1 destroyer is severely damaged while 2 others are slightly damaged. 1 SBD is shot down by an F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance float plane and its crew is lost.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by P-38s, attack shipping and port facilities at Bizerte.
• A-20s, escorted by P-38s, attack German Army tanks in the Teboura-El Bathan area.
• 2 Ju-52 tri-motor transports are downed by a pair of 14th Fighter Group P-38 pilots near Sfax.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The British liner Ceramic (18,713t) is sunk by U-515. Stormy weather prevents the launching of lifeboats. More than 500 people are lost. There is 1 survivor.
• The US freighter James McKay (6762t), attempting to join Convoy HX-217 in heavy seas east of Newfoundland, is torpedoed and sunk by U-600. The U-boat reports seeing two boats clearing the ship's side with survivors, none of the 48-man crew or the 14-man Armed Guard are ever found.

Eastern Front

There are several Soviet attacks to gain bridgeheads over the Chir River and threaten the German airfields which are the bases for the supply operation to Stalingrad. The German 11th Panzer Div is in the area and a sequence of maneuver battles it brings the Soviet advance to a halt, but only at considerable cost.

The Germans unleash a fierce counterattack against the southern edge of the 41st Army's Belyi salient, the 19th Panzer Division slicing through the Soviet lines to isolate the I Mechanized and VI Rifle Corps. Bitter fighting rages as the Soviets fight to prevent encirclement.

Elements of the 5th Tank Army force their way across the Chir near Surovikino, to the left of the 336th Infantry Division. Gen Hermann Balck's 11th Panzer Division moves up and its lead units check the Soviet advance. The 5th Shock Army arrives to reinforce the embattled units along the Chir Front.

France

British Marine Commandos use canoes to attack the Gironde River estuary in France.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos carry out intruder patrols over Holland and just inside the German border. 1 Mosquito is lost.

• 133 aicraft of 5 Group and the Pathfinder Force are sent to Turin: 108 Lancaster, 9 Halifaxes, 9 Wellingtons and 7 Stirlings.
• Pathfinders light up the target well and the bombing is accurate; there is extensive damage in both residential and industrial areas; 212 people are killed and 111 injured.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 80 aircraft of 1, 3 and 4 Groups lay mines off the German and Danish coasts.
• 3 Stirlings, 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster are lost.

• IX Bomber Command B-24s attack targets in Naples.
• 1 376th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 is downed by flak.

Air Operations, Libya

57th Fighter Group P-40 pilots down 7 Bf-109s in a morning battle over the Marble Arch Airdrome.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s attack ground targets at Buna Mission and Cape Endaiadere in direct support of an Allied ground attack.
• V Fighter Command P-38s attack a wrecked ship off Gona.
• 6 43d Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 1 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 intercept 8 Japanese destroyer-transports carrying Japanese Army ground reinforcements from Rabaul to Buna. Under pressure from the air, the destroyer-transports withdraw to Rabaul.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-254 is rammed by U-221 while both boats were maneuvering on the surface during operations against convoy HX-217. U-221 sustains superficial damage but U-254 sinks quickly.

U-254 Class Type VIIC CO Kapitänleutnant Odo Loewe Location Atlantic, SE of Greenland Cause Collision Casualties 41 Survivors 4

U-611 Class Type VIIC CO Kapitänleutnant Nikolaus von Jakobs Location Atlantic, SE of Cape Discord, Greenland Cause Air attack Casualties 45 Survivors None

• U-611 is sunk by Liberator 'B' of No 120 Squadron RAF during operations in support of convoy HX-217. Six depth charges are dropped and after the attack the aircrew observes wreckage and human remains on the surface.

Black Sea

The Russian submarine D-5 sinks the Turkish sailing ship Koçiboglu.

Britain, Home Front

Parliament lowers the age for conscription by 6 months, to 18.

Eastern Front

The German counterattack against the 41st Army continue, their pincers drawing closer to Belyi as the escape corridor of the VI Rifle and I Mechanized Corps becomes narrower. By the end of the day the German forces are just a mile apart.

The 6th Army is heavily attack but manages to repel the Soviet probes. Gen Friedrich Kirchner's LVII Panzer Corps has still not completed its concentration, onl the 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions being in situ. The 17th Panzer has been waylaid by Hitler en route from Orel. It is unlikely that Operation WINTER-STORM will begin before December 12.

After regrouping during the night, the 11th Panzer Division attacks the Soviets to the rear of the 336th Infantry Division. The assault strikes the Soviets just as they are about to attack and after a bloody battle they are virtually wiped out.

As the Soviets prepare to launch Operation SATURN a new 1st Guards Army is raised, the original 1st Guards being redesignated 3rd Guards Army, Gen Dmitry Lelyushenko commands the 3rd while the new 1st is given to Gen Vasily Kuznetsov.

Guadalcanal

Some elements of the 132nd Regimental Combat Team of the Americal Division arrive.

American motor torpedo boats attack Japanese destroyers approaching the island and prevent them from landing men and materials.

The destroyer group returns to Buin just in time for an attack by B-17s on the Shortland anchorage. 2 tankers are badly damaged but the destroyers remain intact. Tanaka is ordered to make a fourth supply attempt.

The Imperial General Staff comes up with a new idea for resupplying Guadalcanal. The submarine force will assist in this effort. A group of 2,000 ton I-boat class boats are sent to Buin. They are loaded with supplies and dispatched one by one to land at Makino Point on western end of island. The operation under the command of Rear Adm Hisao Mito at Rabaul, which is separate from Tanaka's. The first run made in early December is successful. Lt-Cmdr Yahachi Tanabe takes I-176 to Guadalcanal and unloads supplies, the first that the men on the island have seen for several days.

Air Operations, Algeria

1 Ju-88 medium bomber is downed by a 33rd Fighter Group P-40 pilot in his unit's first combat encounter of the war.

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Air Operations, Europe

• 5 Mosquitos make individual flights to Holland and France attacking mostly trains. There are no losses.

• 227 aircraft are sent to Turin: 115 Lancasters, 47 Halifaxes, 40 Wellingtons and 25 Stirlings.
• This is a disappointing raid as the Pathfinders are not as efficient as on the previous night; smoke from the fires still burning from the previous night make marking the target difficult; reports from the ground say 73 people are killed and 99 are injured.
• 2 Wellingtons and 1 Lancaster are lost.

• 2 Stirlings lay mines in the Frisians and there are 12 OTU sorties.
• 1 OTU Whitley is lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-26s take part in a final preparatory bombardment at Buna as Allied ground forces prepare to mount an all-out ground assault.
• V Fighter Command P-40s attack targets along the Sanananda-Soputa Trail.
• Allied aircraft take part in a pre-assault bombardment that helps an Australian Army brigade mount a successful final assault on the last Japanese Army defenses at Gona.
• The 374th Troop Carrier Group airlifts a US Army infantry batallion to the Buna front.

Air Operations, Solomons

AirSoPac B-17s attack the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Battle of the Atlantic

The British corvette Marigold, escorting Convoy MKS-3Y, is sunk by a German aircraft torpedo west of the Gibraltar Straits with the loss of 49 crew members. 43 of the crew are rescued.

Eastern Front

The German pincers at Belyi meet, trapping the I Mechanized and the VI Rifle Corps.

Fighting on the Chir intensifies as the 11th Panzer Division counterattacks at Oblivskoye, crushing another Soviet bridgehead. The 5th Tank Army suffers heavy casualties as it attempts to break through the Chir line.

The pressure against the 6th Army relaxes as the Soviets assess the results of the last few days' fighting. It is becoming apparent to the Stavka that the 90,000 men they thought they had encircled are in fact closer to a quarter of a million. This impacts upon Operation SATURN as the encirclement battle demand a greater number of forces. Therefore, the Stavka modifies the objectives to the destruction of the Italian 8th Army and isolation of Group Hollidt. The new plan is codenamed LITTLE SATURN.

New Guinea

After bombardment by aircraft and artillery the Australian 21st Brigade finally overcomes the desperate resistance of the last Japanese units in the Gona area. The battle ends at 4:30pm. The Japanese leave 630 dead on the field while the Australian casualty count is 530. A battalion of the American 32nd Division is air-lifted into the Buna sector in readiness for the final attack on Buna village.

Air Operations, Egypt

A 57th Fighter Group P-40 pilot downs a Bf-109 in a battle over the Marble Arch Airdrome.

Air Operations, Europe

• Turin is again heavily bombed by the RAF.
• German, Italian and Hungarian aircraft bomb the marshaling yards and depots northwest and southeast of Stalingrad.

Air Operations, New Guinea

Japanese aircraft drop supplies to Japanese troops near Buna.

Air Operations, Solomons

• AirSoPac B-17s attack shipping at Faisi Harbor in the Shortland Islands.
• 339th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 3 A6M Zeros and 2 A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bombers over Tonolei Harbor in the morning.

Battle of the Atlantic

Naval land-based PBY (VP-84) sinks the German submarine U-611 in the North Atlantic.

Britain, Home Front

British and German guns exchange fire across the Straits of Dover for about 90 minutes.

Britain, Policy

London announces that Axis POW's would be unchained in 48 hours.

Eastern Front

A small German counterattack in the Rzhev area makes a little ground.

CENTRAL SECTOR

The VI Rifle and I Mechanized Corps launch repeated attacks to try to break out of the pocket south of Belyi. Bitter battles rage until the 15th, when the Soviet force is destroyed.

With the XLVIII Corps tied down, the Soviets begin a new attack aimed at pinning Group Hollidt (Gen Karl-Adolf). Attacks by the 5th Shock Army threaten Hollidt's flank and prevent his transfer of forces to Nizhne Chirskaya for the planned diversionary operation to WINTER-STORM.

Air Operations, Aleutians

3 28th Composite Bombardment Group B-26s and 4 XI Fighter Command P-38s attack a wrecked ship at Kiska, and the P-38s also bomb and strafe the submarine base, the seaplanes base, and gun emplacements.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack but do not hit Japanese Navy shipping off Port Blair.

Air Operations, Europe

• 82 aircraft of 1, 4 and 5 Groups and the Pathfinders attack Turin: 48 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 8 Stirlings and 6 Wellingtons.
• More than half the force turn back before crossing the Alps because of severe icing conditions; 28 crews claim to have bombed Turin, but the city reports only 3 high-explosive bombs and a few incendiaries with no casualties.
• 3 Halifaxes and 1 Stirling are lost.

• 26 Wellingtons lay mines off the Biscay ports and in the Frisians and there are 4 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

• IX Bomber Command B-24s attack port facilities and the area surrounding the Naples port.
• 1 98th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 is downed by flak.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s and B-26s attack the airfield at Lae, and the B-26s also hit the airfield at Buna and other targets of opportunity.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 5th and 11th Heavy Bomb group B-17s attack the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.
• A VMF-122 F4F downs an A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bomber over Guadalcanal, and 14 Marine Corps SBDs attack 11 Japanese destroyer-transports off northern New Georgia but score no hits.

Air Operations, Tunisia

XII Bomber Command B-25s, with fighter escort, attack rail bridges at La Hencha.

Eastern Front

The Red Army retains the initiative everywhere. The Russians make progress in the Stalingrad sector, in the great bend of the Don and in the Caucasus. Manstein's 4th Army is under heavy pressure east of Stalingrad. In the Caucasus, Army Group A establishes a defensive line further back, near the Terek River.

The 11th Panzer Division is forced to fight off additional Soviet attack across the Chir at Lissinski and Nizhne Kalinovski.

Manstein aims to launch WINTER-STORM on the 12th, Gen Hermann Hoth has at his disposal the 23rd Panzer Division with 30 tanks and the 6th Panzer with 160 panzers and 40 self-propelled guns. The VI Rumanian Corps covers the left flank with the 7th Rumanian Corps protects the right. Behind the armored wedge is the lifeline of the 6th Army, a fleet of 800 lorries loaded with 3,000 tons of supplies. Hoth's force amounts to 30,000 men, with which he is to punch through the 51st Army, cross 80 miles of Steppe and link up with the 6th Army.

Army Group P begins its withdrawal from the Caucasus. Heavy fighting erupts along the Terek as the Germans fall back to the Mozdok-Elitsa line.

France

'Cockleshell Heroes' Raid. 5 canoes, each manned by 2 British Commandos, are launched from the submarine Tuna on December 7. 3 are lost, but 2 survivors travel 146 km up the Gironde River to Bordeaux, where 4 merchant ships, a tanker and a naval auxiliary are disabled with limpet mines. 6 captured Commandos are later executed by the Germans.

Air Operations, Algeria

1st Fighter Group P-38 pilots down an Italian Air Force flying boat over the Mediterranean north of Philippeville.

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Air Operations, CBI

• The 10th Air Force 7th Heavy Bomb Group moves from Karachi to the airfield at Pandaveswar.

Air Operations, Europe

• 15 Wellingtons of 1 and 3 Groups lay mines in the Frisians without a loss.

78 VIII Bomber Command B-17s are sent against Romilly-sur-Seinc Airdrome but heavy cloud cover prevents them from bombing there. 17 of these B-17s manage to locate the Rouen/Sotteville marshalling yard where they drop their bombs.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the airfields at Lae and Salamaua.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack landing barges off Sanananda.

Air Operations, Solomons

7 AirSoPac B-17s mount the first of daily heavy-bomber attacks against the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia, and during the afternoon, 9 VMSB-142 SBDs attack the runway, gun emplacements and a fuel dump at the airfield. A VMSB-142 SBD downs an A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bomber over New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-17s attack the port facilities at Sfax for the first time.
• B-17s, escorted by P-38s, attack port and rail facilities at Tunis.
• B-26s sent fo Sousse and La Hencha abort due to bad weather.

Atlantic

The British destroyers Whitshed, Worcester, Eskdale, Brocklesby, Albrighton and Vesper attack a German convoy 9 miles north-northeast of Dieppe, France. The German steamer Gauss (1236t) is sunk by the Worcester. The German steamer Sperrbrecher 144 (387t) is sunk by Eskdale and Albrighton. All 6 British destroyers receive some damage in the action.

Guadalcanal

The 2nd Marine Division begins the relief of the Americal Division west of the Matanikau. An enemy party raids Fighter Strip 2 under cover of darkness damaging one of the runways reserved for fighters. The 2nd Marine Division Signal Company and the 18th Naval Construction arrive.

Tanaka returns to Buin where he learns that Yamamoto has decided the cost of resupply is too expensive so the operation is suspended. Tanaka is ordered to Rabaul to begin taking supplies and troops to build a base on New Georgia. This now has high importance since the 17th Army failed to mount an expected offensive at New Guinea and to retake Guadalcanal. Tanaka did not know it but his recommendations regarding Guadalcanal were the basis for the decision by Yamamoto and Imperial General Staff to evacuate Guadalcanal.

Eastern Front

Hitler refuses to permit a withdrawal of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, saying such a move will destroy 'the whole meaning of the campaign.'

Although the Germans have a bridgehead over the Don at Nizhne Chirskaya, only 25 miles from the nearest of the forces trapped in the Stalingrad pocket, Manstein has decided to begin his relieving attack farther south, around Kotelnikovo. The code name for the operation is WINTERGEWITTER (or WINTERSTURM), 'WINTER STORM'. Gen Hoth is in tactical charge of the attack which gets under way in the area of Kotelnikovo. Hoth's armored group consisting of 17th, 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions supported by the Rumanian 4th Army and part of the 3rd Army, breaks through the lines of the Russian 51st Army south of the Don. The line held by the 51st Army is comparatively weak because the next major Russian moves are planned both farther north and farther south. The rest of Manstein's forces, the Hollidt (Gen Karl-Adolf) operational group, attacks north of the river. The Germans make rapid progress for the first two days, but the Russians bring up reinforcements, namely the 2nd Guards Army which was to have participated in the next attack to the north, and their resistance stiffens. This reinforcement for the Soviet rear cannot arrive for a few days, and 51st Army is left to delay the German advance.

Panzer Group Hoth

The 11th Panzer Division continues its fire-fighting role along the Chir, destroying a Soviet bridgehad at Lissinski and containing another at Nizhne Kalinovski. Meanwhile, Manstein's attempt to relieve the 6th Army, codenamed WINTER STORM, gets under way. The LVII Panzer Corps (23rd Panzer Division, 6th Panzer Division and the Romanian VI and VII Corps), 30,000 troops and 190 tanks and 40 self-propelled guns, smashes through the Soviet 51st Army at Kotelnikovo. The weather results in an advance of only 12 miles, and Gen Andrey Yeremenko deploys the Soviet XIII Tank Corps and IV Mechanized Corps to reinforce the 51st Army.[MORE]

Air Operations, Bismarcks

38th Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, Europe

• 4 Bostons and 4 Mosquitos make railway attacks in France and Belgium, but only 2 Mosquitos bomb, at Laon and Criel. There are no losses.

• 6 Wellingtons lay mines off Lorient and St Nazaire without a loss.

Air Operations, Libya

The WDAF, including the 9th Air Force's 12 Medium Bomb Group and 57th Fighter Group, maintain pressure and attempt to interdict German Army routes of retreat. 57th Fighter Group P-40 pilots down 2 Bf-109s near El Agheila.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• Repeated attacks by Allied aircraft, including V Bomber Command B-17s and B-24s, are unable to turn back five Japanese destroyer-transports that are discovered off Madang on their way from Rabaul to Buna with 800 Japanese Army ground troops.
• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the Salamaua area.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack targets in the Cape Killerton area.

Air Operations, Solomons

During the night, an AirSoPac PBY based in the New Hebrides mounts the first in a series of night-heckling attacks against the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 17 97th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack port facilities at Tunis.
• 10 301st Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 19 93rd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack port facilities at Bizerte.
• B-25s attack port facilities at Sousse.
• B-26s attack a bridge north of Sfax.
• P-38s escort the medium-bomber missions, fly patrols, and attack Axis road convoys and individual vehicles north of Gabes.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting continues in Stalingrad and central sectors.

The 3rd Shock Army launches new attacks against the garrison at Velikiye Luki.

The LVII Panzer Corps presses home its attack, the 23rd Panzer Division reaching the Aksai River. Hitler agrees to release the 17th Panzer Division from behind the 8th Italian Army and sends it south to aid Hoth's attack. The division has only 40 battle-worth panzers and will arrive too late to support the relief attack, arriving just as the Soviets bolster their defenses. With the German plan apparent and the 51st Army retreating to the northeast, Gen Aleksandr Vasilevsky proposes that the 2nd Guards Army be used to halt the counterattack. Stalin angrily refuses to sanction this, having intended to uses the 2nd Guards to help reduce the 6th Army. After reasoned argument, he gives way though, and the 2nd Guards begin the move to the Myshkova River.

Along the Chir the 11th Panzer Division is struck on its right flank by strong Soviet forces. Gen Hermann Balck redeploys and counterattacks, defeating the Soviets. However, the fighting has prevented the 11th from finishing off the Nizhne Kalinovski bridgehead.

Guadalcanal

The 3rd Battalion, 182nd Infantry, and C Company, 2nd Marine Engineer Battalion, arrive.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command bombers attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• A 23Rd Fighter Group P-40 downs a Vichy French Air Force biplane near Lao Kay during the afternoon.

• The 341st Medium Bomb Group’s 22nd Medium Bomb Squadron, in B-25s, is declared operational.

Air Operations, Europe

• 4 Mosquitos make railway attacks in Belgium and Holland, but only 1 bombs and that is in Ghent. There are no losses.

• 68 aircraft including 27 Halifaxes, 23 Lancaster and 18 Wellingtons lay mines at Texel, Heligoland and in the Frisians. The Group 5 Lancasters are recalled, but most of the other aircraft carry out their taskes.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Libya

57th Fighter Group P-40 pilots dwon 2 Bf-109s at the cost of 1 P-40 and its pilot.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 5th Air Force and RAAF bombers and fighters repeatedly attack Japanese Army ground troops landed the day before by Japanese destroyer-transports at Buna, and the destroyer-transports are also attacked in the vicinity of Cape Ward Hunt. Also attacked are Japanese Army ground forces located along the Kumasi and Mambare Rivers, and in the Cape Endaiadere area. Also, the airfield at Lae is attacked.
• 374th Troop Carrier Group transports airlift a record 172 tons of supplies to the advance airstrips at Dobodura and Popondetta.

Air Operations, Solomons

AirSoPac B-17s attack Buin.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-24s attack shipping and port facilities at Bizerte.
• B-17s attack shipping and port facilities at Tunis.
• During the morning, 9 15th Light Bomb Squadron A-20s, escorted by 8 14th Fighter Group P-38s and 12 33rd Fighter Group P-40s, attack the Sfax railroad station.
• During the afternoon, 9 15th Light Bomb Squadron A-20s, escorted by P-38s, attack the same target.
• P-38s attack several Axis vessels at sea off the Tunisian coast, strafe traffic on the coast highway between Tunis and Bizerte, and strafe trains near Kerker and la Hencha.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US freighter Alcoa Rambler (5500t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-174 while en route from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad to Santos, Brazil losing 1 crewman as the ship is abandoned.

Eastern Front

The German relieving attack toward Stalingrad is still making good progress. The airlift to the city today supplies 180 tons. This is the largest effort which will be managed on any day during the siege.

The 3rd Shock makes significant penetrations into the German defenses around Velikiye Luki amid bitter resistance.

Along the Chir, the 5th Shock and 5th Tank Armies continue to attack pinning down the XLVIII Panzer Corps so it can take no part in the Stalingrad relief attack. The relief force pushes on, but the IV Mechanized and the XIII Tank Corps enter the battle against it. Furious fighting develops at Verkhne Kumski as the IV Mechanized tries to halt the 6th Panzer Division and gains time for the arrival of the 2nd Guards Army.

Air Operations, Europe

• 5 Wellingtons lay mines off Lorient and St Nazaire without a loss.

Air Operations, Libya

9th Air Force B-25s and P-40s continue to attack tactical ground targets in support of the British 8th Army. 18 12th Medium Bomb Group B-25s join with 36 RAF light bombers in a particularly effective attack against a motor vehicle concentration west of the Marble Arch. A 57th Fighter Group 79th Fighter Group P-40 pilot downs a Bf-109.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a wrecked ship off Gona.
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army ground forces along the Mambare River.

Air Operations, North Africa

The RAF and the USAAF batter the retreating German columns west ot El Agheila throughout the day, against negligible Luftwaffe opposition. There is a huge 'traffic jam' at the 'Marble Arch' which was erected by Mussolini.

Air Operations, Solomons

2 radar-equipped VP-12 'Black Cat' PBYs arrive at Guadalcanal to begin night-patrol operations. These are the first American dedicated night-patrol aircraft deployed to a forward combat area. The remainder of VP-12 will arrive by December 25th.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 3 15th Light Bomb Squadron A-20s attack several bridges linking Gabes with Sfax.
• 6 A-20s attack Pont-du-Fahs.
• XII Bomber Command B-26s attack Tunis/El Aouina Airdrome.
• XII Bomber Command B-17s attack port facilities at Bizerte.
• In IX Bomber Command's first mission to Tunisia, 9 376th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a railroad yard, roundhouse, and repair facilities at Sfax.

Battle of the Atlantic

The German submarine U-626 is sunk in the North Atlantic by the Coast Guard cutter Ingham (PG-35).

U-626

Eastern Front

The XLVIII Panzer Cors evacuates the Nizhne Chirskaya bridgehead. Fighting at Verkhne Kumski intensifies.

The Stavka completes the planning of Operation LITTLE SATURN. The attack has been revised so that the aim of the campaign is the capture of the Tatsinskaya and Morozovsk airfields and the disruption of communications between Army Groups Don and A. Gen Filipp Golikov's Voronezh Front employs Gen Fyodor Kharitonov's 6th Army. Gen Vasily Kuznetsov's 1st Guards Army, Gen Dmitry Lelyushenko's 3rd Guards, Gen Prokofy Romanenko's 5th Tank and Gen Markion Popov's 5th Shock Armies of the Southwest Front will also join the offensive in varying forms. The 5th Tank and 5th Shock Armies are already committed to the Chir sector against the XLVIII Panzer Corps and Group Hollidt (Gen Karl-Adolf), but increases their attacks to prevent the transfer of German units from the Chir to the Don. Total Soviet forces committed to the offensive numbers 425,000 ment supported by 5,000 arty pieces. Gen Italo Garibaldi's 8th Army fields 216,000 men and just 50 tanks while Army Detachment Hollidt, the remnants of the 3rd Rumanian Army and the XLVIII Panzer Corps has between them 110,000 men and 70 tanks.

Mediterranean

The German steamer Germania (9851t) scuttles herself when intercepted by the British sloop Egret and destroyer Tanatside west of Cape Finisterre. 71 survivors are picked up by the British ships.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack a cargo ship in the Bismarck Sea, and a Japanese destroyer, 2 cargo ships, and 2 tankers in the Solomon Sea.

Air Operations, Europe

Hit-and-run raiders attack 20 towns and villages in southern Britain, under cover of low clouds. 2 aircraft machine-gun a train. 7 people are killed. The Germans lose 2 planes in the raid.

• 8 Wellingtons are sent to bomb a German aircraft depot at Diepholz; 3 planes bomb the general area, but with no evidence of success; 1 Wellington is lost. 18 aircraft lay mines in the Gironde River and off Brest and Lorient.
• 1 Stirling is lost.

Air Operations, Libya

9th Air Force B-25s and P-40s attack and harass German Army troops in the El Agheila area.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a wrecked ship off Gona.
• V Bomber Command B-26s and A-20s attack Japanese ground troops at Buna and along the Kumasi River, and strafe landing craft along the Kumasi River.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 5th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia. One B-17 is shot down by an A6M Zero.
• A 347th Fighter Group P-39 downs an A6M Zero over Guadalcanal.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• In separate missions, A-20s of the 15th Light Bomb Squadron and 47th Light Bomb Group 86th Light Bomb Squadron attack Axis vehicle columns on the road between Mateur and Massicault.
• XII Fighter Command P-38s attacking Axis ships at sea off Tunisia's northern coast claim a direct bomb hit on 1 vessel and a pair of 1st Fighter Group P-38 pilots down a lone Ju-88 around noon.

Burma

In the coastal Arakan region on the Gulf of Bengal the British forces have assembled 2 brigades of the 14th Indian Div to attack the Japanese lines between Maungdaw and Buthidaung with the aim of taking Akyab Island at the end of the Mayu peninsula. Advance units take the town of Maungdaw without opposition. The Japanese forces, however, have pulled out before the blow can fall. They move south to a shorter, more defensible line between Gwedauk and Kondan.

Eastern Front

The Soviets begin the next phase, SATURN, of their winter offensive even though the German drive toward Stalingrad is still going forward slowly. The Soviet offensive on the middle Don is over a front of over 60 miles. The main blow falls on the Italian 8th Army on the middle Don and this force is almost immediately shattered along with part of the Rumanian 3rd Army. As in the Soviet offensive in November, there are very few German units in the immediate area of the attacks. Von Manstein is forced to detach some of the armored divisions engaged in Operation WINTER STORM to plug the gap and re-establish the front line.

There are also Soviet attacks along the Chir against Army Detachment Hollidt (Gen Karl-Adolf). The German relieving attack toward Stalingrad is still going well but the Soviet breakthrough to the north threatens the sort of wide encirclement that has been particularly worrying to von Manstein for the past few weeks.

The Stavka launches Operation LITTLE SATURN, involving 425,000 Red Army troops and 5,000 artillery pieces. The Soviet 1st Guards and 6th Armies attack the Italian 8th Army (216,000 troops) but make only limited gains, their units encountering minefields and effective resistance from the Axis reserve (27th Panzer Division). The Soviert 3rd Guards Army makes good initial progress but is then forced back by the 22nd Panzer Division. Meanwhile, the Soviet 51st Army gives ground grudgingly to the painfully slow-moving LVII Panzer Corps.[MORE]

Germany, Strategy

Hitler issues an order on how to deal with partisans on the Eastern Front: 'If the repression of bandits in the East, as well as in the Balkans, is not pursued by the most brutal means, the forces at our disposal will, before long, be insufficient to exterminate this plague. The troops, therefore, have the right and the duty to use any means, even against women and children, provided they are conducive to success. Scruples of any sort are a crime against the German people and against the German soldiers.'

Air Operations, Aleutians

4 28th Composite Bombardment Group B-24s attack the submarine base, a rail line, communications, and buildings at Kiska, but a second attack force aborts due to bad weather.

Air Operations, CBI

• 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-25 attack Lashio.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Wellingtons and 4 Mosquitos make cloud-cover and railway attacks over a wide area; 5 of the aircraft hit various targets.
• There are no losses.

• 27 Lancasters of Group 5 make raids on 8 small German towns and 16 Stirlings and 6 Wellingtons are sent to hit the Opel factory at Fallersleben. This type of limited operation proves to be a big failure as 9 of the Lancasters are lost while only 3 bomb the approximate target areas in cloud conditions. In the other raid 6 Stirlings and 2 Wellingtons are lost.
• 50 aircraft lay mines from Denmark to the southern Biscay. There are also 5 OTU sorties to France.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-26s attack Japanese Army targets at Buna

Air Operations, Solomons

Cactus Air Force SBDs and P-39s provide direct support for an attack by US Army ground force on Guadalcanal.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 36 XII Bomber Command B-17s attack port facilities at Tunis and Bizerte.
• A-20s attack targets north and west of Gabes Airdrome and the Axis landing ground at Sidi Tabet.
• XII Bomber Command B-25s and B-26s sent to attack Axis shipping in the Gulf of Tunis fail to locate the target area.
• XII Fighter Command P-38s escort all the bombing missions; 1st Fighter Group P-38 pilots down 1 Ju-88 and 2 Bf-109s in separate midday actions.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-211 sinks the British destroyer Firedrake, escorting Convoy ON-153, in the North Atlantic with the loss of 170 of her crew. 26 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Sunflower.

Britain, Home Front

Foreign Minister Eden tells the House of Commons that the Germans 'are now carrying into effect Hitler's oft-repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe.' He reveals that Jews from occupied nations are being sent to eastern Europe where they are 'worked to death in labor camps' or 'deliberately slaughtered in mass executions.' It is the first public statement by any official on the campaign of genocide being waged against European Jewry.

Burma

The 14th Indian Division continues its adavance on Akyab and occupies Buthidaung unopposed.

Eastern Front

The Volga freezes over and the Soviets are able to send supplies easily to 62nd Army on the west bank in Stalingrad. This has been difficult for the past few weeks because of fast-moving blocks of ice floating down river. Faced with the fait accompli, Hitler has confirmed von Manstein's decisions for the liberation of von Paulus' 6th Army from Stalingrad. Hoth's attacks to relieve the city are still going fairly well, with his leading tank units now having reached the Aksai River.

The Russians have prepared a fortified line near the Myshkova River, a tributary of the Don. This will slow down Hoth considerably. Meanwhile von Paulus' forces, the 6th Army and part of the 4th Panzer Army, is holding out against pressure by 7 Russian armies, the 24th, the 66th, the 62nd, the 64th, the 57th, the 21st and the 65th.

Heavy artillery fire renew the Soviet attack upon the Italian 8th Army. The 6th, 1st Guards and 3rd Guards Armies surge forward once again. Elements of the XVIII and XXV Tank Corps lead the 1st Guards strike, the XXIV Tank Corps moving up behind the two spearhead corps. Right flank divisions of the 6th Army strike from Samodurovka supported by the XVII Tank Corps. After heavy fighting the Soviets begin to cut open the Italian flank, Soviet forces pressing forward toward the Boguchar River. Slowly but surely the Axis positions begin to unravel.

A new Soviet attack strikes the 336th Infantry Division along the Chir, 6 miles north of Nizhne Chirskaya. The 11th Panzer Division counterattacks and drives the Soviets back to the river.

The arrival of the 17th Panzer Division to reinforce the LVII Panzer Corps adds weight to the German attacks. Leading elements of the 23rd Panzer Division reaches the Myshkova.

With the Italian 8th Army on the verge of collapse, Manstein has to remove the 6th Panzer Division and sends it north. Hoth loses his freshest and strongest unit. Due to the weakness of his remaining panzer forces Hoth group all his remaining tanks with the 17th Panzer Division.

Air Operations, Europe

74 Pe-2s and 10 Shturmoviks, escorted by 28 Yak fighters, carry out a devastating attack on Hoth's Panzers at Karpovka, near Stalingrad.

Air Operations, Libya

XII Bomber Command B-17s attack shipping and port facilities at Sousse.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a Japanese convoy off Madang.
• B-24s attack Alexisafen, the airfield at Lae, and a Japanese Navy transport off Manus Island
• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army infantry targets near Cape Endaiadere.

Air Operations, Solomons

2 VMF-112 F4Fs each down an A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bomber over Guadalcanal.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• 36 XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by 16 1st Fighter Group P-38s, attacking Bizerte through Luftwaffe fighters and flak claim a direct hit on 1 vessel.
• 4 P-38s, 1 B-17 lost over target; 1 B-17 written after crash-landing at a friendly base
• 11 XII Bomber Command B-26s, escorted by P-38s, attack a marshalling yard and other rail facilities at Sousse.
• 2 B-26s are lost to flak
• 12th Air Force A-20s, escorted by P-38s, attack a landing ground, dispersal areas, and rail facilities at Mateur.
• 1 Ju-88 and 1 FW-190 are downed during the day by 33rd Fighter Group P-40 pilots.

Eastern Front

Hoth makes repeated attempts to force the Myshkova River, 40 km southwest of Stalingrad over the next 6 days, but without success.

The attack on the Don rolls on. The Germans counterattack in an effort to seal a gap in the line at Novaya Kalitva. Fierce battles rage around Boguchar as the Soviet attacks gain speed. Elements of the 6th Army swing toward Ivanovka while the XVII Tank Corps surges forward along the road to Kantemirovka. The XXIV and XXV Tank Corps push south.

The 11th Panzer Division continues to counterattack along the Chir but has to meet a new attack from Nizhne Kalinovski. Gen Hermann Balck marches his men through the night to deal with this new threat.

The LVII Panzer Corps struggles to maintain its offensive. Elements of the 23rd Panzer Division attacks from the right flank of the Myshkova bridgehead while the 17th Panzer attacks on the left. Soviet resistance is increasing and later in the day the 23rd Panzer comes under heavy attack. The Soviets continue to feet fresh units into the battle, the 2nd Guards taking up blocking positions on the Myshkova River. Gen Vasily Volskii's IV Mechanized Corps is renamed the III Guards Mechanized Corps.

New Guinea

On the Sanananda front the Australians inflict heavy losses on the Japanese manning Napapo and, with support from American artillery, begin a concerted attack against Sanananda. The resistance of the Japanese surrounding the road-block on the Soputa track is partially broken. Elements of the US 127th Infantry try to take the islet of Musita, but have to fall back in face of dogged Japanese resitance.

American Patrol in New Guinea

Air Operations, Europe

• 15 Wellingtons lay mines off Brest, Lorient and St Nazaire without a loss.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Japanese warships and transports off Madang and in Huon Gulf
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack the airfield at Lae.
• B-25s and A-20s support an Australian Army ground attack against Buna Mission.

Air Operations, Solomons

• AirSoPac B-17s and 339th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack two cargo ships at Kahili, Bougainville.
• 339th Fighter Squadron P-38s down 2 F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance planes over Tonolei Harbor during the afternoon.

Air Operations, Tunisia

12th Air Force A-20s, escorted by 33rd Fighter Group P-40s, attack the marshalling yard at Sfax, and a P-40 pilot downs a Ju-88 near Sfax.

Guadalcanal

After air and artillery preparations, the 3rd Battalion, 132nd Infantry, attemps unsuccessfully to advance from Hill 35. The CO of the 3rd Battalion is killed by enemy fire. The reserve battalion, the 1st, 132nd Infantry, less one company, advances to positions east of the 3rd Battalion.

Eastern Front

The Soviets coming from the middle course of the Don take Kontemirovka, cutting the Voronezh-Rostov railway line north of Millerovo. The retreat of the remnants of the Italian 8th Army, hopelessly ill-equipped to withstand the rigors of a Russian winter, becomes a rout. Owing to the success of this attack, von Paulus is ordered by von Manstein to attempt a breakout immediately, but he refuses. The chief of staff of 6th Army, Gen Schmidt, an ardent Nazi, is instrumental in bringing about this decision. Gen Hoth's attacks to relieve the city are gradually making less and less ground. They are now being held near the Myshkova River.

LITTLE SATURN continues to make progress, with the Italian 8th Army on the verge of collapse. 15,000 Italians are surrounded at Vertyakhovski. The Romanian I Corps on Gen Karl-Adolf Hollidt's left flank has collapsed, endangering the rear of the Chir line and Army Group Don. The 11th Panzer Div continues to fend off Soviet attacks, knocking out large numbers of Red Army tanks at Nizhne Kalinovski. Hoth's 6th Panzer Division reaches the Myshkova River, 30 miles from the 6th Army. Manstein signals the codeword THUNDERCLAP, ordering Paulus to break out and ling up with his force. Hitler, however, orders Paulus to stand firm.

The 15th Panzer Regiment, 11th Panzer Division, attacks a force of Soviet tanks of the 5th Tank Army in the rear 5 miles south of Oblivskaya, south of the Chir. In the engagement the Germans destroy 65 Red Army tanks.

Soviet tank tactics are still poor, the formation going into battle without coordination, and without the cooperatoin of numerous infantry divisions.[MORE]

Air Operations, Aleutians

5 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s, 4 B-25s, 4 B-26s, and 9 XI Fighter Command P-38s attack numerous targets at Kiska.

Air Operations, CBI

• 22nd Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Lashio.

• Japanese aircraft attack the docks, shipping, and an airfield at Calcutta.

Air Operations, Europe

• 11 Mosquitos are sent to attack targets in northwest Germany; 9 attack trains and rolling stock; 1 Mosquito is lost.

• 232 aircraft are sent to Duisburg: 111 Lancasters, 56 Halifaxes, 39 Wellingtons and 26 Stirlings.
• The bombers find the target and report much damage.

• 4 OTU Wellingtons make leaflet flights over France without a loss.
• 6 Lancasters, 4 Wellingtons and 2 Halifaxes are lost.
• The RAF uses it 'Oboe' precision bombing system during a raid by 6 Mosquitos of 109 Squadron on a power plant in Lutterade, Holland. 'Oboe' replaces the Gee system which the Germans have been able to jam for some time. 3 of the planes do not bomb the target because of faulty equipment. The results of the raid are unknown because photographs of the area showed that there were many old bomb craters and it was difficult to determine if any were from this raid. There are no losses.

• In the first mission in which the 8th Air Force's four operational B-17 groups operate under the supervision of the 1st Heavy Bomb Wing and its one operational B-24 group operates under the supervision of the 2nd Heavy Bomb Wing, 60 B-17s and 12 B-24s drop more than 167 tons of bombs on Romilly-sur-Seine Airdrome. Fighter oppostions is extremely heavy. Bomber gunners claim an incredible 53 Luftwaffe fighters downed with 13 probables.
• 6 B-17s are lost to enemy fighters and flak, 30 B-17s and 1 B-24 are damaged, 2 B-17s crash-land in England; crew losses: 2 killed, 12 wounded, 58 missing

Air Operations, Asia

The Japanese make a night raid on Calcutta. This is the first of 5 during December.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s support an Australian Army ground attack at Buna Mission.

Air Operations, Tunisia

IX Bomber Command B-24s sent to attack Sousse harbor abort due to bad weather, but 3 claim the destruction of an Axis ship north of Sfax.

Diplomatic Relations

Spain and Portugal announce the creation of a neutral Iberian bloc.

Eastern Front

The Soviets claim to have reached nearly to Millerovo, 70 miles northeast of Voroshilovgrad. The Rostov-Voronezh railroad has been cut and severe pressure is now being brought to bear on Army Detachment Hollidt (Gen Karl-Adolf), the northern wing of von Manstein's force. Von Manstein tries to get von Zeitzler at OKH to arrange for a breakout by von Paulus. Von Zeitzler gives little help and von Paulus now pleads that he is too short of fuel to attempt it in any case. There is some truth to this argument, but not to make some sort of effort is senseless.

Air Operations, Algeria

14th Fighter Group P-38s scrambled from their base at Youk-les-Bains down 3 Ju-88s during the afternoon.

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Air Operations, Europe

• 9 Venturas and 6 Bostons are sent to attack railway targets in Belgium, France and Holland. Only 2 Venturas find targets at Monceau and Valenciennes.
  • There are no losses.

• 137 aircraft of 1 and 5 Groups and the Pathfinder Force are sent to Munich: 119 Lancasters, 9 Stirlings and 9 Wellingtons.
• 110 aircraft claim to have bombed Munich and started fires, but photographs show that almost all of the bombs fall in open country, possibly attracted by decoy fires.
• 8 Lancasters, 3 Stirlings and 1 Wellington are lost.

Air Operations, New Guinea

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack shipping in Finschhafen harbor. 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against a cargo ship and landing craft near Finschhafen and Cape Ward Hunt.

Air Operations, Tunisia

Although XII Bomber Command bombers are prevented from attacking due to bad weather, XII Fighter Command P-40s destroy a tank and several motor vehicles near Kairouan.

Eastern Front

The Red Army makes a deep advance with the troops of Gen Filipp Golikov's Voronezh Front. Von Manstein appeals to Hitler to order von Paulus to break out, but Hitler quotes von Paulus' reports of fuel shortage and refuses. Advance Red Army forces are now more than half-way between the Don and the Donetz.

As units of the 6th Army digs in around Kantemirovka the XVII Tank Corps thrust south.

Aleutian Islands

The American supreme command orders the capture of Amchitka Island from which it will be easier to bomb Kiska Island, which is occupied by the Japanese.

Burma

The British forces advancing toward Akyab capture Alethangyaw.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack a ship at Arawe.
• 1 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attacks a transport off Gasmata.

Air Operations, CBI

• 22nd Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Lashio.

Air Operations, Central Pacific

During the night, 26 B-24s of the VII Bomber Command’s 307th Heavy Bomb Group stage through Midway from Hickam Field, Oahu to attack Wake Island with 135 500-pound bombs and 21 incendiary bombs.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Wellingtons are sent on cloud-cover raids to Emden; 4 aircraft bomb the estimated location through the clouds. 6 Mosquitos make attacks on rail communications in Belgium, Holland, northwest Germany; 2 planes hit railway target.
• 1 Mosquito is lost.

• 4 Oboe Mosquitos are sent to Hamborn and Rheinhausen; there are 4 OTU sorties; and there are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s attack Japanese Army ground troops near Buna.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• Bad weather prevents XII Bomber Command B-17s from attacking Bizerte or secondary targets at Sfax and Sousse and only 2 93rd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s penetrate bad weather to bomb at Sousse. Several of those aborting manage to attack Monastir and railway facilities at Mahdia.
• 2 Luftwaffe medium bombers are downed during a midday mission by 33rd Fighter Group P-40 pilots.

Britain, Home Front

It is announced that the Roll of Honor of British war dead is to be deposited in Westminster Abbey, London.

Burma

Gen W. L. Lloyd orders his 47th Brigade to advance down both sides of Mayu Peninsula while the 123rd Brigade is to send the bulk of his force toward Rathedaung. A small detachment is to move farther inland in the direction of Kyauktaw. These dispositions are less than ideal because of the dispersion they bring about.

Eastern Front

The Soviet advances are very rapid and they retake several towns, including Morozovsk, Nilolkoe and Fydorovka. Recognizing that his Army Group B may be cut off from the rest of the German army if the Russians defeat von Manstein on the Don front, von Kleist begins the withdrawal from his most advanced positions in the Caucasus, where the Russians, 6 armies strong and completely reorganized, are attacking vigorously southeast of Nalchik. They are gaining ground on the Don front, and at any moment may surround not only von Paulus' 6th Army but also the whole of von Manstein's Don Army Group in the Stalingrad sector. In the central sector the Russians launch a powerful attack towards Velikiye Luki.

Air Operations, Europe

•   18 Bostons bomb the St Malo docks and 6 Venturas bomb the naval installations at Den Helder. The attack on Den Helder is very accurate as a torpedo workshop is heavily damaged along with other buildings in the area. There are no losses.

Bombs Falling on the Port of Den Helder

• 5 Oboe Mosquitos attack industrial targets in Essen, Hamborn, Meiderrich and Rheinhousen. Because of haze results can not be determined. Later a map from Essen show bomb bursts in the middle of the Krupps factory from this raid. There are no losses.

During the night, IX Bomber Command B-24s attack Naples harbor and 1 B-24 attacks Taranto.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and V Bomber Command B-25s attack the Cape Gloucester airfield on New Britain. 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane missions against several ships in the area.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s strafe Japanese Army ground troops at Woiba Island and near Gona.
• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a ship off Manus Island.

Air Operations, Solomons

Marine Corps SBDs attack the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia and VMF-121 F4F escorts down 5 A6M Zeros over the target at 1210 hours.

Eastern Front

While Manstein has been fighting to have Paulus ordered to break out, Hoth has been dutifully battling his way forward. Today, however, the Soviet defense line on the Myshkova River finally wears Hoth's attacks to a halt about 30 miles from the troops besieged in Stalingrad. The troops in Stalingrad can hear the fighting but it comes no closer. This is the moment for Paulus to order a sortie from his desperate position, but he has not enough fuel even to cover the short distance. Although the Führer has finally agreed to the sortie, Paulus is undecided what to do. Manstein, whose own forces are in a critical situation and who cannot guarantee the success of the operation, advises him not to attempt a sortie. In the evening Paulus, tortured by indecision, declares that he will not leave Stalingrad without a direct order from Hitler. So the costly advance of Hoth's group to the Myshkova River has been in vain. Moreover the airborne supplies so optimistically promised by Göring are getting increasingly scarce. The defenders of Stalingrad have to start slaughtering their horses to survive.

Russian forces in the Don area continue advancing, having gained up to 103 miles in the past 8 days.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Gasmata airfield on New Britain, the harbor at Arawe, and several ships at sea.

Air Operations, Europe

• 3 Oboe Mosquitos attack Essen and Meiderich without a loss. Bombs dropped in Essen hit the northern parts of the Krupps factory.

Air Operations, New Guinea

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Lae and 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s strafe Japanese Army ground troops.

Air Operations, Pacific

Hawaii-based B-24s of the 7th Air Force start big fires on Wake Island.

Air Operations, Solomons

• A 347th Fighter Group P-39 downs an A6M Zero over Guadalcanal.
• During the morning, in their unit’s combat debut, 12th Fighter Squadron P-39s down 4 A6M Zeros over the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia while escorting 9 Marine Corps SBDs against the base. Marine F4Fs on the same mission down 10 A6M Zeros that are caught as they take off from the base. 10 other A6M Zeros are also destroyed on the ground. This is seen as such an immense loss by the Japanese that, hereafter, no Japanese aircraft will be permanently based at airfield at Munda Point. the base will be used only to service Japanese aircraft in need of fuel or repairs on their way to or from Allied bases to the south.
• During the afternoon, 9 Cactus Air Force SBDs, 4 F4Fs, and 4 P-39s destroy 9 of 13 troop-carrying barges near Munda.

Burma

Japanese advances in two areas of the Chin Hills are repelled by Allied troops.

Eastern Front

The Soviets drive Hoth's 'relief force' back from the Myshkova River to the Aksay River. Despite stubborn resistance Generalovsky is taken. In Stalingrad fresh forces attached to 62nd Army retake the Red October Factory.

The German line on the Chir is falling apart, the Soviet XXV Tank Corps and I Guards Mechanized Corps surrounding Morozovsk and the XXIV Tank Corps capturing Tatsinskaya and its airfield (a Luftwaffe base for relief flights to Stalingrad). Some 56 Luftwaffe aircraft are destroyed attempting to take off from the airfield. The 6th Panzer Division completes its switch to Group Hollidt (Gen Karl-Adolf), leaving LVII Panzer Corps with only the weak 17th and 23rd Panzer Divisions with about 28 tanks and 20,000 troops. Facing them are the 51st and 2nd Guards Armies with about 149,000 troops and 635 tanks. The latter now counterattack, forcing the Germans back, a situation made worse by the annihilation of the Romanian VI and VII Corps on the flanks. Operation WINTER STORM is over.[MORE]

Guadalcanal

The 3rd Battalion, 132nd Infantry, moves out at 0730 in column of companies followed by the 1st Battalion in reserve. L Company is in the lead, followed by I, Headquarters Company, a medical detachment, M and K Companies. The battalion moves west and reaches Hill 31 in the afternoon after routing enemy riflemen trying to oppose the advance. The troops are stopped by heavy machine-gun fire from well-concealed postions, a Japanese strongpoint called Gifu, between Hills 31 and 27 west of the summit of Mount Austen. The Gifu position, with fixed defenses and interconnecting pillboxes, is held by about 500 Japanese from Oka's forces. Col Lou Franco, the battalion commander, decides it is too late in the day to develop the enemy positions and continue attack. The 3rd Battalion establishes a perimeter defense for the night in a ravine between Hills 31 and 32. The 1st Battalion has completed its move. B Company holds the west spur of Hill 30, C Company, Hill 29 and A Company, Hill 20.

The strongest part of the Gifu position is a horseshoe-shaped line of 45 inter-connecting pillboxes between the 2 hills. The pillboxes are made of logs, dug into the ground reinforced inside and out with earth. The roofs are three logs thick, the walls two. Each contains at least one machine gun plus two or three riflemen. Mortar fire does little damage to the area but the 105mm howitzers are more effective, but only on direct hits can damage be done to the pillboxes. Even though it is strong, the position is not invulnerable. It is a fixed position and the Japanese are not able to supply or reinforce it. The west side of the Gifu is weak and the omission of Hill 27 from the perimeter of the strong point leaves the Gifu open to eventual envelopment.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

• A 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17 attacks an Japanese submarine at sea
• 1 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attacks the Cape Gloucester airfield on New Britain.
• 6 of 11 AirSoPac B-17s dispatched from Guadalcanal attack shipping and port facilities at Rabaul.

Air Operations, New Guinea

1 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attacks Lae.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Fighter Command P-40s bomb German Army troops near Sfax.
• A pair of Italian Air Force Mc-202 fighters are downed by 52nd Fighter Group Spitfire pilots.

Battle of the Atlantic

The Philippine motorship Dona Aurora is torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli about 200 miles off the coast of Brazil taking 3 on board as prisoners. The other survivors take to a boat and 3 rafts.

Britain, Home Front

King George VI makes his Christmas broadcast: 'Let us welcome the future in a spirit of brotherhood, and thus make a world in which, please God, all may dwell together in justice and in peace.'

Burma

Patrols from the 123rd Brigade reach Rathedaung and report that the Japanese have moved out. In fact this is not the case and Japanese reinforcements are on their way.

Eastern Front

The Russians recapture 2 towns near Nalchik and reopen the 'Ossetian Military Highway'.

As the Soviet 6th Army digs in on strong positions from Novaya Kalitva to Kantemirovka the Germans move the XXIV Panzer Corps up to cover the area west of Kantemirovka. Detachment Fretter-Pico holds the line from Novaya Kalitva to south of Millerovo. Remnants of the Italian II Corps are at Voroshilovgrad while the German XVII Corps attempts to erect strong defenses around Morozovsk and Tatsinskaya.

The Soviets launch a vicious attack against the LVII Panzer Corps as it retreats, forcing the Germans back to the Aksai. Army Group Don informs Paulus that Hoth's attack has failed.

Inside Stalingrad the Soviets pound the 16th Panzer and 60th Motorized Divisions. Beginning at 0500 hours, the Soviets keep up their attacks until mid afternoon. Despite heavy fighting the German line remains steady. Since the encirclement on November 23, 6th Army has suffered 28,000 casualties. More serious is the deteriorating health of the survivors, struggling to subsist on meager rations in the middle of the Soviet winter, with nor warm shelter or proper winter equipment.

Guadalcanal

3 rifles companies of the 3rd Battalion are to advance southward in line from Hill 31 toward Hill 27, with M Company in reserve. The advance begins at 0930. Movement is impeded by the rocky terrain in the jungle. The Japanese maintain rifle and machine-gun positions beyond the pillbox line to prevent attackers from getting too close. The Americans fight for each yard gained. By 1335 the Americans are halted by machine-gun and rifle fire from both their front and flanks. Patrols attempt to locate the enemy's flanks but Japanese fire halts their movements. By this time casualties are 3 officers and 9 enlisted men killed and 16 enlisted men wounded. The regimental commander orders the troops to retire to their original positions while howitzers shell the enemy positions. Concluding that the Japanese have built a perimeter defense in the area, he decides to resume the attack the next morning. The 3rd Battalion will deliver a frontal attack while the 1st Battalion covers the 3rd's left flank and moves 1,000 yards to the south to establish a position from which patrols can locate enemy flanks.

Air Operations, Aleutians

6 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 9 XI Fighter Command P-38s attack Kiska, and B-24s and P-38s attack Attu, where one P-38 is lost. A second mission against Kiska by 6 B-25s and 4 B-38s aborts due to bad weather.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against shipping off New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 22nd Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack Lashio.

• When fighter-escorted Japanese bombers attack the CATF’s Yunnanyi Airdrome, 14 23Rd Fighter Group P-40S pilots down 8 fighters and 3 twin-engine bombers.

• 12 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a power plant, arsenal, railroad station, and the dock area at Bangkok.

Air Operations, Far East

US 10th Air Force bombers raid Lashio on the Burma Road and Bangkok in a night raid.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s and 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against Finschhafen and Madang.
• Rabaul-based Japanese Navy aircraft are turned back by V Fighter Command fighters as they attempt to attack Allied troops at Dobodura. 49th Fighter Group P-40s down 7 A6M Zeros near Dobodura at about 1115 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

A 347th Fighter Group P-39 downs an A6M Zero and a VMF-121 F4F downs 3 A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bombers, all over the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia during the afternoon.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-17s attack shipping and port facilities at Sfax. 3 Luftwaffe fighers are downed by a flight of P-38 pilots of 1st Fighter Group's 94th Fighter Squadron.
• Luftwaffe fighters and flak down 2 B-17s and 2 P-38s
• XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by P-40s, claim 3 Axis ships damaged while mounting a second attack at Sfax.
• While conducting recon patrols, XII Fighter Command P-38s strafe 3 locomotives and a number of motor vehicles.
• During the night, 3 IX Bomber Command B-24s attack port facilities at Tunis, 1 B-24 attacks Sfax, and 1 B-24 attacks Sousse.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-357 is shadowing convoy HX-219 when she is detected and attacked by HMS Hesperus, joined by HMS Vanessa. It takes 5-1/2 hours of persistend depth-charging to blow U-357 to the surface. She is then rammed by Vanessa and again by Hesperus before sinking.

U-357

Eastern Front

Manstein's forces are in full retreat south of the Don and the Soviet advance nears Kotelnikovo. A special Moscow communiqué announces important gains for the Red Army in the Middle Don sector. Soviet troops have advanced to within 105 miles of Rostov.

Gen Vasily Badanov's XXIV Tank Corps is isolated at Tatsinskaya as the 11th and 6th Panzer Divisions take up strong positions around the town and airfield. As a sign of the corps's achievement, Stalin redesignates it the II Guards Tank Corps. Southwest Front is instructed to make every effort to prevent Badanov's destruction.

Paulus radios Hitler following the latest delivery of supplies from the Luftwaffe. Only 70 tons of supplies are flown into the pocket of the 350-ton minimum the Luftwaffe promised. Hitler merely replies that 6th Army is to fight to the last man.

The LVII Panzer Corps falls back to Kotelnikovo, closely pursued by the 2nd Guards and 51st Armies. Hoth has lost another 8,000 men during the retreat, leaving him with 15,000 effectives, half his original strength.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack shipping at Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• A 23rd Fighter Group P-40 downs a Ki-45 'Nick' fighter over the airfield at Lashio.

Air Operations, Pacific

The Japanese parachute supplies to their half-starved expeditionary forces on Guadalcanal.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-26s attack Gona and 1 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attacks the airfield at Finschhafen.
• 52 Japanese aircraft attack Allied ground troops at Buna, but with no results. 2 D3A 'Val' dive bombers and 11 Japanese fighters (including 3 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters) are shot down by P-38s with the 35th Fighter Group’s 39th Fighter Squadron. One P-38 crash-lands.

Air Operations, Solomons

Marine Corps F4Fs down 3 A6M Zeros over the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by P-38s, attack shipping and port facilites at Sousse and claim direct hits on 4 vessels.

Battle of the Atlantic

After sinking three ships from convoy ONS-154, U-356 is caught on the surface by the Canadian destroyer St Laurent. The U-boat is hit by 20mm and 4.7in shellfire as she dives. The St Laurent makes two depth charge attacks and just before a third attack, the target appeared stopped and a large oil slick appears on the surface.

U-356

Burma

The 14th Indian Division continues its advance on Akyab without opposition, crossing the Mayu River and the range of hills of the same name. Along the coast the 47th Indian Brigade reaches Indin and sends out patrols as far as Foul Point, at the end of the Mayu peninsula. The advance then has to be halted for logistic reasons. Part of the 123rd Indian Brigade tries to occupy Rathedaung but is thrown back by the recently reinforced Japanese forces there.

Eastern Front

As well as their continuing advance on the Stalingrad fronts, the Soviets are also on the move in the Caucasus, especially around Nalchik where there are 6 armies attacking under the command of Lt-Gens Ivan Maslennikov and Ivan Tyulenev. Von Kleist is beginnning to withdraw, fearful of being cut off if the advance of the Stalingrad armies reaches Rostov to the north.

Under German auspices the captured Gen Andrei Vlasov forms the Smolensk Committee to organize Russian opponents of Stalin. This body will later become known as the Liberation Army. The Germans give little real support to Vlasov and fail to understand his position as both a patriotic Russian and an opponent of Stalinism.

The 3rd Guards Army deploys along the Bystraya River in preparation of a thrust into the rear of Army Group Don. After heavy fighting the 11th Panzer Division recaptures Tatsinskaya airfield, forcing the II Guards Tank Corps back into Tatsinskaya itself.

The 2nd Guards Army enters Kotelnikovo amid heavy fighting with the rearguards of Group Hoth.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Gasmata and Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• 11th Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 23rd Fighter Group P-40s attack Magwe. 1 P-40 downs a Japanese fighter over Lashio.

Air Operations, Europe

• 5 Wellingtons and 1 Stirlings lay mines in the Frisians without a loss.

Eastern Front

Hitler orders Army Group A to withdraw from the dangerously exposed salient in the Caucasus.

Gen Vasily Badanov's II Guards Tank Corp is under sustained attack at Tatsinskaya, suffering heavy casualties. Gen Nikolai Vatutin gives permission to launch a breakout attempt.

Kotelnikovo falls to the 2nd Guards Army. Other units of the army advance upon Zimovniki, having taken Sovetnoye. On the flanks of the LVII Panzer Corps, the VI and VII Rumanian Corps cease to exist after bitter fighting.

With the situation in the Don bend desperate, Hitler agrees to the withdrawal of Army Group A from the Caucasus but insists upon the retention of the Kuban bridgehead.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Lae.
• An 8th Fighter Group P-39 shoots down an unidentified Japanese plane near Goodenough Island at 1010 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

A 347th Fighter Group P-39 downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber near the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• IX Bomber Command, XII Bomber Command, and RAF heavy bombers mount four separate attacks during the day and evening against shipping and port facilities at Sousse. Claims are made for heavy damage to shore facilities and direct hits on several vessels.
• During the course of several air-to-air actions through the day, P-38 pilots of the 1st and 14th Fighter Groups down 1 Ju-88 anf 4 Bf-109s.

Allied Planning

Chiang Kai-shek sends a message to Pres Roosevelt, assuring him that the Chinese army will be ready to launch a big offensive from Yunnan in the spring, but asking as an essential condition that Allied naval forces in the Bay of Bengal be substantially reinforced.

Atomic Research

Roosevelt agrees with his advisors that US scientists should not share their atomic research with the British. Churchill is furious.

Air Operations, Algeria

A 52nd Fighter Group Spitfire pilot downs a Bf-109 near Bone.

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Air Operations, Bismarcks

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane missions against the Gasmata airfield on New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 12 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping at and near Rangoon.

Air Operations, Europe

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

• 3 Oboe Mosquitos attack Essen in complete cloud conditions; bombs fall about 500 yard east of the Krupp factory. 14 Lancasters lay mines in the Gironde River.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane missions against the airfield at Lae.
• 3d Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army ground forces at Lokanu and along the Amboga River.

Air Operations, Solomons

• Marine Corps light bombers and 6 347th Fighter Group P-39s attack cargo ships near New Georgia.
• Despite ongoing Allied air attacks, the Japanese complete work on the airfield at Munda Point, New Georgia.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by P-38s, attack the harbor at Sousse.
• 12th Air Force A-20s attack bridges at La Hencha, and escorting P-40s strafe a locomotive and rail cars at Ste.-Juliette.
• XII Fighter Command P-38s attack a German Army tank depot near Pont-du-Fahs, followed by an attack on the same target by A-20s.

Eastern Front

After bitter street fighting the Russians retake Kotelnikovo, southwest of Stalingrad. The town was the starting point of the German attack to relieve the 6th Army and part of the 4th Panzer Army which are now surrounded in Stalingrad.

The II Guards Tank Corps attempts to break out from Tatsinskaya. Heavy fighting rages as the Soviet and German armored forces clash. Other Soviet forces penetrate to within 7 miles of Morozovsk but XVII Corps moves up and halts the Soviet attack. The 11th and 6th Panzer Divisions follow the Soviet break out, hitting their forces on the Bystraya.

2 panzer divisions will inflict heavy losses on the forces of the 3rd Guards Army.

Guadalcanal

At a conference at Gen Patch's Command Post, the decision is made to continue the attack on Mount Austen. A patrol of the 1st Battalion, 132nd Infantry, finds a safe route to Hill 27, south of Gifu.

Air Operations, Aleutians

• 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s and 343d Fighter Group P-38s mount a low-level attack against 2 ships and 3 submarines in Kiska harbor. A 343d Fighter Group P-38 downs 1 of 4 A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bombers that engage the attack force near Kiska at 1145 hours, but 2 of the P-38s are lost, as is 1 B-25. A Patrol Wing 4 PBY later reports that it has picked up several survivors, but it fails to return to its base.
• In a second attack against Kiska, 5 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s, 4 B-25s, and 4 B-26s, attack the ships once again, claiming direct hits on both surface vessels.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack shipping at Rabaul.

Air Operations, CBI

• A 23rd Fighter Group P-40 downs a Japanese Army fighter near the airfield at Lashio at 1345 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

B-17s and B-24s bomb the Lorient U-boat base.

• 40 of 77 VIII Bomber Command B-17s attack the U-boat base at Lorient with nearly 80 tons of bombs. Bomber gunners claim 29 Luftwaffe fighters downed with another 7 probables.
• 3 B-17s are lost, 22 are damaged; 2 crewmen killed, 17 wounded, 30 missing

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mount single-plane attacks against the airfield at Lae, Madang, and Wewak.
• 3d Light Bomb Group A-20s attack Japanese Army ground forces near Duvira Creek.
• 374th Troop Carrier Group transports airlift advance elements of the newly committed US 41st Infantry Division from Port Moresby to the Dobodura and Popondetta airfields.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• In their unit's combat debut, 6 17th Medium Bomb Group B-26s, escorted by 14th Fighter Group P-38s, attack Gabes Airdrome during the afternoon. A P-38 pilot downs 1 Bf-109 near the target.
• 5 B-26s are damaged from flak and attacks by Bf-109s; 1 P-38 is lost with its pilot
• XII Bomber Command B-17s, escorted by P-38s, attack the marshalling yards and port facilities at Sfax followed by XII Bomber Command B25s attacking the marshalling yards again.
• 12th Air Force A-20s attack German Army troope condentrations, Gabes Airdrome, and a fuel dump near El Aouinet. Escorting P-40s strafe ground target of opportunity near El Guettar.
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Air Operations, North Africa

A night raid is made on Casablanca by Focke-Wulf Condors from Bordeaux.

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Guadalcanal

The attack plan: the 3rd Battalion is to continue attacking south from Hill 31 while the 1st Battalion pushes against the enemy's eastern line. To secure sufficient space for maneuver, the 1st Battalion is to jump off from assembly areas east of Hill 30, advance southward, then swing southwest to attack Hill 27. The newly released 2nd Battalion, under Lt-Col George F. Ferry, is to deliver the main attack. Starting from Hill 11, they are to make a wide envelopment in a southwesterly direction. When reaching a point southeast of Hill 27, it is to turn northwest and attack up the south slopes of Hill 27. Each Battalion is to be responsible for its own flanks. H Hour is originally set for 0630, January 1, but is postponed to January 2 when 2nd Battalion's progress up Wright Road proves slow. The 2nd Battalion needs to be in position southeast of Hill 27 on the night prior to the regimental attack.

Artillery support for the offensive includes the 105mm howitzers of the 247th Field Artillery Battalion, the 75mm pack howitzers of the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, and the 155mm howitzers of the recently landed B Battery, 90th Field Artillery Battalion, 25th Division.

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Britain, Home Front

Harold Macmillan, M.P. is made Minister Resident of North Africa.

Until the last two days of the period no attacks were made upon this country. On the afternoon of the 29th bombing and cannon-fire occurred at Eastbourne, where residential property was damaged and where there was one fatal and 17 serious casualties.

On the morning of the 30th bombs did some damage in the residential area of Exeter, where 16 people were killed and 17 seriously injured. Several places in the surrounding district were machine-gunned but only slight damage was done.

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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, 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.

Diplomatic Relations

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