10 December 1939

SWITZERLAND: The Japanese delegate to the League of Nations requests that the League send a special commission to investigate the situation in Manchuria. This request results in the League appointment of the Lytton Commission to review the chain of events that led to the Japanese intervention in northern China.

SWITZERLAND: The League of Nations Council appoints a committee to study the question of terrorism, "considering that the rules of international law concerning the repression of terrorist activity are not at present sufficiently precise to guarantee efficiently international cooperation in this matter . . ."

UNITED KINGDOM: The British Government endeavors to defend the Hoare-Laval plan in Parliament and promote it in Ethiopia stating, "There has obviously been a leakage in France which has made a very difficult and delicate matter incomparably more difficult and more delicate. . . ."

UNITED KINGDOM: King Edward VIII is the first British monarch to abdicate the throne voluntarily, as the result of a constitutional crisis. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and the Dominion governments refuse to accept a morganatic marriage between Edward VIII and Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American whose second divorce is not yet finalized. The King already has significant differences of opinion with his chief ministers on several issues (primarily social policy) and decides that he would rather surrender the throne than lose the right to shape his own life and he signs the Deed of Abdication today. He is succeeded by his brother, King George VI, and Edward becomes the Duke of Windsor, marrying Mrs. Simpson in June 1937 in France.

UNITED STATES: Filming finally begins on "Gone with the Wind" after years of delay. Producer David O. Selznick has not yet cast an actress to play the leading role of Scarlett O'Hara, so the first day's shooting is of the burning of Atlanta, which didn't require close footage of Scarlett. What was actually burned were a lot of old sets on the studio backlot, including the "Great Gate" from the 1933 film King Kong.

Western Front: King George VI has completed a five-day visit to British and French troops defending the Western Front, which he began on 4 December. He has talked with men who have clashed with Germans during night patrols and with pilots who had shot down enemy aircraft. He also ate chicken pie and cheese in a French 'estaminet' and was awarded the Maginot Medal, given to men who serve in the "impregnable" fortifications system. The King crossed the Channel in bad weather and was met by the British C-in-C, Lord Gort.

He made a 100 mile tour of the British lines, inspecting trench systems built along the Belgian border to close the gap between the Maginot Line and the Channel coast. He frequently left his car to walk down lines of cheering troops paraded in his honour.

GERMANY agrees to supply Soviet submarines enforcing the embargo of Finland in Baltic.

Vidkun Quisling of Norway, the leader of Nasjonal Samling ("National Unity"), the Norwegian fascist party, meets with Chancellor Adolf Hitler and many others in Berlin, over 11 days. They agree that Germany should aid Quisling and his Nazi party to seize control of Norway at a favorable moment.

FINLAND: Swedish Major General (generalmajor) Ernst Linder (Swedish Army Reserve also a lieutenant-general 'kenraaliluutnantti' in the Finnish Army Reserve) visits the Finnish GHQ and announces he could gather two divisions of volunteers to fight in Finland.

Finland appeals to all civilized nations for help stating, "The people of Finland, who have always honestly endeavoured to build up their future in mutual understanding with all other nations and on the foundation of peaceful labour, are being ruthlessly attacked by their eastern neighbour without the slightest cause on the part of Finland. The conflict was thrust upon us. We have had no choice. The Finnish people fight for their independence, their liberty, and their honour. We defend the country of our birth, our democratic constitution, our religion, our homes, and everything civilized nations hold sacred. So far we still fight alone against the enemy invader, although in actual truth the struggle denotes the defence of the welfare of all humanity. We have already given proof of our will to do our best in this battle, but we trust that the civilized world, which has already revealed its deep sympathy for us, will not leave us alone in our struggle with a numerically superior enemy. Our position as the outpost of western civilization gives us the right to expect the active resistance of other civilized nations."

CANADA: First contingent of troops from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division sailed from Halifax in convoy TC-1 bound for Britain. The destroyers HMCS Ottawa, Restigouche, Fraser and St Laurent escorted them to the open ocean. A RN 'ocean' escort was provided by the carrier Furious, battleship Resolution, battlecruiser Repulse and cruiser Emerald.

U.S.A.: Washington: The Government grants Finland a US$10 million (US$140.5 million in year 2005 dollars) credit for agricultural supplies. (Finland paid her debts.)

RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: Four Blenheims of 105 Sqn., bomb the Focke-Wulf factory at Bremen, one enemy night fighter 'probably' shot down.

Britain loans £10 million to China.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler issues a directive for the seizure of French military resources and the future occupation of Vichy France (Operation Attila), and cancels plans to invade Gibraltar via Spain (Operation Felix).

Chancellor Hitler tells the German arms workers there would be neither military nor economic defeat of Germany stating, "I am not a man who, once he is engaged in a fight, breaks it off to his own, disfavor."

EGYPT: The advance of the Western Desert Force commanded by Major General Richard O'Connor, is delayed by a sandstorm. General Archibald Wavell, Commander in Chief Middle East Command, in the meantime withdraws the Indian 4th Division and sends it to the Sudan where he expects an attack. At first light the Coldstream Guards assault the Italian positions at Mersa Matruh, supported by heavy fire from the sea. Fighting continues all day and by 2200 hours local the Coldstream battalion headquarters signals that it was impossible to count the number of prisoners, but that "there were about five acres (2 hectares) of officers and 200 acres (81 hectares) of other ranks."

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Ballarat launched.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt announces that the export licence system will be extended to include iron and steel.

GERMANY: Reichsführer-SS (British Field Marshal and U.S. 5-star General) Heinrich Himmler, commander of the Schutzstaffel or SS, orders that commissions, made up of physicians who were formerly concerned with "euthanasia" are to be set up to "comb out" prisoners in concentration camps who are unfit for work, are ill, or are "psychopaths." Tens of thousands of prisoners, picked out in this way by psychiatrist Professor Werner Heyde, Professor Nitsche and other physicians, are killed by gas in the extermination centers at Sonnenstein and Hartheim.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-431 fired three torpedoes at a British destroyer in the Mediterranean, but all missed.

NORTH AFRICA: Tobruk: The Allied garrison at Tobruk has today been finally relieved, some 18 days after the start of Operation Crusader which has been masterminded by Sir Claude Auchinleck.

This vital Mediterranean port was taken from the Italians in January this year by General Wavell's forces. Since April it has been held by the 7th Australian Division, and some 32,667 troops. 34,000 tons of supplies, 7,516 wounded and 7,097 Axis PoWs have been ferried in and out of the harbour.

EGYPT: British General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command, tells British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: "Enemy is in full retreat."

LIBYA: The siege of Tobruk is lifted after eight months as the Polish garrison breaks out of town early in the morning and joins other British Eighth Army forces in the Acroma area. A forward supply base is soon organized at Tobruk.

HONG KONG: Early in the morning, elements of the Japanese 38th Division attack the Shing Mun Redoubt. The redoubt consists of five pillboxes connected by trenches and underground tunnels designed to be held by a battalion for five weeks; it falls in five hours. The defenders, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Regiment, are suffering from malaria and can't hold. British Major General Christopher Maltby, General Officer Commanding Hong Kong, pulls his troops, including two battalions of partially trained Canadians, back to Hong Kong Island.

MALAYA: As the Japanese continue destructive attacks on airfields in northwestern Malaya, the RAF abandons the airfield at Sungei Patani and withdraws all serviceable aircraft from Butterworth. From Butterworth, an RAF bomber squadron reduced to two aircraft, withdraws to Taiping and No. 21 Squadron, RAAF equipped with (F2A) Buffalo Mk. Is (six repairable aircraft) to Ipoh. The Japanese begin a series of heavy air attacks against Penang Island. The Indian 9th Division withstands attacks while organizing delaying positions south of Kota Bharu. Indian 11th Division columns operating along the Thailand frontier attempt to delay enemy. A Far East Council is formed at Singapore.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Two Japanese task forces, each consisting of about 2,000 men, arrive off northern Luzon from Formosa. Landings begin simultaneously at Aparri, on the north coast, and near Vigan on the west coast.

Far East Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses, P-40s, and Seversky P-35As attack the two convoys landing troops and equipment; a transport at Vigan is destroyed. The strikes include the much publicized attack of Captain Colin P Kelly Jr on a warship off Aparri. Captain Kelly, who is killed when his B-17 is shot down by fighters as he is returning to Clark Field, is later posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for destroying a battleship. However, later information reveals that he attacked the heavy cruiser HIJMS Ashigara, probably scoring near misses.

Manila: In another disastrous reverse for America, Japanese naval squadrons have destroyed half the US Far East Air Force in the Philippines.

Despite the shock of Pearl Harbor, the Americans were once again caught by surprise. Several warnings had been sent to General Douglas MacArthur, the US commander in the islands, but US headquarters vacillated. For example, it refused the air commander, General Brereton, permission to launch a pre-emptive strike against Japanese air bases in Formosa - which might have prevented the attack.

The Japanese pilots were delighted to find the American aircraft laid out, as if for inspection, on the runways at Clark, Ibu and Nicholls Fields. It took them under half a hour to ensure that Japan will have the air superiority needed for the invasion of the Philippines. Meanwhile, the Japanese third air division mounted "extermination" raids on RAF airfields in northern Malaya. On the first day, half Britain's air strength was lost.

Cavite Navy Yard on Luzon is practically obliterated by Japanese "Nell" (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers) and "Betty" (Mitsubishi G4M1, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) bombers based on Formosa. Destroyers USS Peary (DD-226) and Pillsbury (DD-227), submarines USS Seadragon (SS-194) and Sealion (SS-195), minesweeper USS Bittern (AM-36), and submarine tender USS Otus (AS-20), suffer varying degrees of damage from bombs or bomb fragments; ferry launch Santa Rita (YFB-681) is destroyed by a direct hit. Submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon (ASR-6) tows Seadragon out of the burning wharf area; minesweeper USS Whippoorwill (AM-35) recovers destroyer USS Peary, enabling both warships to be repaired and returned to service. Minesweeper USS Bittern is gutted by fires. Antiaircraft fire from U.S. guns is ineffective. During the bombing of Manila Bay area, unarmed U.S. freighter SS Sagoland is damaged.

Submarine USS Sea Lion damaged beyond repair by Japanese aircraft at Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines while undergoing a regular overhaul and scuttled there. 4 men died inside the boat during the initial bombing attack.

Not repaired, she was scuttled on 25 December 1941 to prevent her capture by the Japanese.

Minesweeper USS Bittern badly damaged during an air raid on Cavite Navy Yard while undergoing repairs. Although not hit, Bittern suffered extensive damage from fire, near misses, and flying debris from submarine USS Sea Lion moored alongside. Too badly damaged for repair, the minesweeper was scuttled in Manila Bay after her crew had transferred to USS Quail.

While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY Catalina of Patrol Squadron One Hundred One (VP-101) is attacked by three Japanese "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M2, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) of the 3rd Kokutai (Naval Air Corps) based on Formosa; Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War. Utter, as a commander, will later coordinate the carrier air strikes that lead to the destruction of Japanese battleship Yamato on 7 April 1945.

WAKE ISLAND: Twenty six Japanese naval land attack planes fromthe 24th Air Flotilla, based on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, bomb Marine installations on Wilkes and Wake islet. During the interception of the bombers, Captain Henry T. Elrod, USMC, executive officer of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Eleven (VMF-211), shoots down a "Nell" bomber (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bomber); this is the first USMC air-to-air "kill" of the Pacific War. Almost 400 construction workers volunteered to construct defenses, man guns, treat wounded, cook and distribute rations, repair and clear bomb damage, stand watch, and even offered to join the Marines. However, most refused to work on defenses and hid in the brush. Some caused difficulties for the Marines and a number were arrested and confined in the brig. (Gordon Rottman)

Japanese submarines HIJMS RO 65, RO 66, and RO 67 arrive off Wake. Shortly before midnight, submarine USS Triton (SS-201), patrolling south of the atoll, encounters a Japanese warship, probably a picket for the oncoming assault force.

MARIANA ISLANDS: A company of a Japanese Special Naval Landing Force and a Japanese Army detachment lands on Guam and captures the 271 Navy personnel and 122 Marines on the island.

PACIFIC OCEAN: The British Navy's Force Z under Admiral Tom Phillips left Singapore in the evening of 8 December to find the Japanese fleet. The force consists of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53) (35,000 tons), battlecruiser HMS Repulse (34) (26,500 tons), British destroyers HMS Electra (H 27), Express (H 61) and Tenedos (H 04) and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire (D 68). The ships are spotted today in the South China Sea by the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-58 just before dawn and attacked by a force consisted of 60 "Nell" bombers (Mitsubishi G3M2 Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers (of the Genzan and Mihoro Kokutais Naval Air Corps) operating with 26 "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M1 Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) of the Kanoya Kokutai. All are based in French Indochina. The battleship HMS Prince of Wales is hit by four torpedoes and sinks at 1233 hours local. The battlecruiser HMS Repulse is hit by 14 torpedoes and sinks at 1320 hours local. The death toll from both ships is 840 men (Repulse 513, and the Prince Of Wales, 327). A total of 2,081 men are saved by the four escorting destroyers and taken back to Singapore. The Far Eastern Fleet commander, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips goes down with his ship. In this action, the Japanese lost only four planes. After this disaster, the dominant role of battleships in war comes under grave doubt. This leaves the Allies with no active battleships in the Pacific.

Without an aircraft carrier to provide air cover, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips was relying on the RAF at Singapore to provide fighter escort. But Japan's assault on Malaya tied up the RAF and denied them two airfields from which they might have operated. Then the ships were seen by a Japanese submarine.

Midshipman Robert Ian Davies, an 18 year old Australian, on HMS Repulse was last seen firing at Japanese planes as his gun position submerged. (Reviewed for Victoria Cross) (Jim Paterson)

Four USN destroyers, USS Barker (DD-213), Bulmer (DD-222), Parrott (DD-218) and Stewart (DD-224) of Destroyer Division 58, USN Asiatic Fleet, that had been sent to help screen Phillips's ships, having arrived at Singapore too late to sortie with the British force, search unsuccessfully for survivors before returning to Singapore.

In Memory of Able Seaman STEPHEN SHERIDAN D/MD/X 1995, H.M.S. Prince of Wales., Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who died age 28 on Wednesday 10 December 1941. Son of Stephen and Hannah Sheridan, of West Derby, Liverpool. Remembered with honour PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL. (Rob Graves)

An SBD Dauntless from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-70 about 193 nautical miles (358 kilometers) northeast of Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, in position 23.45N, 155.35W. This is one of the submarines used to scout the Hawaiian area in connection with the Pearl Harbor attack and is the first Japanese combatant ship sunk by U.S. aircraft during World War II.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Aircraft from USS Enterprise attack and sink Japanese Submarine I-70 north of Hawaiian Islands. A participant in the Pearl Harbor Attack, I-70 is the first Japanese combatant ship sunk during World War II.

PBY piloted by LT Utter of VP-101 shoots down Japanese ZERO in first US Navy air-to-air kill during World War II.

U.S.A.: AIPO (American Institute of Public Opinion) asked: "Which country is the greatest [sic] threat to America's future, Germany or Japan?" Germany - 64%, Japan - 15%, Both - 6%, Undecided or don't know - 15%. (Will O'Neil) (135)

Destroyers USS Doran and Earle launched.

Submarine USS Flying Fish commissioned.

Destroyers USS Bennett and Fullam laid down.

A Treasury agent reports to Army authorities in San Francisco, California, that "an estimated 20,000 Japanese in the San Francisco metropolitan area were ready for organized action." The Army staff immediately began planning for mass evacuation of West Coast Japanese.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-130 sank SS Kirnwood, Kurdistan and Star of Luxor in Convoy SC-57.

BRAZIL: USN PBY Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Fifty Two (VP 52) supported by seaplane tender (destroyer) USS Greene (AVD-13) and small seaplane tender USS Thrush (AVP-3), begin antisubmarine patrols over the south Atlantic from Natal, and thus inaugurate operations from Brazilian waters.

GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf Hitler replaces Colonel General Franz Halder with Colonel General Kurt Zeitzler as chief of staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres (high command of the German Army or OKH).

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Luftwaffe LT Sta (See) 222 loses one of its massive Blohm und Voss Bv 222 flying boats (V8) when it is shot down by RAF Beaufighters between Italy and Tripoli when flying in company with the V1 and V4 flying-boats. (21)

TUNISIA: British and Free French defenders drive off a strong German attack on Medjez el Bab when German tank-infantry columns attack Medjez el Bab from the northeast and east and are repulsed. The Medjez garrison of four French battalions has been reinforced by the British 1st Guards Brigade (--). During the night of 10/11 December, the 11th Brigade of the British 78th Division and Combat Command B of the U.S. 1st Armored Division begin a withdrawal to the Bdja area to refit, Combat Command B sustaining heavy loss of equipment as it withdraws.

NEW GUINEA: Papua: Australian troops of the 39th Battalion, 21st Brigade, 7th Division, yesterday took Gona, a key Japanese defensive position on the north Papuan coast from which the Japanese launched their ill-fated campaign to take Port Moresby. The savagery of the action against the fanatical resistance of the Japanese garrison at Gona is indicated by the 638 bodies found after the battle.

The four Australian battalions of the 21st Brigade assigned to take Gona have suffered dangerously high casualties. Already sharply reduced in numbers by earlier battle casualties and high illness rates from heat exhaustion, malaria and other tropical disease, they suffered a further 530 killed and wounded, more than 40%.

The Japanese remaining on the coast northwest of Gona, now greatly depleted in strenth by air attacks as well as pressure of the Australians, are ordered to establish a defensive perimeter around Napapo and await reinforcements.

On the Sanananda front, a Allied supply party reaches the roadblock and finds the garrison in desperate need of relief.

On the Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) front, the 3d Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, begins the relief of the 2d Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment, which by now is also greatly understrength.

The Warren Force (based on U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division) continues to bombard and probe the Japanese line in an effort to soften it.

The Australian 2/6th Independent Company is detached and returns to the Australian 7th Division. The Japanese are again supplied by air. Australian Brigadier George Wootten, General Officer Commanding 18th Brigade, 7th Division, reports to General Thomas Blarney, Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces and Commander of Allied Land Forces, Southwest Pacific Area.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Eleven USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses escorted by eight P-38 Lightnings attack ships in Faisi Harbor on Shortland Island; one tanker is hit; six Zeke fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) are claimed destroyed, five by P-38s and one by a B-17.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The USAAF Eleventh Air Force weather aircraft which crashlanded on Atka Island yesterday is sighted on the west end of the island, its fuselage broken off aft of the wings. The crew, later brought back, is unharmed except for light injuries to Lieutenant General William Lynd, who was observing weather conditions in the Aleutians for General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General, USAAF. General Lynch sustained a cracked collar bone. A PBY lands and rescues the crew. An uneventful reconnaissance covers Attu, Kiska and the Semichis Islands. Four B-26 Marauders and six P-38 Lightnings abort a bomb run to Kiska due to weather.

U.S.A.: The War Relocation Authority (WRA) establishes a "Citizens" Isolation Camp" at Moab, Utah, located about 195 miles (314 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City, for recalcitrant Japanese-American inmates. This camp, and one at Leupp, Arizona, are designed to hold troublesome individuals from the Japanese Relocation Camps in the western part of the U.S. It was found that in each relocation camp, a small number of men, mostly young Kibei (a person born in the U.S. of Japanese immigrant parents and educated chiefly in Japan) became uncooperative and caused trouble and had to be separated from the general camp population. In June 1943, it is decided to move the prisoners from these two camps to Tule Lake, California, a former relocations camp that had been converted to house the trouble-makers, dissidents and renunciants. After they are moved, the camps at Moab and Leupp are closed.

UNITED KINGDOM: Twenty German aircraft attack four USAAF Ninth Air Force airfields in Essex, England, Gosfield, Andrews Field, Earls Colne, and Great Dunmow, killing eight and wounding 20+ men.

WESTERN EUROPE: Six USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 1.2 million leaflets on Rouen, Paris, Caen and Amiens, France, and Ghent, Belgium, at 2026-2102 hours.

Field Marshal Rommel and his staff continue to tour the Danish coast in their special train.

Rommel is discovering that the defence line along the shore here is woefully inadequate.

True, an invasion here is unlikely. There simply are too few beaches for a major landing.

And German air bases are too close for a successful amphibious landing. Still, the preparedness of the troops up here is terrible. It's one big holiday.

No, he is not satisfied at all. And if this is any indication of what he would find in France...

FRANCE: Four RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets over France during the night of 10/11 December.

ITALY: Canadian troops join the attack on Ortona. Brigadier Syd Thomson takes over command of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and together with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, they set about evicting battle-hardened German paratroops from Ortona, where roadblocks have been erected to force attackers in the few open squares, many of which are ringed with machine guns.

The British Eighth Army has regrouped to increase the weight of an attack in the coastal sector, where opposition is heavy. The XIII Corps, with the 5th Division and the New Zealand Division under its command, is to move north on the left of V Corps, leaving the 78th Division in previous positions under Eighth Army command. The V Corps continues northward along the coast with the Canadian 1st and Indian 8th Divisions. The Canadian 1st Division now has a bridgehead across the Moro River and is pressing toward Ortona, assisted by air and naval bombardment of coastal targets.

In the U.S. Fifth Army area, Allied air attacks are stepped up in preparation for the next phase of offensive, which is to begin on 15 December. The British X Corps takes responsibility for Mt. la Difensa from the U.S. 142d Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, U.S. VI Corps. In the U.S. II Corps area, the 3d Ranger Battalion, with artillery support, renews an attack on Hill 950 on the northern flank of the II Corps and takes it.

In the U.S. II Corps area, the 3d Ranger Battalion, with artillery support, renews an attack on Hill 950 on the northern flank of the II Corps and takes it. Activity in the St. Pietro area and on Mt. Sammucro is on a limited scale. Current U.S. positions are being consolidated. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the 2d Moroccan Division takes command of the zone previously held by the U.S. 34th Infantry Division.

San Pietro: Hitler himself has reputedly selected this small Italian hill town on the slopes of Monte Sammucro to be the perfect example of a German position, dominating as it does the vital Liri Valley which forms their defensive Gustav Line.

For four days now the battle has raged as US forces struggle to push the Germans from their carefully sited pill boxes. Troops of the 143rd Infantry Regiment managed to reach the barbed-wire defences, but they were cut down by the machine-gun and mortar fire, and sustained 300 casualties before being retired. Tanks are now being called up.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force P-40s and A-36 Apaches attack oil tanks, warehouses, railroads, and vessel at Civitavecchia, the town of Acquafondata, and with Australian, British and South African aircraft, hit tactical targets along the British Eighth Army front, and later strafe road traffic in the Canosa Sannita-Chieti area.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit bridge approaches west and east of Ventimiglia.

YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force fighters bomb a vessel in the harbor at Split.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force P-38 Lightnings fly weather reconnaissance in the Zara area.

MALTA: Roosevelt visits the island, and pays tribute to its long-suffering populace.

President Roosevelt signs a draft (conscription) bill that places all men who were fathers before the US entered the was at the bottom of the list liable for call up. This debate, which has continued since Pearl Harbor, is now ended. Roosevelt sailed very close to the deadline for this bill. In so doing, he flouted his own chairman of the war manpower commission, Paul McNutt, who was in favour of calling up fathers. Maj-Gen Lewis Hershey looks likely to take over as the president's right-hand man for war manpower administration. He is the director of the selective service commission.

Previously, men were divided into four categories: single men, single men with dependants, married men with no children or with children born since Pearl Harbor, and other married men. From now on the president, reacting either to his own instincts or to his shrewd political reading of his countrymen's instincts, wants only two categories: fathers and non-fathers.

A Combined Chiefs of Staff directive calling for a unified command--Mediterranean Theater of Operations (Allied)--in the Mediterranean becomes effective, although the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces has not yet been activated.

NORTH AFRICA: The Mediterranean Air Command and North-West African Air Force are amalgamated to form Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, consisting of all operational Allied Air Units in the Mediterranean theater, excluding the Middle East.

CHINA: Japanese aircraft bomb Hengyang Airfield in China; eight USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s intercept one wave of airplanes over the field, shooting down three of them; two P-40s are lost in the combat.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Twelve USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and 15 P-40s attack the marshalling yard at Hanoi. The warehouse area and railroad station suffer heavy damage.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb targets on the Huon Peninsula while 40 B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders bomb supply and bivouac areas and bridges along the Bogadjim Road. P-39 Airacobras strafe barges in the Madang area.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb targets at Cape Gloucester on New Britain Island.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the Kahili supply area and airfield; P-39 Airacobras bomb the supply area and antiaircraft positions at Tonolai and strafe four barges in the harbor; New Zealand (PV-1) Venturas hit buildings at Arigua Plantation.

Marine Fighting Squadron Two Hundred Sixteen (VMF-216) with 17 F4U Corsairs, flies in to operate from Torokina airstrip, which is within 220 miles (354 kilometers) of Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A British submarine fired three torpedoes at U-238, but all missed.

BELGIUM: Lanzerath: Lieutenant Lyle Joseph Bouck, Jr., leader of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the 394th Infantry Regiment, was ordered to occupy a position on the south flank of the 394th Infantry, 99th Infantry Division. He found a position on high ground that had been previously occupied by soldiers of the 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. The position, with good fields of fire, had holes with overhead cover and overlooked the only good road in the area . The road ran through the village of Lanzerath.

The platoon had equipped itself with several BARs, two .30 calibre machine guns and a .50 calibre mounted on a jeep. (Will O'Neil)

FRANCE: In the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps area, the main body of the 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, crosses the Sarre River to clear the eastern part of Sarreguemines and begins a house-to-house battle. The 134th and 320th Infantry Regiments push toward the Blies River. Gros RÃ©derching falls to the 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division.

In the U.S. Seventh Army area, the newly arrived 63d and 42d Infantry Divisions, whose regiments are organized as Task Force Harris and Task Force Linden, respectively, are assigned to the army. In the XV Corps area, Combat Command A of the 12th Armored Division takes Rohrbach-lÃ¨s-Bitche. The 44th Infantry Division secures the crossroads below Petit RÃ©derching in brisk fighting. In the VI Corps area, the 45th Infantry Division seizes Reichshoffen and Gundershoffen. The 79th Infantry Division takes MarienthaI and Kaltenhouse but is still held up at Haguenau. Crossing the the Zintzel River, 103d Infantry Division troops clear the northern part of Mertzwiller.

In the French First Army's I Corps area, the 2d Moroccan Division completes the capture of Thann. The 9th Colonial Division reduces the last German bridgeheads west of the Rhine River between Kembs and the Swiss border.

GERMANY: The VII Corps begins a strong attack west of Aachen, moving toward Duren.

Hitler appoints Himmler to be C-in-C Army Group Oberrhein (Upper Rhine), and moves to his western front headquarters at Bad Neuheim.

In the U.S. First Army area, VII Corps begins coordinated attack to clear the west bank of the Roer River and the city of Dueren, employing the 104th Infantryt, 3d Armored, 9th Infantry and 83d Infantry Divisions. Elements of the 414th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division, attack toward the village of Schophoven and Pier; penetrate into Pier but are forced out. In the 9th Infantry Division zone in the center, elements of the 3d Armored Division, assisted by the 60th Infantry Regiment, thrust to Obergeich and gain positions in Echtz; elements of the 39th Infantry Regiment driving southeast from Obergeich get into position for an assault on Merode and Schlicht. The 83d Infantry Division pushes into the villages of Gey and Strass, northeast of Grosshau, with the 331st and 330th Infantry Regiments; 3 the 29th Infantry Regiment advances on the left flank.

In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, the Germans make an all-out effort to destroy the Dillingen bridgehead, counterattacking all along the line. The 90th Infantry Division contains the onslaughts but cannot move forward. In the 95th Infantry Division's Saarlautern bridgehead, the 377th Infantry Regiment deepens their penetration into Fraulautern but the 378th and 379th Regiments are prevented by counterattacks from advancing.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 745: 534 bombers and 690 fighters are dispatched to make Pathfinder Force attacks and a fighter sweep in Germany; two fighters are lost. Two marshalling yards (M/Ys) are hit: 274 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the Lutzel M/Y at Koblenz and 173 B-24 Liberators attack the M/Y at Bingen; four other aircraft hit targets of opportunity.

About 130 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb defended positions at Birkesdorf, and Huchem-Stammeln while fighters escort the 9th Bombardment Division, strafe and dive-bomb numerous targets in western Germany, and support the U.S. 8th, 9th, 83d, and 104th Infantry Divisions and the 3d and 5th Armored Divisions in the areas around Bergstein, Duren, and along the west bank of the Roer River.

Over 550 USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators dispatched to bomb oil targets in Germany are recalled because of overcast weather.

U-2354 launched.

U-2552 laid down.

AUSTRIA: Six USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses dispatched to bomb targets in Germany, manage to bomb the marshalling yard at Klagenfurt as a target of opportunity.

HUNGARY: The Soviet Second Ukrainian Front pushes in toward Pest, the portion of Budapest east of the Danube River. The Germans are withstanding Soviet attacks southwest of Budapest and near Miskoic.

U.S.S.R.: The French and Soviet governments signed a 20-year Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance. Brigadier General Charles-André De Gaulle, Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, negotiated the agreement with the Soviets in Moscow.

ITALY: In the British Eighth Army area, the Canadian I Corps begins an attack across the Lamone River late in day.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers bomb bridges, fills, and a tunnel in the Brenner Pass area, hit the Fidenza bridge and barracks at Bologna, and support the British Eighth Army in the Faenza area, bombing defensive positions. The XXII Tactical Air Command targets are again predominantly communications north of the US Fifth Army battle zone.

During the night of 10/11 December USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs attack vehicles, lights, railway lines, roads, river ferries, and pontoon bridges in the Po River Valley.

YUGOSLAVIA: In the northern part of the country, the Soviet and Yugoslav forces driving toward Vinkovci penetrate into Vukovar.

GREECE: Local political and military disturbances result in cancellation of liberty for USN sailors at Piraeus; Greek snipers wound two crewmen in tank landing ship USS LST-74.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Infantry landing ship HMCS Prince David damaged by mine off Aegina Island, Greece. She was towed to a North African port for repairs.

ARCTIC OCEAN: U-636 supplied provisions to a weather team on Spitzbergen.

CHINA: U.S. Lieutenant General Albert, Chief of staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Commanding General, U.S. forces in China urges, Chiang Kai-shek to order troops of the Yunnan Force (Y-Force) on the Saiween front to take Wanting, at the northeast exit of the Shweli Valley where the Ledo Road is to meet the old Burma Road. The Chinese halted their offensive operations with the fall of Che-fang on 1 December. The Japanese in southern China link up with the Japanese French Indochina Garrison Army, thus opening the route for the movement of two divisions in small groups into French Indochina. This, plus their push into Kweichow, which ended on 3 December, marks a high tide of the Japanese invasion of continent of Asia.

USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit targets of opportunity in the Liuchow area while 25 B-24 Liberators bomb the city of Hankow and three others bomb Samah Bay docks on Hainan Island. One hundred eighteen P-40s, P-51 Mustangs, and P-38 Lightnings on armed reconnaissance over wide areas of China attack numerous targets of opportunity, concentrating on rail, river, and road traffic, especially in the Hochih, Changsha, and Yuncheng areas.

BURMA: Allied engineers complete a 1,154 foot long Bailey bridge, the world's largest across the Chindwin river.

In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) area, the British 36th Division completes its part of Phase I, Operation CAPITAL (the attack across the Chindwin River to Mandalay), ahead of schedule as patrols enter Indaw and Katha. Later in the month, the division crosses the Irrawaddy River at Katha and drives toward Kyaukme. Japanese forces working toward Bhamo to assist the withdrawal of the garrison penetrate positions of the Chinese 30th Division south of Bhamo; a vigorous counterattack forces the Japanese to go on the defensive. The U.S. 475th Infantry Regiment (Long Range Penetration, Special), less the 1st Battalion in the Shwegu area, is concentrated in the Mo-hlaing--Tonk-wa area, where it will conduct a holding action while the Chinese 22d Division flies to China.

Twenty USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts fly close support strikes in the Bhamo area; eight others attack approaches to the Hay-ti road bridge while over 50 P-47s hit warehouses and other storage areas, troop concentrations, and positions at Daungbin, Myebalin, Kyaunghkam, Pongon, Thinbaung, Kawnghkang, Pangteng, and Hsipaw Twelve B-25 Mitchells hit storage areas at Meza, Namun, and Kungmong.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Japanese troops from Operation Ichi-Go link up with compatriots from the French Indochina Garrison Army, gaining control of the vital Indochina to China rail link.

In the U.S. Sixth Army's X Corps area on Leyte, the 32d Infantry Division continues to press southward as does the 112th Cavalry Regiment (Special) to the east. The 12th Cavalry Regiment (Infantry), 1st Cavalry Division, prepares to attack to reduce a strongpoint in Mt Cabungaan area. In the XXIV Corps area, the 77th Infantry Division, supported by artillery and naval vessels, takes Ormoc. Company A of the 776th Amphibious Tank Battalion moves into the city at 0900 hours, before the infantry assault begins, and starts shelling buildings there. The 307th and 306th Regiments, the former driving along a highway and latter to the east, attack northward and clear the city. The 7th Infantry Division continues forward toward the 77th Infantry Division. The 11th Airborne Division defeats a dispirited counterattack in the Burauen area by a Japanese battalion that has made its way over mountains from Ormoc Bay. The 1st Battalion, 149th Infantry Regiment, 38th Infant ry Division, attacks and clears the Buri Airfield area. In a final major effort against the Burauen airfields, beginning at 1930 hours, the Japanese force USAAF Fifth Air Force personnel to fall back, but positions are restored in a counterattack.

USAAF Far East Air Force P-38 Lightnings hit Port Misamis on Mindanao Island and fighter- bombers attack storage facilities and targets of opportunity in the central Philippines.

Off Leyte, USN destroyer USS Hughes (DD-410) is damaged by kamikaze; south of Dulag, a suicide plane crashes the previously damaged freighter SS Marcus Daly, which is discharging cargo to tank landing craft LCT-1075 alongside. LCT-1075 is hit by part of the kamikaze and sunk; SS Marcus Daly suffers no fatalities among the embarked complement (38 merchant sailors, 26-man Armed Guard, 60 stevedores and 124 troops) although eight men are wounded. Nearby freighter SS William S. Ladd is hit by a kamikaze and gutted by fire despite the efforts of four infantry landing craft (LCI) that come alongside; there are no fatalities among the 41-man merchant complement, the 29-man Armed Guard and the 50 stevedores on board to work cargo, although six men are injured. Motor torpedo boat PT-323, damaged by suicide plane is beached and abandoned.

EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators hit the Pamoesian tank farm and nearby alternates of Lingkas tank farm, Labuan Islands docks, and Lutong refinery all in British North Borneo, while in the Netherlands East Indies, B-25 Mitchells hit Sidate Airfield on Celebes Island and bomb airfields on Boeroe Island west of Ceram Island and Ambon Island.

VOLCANO ISLANDS: During the night of 10/11 December, three USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Saipan Island and one from Guam Island fly harassment strikes against Iwo Jima.

AUSTRALIA: Vice Admiral Bruce Fraser, Commander-in-Chief British Pacific Fleet (BPF), flies to Sydney, New South Wales, the planned main base for the BPF. (Andy Etherington)

The British battleship HMS Howe, flagship of the British Pacific Fleet, arrives at Fremantle, Western Australian.

U.S.A.: New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia frightened the citizens by discussing the possibility of rocket attacks launched by U-boats against his city.

CANADA: Tug HMCS Glenmont and Anti-Aircraft cruiser Prince Robert paid off.
HMC HC-190 (ex-HMCS Venture) sold and renamed 'Alfred and Emily'.