27 December 1939

UNITED STATES: At the height of the Great Depression, thousands turn out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City. Since its opening, more than 300 million people have gone to Radio City to enjoy movies, stage shows, concerts, and special events. The theater, which shows movies as well as live performances featuring the famous chorus line the Rockettes, is the largest indoor theater in the world when it opened, seating 6,200 people.

JAPAN: U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew warns thatthe Japanese intend "to obtain trade control and eventually predominant political influence in China, the Philippines, the Straits Settlements, Siam and the Dutch East Indies, the Maritime Provinces and Vladivostok. With such dreams of empire cherished by many, and with an army and navy capable of taking the bit in their own teeth and running away with it regardless of the restraining influence of the saner heads of the Government in Tokyo (a risk which unquestionably exists and of which we have already had ample evidence in the Manchurian affair), we would be. reprehensibly somnolent if we were to trust to the security of treaty restraints or international comity to safeguard our own interests or, indeed, our own property . . . Such a war may be unthinkable, and so it is, but the spectre of it is always present and will be present for some time to come. It would be criminally short-sighted to discard it from our calculati ons, and the best possible way to avoid it is to be adequately prepared, for preparedness is a cold fact which even the chauvinists, the military, the patriots and the ultra-nationalists in Japan, for all their bluster concerning `provocative measures' in the United States, can grasp and understand."

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) aircraft drops bombs to divert a lava flow of Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii. This is the first recorded use of aerial bombs for this purpose.

WESTERN EUROPE: Britain and France agree on a mutual policy of non-intervention in the Spanish civil war. Although Winston Churchill advocates non-intervention in the war, he arouses resentment with his sympathy for what he called "the Anti-Red Movement." But he sees both Nazism and Communism as "those non-God religions." He compares Fascism and Communism to the Arctic and Antarctic Poles - both similar in their wastes of snow and icy winds.

Cambridge: A verdict of accidental death is given in the case of a couple who cycled into a river during the blackout and drowned.

The first Canadian troops arrive in England and are based at the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) World War I base at Aldershot on Salisbury Plain.
Corvette HMS Jonquil laid down.

Prime Minister to General Ismay:
...
2. The operation "Marie" [the occupation of Djibouti] has been regarded by the Chiefs of Staff, and is considered by me, to be valuable and important. For this purpose not only the Foreign Legion battalion but two other French battalions should be sailed in the January 4 convoy, and deposited at Port Sudan, where they can either intervene in "Marie" or in Egypt.

When the destroyer HMS Acheron was mined while running trials after a refit, off the Isle of Wight, it sank instantly, killing 151 men and sparing only 15 men.

VICHY FRANCE: The official press agency states that the Laval incident is closed and that the former Premier is in Paris on private business. His retirement is confirmed by the Vichy government. On 12 July 1940, Laval was appointed vice-premier and because he was enthusiastically pro-Nazi; his demands for a Franco-German military alliance led to him being sacked from the government and arrested on 13 December. The German ambassador in France, Otto Abetz, has him freed and moved to Paris.

The German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper completes Operation NORDSEETOUR in the Atlantic Ocean during which she engaged the British heavy cruiser HMS Berwick (65). Admiral Hipper arrives in Brest, the first of the German big ships to reach the French Biscay ports.

GERMANY:
Grand Admiral Raeder reports to Hitler in Berlin: 'The threat to Britain in the entire eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and in North Africa has been eliminated ... The decisive action in the Mediterranean for which we had hoped therefore is no longer possible.
Berlin:
The United Press Agency reports:
The German authorities are maintaining silence about the rumours coming from Budapest that German troop movements are taking place there.

SINGAPORE: The defences are being strengthened. Aircraft, air force personnel, members of Indian infantry, artillery, engineers, and auxiliaries have recently arrived in Malaya.

PACIFIC: The disguised German raider 'Komet', flying the Japanese flag, bombards phosphate plants on the Australian protectorate of Nauru. Nauru Island is a 21 square kilometer (8 square mile) island in the South Pacific about 380 nautical miles (703 kilometers) west-southwest of Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands. The island is rich in phosphate deposits and will be occupied by the Japanese on 25 August 1942.

Fairmile B patrol craft HMC ML 062 and ML 063 ordered.

Bangor class-minesweepers Kelowna, Noranda and Lachine laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec.

SS Waiotira sunk by U-38 58.05N, 17.10W - Grid AL 3687.

SS Risanger sunk by U-65 12.30N, 21.30W - Grid EJ 9675.

FRANCE: The last two German U-boats involved with Operation DRUMBEAT, U-109 and U-130, set sail from Lorient for the North American coast.

NORWAY: OPERATION ARCHERY: The British land 600 commandos on Vaagso and Maaloy in the Lofoten Islands. These landings are on the heels of the landing yesterday, on Moskenesoy. Their targets today will be a fish-oil factory and a radio station. These are dummy targets to mask the real intention: an Enigma machine and weather codes at the weather station, on the "Vorstenboote", 200 ton trawler. The boat was machine-gunned to cut down the crew but not to sink it. Mission successful. (Adrian Weale, Denis Peck and Torstein)

It was not all plain sailing for the British force, however, stiff resistance from the German garrison meant house-to-house fighting for five hours. Navy guns silenced shore batteries while RAF Blenheims bombed the wooden runways of the nearest Luftwaffe base 100 miles away, closing the airfield. 19 men were killed, including Captain John Giles, the former heavyweight boxing champion from Bristol. Eight ships and eight aircraft were lost.

Around 100 Germans were killed and about the same number taken prisoner. At the same time 243 Norwegians have also come away with the force - but voluntarily. They are patriots who will be a welcome addition for the Norwegian Free Forces.

The Red Army continues its counter-offensive in the Kalinin area 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Moscow.

Leningrad: Early today sounds of heavy firing are heard coming from the Intermediate position of the Spanish Division Azul. It is under attack by a Soviet force attempting to infiltrate to the rear of the sub-sector. At 6.30am Udarnik erupts in shell-fire, in the wake of which a Russian battalion manages to penetrate the village. Comandante Roman's 2/269th drove the Russians out again and pursues them southwards. At the same time Comandante Rebull and three companies of the 1/269th are advancing northwards from Lubkovo. At 10.00am the two units meet at the Intermediate. They are horrified to discover on the snow covered promontory, scattered around the trenches and weapons-pits, the bodies of Alferez Moscoso and his men, stripped of their uniforms, mutilated and literally nailed to the ground with their own bayonets and with picks driven through their chests. (125) (Russ Folsom)

LIBYA: The British 7th Armored Division, XIII Corps, British Eighth Army, attacks the German's Agedabia position, which is well-suited by nature for defense, but makes no headway.

INDIA: British General Pownall takes over from Air Marshal Brooke-Popham and British Commander in Chief Far East. Pownall will later become Chief of Staff to Wavell;s ABDA command.

BURMA: Lieutenant General Thomas J. Hutton, Chief General Staff, India, replaces Lieutenant General D.K. MacLeod as General Officer Commanding Burma.

JAPAN: Most of the I-boat submarines off the U.S. west coast have depleted their fuel reserves. The Naval General Staff decides that the shelling of densely populated areas, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, will result in civilian losses and retaliation by the Americans. Vice Admiral SHIMIZU Mitsumi, commander of the Advance Expeditionary Force (Sixth Fleet), cancels the shellings.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: MacArthur declares Manila an open city. US forces have fallen back to their 3rd defence line which runs east and west from Paniqui.

The Luzon front is quiet as the Japanese consolidate along the Agno River. The North Luzon Force withdraws toward the next delaying line, Tarlac-Cabanatuan, where it is to make maximum delaying effort. In southern Luzon, the Japanese continue to pursue U.S. columns along Routes 23 and 1; on the latter, the Japanese break through the main positions of the 53d Infantry Regiment (Philippine Army) and seize Candelaria.

Six USN PBY Catalinas of Patrol Squadron One Hundred One (VP-101) bomb Japanese shipping at Jolo Island in Suva Province, against heavy fighter opposition; four Catalinas are lost.

Japanese "Nell" (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bomber) and "Betty" (Mitsubishi G4M1, Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber) bombers based on Formosa bomb shipping in Manila Bay and the Pasig River. Two Philippine customs cutters and a motorboat are set afire, while a lighthouse tender is destroyed by a direct hit. A steamship is scuttled in the Pasig River.

AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister John Curtin's New Year's message includes the following: "Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine I-25 shells an 8,684 ton tanker about 10 nautical miles (19 kilometers) west of the mouth of the Columbia River which is the boundary between the states of Washington and Oregon.

UNITED STATES: Rubber rationing is instituted by the U.S. government, due to shortages caused by World War II. Tires are the first items to be restricted by law.

GERMANY: The German military begins enlisting Soviet POWs in the battle against the Soviet Union. Soviet Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, former commander of the 2nd Shock Army, is made commander of the renegade Soviet troops. Vlasov had fought at Leningrad and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin would not allow him to withdraw his troops to more favorable positions. His army was battered, and he was taken prisoner by the Germans along with many of his men. Back in Germany, Vlasov became disgusted with Stalin and communist ideology, which he had come to believe was a more sinister threat to the world than Nazism. He began broadcasting anti-Soviet propaganda and formed, with Nazi permission, of course, the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. Its goal: to overthrow Joseph Stalin and defeat communism. The German "Smolensk Committee" began persuading more and more captured Russians, Ukrainians, Cossacks, and other Soviet anti-Stalinists to join the German war effort.

These now-pro-German Soviets were finally formed into a 50,000-man army, the Russian Liberation division, and fought toward the end of the war, with Vlasov at their command. Tens of thousands ending up turning back against the Germans, then finally surrendering to the Americans-rather than the advancing Soviets-when the German cause was lost. The Americans, under secret terms of the Yalta Agreement signed in February 1945, repatriated all captured Soviet soldiers-even against their will. Vlasov was among those returned to Stalin. He was hanged, along with his comrades in arms.

U.S.S.R.: In addition to action in the Stalingrad sector, the Soviets begin attacks in the Caucasus. Six armies near Nalchik, under command of Maslennikov and Tyulenev begin an attack. Von Kleist begins to withdraw as the advance of the Soviet armies in the Stalingrad sector reaches Rostov to his north.

Lieutenant-General Andrei Vlasov forms the Smolensk Committee to organize Russian opposition to Stalin. Vlasov, while enjoying some German support, does not have real support as they fail to understand the difference between a patriotic Russian and his opposition to Stalin.

ITALY: During the night of 27/28 December, one USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberator bombs the shipyard at Taranto.

TUNISIA: The British First Army repels an Axis attack in the Medjez el Bab area.

Thirty USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, bomb the shipping and dock facilities at Sousse, damaging docks and warehouses and claiming direct hits on four vessels while P-38 Lightnings and P-40s fly several reconnaissance missions.

During the night of 27/28 December, 12 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the port area at Sousse.

BURMA: Indian troops reach the tip of the Mayu peninsula, meeting no resistance in their drive towards Akyab, but units of the 123rd Indian Brigade are stopped by the Japanese from occupying Rathedaung. In the coastal sector, the Indian 47th Brigade arrives at Indin and gets a patrol to Foul Point, at the tip of the Mayu Peninsula. The advance then halts for various administrative reasons, one being the difficulty of bringing reinforcements and supplies forward.

NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, the Japanese under Major General YAMAGATA Tsuyuo at Napapo are ordered to move to Giruwa by sea. On the Urbana front, Company B, U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, breaks through to Companies A and F near the coast, and Company C engages in clearing bunkers north of the gardens. The Japanese defense of Old Strip slackens as a withdrawal is begun. The Warren Force finishes clearing the runway except for stubborn a bunker position to the rear of the dispersal bay. Additional Allied tanks and cargo are unloaded at Oro Bay, during the night of 27/28 December. Regimental Combat Team 163, U.S. 41st Infantry Division, arrives at Port Moresby from Australia.

In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit targets in the Gona area while a single B-24 hits the runway at Finschhafen in Northeast New Guinea. Fifty two Japanese aircraft attack Allied ground troops at Buna and, in their first significant action in the Pacific, a dozen P-38 Lightnings engage some 24 Japanese aircraft over Buna, claiming nine "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) and two "Val" dive bombers (Aichi D3A, Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers) shot down for one P-38 damaged. One of the P-38F pilots is Second Lieutenant Richard I. Bong who scores his first two aerial victories. By the end of the war, he had earned 40 such credits, making him the top U.S. ace of all time.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: while the 3d Battalion, 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, conducts a holding attack that gains little ground, the 1st Battalion, to the east, moves south to locate the Japanese flanks, elements running into the Gifu strongpoint near Mount Austen, instead of outflanking it.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb shipping at Rabaul, New Britain Island and sink a merchant cargo ship.

A troop train with 13 coaches plows into the rear of a Canadian Pacific Railroad train near Almonte, Ontario, killing 36 and injuring 155 persons. The crash was caused by lack of automatic signals. Almonte is located about 27 miles (43 kilometers) west-southwest of Ottawa, Ontario.

U.S.A.: The auxiliary aircraft carrier USS Santee (ACV-29), the first of 11 aircraft carriers assigned to Hunter-Killer duty, and the destroyer USS Eberle (DD-430) sortie Norfolk, Virginia, with Escort Carrier Air Group Twenty Nine (CVEG-29) on board for free-roving antisubmarine and anti-raider operations in the South Atlantic. All auxiliary aircraft carriers (ACVs) are redesignated escort aircraft carriers (CVEs) on 15 July 1943.

Submarine USS Batfish laid down.

Minesweepers USS Delegate and Deft laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-356 is sunk about 291 nautical miles (540 kilometers) north-northeast of Lagens Field, Azores Islands, in position 43.30N, 25.40W, by depth charges from the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent (H 83) and the Canadian corvettes HMCS Battleford (K 165), Chilliwack (K 131) and Napanee (K 118); all 46 crewmen on the submarine are lost. The destroyers are escorting of convoy ONS-15.

The unescorted Oakbank was torpedoed and sunk by U-507 about 200 miles north-NE of Fortaleza, Brazil. The master, 24 crewmembers and two gunners were lost. 29 crewmembers and three gunners were picked up by the Brazilian merchant Commandate Ripper and landed at Recife on 3 January. The Argentinean tanker Juvenal rescued one crewmember and landed at Curaçao on 8 January, while two crewmembers on a raft reached the coast near Para on 15 January. Two crewmembers were taken prisoner and were lost when the U-boat was sunk on 13 Jan, 1943.

Destroyer HMCS St Laurent and corvettes HMCS Battleford, Napanee and Chilliwack sank U-356 north of Azores, 45-30N 25-40W. No survivors a crew of 45. U-356 with a record of sinking 6 ships, was also involved with a number of Wolfpacks, Group "Lotts" (15 Aug-27 Sep) which had sunk 4 ships of a convoy. Group "Pfeil" (13-25 Sep) which had sunk 6 ships of convoy ONS-122; Group "Raubold" which attacked Convoy ON-153. The convoy, of forty-five ships, (ONS-154) escorted by Canadian escort group C1, had been diverted to the south and was out of range of air cover from Iceland when it was sighted on 26 Dec 42 by U-664 one of ten U-boats of the "Spitz" line, which had been lying in wait for ONS-154 since the 24 Dec 42. U-225 damaged SS Scottish Heather, U-356 sank SS Empire Union, King Edward, Melrose Abbey and damaged SS Soekaboemi, U-441 sank SS Soekaboemi. A three-day battle began that night in which the escorts sank U-356, but the "Spitz" U-boats attacked again and again and were joined by another 9 U-boats from the "Ungestum" group, waiting some distance to the west. In one of the worst convoy maulings of the war, 14 ships of more than 73,000 tons were sunk. The convoy Commodore's ship Empire Shackleton was sunk, and a tanker was torpedoed. Also lost, with all hands, was the special service ship HMS Fidelity. On 30 Dec 42 32 Ships of the original Convoy ONS-154, arrive safely in the UK.

UNITED KINGDOM: The following appointments were announced - Gen. Sir Bernard Paget, Commander in Chief, Middle East; Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied invasion forces under General Eisenhower; Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, Allied Naval Commander in Chief; Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Allied Air Commander in Chief under General Eisenhower.

Canadian General A.G..L. McNaughton resigns his command of the Canadian First Army in Europe. He is out of favor with the Canadian Minister of National Defense, J.L. Ralston over his opposition to fragmentation of the Canadian Army Overseas.

FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command Mission 165: seven B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 1.392 million leaflets over Paris, Lille, Evreux, Rouen and Caen at 1735-1812 hours.

GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 166: a B-17 Flying Fortress is dispatched to Quadrath-Ichendorf but drops two 2,000 pound (907 kilogram) bombs and a Photoflash bomb on an unknown target.

U.S.S.R.: In the Vitebsk sector, Soviet forces cut the Polotsk-Vjtebsk railroad.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, French troops gain positions on the slopes of Mainarde ridge.

In the British Eighth Army area, defending German paratroopers start to abandon the town of Ortona after a week of fierce fighting with the Canadian 1st Division; infantry from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada suffer heavy casualties; 1,372 Canadians killed in taking Ortona and environs.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-36 Apaches hit a factory and railroad at Anagni, harbor and railroad facilities at Civitavecchia, a bridge at Pontecorvo, and several gun positions and vehicles.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit viaducts at Zoagli and Recco and attack, but fail to hit, the marshalling yard at Poggibonsi.

CHINA: Ten USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe buildings on Pailochi Airfield and sink a nearby river boat; two locomotives north of Yoyang are also destroyed. Thirty six Japanese airplanes attack Suichwan Airfield, destroying a B-25 Mitchell, the alert shack, and three fuel dumps; U.S. interceptors claim four of the attackers shot down; one P-40 is lost.

BURMA: Brigadier General Lewis A. Pick, Commanding Officer Advance Section U.S. China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, opens the military road to Shingbwiyang, in Hukawng Valley. The commander of 3d Battalion, 112th Regiment, Chinese 38th Division, is killed and the battalion is later withdrawn to the main body. The 65th Regiment, Chinese 22nd Division, reinforced is given the mission, previously held by the 3d Battalion of the 112th Regiment, of clearing Taro Plain plus the task of pushing back into Hukawng Valley to threaten the Japanese flank.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s bomb Phu Tho Airfield, and strafe the airfield at Dong Cuong.

NEW GUINEA: The four-month battle for Shaggy Ridge culminates with the capture of this Japanese position on the ridge's summit by Australian troops.

In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Madang and hit coastal targets along the Huon Peninsula while B-24 Liberators bomb Alexishafen; and P-47 Thunderbolts strafe a road near Bogia.

The USN light cruisers USS Honolulu (CL-48) and St. Louis (CL-49), and four destroyers bombard the Kieta area on Bougainville.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The US Marines at Cape Gloucester, New Britain extend their beachhead. The US forces at Arawe are reinforced.

While destroyer USS Brownson was escorting landing craft to New Britain, a Japanese dive-bomber released two 500-pound bombs, blowing away the Brownson's upper structure. She took on a list to starboard and settled rapidly, her back broken. She sank with 108 of her crew. 168 survivors were picked up by nearby destroyers.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The 1st Marine Division expands the Cape Gloucester beachhead on New Britain Island despite torrential monsoon rainfall and difficult terrain. The 1st Marine Regiment drives 3 miles (4,8 kilometers) west toward the airfield without Japanese interference. Company G, 158th Infantry Regiment, arrives at Arawe, where the Japanese are becoming aggressive, in response to Brigadier General Julian W. Cunninghamâ€™s request for reinforcements.

On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs attack positions in the Cape Gloucester battle zone; B-25 Mitchells hit villages and tracks from Rottock Bay to Riebeck Bay and strafe barges along the south coast; and B-24 Liberators bomb the airfield at Hoskins. Forty nine Allied fighters from the Solomon Islands sweep the Rabaul area. USAAF, USMC and USN fighter pilots claim 49 Japanese aircraft shot down during the day.

PACIFIC: From Glen Boren's diary aboard the USS BUNKER HILL: Changed course to meet a reported jap task force. Did not locate anything. We stayed in the area looking.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Dunvegan completed forecastle extension refit Baltimore, Maryland.

U.S.A.: Patrol Escort Vessel USS CASPER is launched by Kaiser Cargo Co., Richmond, California, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. E.J. Spaulding.

The threat of a paralyzing railroad strike looms during the 1943 holiday season. President Franklin Roosevelt steps in to serve as a negotiator, imploring the rail unions to give America a "Christmas present" and settle the smoldering wage dispute. But, as Christmas came and went, only two of the five railroad unions agreed to let Roosevelt arbitrate the situation. Today, just three days before the scheduled walk-out, the President shelves his nice-guy rhetoric and seizes the railroads. Lest the move look too aggressive, Roosevelt assures that the railroads would only be temporarily placed under the "supervision" of the War Department; he also pledges that the situation will not alter daily rail operations. The gambit works, as officials for the recalcitrant unions make an eleventh-hour decision to avert the strike.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A British Liberator Mk. V of No. 311 (Czech) Squadron based at RAF Beaulieu, Hampshire, England, sinks the German blockade runner SS Alsterufer in the Bay of Biscay. The ship was en route from Japan to Germany.

At 0012, the unescorted Jose Navarro was torpedoed by U-178 about 175 miles SW of Cochin, India. One torpedo struck on the starboard bow, forward of the torpedo streamer, between the #1 and #2 holds at the foremast. The blast threw the ship to port and she then rapidly settled by the bow, sticking the propeller halfway out of the water. The bulkhead between the holds was destroyed and the bulkhead between #2 and #3 holds was damaged, all three holds flooded quickly. 30 minutes after the hit the engines were secured and the master ordered the eight officers, 38 crewmen, 34 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two 3in and eight 20mm guns) and 86 troops to abandon ship in eight lifeboats, only one men was injured. The gun crew fired two errant shots at lights on two rafts that had been released. After three hours, 30 volunteers reboarded the ship in an attempt to salvage her, but after working for three hours the men gave up and abandoned ship again. At 1458 hours, the U-boat fired a coup de grâce in grid LC 2197, which struck the vessel, sinking her immediately. All survivors were picked up the next day by the Indian minesweeper Rajputana and landed at Cochin.

WESTERN EUROPE: Medium and light bombers of the USAAF Ninth Air Force's 9th Bombardment Division attack rail bridges, communications centers, and targets of opportunity in Belgium and Germany; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and support the U.S. 3d Armored and 82d Airborne Divisions in the Manhay and Trois-Ponts area of Belgium, and the III, VIII, and XII Corps in the Saint-Hubert-Bastogne-Martelange area of Belgium.

BELGIUM: The British XXX Corps advances into Celles and the German 2nd Panzer Division withdraws. This German division is far to the front of the other German divisions and will suffer from the Allied counterattacks.
The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment at Celles and the 23rd Hussars approximately five kilometres due south. Both of the 29th Armoured Brigade. RAF Typhoons had worked the area on 25 December and presented the Germans with rockets as Christmas gifts. (Jay Stone)

For the sake of tight security, the only German Army officers briefed on "Operation Nordwind" were Division commanders and Operations Officers. German units were ordered to conduct minimum normal patrols and radio silence was imposed.

The plan adopted by Hitler called for two attacks with neither named as "the main attack" and no provision for armored exploitation. Both factors were contrary to German military doctrine. (Joe Brott)

Just outside Savy, Belgium, Jay Stone was in a Jeep driving around a steeply banked turn. He was on the lower part of the banked turn when a tank was entering on the high side. The tank began to slide toward the jeep and he thought "this is a hell of a way to go", but either the tank got control or the jeep got out of there. (William Jay Stone)

In the U.S. First Army's XVIII Corps (Airborne) area, the 30th Infantry Division maintains defensive positions while regrouping. The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, continues a drive northeast of Bra. The 7th Armored Division recaptures Manhay early in the day. The 9th Armored Division is reinforced by Regimental Combat Team 112 of the 28th Infantry Division. In the VII Corps area, the Germans are infiltrating toward Sadzot in the zone of Combat Command A, 3d Armored Division, where the front line is held by Regimental Combat Team 289. The 84th Infantry Division clears a pocket in the Verdenne area. Columns of the 2d Armored Division envelop Humain and clear stubborn resistance there. The 83d Infantry Division, upon closing in the Havelange area, begins relief of the 2d Armored Division.

In the U.S. Third Army's VIII Corps area, the 17th Airborne Division takes over the Meuse River sector. In the III Corps area, trucks and ambulances roll into Bastogne on a road opened by Combat Command R, 4th Armored Division, ending the siege of the city. The 4th Armored Division and reinforcements from the 9th Armored and 80th Infantry Divisions are broadening the corridor to Bastogne and attempting to open the Arlon-Bastogne highway.

Twelve USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers attack communications centers at St. Vith during Mission 764.

FRANCE: In the U.S. Seventh Army area, units report very quiet in their areas. (Joe "Old Joe" Brott)

In the U.S. Seventh Army area, XXI Corps (36th Infantry and 12th Armored Divisions) arrives. VI Corps is reinforced by Task Force Harris (63d Infantry Division), Task Force Herren (70th Infantry Division), and Task Force Linden (42d Infantry Division).

LUXEMBOURG: In the U.S. Third Armyâ€™s III Corps area, From the south bank of the Sauer River, the 35th Infantry Division attacks northward between the 4th Armored and 26th Infantry Divisions, the 137th Infantry Regiment taking Surre and the 320th Infantry Regiment, Boulaide and Boschleiden. The 26th Infantry Division pushes northward through the 101st Airborne Infantry Division, clearing Mecher-Dunkrodt and Kaundorf. In the XII Corps area, the 80th Infantry Division checks an attack in the Ringel area and blocks roads north and northeast of Ettelbruck. The 6th Armored Division takes responsibility for the sector south of the Sauer River between Ettelbruck and Mostroff. Beaufort, north of Waldbillig, falls to the 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. 4th Infantry Division patrols find Echternach undefended. In the XX Corps area, the 90th Infantry Division patrols aggressively and conducts raids to keep the Germans pinned down. The 5th Ranger Battalion is attached to 95th Infantry Division.

GERMANY: Briefings for Operation NORDWIND begin. [Operation Nordwind (North Wind) is an attack conducted by the Germans during January 1945 in Alsace and Lorraine, France.] For the sake of tight security, the only German Army officers briefed are division commanders and operations officers. German units are ordered to conduct minimum normal patrols and radio silence is imposed. The plan adopted by Chancellor Adolf Hitler calls for two attacks with neither named as "the main attack" and no provision for armored exploitation. Both factors are contrary to German military doctrine. (Joe "Old Joe" Brott)

The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 764: freezing fog at bases in the U.K. restrict operations but 641 bombers and 390 fighters are dispatched against rail targets in western Germany in support of the battlefront in the Bulge; two bombers are lost. The targets are (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of aircraft bombing and number lost, e.g., 97-1):

- Marshalling yards: Fulda (113-0), Euskirchen (73-0), Andernach (63-0), Gerolstein (58-0), Neuenkirchen (57-0), Homburg (45-0), Kaiserslautern (33-0), Lutzel M/Y at Koblenz (14-1), St. Wendel (9-0) and Bonn (1-0).

- Railroad bridges: Bullay (34-0), Altenahr (25-0), Kaiserslautern (15-1) and Neuweid (8-0).

Twenty two other aircraft bomb targets of opportunity. Fighter aircraft are also engaged: 163 P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs fly a fighter sweep and engage about 200 Luftwaffe fighters; they claim 29.5-1-9 aircraft; two P-51s are lost.

During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 200 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos to attack the marshalling yards at Rheydt; 191 bomb the target. One Lancaster is lost and a Mosquito crashes behind the Allied lines in the Netherlands.

During the night of 27/28 December, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 765, a night leaflet mission over Germany.

During the night of 27/28 December, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 328 aircraft, 227 Halifaxes, 66 Lancasters and 35 Mosquitos, to bomb railroad shops at Opladen; 313 bomb the target with the loss of two Lancasters. Nine of the Mosquitos bombed 3.5 hours before the main raid. The aiming point for the attack is the marshalling yards but results are not known. Mosquitos are also active: 12 bomb Munster, seven bomb Frankfurt-am-Main and six bomb Hannover without loss.

HUNGARY: Budapest is completely encircled as elements of the Second Ukrainian Front clear an island in the Danube River north of the city and establish contact with the Third Ukrainian forces. Fighting is in progress in the eastern and western suburbs.

AUSTRIA: The USAAF Fifteenth Air Force dispatches over 520 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators to attack various targets. The targets are (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of aircraft bombing and number lost, e.g., 97-1):

- Marshalling yards: Main M/Y at Linz (128-1), Klagenfurt (58-0), Main M/Y at Graz (53-1), South M/Y at Villach (18-0), Bruck (16-1) and Wiener Neustadt (7-1) and North M/Y at Villach (5-0).

Twenty nine P-51 Mustangs strafe railroad targets between Vienna and Linz while other fighters fly over 250 escort sorties.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army area, the first echelon of the 10th Mountain Division arrives. In the IV Corps area, the Germans force a further withdrawal of the 92d Infantry Division, but elements of Indian 8th Division pass through the 92d and make patrol contact with the Germans.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force medium bombers blast three Brenner area routes leading into Austria and Yugoslavia, and bomb two supply dumps in the Bologna area. Fighter-bombers devote their main effort to support the U.S. Fifth Army in the Serchio Valley area where counterattacks are being successfully halted; other fighter-bombers hit communications in the Po Valley and escort medium bombers and C-47s dropping supplies to Italian partisans. During the night of 27/28 December, A-20 Havocs bomb lights and motor transport at almost 50 places throughout the Po Valley and Brenner area.

USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack railroad targets: 76 bomb the railroad viaduct at Venzone, 22 bomb a rail line in the Brenner Pass with the loss of one bomber, 17 bomb a railroad bridge at Bressanone and 13 hit a railroad bridge at Vipiteno. Forty four P-38 Lightnings bomb bridges at Latisana and Casarsa della Delizia.

During the day, 30 RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group bomb the Susegana railroad bridge at Piave. During the night, two bombers drop leaflets over northern Italy.

YUGOSLAVIA: Sixty five USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Main marshalling yard at Maribor.

During the day, nine RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group drop supplies to partisans.

CHINA: Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the area west of Kengtung while two B-25s and eight P-40s hit the Ishan area. Fighters are also active: 29 P-40s and P-51 Mustangs attack the area south of Puchi and 17 P-51s over White Cloud, Whampoa, and Tien Ho Airfields in Canton, claim ten airplanes destroyed with the loss of two P-51s.

BURMA: In the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) area, the U.S. 124th Cavalry Regiment (Special), upon completing its march to Momauk, begins reorganizing for combat.

In the British Fourteenth Army area, the XV Corps commander recommends that operations against Akyab be advanced to 3 January 1945.

Eight USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack bridges at Kin and Kyaukhlebein, damaging the former while 28 P-47 Thunderbolts hit troop and supply areas at Se-hai, Man Hkam, Mong Yok, and Mong Nge. Four B-25 Mitchells continue offensive reconnaissance against communications lines during the night of 27/28 December.

USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s and P-51 Mustangs hit targets of opportunity at or near Lungan, Mong Long, and Namtao.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s and P-51 Mustangs hit targets of opportunity at or near Vinh, Yen, and Mong Khong and Kweiyi, China.

JAPAN: The USAAF Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command flies Mission 16: 72 B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands are sent to bomb the Nakajima and Musashino aircraft plants in Tokyo; 39 hit the primary targets and 13 attack alternates and targets of opportunity. Japanese fighters are active, flying over 250 individual attacks and B-29 gunners claim 21-10-7 fighters. Three B-29s are lost, one to fighters and two to mechanical difficulties.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: In the U.S. Eighth Army's X Corps area on Leyte Island, Companies F and G, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, sail from Gigantangan Island. to Taglawigan, on the northwestern coast of Leyte Peninsula, and land without opposition, taking Taglawigan. They then proceed by sea and overland to Daha, which is also secured. Company G, reinforced, moves south by sea to the San Isidro area and goes ashore. The 1st Battalion, meanwhile, ordered to take San Isidro, moves overland from Calumbian to the heights overlooking the town. In the XXIV Corps area, the 3d Battalion, 305th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, takes the heights 600 yards (549 meters) ahead as it continues west along the Palompon road against tenacious resistance. The 2d Battalion is to move forward by water. The 1st Battalion, 305th Infantry Regiment, remains in the Palompon area, patrolling and awaiting the rest of regiment.

USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators bomb San Jose and Talisay Airfields on Negros Island and Matina Airfield on Mindanao Island.

EAST INDIES: Small miscellaneous strikes are carried out by the USAAF Far East Air Forces over Borneo, Celebes Islands, and the Lesser Sunda Islands.

BONIN AND VOLCANO ISLANDS: Forty eight Mariana Island based USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, while 21 more bomb Chichi Jima, Bonin Islands. P-38 Lightnings strafe the Iwo Jima airfields on which two B-24 Liberators also make snooper strikes during the night of 27/28 December.

USN Task Group 94.9, the heavy cruisers USS Chester (CA-27), Pensacola (CA-24) and Salt Lake City (CA-25) and seven destroyers, follows up the USAAF strikes with a bombardment of Japanese installations on Iwo Jima and shipping offshore. Destroyer USS Dunlap (DD-384) is damaged by shore battery, but not before she teams with USS Fanning (DD-385) and Cummings (DD-365) to sink a fast transport and a landing ship.

Destroyer USS Willard Keith commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Vandivier launched.

Heavy cruisers USS Norfolk nd Scranton laid down.

Destroyer USS James E Kyes laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Frigate HMCS Sea Cliff and corvettes HMCS Edmunston and St Thomas sank U-877 NW of Azores, 46-25N 36-38W while escorting convoy HX-327. U-877, a IXC/40 Type U-Boat built by Deutsche Schill und machinenbau, AG, Weser, Bremen, Launched 10 Dec 43, commissioned 24 Mar 44, in service 9 months, with no record of sinking any ships. One authority indicates U-877 was a IXC/42 type U-boat, however, Deutsche Schiff und Machinenbau AG, Weser, Bremen, never completed any of that type of U-boat. U-877's, primary assigned task was as a weather reporting U-boat from the area west of Ireland, however, her wireless was faulty nd in view of the radio problems headed for North America. On 27 Dec radar warning set gave the alarm and U-877 crash-dived. Edmunston made initial Asdic contact that she soon abandoned as doubtful. St Thomas, coming up astern, obtained the contact and immediately fired one bomb from her squid mortar to 'keep his head down' St Thomas lined up and made a deliberate attack with one more Squid bomb, which exploded directly over U-877's stern. Water poured into the U-boat causing her to sink to nearly 1,200 feet before ballast was blown nd she surfaced. Both St Thomas and Sea Cliff, who had joined to help, opened fire, but there was little fight left in U-877. By the time the two escorts closed, all the U-boat's crew were safely in their life rafts. The number rescued were 5 officers, 4 senior rates, nd 46 junior rates.

CANADA: In Ottawa, Ontario, lawyer Andrew Brewin persuades the Minister of Justice to halt the deportation of 900 Japanese-Canadians and gets the matter referred to Supreme Court of Canada. In December 1946, the Privy Council upholds a Supreme Court Decision that the deportation orders are legal but on 24 January 1947, the deportation orders are cancelled after 4,000 Japanese Canadians have already been "repatriated."

U.S.A.: Washington: In a formal ceremony at the State Department today, 28 nations signed into being the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This ratifies the Breton Woods agreement made last year. Fred M. Vinson, who signed for America, described it as a "mission of peace."

The IMF is to be world currency and gold pool aimed at stabilizing exchange rates and promoting a healthy level of international trade. The nations which signed today will contribute $8,800 million, some 80% of the Fund's financial resources. The Bank is to promote international risk-sharing ventures which will provide funds for world reconstruction and development.

Mr Vinson, who was vice-chairman of the US delegation to the Breton Woods conference, said that the agreement represented "not just lip service to the ideals of peace - but action, concrete action, designed to establish the economic foundations of peace on the bedrock of genuine international co-operation." The USSR did not sign today, but is expected to do so by the deadline of 31 December.