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1933   (SUNDAY)

U.S.A.: A 24-hour rainfall of 7.36 inches (18,69 centimetres) sets the stage for the worst flood in Los Angeles, California history. Flooding claims 44 lives.

U.S.S.R.: The Polikarpov I-16 monoplane, the first low-wing single-seat fighter monoplane with a retractable landing gear to achieve service, makes its first flight. This aircraft enters squadron service in the second half of 1934 and served in front-line units until the spring of 1943 fighting the Luftwaffe in 1941 and 1942.

1936   (THURSDAY)

ITALY: Italian Foreign Minister Gian Ciano gives the United Kingdom a pledge that "so far as Italy is concerned, the integrity of the present territories of Spain shall in all circumstances remain intact and unmodified."

1937   (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Just over 2,000 television sets have been sold in U.K. by the end of the year.

1938   (SATURDAY)

U.S.A.: The government rejects the new order in China stating, "In the light of facts and experience the Government of the United States is impelled to reaffirm its previously expressed opinion that imposition of restrictions upon the movements and activities of American nationals who are engaged in philanthropic, educational, and commercial endeavours in China has placed and will, if continued, increasingly place Japanese interests, in a preferred position and is, therefore, unquestionably discriminatory, in its effect, against legitimate American interests. Furthermore, with reference to such matters as exchange control, compulsory, currency circulation, tariff revision, and monopolistic promotion in certain areas of China, the plans and practices of the Japanese authorities imply an assumption on the part of those authorities that the Japanese Government or the regimes established and maintained in China by Japanese armed forces are entitled to act in China in a capacity such as flows from rights of sovereignty and, further in so acting, to disregard and even to declare non-existent or abrogated the established rights and interests of other countries, including the United States. . . . This government does not admit, however, that there is need or warrant for any one power to take upon itself to prescribe what shall be the terms and conditions of a `new order' in areas not under its sovereignty and to constitute itself the repository of authority and the agent of destiny in regard thereto."

     The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner makes its first flight in Seattle, Washington. The 307 is a transport version of the B-17C Flying Fortress with a new fuselage. The outstanding feature is the pressurized cabin which allows the aircraft to fly above rough weather with a service ceiling of 26,200 feet (7 986 meters). Three aircraft are delivered to Pan American Airways (PAA) and five go to Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA). During the war, the TWA aircraft are drafted by the USAAF€™s Air Transport Command and assigned the USAAF designation C-75-BO and USAAF serial numbers. These aircraft are operated by TWA crews until returned to the factory in 1944 for reconditioning prior to return to the airline. TWA continued to operate them until 1951. The PAA aircraft also served the military but with civilian registration. They are sold after the war when the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser became available. The only remaining 307, one of the three delivered to Pan American, is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre near Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, approximately 26 miles (42 kilometres) west of downtown Washington, D.C.

December 31st, 1939 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 'Security Patrols' - Hornum, Borkum, Norderney, Heligoland. 10 Sqn. Four aircraft. Moderate opposition.

London: Police arrest New Year revellers shining torches in the blackout onto Eros to see in 1940.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Walnut commissioned.

GERMANY: Berlin: In his New Year message to the German people, Hitler said: "We shall only talk of peace when we have won the war. The Jewish-capitalist world will not survive the 20th century." He looked forward to the creation of a new Europe under German leadership, a Europe liberated from "British tyranny".

In a separate Order of the Day to the armed forces Hitler said that in the effort to create a new order in Europe, "the hardest struggle for the existence or non-existence of the German people lies before us."

Göring  told his Luftwaffe crews that they would unleash against Britain, "such an onslaught as has never been known in the history of the world."

TURKEY: Floods and further earthquakes push the death toll up to 30,000.

FINLAND:  The Finns claim to have pushed the Red Army back across the frontier on the Suomussalmi-Kemijarvi front.

The battle which has been raging outside Suomussalmi for the past week has ended in the destruction of two Russian Divisions, 27,000 Russians have died against only 900 Finns in the classic battle of ambush and destroy. The Russians are now fighting back in their own territory.

General Wallenius, the commander of the Finnish Northern Army, has revealed that his men are now operating on Soviet territory. "We don't let them rest," he said, "we don't let them sleep. This is a war of numbers against brains. We train our men to fight individually and they can do it, whereas the Russian can never rid himself of his natural gregarious instincts."

Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo, who planned and led the destruction of the Russian divisions, has been promoted to general and sent south with the objective of inflicting a similar fate on another Russian division trapped by the "White Death" Finns in the forest at Kuhmo. The Russians have also been driven back over the frontier further south after their defeat at Tolvarjarvi where they lost 2000 dead and 600 prisoners. "There were," said a Finn, "more Russians than we had bullets."

GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Excalibur, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 17 December, is released.

U.S.A: The Dow-Jones Industrial Average finished the year at 150.24 -2.92% down on the year.

The motion picture "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by William Dieterle, this drama stars Charles Laughton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O'Hara and Edmond O'Brien. The film is nominated for two technical Academy Awards. The American Film Institute has rated this Number 98 on the list of the 100 America's Greatest Love Stories.

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC:

At 1947, SS Luna was torpedoed by U-32 and sank slowly by the stern.

December Summary:

Losses. 7 ships of 38,000 tons.

1 pocket battleship.

Merchant Shipping War

Losses. 66 ships of 152,000 tons.

Trawlers are the main victims of the first successful attacks by German aircraft off the East Coast. By the end of March they have accounted for 30 vessels of 37,000 tons. Losses from mines are 33 ships of 83,000 tons in December.

Year-end balance: Great Britain has lost 422,232 tons of shipping (2% of fleet), Germany has lost 224,322 tons of shipping (5% of fleet). Britain's blockade has resulted in the confiscation of 1 million tons of goods bound for Germany.

Year in Review:

Movies: The Four Feathers directed by Alexander Korda, based on A.E.W. Mason's novel.

Stanley and Livingstone with Spencer Tracy and Cedric Hardwicke, made by Henry King.

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December 31st, 1940 (TUESDAY)

Submarines HMS Sea Dog and Sibyl laid down.

GERMANY:
Hitler writes to Franco telling him that he is sorry that Spain decided not to join the Axis.

At least 200,000 ethnic Germans now living in countries outside Greater Germany are to be resettled within the Reich under agreements signed this year. Most will come from Romania and Bulgaria, but there are also 50,000 Germans in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia whose transfer has been agreed with Russia. So far, however, it has been easier to reach international agreements than to cope with the physical upheaval of so many people, and few have yet to arrive in their notional fatherland.

U-126 launched.

CANADA: Minas Basin Ferry Kipawo removed from service. Requisitioned for naval service as HMCS Kipawa (clerical error) and served rest of war as an examination vessel.

Patrol vessel HMCS Raccoon (ex-yacht Halonia) commissioned.

U.S.A.:
Roosevelt proposes programme of relief for unoccupied France and Spain. Specifically to send milk and vitamin concentrates for children along with some medical supplies. Roosevelt telegrams Churchill to allow the ship through the British blockade.

Harbour tug USS Hoga is launched at Consolidated Shipbuilders, Morris Heights, New York. (John Nicholas)

Destroyer USS Boyle laid down.

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC:

Convoy HX-97 straggler MS Valparaiso sunk by U-38 60.01N, 23.00W - Grid AL 2787.

Tanker British Zeal damaged by U-65 at 15.40N 20.43W - Grid EJ 6315.

Losses: 42 ships of 239,000 tons and 1 armed merchant cruiser.
1 Italian U-boat.
MERCHANT SHIPPING WAR:
Losses: 34 ships of 83,000 tons.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
MERCHANT SHIPPING WAR: Losses: There are no shipping losses in December.
United States: The Dow-Jones Industrial Average finished the year at 131.13 -12.72%
down on the year.

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December 31st, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMCS (ex-HMS) Ettrick laid down Sunderland.

Destroyer HMS Milne launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Despite its setback outside the gates of Moscow, the territory controlled by the Third Reich is far greater than it was a year ago. Overall the war still appears to be going well for Germany, but how is the Nazi war economy standing up?

For the first year of the war the Third Reich - well prepared for war - suffered few real changes in the life style of its people. The country has had to double its arms production. Britain on the other hand, faced a sixfold increase, and American arms production has soared by a factor of more than eight. In the early days of the war, Germany was able to draw on adequate supplies. Rapid victories in Poland and France used less material than had been planned for. It was the Battle of Britain, followed by the Russian invasion, that began to cause gaps.

The sinking of the Bismarck and other naval losses brought about the mobilization of resources for extra shipbuilding, with workers, factories and raw materials being diverted from civilian goods production.

Germany has become increasingly dependent on imported or confiscated raw materials. In Poland, France and occupied Russia, everything that might be of value is taken. At the beginning of the year, the Nazi regime concluded a trade deal for 9,000 tons of non-ferrous metal with the Soviet Union. Most had been delivered before the invasion.

An officer was washed overboard from U-701, the last casualty of the year. [Leutnant zur See Bernhard Weinitschke].

U-487 laid down.

ARCTIC SEA: During heavy weather a lookout on U-584 broke his arm.

U.S.S.R.: Losses for the Red Army total at least 5 million casualties, 3 million prisoners, 20,000 tanks and 30,000 guns. Despite these losses the Soviets will retain initiative on the front well into spring.

Leningrad: The city is still holding out after four months of siege, but its people are suffering terribly from hunger and cold. It is commonplace to see a sledge with the swaddled body of a child being dragged to a cemetery by the child's mother. Sometimes she falls down dead beside her infant, exhausted by the effort.

It is estimated that some 3,000 people are dying every day from starvation despite the suicide runs of lorry convoys across the frozen ice of Lake Ladoga. These lorries running by night along a marked track, come under fire from the German guns and almost every night one of them slips through the ice to be swallowed up.

There is no fuel for buses and no electric heating for houses. Ancient wood-burning stoves have been recovered from the scrap heap. Many people keep warm only by burning their furniture. The people are also suffering from the diseases of malnutrition.

Scurvy is prevalent. The thick overcoats of the women who queue for bread which often never arrives hide bellies swollen by hunger.

Flour is mixed with sawdust. The strong brave the long dangerous trek to the frozen fields where they dig for potatoes. And as the long agony of Leningrad goes on there are rumours of cannibalism.

The Germans on the southern front break off attacks on Sevastopol in order to counter Soviet thrusts from Kerch and Feodosia. On the central front. Red Army troops seize Kaluga, southwest of Moscow.

     Losses on the Eastern front for the Red Army total at least 5 million casualties, 3 million prisoners, 20,000 tanks and 30,000 guns. Despite these losses the Soviets will retain initiative on the front well into spring.

LIBYA: On the Libyan-Egyptian frontier, the South African 2nd Division. assisted by the 1st Army Tank Brigade of XXX Corps, British Eighth Army, attacks and penetrates the Bardia fortress, on the main road from Tobruk to Egypt.

     During the day, the British light cruiser HMS Ajax (22), the Australian destroyers HMAS Napier (G 97), Nestor (G 02) and Nizam (G38) and the British destroyers HMS Arrow (H 42), Gurkha (G 63) and Kingston (F 64), bombard German defenses at Bardia.

MALAYA: The Indian 11th Division now holds a relatively well-organized defense position in western Malaya, with the Indian 6/15 Brigade disposed on the main line of resistance at Kampar and the Indian 28th Brigade Group to the east. The Japanese increase pressure against the 28th Brigade Group. On the east coast, the Kuantan defense force completes a concentration west of Kuantan River and destroys the ferry..

BORNEO: The last British troops retreat into the Dutch East Indies.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: A composite US force attacks the Japanese 7th Tank Regiment (part of 48th Division) near Plaridel. The Japanese tanks are massing for an attack on 51st Division (Philippines Army) when Maj-Gen Jones, orders a spoiling attack by two platoons of Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion, covered a six 75mm SPMs. The US tanks rolled into Baliuag village and engage in a close range fight which knocks out 8 Japanese tanks without loss to the Americans.

The Official History (207) says that the SPMs didn't fire until after the US tanks had withdrawn for fear of hitting their own. Therefore it would seem likely that an M3 Light Tank claimed the first tank vs tank kill.

Earlier in the day the Japanese tanks had come under US Field Artillery and tank fire at Plaridel. (Michael Alexander)(207)

The evacuation of Manila is completed as the rear echelon of U.S. Army Forces Far East headquarters leaves. The North Luzon Force closes in final defense positions, Bamban-Arayat, before San Fernando and Plaridel, east of the Calumpit bridge. On the eastern flank, the 91st Division [Philippine Army (PA)] goes into reserve south of Baliuag, leaving the 71st Division (PA) to delay the Japanese briefly at Baliuag; both divisions then retire toward the Calumpit bridge. Firm contact is made between the North and South Luzon Forces in the San Fernando area after the latter crosses the Calumpit bridge. Brigadier General Albert Jones, Commanding General South Luzon Force, is placed in command of all forces east of the Pampanga River.

     The USN submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon (ASR-6) transports an armed party to Sangley Point in Manila Bay and brings out a Luzon Stevedoring Company lighter loaded with 97 mines and eight truckloads of aerial depth charges; USS Pigeon then tows the barge to a point 4.5 miles (7,2 kilometers) off Sangley Point and capsizes it in 11 fathoms (66 feet or 20 meters) of water. The sailors also destroy the aircraft repair shop at Cavite Naval Base and one irreparable PBY Catalina.

EAST INDIES: In the Netherlands East Indies, the air echelon of the Far East Air Force's 30th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) transfers from Batchelor Field near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia to Singosari, Java, with B-17 Flying Fortresses.

AUSTRALIA: Brisbane, Queensland: General Brett takes command of US forces here. 
Major General George H. Brett was appointed Chief of the Air Corps in May 1941 and then was ordered to Australia to take command of U.S. Forces in Australia, redesignated U.S. Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA) on 5 January 1942.

He returned to the US and was designated Commanding General Caribeean defence Command and the U.S. Army's Panama Canal Department in November 1942.

Canberra: "This is the gravest hour of our history,"  declared prime minister John Curtin, on 8 December after Pearl Harbor.

Nothing has prepared this country for the disasters to come. For two years Australia has been fighting a war mainly in overseas theatres as part of the British war effort. But now Australians see themselves in a direct struggle for survival - with combat taking place on or near Australian territory. After the initial shock, the mood here was confident. It was not conceivable that the mighty United States, could be defeated in the war by Japan.

But the debacle at Pearl Harbor, the destruction of the American Far East air forces in the Philippines and the Japanese landings in Malaya and Thailand, together with the sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse have alarmed the Australian people and their government to a marked degree.

After two weeks of war in South-east Asia, the situation is grave. Major-General Gordon Bennett, the Australian army commander in Malaya, has asked for at least one Australian division to be transferred from the Middle East. The Australian government has sent a message to Churchill and Roosevelt, meeting in Washington, asking for Singapore to be reinforced. The loss of the base would mean the isolation of this continent.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz assumes command of the Pacific Fleet in ceremonies on board the submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) at Pearl Harbor.

CANADA: In Ottawa, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill faces the press, and is asked about Yugoslavia, where partisans, Germans, Italians, and German puppet troops are chasing each other round the mountains. "They are fighting with the greatest vigor and on quite a large scale, and we don't hear very much of what is going on there. It is all very terrible. Guerilla warfare and the most frightful atrocities by the Germans and Italians, and every kind of torture, but the people keep the flag flying."

     The RCAF has 14 squadrons operating overseas, seven more authorized; plus 16 at home, including eight on the West Coast.

Corvette HMCS Bittersweet arrived Charleston SC for refit.

U.S.A.: Washington: Churchill's visit will be rounded off with a review of the Anglo-American military staff talks - known as the Arcadian conference - which have been taking place during the past week. One outcome of the talks has been the decision, stubbornly opposed by some on the American side, to identify Hitler's Germany as the main threat to the Allies. 

The immediate danger is presented by the Japanese conquest of the East Indies, with their vast stores of strategic raw materials. When Japan has been put on the defensive, a full-scale invasion of Europe will be mounted for the decisive battle with Germany.

Soon after Churchill's arrival in Washington, just before Christmas, agreement was reached on the creation of a joint war council and joint supply council. These two bodies will attempt to match the demands of the military planners to the availability of guns, tanks, aircraft and other war materials.

The Dow-Jones Industrial Average finished the year at 110.96 -15.38%
down on the year.

The War Production Board notes that since 1 July 1940 208,000 trucks have been delivered to the military, of which nearly 84,000 are under 1¼ tons. (Will O'Neil)

Submarine USS Gato commissioned.

Destroyer USS Bancroft launched.

America's last automobiles with chrome-plated trim are manufactured today. Starting tomorrow, chrome plating becomes illegal. It is part of an effort to conserve resources for the American war effort but the chrome is not missed too much because virtually no automobiles are produced in the U.S. from 1942 through the end of World War II. (Jack McKillop

VENEZUELA: Diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan are severed.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1954, the Cardita, a straggler from convoy HX-166, was torpedoed by U-87 110 miles 307° from St. Kilda. The vessel foundered in 59°42N/11°58W on 3 January. 27 crewmembers were lost. The master, 16 crewmembers and six gunners were picked up by destroyer HMS Onslow and ten crewmembers by HMS Sabre and landed at Reykjavik.

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December 31st, 1942 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A new navigation device is entering RAF Bomber Command service. This is "Oboe", which has been installed in Mosquitoes of 105 Squadron of the Pathfinder Force. Originally developed from the German Lorenz beams, it first had operational trials against the Scharnhorst and GNEISENAU at Brest in December 1941, but was found to be unreliable. Now refined, it was used by 105 Squadron in an attack on a power station at Lutterdale in Holland on the night of 20-21 December. It will be used again tonight against Dusseldorf and a fighter base in Belgium.

BELGIUM: During the day, two RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb the marshalling yard at Mons.

     During the night of 31 December/1 January, three RAF Bomber Command Oboe Mosquitos are sent to attack the German night-fighter control room at Florennes Airfield.. Two Mosquitos operate their Oboe equipment satisfactorily and dropped six high-explosive bombs from 28,000 feet (8 534 meters) through 10/10ths cloud cover. The results are not known.

FRANCE: During the day, two RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb the marshalling yard (M/Y) at Raismes while one each bombs the M/Ys at Lille and Monceay-sur-Sambre.

     During the night of 31 December/1 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 29 aircraft on minelaying mission off Bay of Biscay ports: nine lay mines in the Gironde Estuary; four each lay mines off La Pallice, Lorient and St. Nazaire; and three lay mines off Brest. One Wellington is lost off La Pallice. Four aircraft drop leaflets over Orleans while two drop leaflets over Limoges.

GERMANY: Berlin: Germans end the year in a mood of foreboding, which is reflected in Goebbels's weekly newspaper article. "Wherever we look we see mountains of problems ... Everywhere the path ascends at a steep and dangerous angle and nowhere is there a shady spot where we may stay and rest." A two-day meeting of his propaganda officials has been followed by newspaper articles speaking of setbacks for the Axis forces. Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian foreign minister, found the Germans in low spirits when he visited the Fuhrer's HQ. "The atmosphere is heavy, " he noted. "No one tries to conceal from me the unhappiness over war news."

Rastenburg: Himmler tells Hitler that during August and September 363,211 Jews were "executed" in occupied Europe.

During the night of 31 December/1 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches eight Lancasters and two Oboe Mosquitos of the Pathfinder Force to Düsseldorf; nine aircraft bomb the target with the loss of one Lancaster. This is a trial raid, with the Mosquitos dropping target markers by Oboe for the small Lancaster force. Only one Mosquito is able to use Oboe. The Düsseldorf report shows that, out of nine recorded bombing incidents, six are at industrial premises, though no serious damage is caused. Ten civilians and two Flak soldiers are killed, 34 people are injured and seven more are classified as missing.

POLAND: Poniatowa: 18,000 Soviet PoWs have died this month of starvation.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet 5th Shock Army drives southwest from Nizhne Chirskaya and retakes Tormosin. German Army Detachment Hollidt is rendered impotent to stop these attacks. 
The year is ending on a high note for the Red Army. The great victory at Stalingrad is almost complete, with the survivors of Paulus's army dying of cold, hunger and typhus in the ruins of the city which they sought to capture.

Kotelnikovo, von Manstein's base for the attempt to relieve the city, fell yesterday, and now the whole German position in the Caucasus is threatened as the Russians sweep south. Meanwhile General Zhukov, the architect of the Stalingrad victory, has moved back to Leningrad. Having organized the resistance there a year ago, he has now been ordered by Stalin to break the German siege.

Moscow: The USSR claims that 175,000 German troops have been killed in the last six weeks of fighting.

Soviet Navy records four submarine losses during the month that are not listed by day - L-24 Black Sea Fleet off Shabler Cape M-31 Black Sea Fleet Zhebriany Bay (sunk by German aircraft south of Cape Takil); Shch-212 Black Sea Fleet off Sinop Cape (gasoline explosion at Sevastopol); M-72 Baltic Fleet Leningrad.

BARENTS SEA: The battle continues. Early this morning, the British ships are in four groups (1-4). The main convoy (1) with five remaining 4-inch (10.2 centimetre) or 4.7-inch (11.9 centimetre) destroyers HMS Achates (H 12), Onslow (G 17), Obdurate (G 39), Obedient (G 48) and Orwell (G 98) heads due east. (Some of the escort and merchantmen have been scattered by gales and never regain the convoy). (2) Northeast of the convoy, detached minesweeper HMS Bramble (J 11) is searching for missing ships. The 6-inch light cruisers HMS Jamaica and Sheffield (3) cover to the north and further north still a straggling merchant ship and escorting trawler (4) try to reach the convoy. At about 0930 hours, the action starts with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper's three destroyers heading north across the rear of the convoy, and opening fire on the destroyer HMS Obdurate off northern Norway about 259 nautical miles (479 kilometres) north-northwest of Murmansk, U.S.S.R., in position 73N, 29E. The convoy later turns as planned, but south towards the armoured ship Lutzow

Convoy JW-51B, the first bound for Murmansk for three months, had been scattered by heavy gales when it was spotted by a U-boat. The German ships sailed to intercept, but Captain Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke (1901-72), in the destroyer HMS ONSLOW, has other ideas.

When the enemy was sighted soon after 9am Sherbrooke led four destroyers of the escort out to attack. Mindful of Hitler's orders not to risk losing the big ships, Vice-Admiral Kummtez ordered his force to turn away, but not before the ADMIRAL HIPPER had severely damaged HMS ONSLOW with her 8-inch guns. Sherbrooke was hit in the face by a splinter, leaving his left eye hanging down his cheek. But he continued to direct the battle until Lt-Cdr Kinloch in HMS OBEDIENT took over. Sherbrooke was later awarded the Victoria Cross.

The action then became confused, but the escort behaved like terriers and drove off the much superior force, though not before the destroyer HMS ACHATES and the minesweeper, HMS BRAMBLE, had been sunk. Achates being hit by Hipper. In the initial attack, the captain and 40 of Achates crew are killed, but Lieutenant Peyton-Jones takes over command and maintains her position, laying a smokescreen to cover the escaping convoy, until finally the ship loses all power and sinks. 81 survivors are picked up by SS Northern Gem just as Achates capsizes. But the ADMIRAL HIPPER was also damaged and a German destroyer sunk. The convoy, with its cargo of 202 tanks, 2,046 vehicles, 87 fighters, 33 bombers, 11,500 tons of aviation spirit and 54,321 tons of others supplies for Russia, is pressing ahead otherwise unscathed. (Alex Gordon)(108)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS P-311, only unnamed T-class boat, was due to have been named Tutankhamen. Fitted to carry 2 human torpedoes (Chariots). Lost while engaged in Operation Principle, Chariot attack on Italian cruisers at La Maddalena. Left Scotland in November 1942 with sister-boats Thunderbolt and Trooper after addition of human torpedo deck-mounted watertight containers, direct for Malta. From there, sailed with two Chariots for Operation ""Principle"". Last signal today from position 38-10'N, 11-30'E. Probably sunk by Italian mines in the approaches to Maddalena. Italians claimed sunk by torpedo boat 'Partenope' on 29th - two days before her last signal; lost with all hands.

U-561 fired a four-torpedo fan at an enemy destroyer, but all missed.

NORTH AFRICA: Not since the worst months of the Somme have armies fought in such conditions. For raw Americans, seasoned Britons, reluctant French and the Germans and Italians across the line, the worst enemy is clinging, clawing mud as the rain turns the terrain into a vast quagmire. Operation Torch was to be a fast mobile operation. Instead it has become trench warfare with both sides bogged down. 

With Rommel retreating from the east and substantial reinforcements arriving from Europe, Lt-Gen Eisenhower is planning to block Rommel's supply lines with American troops.

TUNISIA: Eleven USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators, including RAF (B-24) Liberators, bomb shipping and the dock area at Sfax with good results.

     USAAF Twelfth Air Force light bombers, with fighter escort, make two attacks on Sousse, bombing the railroad yards and docks. Eighteen escorted B-17 Flying Fortresses hit the harbour area of Sfax while B-26 Marauders, with fighter escort, hit the airfield area at Gabes and shipping and rail bridges in the Bizerte-Tunis area. P-38 Lightnings and P-40s, flying reconnaissance, destroy several vehicles.

LIBYA: French soldiers from Chad, under Brigadier General Philippe Leclerc, military commander of Chad, advance into south Fezzan intending to join up with the British Eighth Army. 

BURMA: USAAF Tenth Air Force P-40s on armed reconnaissance hit railroad targets of opportunity from Naba to Pinbaw.

JAPAN: Emperor Hirohito is presented with the finalized plan to withdraw from Guadalcanal, and pull back the beleaguered garrison to New Georgia. He informs Nagano and Sugiyama that he will issue an Imperial Prescript to acknowledge the heroic sacrifices of his soldiers and sailors. 

NEW GUINEA: The Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) begins envelopment of Buna Mission. Company E, 127th Infantry Regiment, and Company F, 128th Infantry Regiment, cross the shallows east of Buna Village before dawn and, although the Japanese offer strong opposition upon being alerted, advance about 200 yards (183 meters) along the spit extending from Buna Mission. Other elements of the Urbana Force maintain pressure on the Japanese from the southeast and finish clearing Government Gardens, but the Japanese retain positions in the swamp north of the gardens. Patrol contact is made between the Urbana Force and Warren Force (based on U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division). The Warren Force finishes regrouping. The fresh Australian 2/12th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division, is disposed on the left, 3d Battalion of the U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment in the centre, and the Australian 2/10th Battalion, 1  8th Brigade, on the right. With the arrival of additional cargo at Oro Bay by sea, supplies moved in this manner since the first vessel arrived on 11 December total some 4,000 tons (3 629 metric tonnes).

     USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs strafe forces in the Sanananda and Giruwa area and along the Amboga River. B-26 Marauders pound forces on the north shore of the Markham River near its mouth, while A-20 Havocs strafe parked aircraft at Lae.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Islands, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators operating singly, bomb Gasmata Airfield and attack shipping in Wide Bay and Saint George Channel.

     Aircraft flying over Rabaul on New Britain Island note 21 Japanese warships and 70 merchant vessels in the harbour, the largest concentration of Japanese ships ever seen in the area.

SOLOMON ISLAND: Noumea: Guadalcanal, which the Americans have come to know as "the island of death", has become the scene of renewed fighting as fresh US infantry begin a campaign to round up or annihilate the enemy and secure the whole island. Major-General Alexander Patch, the commander of the American XIV Corps, plans to take Mount Austen and begin an enveloping movement. A major offensive is to be mounted in the New Year.

Patch's advance began on 17 December, and by Christmas Eve the Japanese observation post on Mount Austen had fallen. Patch had taken over command of the Guadalcanal garrison on 9 December, relieving Lieutenant-General A. Vandergrift, who had commanded the 1st Marine Division when it landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942. Vandergrift's original intention was to take Mount Austen. Although this had not been achieved, complete victory is in sight at Guadalcanal, so the 1st Marine Division has been sent to Australia for a well-earned rest.

There are now 50,000 US troops on Guadalcanal, while Japanese strength on the island has dwindled to 25,000 many of whom are sick and hungry. The Japanese are virtually isolated and cannot be adequately supplied or reinforced by their navy. In contrast, the Americans, with substantial air force units based on Henderson Field, are able to supply their garrison and relieve and reinforce it with comparative ease.

The 2d Battalion, 132d Infantry Regiment. Americal Division, reaches Hill 11, east of the Gifu strongpoint, the line of departure for the enveloping movement.

On New Georgia Islands, USAAF B-26 Marauders escorted by P-38 Lightnings and P-39 Airacobras, attack the Munda Airfield.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Six USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators covered by nine P-38 Lightnings, attack Japanese-held Kiska Island Harbour, and damages a Japanese merchant cargo ship off Kiska.; one of six intercepting Japanese aircraft is probably shot down. A B-25 Mitchell searching for the Navy PBY Catalina missing since yesterday also flies reconnaissance over Semisopochnoi, Segula, Little Sitkin, Gareloi and Amchitka.

GREENLAND: Wooden buildings of the Fredericksdal construction camp are blown away in a 165 mile per hour (266 kilometre per hour) gale. They are replaced with Quonset huts buried in trenches. Fredericksdal is located on the southern tip of Greenland.

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December 31st, 1943 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Civilian casualties from German air raids in the last three months are 247 killed and 561 wounded.

FRANCE: Resistants carry out a simultaneous bombing of rail depots and junctions.

The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 171: various targets in France are hit; 19 B-17 Flying Fortresses and six B-24 Liberators are lost. The targets are (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of aircraft bombing and number lost, e.g., 97-1):

 - Airfields: Chateaubernard Airfield at Cognac (257-23); St. Jean D'Angely (68-1) and Landes de Bussac (19-0).

 - Ball bearing factories: Bois-Colombes (57-1) and Ivry (63-0) in Paris.

     The total bomb tonnage dropped by the Eighth Air Force in December 1943, 13,142 tons (14,486 metric tonnes), for the first time exceeds that dropped by the RAF Bomber Command.

     About 200 USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb V-1 weapon sites in the French coastal area.

POLAND: Karpiowka: The Germans burn 59 villagers to death for helping partisans.

ITALY: The US 5th and British 8th Armies are now battering fruitlessly against the German defences. In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, attempts in vain to clear more hills east of Acquafondata.