This day in military history..

18 December

1940: Hitler issues Directive No. 21, ordering plans for the preparation of Operation Barbarossa, the attack against the Soviet Union, to be submitted by May 15, 1941.
1941: Field Marshal von Brauchitsch resigns as head of OKH, Hitler himself assuming personal command of the Heer, especially of its operations on the Eastern front.
1944: In the West, Operation Wacht am Rhein begins to bog down in the face of stiffened US resistance and lack of adequate logistical support, notably fuel for the armored Kampfgruppen of Dietrich's and Manteuffel's armies.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1944: 'Arty' Hill, Bougainville, captured - 'Arty Hill', as it was known, was captured by the Queensland 9th Battalion, and was a major Japanese position on the Numa Numa Trail leading across Bougainville.
source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
1961 - Indonesia invades Netherlands New Guinea.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_December

1862: Battle of Lexington, Tennessee - Confederate cavalry leader General Nathan Bedford Forrest routs a Union force under the command of Colonel Robert Ingersoll on a raid into western Tennessee, an area held by the Union.
1916: Battle of Verdun ends - The Battle of Verdun, the longest engagement of World War I, ends on this day after ten months and close to a million total casualties suffered by German and French troops.
1941: Japan invades Hong Kong - Japanese troops land in Hong Kong and a slaughter ensues. A week of air raids over Hong Kong, a British crown colony, was followed up on December 17 with a visit paid by Japanese envoys to Sir Mark Young, the British governor of Hong Kong. The envoys' message was simple: The British garrison there should simply surrender to the Japanese--resistance was futile. The envoys were sent home with the following retort: "The governor and commander in chief of Hong Kong declines absolutely to enter into negotiations for the surrender of Hong Kong. ..."
On this same day in 1941: Censorship is imposed with the passage of the 1st American War Powers Act- The War Powers Act is passed by Congress, authorizing the president to initiate and terminate defense contracts, reconfigure government agencies for wartime priorities, and regulate the freezing of foreign assets. It also permitted him to censor all communications coming in and leaving the country.
1972: Nixon announces start of "Christmas Bombing" of North Vietnam - Following the breakdown of peace talks with North Vietnam just a few days earlier, President Richard Nixon announces the beginning of a massive bombing campaign to break the stalemate. For nearly two weeks, in Operation Linebacker II, American bombers pounded North Vietnam.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

:m1: :peace: :type:
 
tomtom22 said:
If you can find anything in military history on the 17th of December earlier than the 20th century, then post it.
:peace:
Click to expand...

heh, but uhh, ur the expert on finding those sites.
Everytime i try to find this day in history, specially military, its really rare to find.
Wonder how u get all those..

Good job anyway :)
 
MightyMacbeth said:
heh, but uhh, ur the expert on finding those sites.
Everytime i try to find this day in history, specially military, its really rare to find.
Wonder how u get all those..
Good job anyway :)
Click to expand...

My sources are always listed after each item. Thanks for the compliment.
 
December 19, 1939 - A British destroyer intercepts Columbus, a German passenger liner, 450 miles east of Cape May, New Jersey. Columbus is subsequentlyscuttled.

December 19, 1940 - Secretary of the Navy is given control and jurisdiction overthe Pacific island of Palmyra.

December 19, 1941 - Hitler takes complete command of the German Army.

December 19, 1943 - The Japanese destroyer Namukaze is sunk by the submarine USS Grayback (SS-208 ) off the Ryukyu Islands.

December 19, 1944 - The Japanese carrier Unryu is sunk by the submarine USS Redfish (SS-395) in the East China Sea.

I hope you don't mind Tom.
 
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The Cooler King said:
I hope you don't mind Tom.
Click to expand...

I don't mind at all. This thread is everyone's to post on. If you noticed I have waited until very late in the day before posting in the hopes that others will take an interest. I try to get an international flavor as much as possible, e.g. Australian, German etc. Be my guest!

:cheers:
:peace:
 
Busy day!

20 December

1941: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte retreating from the front before Moscow reach new defensive lines more than 100 m to the west where, following strict orders by Hitler, they are to stand and fight off any further Soviet advances.
1944: In their torturous advance toward the Meuse river, armored units of 6.SS-Panzerarmee capture Stavelot, searching for Allied fuel dumps to replenish their near- exhausted supplies of gasoline.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1915: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli - The evacuation of Gallipoli, largely planned by Brigadier General C.B.B. White, was a triumph of careful planning and bold execution. 1917:Second conscription referendum held in Australia - With the AIF further weakened by the losses of 1917, W.M. Hughes again asked Australians to vote for conscription for overseas service. The proposal was again defeated.source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1989 - Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_December

1862: Raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi - Confederate General Earl Van Dorn thwarts Union General Ulysses S. Grant's first attempt to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, when Van Dorn attacks Grant's supplies at Holly Springs, Mississippi.
1914: First Battle of Champagne begins - After minor skirmishes, the First Battle of Champagne begins in earnest, marking the first major Allied attack against the Germans since the initiation of trench warfare on the Western Front.
1941: Hitler to Halder: No retreat! - On this day, in one of his first acts as the new commander in chief of the German army, Adolf Hitler informs General Franz Halder that there will be no retreating from the Russian front near Moscow. "The will to hold out must be brought home to every unit!" Halder was also informed that he could stay on as chief of the general army staff if he so chose, but only with the understanding that Hitler alone was in charge of the army's movements and strategies.
1963: Berlin Wall opened for first time - More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist regime, nearly 4,000 West Berliners are allowed to cross into East Berlin to visit relatives. Under an agreement reached between East and West Berlin, over 170,000 passes were eventually issued to West Berlin citizens, each pass allowing a one-day visit to communist East Berlin.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
:salute:
 
December 20, 1939
Submarine tender Bushnell (AS-2), operating out of Tutuila, Samoa, as a survey ship under the auspices of the Hydrographic Office, completes Pacific Island surveys, having covered a total of 76,000 nautical square miles since commencing that work on 1 July.

Heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA-37) disembarks scuttled German passenger liner Columbus's "distressed mariners" at Ellis Island, New York City.

Destroyer Twiggs (DD-127), on neutrality patrol in Yucatan Channel, relieves Evans (DD-78 ) of duty trailing British RFA tanker Patella.

German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee's former commanding officer, Kapitan zur See Hans Langsdorff, commits suicide at Montevideo, Uruguay.

U.S. freighter Exochorda arrives at Naples with the 45 tons of tin plate condemned by the British prize court at Gibraltar among her cargo, having been permitted to sail by her master's agreeing to ship the 45 tons of tin to Marseilles from Genoa. Another 100 tons of tin, however, consigned to a Swiss buyer, are put on the "detained list" and held in Genoa at the disposal of the British consul. That turn of affairs prompts U.S. Ambassador in Italy William Phillips, to take up the matter with the British Ambassador, who expresses his awareness of the "irritation and resentment...in American commercial and shipping circles" over the seemingly "arbitrary, careless, and casual" methods shown by the British contraband control people.

U.S. freighters Oakwood, bound for Genoa, Italy, and Executive, bound for Greece, Turkey, and Rumania, are detained by British authorities at Gibraltar.

December 20, 1940
President Roosevelt names a four-man defense board, to be headed by industrialist William A. Knudsen, to prepare defense measures and expedite aid to Great Britain.

December 20, 1941
In the wake of the signing of Executive Order No. 8984, Admiral Ernest J. King is announced as the designated Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet.
SBDs (VB 6 and VS 6) from carrier Enterprise accidentally bomb submarine Pompano (SS-181) twice, at 20°10'N, 165°28'W, and 20°15'N, 165°40'W.

PBY (VP 23) arrives at Wake Island to deliver information to the garrison concerning the relief efforts then underway.

Survivors of U.S. freighter Lahaina (sunk on 11 December by Japanese submarine I 9), aided by Coast Guard cutter Tiger, reach land at Sprecklesville Beach, near Kahului, Maui, having lost four of their number during their ordeal in their one lifeboat.

Japanese troops land at Davao, Mindanao, P.I.

Unarmed U.S. tankship Emidio is shelled, torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I 17 about 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, California, 40°33'N, 125°00'W (see 21 December).

Unarmed U.S. tanker Agwiworld is shelled by Japanese submarine I 23 off the coast of California, 37°00'N, 122°00'W.


December 20, 1942
Submarine Amberjack (SS-219) is damaged by depth charges off northern Solomons, 07°10'S, 155°21'E, but remains on patrol.


Submarine Seadragon (SS-194) sinks Japanese submarine I-4 between New Britain and New Ireland, 05°02'S, 152°33'E, while I-4 is engaged in a resupply mission to Guadalcanal.


Submarine Trigger (SS-237) lays mines off Inubo Zaki, Honshu; one immediately sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Mutsuki Maru south of Daiozaki, Japan, 35°45'N, 140°55'E, as the enemy freighter happens by in the midst of the submarine's minelaying operation.


Light minelayer Gamble (DM-15) lays mines to reinforce minefield laid at Espiritu Santo on 3 August 1942.


Gunboat Tulsa (PG-22) is damaged when she runs aground in Milne Bay, New Guinea, 10°15'S, 149°27'E.

December 20, 1944
Organized Japanese resistance ends on Leyte.


Submarine Sealion (SS-315) damages San Fernando-bound Japanese supply ship Mamiya in the South China Sea about 450 miles northeast of Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, 17°48'N, 114°09'E, and escapes the attention of escorts, destroyer Kari and Coast Defense Vessel No.17.


Dutch Mitchells sink Japanese netlayer Shoeki Maru in Flores Sea, 07°00'S, 120°00'E.


Tank landing ship LST-359 is sunk about 440 miles southwest of Cape Finisterre, 42°04'N, 19°08'W, and destroyer escort Fogg (DE-57) damaged, 43°02'N, 19°19'W, by German submarine U-870.

December 20-24 - Japanese air raids on Calcutta, India.
 
You're not doing too bad yourself there Tom. Keep up the good work and maybe we keep teach these scallywags a thing or two.:thumb:

December 21, 1939
Destroyer Twiggs (DD-127), on neutrality patrol in Yucatan Channel, continues trailing British RFA tanker Patella.

December 21, 1941
PBY (VP 23) departs Wake Island; Japanese concern over the potential presence of patrol planes at Wake, occasioned by the large amount of radio traffic that accompanies the sole PBY's arrival at the island, prompts advancing the date of the first carrier strikes. Consequently, planes from carriers Soryu and Hiryu bomb Wake Island for the first time. Later that day, land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) bomb Wake.

Naval local defense forces in Philippine Islands (Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell) move headquarters to Corregidor.


Destroyer Paul Jones (DD-230) is damaged when her starboard propeller strikes a sunken object off Makassar, N.E.I.


Coast Guard cutter Shawnee rescues 31 survivors of U.S. tanker Emidio, sunk the previous day by I 17 off Cape Mendocino, California, from Blunt's Reef Lightship.

Light cruiser Omaha (CL-4) and destroyer Somers (DD-381), operating out of Recife, Brazil, encounter darkened ship that acts suspicious and evasive when challenged. Omaha fires starshell and illuminates the stranger; Somers sends armed boarding party that learns that the merchantman nearly fired upon is Soviet freighter Nevastroi.


Destroyer Edison (DD-439), in TU 4.1.3 en route to MOMP to pick up convoy ON 47, depth-charges sound contact without result.


December 21, 1942
Submarine S-35 (SS-140) is damaged by electrical fire while on patrol off Amchitka, Aleutians.


Japanese army cargo ship Hakuyo Maru is sunk by aircraft (nationality unspecified) near Rabaul.


December 21, 1943
PBYs from Attu, Aleutians, bomb Shimushu, Paramushiro Strait, Kuriles.
Coastal transport APc-2 is damaged by dive bomber off New Britain, 06°12'S, 149°03'E.


Submarine Grayback (SS-208 ) sinks Japanese auxiliary netlayer Kashiwa Maru and merchant passenger/cargo ship Konan Maru south-southwest of Kagoshima, Japan, 30°26'N, 129°58'E.


Submarine Sailfish (SS-192) sinks Japanese transport Uyo Maru off Miyazaki, 32°38'N, 132°04'E.


Submarine Skate (SS-305) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Terukawa Maru northwest of Truk, Carolines, 09°45'N, 151°56'E.


USAAF B-25s sink small Japanese cargo vessel Matsushima Maru at Wewak.

Coast Guard cutter Bodega (WYP 342), damaged by grounding on 20 December off Margarita Point, is abandoned.


December 21, 1944
Off Mindoro, kamikazes damage destroyer Foote (DD-511), 11°05'N, 121°20'E, and tank landing ships LST-460 and LST-749, 11°13'N, 121°04'E.


Off Panay, freighter Juan de Fuca is crashed by a suicide plane; the explosion and resultant fire kills 2 and wounds 14 of the 65 embarked Army troops, as well as wounds 2 of the 27-man Armed Guard. Juan de Fuca, although damaged, continues on to Mindoro.


Submarine Sealion (SS-315) carries out second attack on Japanese supply ship Mamiya, and sinks her in the South China Sea, 17°55'N, 114°11'E.


Mines damage Japanese escort vessel Amakusa 680 miles from Kanameiwa and gunboat No.2 Hiyoshi Maru off Etorofu.


December 21, 1945
"Old Blood and Guts" dies

On this day, General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army, dies from injuries suffered not in battle but in a freak car accident. He was 60 years old.

Descended from a long line of military men, Patton graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1909. He represented the United States in the 1912 Olympics-as the first American participant in the pentathlon. He did not win a medal. He went on to serve in the Tank Corps during World War I, an experience that made Patton a dedicated proponent of tank warfare.

During World War II, as commander of the U.S. 7th Army, he captured Palermo, Sicily, in 1943 by just such means. Patton's audacity became evident in 1944, when, during the Battle of the Bulge, he employed an unorthodox strategy that involved a 90-degree pivoting move of his 3rd Army forces, enabling him to speedily relieve the besieged Allied defenders of Bastogne, Belgium.

Along the way, Patton's mouth proved as dangerous to his career as the Germans. When he berated and slapped a hospitalized soldier diagnosed with "shell shock," but whom Patton accused of "malingering," the press turned on him, and pressure was applied to cut him down to size. He might have found himself enjoying early retirement had not General Dwight Eisenhower and General George Marshall intervened on his behalf. After several months of inactivity, he was put back to work.

And work he did-at the Battle of the Bulge, during which Patton once again succeeded in employing a complex and quick-witted strategy, turning the German thrust into Bastogne into an Allied counterthrust, driving the Germans east across the Rhine. In March 1945, Patton's army swept through southern Germany into Czechoslovakia-which he was stopped from capturing by the Allies, out of respect for the Soviets' postwar political plans for Eastern Europe.

Patton had many gifts, but diplomacy was not one of them. After the war, while stationed in Germany, he criticized the process of denazification, the removal of former Nazi Party members from positions of political, administrative, and governmental power. His impolitic press statements questioning the policy caused Eisenhower to remove him as U.S. commander in Bavaria. He was transferred to the 15th Army Group, but in December of 1945 he suffered a broken neck in a car accident and died less than two weeks later.
 
I really dont know how u find those links from guys but the only one I know gives little to no info, and good if its military related..

nevertheless, I enjoy reading urs :)
 
A slow day for WW II

21 December

1944: In the Ardennes, units of 5.Panzerarmee capture St. Vith.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1861 - Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_December

1916:Light Horse capture El Arish - Originally intended as an outpost for the defence of the Suez Canal, El Arish became one of the first steps in the Allied advance on Palestine.
source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1775: Continental Congress creates a Continental Navy - On Friday, December 22, 1775, the Continental Congress creates a Continental Navy, naming Esek Hopkins, Esq., as commander in chief of the fleet. Congress also named four captains to the new service: Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicholas Biddle and John Burrows Hopkins. Their respective vessels, the Alfred, Columbus, Andrew Doria and Cabot, became the first ships of the Navy’s fleet. Five first lieutenants, including future American hero John Paul Jones, five second lieutenants, and three third lieutenants also received their commissions.
1864: Sherman presents Lincoln with a Christmas gift - Union General William T. Sherman presents the city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Lincoln. Sherman captured Georgia's largest city after his famous "March to the Sea" from Atlanta. Savannah had been one of the last major ports that remained open to the Confederates.
1917: Russian-German peace talks begin at Brest-Litovsk - A week after the armistice was signed between Russia and Germany and nearly three weeks after a ceasefire was declared on the Eastern Front, representatives of the two countries begin peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, near the Polish border in what is now the city of Brest, in Belarus.
1941: Churchill and Roosevelt discuss war and peace - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace.
1972 Washington announces Linebacker II raids will continue - Washington announces that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until Hanoi agrees to negotiate "in a spirit of good will and in a constructive attitude."
North Vietnamese negotiators walked out of secret talks in Paris on December 13. President Nixon issued an ultimatum to North Vietnam to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours "or else." They rejected Nixon's demand, and in response the president ordered Operation Linebacker II, a full-scale air campaign against the Hanoi area.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
:salute:
 
December 22, 1939
Destroyer Philip (DD-76) relieves Twiggs (DD-127) of neutrality patrol duty trailing British RFA tanker Patella off east coast of Florida; while en route to Fort Lauderdale, Twiggs observes British light cruiser HMS Orion off Port Everglades and anchors to keep an eye on the British warship as the latter prowls the coast.

December 22, 1941
President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill open discussions in Washington (arcadia Conference) leading to establishment of Combined Chiefs of Staff. The arcadia conference, which lasts into January 1942, results in a formal American commitment to the "Germany First" strategy. In addition, the United States and Britain agree to form a Combined Chiefs of Staff as the supreme body for Allied war planning, to confer regularly in Washington. The Anglo-American allies also agree that there should be one supreme commander directing operations in each theater.
Japanese bombers and attack planes, covered by fighters, from carriers Soryu and Hiryu, bomb Wake Island for the second time; the last two flyable USMC F4Fs (VMF 211) intercept the raid. One F4F is shot down, the other is badly damaged.


American troops (Task Force South Pacific) (Brigadier General Julian F. Barnes, USA) arrive at Brisbane in convoy escorted by heavy cruiser Pensacola (CA-24). This is the first U.S. Army troop detachment to arrive in Australia.


Japanese submarine I 19 shell unarmed U.S. tanker H.M. Storey southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, 34°35'N, 120°45'W, but fails to score any hits and the American ship escapes.


Japanese commence invasion of Luzon, landing troops at Lingayen, P.I.; submarine S 38 (SS-143) torpedoes and sinks Japanese army transport Hayo Maru in Lingayen Gulf, 16°00'N, 120°00'E.


USAAF B-17s bomb and damage Japanese army oiler No. 3 Tonan Maru off Davao, P.I.


TU 4.1.3 (Commander George W. Johnson), assumes escort duty at MOMP for convoy ON 47; the convoy is dispersed the following day.


December 22, 1942
Submarine Greenling (SS-213), attacking Japanese convoy, sinks Patrol Boat No.35 about 70 miles north-northeast of Kieta, Bougainville, 05°05'S, 156°04'E.


Submarine S-35 (SS-140) is again plagued by electrical fires; on this day and the one previous, however, other than cases of smoke inhalation, exposure, and exhaustion, the boat suffers no casualties.


On board submarine Silversides (SS-236), submerged in the shipping channel off Rabaul, New Britain, Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas A. Moore performs successful appendectomy on Fireman Second Class George M. Platter. This is the third of three such procedures that will be performed on board U.S. submarines during the war.


Submarine Trigger (SS-237) damages Japanese merchant cargo ship Yoshu Maru south of the entrance to Tokyo Bay, 34°52'N, 139°49'E. Trigger clears the area without seeing her quarry sink.


USAAF B-24 sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Takasaka Maru off Gasmata, New Britain.


Japanese merchant cargo ship Kaiyo Maru is lost, cause unknown, Inland Sea, Japan.


December 22, 1943
Submarine Gurnard (SS-254) damages German cargo ship Havelland east of Kashinosaki, 33°30'N, 135°57'E; the ship never returns to active service.


Navy F6Fs and SBDs and USAAF P-39s raid Mili Atoll, Marshalls, sinking Japanese transport Nankai Maru, 06°05'N, 171°43'E.


USAAF aircraft sink Japanese merchant cargo vessel Ginrei Maru, 20°12'N, 113°40'E.


December 22, 1944
Tank landing ship LST-563 sinks after grounding off Clipperton Island.
Destroyer Bryant (DD-665) is damaged by kamikaze off Mindoro, 12°00'N, 121°00'E.


Submarine Flasher (SS-249) attacks Japanese convoy in the South China Sea, and sinks fleet tanker Omurosan Maru and merchant tankers Otowasan Maru and Arita Maru about 250 miles north of Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, 15°07'N, 109°05'E.


Submarine Tilefish (SS-307) sinks Japanese torpedo boat Chidori southwest of Omaezaki, 34°33'N, 138°02'E.


USAAF B-24s attack Japanese shipping off north Borneo, sinking small cargo vessels Nitto Maru, Sumiyoshi Maru, Kanju Maru, Kojin Maru, and Hashiro Maru and damaging Chosiu Maru.
RAF and Dutch Mitchells attack Japanese shipping off Koepang, Timor, sinking cargo vessel Nanyo Maru.

Destroyer Gleaves (DD-423) is damaged by shore battery fire as she shells German troop concentrations on the Franco-Italian border.



"To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Our near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.
There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.
If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours' term.
All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity.

The German Commander."



"To the German Commander:

Nuts!

The American Commander."


In case you didn't know, The American Commander was Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe. He was the Division Artillery Commander of the 101st Airborne Division and the temporary CO of the Screaming Eagles at the time.
 
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December 23, 1939
Typhoon passes within 100 miles of Guam, M.I.; although the gale force winds cause little damage to Navy property, they cause widespread crop and property damage in the native quarters.

U.S. freighters Explorer (detained at Gibraltar since 9 December) and Oakwood (detained there since 20 December) are released by British authorities.


December 23, 1940
Admiral William D. Leahy (USN, Retired), newly appointed Ambassador to Vichy France, accompanied by his wife Louise, embarks in heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA-37) at Norfolk, Virginia, for the transatlantic passage to take up his diplomatic post "at a very critical time in the relations between the United States and France." Destroyers Madison (DD-425) and Upshur (DD-144) escort Tuscaloosa on the initial stage of her voyage.

Naval Air Station, Key West, Florida, is established.


December 23, 1941
U.S.-British War Council composed of President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, and their chief naval, military, and civilian advisers meets for the first time in Washington, D.C.

Wake Island (Commander Winfield S. Cunningham) is captured by naval landing force (Rear Admiral Kajioka Sadamichi) that overcomes gallant resistance offered by the garrison that consists of marines, sailors, volunteer civilians (Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases) and a USAAF radio detachment. Japanese Patrol Boat No. 32 and Patrol Boat No. 33 (old destroyers converted to high speed transports) intentionally run ashore to facilitate landing of troops, are destroyed by marine shore batteries (1st Defense Battalion). Planes from carriers Hiryu and Soryu, as well as seaplane carrier Kiyokawa Maru provide close air support for the invasion. Open cargo lighter YCK 1 is lost to Japanese occupation of the atoll, as are civilian tugs Pioneer and Justine Foss, and dredge Columbia.


Uncertainty over the positions of and number of Japanese carriers and reports that indicate Japanese troops have landed on the atoll compel Vice Admiral William S. Pye, Acting Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, to recall TF 14 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) while it is 425 miles from its objective.


Palmyra Island is shelled by Japanese submarines I 71 and I 72.


Unarmed U.S. tanker Montebello is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I 21 about four miles south of Piedras Blancas light, California, 35°30'N, 121°51'W. I 21 machine-guns the lifeboats, but miraculously inflicts no casualties. I 21 later also shells unarmed U.S. tanker Idaho near the same location.


Japanese submarine I 17 shells unarmed U.S. tanker Larry Doheny southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, 40°00'N, 125°00'W, but the American ship escapes.


USAAF B-17s bomb Japanese ships in Lingayen Gulf and off Davao, damaging minesweeper W.17 and destroyer Kuroshio off the latter place. USAAF P-40s and P-35s strafe landing forces in San Miguel Bay, Luzon, damaging destroyer Nagatsuki.


Submarine Seal (SS-183) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Soryu Maru off Vigan, Luzon, 17°35'N, 120°12'E.


Japanese troops land at Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. Off the invasion beaches, Dutch submarine K XIV torpedoes and sinks transport Hokkai Maru, army transport Hiyoshi Maru, and damages army cargo ship Nichiran Maru and transport Katori Maru.


TU 4.1.4 (Commander Richard E. Webb) assumes escort duty for convoy HX 166; the ships reach their destination without being attacked by U-boats.


December 23, 1943
USAAF B-25s sink Japanese gunboat Nan-Yo 35 miles south of Formosa Straits, 25°30'N, 119°30'E.


Escort carrier Card (CVE-11) and destroyer Decatur (DD-341) are attacked unsuccessfully by German submarine U-415 as they steam toward Horta, Azores, from escorting convoy GUS 24. Destroyer Schenck (DD-159), in Card's screen, attacks and probably damages another enemy boat in the vicinity, U-645 (see 24 December 1943). FM aircraft from Card locates blockade runner Osorno, bound for the Gironde Estuary.


German submarine U-471 unsuccessfully attacks battleship Arkansas (BB-33) screening convoy TU 5 in the North Atlantic, 300 miles west of Rockall Bank.


December 23, 1944
Submarine Blenny (SS-324), despite proximity of escort vessel, sinks Japanese merchant tanker Kenzui Maru off San Fernando, 16°40'N, 120°16'E.
 
whilst sailing around the vast internet... I came across one little thing that might be worth to put in here..

Dec 26

1790 - French revolutiom: louis XVI gave his royal asset to the Civil Constitutn of the clergy
 
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Hot day in VietNam

27 December

1941: The Red Army continues its counter-offensive in the Kalinin area 100 miles NW of Moscow.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1941: Prime Minister Curtin announces that 'Australia looks to America'. - Once the United States entered the Second World War and the United Kingdom's weakness in South East Asia had been exposed the United States became Australia's main ally; a situation that would endure long after the war ended.
1943: 7th Division capture 'The Pimple', Shaggy Ridge, New Guinea - The four-month battle for Shaggy Ridge culminated with the capture of this Japanese position on the ridge's summit.source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1918 - Beginning of Great Poland Uprising, the Poles in Greater Poland (or Grand Duchy of Poznań) rise against the Germans.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_December

1780: Americans raid Hammonds Store - American Brigadier General Daniel Morgan detaches a force of approximately 275 troops commanded by Colonel William Washington to destroy a force of 250 British Loyalists under the command of Colonel Thomas Waters, who had been terrorizing Patriots in the vicinity of Fairforest Creek, on Bush River, South Carolina.
1864: Hood's army crosses the Tennessee River - The broken and defeated Confederate Army of Tennessee finishes crossing the Tennessee River as General John Bell Hood's force retreats into Mississippi.
1942: Germans form the Smolensk Committee to enlist Soviet soldiers - German military begins enlisting Soviet POWs in the battle against Russia. General Andrei Vlasov, a captured Soviet war hero turned anticommunist, was made commander of the renegade Soviet troops.
1966: A United States and South Vietnamese joint-service operation takes place against one of the best-fortified Viet Cong strongholds, located in the U Minh Forest in the Mekong Delta, 125 miles southwest of Saigon.
1969: In the fiercest battle in six weeks, U.S. and North Vietnamese forces clash near Loc Ninh, about 80 miles north of Saigon. Elements of the 1st Infantry Division reported killing 72 of 250 North Vietnamese soldiers in a daylong battle. Loc Ninh, a village of fewer than 10,000 people, was located at the northern limit of national Route 13, only a few miles from the Cambodian border. It was the site of several major battles between U.S. and Communist forces. On April 5, 1972, as part of their Easter Offensive, North Vietnamese forces overtook Loc Ninh during their attempt to capture the An Loc provincial capital to the south.
Source:http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
 
8th December 1940
Mussolini asks Hitler for support, to help the bogged down Italian forces with their offensive against the Greeks in Albania.

28th December 1942
Japanese give the order to withdraw from Buna.

28th December 1942
Sterilization experiments on women at Birkenau begin.

28th December 1942
General De Gaulle welcomes Giraud’s appointment and calls for French unity.

28th December 1943
The Eighth Army finally clears Ontona after bitter street fighting.

28th December 1944
U.S. troops gain ground against the Ardennes salient.
 
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29th December 1940
The Luftwaffe launches a major incendiary raid against London, destroying or badly damaging a number of historic buildings. Roosevelt tells Americans: "We must be the great arsenal of the democracies."
 
A slow day?

December 29

1941: In the eastern Crimea, German troops of Heeresgruppe B (von Schobert) evacuate Kerch and Theodosia.
1943: The British 8th Army (Montgomery) captures Ortona on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The RAF launches a heavy raid on Berlin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1860: Action at Matarikoriko, New Zealand - Sailors from the Victorian Colonial warship, Victoria, take part in the action at Matarikoriko, New Zealand. The Victoria's service in New Zealand waters during the second Anglo-Maori war, represents the first overseas military operation by an Australian unit, the beginning of Australia's overseas war history.source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1813 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.
1862 - American Civil War: End of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.
1940 - Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29_December

1890: The last ever battle between American natives and US troops takes place at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. source: http://www.tnl.net/when/12/29

1778: British capture Savannah, Georgia - British Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell and his force of between 2500 and 3600 troops, which included the 71st Highland regiment, New York Loyalists, and Hessian mercenaries, launch a surprise attack on American forces defending Savannah, Georgia.
1915: French government gives land for British war cemeteries - French National Assembly passes a law formally ceding the land that holds the British war cemeteries to Great Britain. The move ensured even as the war was being fought that its saddest and most sacred monuments would be forever protected.
1962: Saigon announces success of strategic hamlet program - Saigon announces that 4,077 strategic hamlets have been completed out of a projected total of 11,182. The figures also stated that 39 percent of the South Vietnamese population was housed in the hamlets. U.S. officials considered these figures questionable.
Source:http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
 
Some ancient history

December 31

1941: Heeresgruppe B halts all further attacks against the Crimean fortress of Sevastopol.
1944: In northern Alsace, 7.Armee (Brandenberger) begins Operation Nordwind, an attack against the southern flank of the US 3rd Army (Patton) that has reached the German border on the Saar river.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1969:Vietnam - Australian military commitment to Vietnam reaches a peak of 8,300 service personnel.
source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Quebec.
1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two); meanwhile, the Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31_December

1991: The civil war in El Salvador ends
source: http://www.tnl.net/when/12/31

1862: Battle of Parker's Crossroads - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest narrowly escapes capture during a raid in western Tennessee. Despite the close call, the raid was instrumental in forcing Union General Ulysses S. Grant to abandon his first attempt to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1968: Bloodiest year of the war ends - At year's end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.
1971: U.S. annual casualty figures down - The gradual U.S. withdrawal from the conflict in Southeast Asia is reflected in reduced annual casualty figures. The number of Americans killed in action dropped to 1,386 from the previous year total of 4,204. South Vietnam losses for the year totalled 21,500 men, while the combined Viet Cong and North Vietnamese total was estimated at 97,000 killed in action.
1972: U.S. and communist negotiators prepare to return to the Paris talks - With the end of Linebacker II, the most intense U.S. bombing operation of the Vietnam War, U.S. and communist negotiators prepare to return to the secret Paris peace talks scheduled to reconvene on January 2.
Source:http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
 
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