Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 109

Today in World War II History—December 25, 1942

British poster, WWII (Imperial War Museum)

80 Years Ago—Dec. 25, 1942: In Tunisia, Germans retake Longstop Hill; Americans lose 500 men in the four-day battle.

Britain allows ringing of church bells for Christmas.

First American Red Cross service club opens in New Guinea, in a grass hut in Port Moresby.

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Today in World War II History—December 24, 1942

General Eisenhower, Admiral Darlan, Maj. Gen. Mark W. Clark, and Robert Murphy of US State Department at the negotiations in Algiers, 13 November 1942 (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Dec. 24, 1942: Soviets take Tatsinskaya Airfield, one of the two airfields used for the Luftwaffe airlift to German troops in besieged Stalingrad.

In Algiers, Algeria, Adm. François Darlan, Free French commander in North Africa, is assassinated by Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle, a French royalist who opposed Darlan as a former German collaborationist.

South African boxing champion Sydney Leibbrandt, a German spy intending to start a revolt in South Africa, is arrested near Johannesburg; his death sentence will be commuted due to his sporting fame.

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Today in World War II History—December 23, 1942

US War Bond poster, 1942

80 Years Ago—Dec. 23, 1942: US First War Loan Drive ends, raising $13 billion (quota was $9 billion). Read more: “War Bonds in World War II.”

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Today in World War II History—December 22, 1942

US Army Nurse Corps recruiting poster, WWII

80 Years Ago—Dec. 22, 1942: British & US troops launch assault on Longstop Hill, Tunisia.

US Seventh Air Force sends 24 B-24s to bomb Wake Island, the first air attack in the Central Pacific, a 4300-mile mission.

Congress authorizes relative rank for Army Nurse Corps and Navy Nurse Corps; pay is the same as for male officers without dependents. Read more: “US Army Nursing in World War II: Training & Rank.”

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Today in World War II History—December 21, 1942

Map of the Battle of Stalingrad, 19 Nov-24 Dec 1942 (US Army Command and General Staff College)

80 Years Ago—Dec. 21, 1942: German forces under Gen. Erich von Manstein come within 30 miles of Stalingrad, but Hitler refuses to allow 6th Army to break out of the besieged city to meet them.

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Today in World War II History—December 20, 1942

Targets of the US Eighth Air Force in Nazi-occupied territory in Europe, August 1942-June 1943 (US Air Force map)

80 Years Ago—Dec. 20, 1942: US Eighth Air Force sends 101 B-17 & B-24 bombers to hit Romilly-sur-Seine air depot outside Paris; 6 B-17s are lost.

Off Tokyo, Japanese freighter Mutsuki Maru becomes the first ship sunk by US mines in Japanese home waters; the mines were laid by submarine USS Trigger earlier that day.

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Today in World War II History—December 19, 1942

Gen. Alphonse Juin, commander of French forces in North Africa (US Army Center for Military History)

80 Years Ago—Dec. 19, 1942: Free French take Pichon, Tunisia from Germans.

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Today in World War II History—December 18, 1942

US Navy recruitment poster, 1944

80 Years Ago—Dec. 18, 1942: Submarine USS Albacore sinks Japanese light cruiser Tenryu off New Guinea.

US Army lands on Musita Island off Buna, New Guinea.

Movie premiere of western Dawn on the Great Divide, starring Buck Jones, who was killed in the Cocoanut Grove Fire in Boston on Nov. 28, 1942.

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Today in World War II History—December 17, 1942

Mount Austen overlooking Henderson Field on Guadalcanal (US Army Center of Military History)

80 Years Ago—Dec. 17, 1942: In Libya, British Eighth Army under Montgomery takes El Agheila.

US, Britain, and ten Allied governments-in-exile issue a declaration condemning “German Policy of Extermination of the Jewish Race.”

US begins offensive on Guadalcanal toward Mount Austen, which dominates the island.

The Volga River freezes, allowing Soviets to supply Stalingrad.

Movie premiere of Random Harvest, starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.

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Today in World War II History—December 16, 1942

Poster for the US Army Corps of Engineers, WWII

80 Years Ago—Dec. 16, 1942: Soviets halt German drive to relieve surrounded troops at Stalingrad.

US Army engineers begin construction of Ledo Road from Ledo, India, to the Burma Road, in order to send supplies to China.

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