This day in the war in the Pacific 65 years ago.

[syscom3]

AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister John Curtin sends a message to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt welcoming the opportunity of co-operating with the U.S., and offering the use of Australian facilities. He also seeks U.S. help in securing the French territory of New Caledonia in the
southwest Pacific east of Queensland.

BORNEO: A small Miri detachment (Indian company and engineers),having destroyed the oil fields and installations in British East Sarawakand West Brunei to deny them to the Japanese, sails for Kuching, capital of Sarawak, where the rest of the Indian battalion, with local and
administrative attachments, is disposed to defend the airdrome. Dutch planes based on Singkawang assist RAF units on Malaya in searching for Japanese shipping heading southward from Indochina.

BURMA: The British have to evacuate their airfield at Victoria Point and the Japanese follow and move in. This airfield is in the far south of the Burma on the Kra Isthmus.

COSTA RICA: USN gunboat USS Erie (PG-50) receives 50 Japanese POWs at Puntarenas, Costa Rica, from Costa Rican government, and sends a prize crew to take charge of the motor vessel MV Albert.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: The occupation of Niihau Island by Japanese Naval Aviation Pilot First Class NISHIKAICHI Shigenori ends: a party of Hawaiians sets out for Kauai to inform the outside world of events on Niihau;
in the meantime, NISHIKAICHI burns his plane (it will not be until July 1942 that the U.S. Navy will be able to obtain an intact "Zeke" fighter to study) and the house in which he believes his confiscated papers are hidden. Later, in confrontation with a local Hawaiian, Benny Kanahele, a scuffle to grab the pilot's pistol ensues. Although Kanahele is shot three times, he picks up Nishikaichi bodily and dashes the pilot's head into a stone wall, killing him; HARADA Yoshio, the Japanese resident of Niihau who had allied himself with the pilot, commits suicide. Kanahele survives his injuries. On the basis of the report by the islanders who have arrived on Kauai after a 15-hour trip, meanwhile, Commander, Kauai Military District (Colonel Edward W. FitzGerald, USA) dispatches expedition (squad of soldiers from Company M, 299th Infantry Regiment) in the unarmed U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender USCGC Kukui to proceed from Kauai to Niihau.

HONG KONG: Japanese troops reach the Kowloon waterfront across the harbor from Hong Kong Island. The British Governor rejects a Japanese demand for the surrender of Hong Kong. The defense of the island is
organized into a West Brigade, commanded by Canadian Brigadier J.K. Lawson, and including The Winnipeg Grenadiers; and an East Brigade, under British Brigadier C. Wallis, including The Royal Rifles of Canada. British
Major General Christopher Maltby, General Officer Commanding Hong Kong, deploys both Canadian units to defend the southern beaches against a seaborne attack, as heavy Japanese artillery fire and air raids begin.

INTERNATIONAL: Declarations of war:
- The U.K., New Zealand and the Union of South Africa declare war on Bulgaria.
- Honduras declares war on Germany and Italy.
- Italy declares war on Cuba and Guatemala.

MALAYA: Japanese troops march into Alor Star, and take a number of
Indian troops prisoner. Among the POWs is Major Mohan Singh, who agrees to set up a special unit for Indians, Burmese and Thais to fight against the British. The slogan for the unit is "Asia for the Asiatics."
The British mobile column "Krohcol" concentrates in positions 2 to 3 miles (3,2 to 4,8 kilometers) west of Kroh. The Indian 11th Division begins withdrawing from the Kedah River toward Gurun, a more favorable defense position in southern Kedah some 30 miles (48 kilometers)
south of Jitra.
Fighter support is increased as No. 453 Squadron RAAF with 13 Buffalo Mk. Is from Singapore joins the few fighters based at Ipoh. Reports of a Japanese convoy moving south-southwest from Saigon, French Indochina, result in a period of sharply increased British air reconnaissance from Malaya.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Japanese aircraft again attack Luzon, virtually
completing the destruction of Far East Air Force and USN aircraft in the Philippines. Del Carmen, Clark and Nichols Fields are hit, as well as Baguio, Tarlac, Cabanatuan and Batangas. (Jack McKillop) First Lieutenant Boyd D Wagner of the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) , 24th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) , shoots down four Japanese airplanes near Aparri while on a reconnaissance mission over
northern Luzon. In another action, Captain Jesus Villamor of the Philippine Air Force leads six P-26 Peashooters in an interception of 54 Japanese bombers attacking Batangas Field, Luzon; their harassing tactics minimized the damage to the field.

UNITED STATES: So far, the U.S. Department of Justice has rounded up 831 enemy aliens in on the West coast, including 585 Japanese and 187 Germans. Congress, to meet the demand for trained enlisted men, authorizes
the retention of enlisted men in the Navy upon the expiration of their enlistments when not voluntarily extended.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

PHILIPPINES: Buzz Wagner, the first official American ace of World War II, took off on a lone reconnaissance mission over Aparri, Philippines. Because of devastating losses by the U.S. fighter force two days earlier, orders had come down restricting confrontation with enemy fighters if at all possible. His reconnaissance mission turned into a combat mission when he descended from a patch of clouds and found himself practically on top of two Japanese destroyers. Spotted and chased by a pair of Japanese fighters, Wagner eluded the enemy and took out five of 12 enemy planes. Four days later, Wagner and two associates went into combat over Vigan and left behind 17 enemy planes destroyed or burning, with an unknown number of Japanese dead lying on the runway. The mission garnered the most devastating results of the air war to date.

[syscom3]

AUSTRALIA: The Australian "Gull Force" departs Darwin, Northern Territory, for Ambon Island in the Netherlands East Indies. The force consists of 2/21st Battalion of the 23d Brigade, "C" Troop of the 18th Antitank battery and supporting troops. The troops are in two Dutch ship
escorted by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Adelaide D 47) and minesweeper HMAS Ballarat (J 184).

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: USN Task Force 11 (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), comprising the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2), three heavy cruisers, nine destroyers, and oiler USS Neosho (AO-23), sails to raid Japanese forces in Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Island to relieve pressure on Wake Island. U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender USCGC Kukui reaches Niihau Island with squad of soldiers from Company M, 299th Infantry Regiment. The detachment learns of the events that have transpired on Niihau since Japanese Naval Aviation Pilot First Class NISHIKAICHI Shigenori crashed there on 7 December.

JAPAN: Imperial General Headquarters orders Japanese Navy submarines to shell the U.S. West Coast. Vice Admiral SHIMIZU Mitsumi, commander of the Advance Expeditionary Force (Sixth Fleet), issues a detailed
order on the targets. The HIJMS I-15, -9, -10, -17, -19, -21, -23, -25 and -26 are each to fire 30 rounds on the night of 25 December. Rear Admiral SATO Tsutomu, aboard the I-9, is charged to execute the order.

MALAYA: Japanese forces land on Penang Isaland. Penang's military importance lay in the island's port facilities and its stocks of ammunition and stores. When the Allies were unable to stop the Japanese advance on the mainland it became clear that the island would have to be evacuated.
On the west coast, the Indian 11th Division completes their
withdrawal to Gurun; the Japanese, in close pursuit, penetrate the new positions, during the night of 14/15 December. The Krohcol force is dissolved and its components, which are put under command of the Indian 12th Brigade, move to the Baling area, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) west of Kroh. The Indian III Corps sends small detachments to guard the Grik road, which is now uncovered. On the east coast, the Kelantan force continues fighting withdrawal. Since airdromes on Singapore Island are becoming congested, preparations are being made to base air units in the Netherlands East Indies.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Norwegian motorship MS Hoegh Merchant is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine HIJMS I-4 about 29 miles (47 kilometers) off Cape Makapuu on the southeastern tip of Oahu Island. All hands (35- man crew, 5 passengers) survive the loss of the ship.
USN gunboat USS Erie (PG-50), off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, boards and takes charge of motor vessel MV Sea Boy, and takes off a Japanese POW; she orders Sea Boy into Balboa, Canal Zone, the following day.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: The Japanese Vigan and Aparri detachments are placed under the same command and ordered, after the Aparri force joins the Vigan at Vigan, to march south to Lingayen Gulf.
The USN withdraws the few remaining PBY Catalinas of Patrol Wing Ten (PatWing 10) and the three tenders servicing the aircraft from the Philippine Islands. The ships are the seaplane tenders (destroyer) USS Childs (AVD-1) and William B. Preston (AVD-7) and the small seaplane
tender USS Heron (AVP-2). Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses are sent against the Japanese beachhead at Legaspi, Luzon, and damage a freighter and a tanker. First Lieutenant Hewitt T Wheless is later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for bringing his bullet-riddled B-17 back from the mission to an emergency crashlanding at Cagayan, Mindanao Island.
A USN boarding party transported in commandeered yacht Gem, seizes the 14,242 ton French motor mail vessel SS Marechal Joffre, in Manila Bay. The majority of the crewmen, pro-Vichy or unwilling to serve under the U.S. flag, are transported ashore. The ship, manned by a scratch
crew that includes aviation personnel from Patrol Wing Ten (PatWing 10), departs Manila Bay on 18 December bound for Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo, whence she proceeded to Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. She arrives in San Francisco, California, with a cargo of wool and zircon sand on 19 April 1942. The following day, she is taken over by the U.S. Maritime Commission and transferred to the USN. She as commissioned on 27 April 1942 as transport USS Rochambeau (AP-63).

WAKE ISLAND: Two raids by Japanese naval aircraft are flown by aircraft based in the Marshall Islands. Early in the morning, "Mavis" flying boats (Kawanishi H6K4, Navy Type 97 Flying Boats) bomb the island.
At 1100 hours, 30 "Nell" bombers (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96 Attack Bombers) arrive from Roi Island in Kwajalein Atoll. They kill two marines and wound another but more seriously, they destroy one of the two
remaining F4F-3 Wildcats.

[Wildcat]

Good round up Sys. to the poor ba*tards of Gull force.

[syscom3]

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: USN seaplane tender USS Tangier (AV-, oiler USS Neches (AO-5), and four destroyers sail for Wake Island.
Kahului on northern Maui Island, is shelled by a Japanese
submarine from the Second Submarine Squadron. Possible candidates for having carried out the shelling are HIJMS I-2, I-3, I-4, I-5, I-6, or I-7.

HONG KONG: A Japanese attempt to move from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island is defeated.

JOHNSTON ATOLL: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-122 surfaces and shells this U.S. possession causing slight damage to a few buildings and no casualties. One shell lands astern and another passes over her forecastle of USN transport USS William Ward Burrows (AP-6) but apparently she is unseen by the Japanese and she is not hit.
The atoll consists of two small islets, Johnston and Sand Islands, located about 712 nautical miles (1319 kilometers) west-southwest of Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii.

MALAYA: The Indian III Corps remains under strong pressure on the west coast. During the night of 15/16 December, the Indian 11th Division begins a withdrawal from the Gurun positions to the Muda River. The garrison of Penang Island. fortress, opposite RAF Butterworth, prepares to withdraw as the RAF abandons Butterworth airdrome.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Major General Lewis H Brereton, Commanding General Far East Air Force, receives permission to withdraw the few remaining B-17 Flying Fortresses to Bachelor Field, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The air defense of the Philippines is left to the few remaining fighters.

UNITED STATES: The Congress passes a military appropriation bill of US$10 billion (US$132.9 billion in year 2005 dollars) for the defense of the country.
After a brief visit to Hawaii, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox tells the press, "I think the most effective Fifth Column work of the entire war was done in Hawaii with the possible exception of Norway"-
-this despite the complete lack of evidence of such sabotage.

Norman Corwin's production of "We Hold These Truths," commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and starring Orson Welles, is broadcast simultaneously on all four national US radio networks CBS, Mutual and NBC's Red and Blue Networks. It reaches an estimated audience of 63 million people, the largest ever for a dramatic production of any kind.
Admiral Ernest J. King is offered the post of Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet. He accepts.
An American Federation of Labor (AFL) council adopts a no-strike policy in war industries, which include automotive plants being converted to military production (domestic automobile manufacturing stopped completely from 1941 to 1944).

WAKE ISLAND: Early in the morning, "Mavis" flying boats (Kawanishi H6K4, Navy Type 97 Flying Boats) bomb the island.

CANADA: In Ottawa, Ontario, the Cabinet War Committee discusses financial aid to Britain; "the billion dollar gift."

[syscom3]

Borneo: The Japanese war machine lands elements of the 16th Division at Miri, Seria and Lutong in Borneo.

Philipines: 1st Lieutenant Boyd D. Wagner of the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor), 24th Pursuit Group (Interceptor), leads a dive-bombing raid on the airfield at Vigan and shoots down his fifth aircraft, thereby becoming the first Army Air Forces "Ace" in World War II.

[Gnomey]

Hong Kong: Japanese troops force landings on Hong Kong island.

[syscom3]

USN - The Naval Research Laboratory reported that flight tests in a PBY of radar utilizing a duplexing antenna switch had been conducted with satisfactory results. The duplexing switch made it possible to use a single antenna for both transmission of the radar pulse and reception of its echo; thereby, the necessity for cumbersome "yagi" antenna no longer existed, a factor which contributed substantially to the reliability, and hence the effectiveness, of World War II airborne radar.

AUSTRALIA: USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, evacuating Luzon, Philippine Islands, begin arriving at Batchelor Field near Darwin, Northern Territory. A plan is drawn up for using Australia as an Allied supply base under command of Major General George H. Brett, USA.

EAST INDIES: The Australian "Gull Force" lands on Ambon Island, Netherlands East Indies. This force is comprised of the 2/21st Battalion of the 23rd Brigade, "C" Troop of the 18th Antitank Battery, a section of 2/11th Field Company and various other support units. The force had been transported from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, to Ambon in three Dutch merchant ships escorted by an Australian light cruiser and corvette.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: In a command shakeup, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel is replaced by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as Commander-in- Chief, Pacific Fleet; Lieutenant General Walter C. Short, Commanding General Hawaiian
Department is replaced by Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons; and Major General Frederick L. Martin is replaced by Brigadier General Clarence L Tinker as Commanding General, Hawaiian Air Force.
A Japanese "Glen" seaplane (Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane) makes its operational debut when the submarine HIJMS I-7 launches the aircraft for a dawn reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor to determine the damage caused by the attack of 7 December.

HONG KONG: The Japanese control the north side of Hong Kong Harbor, the British Hong Kong Island. After a week of air bombardment, Japanese Lieutenant General SANO Tadayoshi, commanding the 38th Division, sends a
captured British civilian woman (and her two dogs) across the harbor to demand surrender from British Governor Sir Mark Young. Sir Mark himself "declines absolutely to enter into negotiations for the surrender of Hong Kong."

MALAYA: Hard fighting continues on the Grik road. A weak defense detachment is reinforced but falls back under pressure of the superior Japanese forces. The Indian 12th Brigade Group is ordered to Kuala Kangsar. British Lieutenant General Sir Arthur E. Percival, General Officer
Commanding Malaya Command, gives the Indian III Corps permission to withdraw to the Perak River line if necessary. The Perak Flotilla is formed to prevent the Japanese from landing on the west coast between Knan and Bernam Rivers.

MIDWAY ISLANDS: Seventeen SB2U-3 Vindicators of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron Two Hundred Thirty One (VMSB-231) complete a record 9 hour and 45 minute flight from Hawaii to Midway, bolstering U.S. positions there. The aircraft were led by a plane-guarding PBY-4 Catalina of Patrol Squadron Twenty One (VP 21) (no ships are available to plane-guard the flight) on this longest over-water massed flight (1,137 miles or 1 830 kilometers) by single-engine aircraft. VMSB-231 was the same squadron that was en route to Midway on 7 December aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) when reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the carrier to turn back short of her goal.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-15 surfaces to charge batteries near the Farallon Islands about 29 nautical miles (54 kilometers) west of San Francisco, California. Seeing the lights of the city, Captain IMAZATO Hiroshi jokes to the crew that it was a good time to visit the famous city of San Francisco.
Japanese submarine HIJMS I-175 torpedoes and sinks a 3,283 ton unarmed U.S. freighter about 222 nautical miles (411 kilometers) south-southeast of Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. The survivors are rescued on 27 and 28 December.
In the South China Sea, the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Shinonome, part of a convoy of troop transports, heading towards the Malayan Peninsula, is sunk near Seria, 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Miri, Sarawak,by two bombs from a Dutch three engine Dornier Do-24K flying boat of the Dutch Naval Air Group based on the island of Tarakan. The crew of the Dornier drop three bombs, two making direct hits, the third a near miss. The destroyer blows apart in an enormous explosion causing fires to break out on the vessel. It takes only a few minutes for the destroyer to roll over and sink. There are no survivors; all 229 crewmen are lost.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: The Japanese Legaspi force, advancing northwest on Luzon along Route 1 toward Naga, makes its first contact with Filipino forces near Ragay.

[syscom3]

Pacific: USN - Two-plane detachments from Patrol Wings 1 and 2, based in Hawaii, began scouting patrols from Johnston.

CHINA: Following an operational loss of an American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) aircraft and the ensuing confrontation between the pilot, Eriksen Shilling, and a group of Chinese, "blood chits" are developed. The first blood chits are printed on silk by Chinese Intelligence
and stitched on the back of the American's flight jackets. It shows the flag and promised a reward for assisting the bearer. The message is printed in several languages.

HONG KONG: During the night of 18/19 December, the Japanese land troops on Hong Kong Island between North Point and the Lei U Mun Channel.
The landings are successful despite counterattacks by the undermanned British and Canadian Royal Rifles of against Japanese positions on Sai Wan Hill and Mount Butler. The first wave of Japanese troops land in Hong Kong with artillery fire for cover and the following order from their commander, Lieutenant General SAKAI Takashi, Commander of the 23rd Army, "Take no prisoners." After overrunning a battery of anti-tank guns
manned by local volunteers. The Japanese rope together all 20 survivors of the action, and bayonet them to death. The Japanese then storm a Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) dressing station, which offers no
resistance. The Japanese shoot and bayonet to death eight Canadians, four Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers, and three St. John's Ambulance men.
After seizing the Lei Yu Mun Channel, the Japanese 38th Division storms across Hong Kong Island from east to west, splitting the two British defending brigades. The Japanese quickly take control of key reservoirs, threatening the British and Chinese inhabitants with a slow death by thirst.
On 27 August 1946, the Chinese War Crimes Military Tribunal of the Ministry of National Defence in Nanking sentenced SAKAI Takashi. He was executed by firing squad on 30 September 1946.

MALAYA: The Indian 11th Division completes their withdrawal behind the Krian River and is held in reserve in the Taiping area. Forces defending the Grik road are further reinforced. After visiting forward areas, Lieutenant General Sir Arthur E. Percival draws up plans for a withdrawal behind the Perak River; he also decides to amalgamate certain units, among them the Indian 6th and 15th Brigades (to be designated the Indian 6/15 Brigade) and to incorporate the Indian 12th Brigade Group in the Indian 11th Division.
The Japanese occupy Penang which was evacuated by the British yesterday. All combat-worthy aircraft in Malaya are ordered to fly to Singapore.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Luzon, the Japanese Legaspi detachment reaches Naga.
The French 14,000-ton motor mail vessel Marechal Joffre, manned by a scratch crew that includes aviation personnel from the USNPatrol Wing Ten (PatWing 10), departs Manila Bay for Balikpapan, Borneo, and then to Australia, New Zealand and finally, San Francisco arriving
in April 1942. Marechal Joffre will be formally acquired by the Navy and commissioned as the transport USS Rochambeau (AP-63) on 27 April 1942.

UNITED STATES: Censorship is imposed with the passage of the first American War Powers Act. This 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 permits him to censor all communications coming in and leaving the country. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints
the executive news director of the Associated Press, Byron Price, as director of censorship. Although invested with the awesome power to restrict and withhold news, Price takes no extreme measures, allowing news
outlets and radio stations to self-censor, which they do. Most top secret information, including the construction of the atom bomb, remains just that. The most extreme use of the censorship law seems to have been the restriction of the free flow of "girlie" magazines to servicemen,
including Esquire, which the U.S. Post Office considered obscene for its occasional saucy cartoons and pinups. Esquire takes the Post Office to court, and after three years the Supreme Court ultimately sides with the magazine.
In another executive order, President Roosevelt directs a
commission, to be headed by retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Owen J. Roberts (Roberts Commission), to "ascertain and report the facts relating to the attack made by the Japanese armed forces upon the Territory of
Hawaii on 7 December 1941...to provide bases for sound decisions whether any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment on the part of United States Army or Navy personnel contributed to such successes as were
achieved by the enemy on the occasion mentioned; and if so, what these derelictions or errors were, and who were responsible therefor." In addition to Justice Roberts, the commission membership includes retired Admiral William H. Standley and Rear Admiral Joseph W. Reeves; Major General Frank R. McCoy, USA (Retired) and Brigadier General Joseph T. McNarney, USA.
President Roosevelt signs Executive Order No. 8984 that
provides that the Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet will take supreme command of the operating forces of all Navy fleets and coastal frontier commands, and be directly responsible to the President.
The State Department announces that Rear Admiral Frederick J. Horne and Admiral Georges Robert, French High Commissioner at Martinique, French West Indies, have reached an agreement neutralizing French Caribbean possessions.

[syscom3]

BURMA: The Japanese overrun Bokpyin, a village about 100 miles (161
kilometers) north of Victoria Point. A controversy known as the Tulsa
Incident, arises as a U.S. officer asks the Government of Burma to impound Lend-Lease material at Rangoon (a valuable part of which is loaded on the SS Tulsa in the harbor), pending a decision on its use. At the suggestion of the senior Chinese representative in Burma, a committee is subsequently formed to determine the division of supplies.
General Claire L. Chennault and his "Flying Tigers," a group of "volunteer" pilots, set up headquarters 150 miles (241 kilometers) from Rangoon. From today until 4 July 1942, they destroy 297 Japanese planes and kill some 500 of the enemy.

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: The USN's Task Force 8 (TF (Vice Admiral William
F. Halsey, Jr.), consisting of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), heavy cruisers, and destroyers, sails from Pearl Harbor, Oahu, proceeding to the waters west of Johnston Island and south of Midway to cover TF 11 and TF 14 operations. (TF 11 is en route to the Marshall Islands while TF 14 is en route to Wake Island). Destroyer USS Craven (DD-382), in TF 8, is damaged by heavy sea soon after departure, however, and returns to Pearl for repairs.

HONG KONG: Japanese troops surround the headquarters of Canadian Brigadier John Lawson, Commanding Officer West Brigade, at Wong Nei Chong Gap. Lawson is killed in an attempted breakout becoming the first Canadian General killed in WWII.
Canadian Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn of the 1st Battalion, Winnipeg Grenadiers, dies during an attempt to recapture Mount Butler. Osborn falls on a grenade to save others in the company and is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Five British naval ships are scuttled to prevent capture by the Japanese: (1) the barrage/gate vessels HMS Aldgate (Z 6 and Watergate (Z 56), (2) the tugs HMS Alliance (W 77) and Poet Chaucer and (3) the boom defense vessel HMS Barlight (Z 57). Barlight is raised by the Japanese and commissioned on 20 September 1942 as Netlayer 101. She is sunk on 15 June 1944 in Tanapag Harbor Saipan Island, Mariana Islands by USN destroyer USS Halsey Powell (DD-686).

MALAYA: The Japanese are active against the right flank of the Krian River line; on the Grik road, the Japanese frustrate the efforts of the Indian III Corps to recover lost ground. RAF fighters based at Ipoh are forced to withdraw to Kuala Lumpur. The Indian 9th Division continues their withdrawal southward in eastern Malaya and abandons the Kuala Krai railhead.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-172 torpedoes and sinks a
5,113 ton unarmed U.S. freighter about 296 nautical miles (549 kilometers)
south-southeast of Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Twenty five crewmen
survive and are rescued.
In the South China Sea, the Dutch submarine HNMS O2 is scuttled by her own crew, about 22 nautical miles (40 kilometers) east of Kota Bharu, Malaya, to prevent her capture by the Japanese. The sub was damaged by depth charges from two Japanese destroyers earlier in the day.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: On Luzon, the Japanese Legaspi detachment reaches
Sipoco and is reported to be pushing toward Daet. At dusk, 12 Japanese
fighters based on Luzon attack Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao destroying
three USAAF Far East Air Force B-18 Bolos that had just arrived from Luzon with evacuees. During the night of 19/20 December, two Japanese task forces from Palau Islands, Caroline Islands, totaling about 5,000 men, arrive off Davao.

The air echelon of the 93d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy) transfers from Clark Field to Batchelor Field with B-17's. The ground echelon is attached to the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional) and will fight as infantry on Luzon and Mindanao Islands in the Philippines.

UNITED STATES: The US Selective Service (draft) Act is amended requiring the registration of all males 18-64. The age for those subject to military service is 20-44.
Lieutenant General John DeWitt, Commanding General of the Fourth Army and the Western Defense Command, recommends to the War Department to round up "all alien subjects 14 years of age or over, of enemy nations and remove them to the Zone of the Interior (ZI)," because the West Coast had become a wartime Theater of Operations. DeWitt also writes, "...that there are approximately 40,000 of such enemy aliens and it is believed that they constitute an immediate and potential menace to vital measures of defense."

Vice Admiral Randall Jacobs relieves Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.

The U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1942 is graduated early, due to the National Emergency.


WAKE ISLAND: Japanese "Nell" bombers (Mitsubishi G3M2, Navy Type 96
Attack Bombers) based on Roi Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, bomb the islands, targeting installations on Wake and Peale islets.

[syscom3]

Philipines: the Japanese make their grand outflanking
movement to cut off the Philippines, by landing on the island of Mindanao. Filipino machine gunners of the 101st Regiment inflict heavy Japanese casualties until the Japanese turn five-inch naval guns on the defenders. The Americans are forced to retreat into the hills. The air echelon of the 30th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy), transfers from Clark Field to Batchelor Field with B-17's. The ground echelon is reassigned to the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional) and will fight as infantry in the Philippines.

Wake Island: The besieged defenders at Wake receive a visitor, a Navy PBY Catalina, bringing official mail and word that a relief convoy is due on Dec. 24th. It takes out Maj. Walter J. Bayler and messages from the Marines to their families. Bayler says later, "I looked at our flag, still snapping in the breeze at the to of the pole where it had been hoisted on December 8. I looked at the cheerful, grinning faces and the confident bearing of the youngsters on the dock. As I waved a last good-bye and took my
seat in the plane, my smile was as cheerful as theirs. I knew all would go well with Wake Island." Bayler is the last man off the island. In 1945, when Japan surrenders, he will be the first man back.

Burma: A legend is born in the skies over Burma as the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, fight their first battle with P-40B Tomahawks. This colorful collection of about 100 pilots and 55 planes tears a swath through superior Japanese airpower: 286 confirmed aerial kills for a total loss of 13 pilots in battle. The Tigers owe their success to their boss, Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, whose tactics...two-man fighting teams...accurate gunnery ...no unnecessary heroics...are ahead of their time. The Tigers also owe their success to the fact that they get a $500 reward for every plane they shoot down.

[pbfoot]

good work

[syscom3]

I wish you Canadian and Aussie guys would contribute to the roles your militaries played in the PTO

[Wildcat]

Sorry Sys, been heaps busy mate, have been reading your post though. Here's all I can add..

20 miles off Monterey Bay, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Submarine I-23 fires eight or nine shells at the 6,771-ton Richfield Oil Company tanker AGWIWORLD but misses the zigzagging AGWIWORLD and she escapes to safety

Japanese invasion forces were operating on the northern part of Borneo. Around midday six Dutch Glenn Martins of 2-VIG-I escorted by two Brewster Buffaloes attacked Japanese shipping off Miri. The bomber crews claimed a hit on a cruiser but in fact all the bombs missed.

1942 is usually ragarded as the darkest days in Australian history for good reason. Be assured I will post as much of that history as possible.

[Nonskimmer]

Originally Posted by syscom3

I wish you Canadian and Aussie guys would contribute to the roles your militaries played in the PTO

Well for us, you already mentioned Hong Kong on Dec.10th and 18th. I think that's really about it until around June.
Who wants to read about routine stuff like auxiliaries manning coastal batteries in British Columbia and such?

To the rest of you though, good stuff as always. I enjoy reading it all.