December 2nd, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Aircraft carrier HMS Pioneer laid down.
Submarine HMS Sickle commissioned.
Minesweepers HMS Fancy and Espielgle commissioned.
ENGLISH CHANNEL: ASW trawler HMS Jasper torpedoed and sunk by the German motor torpedo boat S-81.
BELGIUM: Members of the Rexist (fascist) movement are asked to help Germany by spying.
FRANCE: During the night of 2/3 December, three RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets.
GERMANY: U-320, U-792, U-793, U-804, U-927 laid down.
A Canadian bomber crew gets key data on German airborne radar in a prelude to a big bomber offensive. They return badly shot up.
During the night of 2/3 December, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 112 aircraft, 48 Halifaxes, 27 Lancasters, 22 Stirlings and 15 Wellingtons to bomb Frankfurt;84 bomb the target and six aircraft, three Halifaxes and one each of the other types, are lost, 5.4 per cent of the force. There is thick haze and the Pathfinders are unable to establish the location of Frankfurt. Most of the bombing falls in country areas southwest of the city; it is possible that a decoy fire site is operating. Two aircraft bomb Mainz and one attacks Hochst.
ITALY: Rome: Mussolini reveals that 40,000 Italians have been killed in action, 86,000 wounded and 231,000 taken prisoner since the war broke out.
MALTA: A British naval squadron was guided to its target tonight by RAF aircraft dropping flares over a convoy carrying tanks and 2,000 troops from Sicily to North Africa. Once it had made contact, the squadron - three light cruisers, HMS AURORA, HMS ARGONAUT and HMS SIRIUS, with the destroyers HMS QUENTIN and HMAS QUIBERON - attacked from the darkness using RDF [radar]. All four enemy ships and an escorting destroyer were sunk.
HMS QUENTIN was later sunk by Italian torpedo planes off Galita Island at 37 40N, 08 55E. HMAS QUIBERON picked up survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British Cruiser Force Q, based in Bone, Tunisia, and a new Malta-based cruiser force take turns attacking Axis shipping bound for North Africa. Today, Force Q with light cruisers HMS Aurora (12), Argonaut (61), Sirius (82) and destroyers HMS Quentin (G 78) and HMAS Quiberon (G 81) goes into action in the Strait of Sicily. Achieving complete surprise Force Q attacks a convoy of four merchantmen escorted by four destroyers and two torpedo boats. The British sink all four merchantmen and the destroyer R.N. Folgore with gunfire and torpedoes and damage an additional destroyer and a torpedo boat. The convoy escort counterattacks with torpedoes and gunfire, inflicting light damage with gunfire. As they return, destroyer HMS Quentin is sunk by Italian torpedo aircraft north of Cape Bon.
The British destroyer HMS Janus (F 53) in company with the destroyers HMS Javelin F 61), HMS Jervis (F 00) and HMS Kelvin (F 37) surprises the Italian torpedo boat Lupo, which is rescuing survivors from the freighter SS Veloce off the islands of Kerkennah, Tunisia, and sank it..
TUNISIA: The British First Army withstands another attack on Tebourba. British tank losses are now about 40. U.S. forces (2d Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment with the 3d Battalion of Regimental Combat Team 26, U.S.1st Infantry Division) in conjunction with French troops attack Faid Pass, 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Gafsa.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force DB-7 Bostons and B-26 Marauders bomb El Aouina Airfield; B-17 Flying Fortresses hit the Sidi Ahmed Airfield and Bizerte harbour; and B-25 Mitchells attack antiaircraft guns near the Gabes Airfield. P-38 Lightnings provide escort and fly reconnaissance missions and sweeps, claiming eight aircraft and one tank destroyed.
ABYSSINIA: Ethiopia declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan.
NEW GUINEA: Australian troops capture part of the Japanese positions at Gona.
US General Eichelberger is sent by MacArthur to find out about the lack of progress at Buna, New Guinea. He will decide to relieve General Harding.
In Papua New Guinea, the Japanese try to reinforce their bridgehead. Four destroyers, with about 800 men embarked, reach Basabua early in the morning, but are forced by Allied aircraft to move on and land troops near the Kumusi River mouth, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Gona. The Japanese maintain pressure on the roadblock on the Soputa- Sanananda trail, which the supply party reaches, and whittle down its perimeter. Efforts to reach the block frontally and from the right flank are again unsuccessful. The Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) attacks again toward Buna Village, in greater strength and after increased preparatory fire, but is halted short of the objective. Since simultaneous attacks against Cape Endaiadere and the New Strip have proved unfeasible, Warren Force (based on U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division) concentrates on New Strip, leaving a holding force (Company B, 128th Infantry Regiment) on the coastal track, where it fails to deceive the Japanese with a feint toward Cape Endaiadere. Warren Force attacks after air and ground bombardment, which does little damage to the Japanese, but results are negligible. Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger, Commanding General I Corps, visits the Urbana front while his staff officers inspect the Warren front. Afterwards, Eichelberger relieves Major General Edwin F. Harding of command of the U.S. 32d Infantry Division and designates Brigadier General Albert W. Waldron as his successor.
USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and P-400 Airacobras attack four destroyers off Buna and Gona, and the airfield and positions in the in the Buna area and between Watutu Point and Cape Killerton. As a result of this attack, the destroyers, originally bound for Gona with 800 reinforcements, lands the troops near the mouth of the Kumment River 12 miles (19 kilometers) to the north.
AUSTRALIA: Vice-Admiral Carpenter USN sends the Dutch destroyer Tjerk Hiddes from Fremantle to Darwin, thence to Portuguese Timor to take off the men of Sparrow Force. (William L. Howard)(188, 189, 190, 191)
Minesweeper HMAS"> HMAS Armidale hit by two torpedoes from Japanese torpedo aircraft and sank within five minutes in position 10°S, 126°30´E. while on its second journey to Timor to evacuate refugees and bring relief personnel from Port Darwin. 40 of her crew perished along with 60 Dutch passengers.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A USAAF Eleventh Air Force a B-24 Liberator finds Semichi and Attu Islands unchanged during a reconnaissance run; a B-26 Marauder on reconnaissance finds Kiska Island closed by fog.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS New Glasgow laid down.
Corvette HMCS Oakville completed refit Halifax , Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: At the University of Chicago; the first manmade, self-sustaining atomic chain reaction is achieved. In a squash court under the university football (American) stadium a group of scientists led by the Italian physicist, Enrico Fermi, allowed the "pile" of uranium, moderated by graphite rods, to run for four and a half minutes, which produced just one half-watt of power, but proved man can control atomic power.
Scientists waited in awe as the neutron counter clicked faster. Then Fermi raised his hand. "The pile has gone critical," he said. Someone telephoned Dr. James Conant, the head of defence science in Washington. "Jim," he said, "the Italian navigator has just landed in the new world."
Two prototype examples of the Beechcraft Model 28, are ordered. These will be known as the XA-38-BH Grizzly, USAAF s/ns 43-14406 and 14407. The aircraft were designed to deliver knock-out blows to fortified gun emplacements, AFVs and surface ships. Beech designed them to be highly manoeuvrable and be able to absorb heavy battle damage. The main armament was a 75mm T15E1 cannon in the nose fitted with a Type T-13 automatic feed mechanism with 20 rounds of ammunition.
During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "Enemy Air-Borne Forces." (William L. Howard)
Frigate USS Asheville commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: