5 December 1942

UNITED KINGDOM: Fighter squadrons from seven Allied countries took part today in the biggest series of daylight raids yet mounted on targets in Europe. Among them were two from the Royal Norwegian Air Force, a famous Free French Squadron and three from the USAAF.

Crack Polish squadrons flew alongside others from Canada and New Zealand, and this truly Allied effort was completed by battle-hardened RAF units.

They made independent sweeps to draw off enemy fighters and provided cover for British light bombers to make the main raid, a successful low-level attack on the Philips radio factory at Eindhoven in Holland, and for American B-17s and B-24s which raided an engineering works at Lille and the Abbeville fighter airfield.

EIRE: A USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress en route from North America to the United Kingdom crash lands on the beach at Mullaghmore, County Sligo. After interrogation at the local pub, the five man crew is taken to the border with Northern Ireland and released.

FRANCE: During the night of 5/6 December, six RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets over the country.

U-734 commissioned.

U-309 launched.

U-998, U-1163 laid down.

ITALY: SARDINIA: A USAAF Twelfth Air Force F-4 Lightning flies photographic reconnaissance over southern Sardinia.

U-73 was attacked in the Mediterranean by an aircraft, and was damaged so badly that she had to return to base.

TUNISIA: The Combined Chiefs of Staff approve Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower's plan to attack on 9 December. Eisenhower is the Supreme Commander Allied Force. The British First Army is handicapped by lack of advanced airfields, overextended supply lines, and lack of reserves. While preparations are being made for the attack, Allied aircraft are conducting strikes against ports to limit the Axis build-up.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the docks and shipping at Tunis; B-25 Mitchells hit the Sidi Ahmed Airfield; and DB-7 Bostons follow shortly with a raid on Sidi Ahmed while another small force of DB-7s hits Faid. Each raid is escorted by P-38 Lightnings. P-38s fly reconnaissance over wide areas of Tunisia, a B-17 photographs the Sousse-Sfax-Gabes area.

NIGERIA: Three British ASW, HMS Canna, Bengali (FY-165) and Spaniard (FY-144), are berthed in the harbour at Lagos when a petrol spill catches fire engulfing the three ships. One by one they explode and in the process kill around 200 people. Fishing trawlers are used extensively during the war on escort duties and mine sweeping. (Dave Shirlaw & Jack McKillop)

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Durban: At least three Allied ships have been sunk in the Indian Ocean in the past week by enemy submarines. Admiral Donitz, pursuing his policy of hitting at weak points in the Allied defences, has sent some of his long-range U-boats to operate from Japanese bases, sometimes with the help of Japanese boats. They have scored some notable successes. One British steamer, sunk off Zululand, had 1,000 South African troops on board. A British transport was sunk with South African troops and Italian refugees from Eritrea on board. A Greek ship, the CLEANTHIS (formerly the FRAMLINGTON CASTLE), was sunk on Monday.

In the Australian 7th Division Gona area of Papua New Guinea, the Australian 21st Brigade, maintains pressure on the Japanese; the 25th Brigade withdraws for Port Moresby. A battalion of the 21st Brigade, supported by elements of the 39th Battalion, 30th Brigade, moves east to keep the Japanese from Basabua anchorage while the rest of the 39th Battalion advances west because of Japanese landings at the Kumusi River mouth. A roadblock on the Soputa- Sanananda trail remains under severe pressure, and food and ammunition of the garrison are dwindling rapidly. The Japanese turn back a supply party attempting to reach the block and again repel frontal and flanking attacks toward it. After an air and artillery preparation, the Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) and Warren Force (based on U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division) launch all-out attacks. A company of the Urbana Force's U.S. 126th Infantry Regiment drives to within 50 yards (46 meters) of Buna Village; others break through to the sea; still others invest the west bank of Entrance Creek except for Coconut Grove. Buna Village is completely isolated. The Warren Force attack, although preceded by five Bren-gun carriers which are destroyed, is a total failure except on the left, where slight progress is made toward the bridge between the airstrips. The Warren Force suffers heavily from the Japanese as well as intense heat.

In the air over Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-25 Mitchells pound the Buna area. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: No. 18 Squadron RAAF equipped with the North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber moves to MacDonald, Northern Territory.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Kavieng Airfield on the east coast of New Ireland Island.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: USAAF Eleventh Air Force reconnaissance missions over Attu, Agattu, the Semichis, Amchitka and Kiska Islands turns up nothing.

U.S.A.: Washington: The US Navy publishes its report on the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, revealing how much damage was done.

US: Pilots testing the Thunderbolt fighter plane report reaching 725 mph, just short of the speed of sound. (How accurate their measurements could be is a matter of debate.[AE])

Japanese-American Fred Tayama, an informant for the FBI, is attacked and seriously injured by a group of inmates at the Manzanar Relocation Camp For Ethnic Japanese, located 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Bishop, California. The arrest of the popular Harry Ueno who was accused in the attack on Tayama, triggers a mass uprising.

Headquarters USAAF inactivates the I Concentration Command. This unit was tasked for the final preparation for unit movements overseas and this task is now assigned to the First through Fourth Air Forces and the Air Transport Command.

The Selective Service System is placed under the War Manpower Commission by Presidential executive order.

Submarine USS Flounder laid down.

Destroyer USS Yarnall laid down.

Destroyer USS Heermann launched.

Minesweeper USS Swift launched.

Destroyer USS Renshaw commissioned.

WEST INDIES: The USN gunboat USS Erie (PG-50), damaged on 12 November was moved to Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands West Indies to facilitate salvage on 28 November. Before the repairs could be completed, she begins to take on a starboard list, and when counterflooded, capsizes to port and sinks.