9 December 1942

Destroyer HMS Bideford rammed the anchored HMCS Louisburg in Londonderry. Louisburg required five weeks of repair in Belfast.

Oiler HMCS Mastodon commissioned. Built Renfrew, Scotland, 1,233/10, 6 kts, 210x36.5x13.75ft, crew 5/37, 1-12pdr, 2-20mm. Formerly Dept of Public Works, Dredger No.306, #129529, converted Burrard Dry Dock Co, Ltd, Vancouver. Delivered oil to naval storage tanks West Coast, occasionally assisted in distribution of commercial oil products. MASTODON was one of a very few auxiliaries that, despite their generally small size and decrepit condition, did absolutely indispensable work. Post WW.II, sold, Imperial Oil South America, Peruvian flag in 1950's.

NETHERLANDS: During the day, an RAF Bomber Command Mosquito bombs the power station at Hengelo.

During the night of 9/10 December, two RAF Bomber Command Stirlings lay mines in the Frisian Islands.

FRANCE: During the day, one each RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb the marshalling yard at Creil and a railroad tunnel at Vierzy.

During the night of 9/10 December, 11 RAF Bomber Command aircraft drop leaflets over the country.

ITALY: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 227 aircraft, 115 Lancasters, 47 Halifaxes, 40 Wellingtons and 25 Stirlings to bomb Turin; 200 bomb the city with the loss of two Wellingtons and a Lancaster lost. This is a disappointing raid with the Pathfinders not able to perform as efficiently as on the previous night. Smoke from old fires partially obscures the target area. Turin records 73 more people killed and 99 injured.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Whilst escorting convoy MKS.3, Flower class corvette HMS Marigold is sunk by an aircraft torpedo off Algiers at 36 50N 03 00E. There are 40 casualties but 6 officers and 37 ratings survive.

Whilst escorting submarine depot ship HMS Maidstone from Algiers to Gibraltar, destroyer HMS Porcupine (G 93) is torpedoed by U-602 (Kapitanleutenant Philipp Schuler) 70 miles NE of Oran at 36 40N 00 04E. She is towed back to port at Arzeu, separated into two parts and sent to the UK in two halves referred to as “Porc” and “Pine”, but is not repaired, rather she is declared a total loss ans scrapped in England on 6 May, 1946. (Alex Gordon)(108)

ALGERIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force P-40s fly an intercept mission over Youks-les-Bains, damaging one German aircraft.

TUNISIA: Heavy rains stop most USAAF Twelfth Air Force air operations in eastern Algeria and Tunisia; a few P-38 Lightnings fly reconnaissance south of Gafsa.

LIBYA: USAAF Ninth Air Force P-40s fly a fighter sweep over the El Agheila region.

NEW GUINEA: The Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda Trail enables the Allies to plan the encirclement of important Japanese positions in the Buna, Sanananda and Gona beachhead. After a preparatory bombardment from air and ground, the Australian 21st Brigade, 7th Division, launches a final assault on Gona area of Papua New Guinea and by 1630 hours overcomes resistance in hand-to-hand combat. Hundreds of Japanese dead are found. The 3d Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 32d Infantry Division, completes an air movement to the Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) front and prepares for the final assault on Buna Village..

In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb the Buna area as ground forces prepare for the final assault on the village. P-40s hit the area along the Sanananda-Soputa trail. In nearby Gona, following air and artillery bombardment, Australian forces overcome resistance, taking the village in hand-to-hand combat.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: General Alexander Patch of the US Army XIV Corps, assumes command of Guadalcanal from General Vandegrift. The 1st Marine Division is relieved. Vandegrift marks the occasion with a letter that paid tribute to the sailors, airmen, soldiers "and small band of devoted allies" that fought side by side with his Marines. The reference quoted is to the Coastwatchers and is so worded for security reasons. The Marines that were expected to make the landing and then hand off the fighting to the Army have been relieved, 124 days after landing. The 5th Marines begin embarking. The 2nd Marines, attached to the 1st MarDiv in place of the 7th Marines, remain on Guadalcanal with the 2nd MarDiv.

USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the airfield at Munda, New Georgia Island. No aircraft are lost.

USN motor torpedo boat PT-59 sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-3, engaged in a resupply mission to Guadalcanal, 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) northeast of Kamimbo Bay.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The daily weather aircraft cannot return to base due to a sudden snow squall and crash-lands on Atka Island. An attempted bombing mission to Kiska Harbor by three B-26 Marauders and six P-38 Lightnings is forced back by weather.

U.S.A.: The U.S. Army is reorganized into three autonomous forces: Army Air Forces, Ground Forces and Services of Supply.

Submarine USS Apogon laid down.

Destroyer USS Clarence K Bronson laid down.

Escort carrier USS Liscombe Bay laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

U-161 transferred an ill crewmember to the milk cow U-461.

U-508 captured four crewmembers from SS Nigerian; a ship she had just sunk.

U-553 sank SS Charles L.D. in Convoy HX-217.

The U.S. 7,057 ton armed freighter SS Coamo is en route from Gibralter to New York when she disappears without a trace. There are 186 persons aboard, 133 crew, 37 Armed Guards and 16 Army personnel and all are lost, the greatest tragedy to befall a single crew on a US Merchant Marine ship in WWII. It is later learned that the German submarine U-604 torpedoed and sunk a single-funneled freighter off Bermuda today and the ship sunk by the submarine is probably SS Coamo.