December 14th, 1942 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Westminster: Churchill asks Anthony Eden, his foreign secretary, whether reports about "the wholesale massacre of Jews" by "electrical methods" are true.
Eden tells him that "Jews are being withdrawn from Norway and sent to Poland, for some such purposes evidently." Eden, is, however, unable to "confirm the method" of killing.
Churchill sends the briefest of memoranda to First Sea Lord, Sir Dudley Pound: 'Where is the TIRPITZ?' (Scott Peterson)
2/8 Btn. Lancashire Fusiliers are moved to Ballynahinch, Northern Ireland. Their main function will be to train alongside and with the newly arrived United States troops. (119)
The Combined Production and Resources Board and the Combined Raw Materials Board issued a statement simultaneously in Washington and London, that the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada had united in creating a Combined Steel Committee "to squeeze every possible ton of steel out of existing plant facilities, in order to fulfill the combined war production program for 1943" .
An agreement is concluded in London between the British Government and the French National Committee to restore Madagascar, the Comoro Islands and the uninhabited peri-Antarctic islands of Crozet, Kerguelen, Saint Paul and Amsterdam to French sovereignty. The provisional military administration set up by the British authorities after the occupation of Madagascar is to come to an end upon the arrival there of General Paul-Louis Legentilhomme , the newly appointed High Commissioner, when the necessary provisions had been made for the reestablishment of the exercise of French sovereignty over the island.
A USAAF Inspector General report states that the drain of supplies from the USAAF Eighth Air Force for the purpose of equipping the USAAF Twelfth Air Force in Northwest Africa is hindering greatly the training and combat program of the Eighth Air Force.
Submarine HMS Vigorous laid down.
Sloop HMS Woodpecker commissioned.
BELGIUM: RAF Bomber Command dispatches four Mosquitos to attack railways in Belgium and the Netherlands but only one aircraft bombs a marshalling yard at Ghent, Belgium.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 14/15 December, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 68 aircraft, 27 Halifaxes, 23 Lancasters and 18 Wellingtons to lay mines. The Lancasters are recalled but most of Halifaxes and Wellingtons complete their mission: 27 lay mines in the Frisian Islands and six lay mines off Texel Island.
U.S.S.R.: Göring's airlift to Stalingrad brings in 180 tons. This is the largest effort to date and will not be exceeded. The German relief column is making progress in their advance.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The British light cruiser HMS Argonaut (61) is torpedoed by the Italian submarine R.Smg. Mocenigo about 43 nautical miles (79 kilometers) north-northeast of Bone, Algeria, in position 37.30N, 08.13E. Two torpedoes strike the ship, and blow off both stern and bow. Amazingly, only three crewmen lost their lives in the explosions. HMS Argonaut manages to get to Gibraltar. Provisional repairs prove to be precarious, and on 4 April1943 she sets sail to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., escorted by the destroyer HMS Hero (H 99). After a brief stay in the Azores, Hero has engine problems and has to leave Argonaut on her own on 9 April. On 13 April the cruiser is sighted by the USN destroyer USS Butler (DD-636), that escorts her to Bermuda, where some additional repairs are made. Escorted by the American minesweepers USS Tumult (AM-127) and USS Pioneer (AM-105), she reaches Philadelphia on 27 April.
EGYPT: The British 7th Armoured division attacks the El Agheila line while the New Zealanders try to outflank it.
El Agheila: The trap was carefully laid for Rommel - but, once again, the wily Desert Fox has succeeded in getting away from Montgomery's Eighth Army. The Panzerarmee Afrika (as the Afrika Korps is now known) has slipped away from this port where Rommel began his desert campaigns and is now heading west for Tripoli and Tunisia. The 2nd New Zealand Division was encircling the town in preparation for a planned frontal assault due to begin today. But under cover of dusk two nights ago Rommel's Panzers began to escape, their commander now hoping to link up with the other Axis forces in Tunisia.
LIBYA: The British Eighth Army continues to pursue the Axis, the British 7th Armoured Division taking the lead in the westward push while the New Zealand 2d Division advances rapidly southwest into the desert in an effort to get behind the Axis.
USAAF Ninth Air Force P-40s continue to attack retreating German forces east of El Agheila.
TUNISIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the harbor and shipping at Bizerte while B-17 Flying Fortresses hit similar targets at Tunis. DB-7 Bostons made two attacks on the marshaling yard at Sfax escorted by P-38 Lightnings and P-40s. P-38s attack vessels off the northern Tunisian coast, the road between Tunis and Bizerte, a train near Kerker, trucks near Chaaba, and El Djem, and a train near La Hencha. P-40s fly sweeps; F-4 Lightnings carry out photographic reconnaissance over areas of Tunisia. .
ABYSSINIA: The Government of Abyssinia proclaimed that a state of war existed between Abyssinia and Germany, Italy, and Japan.
MADAGASCAR: Eden and DeGaulle agree that the Free French should administer Madagascar. Free French High Commissioner General Paul Legentilhomme is appointed.
JAPAN: USN submarine USS Sunfish (SS-281) lays mines in entrance to Iseno Umi Bay. She continues these mining operations in those waters through 17 December.
NEW GUINEA: The Japanese use a seaborne landing 30 miles west of Gona to outflank the Australians.
The convoy of five destroyers reaches the Mambare River mouth early in morning and unload about 800 men without being detected. Allied planes subsequently deliver damaging attacks on troops, supplies, and landing craft. On the Sanananda front, a supply party succeeds in breaking through to the roadblock. West of the block, Company K and Cannon Company are relieved by Australian troops and move to the rear. On the Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) front, Companies I and K of the 127th Infantry Regiment move cautiously to Buna Village after an artillery and mortar preparation and find it empty of Japanese. The Australian 2/9th Battalion, 18th Brigade and six tanks being moving to Hariko from Oro Bay. USAAF Fifth Air Force transports establish a record for Papuan campaign by bringing 578 tons (524 metric tonnes) of materiel to Dobodura and Popondetta airfields.
In Papua New Guinea, the five Japanese troop-carrying destroyers attack by USAAF Fifth Air Force aircraft yesterday, reach the mouth of the Mambare River and unload without being detected. However, medium and light bombers and fighters, along with Australian aircraft, subsequently deliver damaging blows against these troops and their supplies and also hit forces along the Kumusi River in the Cape Endaiadere area and along the Mambare River. The five destroyers are attacked off Cape Ward Hunt by medium and heavy bombers. Attacks are also carried out against the Lae Airfield and the airfield on Gasmata Island, Bismarck Archipelago.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal Islands, additional elements of the Army’s Americal Division arrive.
USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses attack Buin on Bougainville Island with no losses.
PACIFIC OCEAN: During the night of 14/15 December on board USN submarine USS Grayback (SS-208), on war patrol in the Bismarck Archipelago, an appendectomy commences at 2300 hours by Pharmacist's Mate First Class Harry B. Roby, USNR, on Torpedoman First Class W.R. Jones. The surgery is completed by 0200 hours. This is the second of three such procedures that will be performed on board U.S. submarines during the war.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Bull and Farquhar laid down.
Light cruiser USS Wilkes-Barre laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: