UNITED KINGDOM: The government is to launch an all-out campaign to warn people of the dangers of venereal disease, using leaflets, films and broadcasts. The House of Commons today approved a regulation which provides that if two people report a third as a source of infection, that person may be compelled to go for treatment.
The minister of health, Ernest Brown, revealed that the number of new cases of syphilis had risen by 70% since 1939. The rate was now as bad as in 1932. Public education was essential, as well as free treatment available from GPs and an increasing number of clinics. The Labour MP Dr. Edith Summerskill said the new regulation did not go far enough. Last year 70,000 cases of VD had been seen by clinics. This meant that the total number was probably 150,000 - more than the casualties of the Blitz.
MPs reported that VD in the factories was seriously affecting the war effort, and that ships were sometimes unable to sail because of it. It was no longer confined to towns. Lady Astor said: "There has been a lowering of the moral tone and the government has done nothing about it."
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill informs Australian Prime Minister John Curtin that shipping will be available at the end of January 1943 to transport the Australian 9th Division with minimal equipment from North Africa to Australia. Churchill says, "the 9th Australian Division would carry with them from the African desert a splendid reputation, and the honour of having played a leading part in a memorable victory for the Empire and the common cause."
London: It was gazetted today that PO (Cook) Charles Henry Walker (b.1914) dived from his destroyer to rescue a survivor of a burning ship who was in difficulties. (Albert Medal)
Scotland: Convoy JW-51A sails from Loch Ewe for Kola Bay in the USSR, re-opening the Arctic convoy route.
Escort carrier HMS Trumpeter launched.
FRANCE: During the night of 15/16 December, RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons lay mines off French ports on the Bay of Biscay: three lay mines off St. Nazaire and two lay mines off Lorient.
GERMANY: U-670, U-671, U-843 launched.
ITALY: Royal Air Force (B-24) Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group, operationally controlled by the USAAF IX Bomber Command, hit Naples harbor during the night of 15/16 December.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The British destroyer HMS Petard (G 56) and the Greek destroyer RHS Vasillisa Olga (D 15) capture the Italian submarine R.Smg. Uarsciek south of Malta however she sinks while in tow.
LIBYA: While the 7th Armoured Division, British Eighth Army, engages the Axis rear guards from the east, the New Zealand 2d Division drives rapidly to the coast in the Merduma area to block Axis' escape on the west.
USAAF Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and P-40s strike at retreating troops and vehicles between El Agheila and Merduma, as the New Zealand 2nd Division drives to the coast in the Merduma area to obstruct the retreating Germans. _
TUNISIA: The British First Army is slowly building up strength. The 6th Armoured Division completes concentration in Tunisia and is followed early in February 1943 by the 46th Division. Tanks and selected personnel of the U.S. 1st Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, are sent back to Oran, Algeria, to rejoin the 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division.
Eight USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators, opening the Ninth Air Force's offensive against Tunisian ports, hit the railroad yard, repair shop, and roundhouse at Sfax dropping seventy two 500 pound (227 kilogram) bombs.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders attack El Aouina Airfield while seven B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the harbor area at Tunis and 12 B-17s hit the harbor at Bizerte. F-4 Lightnings fly several photographic reconnaissance missions over coastal Tunisia covering the area from Bizerte to Gabes.
NEW GUINEA: US forces enter Buna, which Japan has evacuated.
In Papua New Guinea, the Australian 2/7th Cavalry Regiment, 7th Division, begins arriving at Soputa. On the Urbana front, the 2d Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, employing a small force of 80-odd men immediately available, attacks and encircles Coconut Grove, the last Japanese position on the west bank of Entrance Creek. After nightfall, a Dutch freighter unloads additional Australian tanks and cargo at Oro Bay. The tanks are moved forward to Hariko and, with others already there, are organized into X Squadron of the Australian 2/6th Armoured Regiment.
In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit Japanese forces along the Mambare River while a B-24 Liberators bombs a wrecked ship at Gona.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: During the next 10 days Admiral Tanaka's Tokyo Express also runs supply missions to Munda airfield on New Georgia, while still making express runs to Guadalcanal.
Two radar-equipped PBY-5A Catalinas of USN Patrol Squadron Twelve (VP-12) arrive on Guadalcanal from Nandi in the Fiji Islands to begin night operations. As a result of the matte-black paint schemes and night-time bombing operations conducted by the squadron, VP-12 officially becomes known as a "Black Cat" squadron, along with VP-11, VP-91 and VP-51. The area of operations during this period is concentrated around Guadalcanal.
U.S.A.: The 101st Infantry Battalion (Separate) - personnel of Austrian ancestry is formed at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. (Nick Minecci)
Douglas DC-3A-191, msn 1900, registered NC16060 by the U.S. airline Western Air Lines, crashes at Fairfield, Utah, at 0122 hours local. This is Western Flight 13 from Salt Lake City, Utah to Burbank, California via Las Vegas, Nevada. All four crew and 13 of the 15 passengers are killed. The crash occurred after the aircraft performed a violent maneuver. Failure of the left, or possibly both wing tips and of the horizontal tail surfaces as a result of a sever pull-up which caused unusual and abnormally high air loads. The reason for the pull-up maneuver was not determined.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-174 sank SS Alcoa Rambler.
U-626 sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 56.46N, 27.12W, by depth charges from USCGC Ingham. 47 dead (all hands lost).
Destroyer escort USS Hopping laid down.
Submarines USS Lancetfish and Lionfish laid down.
Destroyers USS Guest and Stevenson commissioned.