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December 19th, 1942 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Vox laid down.

FRANCE: During the night of 19/20 December, RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons lay mines off three ports on the Bay of Biscay: six lay mines off Lorient, five off St. Nazaire and four off Brest.

GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf Hitler receives French Prime Minister Pierre Laval at his headquarters in the presence of Italian Foreign Minister Count Gian Ciano, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, head of the German Air Force; and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, to discuss "the existing problems of France."

Berlin: With his armies in Russia crippled by heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures, Hitler today abruptly sacked his commander-in-chief and took over the job himself, "following his own intuitions", as the official announcement put it.

Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, appointed C-in-C in 1938, is reported to be deeply dismayed by the army's desperate plight in Russia, caused by the Führer's order that there must be no retreats in any circumstances. Field Marshal von Rundstedt has already been sacked for quitting Rostov-on-Don.

Hitler - failed artist and ex-corporal, Führer and chancellor of the German Reich, supreme commander of the armed forces and C-in-C - says that von Brauchitsch is a nincompoop.

U.S.S.R.: Kantemirovka, between the Donets and Don rivers, is retaken by the Russian Army on the Eastern Front. 
Hoth's relief column has been making smaller gains and is now at the Myshkova River. His 6th Army Chief of Staff, General Schmidt, a committed Nazi Party member is an important figure in the decision.

Citing fuel shortages, German General Friedrich Paulus, commander of the Sixth Army, refuses to breakout from Stalingrad. The Sixth Army Chief of Staff, General Schmidt, a committed Nazi Party member, is an important figure in the decision. Meanwhile, the Fourth Panzer Army’s relief column has been making smaller gains and is now at the Myshkova River.

Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Submarine "Sch-212" - sunk by aviation, North to cape Sinop (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Whilst escorting a convoy to Benghazi, Flower class corvette HMS Snapdragon (K 10) is bombed by German aircraft and sinks within 3 minutes of an amidship hit. Location: off Benghazi at 32 18N 19 54E. There are 59 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

TUNISIA: Rain curtails most aerial operations but USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs and DB-7 Bostons, with fighter escort, hit the marshaling yard at Sfax.

BURMA: Maungdaw: The 14th Indian Division, having advanced 150 miles cross-country from India to the Maungdaw/Buthidaung line between the Burmese coast and the Arakan mountains, is pushing on. Its goal is the Japanese air base on the offshore island of Akyab, 60 miles south.

The campaign is a limited one, to secure an airfield in striking range of Rangoon. Originally General Wavell, the C-in-C in India, had hoped to make a seaborne assault, but there were no landing craft. A land attack was his second choice.

So far there has been little fighting and Japanese forward posts have been withdrawn. Akyab is defended by only one regiment, the 213th, but two divisions, the 55th and the 33rd, are near.

NEW GUINEA: Continuing the assault on the Sanananda front in Papua New Guinea, the Australians reduce several Japanese positions just beyond the track junction in a frontal drive; flanking elements reach positions near the roadblock. A Japanese attack on the block is repulsed. Australian cavalrymen destroy a Japanese force 300 yards (274 meters) north of the block and establish a new perimeter, which they call “Kano.â€� The Urbana Force, after air and mortar preparation, attacks the Triangle, Companies E and G of the U.S. 126th Infantry Regiment driving south on it while Company F blocks from below. The attack is soon halted by cross fire, which causes heavy casualties. The battalion commander is lost in this action. Troops on the Warren front regroup. The rest of Australian 2/10th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division, arrives at the front after dark. U.S. troops are to operate the Oro Bay port and the engineers charged with the construction of a road from Oro Bay to Dobod  ura airfields land at Oro Bay during the night of 19/20 December. Additional cargo is also brought ashore.

     In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-25 Mitchells hit the Buna Mission area. B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators attack warships, transports and cargo vessels off Madang in Astrolabe Bay and north northwest of Finschhafen off the coast of Huon Peninsula damaging a destroyer. Meanwhile, B-25s bomb Lae Airfield.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The 3rd Btn, backed up by 1st Btn, of the 132nd Infantry has spent two days moving into contact with Japanese forces in the area that will become known as "The Gifu" on Mt. Austen on Guadalcanal. After artillery and aerial bombardment, Colonel William Wright, Battalion commanding officer, is mortally wounded. The action is stalemated for the rest of the day, until the Btn XO can move forward. The next few days will show small gains as the US forces aggressively patrol in their attempts to locate the Japanese forces. The Japanese will continue to sent forward infiltration parties, making the front lines of the US forces jittery and harassing the rear supply forces.

USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, hit the airfield at Munda on New Georgia Island. They are attacked by 20 Japanese Zeke fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters); the Americans claim three Zekes with no American losses.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Benalla launched.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The American reconnaissance team that landed on Amchitka Island on 17 December leaves the island.

     Two USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators fly reconnaissance and patrol over Amchitka and Kiska Islands. Four escorting P-38 Lightnings turn back due to weather and mechanical difficulties.

CANADA:

U.S.A.:

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