December 23rd, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Tally-Ho launched.
ASW trawler HMS Fusilier launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Sir Lomorack launched.
Bomber Command Venturas attacked naval installations at Den Helder, whilst 18 Boston light bombers attacked facilities at St Malo. The Ventura attack proved particularly accurate, badly damaging a torpedo workshop.
NETHERLANDS: Six RAF Bomber Command (USN PV-1) Venturas bomb naval installations at Den Helder. The Den Helder bombing is particularly accurate and serious damage is caused to a torpedo workshop and other buildings.
GERMANY: During the night of 23/24 December, five RAF Bomber Command Oboe Mosquitos are dispatched to bomb steel mills; two bomb the Krupps steel mill at Essen, one bombs a steel mill at Hamborn and one bombs the Krupps steel works at Rheinhausen No results could be observed, because of haze, and later daylight photographs could not distinguish craters caused by these attacks from those of other raids but a map from Essen shows accurate bomb bursts in the middle of the main Krupps factory on this night.
U.S.S.R.: Having advanced as far as the Myshkova River 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Stalingrad, the three Panzer divisions of the force to relieve the German troops of the German Sixth Army encircled at Stalingrad have exhausted their power and begin withdrawing to their starting line at Kotelnikovo. They are close enough for the besieged Germans, within Stalingrad, to hear the sounds of battle.
ITALY: USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack the harbor at Naples during the night of 23/24 December; one aircraft bombs Taranto.
TUNISIA: Heavy rain stops both sides' operations.
Elements of Regimental Combat Team 18, U.S. 1st Infantry Division, relieve the 2nd Coldstream Guards on Djebel el Ahmera hill and are forced to withdraw under a German counterattack.
Total cloud cover causes USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, to abort the bombing mission against Tunis and Bizerte Airfields.
ALGERIA: The Americans inform General Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, political affairs commissioner of the French resistance, that Admiral Francois Darlan, French High Commissioner for North Africa, has decided to resign and leave North Africa and they have consented.
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, a stalemate exists on the Sanananda front, where the Japanese are stubbornly defending their well-organized positions. On the Urbana front, the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, completes the capture of Musita Island and begins firing on Buna Mission at close range; the regiment prepares to drive east across Government Gardens to the sea. The Warren Force continues movement across the creek, where engineers repair a bridge under fire, and takes up positions for a concerted assault on Old Strip. The Australian 2/9th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division and the U.S. 3d Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, hold their positions along the coast and finish mopping up the region east of the creek. During the night of 23/24 December, two Japanese vessels sink a barge loaded with ammunition and strafe the beach at Hariko; a vessel bringing more tanks and supplies to the Warren Force unloads at Oro Bay.
In Papua New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs strafe troops near Gona and at Woiba Islands.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: HMAS Voyager (VandW class destroyer) is wrecked on a beach during a supply run to the Australian 2/4 Independent Company who are conducting a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese on Timor. (Daniel Ross)
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators attack a cargo ship at Arawe while other B-24s carry out single-bomber attacks on a transport west-southwest of Cape Orford and the Cape Gloucester Airfield, B-25 Mitchells bomb Cape Gloucester Airfield and attack a ship at Pilelo Island.
ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: A single USAAF B-24 Liberator attacks a Japanese vessel northwest of Lornegau on Manus Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: USMC SBD Dauntless dive bombers attack Munda Airfield on New Georgia Island. The escorting F4F Wildcats of Marine Fighting Squadron One Hundred Twenty One (VMF-121) shoot down five Japanese €œZeke€ fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) over Munda at 1210 hours.
CANADA:
Frigates HMCS Matane (ex-Stormont), Montreal and Stormont laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: The British motion picture "In Which We Serve" opens at the Capitol Theater in New York City. Directed by Noel Coward and David Lean, this war drama about the Royal Navy stars Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Michael Wilding and Richard Attenborough.
Bob Hope agrees to entertain U.S. airmen in the Territory of Alaska. It is the first of his many famous Christmas shows for American armed forces around the world. The tradition continued for more than 30-years.
Submarine USS Rock laid down.
Anti-Aircraft cruiser USS Tucson laid down.
Destroyer USS Beale commissioned.