4 December 1943

USAAF Ninth Air Force directive establishes Operation CROSSBOW (operations against German V-1 missile launching sites) for the IX Bomber Command and provides a list of targets to be attacked immediately.

HQ USAAF Ninth Air Force activates HQ IX Air Support Command at Aldermaston Court, Berkshire, England.

NETHERLANDS: Hawker Typhoons of Nos. 198 and 609 Squadrons RAF shoot down 11 Do-217s near Eindhoven in one sweep. This is the last pure fighter operation of the Typhoon. (22)

Sixteen P-47D Thunderbolts of the USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command dive-bomb Gilze-Rijen Airfield near Gilze. Two fighter groups escort and a third group carries out a fighter sweep.

During the night of 4/5 December, 31 RAF Bomber Command aircraft lay mines in the Frisian Islands with the loss of one Stirling.

FRANCE: During the night of 4/5 December, the USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 148: four B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 800,000 leaflets on Le Mans, Orleans, Tours and Laval at 2037-2125 hours. Nine RAF Bomber Command aircraft also drop leaflets over the country.

GERMANY: During the night of 4/5 December, seven RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb Duisburg: two hit the city and five bomb the Vereinigte Stahl steel factory.

U-399 launched.

U-319, U-804 commissioned.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's British X Corps area, the 56th Division is unable to regain Monastery Hill but seizes Hills 683 and 655. In the U.S. II Corps area, a German counterattack forces the Canadian/U.S. 1st Special Service Force from Mt. la Remetanea to Mt. Ia Difensa. The 1st Regiment moves up to assist the 2d in clearing the Mt. Ia Remetanea-Mt. Ia Difensa ridge. The 142d Infantry Regiment, U.S. 36th Infantry Division, maintains positions on Mt. Maggiore. In the VI Corps area, the 135th Infantry Regiment, U.S. ,34th Infantry Division relieves all elements of the 168th Infantry Regiment on Mt. Pantano. The 168th has suffered heavy casualties.

YUGOSLAVIA: There is a Partisan announcement of a provisional Yugoslav government under Tito at Jajce. (Glenn Steinberg)

In a convent hall decorated with large pictures of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, 54 delegates from Yugoslavia's partisan liberation committees today solemnly declared themselves to be the "anti-fascist council of national liberation of Yugoslavia."

Their leader, Josip Broz - the man known to the world as Tito - was elected general secretary and given the rank of marshal.

Tito's provisional government has settled for an unusually non-controversial programme which allows for individual rights, private property and free elections after the war. Tito, a dedicated communist, has been urged by Stalin to present a popular front. A non-communist Ivan Ribar, is president. The question of what to do about King Peter, the exiled Yugoslav monarch, remains open.

The partisans now control at least one-sixth of Yugoslavia. With an army of more than 200,000. Tito is now seen by the Allies as a vital force in the re-conquest of Europe, tying down at least a dozen of Hitler's divisions. Partisan ranks have been swollen by former Italian occupying troops, and Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean's British mission is now organizing the airlifting of weapons and military advisors into the country.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Submarine loss."D-4" - by German surface ASW ships UJ-102 and UJ103, close to cape Tarhankut. All hands are lost.

Units of German 11.Armee begin an offensive to eliminate the Soviet bridgehead at Kerch in the eastern Crimea.

EGYPT: Today Churchill and Roosevelt meet with President Inönü of Turkey at the second Cairo conference. (Gene Hanson)

IRAN: Tehran: Making his first journey outside Russia since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Stalin came to Tehran to hear Churchill and Roosevelt explain their plans for a cross-Channel invasion of France in the spring or summer of next year. A communiqué from the conference, which ended on 1st December, says that the three leaders "have concerted plans for the destruction of the German forces. We have reached complete agreement as to the scope and timing of the operations which will be undertaken from the east, west and south." This makes it clear that the Italian campaign will continue, though resources may be diverted to the French campaign. Stalin was not too pleased when Churchill said a landing in France depended upon Germany being prevented from bringing up substantial reinforcements during the first two months after the assault. The Soviet leader wondered aloud whether an invasion would ever happen.

Roosevelt was gratified to hear Stalin promise that "the moment Germany is defeated" the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan. This promise is judged to be so sensitive that the three leaders decided not to enter it in the record of the Tehran talks.

CHINA: The handful of survivors of the Japanese invasion of the central Chinese city of Changteh surrendered today. As the Chinese capitulated, Japanese troops set fire to the city to flush out the few remaining defenders who have managed to survive a week despite bombings and a poison-gas attack.

The survivors - 18 Chinese and two US radio operators who hid in a bank vault as they relayed target information to the US 15th Army Air Force - are all that are left of the Chinese 57th Brigade which was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to defend the city to the last man. Chiang today praised them, but threatened his surrendering commander with execution for disobeying orders.

The ancient city of Changte lies in China's vital rice-growing regions, in the Tung-ting Lake area. Its loss may be preliminary to a fourth battle for Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in central China, which the Japanese have often reached but never held.

Eleven USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and 12 P-40s bomb Changte, which was taken by the Japanese earlier in the day. Eleven more B-25s and 24 P-40s follow with two more attacks on Changte while other P-40s drop ammunition to Chinese troops on Tehshan Mountain.

JAPAN: The submarine USS Sailfish torpedoes the Japanese escort carrier Chuyo in Empire Waters.

BURMA: Pte Joseph Henry Silk (b.1916), Somerset Light Infantry, rolled onto an accidentally-ignited grenade to shield his comrades; he was killed instantly. (George Cross)

During the night of 4/5 December, five USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators mine the Rangoon River while 12 others mine the Salween River at Moulmein.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, 12 USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit villages and supply dumps in the Finschhafen area while 30+ P-40s sink an oil laden lugger and two barges off Bogia and bomb a bridge near Bogadjim.

USN Task Force 50 (Rear Admiral Charles A. Pownall) attacks Japanese installations on Kwajalein and Wotje Atolls. Planes from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) sink a collier, a cargo ship, an auxiliary submarine chaser, and a guardboat and damage light cruisers HIJMS Nagara and Isuzu, a stores ship, an auxiliary vessel, and three transports. Other aircraft carriers involved in the attacks are Bunker Hill (CV-17), Enterprise (CV-6), Essex (CV-9) and Yorktown (CV-10) and small aircraft carrier USS Cowpens (CVL-25). Between 0705 and 0940 hours, USN fighters shoot down 34 "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) and four "Betty" bomber (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) over Kwajalein Atoll. Around 1200 hours, eight "Kate" torpedo bombers (Nakajima B5N, Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Bombers) are shot down by antiaircraft fire over the fleet. Beginning at about 2000 hours, an estimated 30 to 50 "Betty" bombers and "Kate" torpedo bombers organized into 14 flights or individually attempt to sink the U.S. ships. At 2323 hours, a "Betty" bomber launches an aerial torpedo which strikes the aircraft carrier USS Lexington on the starboard side about 360 nautical miles (668 kilometers) northeast of Kwajalein Atoll. The torpedo knocks out her steering gear. Settling 5 feet (1,5 meters) by the stern, the carrier begins circling to port amidst dense clouds of smoke pouring from ruptured tanks aft. An emergency hand-operated steering unit is quickly devised, and Lexington makes for Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs. Two other ships are damaged, light cruiser USS Mobile (CL-63) when one of her 5-inch (12,7 centimetre) mounts accidentally fires into one of her own 40-millimeter mounts, and destroyer USS Taylor (DD-468) by friendly fire from light cruiser USS Oakland (CL-95). Strikes scheduled for tomorrow are cancelled and TF 50 returns to Pearl Harbor. This retirement costs the cautions Admiral Pownall his command. (Massimiliano Stola)

Thirty four USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from the Ellice Islands and Canton Islands bomb Mili Atoll; 20+ others abort due to bad weather.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Nearly 50 USAAF Fifth Air Force bombers hit Cape Gloucester airfield and attack shore targets from Rottock Bay to Rein Bay on New Britain Island while Australian Beauforts of No. 71 Wing attack Rabaul.

GILBERT ISLANDS: On Tarawa Atoll, Captain Jackson R. Tate, USN, Commander, Advanced Base, Tarawa, takes command, relieving Major General Julian Smith, USMC. During December and January, air bases are constructed in the Gilberts.

NAURU ISLAND: Eight USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Funafuti Atoll in the Ellice Islands attack the island. Nauru Island is a 21 square kilometre (8 square mile) island in the South Pacific Ocean, located about halfway between the Gilbert and Solomon Islands. The island is rich in phosphate deposits and was occupied by the Japanese on 25 August 1942.

BOUGAINVILLE: US Marines expand and solidify their perimeter after receiving reinforcements. The 1st Marine Parachute Regiment arrives and is soon committed to help advance the outpost line.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Sailfish (SS-192) torpedoes and sinks Yokosuka, Japan-bound Japanese escort aircraft carrier HIJMS Chuyo about 280 nautical miles (519 kilometers) southeast of Tokyo, Honshu, Japan, in position 32.27N, 143.49E. There are about 1,250 Japanese crewmen aboard and only 160 survive. Unbeknown to Sailfish, Chuyo is carrying 20 survivors from her sister ship USS Sculpin (SS-191) which was damaged and scuttled about 154 miles north of Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands, on 19 November. Only one of the USN sailors survives.

U.S.A.: The Governments shuts down the Work Projects Administration (WPA). WPA was inaugurated as a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation in 1935 as the Works Progress Administration (the name changed to Works Projects Administration in 1939), the WPA was charged with the task of creating jobs for workers idled by the Depression. Fuelled by US$11 billion of the government's money, the program set Americans to work on an array of projects, including the construction 650,000 miles (1 046 megameters) of road and 125,000 public buildings. The WPA also focused its attention on employing the country's creative workers, serving as an umbrella for federal programs that set writers, actors, and artists to work on various public arts projects.

Destroyer escort USS Dennis launched.

Minesweeper USS Graylag launched.

Escort carrier USS Hoggat Bay launched.

Destroyers USS Longshaw and Bryant commissioned.

Submarine USS Sailfish torpedoes escort carrier HIJMS Chuyo in Empire Waters.

Escort carrier USS Kasaan Bay (CVE-69) commissioned. The USN now has 33 CVEs in commission.

Minesweeper USS Salute commissioned.

Submarine USS Bang commissioned.