December 6th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Details of another remarkable escape by an American flyer were cabled from New York last night by the Daily Mail correspondent.
A sergeant-gunner was dropped by parachute to the Germans - to save his life. He is Sergeant T. Weaver of Riverview, Alabama. One of his arms was shot off when his Fortress was hit over Hanover last July. Only chance of saving him was to drop him by parachute in the hope that he would land safely and be taken to a German hospital.
At first Weaver refused to leave the plane. But he was persuaded to go. Feebly he crawled towards the escape hatch and, helped by friends, he dropped out. It was a 1,000 to 1 chance.
Yesterday the gunner's father learned from the War Department that his son is safe in a German prison camp.
Daily Mail
Frigate HMS Bahamas commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Swift commissioned.
NETHERLANDS: Anton Mussert, the Dutch Nazi leader, says 150,000 Dutch Jews have been deported to eastern Europe.
ITALY: Monte Camino, falls to the British 56th Division after a fierce struggle. The British 8th Army continues their advance up the Moro River.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviets cut the Smela-Znamenka railroad line southwest of Kremenchug.
Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Submarine "S-55" sunk supposedly mined or by surface ASW ships, close to cape Nordcap. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army area, the British X Corps seizes the crest of Mt. Camino and for the next three days mops up the western slopes as far as the Garigliano River. In the U.S. VI Corps area, elements of the 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, reach the top of Hill 769, but the Germans retain positions on the reverse slope.
In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the Canadian 1st Division crosses the Moro River.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force P-40 and A-36 Apache fighter- bombers bomb bridges at Ceprano and west of Mignano. Weather cancels other operations.
GREECE: Forty five USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Eleusis Airfield while 56 B-17 Flying Fortresses hit Kalamaki Airfield; other B-17s return to base with bombs because of a heavy overcast. The bombers and escorting P-38 Lightnings claim several German fighters shot down; one B-24 is lost to flak.
CHINA: Chang-te is attacked throughout the day by 30+ USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and numerous fighters; other fighters strafe targets of opportunity in the railway yard at Hsipaw and damage a train at Hopong.
BURMA: During the night of 6/7 December, RAF Wellingtons bomb Moulmein.
PACIFIC OCEAN: From Glen Boren's diary: Rumor of raid on Naura for tomorrow.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville Island, six USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the Monoitu Mission area, and 24 others, with fighter support, bomb Tarlena village; P-40s carry out a strafing strike in the Arawa Bay area near Kieta; general fighter patrols strafe the Chabai, Koromira, and Monoitu areas; and the Kieta supply area is bombed by a B-24 Liberator on armed reconnaissance. On Buka Island, P-38 Lightnings strafe the west coast.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, nearly 100 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells hit the Cape Gloucester and Borgen Bay areas while P-40s strafe Cape Hoskins. Three squadrons of Australian Beauforts bomb Borpop on New Ireland Island.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Strathadam laid down.
U.S.A.: On the basis of the estimate by British Admiral Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, to the Combined Chiefs of Staff that no major amphibious operations can be undertaken if Operation BUCCANEER (the invasion of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean) is canceled, President Franklin D. Roosevelt informs Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek that there can be no amphibious operation simultaneously with Operation TARZAN (general offensive in Burma); inquires whether Chiang will go ahead under the circumstances or wait until November 1944, when a major amphibious assault might be undertaken.
Destroyer escorts USS Samuel B Roberts and Walter C Wann laid down.
Destroyer escorts USS Liddle and O'Neill commissioned.