December 9th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Armada launched.
GERMANY:
DENMARK:
D-DAY COUNTDOWN...
December 9, 1943:
Field Marshal Rommel and his staff continue to tour the Danish coast as they begin their inspection of the West Wall. Today, their train enters Copenhagen. Even after several years of occupation, the capital of Denmark, so unlike other captials in Europe, is well-stocked and fed. Obviously, the Danes have nto suffered nearly as heavily in this war. Most still earn a fair wage, and the country is not forced to pay the Reich any reparations.
Rommel, gazing at the people on the streets and in their shops, senses a spirit of normalcy in their lives. He watches them go about the routines they had before the war, and ignoring their occupiers for the most part.
Added to this sense of normal routine is the fact that Denmark is an unlikely location for an Allied invasion. Rommel and his staff are amazed at the lifestyle.
They stop at a nearby restaurant and are rewarded with culinary delights. Delicacies abound, even after four years of occupation.
The staff later spread out and shop for other personal items. After all, Christmas is near, and this is an excellent location to pick up a nice present. There is a small problem on purchasing, though. They are, after all, German.
That afternoon, Rommel calls on General von Hannecken, the Wermacht commander in Denmark. Later, they feast on a bountiful dinner with Reich Commissioner, Dr. Best.
--Peter Margaritis
ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's British X Corps area, Rocca d'Evandro falls, concluding the action against the Monte Camino hill mass. In the U.S. II Corps area, the 2d and 3d Battalions of the 143d Infantry Regiment continue to be held up in the St. Pietro area and pull back after dark to the line of departure while an artillery concentration is placed on the Germans. The German counterattack on Mt. Sammucro is repulsed. In the U.S. VI Corps' 45th Infantry Division zone, Hill 769 is completely cleared, but the Germans retain Lagone and La Bandita.
In the British Eighth Army area, engineers build a bridge across the Moro River and the 48th Highlanders and the Royal Canadian Regiment capture San Leonardo on the north bank of the river.
U.S.S.R.: Medorovo falls to the Soviet Army. They then move on to attack Znamenka itself.
FRENCH WEST AFRICA: Following the Teheran and Cairo conferences, U.S. President Frankline D. Roosevelt re-embarks in battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) at Dakar for the return voyage to the U.S.
CHINA: Changteh: After two weeks of some of the most intensive fighting seen on the Chinese mainland, Changteh, the central Chinese city twice occupied by the Japanese, has been recaptured by Chinese Nationalist troops after a massive cross-country supply operation by an army of coolies.
Changteh, a city of 160,000 south of the Yangtze and at the heart of a major rice-producing district, has been destroyed in the battle that saw bitter hand-to-hand fighting in the streets and the use of poison gas by the Japanese. The Chinese commander, General Hsueh Yueh, admitted that his losses had been heavier than Japan's, but said that it was felt that Changteh had to be retaken whatever the costs.
Replying to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's message of 7 December, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek asks for financial assistance and increased air strength.
Fifteen USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Wuchang and Hankow, and three bomb Chang-te. P-40s strafe sampans above Nanhsien and attack targets of opportunity in the Salween River area, including road traffic south of Hsia Chai, barracks at Tachai, and the town of San Tsun.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The US airfield at Cape Torokina on
the western coast of Bougainville on the shores of
Empress Augusta Bay
200 miles from Rabaul in New Britain reaches operational status today.
The 3d Marine Division begins a struggle for the hills around the beachhead that
is to last until late in the month.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Nineteen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from the Ellice Islands bomb Mili Atoll. The B-24s claim five Japanese fighters destroyed.
PACIFIC OCEAN: From Glen Boren's diary: Two days in one. At 1000 hours, we crossed the International Date Line and went from the 9th to the 10th of December. Just found out we are headed for Espirito Santo. (New Hebrides Islands)
U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Hodges launched.
Destroyer USS Mannert L Abele laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: