17 December 1943

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF Ninth Air Force planning group joins the 21st Army Group, Allied Expeditionary Air Force and the RAF's Second Tactical Air Force in preparation of the air section of the initial joint plan (Operation NEPTUNE) for Operation OVERLORD (the invasion of Normandy). This begins planning which later results in a massive Ninth Air Force plan for moving the Ninth into battle on the continent of Europe.

EIRE: A USAAF C-47 Skytrain crashes at McGilliguddy Reeks, County Kerry. All five aboard are killed.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area units capture Monte Sammucro and the 36th Infantry Division pursues the Germans beyond St. Pietro. In the U.S. VI Corps area, the Germans are making a limited withdrawal in the center of the corps front. After nightfall, the 180th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 45th Infantry Division takes Mt. la Posta without opposition. The Germans begin a withdrawal from Mt. Pantano positions, leaving a small number of rear-guard forces to delay pursuit.

San Pietro: It needed tanks, artillery, mortars, phosphorous grenades and outright guts to take San Pietro. Tonight, as the townsfolk emerge from their cellars to view their shattered town, the stiffening bodies of young American infantrymen are being placed in white cotton bags, with their identification discs tied to their combat boots. Their exhausted comrades look on. Some weep for fallen comrades; others stare vacantly ahead. No more than 100 Panzergrenadiers caused 1,500 American casualties here. There are hundreds more San Pietros to come.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-20 Havocs strike an artillery concentration near Sant' Elia Fiumerapido; All B-25 Mitchell missions are abortive; A-36 Apache and P-40 fighter-bombers bomb positions at Monte Trocchio, Cervaro, and Cardito, and the marshalling yard, barracks, warehouses, and docks at Nettuno and Anzio.

YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force P-40s and P-51 Mustangs, with South Africa escort, strafe a vessel near Trpanj.

CHINA: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, in another message to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, again calls for financial aid and increased air strength.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s bomb and strafe targets of opportunity in Hanoi.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the Sio area and P-39 Airacobras sink two barges during a sweep along the Huon Peninsula.

AUSTRALIA: General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific, orders Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, Commanding General U.S. Sixth Army, to prepare plans for the next phase of Operation DEXTERITY, the seizure of Saidor, Northeast New Guinea, as an advanced air and naval base. To perform this task, General Krueger forms Task Force MICHAELMAS under Brigadier General Clarence A. Martin, 32d Infantry Division assistant division commander, consisting of Regimental Combat Team 126, reinforced, 32d Infantry Division. The task force is largely that originally scheduled to invade Gasmata, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Ten USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators are dispatched from Nanumea Island in the Ellice Islands to bomb Maloelap Atoll; nine are recalled because of weather and one bombs the alternate target of Mili Atoll.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts intercept 35-40 Japanese aircraft attacking Allied forces on the Arawe Peninsula; at least nine are shot down. Cape Gloucester and nearby shipping are attacked by B-24 Liberators and B-25 Mitchells. Thirty one USMC F4U Corsairs, 22 USN F6F Hellcats and 23 New Zealand (P-40) Kittyhawks attack Rabaul on New Britain Island after refueling on Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands. The New Zealanders shoot down five Japanese fighters and the Marines down three. Three New Zealand aircraft are lost.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, Torokina Airfield, located on the western coast of Bougainville on Empress Augusta Bay, is put into use as a staging base for Rabaul (New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago)-bound fighters.

On Bougainville, 18 B-25 Mitchells strike Malai; six others join USN SBD Daunltesses in bombing the Mutupina Point Area while five New Zealand (PV-1) Venturas hit Poroporo and Tarekekori.

U.S.A.: Washington: President Roosevelt today signed legislation permitting an annual quota for Chinese immigration to the United States. This is, in effect, a repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and of subsequent anti-Chinese legislation passed early in the century as a result of the "Yellow Peril" agitation against Chinese coolie labour. The president has pushed the state department, and now Congress, into reversing the Exclusion Acts because of his appreciation of the value of China as an ally in the war against Japan.

"The Chinese people, I am sure, will take pleasure in knowing that this represents a manifestation on the part of the American people of their affection and regard. An unfortunate barrier between allies has been removed. The war effort in the Far East can now be carried on with a greater vigor and a larger understanding of our common purpose. "

Frigate USS Van Buren commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Jordan commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Intrigue laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Edmonds, Oswald A Powers and Sheehan launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-515 sank SS Kingswood.