December 19th, 1943 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 158: five B-17 Flying Fortresses drop one million leaflets on Paris, Amiens and Chartres at 2059-2135 hours.
Frigates HMS Hargood and Holmes launched.
Corvette HMCS Frontenac departed Belfast with Convoy ON-273.
FRANCE: Paris: 30,000 members of various Fascist groups attend a meeting at the Vélodrome d'Hiver on the theme "Europe United against Bolshevism."GERMANY: *Erprobungskommando 262* (Ekdo262) or "Operational Test Detachment 262," is activated. This is by the urgent persuasion of General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland of his RLM masters,the test unit was to be stationed at Lager-Lechfeld (Bayern), south of the main Messerschmitt facility at Augsburg. It had been largely due to Galland's enthusiasm after flying the 4th prototype of the Me262 (code PC+UD werknummer 262 000004). (Russ Folsom)
Forty USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Messerschmidt aircraft factory at Augsburg; one aircraft is lost.
During the night of 19/20 December, six RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons drop leaflets over several towns.
AUSTRIA: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb two targets: 73 hit the Main marshalling yard at Innsbruck with the loss of two aircraft and 17 attack Kattenberg with the loss of three aircraft.
U.S.S.R.: Kharkov: The three German war criminals, Gestapo officers Captain Wilhelm Langheld, Reinhardt Retelav and Hans Ritz and their Russian accomplice driver Mikhail Bulanov, were hanged this cold grey morning in the market square of Kharkov, the war-scarred city where they had carried out massacres with the utmost brutality. They were found guilty of war crimes by a Soviet Military Court. A crowd estimated at 50,000 watched as nooses were placed round their necks and the lorries of which they stood were driven away to leave them dangling from the scaffold of rough pine logs.
The Nazis themselves often used this method for executions in the Soviet Union as in the case of Kieper and Kogan, two members of the Soviet Regional Court who were hanged on 17 August 1941, at Zhitomir. Forced to watch the hangings, 400 Jews were rounded up in the city. After the executions, the Jews were taken outside the town and shot into a pit 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49 feet) wide and 4 meters (13 feet) deep.
Moscow: The USSR adopts a new anthem to replace the Internationale.
ITALY: In U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, the 36th Infantry Division’s 143d and 141st Infantry Regiments attempt to clear the southern and western slopes of Mt. Sammucro from which the Germans are barring access to Highway 6 and the Mignano Gap, but make little headway.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the Terni marshalling yard and the Orte marshalling yard and airfield; A-20 Havocs attack road, bridge, and the town of Orte and hit Cassino; P-40s bomb Orsogna, Sant' Elia Fiumerapido, and a dump near Arce. A-36 Apaches hit the railroad and harbor area at Civitavecchia.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolt, dispatched for escort duty, miss the rendezvous with the heavy bombers and instead strafe Ancona Airfield, truck convoys at Porto Civitsnova, a train near Senigallia, and a vessel at Roseto degli Abruzzi. B-26 Marauders bomb the Perugia railroad installations and marshalling yards at Castiglione della Valle and Foligno.
YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force P-40s hit shipping at Split, Trogir, and Solin.
INDIA: RAF Tactical Air Force (Burma) is formed.
CHINA: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek rejects the proposal by British Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, for a major attack.
About 35 Japanese bombers and fighters attack Hengyang Airfield; 26 USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s are sent up against the attacking force and shoot down nine; two P-40s are lost. Twelve B-25 Mitchells and eight P-40s attack Nanhsien and Ansiang.
THAILAND: Twenty USAAF Tenth Air Force B-24 Liberators fly a night strike against a newly expanded dock area at Bangkok causing considerable destruction.
NEW GUINEA: Wareo: With only days to go before the main Allied invasion of New Britain, Australian 9th Division troops have captured the last Japanese coastal stronghold overlooking the crucial Vitiaz Straits that separate New Guinea from New Britain. Fighting in torrential conditions and in dense jungle, the 9th today routed the last Japanese defending the Mandang Wareo trail on the Huon Peninsula. Since taking Salamaua and Lae in September the 9th has inflicted heavy casualties, killing 3,099 Japanese (but only capturing 38). The 9th has lost 283 killed and 745 wounded.
In Northeast New Guinea, about 30 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, A-20 Havocs, and P-39 Airacobras hit barges, bivouac areas, and gun positions north and west of Finschhafen. Thirty 30 B-25s and B-26 Marauders bomb Madang and P-47 Thunderbolts sweep the coastline.
NEW BRITAIN: The Japanese airfield on Arawe is captured by US forces. The Japanese counterattacks are defeated.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Japanese airfield on Arawe is captured by U.S. forces. The Japanese counterattacks are defeated.
On New Britain Island, Cape Gloucester is bombed by more than 140 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, B-25 Mitchells, and B-26 Marauders as pre-invasion operations increase. Thirty seven P-40s hit Gasmata on the south coast of New Britain and 20 A-20 Havocs attack forces northeast of Arawe.
Sixteen USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators, escorted by 48 P-38 Lightnings and New Zealand (P-40) Kittyhawks, bomb the town of Rabaul and Simpson Harbor on New Britain Island.
MARSHALL ISLANDS: Twenty nine USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from the Ellice Islands and Baker Island bomb barracks, hangars, and wharf areas on Mili and Maloelap Atolls; they claim seven fighters shot down. P-39 Airacobras from Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands strafe Mili Atoll, destroying three airplanes and firing an oil dump; two P-39 Airacobras are lost.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, 24 USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the Moisuru bivouac and supply dump; other planes on armed reconnaissance hit targets of opportunity at Buka, Bonis, Ratsua, Poporang, Kara, Kahili, Koiaris, and on Nissan Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Grayback (SS-208) sinks Japanese destroyer HIJMS Numakaze about 45 nautical miles (83 kilometers) east-northeast of Naha, Okinawa, in position 26.30N, 128.26E.
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Moose Jaw arrived Liverpool, Nova Scotia for refit.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS Prescott departed St John's to join EG-6 in Londonderry.
U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Burrows and Witter commissioned.
Destroyer USS Van Valkenburgh launched.
Submarine USS Croaker launched.