December 27th, 1943 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The following appointments were announced - Gen. Sir Bernard Paget, Commander in Chief, Middle East; Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied invasion forces under General Eisenhower; Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, Allied Naval Commander in Chief; Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Allied Air Commander in Chief under General Eisenhower.
Canadian General A.G..L. McNaughton resigns his command of the Canadian First Army in Europe. He is out of favor with the Canadian Minister of National Defense, J.L. Ralston over his opposition to fragmentation of the Canadian Army Overseas.
FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command Mission 165: seven B-17 Flying Fortresses drop 1.392 million leaflets over Paris, Lille, Evreux, Rouen and Caen at 1735-1812 hours.
GERMANY: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 166: a B-17 Flying Fortress is dispatched to Quadrath-Ichendorf but drops two 2,000 pound (907 kilogram) bombs and a Photoflash bomb on an unknown target.
U.S.S.R.: In the Vitebsk sector, Soviet forces cut the Polotsk-Vjtebsk railroad.
ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, French troops gain positions on the slopes of Mainarde ridge.
In the British Eighth Army area, defending German paratroopers start to abandon the town of Ortona after a week of fierce fighting with the Canadian 1st Division; infantry from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada suffer heavy casualties; 1,372 Canadians killed in taking Ortona and environs.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force A-36 Apaches hit a factory and railroad at Anagni, harbor and railroad facilities at Civitavecchia, a bridge at Pontecorvo, and several gun positions and vehicles.
USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit viaducts at Zoagli and Recco and attack, but fail to hit, the marshalling yard at Poggibonsi.
YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack a vessel near Zara.
CHINA: Ten USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s strafe buildings on Pailochi Airfield and sink a nearby river boat; two locomotives north of Yoyang are also destroyed. Thirty six Japanese airplanes attack Suichwan Airfield, destroying a B-25 Mitchell, the alert shack, and three fuel dumps; U.S. interceptors claim four of the attackers shot down; one P-40 is lost.
BURMA: Brigadier General Lewis A. Pick, Commanding Officer Advance Section U.S. China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, opens the military road to Shingbwiyang, in Hukawng Valley. The commander of 3d Battalion, 112th Regiment, Chinese 38th Division, is killed and the battalion is later withdrawn to the main body. The 65th Regiment, Chinese 22nd Division, reinforced is given the mission, previously held by the 3d Battalion of the 112th Regiment, of clearing Taro Plain plus the task of pushing back into Hukawng Valley to threaten the Japanese flank.
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-40s bomb Phu Tho Airfield, and strafe the airfield at Dong Cuong.
NEW GUINEA: The four-month battle for Shaggy Ridge culminates with the capture of this Japanese position on the ridge's summit by Australian troops.
In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb Madang and hit coastal targets along the Huon Peninsula while B-24 Liberators bomb Alexishafen; and P-47 Thunderbolts strafe a road near Bogia.
The USN light cruisers USS Honolulu (CL-48) and St. Louis (CL-49), and four destroyers bombard the Kieta area on Bougainville.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The US Marines at Cape Gloucester, New Britain extend their beachhead. The US forces at Arawe are reinforced.
While destroyer USS Brownson was escorting landing craft to New Britain, a Japanese dive-bomber released two 500-pound bombs, blowing away the Brownson's upper structure. She took on a list to starboard and settled rapidly, her back broken. She sank with 108 of her crew. 168 survivors were picked up by nearby destroyers.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The 1st Marine Division expands the Cape Gloucester beachhead on New Britain Island despite torrential monsoon rainfall and difficult terrain. The 1st Marine Regiment drives 3 miles (4,8 kilometers) west toward the airfield without Japanese interference. Company G, 158th Infantry Regiment, arrives at Arawe, where the Japanese are becoming aggressive, in response to Brigadier General Julian W. Cunningham’s request for reinforcements.
On New Britain Island, USAAF Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs attack positions in the Cape Gloucester battle zone; B-25 Mitchells hit villages and tracks from Rottock Bay to Riebeck Bay and strafe barges along the south coast; and B-24 Liberators bomb the airfield at Hoskins. Forty nine Allied fighters from the Solomon Islands sweep the Rabaul area. USAAF, USMC and USN fighter pilots claim 49 Japanese aircraft shot down during the day.
PACIFIC: From Glen Boren's diary aboard the USS BUNKER HILL: Changed course to meet a reported jap task force. Did not locate anything. We stayed in the area looking.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Dunvegan completed forecastle extension refit Baltimore, Maryland.
U.S.A.: Patrol Escort Vessel USS CASPER is launched by Kaiser Cargo Co., Richmond, California, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. E.J. Spaulding.
The threat of a paralyzing railroad strike looms during the 1943 holiday season. President Franklin Roosevelt steps in to serve as a negotiator, imploring the rail unions to give America a "Christmas present" and settle the smoldering wage dispute. But, as Christmas came and went, only two of the five railroad unions agreed to let Roosevelt arbitrate the situation. Today, just three days before the scheduled walk-out, the President shelves his nice-guy rhetoric and seizes the railroads. Lest the move look too aggressive, Roosevelt assures that the railroads would only be temporarily placed under the "supervision" of the War Department; he also pledges that the situation will not alter daily rail operations. The gambit works, as officials for the recalcitrant unions make an eleventh-hour decision to avert the strike.
Destroyer escorts USS Haines, Coffman and Koiner commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Wagner launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: A British Liberator Mk. V of No. 311 (Czech) Squadron based at RAF Beaulieu, Hampshire, England, sinks the German blockade runner SS Alsterufer in the Bay of Biscay. The ship was en route from Japan to Germany.
At 0012, the unescorted Jose Navarro was torpedoed by U-178 about 175 miles SW of Cochin, India. One torpedo struck on the starboard bow, forward of the torpedo streamer, between the #1 and #2 holds at the foremast. The blast threw the ship to port and she then rapidly settled by the bow, sticking the propeller halfway out of the water. The bulkhead between the holds was destroyed and the bulkhead between #2 and #3 holds was damaged, all three holds flooded quickly. 30 minutes after the hit the engines were secured and the master ordered the eight officers, 38 crewmen, 34 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two 3in and eight 20mm guns) and 86 troops to abandon ship in eight lifeboats, only one men was injured. The gun crew fired two errant shots at lights on two rafts that had been released. After three hours, 30 volunteers reboarded the ship in an attempt to salvage her, but after working for three hours the men gave up and abandoned ship again. At 1458 hours, the U-boat fired a coup de grâce in grid LC 2197, which struck the vessel, sinking her immediately. All survivors were picked up the next day by the Indian minesweeper Rajputana and landed at Cochin.