Yesterday                                   Tomorrow

December 28th, 1943 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF Eighth Air Force's VIII Bomber Command is charged with forming and training a special organization (the Radio Counter Measure Unit) to use radio countermeasures against German defenses. Twenty four specially equipped B-17 Flying Fortresses are to operate in support of both night and day raids.

GERMANY: Berlin: Himmler orders the death rate in the labour camps to be reduced, owing to a shortage of forced labourers for arms manufacture.

During the night of 28/29 December, RAF Bomber Command dispatches Mosquitos to bomb targets in four cities: In Duisburg, eight bomb the Vereinigte Stahl steel plant while six hit the Rheinmetall armaments works; two each bomb Duisburg and Dusseldorf and one attacks Cologne.

U-926 launched.

ITALY: In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the Canadians complete the capture of Ortona. (Sidney Allison)
Canadian troops fought their way through a wall of fire to oust a German division from the Adriatic seaport today. Flame-throwers have been rushed to the 200,000 Germans now estimated to be fighting to save Rome.

Like so many Italian towns in the wake of warring armies, Ortona is a ruin. But the shattered and burntout wreckage of buildings is ideal for the German defenders - in this case hardened Nazi Waffen-SS men who had to be winkled out one by one by infantrymen with tank support. However, Ortona finally fell late this afternoon. The remaining Germans have retreated to hill positions north-west of the town. The town has been a key objective in the Eighth Army's drive along the eastern coast of Italy. It is the eastern anchor of Field Marshal Kesselring's defensive Gustav Line.

The fight becomes big news and is dubbed "Little Stalingrad" in the media. By today the Germans pull out secretly. The 1st Canadian Infantry will not forget the 2600 lost there when the bells of the Saint Thomas of the Apostle Church finally chimed the end of the Battle for Ortona. (Gene Hanson)

But the Allied advance is slow. Each valley running from the Apennines to the sea has to be fought for. There are hundreds of valleys, and the few roads available have been heavily mined by the retreating Germans. Heavy rain and snowstorms are other problems.

In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the French continue the attack on Mainarde ridge and overrun Hill 1190.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells, A-20 Havocs, and A-36 Apaches, in coordination with Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force (MASAF) heavy and medium bombers operating against targets in the Rome area, bomb landing grounds at Ciampino, a bridge at Roccasecca and a road and railway to the east of town, ships and harbor at Civitavecchia, and railway sidings west of Frosinone. P-40s hit the harbor at Anzio and communications in the Pontecorvo and Atina areas.

     Over 100 USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-26 Marauders bomb Guidonia and Centocelle Airfields and railroad bridges north and south of Orvieto. One hundred eighteen B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators bomb the Rimini marshalling yard and on the return flight, hit a bridge over the Foglia River at Pesaro and road- railway intersection south of town. Seventeen unescorted B-24s dispatched to hit the Vicenza the marshalling yard are attacked by about 50 German fighters before reaching the target; ten of the B-24s are lost; several B-24s salvo their bombs over the target area and, in the fierce battle, claim 18 fighters shot down.

USSR: The Soviet advance south of Kiev continues to gain ground.

Soviet forces take Korostyshev, an important position east of Zhitomir.

INDIA: RAF Tactical Air Force (Burma) is renamed Third Tactical Air Force.

CHINA: Four USAAF Fourteenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells and four P-51 Mustangs attack Yangtze River shipping at Chihchow; three cargo ships are sunk, two others damaged, and an armed motor vessel set aflame. Seven P-40s bomb a building on the railroad siding at Yun-chi.

BURMA: The Chinese 38th Division, attacking with the 1st and 2nd Battalions on the 114th Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the 112th Regiment, captures Japanese strongpoints in the Tarung valley.

NEW BRITAIN: The Japanese airfield at Cape Gloucester  comes under attack by US Marines.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: At Cape Gloucester on New Britain Island, Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, Commanding General Sixth Army, releases the reserve, the 5th Marine Regiment, reinforced, to Major General William Rupertus, Commanding General 1st Marine Division. The 1st Marine Regiment reduces the prepared Japanese trail block about 1,000 yards (914 meters) east of the airfield. The Japanese attack on the Arawe beachhead is repulsed.

     Over New Britain Island, 45 Allied fighters sweep over Rabaul in the morning; USMC F4U Corsair pilots claim 20 "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) and six "Tony" fighters (Kawasaki Ki-61, Army Type 3 Fighter Hien) and a USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt pilot claims a "Kate" torpedo bomber (Nakajima B5N, Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber). USAAF Fifth Air Force fighters cover the Arawe and Cape Gloucester beachheads while 19 A-20 Havocs bomb and strafe Japanese ground positions ahead of the Marine ground forces.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Fifteen USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from the Ellice and Phoenix Islands bomb Maloelap, Majuro and Mili Atolls. Eighteen A-24 Dauntlesses from the Gilbert Islands, with an escort of 20 P-39 Airacobras, attack Mili Atoll; this attack is followed by another against the atoll carried out by nine B-25 Mitchells from Tarawa, supported by 12 P-39s.

CANADA: In a by election in the Montreal-Cartier, Quebec district, Fred Rose defeats David Lewis the candidate of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation to become the first member of the Communist Party openly elected to the Canadian House of Commons.

U.S.A.:

ATLANTIC OCEAN: BAY OF BISCAY: A USN PB4Y-1 Liberator of Bombing Squadron One Hundred Five (VB-105), based at Dunkeswell, Devonshire, England, on patrol over the Bay of Biscay sights five German destroyers and six torpedo boats returning from an attempt to rendezvous with blockade runner SS Alsterfurer, sunk yesterday by an RAF No. 311 (Czech) Squadron Liberator Mk. V and a Sunderland. Of 15 PB4Y-1s dispatched as a strike force, six (five from VB-105 and one from VB-103) contact the German force and attack it. Contact reports by Navy planes, meanwhile, draw British light cruisers HMS Enterprise (D 52) and Glasgow (21). Although outnumbered and out-gunned the British ships sink the destroyer Z-27 and torpedo boats T-25 and T-26 in a two and a half hour running battle. The rest withdraw.

Captain H. Grant of HMS ENTERPRISE described how shells were "whizzing around the ship between the masts and skimming the bridge". However, the only damage to his ship was to the wireless aerial. HMS GLASGOW, however, suffered worse damage.

The victory over much superior numbers is the more surprising because five of the German force were of the new "Narvik" class. They are virtually mini-cruisers and their 5.9 inch guns have more hitting power than the six inch guns on the much older ENTERPRISE.

After the loss of the ALSTERUFER yesterday the destroyers decided to take the shortest route back to harbour, but ran into a gale which slowed them down considerably and provided and opportunity for the cruisers to get in among them. Several other destroyers were badly damaged.

The survivors are rescued by the British ships, an Irish steamer, and four Spanish destroyers. This marks the virtual end of German attempts to bring in vital supplies from the Far East by surface ships. Since 1941, of the 35 ships that have set out, only 16 have broken through Allie  d patrols.

Top of Page

Yesterday        Tomorrow

Home