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• » 8 Dec 1943

• US Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz was appointed Chief of US Strategic Air Forces in Europe. ww2dbase [Carl Spaatz | TH]
• Mussolini's Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Northern Italy established the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana. ww2dbase [CPC]
• HMS Rysa was mined and sunk off La Maddalena, Italy. ww2dbase [AC]
• Joseph Stilwell departed Cairo, Egypt. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | CPC]

• The still under construction Torokina Airfield at Bougainville, Solomon Islands saw its second unscheduled landing, three F4U aircraft of US Marine Corps squadron VMF-214 which were running low on fuel. ww2dbase [Cape Torokina, Bougainville | CPC]

• U-537 arrived at Lorient, France, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [U-537 | Lorient, Bretagne | CPC]

• Escort carrier USS Bogue and her task group departed Casablanca, French Morocco and resumed their Central Atlantic patrol. ww2dbase [Bogue | Casablanca | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Four officers and 99 men of GROPAC-4 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]
• USS New Mexico arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Franklin Roosevelt arrived in Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Sicilia | CPC]
• In Sicily, Italy, George Patton was told by US President Franklin Roosevelt in person that Patton was to hold army-level command in the upcoming invasion of France. ww2dbase [George Patton | Sicilia | CPC]
• Canadian 1st Infantry Division gained a bridgehead along the Moro River near San Leonardo, Italy; after sundown, troops of Royal Canadian Engineers built a bridge over the river for tanks to move north to reinforce the bridgehead. To the west, US troops attacked Monte Sambúcaro and the Mignano Gap, Italy. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gustav Line | CPC]

• USS S-35 reached Kurile Islands waters. ww2dbase [S-35 | Hokkaido | CPC]

• USS Alabama bombarded Nauru, expending 535 406-millimeter rounds. During the bombardment, destroyer USS Boyd received a hit from a Japanese coastal gun; the medical staff aboard USS Alabama treated three wounded sailors from USS Boyd. ww2dbase [Alabama | CPC]

• A transport of 55 Berlin Jews arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. After the selection, 14 were registered and 31 were gassed. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

8 Dec 1943 Interactive Map