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• Spanish General Muñoz Grandes passed the command of the German 250th Infantry Division of Spanish volunteers to General Esteban-Infantes; Muñoz Grandes was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves upon his departure. ww2dbase [Emilio Esteban Infantes | CPC]
• Axis rear guards engaged the attacking Allied forces near Marsa Brega and El Agheila in Libya as the main Axis force evacuated to the west. ww2dbase [Second Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
• Light carrier Ryuho was attacked by US submarine USS Drum 160 mlies east of Hachijojima, Japan at 0910 hours, suffering one torpedo hit on the starboard side, which forced her to return to Japan for repairs. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]
• Raizo Tanaka personally led a night time fast destroyer supply run and suffered injuries when his destroyer was torpedoed by a US Navy PT boat. ww2dbase [Raizo Tanaka | CPC]
• S-36 suffered a problem with its electrical steering. ww2dbase [S-36 | CPC]
• USS Nicholas arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia where she underwent two days of tender upkeep alongside USS Dixie. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• USAAF 33rd Fighter Group achieved its first aerial victory as 1st Lieutenant Charles Poillon of 58th Fighter Squadron, flying a P-40 fighter, shot down a German Ju 88 aircraft near Youks-les-Bains Airfield near Tébessa, Algeria. ww2dbase [Tébessa | CPC]

• Destroyers USS Lansdowne and Shaw departed Tulagi, Solomon Islands in escort of the badly damaged cruiser USS New Orleans bound for Sydney, Australia. ww2dbase [Shaw | New Orleans | Lansdowne | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]
• Amagiri and Yugure departed Shortland Islands, Solomon Islands at 1230 hours on a transport run to Rekata Bay, Santa Isabel Island, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Amagiri | Yugure | Shortland Islands | CPC]
• In the early morning darkness, destroyers USS Saufley and USS DeHaven at Tulagi received emergency sortie orders on a report of a damaged Japanese destroyer burning off Savo Island. As Saufley pulled away from alongside cargo ship USS Mercury, Mercury's cargo boom fouled all of Saufley's radio antennas leaving her with only one operable radio channel, the Talk Between Ships channel. Once underway, communication difficulties contributed to Saufley firing on an American PT Boat on a rescue mission. This friendly fire incident resulted in no damage and no injuries. ww2dbase [Saufley | Solomon Islands | DS]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the railroad yards at Rouen, France. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | RAF Thurleigh | Rouen | DS]

• Bluie West Eight airfield in Greenland was assigned to the Eastern Defense Command of the US Army. ww2dbase [Bluie West Eight | South Greenland | CPC]

• USS Tunny arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Tunny | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• USS Sunfish fired two torpedoes at a Japanese warship in the Pacific Ocean; both torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | CPC]
• While on station in the Ysabel Channel just north of the Bismarck Sea, submarine USS Spearfish identified two Japanese Mogami-class heavy cruisers and three destroyers on a westerly course but the warships were able to outrun the slower submarine. These were the cruisers Suzuya and Kumano making a troop transport run from Kavieng to Manus. ww2dbase [Suzuya | Kumano | Spearfish | Ysabel Channel | DS]

• Operation Winter Tempest was launched towards Stalingrad, Russia with German 3 Panzer Divisions and 10 other divisions. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | TH]

• M3 submachine gun entered US military service. ww2dbase [M3 'Grease Gun' | CPC]

12 Dec 1942 Interactive Map