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• USS Manta was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander Edward P. Madley in command. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Douglas MacArthur was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was relieved as the commanding officer of German forces in Norway. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The Fletcher-class destroyer USS Spence capsized and sank in a typhoon off Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [AC]
• 84 B-29 bombers made a daylight incendiary raid on the Yangtze River port of Hankou, the main supply base of the Japanese Army China Expeditionary Force and springboard for the recently ended Ichi-go offensive. The B-29 bombers were followed in by Liberator bombers, Mitchell bombers, and Mustangs fighters of the US 14th Air Force. Warehouses and storage sheds in Hankou blazed fiercely for three days after the attack. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Luce supported landing operations training at Huon Gulf, Australian New Guinea. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC, DS]

• The German offensive in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium began to stall after Americans began to fight back. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

• William Slim met with Montagu Stopford of Indian 33rd Corps and Frank Messervy of Indian 4th Corps regarding Operation Extended Capital which aimed at the total defeat of Japanese forces in Burma. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Yangtze River Raiders of Sino-American Special Technical Cooperative Organization (SACO) rescued P-51 fighter pilot John Wheeler near Xiushui, Jiangxi Province, China. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Preston guarded carriers while the carriers launched strikes against Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and the rest of the fleet steamed through the center of Typhoon Cobra that sank three destroyers. Yorktown participated in some of the rescue operations for the survivors. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]
• USS Ticonderoga sailed through Typhoon Cobra without casualties. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]
• Heavy seas caused by Typhoon Cobra damaged the two OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes aboard USS Alabama. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Two aircraft from the US 9th Air Force based at RAF Barkston Heath in Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom were involved in a mid-air collision. The crash involved a new C-109 flown by Lieutenant Dan Wolf and an elderly B-24 Liberator, known as Lazy Lou, which had already survived two combat tours and was now being used to train C-109 crews. The C-109 was a B-24 Liberator converted into a fuel tanker aircraft with additional internal fuel tanks to carry aviation fuel to Allied airfields in liberated Europe. The C-109 plummeted into the ground killing the entire crew. Lazy Lou lost two engines and her commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Frederick, struggled desperately with the controls in an attempt to land at RAF Cranwell but crashed short of the runway killing Colonel Frederick and Flight Engineer Paul Sattler, while "Major Jerry" was severely injured. Major Jerry was, in fact, the pet dog of Lewis Frederick who not only had his own rank but also his own log book and parachute. American personnel paid for Jerry's vet bills to ensure he received the best care in the supply section armament tent, but sadly the animal died on Boxing Day (December 26) greatly mourned by the personnel of Barkston Heath. ww2dbase [AC]

18 Dec 1944 Interactive Map