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• The Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet was transferred from the Combined Fleet to the Southeast Area Fleet; it had the strength of four air groups, three air groups, a seaplane tender, two destroyers, and six transports. Rear Admiral Yoshimasa Nakahara was named its new chief of staff. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Submarine Cabrilla was launched, sponsored by Mrs. L. B. Combs. ww2dbase [Cabrilla | CPC]

• USS S-35 entered Kuluk Bay, Adak, Aleutian Islands to vent smoke caused by the series of electrical fires suffered since 21 Dec 1942. ww2dbase [S-35 | Adak | CPC]

• French Admiral François Darlan was assassinated in Algiers, French Algeria by monarchist Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle. ww2dbase [François Darlan | Algiers | CPC]

• Destroyers USS Lansdowne and Shaw in escort of the badly damaged cruiser USS New Orleans arrived at Sydney, Australia. ww2dbase [Shaw | New Orleans | Lansdowne | Sydney | DS]

• US Marine Corps squadron VMTB-132, equipped with SBD dive bombers, was transferred out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down three Hurricane fighters over Magwe, Burma, increasing his score to 12. ww2dbase [Satoru Anabuki | Magwe | CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 1430 hours for trials, returning at 1635 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• Soviet troops launched an offensive against the German Armeegruppe Don near Stalingrad, Russia, piercing Romanian 4th Army's lines. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | TH]
• Soviet tanks broke German defensive lines at Tatsinskaya Airfield in Rostov Oblast, southern Russia, an important airfield flying supplies into Stalingrad, Russia; 124 Ju 52/3m aircraft were able to take into the air to escape, but 46 other aircraft were either damaged, destroyed, or abandoned as the Soviets captured Tatsinskaya. Elsewhere in Rostov Oblast, a similar attack was conducted on Morozovsk Airfield, but the Germans were able to repulse that attack. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Tatsinskaya, Rostov | CPC]

• Sydney Robey Leibbrandt, a former South African heavyweight boxing champion, who had spent three years in Germany and joined the German Wehrmacht where he had trained as a paratrooper and saboteur by the Brandenburg Regiment, returned home secretly in June 1941. Equipped with a wireless and intending to start a revolt, he was arrested while driving between Johannesburg and Pretoria. His sentence to death on a charge of high treason was later commuted by Prime Minister Jan Smuts because of his fame as a national sporting hero. ww2dbase [AC]

• The Vickers Type 432 prototype aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [Type 432 | AC]

• Submarine Cisco was launched at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, United States, sponsored by Mrs. A. C. Bennett through her proxy Mrs. N. Robertson. ww2dbase [Cisco | Kittery, Maine | CPC]
• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Card arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Card | Bremerton, Washington | DS]

24 Dec 1942 Interactive Map