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• Over 3,000 people had died of starvation in Leningrad, Russia to date. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | TH]
• Adolf Hitler sacked Heinz Guderian over conflicting visions on the strategy for war against the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Heinz Guderian | TH]
• Japanese troops landed at Jolo, Philippine Islands and captured the island after wiping out the garrison of 300 Filipino militia and policemen. Meanwhile, US Navy moved the headquarters of the Asiatic Fleet from Manila, Philippine Islands to Java. US Marines destroyed docks, fuel tanks, and ammunition dumps at Cavite Naval Shipyard. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• British Governor of Hong Kong Sir Mark Young and Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong General Maltby ordered the surrender of the colony at 1515 hours, which was signed shortly after at the Japanese field headquarters at the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel by Young. At around the same time, British river gunboat HMS Robin was scuttled to prevent capture. ww2dbase [Battle of Hong Kong | CPC]
• General Sir Alan Brooke replaced General Sir John Dill as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS). ww2dbase [Alan Brooke | AC]
• Archibald Wavell arrived in Rangoon, Burma by aircraft, landing amidst a Japanese air raid. ww2dbase [Archibald Wavell | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-66 sank Dutch submarine K XVI 70 miles northwest of Kuching, Sarawak, island of Borneo at 1145 hours, killing all 36 aboard. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese carrier and a destroyer in the Dutch East Indies without success, expending three torpedoes. ww2dbase [Skipjack | CPC]

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

• British personnel of the Moxing Hill Coastal Battery on the west side of Hong Kong Island sabotaged remaining operational guns and abandoned the fortress. ww2dbase [Battle of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | CPC]
• Masaichi Niimi and Takashi Sakai were named the co-governors of the Japanese Occupation Administration of Hong Kong. ww2dbase [Masaichi Niimi | Takashi Sakai | Battle of Hong Kong | CPC]
• Chinese Rear Admiral Chan Chak led a group consisted mostly of British military servicemen out of Hong Kong using five Royal Navy motor torpedo boats. They made landfall on the Guangdong Province, China coast, where Chan would lead them toward the city of Huizhou on foot. ww2dbase [Chan Chak | Battle of Hong Kong | CPC]

• Akagi arrived at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Akagi | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• Eduard Neumann ordered Hans-Joachim Marseille to depart Libya for Athens, Greece (changing the destination from Rome, Italy as originally planned) for rest due to the symptoms of sickness Marseille exhibited. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]
• While flying over German positions in Libya in an attempt to boost morale on this religious holiday, German pilot Oberleutnant Ludwig Franzisket was wounded by friendly anti-aircraft fire. He departed later on this day for Athens, Greece for medical treatment. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The Allies completed the abandonment of defensive positions along the Perak River in Malaya and established new positions at Ipoh about 10 miles to the south. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Perak | CPC]

• USS S-38 was discovered by a Japanese destroyer at about 0346 hours, which commenced depth charging at about 0350 hours. At 1235 hours, after the destroyer had given up the hunt, S-38 set sail for Manila, Philippine Islands. An hour later, she ran aground, but was able to free herself shortly after. ww2dbase [S-38 | Lingayen Gulf | CPC]
• USS Canopus departed Cavite Navy Yard and arrived at Mariveles Bay in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Canopus | Mariveles, Bataan | CPC]

• 60 Soviet prisoners of war and 23 political prisoners died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Japanese troops captured the British airfield near Kuching, Sarawak at 1640 hours. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | Kuching | CPC]

• Carrier USS Saratoga launched F2A Buffalo aircraft of Marine Fighter Squadron 221, originally intended to relieve Wake Atoll, to Midway Atoll. They became the first fighters to be based in Midway, and they immediately began a daily patrol schedule. ww2dbase [Saratoga | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

25 Dec 1941 Interactive Map