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• USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese carrier and a destroyer in the Dutch East Indies without success, expending three torpedoes. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Over 3,000 people had died of starvation in Leningrad, Russia to date. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Adolf Hitler sacked Heinz Guderian over conflicting visions on the strategy for war against the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Main Article | 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 [Main Article | 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 [Main Article | CPC]
• General Sir Alan Brooke replaced General Sir John Dill as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS). ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• Archibald Wavell arrived in Rangoon, Burma by aircraft, landing amidst a Japanese air raid. ww2dbase [Main Article | 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]

• US Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Akagi arrived at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | 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 [Main Article | 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 [Main Article | CPC]

• 60 Soviet prisoners of war and 23 political prisoners died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Japanese troops captured the British airfield near Kuching, Sarawak at 1640 hours. ww2dbase [Main Article | 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 [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

25 Dec 1941 Interactive Map