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• Manteuffel was made the commanding officer of the elite Panzer Grenadier Großdeutschland division. ww2dbase [Hasso von Manteuffel | CPC]
• John Basilone departed for Camp Pendleton, California, United States. ww2dbase [John Basilone | CPC]
• As of this date, the Ledo Road was 103 miles long from Ledo, India into the Patka Mountains in northern Burma. ww2dbase [Burma Road and the Hump | CPC]
• USS Flying Fish pursued a Japanese tanker west of Luzon, Philippine Islands for about 10 hours, finally sinking her after scoring a total of 6 torpedo hits; a total of 10 torpedoes were expended. ww2dbase [Flying Fish | CPC]
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander under General Dwight Eisenhower. ww2dbase [Arthur Tedder | AC]
• General Sir Bernard Paget became Commander-in-Chief Middle East under General Sir H. Maitland Wilson. ww2dbase [AC]

• 64 F4U and F6F fighters conducted a fighter sweeper over Rabaul, New Britain. 50 Japanese fighters rose to defend. The Americans lost 1 F4U fighter while claiming 4 Japanese shot down. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]
• 15 Japanese bombers, escorted by 78 fighters, were launched from Rabaul, New Britain to attack US positions in the Cape Gloucester area, also on New Britain. 7 fighters were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Cape Gloucester, New Britain | CPC]
• Cruisers USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis bombard Kieta and Numa Numa Plantation on the north shore of Bougainville. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Walden Ainsworth | Honolulu | St. Louis | Kieta, Bougainville | DS]

• Light carrier Ryuho departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Ryuho | Truk | CPC]

• Shokaku entered drydock at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• USS Grayback sank a fishing boat with her deck gun off southwestern Japan. ww2dbase [Grayback | Kagoshima | CPC]

• Soviet leadership declared the Kalmyk people guilty of collaboration with the German occupation. The Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished as a constituent semi-autonomous country inside Russia, and the entire population was to be deported to various locations in the Siberian regions of Russia. ww2dbase [Kalmykia | CPC]

• USS Archerfish refueled at Midway. ww2dbase [Archerfish | Midway | CPC]

27 Dec 1943 Interactive Map