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• Cruiser Köln was damaged by Allied aerial attacks. ww2dbase [Köln | CPC]
• The British Home Guard was officially disbanded. ww2dbase [CPC]
• One B-17 Flying Fortress bomber of USAAF 8th Air Force attacked Helgoland, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• German troops launched Operation Sylvester/Operation Nordwind, attacking south near Strasbourg, France. ww2dbase [TH]
• Otto Skorzeny arrived at Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Germany. He received care for his wounded left eye from Hitler's personal doctor Stumpfecker. Later in the day, he reported to Hitler regarding his commando mission during the Ardennes Offensive. As he departed, Wilhelm Keitel invited him to remain to join the rest of the German leaders for the New Year's celebration, but Skorzeny declined, opting to re-join his men in Cologne, Germany instead. ww2dbase [Otto Skorzeny | CPC]
• Theodor Osterkamp retired from the German Luftwaffe with the rank of Generalleutnant (equivalent to Air Vice Marshal in the British RAF). ww2dbase [Theodor Osterkamp | AC]
• Light carrier Ryuho departed Moji, Japan with convoy HI-87 with 58 Ohka weapons on board. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]
• Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery took over command of the British Eighth Army in Italy from Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese. ww2dbase [AC]

• US troops re-captured Rochefort, Belgium, while the US Third Army began an offensive from Bastogne. ww2dbase [Battle of the Bulge | Rochefort | TH]

• Japanese troops evacuated Akyab (now Sittwe), Burma. ww2dbase [Third Battle of Arakan | Akyab | CPC]

• The keel of U-3048 was laid down by AG Weser of Deschimag in Bremen, Germany. ww2dbase [Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG | U-3048 | Bremen, Weser-Ems | CPC]

• Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens was invested with the royal powers of Greece pending his regency and called upon General Nikolaos Plastiras to form a Government. ww2dbase [Damaskinos | AC]

• The Hungarian Provisional Government switched sides and declared war on Germany. ww2dbase [Budapest Strategic Offensive Operation | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Moji, Japan with convoy HI-87 for Takao, Taiwan. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Moji, Fukuoka | CPC]

• USS Ancon transited the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Panama Canal | Ancon | CPC]

• Jack Heyn arrived on Mindoro island, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Jack Heyn | CPC]

• German V-2 rocket hit near the intersection of Stroud Green Road and Stapledon Hall Road in Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom at 2340 hours, killing 15 and seriously injuring 34. 15 homes were destroyed by this attack. This rocket was the 382nd, and the last, rocket to hit England in 1944. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | London, England | CPC]

• Lockheed delivered 13 YP-80A jet aircraft to the USAAF. ww2dbase [P-80 Shooting Star | CPC]

31 Dec 1944 Interactive Map