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• Chester Nimitz was promoted to the rank of fleet admiral. ww2dbase [Chester Nimitz | CPC]
• German V-2 rocket hit Chelmsford, Essex, England, United Kingdom at 0130 hours. The war factory was hit, killing 39 and seriously injuring 33. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | CPC]

• Germans captured 9,000 surrounded US troops in the Schnee Eifel region on the Belgian-German border. Meanwhile, the US 101st Airborne of the Allied reserves and 10th Armored Divisions of the US Third Army were sent to Bastogne to hold the vital road junction in Belgium. ww2dbase [Battle of the Bulge | TH]

• William Slim completed a two-day meeting with Montagu Stopford and Frank Messervy regarding Operation Extended Capital. Meanwhile, in the field, Indian 2nd Division relieved Indian 20th Division and began marching for Shwebo, Burma 40 miles northwest of Mandalay. Finally, Indian 19th Division captured Wuntho en route to Pinlebu and Pinbon, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Meiktila-Mandalay | CPC]

• Colonel Edward Rector, one of the original Flying Tigers pilots, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire near Jinmen Island, Fujian Province, China while flying a P-51 fighter. He was rescued by Chinese civilians, who also helped him to reach the Sino-American Special Technical Cooperative Organization (SACO) headquarters in Zhangzhou, Fujian. He would later make a 200-kilometer trek inland to Longyan airfield to be picked up by a 14th Air Force aircraft to Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. ww2dbase [Jinmen, Fujian | CPC]

• Roddie Edmonds and 6,000 soldiers of the 106th and 28th Infantry Divisions were surrounded and taken prisoner by German forces near Prüm, Germany. ww2dbase [Roddie Edmonds | Battle of the Bulge | Prüm, Mosselland | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Officers moved into the first of 3 new JOQs. [Junior Officer Quarters ?] ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]
• USS Maryland and USS St. Louis arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | St. Louis | Maryland | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• USS Sunfish arrived at Majuro, Marshall Islands, ending her ninth war patrol. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | Majuro | CPC]

• Unryu was hit by a torpedo from USS Redfish about 200 kilometers southeast of Shanghai, China, which rendered her dead in the water and afire. At 1650 hours, just as some power was restored, USS Redfish hit her again at 1650 hours, igniting aviation gas and sank within seven minutes. 1,241 were killed (including commanding officer Captain Konishi Kaname); 147 survived and were rescued by destroyer Shigure. ww2dbase [Unryu | East China Sea | CPC]
• USS Preston guarded carriers while the carriers launched strikes against Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Preston (Fletcher-class) | CPC]

• T10 sank at Gdynia, Poland (Gotenhafen) as the result of a British raid on the previous day. ww2dbase [T10 | Gdynia, Pomorskie | CPC]

• Allied convoy RA-62 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Loch Ewe, Scotland | CPC]

19 Dec 1944 Interactive Map