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• German troops in the Caucasus region in Russia began to fall back northwestward. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | CPC]
• 26 American B-24 Liberator bombers flew 4,300 miles to attack Wake Island. ww2dbase [B-24 Liberator | CPC]
• Elements of US 1st Infantry Division and British 78th Division launched an offensive in Tunisia. ww2dbase [Advance into Tunisia | CPC]
• USS Gar fired three torpedoes at a Japanese ship; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• About 38,000 Soviet personnel were awarded the Medal for the Defence of Odessa. ww2dbase [Siege of Odessa | CPC]

• I-168 arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | Truk | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Shiratsuyu at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler signed the decree drafted by Albert Speer for the mass production of the A-4 rocket; this decree did not provide any special priority for rocket production. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]
• Kurt Zeitzler once again asked Adolf Hitler to allow the German 6.Armee to break out from Stalingrad, Russia to avoid the remnants of the army from being totally wiped out. Hitler again refused. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler signed the order for the mass production of A4 rockets once the final design would be completed. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | V-Weapons Campaign | CPC]

• Pile driving for Dock No. 4 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii, completed; a total of 9,694 piles were driven since 12 Oct 1942, averaging 30 feet in length. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Task Force 67 commanded by Rear Admiral Walden Ainsworth consisting of cruisers USS Nashville, USS Helena, USS Honolulu, and USS Columbia escorted by destroyers USS Fletcher, USS Dayton, USS Lang, and USS Saufley returned to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides after their patrol of the waters north of the islands. ww2dbase [Walden Ainsworth | Helena (St. Louis-class) | Honolulu | Saufley | Nashville | Columbia | Espirtu Santo | DS]

• Pharmacists Mate 1st-class Thomas Moore aboard Gato-class submarine USS Silversides performed an emergency appendectomy on Fireman 2nd-class George Platter while submerged off Rabaul. ww2dbase [Silversides | DS]

• Kirill Meretskov was awarded the For the Defense of Leningrad medal. ww2dbase [Kirill Meretskov | CPC]

• Captured French torpedo boats Bombarde, La Pomone, and L'Iphigénie departed Bizerte, Tunisia with Italian crews for Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Bizerte | CPC]

• Convoy JW-51B departed from Liverpool, England, United Kingdom for Murmansk, Russia; it was consisted of 14 freighters and was escorted by six destroyers, two corvettes, one minesweeper, and two trawlers under the command of Captain Robert Sherbrooke; British cruisers of Force R covered the convoy from a distance. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Liverpool, England | AC, CPC]

22 Dec 1942 Interactive Map