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• USS Trepang reached the Philippine Islands area off Luzon; in the evening, she attacked a Japanese convoy and sank three freighters. ww2dbase [Trepang | CPC]
• The British 2nd Army was denied the prize of Arnhem in the Netherlands when the Germans demolished dykes and flooded the area between Arnhem and Nijmegen. ww2dbase [AC]
• Heinkel's He 162 jet fighter made its maiden flight. Manufacture of the He 162 was protected from Allied air attack by being built in an underground factory in a former salt mine at Tarthun near Magdeburg, Germany. ww2dbase [He 162 Volksjäger | AC]
• Kaganovich was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Kaganovich | CPC]
• Leutnant Erich Herkner of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Bailey concluded her shipyard repairs at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and began loading fuel and ammunition. LtCdr Arthur Johnson relieved Cdr Malcolm Munger as Bailey’s commanding officer. Bailey shifted to San Francisco Bay for further preparations for sea. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the synthetic oil facilities at Merseburg, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Merseburg | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 33 arrived on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Submarines USS Segundo, USS Trepang, and USS Razorback sank all ships in a 7-ship Japanese convoy, escorted by destroyer Kuretake and submarine chaser CH-33, in the South China Sea. Segundo was credited with damaging Yasukuni Maru (later scuttled) and sinking a unidentified ammunition ship. ww2dbase [Segundo | South China Sea | CPC]

• SS Antoine Saugrain, damaged by two Japanese aerial torpedoes on the previous day, sank while under tow in the Surigao Strait in Philippine waters. ww2dbase [Antoine Saugrain | Philippines Campaign, Phase 1, the Leyte Campaign | Surigao Strait | CPC]

• The Taihoku Prisoners of War Camp No. 5 near Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan was closed. ww2dbase [Taihoku | CPC]

• F-14A jet reconnaissance aircraft took its first flight with Lockheed test pilot Perry E. Claypool, Jr. in the cockpit. ww2dbase [P-80 Shooting Star | CPC]
• USS Indiana departed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. ww2dbase [Indiana | Puget Sound Navy Yard | Bremerton, Washington | DS]
• USS Bunker Hill arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an extensive overhaul. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Bunker Hill | Bremerton, Washington | DS]
• A sudden explosion of bright red flame was seen near Thermopolis, Wyoming and what appeared to be a parachute descended to earth. Fragments of a 15kg anti-personnel bomb from a Japanese Fu-Go balloon were found the next day. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | Fu-Go | Thermopolis, Wyoming | DS]

6 Dec 1944 Interactive Map