17 Dec 1940
- British Home Office announced the hanging death of a third German spy. On the same day, a British housewife was sentenced to death for spying. ww2dbase [TH]
- German seaplane base on Sylt Island was bombed. ww2dbase [TH]
- The British government announced a ration increase for Christmas week. ww2dbase [CPC]
- British destroyer HMS Acheron hit a mine and sank while running sea trials 5 miles southwest of the Isle of Wight at 0640 hours, killing 153 crew and 22 shipyard workers; 13 crew and 3 shipyard workers survived. ww2dbase [TH]
- British monitor HMS Terror and gunboat HMS Ladybird bombarded Bardia, Libya, sinking Italian ships Galata, Vincenzino, and Giuseppina D. in the harbor. On the same day, the British announced that they had captured 20,000 Italian prisoners, including three generals, in Egypt. ww2dbase [Operation Compass | CPC]
- Air Vice Marshal Richard Saul became the commanding officer of No. 12 Group RAF. ww2dbase [Richard Saul | CPC]
- President Roosevelt held a press conference in Washington DC, United States, revealing the Lend-Lease program to journalists. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Washington | CPC]
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"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal
