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• » 17 Dec 1944

• The newly established USAAF 509th Composite Group was activated. The group's mission was to deliver atomic weapons. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
• British bombers attacked Ulm, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• In a P-38 Lightning aircraft, US ace Richard Ira Bong scored his 40th kill to become America's leading fighter ace of the war. ww2dbase [Richard Bong | AC]
• USS Guitarro transited the Lombok Strait between the islands of Bali and Lombok, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Guitarro | CPC]
• USS Spot set sail for the Yellow Sea between China and Korea. ww2dbase [Spot | CPC]

• 150 prisoners of war of US 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were massacred by Waffen-SS forces at Malm?dy, Belgium. Only 43 survived. ww2dbase [Battle of the Bulge | TH]

• Allied troops captured Faenza, Italy. ww2dbase [Gothic Line Offensive | CPC]

• Unryu departed Kure, Japan at 0830 hours. ww2dbase [Unryu | CPC]

• USS Baya fired six torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the South China Sea; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Baya | CPC]
• USS Alabama departed waters off Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Alabama | CPC]
• USS Segundo encountered a typhoon while at sea, registering sustained winds at 145 miles per hour, with occasional gusts up to 185 miles per hour. ww2dbase [Segundo | CPC]
• USS Preston guarded carriers while the carriers launched strikes against Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Preston (Fletcher-class) | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) began retirement from the Luzon, Philippines strikes for refueling. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 1, the Leyte Campaign | Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]
• USS New Mexico completed supporting the operations on Mindoro, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [New Mexico | CPC]

• Franklin Roosevelt departed Warm Springs, Georgia, United States by train. He made a brief stop at Atlanta, Georgia to meet with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• Ernest King was promoted to the rank of fleet admiral. ww2dbase [Ernest King | CPC]
• Having the knowledge that on the following day the US Supreme Court would rule in favor of Mitsuye Endo over her illegal detainment based on her Japanese descent, US President Franklin Roosevelt issued Public Proclamation No. 21 one day before the public announcement of the ruling, declaring that all Japanese-Americans could begin returning to the west coast of the United States in Jan 1945. ww2dbase [Internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians | Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]

17 Dec 1944 Interactive Map