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• Japanese aviation units began four days of bombarding on Calcutta, India. ww2dbase [TH]
• RAF used Oboe, an aid to bombing radar, operationally for the first time. ww2dbase [TH]
• Hiroaki Abe was relieved of his command of Japanese Navy Battleship Division 11 for his lack of aggressiveness during the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He would be forced to retire within months. ww2dbase [Hiroaki Abe | CPC]
• USS Gar fired three torpedoes at a Japanese ship; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• The United States Marine Corps redesignated the Marine Barracks at New River, North Carolina, United States as Camp Lejeune. ww2dbase [CPC]
• All of five of USAAF 59th Fighter Squadron's P-40F fighters were transferred to a French squadron in North Africa. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down a Hurricane and a Blenheim aircraft over Magwe, Burma, his sixth and seventh victories. He sustained injury during combat. ww2dbase [Satoru Anabuki | Magwe | CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini departed Pauillac, Aquitaine, France at 1330 hours and arrived at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 1630 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Pauillac, Aquitaine | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the aircraft depot at Romilly, France. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Romilly | DS]

• Kamoi took on food from auxiliary storeship Kitakami Maru at Taroa, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Taroa | CPC]

• USS Nashville crossed the equator for the first time and escort USS Ralph Talbot crossed for the second time heading from north to south while escorting USAT Funston from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Viti Levu in the Fiji Islands. ww2dbase [Line Crossing Ceremony | Ralph Talbot | Nashville | DS]

• S-36 arrived at Mariveles Bay, Philippine Islands, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [S-36 | Mariveles, Bataan | CPC]

• Ships of Allied convoy JW-51A began to arrive at Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

20 Dec 1942 Interactive Map