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December 7th, 1942
GERMANY: The Gestapo arrests over 700 young people, alleged members of a group called “Edelweiss Pirates”.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet forces attack at the River Chir. Their goal are the German airfields that are supplying Stalingrad. These attacks are stopped by the German 11th Panzer Division, but the Germans absorb serious losses.
SINGAPORE: Changi: A beautiful shinto shrine, built by PoWs is unveiled in the camp.
NEW GUINEA: US forces hold against stiff Japanese counterattacks at Bun.
George Welch, who is credited with shooting down four Japanese planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor shoots down two Vals and a Zeke flying a P-39, becoming an ace exactly one year after his first victories.
Welch was credited with shooting down 4 Japanese planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor . He would go on to score 16 victories and become a test pilot for North American Aviation.
All of Welch’s victorys were multiples: 7 Dec. 41: 4; 7 Dec. 42: 3; 21 Jun 43: 2; 20 Aug 43: 3; 2 Sep 43: 4. (Skip Guidry and Tom Carlson)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Captain Sato leads a Tokyo Express run to Guadalcanal tonight. US P(atrol) T(orpedo) Boats (PT 36, PT 37, PT 40, PT 43, PT 44, PT 48, PT 59, and PT 109) force his destroyers to retire.
U.S.A.: The USS New Jersey BB-62 is launched from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. This battleship is one of the Iowa class.
One year after the “day of infamy” at Pearl Harbor, the US Navy today launched 15 ships, including the biggest battleship ever built. The huge USS New Jersey slid down the ways at the Philadelphia Navy Yard almost on the hour of last December’s attack.
Elsewhere in America, an aircraft carrier, two destroyers, a submarine, six minesweepers, two escort craft, a destroyer tender and what the navy called a “special” ship were launched. All this was a tangible demonstration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s message to the people: that the day of surprise was a year ago, the period of defence is over and the offensive is under way. “Coral Sea, Midway, the Solomons, New Guinea and North Africa are shining examples of [our] power,” the president said. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the chief of the Pacific Fleet, said that victory has been assured over the Japanese because the “sea lane across the greatest of oceans has been made safe. The optimism is tempered by official statistics: 58,307 casualties in the year, a massive 35,822 of which occurred in the Pacific theatre. Many are classified as missing and presumed to be prisoners of war. More than one million US servicemen are now in action.
Corvette HMCS Oakville arrived New York for duty under USN Commander Eastern Frontier, New York-Guantanamo convoys, Dec 42 - Feb 43. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: When U-515 sinks the British liner CERAMIC only one man a Royal Engineer, survives.
Could someone please explain to me how Switzerland was able to stay neutral during the war? Right next to Germany? Were the Germans using Switzerland banking system to move money and if so was this the only reason they were allowed to keep their neutrality?
Thank you very much for this wonderful series.