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• Kapitän zur See Hans Meyer took command of cruiser Köln. ww2dbase [Köln | CPC]
• Italian troops fought off an attack by British troops north of El Agheila, Libya in a rear guard action. ww2dbase [Second Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
• American troops captured Buna, New Guinea. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• "Millions of human beings, most of them Jews, are being gathered up with ruthless efficiency and murdered", reported American journalist Edward R. Murrow. "There are no longer 'concentration camps' - we must speak now only of 'extermination camps'." ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• S-36 suffered a leak with the exhaust valve. ww2dbase [S-36 | CPC]

• Amagiri and Yugure arrived at Shortland Islands, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Amagiri | Yugure | Shortland Islands | CPC]

• Irako sailed south from off Mizunoko Lighthouse, Oita, Japan with minelayer Nuwajima in escort. ww2dbase [Irako | Oita | CPC]

• The British Admiralty announced the loss of the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Penylan (Lieutenant-Commander J. H. Wallace DSC, RN) which had been torpedoed and sunk off Start Point, Devon, England, United Kingdom by German E-Boat S-115 on 3 December 1942, while escorting convoy PW-257. ww2dbase [AC]
• The Enigma codebooks captured by HMS Petard from the sinking German submarine U-559 arrived at Bletchley Park's Hut 8 and within one hour intercepts of German submarine signals allowed the British Admiralty to instantly pinpoint the location of fifteen U-Boats. ww2dbase [Enigma Code Broken | Bletchley Park | Milton Keynes, England | AC]

• American survivors of Panamanian steam merchant ship Plaudit, sunk by German submarine U-181 in the Indian Ocean on 8 Nov 1942, were repatriated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States aboard the American merchant ship Doncaster. ww2dbase [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | HM]

13 Dec 1942 Interactive Map