On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
Portrait 1080 × 1920 PNG · created on your device
police and firemen end 12-hr strike; Munic Comm, at Prov Govt request, agrees to union recognition; unrest spreads to st car, bus and other workers; Mayor Raynault comments
US planes blast Gasmata area; hit Lindenhafen and Ring Ring plantation, offshore islands, and damage installations and supply dumps; fire Lakunai airdrome, Rabaul; Australian forces inflict heavy Jap losses, Ramu Valley area; Allied planes sink Jap cargo ship off Cape Maragu, New Ireland, and wreck 3 barges, northern New Brit coast; raid Kalai plantation and Waitavalo, Wide Bay; fire Kupang; raid Kaimana and Bobo, Dutch New Guinea, and Tual and Dula, Kei Islands; Tokyo radio repts Jap air raids on Woodlark Is, Trobriand Islands and Goodenough Is
C T Douds, NLRB regional dir, charges co with anti-union propaganda
1943Lucien den Arend, Dutch sculptor[†]
Lucien Armand Marco den Arend is a geometric abstract sculptor. As is the case with concrete art, his work is not modeled after any existing object – his sculpture represents only itself. Most of his sculptures and Land art projects were made as public art.
1943Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1904)[†]
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively.
1943World War II: The Battle of Arawe begins during the New Britain campaign.[†]
The Battle of Arawe was fought between Allied and Japanese forces during the New Britain campaign of World War II. The battle formed part of the Allied Operation Cartwheel and was a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester in late December 1943. The Japanese military was expecting an Allied offensive in western New Britain and was reinforcing the region at the time of the Allied landing in the Arawe area on 15 December 1943. The Allies secured Arawe after about a month of intermittent fighting with the outnumbered Japanese force.