December 4
Far East, Burma
General William Slim, commander of the British Fourteenth Army, begins the destruction of Japanese forces in Burma. The British IV and XXXIII Corps begin the offensive, heading for the Japanese airfields at Yeu and Shwebo. The Japanese Fifteenth Army, commanded by General Shihachi Katamura, is in a weakened state following its reverses during the fighting at Kohima and Imphal.

December 5-7
Pacific, Philippines
The final US offensive on Leyte begins with a drive by the X Corps into the northern Ormoc Valley, with simultaneous assaults by the XIV Corps in central and southwestern Leyte. On the 7th, the 77th Division lands virtually unopposed below Ormoc. Japanese forces are pressed into the Ormoc Valley, and are under intense artillery and aerial attack.

A barrage of rockets is unleashed against enemy
beach defenses as the first wave of US assault units
heads for Mindoro Island in the Philippines

Home Front, Germany
The Nazi women's leader, Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, appeals for all women over 18 to volunteer for service in the army and air force to release men for the Front.

December 8
Pacific, Iwo Jima
The US Air Force begins a 72-day bombardment of Iwo Jima, the longest and heaviest of the Pacific war, to pave the way for an amphibious assault.

December 15
Pacific, Philippines
As part of General Douglas MacArthur's second phase of the invasion of the Philippines, the US 24th Division lands on the island of Mindoro.

Far East, Burma
The British 19th and 36th
Divisions meet at Indaw, and set up a continuous Front against the Japanese in northern Burma.

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