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• The First Washington Conference (Arcadia) between Roosevelt and Churchill began aboard HMS Duke of York in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States. The Americans and the British planned a Combined Chiefs of Staff represented by both countries. ww2dbase [First Washington Conference | CPC]
• American troops originally destined for Philippine Islands arrived at Brisbane; they were the first American troops to arrive in Australia. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Japanese 55th Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Takeuchi Yutaka, assembled at Bangkok, Thailand and was issued orders for it to cross the Thai-Burma frontier and capture Moulmein, which happened to be held by the Headquarters of 17th Indian Division. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | AC]
• Japanese submarine I-68 bombarded Johnston Island. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Allied troops reached Beda Fomm, Libya while pursuing retreating Axis troops, but was halted by a group of 30 German tanks. Further west, Axis forces began evacuating Benghazi by ships. Out at sea, German ship Spezia and Italian ship Umbra Cadamosto ran into an Italian minefield off Misrata and were destroyed. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]
• Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 bombarded the US Naval Air Station on Palmyra Atoll. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US Army troops arrived at Brisbane, Australia; they were the first American soldiers to arrive in this country. ww2dbase [CPC]
• With the ice over Lake Ladoga thickening, Soviet forces began to move tanks across the lake to reinforce Leningrad, Russia. At the same time, trucks brought in 687 tons of food, also over the lake; it was the first time over 600 tons of food were brought in on a single day, which was the minimum daily requirement to feed the population. ww2dbase [Siege of Leningrad | CPC]
• USS Permit began her second war patrol in Philippine waters. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]
• Barely two weeks following the first conceptual meeting of scientists at Vannevar Bush's Office of Scientific Research and Development about the feasibility of an acoustically homing anti-submarine torpedo, plans for such a device were put on paper (codenamed FIDO). ww2dbase [Mark XXIV | Vannevar Bush | DS]

• Comandante Cappellini entered a period of refit at Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Wotje, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Wotje | CPC]

• 45,000 troops of Japanese 48th Division and 90 tanks landed at Lingayen, Luzon, Philippine Islands at 0200 hours. From the capital city of Manila, Douglas MacArthur sent a radio message to his superior George Marshall in Washington DC, United States, noting that he had decided to announce Manila to be an open city to reserve the strength of his forces and to spare the lives of the civilians. In southern Philippine Islands, 9 American B-17 bombers from Darwin, Australia attacked Japanese ships in Davao Gulf, Mindanao and then landed at Del Monte, Mindanao. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• Naka guarded transports as they disembarked 7th Tank Regiment and an infantry regiment of the Japanese 48th Infantry Division at Caba, Luzon, Philippine Islands; she departed for Mako, Pescadores islands later on the same day. ww2dbase [Naka | Caba, La Union | CPC]
• Satoru Anabuki, flying a Ki-27 fighter, shot down a P-40 fighter over Lingayen, Philippine Islands, his first victory. ww2dbase [Satoru Anabuki | Lingayen | CPC]

• In Sarawak, a Japanese invasion force departed Miri for Kuching. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | Miri | CPC]

• During the morning, the 10,000-ton Standard Oil tanker SS H.M. Storey steamed around Point Arguello, California with a load of oil. Witnesses on the shore saw Japanese submarine I-19 on the surface chasing the ship. The submarine fired at least one shell from her deck gun that missed but caused the tanker to begin laying a smoke screen. I-19 fired three torpedoes but they all missed. The arrival of US Navy patrol aircraft caused I-19 to break off the attack and withdraw. SS H.M. Storey was unharmed. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | California | CPC]
• HMS Duke of York arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, United States. ww2dbase [Duke of York | Annapolis, Maryland | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-23 departed the US west coast bound for Palmyra Island in the central Pacific. ww2dbase [Monterey Bay, California | DS]
• Japanese submarines off the US coast received new orders. Japanese intelligence reported US battleships USS Mississippi, New Mexico, and Idaho were expected to arrive in California on or about 25 Dec 1941 after transiting the Panama Canal. I-9 off Cape Blanco, Oregon, I-17 off Cape Mendocino, California, and I-25 off the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon were repositioned southward. These boats, along with the boats already in California waters, were ordered to concentrate their searches for the battleships between San Francisco, California and Guadalupe Island, Mexico. In the end, the battleships were never located because the original intelligence had been wrong as to the dates, the ships actually arrived a month later. Also on in these orders, perhaps related to the anticipated arrival of the battleships, the planned Christmas shelling was postponed to 27 Dec 1941. ww2dbase [DS]
• Japanese submarines off the US coast received new orders. Japanese intelligence reported US battleships USS Mississippi, New Mexico, and Idaho were expected to arrive in California on or about 25 Dec 1941 after transiting the Panama Canal. I-9 off Cape Blanco, Oregon, I-17 off Cape Mendocino, California, and I-25 off the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon were repositioned southward. These boats, along with the boats already in California waters, were ordered to concentrate their searches for the battleships between San Francisco, California and Guadalupe Island, Mexico. In the end, the battleships were never located because the original intelligence had been wrong as to the dates, the ships actually arrived a month later. Also in these orders, perhaps related to the anticipated arrival of the battleships, the planned Christmas shelling was postponed to 27 Dec 1941. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | DS]
• Japanese submarine I-23 departed the US west coast bound for Palmyra Island in the central Pacific. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | Monterey Bay, California | DS]

• 33 dive bombers and 6 fighters from carriers Soryu and Hiryu attacked Wake Atoll; during the aerial battle, one of the last two operational F4F Wildcat fighters of Marine Fighter Squadron 211 was shot down, while the other one was badly damaged. ww2dbase [Battle of Wake Island | Wake | CPC]

22 Dec 1941 Interactive Map