Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: December 15

What happened on December 15 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1943
Children affected by the Bengal famine on a Calcutta street in a photograph published by The Statesman on 22 August 1943.
The Statesman, Calcutta, 22 August 1943 · public domain in India
The Bengal Famine

The new rice harvest eases acute scarcity as disease mortality continues

The main aman harvest reaching markets late in 1943, together with increased deliveries and stronger distribution, reduced the most acute phase of food scarcity. Rice availability improved compared with the middle of the year. Mortality did not fall in step with grain availability. Malaria and other infectious diseases spread among people weakened by months of undernutrition, homelessness and migration. This separation between the food and mortality curves is essential to the famine’s chronology. The later death toll includes a large epidemic component that continued after the worst market scarcity had…

Continue in The Bengal Famine →
1944
Men of the 101st Airborne Division moving toward Bastogne on 19 December 1944 as Allied reserves enter the Ardennes battle.
101st Airborne Division on the road between Bastogne and Houffalize, 19 December 1944 · US Army Signal Corps SC 329953 · NARA · Public domain · Source
The Battle of the Bulge

A quiet sector

On 15 December the Ardennes still functioned in Allied planning as an economy-of-force sector. The 106th Infantry Division had only recently entered the line, while the 28th and 4th Infantry Divisions had been badly worn in the Hürtgen fighting. The front was not literally held by four complete divisions evenly spaced across eighty miles. Boundaries, attached armoured elements and neighbouring corps complicated that shorthand. What mattered was that the density of troops and reserves was far lower than on the sectors where Allied headquarters expected the next major operations. Across…

Continue in The Battle of the Bulge →
A converted cable ship laying pipeline across the English Channel, 1944.
Pipeline laying in the Channel, 1944 ·
Operation PLUTO

Six HAIS lines laid, four operating

By mid-December six HAIS cables had been laid across the Straits, but only four were operational and pressure remained below the planned level. Average delivery was approximately 700 long tons per day. The Royal Navy questioned whether the laying effort should continue.

Continue in Operation PLUTO →