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WWII On This Day: December 20

What happened on December 20 during World War II? This date brings together 2 events from 1942 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
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

Japanese aircraft raid Calcutta as wartime disruption deepens

Japanese aircraft attacked Calcutta on 20 December 1942 and returned several times during the following ten days. The raids caused limited direct damage to military installations but reinforced fears of attack on the principal port and industrial centre of eastern India. War industries, military bases, refugees and defence expenditure had already expanded demand around the city. Evacuation and alarm added another disturbance to transport and commercial expectations at the end of a year in which food supplies were becoming tighter. The raids were one part of the wartime setting rather…

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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

Montgomery takes the northern half

By 20 December the German penetration had disrupted Bradley's direct communications with First and Ninth Armies north of the salient. Eisenhower temporarily placed those armies under Montgomery's 21st Army Group so that one headquarters could control the northern battle. The transfer was operational rather than national. Montgomery reorganised the northern line, coordinated available reserves and prepared the eventual counterattack while American army and corps commanders continued to direct the fighting on the ground. Later public controversy, especially Montgomery's January press conference, obscured the immediate problem the command change solved. The…

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