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WWII On This Day: December 26

What happened on December 26 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1941, 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1941
Soviet soldiers search for mines after the recapture of Naro-Fominsk in late December 1941. The image documents the immediate aftermath of the 26 December recapture.
Soviet soldiers search for mines after the recapture of Naro-Fominsk in late December 1941. The image documents the immediate aftermath of the 26 December recapture. RIA Novosti archive #382 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Source
The Battle for Moscow

Soviet forces recapture Naro-Fominsk

Soviet forces recaptured Naro-Fominsk on 26 December as the Western Front continued pushing Army Group Centre away from the immediate approaches to Moscow. The advance in the central sector followed the earlier recovery of Klin and Kalinin on the northern wing. The German front was no longer threatening the capital directly, but the retreat did not become a complete collapse. German formations occupied successive positions farther west while Soviet armies consumed men and supplies in a widening winter offensive.

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Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival and the British surrender party walking to the Ford Motor Factory in Singapore on 15 February 1942.
British official photographer / Imperial War Museums HU 2781 · UK Government public domain · Source
The Fall of the Southern Empires

Plan ORANGE Is Reactivated

On 26 December MacArthur ordered Plan ORANGE back into effect. The broad defence of Luzon was abandoned and the principal American-Filipino forces began concentrating on Bataan and the fortified islands guarding Manila Bay. The order preserved the field army from being destroyed in the central plain, but it could not recreate the Bataan for which the pre-war plan had prepared. Supplies had been dispersed, transport was congested and the force entering the peninsula was larger than the old stockpiling assumptions. The retreat therefore solved the immediate operational problem and created…

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1943
Scharnhorst survivors aboard HMS Duke of York at Scapa Flow after the German ship was sunk off the North Cape on 26 December 1943.
Scharnhorst survivors aboard HMS Duke of York at Scapa Flow after the German ship was sunk off the North Cape on 26 December 1943. Royal Navy official photographer · Admiralty Official Collection / Imperial War Museums · Public domain Source
The Arctic Convoys

JW 55B draws Scharnhorst into the Battle of the North Cape

With Scharnhorst reported at sea, the Home Fleet diverted JW 55B northward. Robert Burnett's Belfast, Norfolk and Sheffield made radar contact in the morning, drove the German ship away from the convoy and regained contact when Scharnhorst tried again to approach the merchants. Burnett then shadowed the German ship while Admiral Bruce Fraser's Duke of York force moved across its return route. The final afternoon and evening engagement ended with Scharnhorst sunk and only thirty-six of 1,968 aboard surviving. No ship in JW 55B was attacked by the German force.…

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1944
A U.S. 57 mm Gun M1 covering an approach to Bastogne on 26 December 1944.
A U.S. 57 mm Gun M1 covering an approach to Bastogne on 26 December 1944. T/5 Krochka · U.S. Army Signal Corps SC 329955 · Public domain Source
The Battle of the Bulge

The corridor is opened

On 26 December elements of the 4th Armored Division broke through near Assenois and made contact with the Bastogne perimeter. The first corridor was narrow and remained under German fire. The relief did not end fighting around Bastogne. German attacks continued and the route had to be widened before movement into and out of the town became secure enough for sustained operations. Nor did 26 December mark the date Patton finally fulfilled a promise made at Verdun. Third Army had opened its northward attack on 22 December as planned. The…

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