Nationalist forces beat a retreat west of Changsha!

ACTION SUMMARY: Christmas Eve saw Nationalist forces withdrawing across a broad front west of Changsha as the Kwantung Army prompted a hasty retreat by weary Chinese soldiers. Nearly 80,000 Chinese troops fled in the face of heavy assaults that overwhelmed the rearguard. Meanwhile, heavy airstrikes pounded Chinese airfields across the China front in the face of mixed resistance.



Elsewhere, the war was quiet with little activity. A dozen transports and escorts departed Pearl Harbor today as Operation Congo saw the transfer of the 5th Bombing Group and 50th Fighter Squadron of 16 B-17 bombers and 24 Tomahawk fighters to Canton Island in the Central Pacific. Once in place, the B-17 bombers will be in place to raid Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, an old Pacific Clipper base captured by a Japanese SNLF unit in the second day of the war.

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