MONDAY, 25 DECEMBER 1944
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 6 B-25s and 8 fighter-bombers knock out a bridge at Wan Pa-Hsa, Burma. 22 P-51s pound a railroad ferry, damage a tanker at Nanking, and hit a nearby airfield, claiming 13 aircraft destroyed. 30+ other P-51s, P-40s, and P-38s on armed reconnaissance hit various targets of opportunity around Yungning, Kunming, Kiungshan, and Paoching, China; and Wanling, Man Pong, and Mong Long, Burma. The detachment of the 426th Night Fighter Squadron, Fourteenth AF, operating from Kunming with P-61s, returns to base at Chengtu.
INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 4 P-47s bomb and strafe troop concentrations and supplies at Mabein; Eight others sweep Burma Road stretches and strafe Lashio Airfield. Transports fly 259 sorties delivering men and supplies to forward bases and frontline areas.
AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 12 B-24s from Saipan bomb Iwo Jima; B-24s from Guam and Saipan continue night strikes against Iwo Jima during the night of 25/26 Dec.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: B-24s with P-38 fighter
support including 475th FG, attack Mabalacat
Airfield, Sasa
Airfield, Sandakan and Jesselton Airfield. P-38L 44-24846, P-38L 44-24889 and P-38 piloted by Fulkerson (later returned to base). B-25s, along with
RAAF fighter-bombers,
hit the Galela area. Other B-25s and fighter-bombers
pound Mindanao and
Halmahera Islands targets again during several
smaller raids throughout the day. The 110th Tactical Reconnaissance
Squadron, 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Group based at Dulag begins operating from San
Jose with P-40s.
USN: Naval Air Station, Samar is established.
USS Barbero (SS-317) attacks Japanese convoy and sinks transport Junpo Maru 130 miles west- southwest of Kuching, Borneo, 00°51'N, 108°08'E.
British submarines HMS Trenchant and HMS Terrapin sink auxiliary minesweeper Reisui Maru, cargo vessel No.23 Hinode Maru, and auxiliary sailing vessel Wakamiya Maru in Strait of Malacca, 03°19'N, 99°45'E.
TF 38 aircraft attack Japanese shipping off Masinloc, sinking landing ship T.113, 15°30'N, 119°55'E.
USAAF B-24s sink small Japanese cargo vessels Chokyu Maru and Sumiei Maru off Sandakan, Borneo, and badly damages Asahi Maru and Nichifuku Maru.
Kriegsmarine: U-862 fires a spread of torpedoes SS Robert J. Walker. The first misses, the second is exploded by 20mm gunfire but the third hits causing damage and killing two aboard then sinks in the Tasman Sea, 36°35'S, 150°43' off Moruya, New South Wales.
RAAF: Lost on a Christmas day resupply mission is Wirraway A20-410 (crew rescued).
