
US Marines landing at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, 26 December 1943 (US National Archives)
75 Years Ago—Dec. 26, 1943: US Marines land at Cape Gloucester, New Britain in the Solomon Islands; they encounter little opposition due to heavy pre-invasion bombing.
In Battle of the North Cape off Norway, British ships sink German battlecruiser Scharnhorst while it’s attacking Allied Arctic convoys; only 36 of 1963 men survive.