Operation BACKHANDLER

From.

SUN 26 DEC 1943
Pacific
1st Marine Division (Major General William H. Rupertus, USMC) is landed at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, by Seventh Amphibious Force (Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey) after heavy preinvasion bombardment and bombing by ship gunfire and aircraft in Operation BACKHANDLER. During retaliatory Japanese air strikes, destroyer Brownson (DD-518) is sunk by dive bomber off Cape Gloucester, New Britain, 05°20'S, 148°25'E; destroyers Lamson (DD-367), Shaw (DD-373), and Mugford (DD-389) are damaged by dive bombers; and tank landing ships LST-66 is damaged by horizontal bomber.

Caribbean
U.S. tanker Chapultepec en route from Aruba, N.W.I., to Cristobal, C.Z., is torpedoed by German submarine U-530 at 10°33'N, 79°10'W. While there are no fatalities among the 53-man merchant complement or the 28-man Armed Guard, two of that aggregate total are injured. The ship reaches her destination under her own power and discharges her cargo of fuel oil. Subsequently, U.S. tanker Esso Buffalo,, en route from Aruba, N.W.I., to the Canal Zone (ultimate destination: Melbourne, Australia), most likely accidentally rams U-530 at 10°25'N, 78°28'W. There are no casualties among the 47-man merchant complement or the 28-man Armed Guard.