This Date in History: December 19

 

West of Stalingrad, on December 19, 1942, the 44th Infantry Division defended in sector against the 24th Rifle Division, the 277th Rifle Division and the 91st Tank Brigade.  The division repelled a night attack against the center of its sector.  The enemy made a penetration of the division’s main defensive line, but later the division reserve repulsed the attack.  The division headquarters was located in the Zapadnovka Balka.  The 177th Sturmgeschütz Detachment was attached to the division.  To the northeast was the 76th Infantry Division; to the southwest was the 376th Infantry Division.  The division suffered 72 NCOs/enlisted killed in action; two officers and 107 NCOs/enlisted were wounded in action; one officer and 21 NCOs/enlisted were reported missing in action.  (Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943)

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On Sunday, December 19, 1948, Master Sergeant John Woods and his wife Hazel departed their home in Wichita, Kansas and headed for Fort Belvoir, Virginia for John’s next Army assignment.  (American Hangman: MSgt. John C. Woods, The United States Army’s Notorious Executioner in World War II and Nürnberg)