for the Battle of the Bulge, drown. WWII: German tanks reach the furthest point of the Bulge at Celles. WWII: Fifty German V-1 flying bombs, air-launched from Heinkel He 111 bombers flying over the North Sea, target Manchester in England, killing 42 and injuring more than 100 in the Oldham area. WWII: Bande massacre: 34 men between the ages of 17 and 32 are executed by the Sicherheitsdienst near Bande, Belgium, in retaliation for the killing of 3 German soldiers. The first complete U.S. production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is presented in San Francisco, choreographed by Willam Christensen. It will become an annual tradition there, and for the next ten years, the San Francisco Ballet will be the only company in the United States performing the complete work. December 24–26 – Agana race riot in Guam between white and black United States Marines. December 26 WWII: American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne. The original stage version of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams premieres in Chicago. Esztergom, Hungary, is captured by the Russians. December 30 King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant. Stage Door Cartoon is the first cartoon produced by Eddie Selzer. December 31 – WWII: Battle of Leyte – Tens of thousands of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers are killed in action, in a significant Filipino/Allied military victory. Date unknown The 1944 Summer Olympics, scheduled for London (together with the February Winter Olympics scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy), are suspended due to WWII. National Committee for Education on Alcoholism, predecessor of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, is established in the United States by Marty Mann. Last known evidence of the existence of the Asiatic lion in the wild in Khuzestan Province, Persia. The BC Žalgiris professional basketball club is founded in Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Births January January 1 Omar al-Bashir, 7th President of Sudan Mohammad Abdul Hamid, President of Bangladesh Jumabek Ibraimov, 5th Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (d. 1999) Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani politician, 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2020) Robert Lee Minor, American actor, stunt performer January 2 – Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician (d. 2021) January 3 – Chris von Saltza, American swimmer January 6 Bonnie Franklin, American actress, singer, dancer and television director (d. 2013) Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine January 7 –