December 1941
The following events occurred in December 1941:
- The Battle of Hanko ended in Finnish victory.
- The Red Army set up the Moscow Defence Zone.
- Adolf Hitler issued Directive No. 38, ordering reinforcement of the Luftwaffe presence in the Mediterranean.[5]
- Japanese Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki received an order authorizing the Combined Fleet to attack any time after midnight on December 7, Japan time. Based on this order, Ugaki sent a wireless communication with the coded message "Climb Mount Niitaka", meaning the attacks were to go forward as planned.[6]
- President Roosevelt sent Japan a request for an explanation for the heavy Japanese troop concentrations in French Indochina, exceeding the 25,000 agreed upon between Tokyo and Vichy France.[7]
- U.S. "Magic" cryptologists intercepted Japanese orders to destroy codes at the Japanese embassy in Washington.[8]
- Born: Sean P. F. Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, in Farnham, Surrey, England
- Died: Edward Rydz-Śmigły, 55, Polish general and politician (heart failure)
- Erwin Rommel's assault toward the garrisons at Bardia, Sallum and Halfaya Pass was repulsed by the Allies.[9]
- The Japanese carrier fleet tasked with the Pearl Harbor attack began approaching the Hawaiian Islands with increased speed.[9]
- U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull gave a press conference expressing a pessimistic view of U.S.-Japan relations, saying that the months of discussions to this point had never reached a stage where actual negotiations toward a peaceful settlement could take place.[7]
- China Radio International was founded.
- The first issue of the Chicago Sun (later merged with another paper to become the Chicago Sun-Times) was published.[10]
- Died: Christian Sinding, 85, Norwegian composer
- Britain declared war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.[13]
- Japan responded to Roosevelt's inquiry of December 2 by saying that foreign reports of the number of Japanese troops in French Indochina were exaggerated and the troop concentrations were in full accord with the agreement between Tokyo and Vichy.[14]
- War Secretary Henry L. Stimson said during a press conference that those responsible for the previous day's leaking of American war plans were "wanting in loyalty and patriotism." Stimson also offered a statement asking, "What would you think of an American general staff which in the present condition of the world did not investigate and study every conceivable type of emergency which may confront this country and every possible method of meeting that emergency?"[15] The White House made no other comment on the matter and it would quickly be forgotten about after the events of December 7.[11][12]
- German submarine U-175 was commissioned.
- President Roosevelt wrote a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito to avoid war between the United States and Japan. "Developments are occurring in the Pacific area which threaten to deprive each of our Nations and all humanity of the beneficial influence of the long peace between our two countries." the president wrote. "Those developments contain tragic possibilities ... I address myself to Your Majesty at this moment in the fervent hope that Your Majesty may, as I am doing, give thought in this definite emergency to ways of dispelling the dark clouds. I am confident that both of us, for the sake of the peoples not only of our own great countries but for the sake of humanity in neighboring territories, have a sacred duty to restore traditional amity and prevent further death and destruction in the world."[16]
- Finnish II Corps and Group "O" captured Medvezhyegorsk.[1]
- The British submarine HMS Perseus struck a mine and sank in the Ionian Sea off Cephalonia.
- Born: Vittorio Mezzogiorno, actor, in Cercola, Italy (d. 1994); Bruce Nauman, artist, in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Richard Speck, mass murderer, in Kirkwood, Illinois (d. 1991)
- The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:48 a.m. Hawiian time.[17] 21 American ships and over 300 aircraft were sunk or damaged and 2,403 people were killed. Japan lost 29 planes in return.[18]
- Japan declared war on the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.[19]
- The Japanese midget submarine HA. 19 ran aground and was scuttled at Oahu. Eventually Americans retrieved the sub and Kazuo Sakamaki became the first Japanese prisoner of war to be captured by American forces.
- The Niihau incident began when Japanese pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi crash-landed his damaged A6M2 Zero on the Hawaiian island of Niihau after participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The local Hawaiians, who were as yet unaware of the attack and could not communicate with Nishikaichi, sent in succession for two locals of Japanese ancestry who agreed to help the pilot to retrieve his papers and escape.
- Winston Churchill was dining at Chequers with the American diplomats John Gilbert Winant and W. Averell Harriman when the news of the Pearl Harbor attack arrived. Churchill realized that the United States would now enter the war and that Britain would no longer have to fight alone. He later wrote of that night, "“Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”[20]
- One hour after the Japanese attack, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin announced that "from one hour ago, Australia has been at war with the Japanese Empire." War would be formally declared two days later.[21]
- The Japanese conducted the First Bombardment of Midway, killing 4 and wounding 10.
- Canada declared war on Finland, Hungary, Japan and Romania.[22]
- Panama declared war on Japan.[19]
- Hitler issued the Nacht und Nebel ("Night and Fog") decree, targeting political dissidents for disappearances.
- Realizing that success on the Tobruk front was unlikely at this time, Erwin Rommel pulled his forces 10 miles back toward the Gazala line.[9]
- German submarine U-208 was sunk off Gibraltar by depth charges from the British destroyers Harvester and Hesperus.
- German forces withdrew from Tikhvin.[1]
- Born: Melba Pattillo Beals, journalist and member of the Little Rock Nine, in Little Rock, Arkansas
- Died: Isaac C. Kidd, 57, American admiral and posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor (killed in the Pearl Harbor attack)
- New Zealand declared war on Japan at 11:00 a.m. New Zealand time.[23]
- The Japanese carried out the Bombing of Singapore, killing 61.
- President Roosevelt made the Infamy Speech (with its famous opening line "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy,") to a Joint session of Congress. Within one hour the United States declared war on Japan. Lifelong pacifist Jeannette Rankin was the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war.
- The United Kingdom declared war on Japan.
- Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, the Dutch government-in-exile and Nicaragua also declared war on Japan.[19]
- The British House of Commons convened on short notice in light of recent events. Winston Churchill made a speech concluding, "We have at least four-fifths of the population of the globe upon our side. We are responsible for their safety and for their future. In the past we have had a light which flickered, in the present we have a light which flames, and in the future there will be a light which shines over all the land and sea."[24]
- The Japanese invasion of Thailand occurred. A ceasefire was reached in only a few hours; Thailand formed an alliance with Japan and declared war on the Allies.
- The Malayan Campaign, Phillippines Campaign, Dutch East Indies campaign, Battle of Guam, Battle of Wake Island and Battle of Hong Kong began.
- Japanese troops invaded Batan Island.
- The Japanese troopship Awazisan Maru was bombed by a Lockheed Hudson aircraft of No. 1 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force and abandoned off Kota Bharu, Malaya.
- The second day of the Rumbula massacre occurred near Riga, Latvia. A total of about 25,000 Jews were killed on this day and November 30.
- Charles Lindbergh released a statement through the America First Committee that said: "We have been stepping closer to war for many months. Now it has come and we must meet it as united Americans regardless of our attitude toward the policy our government has followed. Whether or not that policy has been wise, our country has been attacked by force of arms and we must retaliate."[25]
- Hitler issued Directive No. 39, Abandoning the Offensive.
- German submarine U-511 was commissioned.
- The U.S. Supreme Court decided Lisenba v. California.
- Germany declared war on the United States. Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag announcing the declaration of war.[30]
- Italy declared war on the United States. "The powers of the steel pact, Fascist Italy and Nationalist Socialist Germany, ever closely linked, participate from today on the side of heroic Japan against the United States of America," Benito Mussolini declared in a statement.[31]
- Germany, Italy and Japan signed a new pact barring any of them from making a separate peace with the United States or Great Britain.[32]
- President Roosevelt sent a message to Congress asking for formal recognition of a state of war with Germany and Italy.[33] Congress passed the Joint Resolution Declaring That a State of War Exists Between The Government of Germany and the Government and the People of the United States and Making Provisions To Prosecute The Same along with an identical resolution for Italy.
- The Polish and Dutch governments-in-exile declared war on Japan.[19]
- The Battle of Jitra began as part of the Malayan Campaign.
- Soviet forces captured Istra west of Moscow.[26]
- During the Battle of Wake Island, the Japanese destroyer Hayate was sunk by American coast-defense guns and the destroyer Kisaragi was bombed and sunk.
- The British destroyer HMS Jackal was damaged in the Mediterranean Sea by Italian torpedo bombers and knocked out of action until May 1942.
- The America First Committee held a special meeting and voted to dissolve itself. The organization expressed no regrets for its past activities and declared, "Our principles were right. Had they been followed, war could have been avoided."[34]
- German submarine U-600 was commissioned.
- Born: J. Frank Wilson, singer, in Lufkin, Texas (d. 1991)
- Died: John Gillespie Magee, Jr., 19, American aviator and poet (mid-air collision over Lincolnshire); Émile Picard, 85, French mathematician
- The Battle of Cape Bon was fought off Cape Bon, Tunisia. The Italian cruisers Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto da Giussano were sunk and the Allies took no losses in return.
- The Battle of Jitra ended in Japanese victory.
- New Zealand and Indian troops attacked the Gazala Line in Libya but were halted by German tanks.[9]
- Hungary declared war on the United States.[37]
- Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa declared war on Bulgaria.[19]
- Honduras declared war on Germany and Italy.[19]
- The Niihau incident ended with the death of Shigenori Nishikaichi in a struggle with people on the island and the suicide of one his confederates, Yoshio Harada. The incident may have influenced the U.S. government's decision to intern Japanese Americans during the war, out of a belief that American citizens of Japanese ancestry might aid Japan.
- Between 4,000 and 6,000 people were killed in Huaraz, Peru when a glacier partially collapsed into a nearby lake and triggered a moraine landslide.[38][39]
- Born: John Davidson, singer, actor and television host, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Soviet forces captured Klin, northwest of Moscow.[26]
- The largest of the Liepāja massacres began in Latvia. From this date through December 17 a total of 2,731 Jews and 23 communists were massacred by the Nazis.
- The British 4th Armoured Brigade arrived at Bir Halegh el Eleba where they planned to outflank the Axis forces.[9]
- German submarine U-127 was depth charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the Australian destroyer HMAS Nestor.
- German submarines U-176 and U-216 were commissioned.
- The British cargo ship Empire Barracuda was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the German submarine U-77.
- The site of the Rose Bowl Game was transferred from Pasadena, California to Durham, North Carolina.[41]
- The radio program We Hold These Truths was aired live, the first program broadcast on all four major U.S. radio networks simultaneously. The hour-long special commemorated the 150th anniversary of the United States Bill of Rights which was ratified on December 15, 1791.
- The Battle of Gurun ended in Japanese victory.
- The Battle of Borneo began.
- The Czechoslovak government-in-exile declared war on all countries at war with the United States, Britain and the USSR.[19]
- Axis forces began to fall back to El Agheila, moving too quickly for the British 4th Armoured Brigade to outflank their retreat.[9]
- Hitler called on the German troops of the Eastern Front to mount "fanatical resistance" and prohibited any retreat around Moscow.[42]
- Japanese battleship Yamato was commissioned.
- German submarine U-557 was accidentally rammed and sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Orione west of Crete.
- Brześć Ghetto was created in Nazi-occupied Poland.
- Born: Lesley Stahl, television journalist, in Lynn, Massachusetts
- Japanese troops landed on Hong Kong Island.[26]
- Citing stomach illness, Fedor von Bock relinquished command of Army Group Centre to Günther von Kluge.[44]
- German submarine U-434 was depth charged and sunk by the British destroyers Blankney and Stanley north of Madeira.
- The War Powers Act of 1941 was put into law in the United States.
- Manhattan Project: The S-1 Committee formally met for the first time[45] and recommended that $400,000 be assigned to Ernest Lawrence's work in electromagnetic isotope separation.[46]
- President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8983, appointing a commission headed by Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts to investigate the Pearl Harbor attack in order to determine "whether any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment on the part of United States Army or Navy personnel" contributed to the success of the Japanese attack, "and if so, what these derelictions or errors were, and who were responsible therefor."[47]
- German submarines U-256, U-407 and U-601 were commissioned.
- The swashbuckler film The Corsican Brothers starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Ruth Warrick and Akim Tamiroff had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.[48]
- Born: Prince William of Gloucester, in Barnet, England (d. 1972)
- Died: Dmitry Lavrinenko, 27, Russian tank commander and Hero of the Soviet Union (killed in action)
- The Japanese invasion of Davao began.
- Indian 4th Division captured Derna, Libya.[9]
- Italian Navy divers of Decima Flottiglia MAS carried out the Raid on Alexandria, attacking and disabling two Royal Navy battleships with manned torpedoes.
- The British light cruiser HMS Neptune was sunk by naval mines off Tripoli.
- Nicaragua declared war in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.[19]
- Hitler relieved Walther von Brauchitsch as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army and took personal command himself. A proclamation announcing the move was published two days later.[49]
- The British light cruiser HMS Neptune struck naval mines off Tripoli and sank. The destroyer Kandahar struck a mine and was damaged trying to come to Neptune's rescue and had to be scuttled the next day.
- The British destroyer Stanley was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by German submarine U-574. The sloop HMS Stork then depth charged, rammed and sank U-574.
- Born: Lee Myung-bak, 10th President of South Korea, in Osaka, Japan; Maurice White, musician and founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, in Memphis, Tennessee
- Died: John Robert Osborn, 42, Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross (killed in action in Hong Kong)
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- ↑ Vaccaro, Mike (2007). 1941 - The Greatest Year In Sports: Two Baseball Legends, Two Boxing Champs and the Unstoppable Thoroughbred Who Made History in the Shadow of War. Broadway Books. p. 269. ISBN 9780385521413.
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- ↑ Kargel, Jeffrey et al. "ASTER Imaging and Analysis of Glacier Hazards". Land Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change: NASA's Earth Observing System and the Science of ASTER and MODIS. Eds. Bhaskar Ramachandran, Christopher O. Justice and Michael J. Abrams. New York: Springer Science + Business Media LLC, 2011. p. 336-337. ISBN 9781441967497.
- ↑ Piggott, Mark (March 27, 2014). "Washington State Mudslide:10 Worst Landslide Disasters in History". International Business Times. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
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- ↑ "Ban California Racing; Rose Bowl to Duke". Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago: Chicago Daily Tribune). December 16, 1941. p. 25.
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- ↑ Hickman, Kennedy (May 21, 2015). "World War II: The Manhattan Project". About.com. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
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- ↑ Peters, Gerbhard; Woolley, John T. "Executive Order 8983 Establishing a Commission to Investigate the Pearl Harbor Attack". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1993). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1941-1950. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 478. ISBN 0-520-21521-4.
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- ↑ Matthäus, Jürgen (2013). Jewish Responses to Persecution: Volume III, 1941-1942. Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press. p. 530. ISBN 9780759122598.
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- ↑ "Pope Grants Right to Lift Fasting Law". Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn). December 23, 1941. p. 1.
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- ↑ Toppe, Generalmajor Alfred (1990) [~1947]. German Experiences in Desert Warfare During World War II, Volume II (PDF) (The Black Vault ed.). Washington: Historical Division, European Command: U.S. Marine Corps. p. A-8–15. FMFRP 12-96-II. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
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- ↑ "500 Mile Race Is Off for Duration of War". Milwaukee Journal (Milwaukee): 3. December 29, 1941.
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