Japanese Rear AdmiralMatome Ugaki received an order authorizing theCombined 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 "ClimbMount Niitaka", meaning the attacks were to go forward as planned.[7]
President Roosevelt sent Japan a request for an explanation for the heavy Japanese troop concentrations inFrench Indochina, exceeding the 25,000 agreed upon between Tokyo andVichy France.[8]
U.S. "Magic" cryptologists intercepted Japanese orders to destroy codes at the Japanese embassy in Washington.[9]
The Japanese carrier fleet tasked with the Pearl Harbor attack began approaching theHawaiian Islands with increased speed.[3]
U.S. secretary of stateCordell 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.[8]
Rainbow Five, the U.S. government's top-secret war plan, was leaked on the front pages of theChicago Tribune andWashington Times-Herald. The plan alarmedisolationists who took it as proof that President Roosevelt was preparing to lead the United States into war against Germany, despite his pledge during the1940 election that no Americans would be sent into foreign wars. SenatorBurton K. Wheeler, without mentioning his own role in the leak, demanded a congressional investigation.[11][12]
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]
U.S. War SecretaryHenry 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]
U.S. president Roosevelt wrote a personal appeal to EmperorHirohito 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]
Japan launched its invasion of British Malaya, at Kota Bharu, at 7:00 am Hawaiian Time (1:00 am 8 December Malaya time[17]).[18]
The Japanese surpriseattack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian Time.[19] 21 American ships and over 300 aircraft were sunk, destroyed or damaged, and 2,403 Americans were killed. Japan lost 29 planes in return.[20]
Japan declared war on the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.[21]
The Japanese midget submarineHA. 19 ran aground and was scuttled atOahu. Eventually Americans retrieved the sub andKazuo Sakamaki became the first Japanese prisoner of war to be captured by American forces.
TheNiihau incident began when Japanese pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi crash-landed his damagedA6M2 Zero on the Hawaiian island ofNiihau 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 atChequers, the country house of theprime minister of the United Kingdom, with the American diplomatsJohn Gilbert Winant andW. 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."[22]
One hour after the Japanese attack, Australian prime ministerJohn Curtin announced that "from one hour ago,Australia has been at war with the Japanese Empire." War would be formally declared two days later.[23]
The Imperial Japanese Army occupies theShanghai International Settlement. In the midst of this,HMSPeterel is sunk by the gunboat USSWake, which has been hijacked by Japanese soldiers.
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."[27]
TheJapanese 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 second day of theRumbula massacre occurred nearRiga,Latvia. A total of about 25,000 Jews were killed on this day and November 30.
Charles Lindbergh released a statement through theAmerica 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."[28]
President Roosevelt gave afireside chat on the U.S. declaration of war on Japan.
China formally declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy. TheSecond Sino-Japanese War had been undeclared up to this time despite being in its fifth year.[30]
Italydeclared war on the United States. "The powers of thesteel 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.[34]
Germany, Italy and Japan signed a new pact barring any of them from making a separate peace with the United States or Great Britain.[35]
During the Battle of Wake Island, the Japanese destroyerHayate was sunk by American coast-defense guns and the destroyerKisaragi was bombed and sunk.
The British destroyer HMSJackal was damaged in the Mediterranean Sea by Italian torpedo bombers and knocked out of action until May 1942.
TheAmerica 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."[37]
TheReich Chancellery meeting of 12 December 1941 was held between Hitler and high-ranking officials of the Nazi Party. The meeting marked a decisive step toward the implementation of theFinal Solution when Hitler announced that the Jewish race was to be annihilated.
TheNiihau incident ended with the death of Shigenori Nishikaichi in a struggle with people on the island and the suicide of one of his confederates, Yoshio Harada. The incident may have influenced the U.S. government's decision tointern 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 inHuaraz,Peru when a glacier partially collapsed into a nearby lake and triggered amoraine landslide.[41][42]
Soviet forces capturedKlin, northwest of Moscow.[29]
The largest of theLiepāja 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.[3]
German submarineU-127 was depth charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the Australian destroyer HMASNestor.
German submarinesU-176 andU-216 were commissioned.
The British cargo shipEmpire Barracuda was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the German submarineU-77.
The radio programWe 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 theUnited States Bill of Rights which was ratified on December 15, 1791.
Husband E. Kimmel was relieved of his command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet as part of a shake-up of officers following the Pearl Harbor attack.[46] Kimmel was replaced byChester Nimitz.
Manhattan Project: The S-1 Committee formally met for the first time[48] and recommended that $400,000 be assigned toErnest Lawrence's work in electromagnetic isotope separation.[49]
President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8983, appointing a commission headed by Supreme Court JusticeOwen 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."[50]
Nicaragua declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.[21]
Hitler relievedWalther von Brauchitsch as Commander-in-Chief of theGerman Army and took personal command himself. A proclamation announcing the move was published two days later.[52]
The British light cruiser HMSNeptune struck naval mines offTripoli and sank. The destroyerKandahar struck a mine and was damaged trying to come toNeptune's rescue and had to be scuttled the next day.
The British destroyerStanley was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by German submarineU-574. The sloop HMSStork then depth charged, rammed and sankU-574.
Joseph Goebbels announced a winter clothing collection drive for troops on the Eastern Front. Rather than admitting to a supply shortage he presented it as an expression of solidarity between the soldiers and the homeland.[53]
The American tankerEmidio was torpedoed and damaged offCape Mendocino,California by the Japanese submarineI-17, killing five crew. ACatalina flying boat was dispatched to attack theI-17, but the submarine escaped.
Winston Churchill addressed a joint meeting of U.S. Congress. He predicted that at least 18 months would be required to turn the tide of the war and warned that "many disappointments and unpleasant surprises await us."[58]
The Germans flanked the British22nd Armoured Brigade at El Haseia and destroyed many tanks.[3] This removed any immediate danger toAjdabiya and allowed the Axis forces to fall back in an organized fashion to the defensive line atEl Agheila without having to deal with pressure from the enemy.[59]
The British cargo shipVolo was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Egypt by German submarineU-75. The destroyerHMSKipling chased the U-boat down and sankU-75 with depth charges.
70-year-old Warden James Brooks Jackson of thePulaski County, Arkansas Sheriff's Office, serving as superintendent of the Pulaski County Prison Farm, was shot and killed by the assistant warden, who believed Jackson was about to fire him. The assistant warden would be convicted ofvoluntary manslaughter and receive a two-year prison sentence.[60][61] In 1999, Jackson's grandson,architect Brooks Jackson, would submit a successful bid for the design of theArkansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial in memory of his grandfather.[61]
Soviet troops made amphibious landings in the eastern Crimea and tookKerch andFeodosia. The Germans had to pause their assault on Sevastopol in order to deal with these forces.[65]
Winston Churchill made the "Chicken Speech" toCanadian Parliament. In reference to a comment made byPhilippe Pétain that Britain would be invaded and "have its neck wrung like a chicken" by the Germans in three weeks, Churchill exclaimed, "Some chicken! Some neck!"[66]
German submarinesU-705 andU-756 were commissioned.
American socialite and art collectorPeggy Guggenheim married the expatriate German artistMax Ernst in the United States.[67]
Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan.[29]
Panamanian cargo shipRuth Alexander was bombed and damaged by a Japanese flying boat inMakassar Strait. A DutchDornier 24 rescued the 48 survivors and the ship was abandoned, finally sinking two days later.
^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.ISBN978-0-385-52141-3.
^Doenecke, Justus D. (1990).In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 as Revealed in the Papers of the America First Committee. Stanford University Press. p. 48.ISBN978-0-8179-8841-8.
^Bán, András (2004).Hungarian-British Diplomacy, 1938–1941: The Attempt to Maintain Relations. Frank Cass. p. 146.ISBN978-0-7146-5660-1.
^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.ISBN978-1-4419-6749-7.
^Dean, Sidney. "Bock, Fedor von (1880–1945).World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia. Ed. David T. Zabecki. New York and London: Routledge, 1999. p. 235.ISBN978-1-135-81242-3.
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