Timeline of World War II (1941) - December 1941

December 1941

• 1: Malta marks its 1,000th bombing raid.
  : Fiorello H. La Guardia publishes Administrative Order 9 creating the Civil Air Patrol for U.S Coastal Patrol and naming its national commander Major General John F. Curry.
• 2: Prime Minister Tojo rejects "peace feelers" from the US.
  : A German combat engineer patrol reaches the town of Khimki while scouting for a hole in the Russian defense perimeter around Moscow. It is the closest advance the Germans make to the Russian capital.
• 3: Conscription in the United Kingdom now includes all men between 18 and 50. Women will not be neglected since they will serve in fire brigades and in women's auxiliary groups.
• 4: The temperature on the Moscow front falls to -31°F (-37°C). German attacks are failing.
• 4: Japanese naval and army forces continue to move toward Pearl Harbor and South-east Asia.
• 5: Germans call off the attack on Moscow, now 11 miles away; the USSR counter-attacks during a heavy blizzard.
• 6: The United Kingdom declares war on Finland.
• 7: (December 8, Asian time zones) Japan launches an attack on Pearl Harbor, declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom and invades Thailand and British Malaya and launches aerial attacks against Guam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Shanghai, Singapore and Wake Island.Japan declares war on the UK and the USA Canada declares war on Japan.
  : German "Night and Fog decree" dictating the elimination of anti-Nazis in Western Europe.
• 8: The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and New Zealand declare war on Japan
  : Japanese forces take the Gilbert Islands (which include Tarawa). Clark Field in the Philippines is bombed, and many American aircraft are destroyed on the ground.
  : Japanese troops attack Thailand in the Battle of Prachuab Khirikhan
• 9: China and Australia officially declare war on Japan.
• 10: British battlecruiser HMS Repulse and battleship HMS Prince of Wales are sunk by Japanese air attack.
• 11: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The United States reciprocates and declares war on Germany and Italy.
  : US forces repel a Japanese landing attempt at Wake Island.
  : Japanese invade Burma.
• 12: Japanese landings on the southern Philippine Islands—Samar, Jolo, Mindanao.
  : The United States and the United Kingdom declare war on Romania and Bulgaria after they had declared war on both the United States and the United Kingdom; India declares war on Japan.
  : US seizes French ship Normandie.
• 13: Hungary declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Kingdom reciprocate and declare war on Hungary.
  : Japanese under General Yamashita continue their push into Malaya. Under General Homma the Japanese forces are firmly established in the northern Philippines. Hong Kong is threatened.
• 14: The British cruiser HMS Galatea is sunk by U-557 off Alexandria, beginning a series of naval defeats for the Allies.
• 15: Italian "human torpedoes" sink two British battleships, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant in Alexandria harbour.
  : Allied troops push Rommel back at the Gazala line.
• 16: Rommel orders a withdrawal all the way to El Agheila, where he had begun in March. He awaits reinforcements of men and tanks.
  : Japan invades Borneo.
  : The German offensive around Moscow is now at a complete halt.
• 17: Battle of Sevastopol begins.
• 18: Japanese troops land on Hong Kong Island.
• 19: Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army
  : HMS Neptune, leading Force K, strikes a minefield and sinks with one survivor and a loss of 766 crew.
• 20: The battle for Wake Island continues with several Japanese ships sunk or damaged.
• 21: The suffering of besieged Leningrad continues; it is estimated that about 3,000 are dying each day of starvation and various diseases.
  : The inmates at Bogdanovka concentration camp are massacred to quell an outbreak of Typhus. Roughly 40,000 die.
• 22: The Japanese land at Lingayan Gulf, on the northern part of Luzon in the Philippines.
  : Start of the Arcadia Conference in Washington, the first official meeting of British and American political and military leaders.
• 23: A second Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is successful, and the American garrison surrenders after hours of fighting.
  : General MacArthur declares Manila an "Open City."
  : Japanese forces land on Sarawak (Borneo).
• 24: In the Philippines, American forces retreat into Bataan Peninsula.
  : Japanese bomb Rangoon.
• 25: Hong Kong surrenders to Japan.
  : Allied forces retake Benghazi.
  : Red Army and Navy amphibious forces land at Kerch, in the Crimea; their occupation will last through April.
• 27: British and Norwegian Commandos raid the Norwegian port of Vågsøy, causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defences.
• 28: Japanese paratroopers land on Sumatra.
• 30: The first "Liberty Ship", the SS Patrick Henry is launched. Liberty Ships will prove to be major parts of the Allied supply system.