2 Dec 1896
- Georgi Zhukov was born.
» In-depth article
2 Dec 1912
- German chancellor Theobold von Bethmann Hollweg announced in the Reichstag that, if Austria-Hungary was attacked by a third power while pursuing its interests, Germany would support Austria-Hungary and fight to maintain its own position in Europe.
2 Dec 1917
- Russian General Dukhonin and his staff were placed under arrest, ordered by Lenin.
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2 Dec 1932
- German President Paul von Hindenburg named Kurt von Schleicher as the next Chancellor.
2 Dec 1935
- General Kuniaki Koiso was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea, relieving Kenkichi Ueda.
» In-depth article - Major General Yoshishige Saeda was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea.
- Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa was named the commanding officer of the Taiwan Army.
2 Dec 1937
- Emperor Showa nominated his uncle Prince Asaka to lead the upcoming attack on Nanjing, China.
» In-depth article
2 Dec 1938
- Lord Gort submitted a report noting that the German military had improved in its fighting qualities over the past year, especially since the annexation of Czechoslovakia, while the British Army fighting strength had been weakened due to political decisions made in 1937.
» In-depth article
2 Dec 1939
- Red Army units took Petsamo, Finland.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 2 Dec 1939
2 Dec 1940
- German submarine U-37 sank Swedish ship Gwalia at 0418 hours (16 killed, 4 survived) and British ship Jeanne M. at 0446 hours (7 killed, 19 survived); both attacks were about 230 miles north of Cape Roca, Portugal.
- German submarine U-43 sank British ship Pacific President at 0901 hours (entire crew of 50 killed) and British tanker Victor Ross at 0941 hours (entire crew of 44 killed).
- German submarine U-99 sank Norwegian ship Samnanger at 2050 hours, killing the entire crew of 30.
- British Admiral of the Fleet William Boyle (Earl of Cork and Orrery) arrived at Gibraltar aboard destroyer HMS Jersey to conduct a Board of Inquiry into Admiral James Somerville's decision to disengage at the Battle of Spartivento.
» In-depth article - Overnight, German bombers bombed Britstol, England, United Kingdom.
» In-depth article - Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma was named the commanding officer of the Taiwan Army.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-99 attacked British armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar with five torpedoes between 0546 and 0657 hours, sinking her; 172 were killed, 21 survived. Shortly after, German submarines U-47, U-52, U-94, U-99, and U-101 attacked Allied convoy HX-90 unescorted 300 miles west of Ireland between 0400 and 0730 hours; her ocean escorts had departed on the previous day, and her coastal escorts failed to arrive due to poor weather. 5 ships were sunk (totaling 22,868 tons), while 2 were damaged; 119 were killed. After the coastal escorts finally arrived, U-94 pressed one further attack after dark, sinking two more ships, killing 5.
» In-depth article
2 Dec 1941
- Edward Rydz-Śmigły passed away.
» In-depth article - Motorcycle patrols from the German 2nd Panzer Division at Moscow, Russia reached Khimki and claimed that they were as close as 10 miles northwest from the Kremlin. The 2nd Panzer Division, however, was unable gather enough strength to exploit the weakly defended lines that the reconnaissance troops discovered. To the west, additional Soviet reinforcements reached Naro-Fominsk. To the south of Moscow, another German attack on Tula cut the Tula-Moscow rail line.
» In-depth article - US PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported 20 Japanese transports congregating in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina.
» In-depth article - British Prime Minister Churchill's new National Service Bill included compulsory service for women.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-43 torpedoed and sank the unarmed US tanker Astral with a crew of 37.
- Soviet troopships Iosif Stalin and Maya, along with a number of other warships and transport vessels, departed Hanko, Finland with the last of the 12,000 troops aboard. This marked the final Soviet evacuation from Finnish territory occupied by the Soviet Union at the conclusion of the Winter War.
- Japanese embassies in United States, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, and Philippine Islands were ordered to destroy certain documents and code books.
- Japanese carrier fleet refueled in the North Pacific at 42° N 170° E; at 2000 hours, the code "Niitaka Yama Noboru 1208" was issued, indicating that the attack on Pearl Harbor was to be launched on 8 Dec (Tokyo time).
» In-depth article - The Axis attack on Tobruk, Libya that began on 30 Nov 1941 was halted as Axis tank losses reached such a level that repairs must be made before any further operations were possible.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-562 sank British ship Grelhead in the Atlantic Ocean 2 miles off Morocco at 0119 hours; 41 were killed, 2 survived.
- German submarine U-557 sank Norwegian ship Fjord east of Gibraltar at 2033 hours; 14 were killed, 22 survived.
- German submarine U-43 attacked US tanker Astral near the Azores islands just after 0000 hours; all torpedoes missed. At 0924 hours, U-43 attacked Astral again, destroying the tanker with two torpedo hits; all 37 aboard were killed.
- Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan for San Francisco, ostensibly for the second repatriation voyage to bring Japanese nationals in the United States to Japan. Her planned voyage would take her to Honolulu and San Francisco in the United States, then Manzanillo in Mexico, followed by Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - American submarine USS Trout began a "simulated war patrol" off Midway.
» In-depth article - HMS Prince of Wales arrived at Singapore.
» In-depth article - HMS Repulse arrived at Singapore.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 2 Dec 1941
2 Dec 1942
- Enrico Fermi's atomic reactor Chicago Pile-1 at the University of Chicago, Illinois, United States initiated the world's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
» In-depth article - Two transports arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp on this date. The first transport from Westerbork Concentration Camp in the Netherlands arrived with 826 Jews; 77 of them were registered into the camp, and the remaining 749 were gassed. The second transport from Grodno ghetto arrived with 1,000 Jews; 178 men and 60 women were registered into the camp, and the remaining 762 were gassed.
» In-depth article - British Army Major Herbert Le Patourel won the Victoria Cross for single-handedly taking an enemy position near Tunis in which he was seriously wounded.
- US Air Transport Command began flying "the Hump" into China.
- General Hitoshi Imamura arrived in Rabaul, New Britain to take command of the Japanese South Pacific Area and the Seventeenth Army.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 2 Dec 1942
2 Dec 1943
- Germans mounted operations against Yugoslav partisans.
- Adolf Hitler ordered the conscription of youth for service.
- 458 RAF aircraft (425 Lancaster, 15 Halifax, and 18 Mosquito) attacked Berlin, Germany, dropping 1,500 tons of bombs; 40 bombers were lost (37 Lancaster, 2 Halifax, and 1 Mosquito). Two Siemens factories, a ball-bearing factory, and several railway installations were damaged.
» In-depth article - The Luftwaffe raided the harbor at Bari, Italy. A hit on an ammunition ship caused a massive explosion that did more damage than the actual raid. The American Liberty Ship John Harvey was carrying a classified cargo of mustard gas, to be used if the Germans initiated chemical warfare. The clouds from this caused extensive casualties, as no one knew it was there, much less had anything to treat it with.
» In-depth article - British Minister of Labor Ernest Bevin announced that the government would soon conscript men to work in coal mines.
» In-depth article - The first transport of Jews from Vienna arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
» In-depth article - Otto Skorzeny, who had been stationed in Paris, France due to the threat of Marshal Pétain leaving for North Africa, was ordered to leave the city as that threat was proven to be false.
» In-depth article - Production for the Ki-67 Hiryu bomber design began.
» In-depth article - The US submarine Capelin was reported missing, presumed lost, whilst on patrol north of Celebes, Sunda Islands, Dutch East Indies.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 2 Dec 1943
2 Dec 1944
- Edward R. Stettinius Jr. became secretary of state of the United States after the retirement of Cordell Hull.
- USS Ticonderoga arrived at Ulithi, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article - USS Hoe fired 7 torpedoes at a Japanese tanker, damaging her with 2 hits.
» In-depth article - Photos dated 2 Dec 1944
2 Dec 1966
- Bai Chongxi passed away in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
» In-depth article
2 Dec 1968
- USS Sea Cat was decommissioned from service and struck from the US Naval Register.
» In-depth article - USS Sennet was decommissioned from service and was struck from the US Naval Register.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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