3 Dec in WW2 History | World War II Database

3 Dec 1880

Fedor von Bock was born.
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3 Dec 1887

Naruhiko was born.
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3 Dec 1902

Japan

Mitsuo Fuchida was born in Nara Prefecture, Japan.
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3 Dec 1912

Britain, fearful that a Russo-Austria war would lead to a German attack on France, warned the Germans that if that happened Britain "would not accept a French defeat".

3 Dec 1915

Chuichi Nagumo was assigned to destroyer Sugi.
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3 Dec 1917

Dukhonin released Generals Denikin, Lekomsky, Romanovsky, Markov, Kormnilov, and Krasnov from Bykhov prison. It was soon learnt that these commanders were making their way southwards to link up with General Kaledin's Cossack Union of the Don. Lenin's new commander-in-chief Krylenko arrived at Mogilev, Russia at the head of a contingent or armed sailors to receive Dukhonin's surrender; one of the sailors shoot Dukhonin dead before Krylenko can intervene.
Russian and German delegates began formal armistice talks at Brest-Litovsk, Russia.
The British Cabinet decided to support Anti-Bolshevik elements in Russia.

3 Dec 1918

Quintin Brand was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross award.
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3 Dec 1927

Japan

The keel for ship numbered 451 was laid down at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding's yard at Nagakaki, Japan.
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3 Dec 1932

The former German Defence Minister and recently named German Chancellor General Kurt von Schleicher offered Gregor Strasser (the Organization leader of the NSDAP) the post of vice-chancellor in a coalition government. Hitler, sensing it was a move by Schleicher to split the Nazi Party, ordered Strasser to stop any further negotiations with the Government.
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3 Dec 1934

The Soviet Politburo approved a new law drafted by Stalin following Kirov's assassination. The new law provided that acts of terrorism were to be investigated for no more than ten days; that there would be no prosecution or defence attorneys; no appeals; and sentences of those convicted of terrorist acts were to be carried out within twenty-four hours. Whilst torture of prisoners was not officially sanctioned by the law, the interrogators were generally free to mistreat their prisoners in order to extract confessions.

3 Dec 1935

Douglas MacArthur's mother, Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur, passed away in Manila, Philippine Islands.
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3 Dec 1937

Japanese 16th Division and 9th Division began an attack on Chinese 83rd Corps and 66th Corps east of Nanjing, China.
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China

Japanese troops captured the coastal battery near Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China.
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3 Dec 1938

German government revoked driver's licenses held by Jews.

3 Dec 1939

Finnish units withdrew to the Mannerheim Line.
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3 Dec 1940

Allied convoy HX-90 was attacked by German submarine U-99 (which sank the damaged and abandoned British ship Conch at 1058 hours), a German Fw 200 aircraft (which sank British ship W. Hendrik, killing 5), and German submarine U-140 (which sank British ship Victoria City at 2142 hours, killing the entire crew of 43).
Greek troops pushed Italian troops back 15 miles, capturing Sarandë, Albania. To the far south, Italian torpedo bombers attacked the British naval base at Suda Bay, Crete, Greece at 1540 hours, damaging British cruiser HMS Glasgow with two torpedoes (3 killed, 3 wounded).
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British destroyer HMS Campbeltown collided with British tanker Conus off Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; she would be out of commission for repairs until 28 Mar 1941.
German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran departed Gotenhafen, German (Gdynia, Poland) to raid Allied shipping, carrying supplies for 12 months, 280 naval mines, 40 land mines, and spare parts and torpedoes to supply submarines.
51 German aircraft bombed Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, dropping 55 tons of high explosive bombs and 448 incendiary bombs.
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3 Dec 1941

US Navy yacht Isabel set sail for the coast of Indochina on Roosevelt's orders; she was planned to be one of three vessels that would attempt to draw first fire from Japanese warships should hostilities become unavoidable.
The Japanese carrier fleet tasked with the Pearl Harbor attack turned south after refueling on the previous day, approaching the Hawaii Islands with increased speed. At Pearl Harbor, the American intelligence report on the location of Japanese Navy warships had "no information on submarines or carriers". Elsewhere in Hawaii, Consul-General Nagao Kita received orders to burn code ciphers and important papers; this was noticed by the Americans, who also received intelligence that several Japanese embassies around the world were doing the same.
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American submarine USS Argonaut began a "simulated war patrol" off Midway.
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US PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported 30 Japanese transports congregating in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina, 10 more than the previous day. Meanwhile, a Japanese fleet departed Hainan Island in southern China for Thailand.
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German submarine U-124 sank the unarmed US freighter Sagadahoc in the South Atlantic with torpedoes.
Japanese Navy issued the order to its senior admirals that hostilities against United States, Britain, and the Netherlands would begin on 8 Dec 1941 (Tokyo time).
Japanese submarines began forming lines in Central and East Pacific.
Carrier USS Enterprise began to launch F4F Wildcat fighters of the US Marine Corps for Wake Island.
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The two crematoria of Auschwitz Concentration Camp that was inactivated on 20 Nov for service were reactivated.
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Hitler issued a decree on "Simplification and Increased Efficiency in our Armaments Production" (commonly known as the "Rationalization Decree") in which he chided German firms for failing to adopt the practice of large factories and simple production methods, and ordered the military to simplify and standardize the design of all weapons to make possible "mass production on modern principles".
Japan asked Italy to declare war on the United States should Japan and US enter a state of war.
The Soviet evacuation convoy that had departed Hanko, Finland on the previous day sailed into the Corbetha minefield in the Gulf of Finland. One minesweeper was sunk and several other vessels were damaged. The passengers and crew aboard troop ship Iosif Stalin, which was seriously damaged by a mine, abandoned ship; about 4,000 of the nearly 6,000 that went overboard died in the water.
German 4th Army was halted at Naro-Fominsk west of Moscow, Russia, thus exposing the flank of the German 2nd Panzer Army, which was assaulting the Tula region south of Moscow.
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The Axis attempt to reach Bardia in Libya and Sollum and Halfaya Pass in Egypt failed to breach the Allied positions that stood in the way.
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German submarine U-124 sank US ship Sagadahoc 1,250 west of South Africa at 2147 hours; 1 was killed, 34 survived. She was to be the last American merchant ship to be lost to the German Navy before the US officially entered the war.
Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-3 began to arrive in Allied waters.
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Italy

Scirè departed La Spezia, Italy for Alexandria, Egypt with three manned torpedoes on board.
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Libya

Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to his unit at Ain el Gazala, Libya after duties in Germany.
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Panama Canal Zone

USS Gar reached the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal.
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United States

President Franklin Roosevelt announced that Lend-Lease aid would be given to Turkey, as the safety of that country was considered vital to American defence.
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Photo(s) dated 3 Dec 1941

Map depicting Japanese plans for occupying China immediately before launching the third attack on Changsha, China, 3 Dec 1941

Soviet 122mm gun in action near Moscow, Russia, 3 Dec 1941

3 Dec 1942

Approximately 300 Jewish prisoners from the Sonderkommando who dug up and burned the 107,000 bodies buried in mass graves were taken from Auschwitz II-Birkenau to the main camp by SS guards. They were led to the gas chamber in Crematorium I and killed.
German Armeegruppe Don received several divisions from Western Europe in preparation for the relief operation against Stalingrad, Russia, Operation Winter Tempest.
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Adolf Hitler approved the plan to convert the captured and incomplete French cruiser De Grasse into a light aircraft carrier.
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United Kingdom

All remaining ships of Allied convoy QP-15 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom.
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3 Dec 1943

527 RAF aircraft (307 Lancaster and 220 Halifax) attacked Leipzig, Germany.
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General Shunroku Hata, commander-in-chief of the Japanese formation China Expeditionary Army, received a message from the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan that the Japanese leadership was disturbed by the American air strike on Taiwan on 25 Nov 1943.
Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Singapore.
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Italy

New Zealand troops attacked Orsogna, Italy on the Gustav Line.
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Russia

Allied convoy JW-54B arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia.
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3 Dec 1944

USS Sea Cat claimed sinking of a 10,000-ton Japanese ship; the credit was removed after the war.
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US Third Army armored units penetrated the German Westwall defenses near Saarlautern, Germany. Meanwhile, the British 2nd Army mopped up the last German resistance west of the River Maas.
Communist-controlled National Liberation Front (EAM) party in Greece staged a large demonstration in Athens, which broke out in violence; 28 were killed and 148 were injured. EAM forces attempted further attacks on government forces, but they were largely defeated jointly by British and Greek government forces by Jan 1945. This was to be a prelude episode to the 1946-1949 Greek civil war.
The British Home Guard was ordered to stand down.
Allied troops captured Blerick, the Netherlands.
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The Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Cooper was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Take in the Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands.

Burma