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• The Japanese carrier fleet departed Hitokappu Bay, Kurile Islands, Japan for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. At Pearl Harbor, Joseph Rochefort sent a report for his superiors that his cryptanalytic team had detected Japanese fleet movements and that the Japanese warships were seemingly staging for actions in the South Pacific. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | CPC | Detailed Timetable]
• US intelligence detected Japanese troop movements in Indochina. In response, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull submitted the final proposal to Japanese diplomats for readjustment of US-Japanese relations, demanding the Japanese to withdraw all troops from China and Indochina, and with full expectation that the Japanese were not going to entertain this demand in any way. ww2dbase [Cordell Hull | CPC]
• American aircraft ferry USS Kitty Hawk was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Kitty Hawk | CPC]
• German and Italian forces fought the New Zealand 5th Brigade en route to Fort Capuzzo, Libya. Meanwhile, Erwin Rommel's staff recalled the troops at Sidi Rezegh, Libya, allowing British 7th Armoured Division to capture the town. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]
• Soviet troops re-opened the Tula-Moscow rail line in Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | CPC]
• In Libya, Lieutenant Colonel H. C. J. Yeo took the British 44th Royal Tank Regiment on a spectacular night attack which broke through the besiegers' lines and effected a link up with the Tobruk garrison. Many had suggested that the attack was impossible, but Colonel Yeo and his men had proven them wrong, and reinforced the matter with a similar operation against Barcia on 1 Jan 1942. ww2dbase [Siege of Tobruk | AC]
• The keel of submarine Pompon was laid down. ww2dbase [Pompon | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze departed Kyushu, Japan. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]
• Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie DSO, MC (1897-1983) was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Eighth Army in North Africa. ww2dbase [AC]

• Free French General Georges Catroux announced that France would place Syria and Lebanon on a course for full independence. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Akagi, flagship of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's First Air Fleet, departed Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands leading the Carrier Striking Force ("Kido Butai") in the "Hawaii Operation", the surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. ww2dbase [Akagi | CPC]
• With Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's First Air Fleet, Shokaku departed Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands for the Hawaii Operation, the attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Shokaku | CPC]
• Kaga departed Hitokappu Bay, Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Kaga | CPC]
• Naka became the flagship of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura of Japanese 4th Destroyer Squadron; she departed the Terashima Strait near Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Naka | CPC]

• Franklin Roosevelt celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday in Warm Springs, Georgia, United States. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]

26 Nov 1941 Interactive Map