World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 2 Dec 1943

• Adolf Hitler ordered the conscription of youth for service. ww2dbase [TH]
• Ernst Fischer was named the commanding officer of U-821, relieving Ludwig Fabricius. ww2dbase [U-821 | CPC]
• British Minister of Labor Ernest Bevin announced that the government would soon conscript men to work in coal mines. ww2dbase [Ernest Bevin | CPC]
• The US submarine Capelin was reported missing, presumed lost, whilst on patrol north of Celebes, Sunda Islands, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Capelin | AC]
• Production for the Ki-67 Hiryu bomber design began. ww2dbase [Ki-67 Hiryu | AC]
• Germans mounted operations against Yugoslav partisans. ww2dbase [TH]
• Four War Correspondents were given permission by Arthur Harris to go on the Berlin raid over Germany scheduled for the night. Two, Nordahl Greig of the Daily Mail and Norman Stocton of the Australian Associated News were among 30 men who died that night. The other two were Americans, Edward Murrow and Lowell Bennett who both flew with No. 50 Squadron. The badly shaken Murrow was the only one to return alive. His pilot had been Jock Abercrombie, notorious among the aircrews of No. 50 squadron for always fearlessly flying straight and level to the target area. ww2dbase [Edward Murrow | AC]

• Otto Skorzeny, who had been stationed in Paris, France due to the threat of Marshal Philippe Pétain leaving for North Africa, was ordered to leave the city as that threat was proven to be false. ww2dbase [Otto Skorzeny | Paris | CPC]

• Lorraine departed Dakar, French West Africa for Oran, French Algeria. ww2dbase [Lorraine | Dakar | CPC]

• 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. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Berlin | TH]

• USS Grayback departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her ninth war patrol. ww2dbase [Grayback | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• German 26th Panzer Division fortified Orsogna, Italy on the Gustav Line. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gustav Line | Orsogna, Abruzzo | CPC]
• The British 56th (London) Division, which had already been badly mauled in earlier fighting for Monte Camino, Italy, launched a new attack and reached the summit under cover of darkness, but it would take another four days of hard fighting before the position could be secured completely. ww2dbase [Battle of Monte Cassino | AC]
• 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. ww2dbase [Bari, Puglia | TH]

• Naka departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Kwajalein | CPC]

• USS Gunnel attacked a Japanese carrier in the Pacific Ocean; all 4 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Gunnel | CPC]

• The first transport of Jews from Vienna arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• The keel of submarine Capitaine was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Electric Boat Company | Capitaine | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]
• The US Navy expanded the piston-jet mix-powered fighter contract with Ryan Aeronautical to 100 examples. ww2dbase [FR Fireball | CPC]
• USS Wahoo was declared overdue. ww2dbase [Wahoo | CPC]

2 Dec 1943 Interactive Map