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http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/dec41/f02dec41.htm

Germans within sight of the Kremlin
Tuesday, December 2, 1941 www.onwar.com

On the Eastern Front... Small German forces reach the northern suburbs of Moscow and come within sight of the Kremlin, less than 20 miles away. Hitler orders a renewed push by Kluge’s Fourth Army to the west of the city. The weather continues to grow colder with heavy snow and blizzards. Both Bock (Army Group Center) and Brauchitsch (Commander in Chief of the German Army) are ill and unable to fully perform their duties.

From Tokyo... A special code order “Climb Mount Niitaka” is transmitted by Japanese naval headquarters to their carrier force bound for Hawaii. This order confirms that negotiations have broken down and the attack on Pearl Harbor is to proceed.

In the East Indies... The British battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse arrive in Singapore. They arrive to late to have the planned deterrent effect but the Japanese do note the British naval presence.

In North Africa... Heavy fighting in several areas. Rommel’s forces continue the pressure against the Tobruk garrison in fighting around El Duda. British armor is engaged as they attempt to regroup farther south toward Bir el Bubi. They also attempt to send relief to the Axis garrisons at Bardia, Sollum and Halfaya Pass which are still resisting against 4th Indian Division of 13th Corps.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/02.htm

December 2nd, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM:
Destroyers HMS Musketeer and Blackmore launched.

Destroyer HMS Marne commissioned.

Submarine HMS Turbulent commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRANCE: Paris: German army doctor Kerscher is wounded by a pistol shot. In the Boulvard Auguste Blanqui there is a bomb attack on the RNP offices.

FINLAND: The last Soviet troops evacuate Hanko (Hangö), the base forcibly leased from Finland after the Winter War. (Mikko Härmeinen)

U.S.S.R.: With the Kremlin in sight, at 20 miles, some German units reach the northern suburbs of Moscow. Kluge’s forces west of Moscow renew their efforts but General Winter’s cold temperatures are not on the German’s side.

NORTH AFRICA: Between today and the 6th, the fighting in is very confused for both the Germans and the British. The British armour is regrouping near Bir el Gubi in the south. Rommel is trying to contain Tobruk, disrupt the British armour and aid Axis troops at Bardia, Sollum and Halfaya Pass. These scattered efforts further weaken the Germans.

JAPAN: Tokyo: The Premier, Hideki Tojo, publicly rejects US proposals for peace. The Japanese carrier force “Kido Butai” sailing for the Hawaiian Islands and the target of Pearl Harbor receives a special radio signal: “Climb Mount Niitaka 1208”, from Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto. This is the order to execute the attack on Pearl Harbor.

SINGAPORE: HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse arrive. The capitol ships represent a British deterrence in the Far East.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: IJN reconnaissance plane spotted over Clark at dawn.
Unknown aircraft off Luzon coast tracked by radar at Iba.

CANADA:
Destroyer HMCS St Clair completed refit and assigned to EG-14.

Patrol vessel HMCS Elk completed refit and departed for Trinidad.

Tug HMCS Andy assigned to Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt orders that three small ships, former yachts, be sent off the coast of Indo China as pickets in Admiral Hart’s Asiatic Squadron. One of them is Fleet Yacht USS ISABEL, LANIKAI is one of the others. (73, 74) (Matt Clark and Marc James Small)

15 atomic scientists, including the Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, arrive from Britain to join the US atomic research project.

First Naval Armed Guard detachment (7 men under a coxswain) of World War II reports to Liberty ship, SS Dunboyne. (Dave Shirlaw)