Adolf Hitler issued a message to the German troops on the Eastern Front declaring, "Today begins the last great, decisive battle of this year."[3]
2,146 Jews were shot dead in the Lithuanian town of Žagarė.[1]
Paul Collette, the man who tried to assassinate Pierre Laval in August, was sentenced to death. The following day Philippe Pétain commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.[4]
German submarines U-377 and U-590 were commissioned.
Hitler made a public speech at the Berlin Sportpalast, his first since the German invasion of the Soviet Union began. Hitler declared that Russia was "to a great extent" already destroyed and that Germany had the capability to "beat all possible enemies" no matter "how many billions they are going to spend," a remark that appeared to be directed at the United States.[6]
The Fadden government resigned in Australia after being defeated on a budget vote.[4]
The first jet engine built by the Allies arrives from England to an airport in the United States (Boston), to be modified for mass production by General Electric (GE).[8]
The German submarine U-111 was sunk southwest of Tenerife by depth charges from the trawler HMS Lady Shirley.
The Germans captured Mariupol on the Sea of Azov[1] and Oryol southwest of Moscow.[13]
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent Stalin a short message stating that he was "confident that ways will be found to provide the material and supplies necessary to fight Hitler on all fronts, including your own. I want particularly to take this occasion to express my great confidence that your armies will ultimately prevail over Hitler and to assure you of our great determination to be of every possible material assistance."[14]
Near Hokitika, New Zealand, farmer Stanley Graham went on a shooting rampage after a dispute with a neighbour and killed seven people, including four police officers who were called in after the initial argument. The biggest manhunt in New Zealand history commenced.
German submarines U-507 and U-657 were commissioned.
President Roosevelt asked Congress for immediate authority to arm American merchant ships. "We will not let Hitler prescribe the waters of the world which our ships may travel," the president said. "The American flag is not going to be driven from the seas either by his submarines, his airplanes or his threats."[15]
The Vichy Supreme Court indicted Léon Blum, Édouard Daladier, Guy La Chambre, Maurice Gamelin and Robert Jacomet for treason against their duties to the state during the years leading up to France's defeat in 1940. The defendants would go on trial beginning in February 1942 in proceedings that would be known as the Riom Trial.[16]
President Roosevelt wrote to Winston Churchill requesting a gentleman's agreement to share information on atomic research. Churchill would write back in December accepting the request.[18]
The Soviet government announced the evacuation from Moscow of all women and children not engaged in war work.[1]
Died:Edward Mark Best, 41 or 42, New Zealand police officer (mortally wounded by Stanley Graham on October 8);[19]Charles Treat, 81, American major general
German forces launched an attack against the Soviet garrison on the island of Hiiumaa in the Baltic Sea. Despite being outnumbered and lacking in ammunition, the garrison would hold out for six days.[20]
Ordnungspolizei Chief Kurt Daluege signed the first order for the deportation of Berlin's Jews to the occupied territories of the east.[21]
The United States and Argentina signed a trade agreement lowering duties on many imports to Argentina from the United States. The Americans were eager to get the deal signed in order to keep Argentina out of the economic sphere of the Axis.[4][22]
SS-Obergruppenführer and Waffen-SS General Paul Hausser was wounded in action on the Eastern Front and lost the sight in his right eye. He would subsequently wear a black eyepatch that would become his trademark.[24][25]
The Jewish population of Lubny and neighbouring towns were ordered to report for relocation. The 1,900 Jews who obeyed the order were taken to an antitank trench outside the town and shot.[28]
The British corvette HMS Gladiolus was lost while escorting convoy SC 48. The cause of its loss is unknown.
Due to pressure from the Germans, Philippe Pétain announced that he had condemned Blum, Daladier and Gamelin to life imprisonment, long before their trial could even begin. Pétain justified the action under Constitutional Act No. 7 dated January 27, 1941, even though it was illegal to apply it retroactively.[16]
Kearny incident: the American destroyer USS Kearny, dispatched to defend Allied convoy SC 48 from a German wolfpack, was hit by a torpedo from the German submarine U-568.
Stalin made Zhukov the commander of all military forces in the Moscow area.[31]
The British gunboat HMS Gnat was torpedoed and damaged off Bardia by German submarine U-79. The Gnat would be towed and beached at Alexandria and be used as an anti-aircraft platform for the rest of the war.
The Kragujevac massacre occurs in Yugoslavia, 2,778–2,794 people are killed by the German army.
The German government banned the emigration of Jews.[12]
The British destroyer HMS Cossack was torpedoed and damaged in the Atlantic Ocean by the German submarine U-563. The Cossack tried to return to Gibraltar for repairs but would sink in bad weather four days later.[34]
President Roosevelt released a formal statement condemning reprisal executions carried out by the Nazis in occupied Europe. "The practice of executing scores of innocent hostages in reprisal for isolated attacks on Germans in countries temporarily under the Nazi heel revolts a world already inured to suffering brutality," the statement read.[36]
The British minelayer Latona was bombed and sunk by the Luftwaffe off Tobruk.
Armament officials told the American automobile industry that effective December 15, scarce materials such as chrome, nickel and aluminum could no longer be used for purely decorative aspects of cars.[37]
Died:Masha Bruskina, 17, Belarusian-Jewish resistance fighter (hanged); Arkady Gaidar, 37, Russian writer (killed in action on the Eastern Front); Victor Schertzinger, 53, American composer and filmmaker
President Roosevelt made an address on Navy Day declaring that "America has been attacked," referring to the Kearny incident ten days earlier. "I say that we do not propose to take this lying down. Our determination not to take it lying down has been expressed in the orders to the American Navy to shoot on sight. Those orders stand." The president also said that "when we have helped to end the curse of Hitlerism we shall help to establish a new peace which will give to decent people everywhere a better chance to live and prosper in security and in freedom and in faith. Each day that passes we are producing and providing more and more arms for the men who are fighting on actual battle-fronts. That is our primary task."[39]
While escorting Allied convoy HX 156 in the North Atlantic, the American destroyer USS Reuben James was sunk by the German submarine U-552 with the loss of 115 of 159 crew.
Nazi Germany announced heavy taxation increases for tobacco, spirits and champagne effective Monday. State Secretary of the Finance Ministry Fritz Reinhardt claimed that the primary aim of the new taxes was to reduce consumption.[43]
^ abcdeKirchubel, Robert (2013). Operation Barbarossa: The German Invasion of Soviet Russia. Botley, Oxfordshire: Osprey Publishing. p. 11. ISBN978-1-78200-408-0.
^Corvaja, Santi (2008). Hitler & Mussolini: The Secret Meetings. New York: Enigma Books. p. 199. ISBN978-1-929631-42-1.
^Mitcham, Samuel W. Jr. (2007). German Order of Battle: Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS divisions in WWII. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN978-0-8117-3438-7.