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History on the 8th of December 1941

History
Date Text
08 Dec 1941 WW2 The rebuilding of the interior of Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru began. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 I-68 traveled to the entrance of Pearl Harbor to rescue any surviving midget submarine crews. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 RAF Hudson aircraft bombed Japanese invasion shipping off Kota Bharu, British Malaya, setting cargo ship Awajisan Maru afire. The Japanese 143rd Infantry Regiment of 55th Division (under command of 25th Army) landed on four beaches in southern Thailand; local Thai forces, unaware of their government's agreement to allow free passage to the Burma border, put up a fierce resistance and killed 79 Japanese soldiers. Japanese aircraft began arriving at Songkla in southern Thailand to prepare for air raids against targets in British Malaya. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet offensive broke through German Armeegruppe Mitte near Moscow, Russia, cutting the Klin-Kalinin road. German units began making hasty withdrawals to prevent encirclement, abandoning large numbers of immobilized equipment in the process. Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive 39 which called for German troops to hold their ground. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-123 mined Balabac Strait in Philippine waters while I-124 mined the entrance to Manila Bay. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Striking Force of the US Navy Asiatic Fleet departed from Iloilo, Philippine Islands for Makassar Strait. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese naval aircraft from carrier Ryujo attacked seaplane tender USS William B. Preston in Davao Gulf; the ship escaped in tact, but two of the PBY Catalina flying boats she was tending were destroyed. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese forces invaded the British colony of Hong Kong. British and Canadian garrison at Hong Kong was hopelessly outnumbered and beyond reach of any Allied help. Within less than two days the defenders would be forced to retreat to Hong Kong island itself. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese invasion fleet for Wake Island departed from Kwajalein while aircraft of the Japanese Navy 24th Air Flotilla (based at Roi-Namur, Kwajalein) attacked Camp One, Camp Two, and the airstrip on Wake; Japanese aircraft destroyed seven of the Eight F4F-3 fighters were destroyed as well as a 25,000-gallon capacity aviation gas tank. Meanwhile, Pan American Airways aircraft evacuated Caucasians from Wake Island, leaving airline staff of Chamorro ethnicity behind. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 In the Mariana Islands, Japanese land-based aircraft from Saipan attacked Guam, damaging various facilities and sinking minesweeper USS Penguin in Apra Harbor (1 killed, 60 wounded). 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki conducted anti-submarine operations in the Mariana Islands area. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue gave the order to the Japanese Navy Fourth Fleet at Truk, Caroline Islands to began executing the plans to capture Wake, Guam (Mariana Islands), Makin (Gilbert Islands), Tarawa (Gilbert Islands), and other islands and atolls in the Pacific Ocean. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the German Navy to begin attacking American shipping. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Galeazzo Ciano called Joachim von Ribbentrop to discuss the American entry into the war; Ciano later noted that Ribbentrop was happy with this latest development. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British minesweeping trawlers HMT Milford Earl (5 killed) and HMT Phineas Beard off the east coast of Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho passed through the Bungo Strait between Kyushu and Shikoku, Japan. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Costa Rica, Dominica, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared war on Japan. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 The fourth Australian Hudson medium bomber arrived at Rabaul, Bismarck Islands. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Canada declared war on Japan. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 In China, Colonel William W. Ashurst surrendered the US Marine Corps detachments in Tianjin, Beiping, Qinhuangdao (Camp Holcomb), and the American embassy to the Japanese. In Shanghai, Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops captured US Navy river gunboat Wake before the gunboat's crew could scuttle her. US passenger liner President Harrison, en route to northern China to evacuate US Marines, was captured by the Japanese at Sha Wai Shan, China; she was later refloated and pressed into service as Kakko Maru and later Kachidoki Maru. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 China, having already been engaged in war with Japan since Jul 1937, formally declared war on Japan and Germany. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 While at Tarakan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies, USS Marblehead received the alert that Japan had started hostilities. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese ambassador in Germany Hiroshi Oshima sent a note to Joachim von Ribbentrop, requesting Germany to declare war on the United States. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Helena entered dry dock at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-6 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a P-40 fighter, his 30th kill, over El Adem, Libya at 0845 hours. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Tenryu departed Roi-Namur, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet land-based aircraft from Taiwan attacked US Army airfields on Luzon island, Philippine Islands as well as shipping in Manila Bay; at the latter location, American freighter Capillo was abandoned after receiving heavy damage. Japanese Army aircraft joined in on the attack on this date also, striking Baguio and Tuguegarao at 0930 hours. North of Luzon, a Japanese force landed on Batan Island and established an air base. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Saburo Sakai of Japanese Navy Tainan Air Group, flying an A6M Zero fighter, attacked Clark Field in the Philippine Islands; he shot down one P-40 Warhawk fighter. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Chelmno Concentration Camp near Lodz, Poland began gassings; it was the first large camp established for the purpose of mass exterminations. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 United Kingdom declared war on Japan. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 The French government-in-exile in Britain declared war on Japan. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 The Dutch government-in-exile in Britain declared war on Japan. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 United States Congress declared war on Japan after Franklin Roosevelt's "a date which will live in infamy" speech. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Saratoga departed San Diego, California for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Runner was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States. 
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08 Dec 1941 WW2 Edward Murrow and his wife Janet had dinner at the White House in Washington DC, United States with Eleanor Roosevelt. The dinner was arranged prior to the Japanese attack, and Murrow had expected the invitation to be canceled, but surprisingly Franklin Roosevelt insisted that the plans be kept; although Roosevelt was too busy to join them at the meal, he would make sure to meet with Murrow for some time late in the evening. 
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