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• Carrier USS Enterprise completed launching F4F Wildcat fighters of the US Marine Corps for Wake Island and set sail for Hawaii Islands, scheduling to arrive on 6 Dec 1941. ww2dbase [Enterprise | CPC]
• Schedule of Pearl Harbor attack was transmitted to the Japanese submarine fleet along with the latest intelligence and weather information. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | Detailed Timetable | CPC]
• Japanese invasion fleets departed from various locations for their destinations in Malaya and Thailand. Later this day, American PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported that the 30 Japanese transports detected on the previous day in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina were no longer there. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | CPC]
• 12 F4F-3 fighters of US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 arrived at Wake Island, delivered by USS Enterprise; they began daily patrols immediately. Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft scouted Wake Island undetected. ww2dbase [Battle of Wake Island | CPC]
• On the Eastern Front of the European War, temperature dropped to -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-37 degrees Celsius). In this cold weather, Günther von Kluge ordered German Army Group Center to fall to defensive positions. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | TH]
• American river gunboats Luzon and Oahu, submarine rescue vessel Pigeon, and minesweeper Finch reached Manila, Philippine Islands from China. ww2dbase [CPC]
• American river gunboat Mindanao set sail from Hong Kong for Manila, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Keith Park was made a companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. ww2dbase [Keith Park | CPC]
• USS Arizona conducted a night gunnery exercise. ww2dbase [Arizona | CPC]
• Destroyer Yuzuki departed Haha Jima, Japan with Destroyer Division 23, escorting the invasion fleet for Guam, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• Curtiss-Wright Corporation opened a new factory complex in Columbus, Ohio, United States. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British 4th Armoured Brigade moved east to counter the Axis advance toward Bardia, Libya and Sollum, Egypt. Erwin Rommel responded by pulling back the advances toward Bardia and Sollum for a concentrated attack toward Tobruk. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Perseus sank Italian freighter Eridano 6 miles off Lefkada, Greece. ww2dbase [CPC]

• American river gunboats Wake and Tutuila remained near Shanghai and Chongqing, respectively, to maintain communications with American diplomatic offices in China. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Adolf Eichmann appointed Jacob Edelstein, originally from Prague, the chairperson of the Council of Jewish Elders of Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. ww2dbase [Adolf Eichmann | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• Kamikaze departed Ominato Guard District, Aomori Prefecture, Japan for patrol duties in the Hokkaido-Kurile Islands area. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Ominato, Aomori | CPC]

• Kamoi arrived at Majuro, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Majuro | CPC]

• At an event at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Joseph Stalin noted to Aleksandr Vasilevsky his surprise that Vasilevsky only had a single Order of the Red Star and a medal on Vasilevsky's uniform; the Soviet leader had expected the general to be better decorated. ww2dbase [Kremlin and Red Square | Aleksandr Vasilevsky | Moscow | CPC]

4 Dec 1941 Interactive Map