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• Weather data for 5 Dec 1941

• U-175 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Japanese invasion fleet boarded a Norwegian freighter and destroyed her radio. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Japanese submarines surrounded Hawaii Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Japan announced that recent troop movements in Indochina were merely precautionary. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Germans canceled Operation Typhoon on this date during which the lowest temperature dropped to -36 degrees Fahrenheit (-38 degrees Celsius). Meanwhile, Soviet General Zhukov launched Konev's Kalinin Front against German forces northwest of Moscow, Russia at 0300 hours, meeting strong resistance. From Germany, Adolf Hitler ordered the transfer of the German 2nd Air Corps from Russia to the Mediterranean Sea region. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• British 4th Armoured Brigade remained in the Libyan-Egyptian border region despite observing the withdrawing of Axis troops, unsure of Erwin Rommel's intentions. Meanwhile, German tanks attacked positions held by the Indian 11th Brigade near Tobruk, Libya. On the same day, Rommel was advised that supply situation would turn badly soon, and he considered withdrawing to the Gazala Line. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Joachim von Ribbentrop gave Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Oshima a draft document which noted that Germany would declare war on the United States should Japan and the US enter a state of war. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Australian pilot Clive Caldwell, in a Tomahawk fighter, shot down five Stuka dive bombers in Libya. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Soviet General Meretskov launched a final assault on German positions in Tikhvin, Russia, which was 110 miles east of Leningrad. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The E15K floatplane took its maiden flight. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Germans captured the damaged and abandoned troop ship Iosif Stalin near the Estonian coast with 2,000 survivors still on board. ww2dbase [CPC]

• A suspected German Würzburg radar facility was detected at Bruneval in northern France. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Arizona arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and was moored at Ford Island. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]
• USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to join Task Force 12. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]
• USS Lexington departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Islands to ferry US Marine Corps SB2U Vindicator dive bombers to Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Irako was commissioned into Japanese Navy service with Captain Eisaku Tsuji in command. She departed Kobe, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Crown Prince Yi Un toured Keijo (now Seoul), Korea. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a British Hurricane fighter while escorting Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers south of Bir el Gubi Libya at 1525 hours. It was his 26th kill. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Japanese aircraft conducted reconnaissance flights over the coasts of Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Bauyrzhan Momyshuly was seriously wounded in combat in Moscow Oblast, Russia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

5 Dec 1941 Interactive Map