World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 14 Dec 1941

• British 4th Armored Brigade moved south toward Bir Halegh el Eleba, Libya in a plan to outflank Axis forces on the Gazala Line. On the same day, the Polish Independent Brigade was deployed under a New Zealand division in Libya. ww2dbase [Operation Crusader | CPC]
• US Congress authorized the US Navy to keep enlisted men in service past their enlistment expiration. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US Navy Task Force 11 with USS Lexington, three cruisers, and nine destroyers set sail for the Marshall Islands, acting as decoy in attempt to lure Japanese naval vessels out of the Wake Island area. ww2dbase [Lexington (Lexington-class) | CPC]
• Franz Halder and Günther von Kluge gave permission for a limited withdrawal for troops of the Army Group Center (Armeegruppe Mitte) in the Moscow area to the west of the Oka river, without Hitler's approval. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | CPC]
• Japanese submarine shelled Kahului and Maui, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | Detailed Timetable | CPC]
• USS Seawolf fired a torpedo at Japanese seaplane carrier Sanyo Maru off Aparri, Philippine Islands; the torpedo hit its target but failed to detonate. ww2dbase [Seawolf | CPC]
• Hiroshi Oshima was awarded the German medal Order of the German Eagle 1st Class. ww2dbase [Hiroshi Oshima | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Urge attacked Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto in the Strait of Messina between southern Italy and the island of Sicily; the heavy damage caused by this torpedo attack would put the battleship out of action for several months. ww2dbase [Vittorio Veneto | CPC]
• Italian submarine Dagabur attacked British cruiser HMS Galatea while en route to Alexandria, Egypt at 1955 hours, causing no damage. Just before midnight, German submarine U-557 conducted a second attack on HMS Galatea, sinking her 35 miles west of Alexandria. 470 were killed in the sinking and 154 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British authorities at Hong Kong refused the Japanese demand for surrender. ww2dbase [Battle of Hong Kong | CPC]
• In the Philippine Islands, three US B-17 bombers took off from the Del Monte airfield on Mindanao to attack the Japanese beachhead at Legaspi, Luzon. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
• 10 Japanese troop transports departed Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina, with the Borneo invasion force on board. The convoy was escorted by 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Borneo | CPC]
• A battalion from the Japanese 143rd Infantry Regiment occupied Victoria Point, Burma on the Kra River near the Thai-Burmese border. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• Thai Prime Minister Plaek Pibunsongkhram signed a secret agreement with Japan which formally allowed Japanese troops to operate in Thailand. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Yokohama, Kanagawa | CPC]

• German pilot Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster was strafed by a British fighter while he was descending in a parachute. Some thought the British pilot might had been Clive Caldwell. ww2dbase [Clive Caldwell | CPC]

• At 1500 hours, Japanese troops overran Allied defenses near Gurun, British Malaya but failed to reach the town. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Gurun, Kedah | AC]

• Cruiser USS Northampton and destroyer USS Craven are damaged due to heavy seas during an attempted refueling north of Oahu, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Northampton | DS]
• Six days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, two separate US submarine attacks were crippled by two different flaws in the Mark XIV torpedo. The USS Seawolf on the north shore of Luzon in the Philippines fired torpedoes that ran too deep and USS Sargo off the coast of Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina (Vietnam) experienced one torpedo that exploded prematurely. ww2dbase [Sargo | Seawolf | Mark XIV | Babuyan Channel, Luzon Strait | DS]

• Naka arrived at Mako, Pescadores islands. ww2dbase [Mako Guard District | Naka | Mako, Hoko | CPC]

• The 2nd Marine Brigade was created by the US 2nd Marine Division at Camp Elliott, California, United States for the task of defending American Samoa. ww2dbase [California | AC]

• Japanese reconnaissance flying boats from Wotje and Roi, Marshall Islands bombed Wake Island in a pre-dawn raid, damaging Camp One facilities, the airstrip, and a fighter; Wake Atoll's aircraft was now operating on only one airstrip. After daybreak, more Japanese land-based attack aircraft struck the atoll. ww2dbase [Battle of Wake Island | Wake | CPC]

14 Dec 1941 Interactive Map