December

December 1 marks sharp turning points across the Second World War. In 1939, the Soviet Union installed a puppet Finnish government as Finland’s forces fought back, damaging the cruiser Kirov in the Winter War’s opening clashes. By 1940, the Italian submarine Argo torpedoed the Canadian destroyer Saguenay and the LRDG launched its first deep-desert raid. In 1941, Japan set December 7 as the date to attack Pearl Harbor while emergencies were declared in Malaya and Hong Kong. Coffee rationing began in the U.S. in 1942 as Australians captured Gona and the U.S. Navy fought the Battle of Tassafaronga. By 1943, Soviet forces isolated the Crimea, the Allies concluded the Tehran Conference, and the P-51 Mustang flew its first European mission. In 1944, Princess Elizabeth launched HMS Vanguard, and in 1945 Allied authorities arrested dozens of industrialists who had backed Hitler’s war machine. A day showing the global scale and shifting momentum of a world in conflict.