On this day during W.W. 2

7 December 1941
Pearl Harbor was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. Of the eight U.S. Navy battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship (USS Utah), and one minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.
The Japanese third wave was cancelled due to caution and the repair facilities, shipyard, fleet refueling station, submarines and their docks, and logistics areas would be untouched for the most part. This would allow the US Navy to bounce back very quickly from this sneak attack.
The Cry “Remember Pearl Harbor” begins to be heard from shore to shore and the buildup American had started now is expedited with an instant resolve.
The United States is officially at War.

Nakajima B5N2 attack bomber taking off from the Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier ‘Akagi’, on the second attack wave on Pearl Harbor on Sunday 7 December 1941

Japanese troops attacking Hong Kong from Shenzhen, China. 8th December 1941

@captainwalker Flag woulda made a nice target for a drone strike. Oh well

10 December 1941:
Two SBD aircraft from USS Enterprise CV-6 (The Big E) attack and sink the Japanese submarine I-70 north of Hawaiian Islands. A participant in the Pearl Harbor attack, I-70 is the first major Japanese combatant ship sunk during World War II.
I-70 was part of a group of submarines sent to patrol off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That day, it failed to answer a radio call. The last radio received from the submarine was on December 9, 1941 when it reported seeing USS Enterprise near Naval Station Pearl Harbor.
On December 10, 1941, it was sighted by a Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless aircraft from USS Enterprise from VS-6 after 6:00 AM. The aircraft scored a near-miss with a 1,000-pound bomb which damaged its hull and prevented it from diving. Later that day, another SBD of VS-6 saw the damaged submarine. Although the submarine attempted to maneuver and was even able to fire its 13 mm deck machine gun, the SBD was able to climb to 5,000 feet and hit the ship amidships with a bomb, blowing several gunners overboard. The sub stopped and then disappeared underwater about 45 seconds later.
The famous BIG E strikes back first…
Image: US Navy photo. Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless scout bombers, of Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6). Composite photograph of 9 planes in flight, with USS Enterprise (CV-6) and a plane guard destroyer below. The original photo is dated 27 October 1941. Note differences in ocean surface wave patterns between the upper and lower images, skillfully blended to combine the two photographs. (Nasvource)

USS Nevada BB-36 beached near Hospital point in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack - December 13, 1941 - 80 years ago today

LIFE Magazine Archives - Bob Landry Photographer

Pictures taken on Hospital point in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack - December 13, 1941 - 80 years ago today

LIFE Magazine Archives - Bob Landry Photographer

US forces in Malmedy Belgium during the opening days of the German Offensive during the Battle of the Bulge - December 1944

LIFE Magazine Archives - John Florea Photographer

18 December 1944
Adm. Halsey’s 3rd Fleet encounters a typhoon northeast of Samar. Destroyers USS Hull (DD 350), USS Spence (DD 512), and USS Monaghan (DD 354) capsized and went down with practically all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage.
Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured.
USS Massachusetts BB-59 endured the “Halsey Typhoon” dealing with winds up to 120 MPH and near 60 foot tall waves!

@captainwalker yea pretty brutal. Not much said about it in most USA WWII books

@captainwalker My grandfather was in the US 2nd ID in the Ardennes on day one of the Bulge.

December 21 1944
Private Charles Preston, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, brushes snow from a 30-caliber machine gun mounted on his jeep.
His unit is moving against the German counterattack in the Ardennes during the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ which is barely a week old.

(Image and description courtesy of the Truman Presidential Museum and Library)

(Colourised by RJM)

Lighted MERRY XMAS sign behind 65-ft. Christmas tree lit up by Italian bulbs strung up by Special Services & the 53rd Signal Battalion at the top of Radicosa Pass at 2500 ft. elevation, note direction signs to Bologna as MP stands guard, in the Apennine Mountains Italy - December 1944

LIFE Magazine Archives - Margaret Bourke-White Photographer

@captainwalker I can’t read the name of the town to the right . Can anyone else ?

@witt I think it is Sessonoro…maybe an American spelling for Sassinoro

@captainwalker thanks , but can’t be that town as that is at least 250 miles south, near Naples . Oh well! Doesn’t matter .

Santa Claus arrives in Guadalcanal on a requisitioned Nissan sedan as his sleigh - December 1942

LIFE Magazine Archives - Ralph Morse Photographer