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Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Southeast Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941
Malaya, 1941: Topography-Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-January 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Operations of the Japanese First Air Fleet, 7 December 1941-12 March 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – American Carrier Operations, 7 December 1941-18 April 1942
Micronesia, Melanesia and New Guinea: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive-Japanese Fourth Fleet and South Seas Detachment Operations, December 1941-April 1942
Luzon, P.I., 1941: Centrifugal Offensive, 10 December 1941-6 May 1942-Fourteenth Army Operations on Luzon
Netherlands East Indies, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-April 1942, Sixteenth Army and Southern Force (Navy) Operations
Southern Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive (and Continued Operations), January-May 1942
North Africa, Auchinleck’s Offensive, 18 November-31 December 1941
Eastern Europe, 1941: Soviet Winter Offensive – Operations, 6 December 1941-7 May 1942
The Mediterranean Basin

December 21 - 30, 1941:

"More than 40,000 Jews are murdered at Bogdanovka in the Transnistria region of Romania."

"While some Jews were being burned alive at Bogdanovca, Romania, Romanian death squads took others into the forest to be executed. Made to undress completely in the bitter cold of December, men, women, and children were forced to kneel on the edge of a precipice.
They were then shot, with their bodies falling into the valley below. This skull with its gaping hole is testimony to these forest executions, in which over 40,000 died by the end of December."

December 22, 1941:

"The United States passes amendments to the Selective Service Act, making men ages 20 to 44 eligible for military service."

"Half-clad Jewish women and a young girl about to be executed on the beach at Liepaja, Latvia, are forced to pose for a final photograph during a mid-December murder spree that took the lives of at least 2700 Jews.
The executions were carried out by a Latvian SD guard platoon and the 21st Latvian Police Battalion, as well as men of the Schutzpolizei (German border police) under the supervision of Fritz Dietrich, a local SS commander.
Dietrich saw to it that the executions were filmed to provide evidence that the primary perpetrators were Latvians."

"Battleship Row" at about 0800 on 7 December, seen from a Japanese aircraft. Ships are, from lower left to right: Nevada (BB-36) with flag raised at stern; Arizona (BB-39) with Vestal (AR-4) outboard; Tennessee (BB-43) with West Virginia (BB-48) outboard; Maryland (BB-46) with Oklahoma (BB-37) outboard; Neosho (AO-23) and California (BB-44).

There is a theory advanced by the History Channel or something like it that what has long been assumed to be torpedo drop splashes center-left may be propeller spray from a Japanese midget sub recoiling from the combination of launching it's torpedoes and buffeting by shock waves from prior torpedo hits (radiating wave). No aircraft is visible in the photo to account for a drop splash and the torpedoes have either not yet detonated or they were duds. there also appears to be a surprising lack of AA fire given the amount of damage evident in the photo.

The battleship Tennessee was 625 ft from stem to stern which makes those splashes about 1,000 - 1,200 yards away. The torpedo run tracks are pretty long and the airplanes that dropped them could have already passed over the battleships and moved out of the field of view to the right.

Hard to say. I suspect two aircraft dropped their torpedoes whose run tracks crossed on their way into BBS Tennessee.

White smoke in the distance is from Hickam Field. Grey smoke in the center middle distance is from the torpedoed USS Helena (CL-50), at the Navy Yard's 1010 dock.

Notice the large fuel storage tanks unharmed.

Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, commanding the Fourteenth Army lands troops on the northern and southern ends of Luzon in the Philippines.
The Burns-Philip liners Macdhui and Neptuna begin to embark passengers at Rabaul in an effort to evacuate some of the civilian populous from the island.
The Duke of York with Churchill aboard makes port at Hampton Roads delivering Churchill to the United States.
The last Wildcats of VMF-211 on Wake Island are shot down after 14 days of fighting.
Vice Admiral William S. Pye, temporary commander of the Pacific Fleet until Admiral Nimitz could arrive to take command, receives word that the Japanese have landed on Wake Island (December 23rd at Wake). After receiving a report from Commander Cunningham reporting: "The Enemy is on the Island. The Issue is in Doubt." This was enough for Pye to recall the Fleet led by Admiral Fletcher that was only 450 miles from the island in an attempt to relieve it.

BTW, I made post #8 in response to the page 5 article claiming the Arizona was reportedly torpedoed. at the end of the article is mention that midget subs entered Pearl but caused no damage. That's why I addressed the theory that what had always been assumed to be drop splashes in the posted Japanese photo may have been propeller spray from a lurching midget sub that just fired at the Tennessee.