6 December 1941
Russia : Seven Soviet armies under command of General Georgi Zhukov launched a counteroffensive in the Moscow region in Russia at 0600 hours. Georg Hans Reinhardt ordered his 3rd Panzer Army to fall back to Klin, while Heinz Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Army held the areas near Tula south of Moscow. Field Marshal Fedor von Bock had not yet realized that he was now facing an all-out Soviet counteroffensive. Many Russian counter attacks are still made frontally though causing heavy casaulties among Red Army troops and General Zhukov had to issue outflanking tactics.
Leningrad , USSR : The log road between Zabor’ye and Lake Ladoga near Leningrad, Russia was completed. Thousands of civilians, pressed into service as forced laborers, had died during the construction of this road in the past month. This opened another way to bring supplies into the besieged city.
Pacific Ocean : Japanese carrier fleet reached the rendezvous point at 34 degrees north, 158 degrees west, and then began a high speed approach for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. At the same time, the 30 Japanese submarines in the Hawaii area began to tighten the ring around the islands; I-74 spotted USS Lexington, but no action was taken.
At Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel told a reporter from the news agency Christian Science Monitor that the chance of a war in the Pacific Ocean involving the United States was slim. Nearby, Vice Admiral William Pye told Kimmel (via intelligence officer Edwin Layton) that war with Japan was inevitable, although Pearl Harbor was not a likely target, thus there was no need to send the battleships out to sea as a precaution. Finally, at Honolulu, Hawaii, Consul-General Nagao Kita sent a cable to Japan that he observed no barrage balloons over Pearl Harbor and he did not believe there were torpedo nets around the battleships.
USS Enterprise and her task group (USS Enterprise, USS Northampton, USS Chester, USS Salt Lake City, USS Balch, USS Maury, USS Craven, USS Gridley, USS McCall, USS Dunlap, USS Benham, USS Fanning, USS Ellet) encountered heavy weather which delayed the refueling operation for destroyers and delayed the group’s arrival at Pearl Harbor.
Washington , USA : US President Roosevelt sent a personal message to Emperor Showa, attempting to calm situation in Indochina.
On the morning of Saturday 6 December, a newly formed Government subcommittee met in Washington. Given the code name ‘S-1’, its task was to establish, within the following six months, if an atomic bomb could be produced in the United States and, if so, when and at what cost.
Shortly after midday, in the Navy’s Cryptographic Department, also in Washington, a member of the staff, Mrs Dorothy Edgers, translated a secret diplomatic message, sent from Tokyo four days earlier to Consul-General Kita in Honolulu, by the ‘Magic’ code which the Americans had long ago broken, telling Kita that, from that time on, he must send regular reports of all ship movements, berthing positions and torpedo netting at Pearl Harbour. Fully alarmed, Mrs Edgers began translating other intercepts, all of which were in similar vein. Then, at three o’clock that afternoon, she presented her translation to the Chief of the Translation Department, Lieutenant Commander Alvin Kramer. After a few minor points of criticism of her translations, Kramer told her: ‘We’ll get back to this on Monday’.
Tokyo , Japan : Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo ordered Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima to continue to press Germany to formally agree to declare war on the United States should Japan and US enter a state of war. Oshima was also ordered to avoid any German demands on a Japanese-Soviet war.
Tobruk , Libya : Durham Light Infantry battalion and 4th Border Regiment from 70th British Infantry Division attacked Axis held positions Points 157 and 162 south of Tobruk to strenghen British hold at El Duda and El Adam escarpments. British infantry with Matilda tank support from Royal Tank Regt. , penetrated Italian Pavia division position on Point 157 in a well executed night attack. Fighting through the position – the Italian artillerymen fought valiantly – the CO’s party came across a bunker. ‘Sergeant Blenkinsop was with me,’ Lt. Colonel Arderne was later to write, ‘he had just seen his company commander [Major Adrian Keith] killed [by an Italian grenade] and was out for blood. Down he went [into the bunker] and after a good deal of noise there was silence and out came Blenkinsop with three prisoners.’ ‘Well?’ Arderne asked. Blenkinsop looked a bit sheepish and replied, ‘They offered me chocolates, sir, and I hadn’t the heart to kill them.’ The action was over by 2.30 a.m., Point 157 falling for the loss of thirty-eight Durham casualties. 67 Italians were killed. Four 75-millimetre Italian artillery pieces, some anti-tank and machine guns, together with five officers and 125 Italians, were captured. One Italian officer was taken prisoner attempting to escape on a motorcycle on the back of which was strapped a large suitcase.
This was very nearly the final action of the siege of Tobruk , meanwhile the 4th Borders occupied Point 157 against no opposition. At 7 a.m. on 6 December Rommel , realising Tobruk garrison becoming more agressive each day , ordered German-Italian Panzer Group to withdraw from Tobruk perimeter to the north-west to cover the withdrawal of all German and Italian forces from Cyrenaica. All Axis garrisons including Italian Savona division and Bach Battlegroup besieged in Bardia , Sollum and Halfaya Pass were abandoned , under final orders to them from Romnel to keep the enemy busy in siege operations as long as possible.
Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-131 torpedoed and sank British cargo ship Scottish Trader with 6 torpedoes south of Iceland, killing all 43 aboard.
North Sea : British cargo ship Grenland struck a mine and sank.
Mediterranean Sea : Royal Navy submarine HMS Perseus struck an Italian mine while recharging her batteries on the surface 2 miles off Kefalonia, Greece. She sank, killing 60.
Black Sea : Soviet submarine ShCh-204 was sunk by Bulgarian aircraft in the Black Sea 24 miles south of Varna, Bulgaria.
Formoza (Taiwan) : 27 Japanese troop transports departed from Taiwan, sailing for the Philippine Islands; 400 Japanese pilots stationed at Taiwan were briefed of the attacks to be commenced on the next day.