December 1971

The following events occurred in December 1971:

December 1, 1971 (Wednesday)

• Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh.
• The French submarine Redoutable (S611) is commissioned, the first SNLE (Sous-marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins, "Device-Launching Nuclear Submarine").
• The National Industrial Relations Court is established in the UK.
• The municipality of Buchenbach is formed by the merger of the former political entities of Buchenbach and Falkensteig.
• Belgian singing duo Nicole & Hugo are married at Wemmel.
• Born: Jason Keng-Kwin Chan, Malaysian-Australian actor, in Kuala Lumpur

December 2, 1971 (Thursday)

• The United Arab Emirates is founded by the seven Trucial Sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
• The Bangladesh Air Force, composed of Bengali pilots and technicians defecting from the Pakistan Air Force, launches attacks on depots and communication lines, flying light aircraft donated by India.
• The Mars 3 Russian Spacecraft Lands on Mars.

December 3, 1971 (Friday)

• The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks nine Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
• The Indian navy destroyer INS Rajput sinks Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi (former USS Diablo).^[1]
• Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu is installed as eighth monarch of the Zulus at a traditional ceremony at Nongoma, attended by 20,000 people.
• Krzysztof Penderecki's De Natura Sonoris No 2 is premièred at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

December 4, 1971 (Saturday)

• Beginning of the Battle of Basantar between India and Pakistan.
• The Montreux Casino burns down during a Frank Zappa concert. The event is memorialized in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water". The casino is rebuilt in 1975.
• The McGurk's Bar bombing in Belfast kills 15.

December 5, 1971 (Sunday)

• The first event in the 1972 Alpine Skiing World Cup is held in St Moritz.

December 6, 1971 (Monday)

• The first Auto Train operates under the control of the Auto-Train Corporation in the US.
• Opening of the 1971 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games in Kuala Lumpur
• Born: Richard Krajicek, Dutch tennis player, in Muiderberg
• Died: Mathilde Kschessinska, 99, Russian ballerina

December 7, 1971 (Tuesday)

• Recovered: Shot to death on November 7, the bodies of John List's mother, wife, and three children are discovered in their Westfield, NJ, mansion.
• Died: Fernando Quiroga y Palacios, 71, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela

December 8, 1971 (Wednesday)

• U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
• In Northern Ireland, Sean Russell, an off-duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, is shot dead by members of the Irish Republican Army at his home in Belfast, thus becoming the first Catholic member of the UDR to be killed in the conflict.
• Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor sinks Indian frigate INS Khukri

December 9, 1971 (Thursday)

• The Indian Air Force mounts its Meghna Heli Bridge operation to airlift troops of IV Corps of the Indian Army from Brahmanbaria to Raipura and Narsingdi over the River Meghna.
• In a television interview, Bruce Lee says that both Paramount and Warner Brothers want him "to be in a modernized type of a thing, and they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the Western".^[2]
• Died: Ralph Bunche, 68, American political scientist and Nobel laureate; Sergey Konenkov, 97, Russian sculptor; Iftikhar Janjua, Pakistani general (killed when his OH-13S (Sioux) helicopter was attacked by Indian forces).

December 10, 1971 (Friday)

• The John Sinclair Freedom Rally is held at the University of Michigan. Performers include John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

December 11, 1971 (Saturday)

• The 2nd Parachute Battalion Group of the Indian Army carries out the Tangail Airdrop, aiming to take Poongli Bridge on the Jamuna and cut off the retreat of the 93 Brigade of the Pakistani Army.
• Nihat Erim forms the new government of Turkey (34th government, Nihat Erim had previously served twice as prime minister).
• The Libertarian Party (United States) is established.

December 12, 1971 (Sunday)

• Bob Goalby wins the Bahamas National Open, the last event in golf's 1971 PGA Tour.

December 13, 1971 (Monday)

• The closing ceremony of the 1971 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games takes place in Kuala Lumpur.
• The Socialist Party of Ireland is formed in Dublin. (It is dissolved in 1982.)
• Died: Ivan Hristov Bashev, Bulgarian politician and diplomat, 55 (died of exposure after being caught in a snowstorm while skiing on Mount Vitosha)

December 14, 1971 (Tuesday)

• Facing defeat, the Pakistan Army kills 1,500 Bangladeshi intellectuals.

December 15, 1971 (Wednesday)

• Born: Jeev Milkha Singh, Indian golfer, in Chandigarh
• Died: Paul Lévy, 85, French mathematician

December 16, 1971 (Thursday)

• Victory Day of Bangladesh: The Pakistan Army surrenders to the Joint Force, i.e. Mukti Bahini (Freedom Force) and Indian Armed Forces, ending the Bangladesh Liberation War.
• The United African National Council is set up in Rhodesia as a temporary non-political body under Bishop Abel Muzorewa to oppose the terms of the settlement between Ian Smith and UK Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home.
• David Bowie releases his fourth studio album, Hunky Dory.^[3]
• Died: Richard Mulcahy, 85, Irish politician

December 17, 1971 (Friday)

• The latest James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever, is released in the US and Denmark.
• Born: Chuck Evans, US basketball player, coach, and referee, in Atlanta, Georgia.^[4]

December 18, 1971 (Saturday)

• The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.
• The world's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, begins operations.
• Three members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), James Sheridan, John Bateson and Martin Lee, are killed when a bomb they are carrying explodes in Magherafelt, County Londonderry.^[5]#
• Born: Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player, in Barcelona

December 19, 1971 (Sunday)

• The Clube Atletico Mineiro wins the first Brazil Football Championship.
• Intelsat IV (F3) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean February 18, 1972.

December 20, 1971 (Monday)

• Died: Jorge Prat, 53, Chilean politician

December 21, 1971 (Tuesday)

• The United Nations Security Council passes Resolution 307, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan.^[6]
• The Crown of Gaya is designated a National Treasure of South Korea.

December 22, 1971 (Wednesday)

• Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is transferred from prison to house arrest.^[7]
• KUAC-TV in Fairbanks, Alaska launches, becoming Alaska's First PBS Affiliate.

December 23, 1971 (Thursday)

• The Ordonnance réglant l'utilisation du nom «Suisse» pour les montres defines a Swiss watch and the circumstances under which a watch movement may be considered Swiss made.^[8]
• Born: Corey Haim, Canadian actor, in Toronto (d. 2010); Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English socialite, in Hampshire

December 24, 1971 (Friday)

• LANSA Flight 508 crashes in a thunderstorm en route from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru, killing 90 of the 91 people aboard. A 17-year-old girl, Juliane Koepcke, survives, falling into the Amazon rainforest strapped to her seat and walking through the jungle for 10 days until rescued by local lumbermen.^[9][10] Those killed in the crash include Juliane's mother, noted ornithologist Maria Koepcke.
• Giovanni Leone is elected President of the Italian Republic.
• Cyclone Althea hits Townsville, Queensland, Australia, and surrounding islands, killing three people.
• Born: Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer, in San Juan

December 25, 1971 (Saturday)

• Fire at a 22-storey hotel in Seoul, South Korea, kills 158 people.
• In the longest game in NFL history, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
• The FIBA Africa Championship 1972 football competition begins in Senegal.
• Born: Dido, English singer (as Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong), in London; and Justin Trudeau, Canadian politician who currently is the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

December 26, 1971 (Sunday)

• The 60th Australian Open tennis tournament opens in Melbourne.
• The first reported sighting of the so-called Nullarbor Nymph; the story travels around the world, but turns out to be a hoax.
• Born: Jared Leto, American actor and musician, in Bossier City, Louisiana

December 27, 1971 (Monday)

• A Soyuz-M rocket is launched by the Soviet Union, the first to carry the Zenit 4 MT satellite.
• Born: Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian actor (killed in accident 2002)

December 28, 1971 (Tuesday)

• In the final of the 1971 Tangerine Bowl, held in Orlando, Florida, the Toledo Rockets of the Mid-American Conference defeat the Richmond Spiders of the Southern Conference 28–3.
• The Dæmons became the very first Doctor Who serial to be rebroadcast by the BBC complete, in omnibus form. The broadcast attracted 10.5 million viewers, the show's highest rating since 1965.

December 29, 1971 (Wednesday)

• The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in Malta.
• Died: John Marshall Harlan II, 72, American lawyer, Justice of the Supreme Court

December 30, 1971 (Thursday)

• The Getxo boat club in the Basque region of Spain is attacked by an ETA bomb, the second of three such attacks on the same club over the years.
• Born: Paras, Crown Prince of Nepal, in Kathmandu
• Died: Vikram Sarabhai, 52, Indian physicist and space scientist

December 31, 1971 (Friday)

• Opening of the Turgenevskaya station on the Moscow Metro.
• U Thant completes his 11-year tenure as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• Died: Pete Duel, 31, American actor, shoots himself at his home in Glen Green, Hollywood.;^[11] Marin Sais, 81, American silent film actress.

References