Search examples: Microsoft | 2015 | 2014/10 | 4.12 | 04/20 | 05/26/1980 | Galileo Galilei

History on the year of 1941

History
Date Text
01 Jan 1941 WW2 Negotiations began between Germany and Bulgaria to use Bulgarian territory as a staging area for Operation Marita, the German invasion of Greece. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 In Hitler's New Year's Order of the Day, he promised the Wehrmacht the completion of the "greatest victory in our history" on the Western Front. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom suppressed the Daily Worker, a Communist publication. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 British General O'Connor's Western Desert Force in Egypt was reorganized as the British 13th Corps. Meanwhile, in Libya, RAF aircraft continued to bomb the port of Bardia and the airfields at Tobruk, Derna, and Benina. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 In the Gibraltar Strait, British destroyers HMS Duncan, HMS Firedrake, HMS Foxhound, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Hero stopped a French convoy from Casablanca, French Morocco. The convoy was consisted of French ship Chantilly, French tankers Octane and Suroit, and Danish ship Sally Maersk. HMS Jaguar attacked Chantilly, causing 2 killed and 4 wounded, leading to the convoy's capture. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 The BBC aired the Brains Trust for the first time. This radio programme which had five men discussing such diverse subjects as philosophy, art and science was surprisingly a great success, frequently having a regular audience of ten million listeners. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 George Giffard was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. 
0
01 Jan 1941 WW2 Arthur Coningham was Mentioned in Despatches. 
0
02 Jan 1941 WW2 German leaders Himmler and Heydrich categorized concentration camps into three categories for different types of prisoners, but in practice this categorization had little actual effect. 
0
02 Jan 1941 WW2 German bombing severely damaged the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. 
0
02 Jan 1941 WW2 Before dawn, British artillery pieces moved into position near Bardia, Libya. During the day, British monitor HMS Terror and British gunboats HMS Ladybird and HMS Aphis bombarded Bardia; Italian aircraft responded without success. After sun down, Wellington bombers of No. 70 Squadron RAF and Bombay bombers of No. 216 Squadron RAF attacked Italian positions at Bardia. Troops of the Australian 6th Division began to prepare for the ground assault. 
0
02 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-65 sank British ship Nalgora 250 miles west of Port-Étienne, French West Africa at 2207 hours. As the military equipment destined for British troops in Egypt went down with the ship, 105 survivors took to lifeboats and would eventually make land at the Cape Verde Islands or rescue by other ships. This would be U-65's eighth and final sinking during the 49-day-long patrol. 
0
02 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 was detected by a convoy escort ship 300 miles northwest of Ireland, which attacked with depth charges. U-38 was slightly damaged but was able to continue with the patrol without needing immediate repairs. 
0
02 Jan 1941 WW2 In Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, a rescue party dug for six hours to rescue a six-year-old child trapped under the staircase where he had taken shelter from German bombing. Throughout the rescue the child was heard singing "God Save the King". He later explained that his father, a coal miner, had told him that when men were buried underground they kept singing to guide the rescuers, and this was the only tune that he knew the words. 
0
03 Jan 1941 WW2 Luftwaffe X Fliegerkorps arrived in Italy. 
0
03 Jan 1941 WW2 At 0530 hours, the British artillery barrage began, hitting Italian defensive positions at Bardia, Libya. At 0600 hours, Australian 6th Division began its assault from the west, clearing anti-tank obstacles for the 23 tanks of the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment that began attacking at 0650 hours. Between 0810 and 0855 hours, battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant, and HMS Barham, along with destroyers, monitors, and gunboats, bombarded Bardia with 244 15-inch shells, 270 6-inch shells, 250 4.5-inch shells, and many smaller caliber shells. The ground forces would penetrate 2 miles into the Italian lines. 
0
03 Jan 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Bristol, England, United Kingdom overnight for 12 hours, targeting the docks and the railway station. 149 were killed and 351 were wounded. The granary on Princes Wharf was destroyed, along with most of the 8,000 tons of grain inside. 
0
03 Jan 1941 WW2 The Corpo Aereo Italiano, which had been participating in the Battle of Britain alongside Luftwaffe units at Belgian bases, was recalled to Italy after suffering heavy losses. 
0
03 Jan 1941 WW2 The Italians launched a counter-offensive to the north and west of Korcë, Albania; two fresh Italian divisions were committed to the Klissoura sector on the Vlorë road to regain the initiative. 
0
03 Jan 1941 WW2 RAF bombers attacked Bremen and the Kiel Canal in Germany. The Kiel Canal Bridge suffered a direct hit and collapsed on Finnish ship Yrsa. 
0
04 Jan 1941 WW2 After an entire day of fighting, Allied troops reached Bardia, Libya at about 1600 hours, splitting the Italian defenders into two groups, shaking Italian morale, causing large numbers of Italian troops to surrender. Jokingly emulating Winston Churchill, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden said "ever has so much been surrendered by so many, to so few." On the same day, Italian General Bergonzoli and his staff withdrew from Bardia toward Tobruk. 
0
04 Jan 1941 WW2 British torpedo bombers attacked an Italian supply convoy off Cape Bon, Tunisia in failure. 
0
05 Jan 1941 WW2 Australian 6th Division troops, supported by 6 remaining British Matilda tanks, captured the last Italian defensive position at Bardia, Libya, and the remaining Italian force surrendered soon afterwards. In the battle for Bardia, the Italians suffered 1,000 killed, 3,000 wounded, and 36,000 taken prisoner; 2,000 Italians were able to withdraw to Tobruk, Libya. Australians suffered 130 killed and 326 wounded. The Allies captured a large quantity of Italian equipment, including 26 coastal guns, 7 medium guns, 216 field guns, 26 anti-aircraft guns, 41 infantry guns, 146 anti-tank guns, 12 medium tanks, 115 tankettes, 708 trucks, and water pumps capable of producing 400 tons of fresh water per day. 
0
05 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian ship Vulcano hit a mine and sank off Tobruk, Libya. 
0
05 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Cappellini sank British ship Shakespeare 100 miles northeast of the Cape Verde Islands at 1045 hours with her two 100-mm deck guns, killing 20. Before Shakespeare sank, her return fire hit Cappellini's aft gun and killed gunner Sergeant Ferruccio Azzolin. Cappellini rescued 22 survivors and took them to Sal Island nearby. 
0
05 Jan 1941 WW2 British sloop HMS Lowestoft, while operating with Allied convoy FS.378, was damaged by a mine in the Thames Estuary in England, United Kingdom. She would be under repair at Chatham, England until 3 Oct. 
0
05 Jan 1941 WW2 Amy Johnson, record-breaking aviation pioneer of the 1930s, was killed when the Airspeed Oxford trainer she was delivering as an Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot came down in the Thames Estuary in Southern England, United Kingdom. It was sadly ironic that a woman who navigated her way solo from England to Australia got lost in bad weather. Running out of fuel, she baled out thinking she was over London. Landing in the freezing water, she was dragged under a rescue boat by her parachute and chopped to death by the propellers. Her body was never found. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 A Free French force under Lieutenant Colonel Jean Colonna d'Ornano attacked Murzuk airfield in southwestern Libya from Chad, capturing the airfield, but d'Ornano was killed in action. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 British 4th Armoured Division advanced 50 miles from Bardia, Libya to capture Belhamed to the east of Tobruk and the airfield at El Adem 8 miles to the south. Patrols were now conducted 10 miles west of Tobruk at Acroma. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 Overnight, Greek destroyers shelled the Albanian port of Vlorë. 20 miles south, Italian destroyers Alfieri, Carducci, Fulmine, and Gioberti, and torpedo boats Partenope, Pallade, Romeda, and Altair shelled Greek positions at Porto Palmermo. The Greek offensive against Italian positions in the mountains of Albania reached the strategically important Klisura Pass on the river Vjosë, which, if captured, would allow Greek forces in the center of the front to link up with troops on the coast, but it was met with stiff resistance. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Empire Thunder 200 miles northwest of Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 1137 hours; 9 killed and 30 survived. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 German raider Kormoran stopped Greek ship Antonis in the Atlantic Ocean 200 miles northwest of Cape Verde Islands. Antonis was scuttled when 4,800 tons of British coal was found on board. All 29 crew and 7 sheep were taken on board Kormoran. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 In his State of the Union address, US President Franklin Roosevelt enunciated the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 Neutral Ireland sent a note of protest to Germany after Dublin was "accidentally" bombed three nights in succession by "stray" Luftwaffe aircraft. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 The keel of battleship Missouri was laid down. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Gloucester and HMS Southampton, escorted by destroyers HMS Ilex and HMS Janus, departed Alexandria, Egypt, at 1315 hours to carry 510 Army and RAF personnel to Malta and to meet Excess convoy which had departed from Gibraltar on the same day. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 British convoy Excess (British ships Essex, Clan Cumming, Clan Macdonald, and Empire Song) departed from Gibraltar for Malta and Greece, escorted by anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Bonaventure (carrying 400 troops) and destroyers HMS Hereward, HMS Jaguar, HMS Hasty, and HMS Hero. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 US 22nd, 23rd, and 32nd Fighter Squadrons, both operating P-40 Warhawk fighters, was assigned to Losey Field in Puerto Rico. 
0
06 Jan 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Mashona and HMS Sikh collided in the naval base at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
07 Jan 1941 WW2 Australian 6th Division and British 4th Armoured Division nearly surrounded Tobruk, Libya after capturing Acroma 10 miles to the west. 
0
07 Jan 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Rover attacked an Italian convoy off the coast of Libya 25 miles west of Tobruk. Italian torpedo boats Clio and Castore counterattacked, damaging HMS Rover, putting her out of commission for the following 13 months for repairs at Malta. 
0
07 Jan 1941 WW2 German torpedo boats Kondor and Wolf laid a minefield off Dover, England, United Kingdom but Wolf sank in a British minefield north of Dunkirk, France on the way home. 
0
07 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Giacomo Nani attacked Allied convoy HX.99 200 miles south of Iceland without success. British corvette HMS Anemone and French corvette La Malouine counterattacked, sinking Nani; all 58 Italian sailors and officers were rescued and taken prisoner. 
0
07 Jan 1941 WW2 Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet, consisted of battleship HMS Warspite, battlesip HMS Valiant, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and 7 destroyers departed Alexandria, Egypt, to meet the Excess convoy. 
0
07 Jan 1941 WW2 Admiral Somerville's Force H, consisted of battlecruiser HMS Renown, battleship HMS Malaya, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, cruiser HMS Sheffield, and 7 destroyers, departed Gibraltar to cover the Excess convoy which left Gibraltar on the previous day. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 During the night, 7 British Wellington bombers from Feltwell, Lincolnshire attacked battleship Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven, which suffered light damage from near misses. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 British Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout Movement and hero of the Boer War, died in Kenya at the age of 84. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 British Wellington bombers from Malta attacked Italian battleships Guilio Cesare and Vittorio Veneto moored in Naples, Italy. Guilio Cesare was badly damaged by 3 near misses but Vittorio Veneto was hit without serious damage. Both ships would be moved to La Spezia, Italy and repaired, out of the range of the Malta bombers. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 Australian 6th Division began reconnaissance patrols around Tobruk, Libya. Overnight, a patrol reached the Italian defensive perimeter. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 Royal Thai Air Force aircraft attacked French positions at Siem Reap and Battambang in Cambodia, French Indochina. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler hosted a two-day military conference at his Berghof residence in southern Germany, where he stated that Germany would continue to support Italian efforts in North Africa despite it being a secondary theater, the Soviet Union must be brought down, southern France might need to be occupied, and, for the first time, told the military leaders to prepare Germany for the possibility of American entry into the war. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 Zuikaku departed Hiroshima, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Gloucester and HMS Southampton arrived at Malta to disembark 510 Army and RAF personnel, escorted by destroyers HMS Ilex and HMS Janus. HMS Gloucester, HMS Southampton, and HMS Ilex continued west to meet the Excess convoy from Gibraltar. 
0
08 Jan 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt requested the US Congress to pass a defense budget in the size of US$10,811,000,000 for fiscal year of 1942. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 Australian 6th Division and British 7th Armoured Division completed the encirclement of Tobruk, Libya. 25,000 Italian troops were now trapped. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Pandora sank Italian ships Palma and Valdivagna off Cape Carbonara, Sardinia, Italy. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Parthian sank Italian ship Carlo Martinolich off Calabria, Italy. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian destroyers Ascari, Carabiniere, Folgore, and Fulmine shelled Greek positions on the Albanian coast at Porto Palmermo. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 sank British ship Bassano 300 miles south of Iceland at 1814 hours; 1 was killed and 56 survived. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 The Avro Lancaster heavy bomber took flight for the first time. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 Mr. Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's personal envoy, arrived in England, United Kingdom. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler and his top military leaders completed the two-day conference at Hitler's residence of Berghof in München-Oberbayern, Germany. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 Escort duties for the British Excess convoy was passed from Force H (from Gibraltar) to the Mediterranean Fleet (from Alexandria, Egypt); most of Force H turned back for Gibraltar at nightfall, but cruiser HMS Bonaventure and destroyers HMS Hereward, HMS Jaguar, HMS Hasty, and HMS Hero would remain with the convoy. On the same day, 12 Italian C.200 fighter-bombers attempted to attack Malta; 4 were shot down by defending Hurricane fighters of No. 261 Squadron RAF. 
0
09 Jan 1941 WW2 US Navy transport William Ward Burrows arrived at Wake Island with the first group of 80 civilian workers who would start to excavate the channel between Wilkes and Wake Islands. 
0
10 Jan 1941 WW2 A new German-Soviet treaty was signed confirming spheres of influence and affirming trade agreements. 
0
10 Jan 1941 WW2 Greek troops, with the recently arrived Greek 5th Cretan Division, captured Klisura Pass in Albania after 4 days of fighting. 
0
10 Jan 1941 WW2 300 German bombers attacked Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom overnight, killing 171 and wounding 430. The Guildhall was heavily damaged and would remain closed until 1959. 
0
10 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian torpedo boats Vega and Circe attacked the Allied convoy Excess in the Strait of Sicily at dawn; cruiser HMS Bonaventure's gunfire and destroyer HMS Hereward's torpedo sank Vega. At 0815 hours, the convoy made rendezvous with the Mediterranean Fleet (with two battleships, one carrier, and seven destroyers). Shortly after, destroyer HMS Gallant hit a mine, killing 58 and wounding 25; she was towed to Malta for repairs. At 1235 hours, German Stuka dive bombers, newly arrived to the theater, attacked HMS Illustrious, hitting her with 6 bombs, destroying the elevator and starting fires in the hangar deck, killing 124; she also sailed to Malta to receive repairs. Illustrious being out of service meant the Axis now had air superiority in the theater. 
0
11 Jan 1941 WW2 During the night 16 British aircraft from Scampton, Lincolnshire attacked battleship Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven, Germany to little effect. 
0
11 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian 7th Infantry Division Lupi di Toscana and the remnants of Italian 3rd Alpine Division Julia launched a failed counterattack on Klisura Pass in Albania, which was captured by the Greeks on the previous day. 
0
11 Jan 1941 WW2 US Task Force 38 in the South China Sea received orders to bombard a Japanese position on the Cam Ranh Bay in Indochina on the next day. 
0
11 Jan 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive 22, which called for Operation Alpine Violets, which was to deploy German units in North Africa and Albania to aid Italian war efforts. 
0
11 Jan 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe Oberst Werner Ennecerus led a dive bomber attack on British cruisers HMS Gloucester and HMS Southampton 120 miles east of Sicily, Italy, hitting Gloucester with one 500kg bomb that failed to explode (9 killed, 13 wounded) and Southampton with two 500kg bombs (98 killed). Southampton was abandoned by the 727 survivors at 1900 hours, then was scuttled by a torpedo from cruiser HMS Orion at 2000 hours. Further east, the Allied convoy Excess, which the cruisers were protecting, reached their destinations of Malta, Egypt, and Greece. 
0
12 Jan 1941 WW2 British armored divisions rushed in their efforts to repair tanks and put them into operational status for the upcoming attack on Tobruk, Libya. Meanwhile, HMS Protector departed Bardia, Libya with 1,058 Italian prisoners of war, sailing for Alexandria, Egypt. 
0
12 Jan 1941 WW2 British aircraft based on Malta attacked the Axis airbase at Catania, Sicily, Italy. 
0
12 Jan 1941 WW2 In Norway, the Germans began recruiting for the Nordland Regiment of 5.SS-Wiking Division. 
0
13 Jan 1941 WW2 Wellington bombers of No. 57 Squadron RAF attacked Ostend, Belgium. 
0
13 Jan 1941 WW2 RAF bombers attacked the German submarine base at Lorient, France overnight. 
0
13 Jan 1941 WW2 Bulgaria stalled in response to German demand to join the Tripartite Pact. 
0
13 Jan 1941 WW2 Admiral Jean Decoux ordered Capitaine de Vaisseau Régis Bérenger to plan an attack on the Thai Navy within the coming days. 
0
13 Jan 1941 WW2 German aircraft dropped 106 high explosive bombs on Plymouth, England, United Kingdom, damaging the Sherwell Congregational Church on Tavistock Road, City Hospital at Freedom Fields, gas works at Coxside, and Corporation electricity works at Prince Rock (26 killed, 117 wounded). Electricity would be restored on the following day, but gas would not be restored for three weeks. Patrol Officer George Wright and Leading Fireman Cyril Lidstone of Auxiliary Fire Service would be awarded George Medals for putting out a fire on an oil tank that might otherwise have exploded. 
0
14 Jan 1941 WW2 British Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Wavell met Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas and Greek Commander-in-Chief General Alexandros Papagos in Athens, Greece. Papagos asked Wavell for 9 divisions of British troops plus air support, but Wavell only offered 2 or 3 divisions. Papagos, who thought 2 to 3 divisions was too few to effectively deter a German invasion while still putting Greece in an indebted position, rejected the offer. 
0
14 Jan 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin captured almost an entire Norwegian whaling fleet (whale oil tanker Solglimt, factory ships Ole Wegger and Pelagos, and 11 of their attendant whalers) without firing a shot in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica; three whalers escaped and provided warning to another whaling fleet nearby. Pinguin captured 20,000 tons of whale oil and 10,000 tons of fuel oil with this success. 
0
14 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Cappellini and British auxiliary cruiser Eumaeus engaged in a gun fight for three hours 100 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa. Cappellini suffered three casualties and was badly damaged, but was able to sink Eumaeus, killing 27. 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 Overnight, Wellington bombers of No. 57 Squadron RAF attacked Emden, Germany while 76 RAF bombers attacked Wilhelmshaven, Germany. 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 British minelaying cruiser HMS Adventure hit a mine and became damaged in Liverpool Bay en route from Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom. She was towed into Liverpool for repairs. 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Luigi Torelli attacked an Allied convoy 350 miles west of Ireland, sinking Norwegian ship Brask (12 killed, 20 survived) and Greek ship Nemea (17 killed, 14 survived). 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 The Japanese Navy formed the 11th Air Fleet with the 21st, 22nd, and 24th Air Flotillas with Vice Admiral Eikichi Katagiri in command and Rear Admiral Takijiro Onishi as his chief of staff. 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 Ships of the French Groupe Occasionnel squadron made rendezvous at 1600 hours 20 miles north of Poulo Condore (Con Dao) archipelago south of French Indochina, and began moving toward the Thai-Cambodian border at 2115 hours. 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 In Iceland, 133 miles-per-hour winds sank three PBY Catalina aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-73 and sank two PBM Mariner aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-74. 
0
15 Jan 1941 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld achieved his second victory, shooting down a British Whitley bomber over northern Netherlands. 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96 sank British troopship Oropesa with three torpedoes 150 miles northwest of Ireland at 0616 hours; 106 were killed. Survivors drifted in 6 lifeboats, but only 5 lifeboats, containing 143, were found and rescued. 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Luigi Torelli attacked an Allied convoy 350 miles west of Ireland, sinking Greek ship Nicolas Filinis (3 killed, 26 survived). 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 French troops launched a successful counterattack against Thai troops at the villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav in Cambodia, French Indochina, but poor intelligence forced the French to back off from any territory gained. The Thais were unable to pursue the retreating French, as their forward tanks were kept in check by the guns of the French Foreign Legion. 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille began a period of rest at home in Berlin, Germany. 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 80 German Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers attacked Valletta Harbor, Malta, trying to finish off damaged British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. HMS Illustrious, British destroyer HMS Decoy, and Australian cruiser HMAS Perth, and British ship Essex were damaged, but none sank. 10 German aircraft were lost. 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was founded in Britain. 
0
16 Jan 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Desiree hit a mine and sank in the Thames estuary in southern England, United Kingdom. 
0
17 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96 attacked British liner Almeda Star 200 miles west of Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0745 hours, firing four torpedoes and her deck gun. Four lifeboats were launched before Almeda Star sank, but when seven British destroyers arrived, none of them were found, thus all aboard were lost (137 crew, 29 gunners, and 194 passengers). 
0
17 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Marcello approached an Allied convoy off the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom, but was detected by an escort destroyer, which attacked the submarine with five depth charges. Marcello suffered damage in her forward trim tank, forcing her end her war patrol to return to base. 
0
17 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship Zealandic off the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom with three torpedoes. 73 survivors took to three lifeboats, but none were ever found. 
0
17 Jan 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers attacked Malta. 
0
17 Jan 1941 WW2 A French naval squadron attacked the Thai anchorage at Ko Chang island near the Thai-Cambodian border, sinking two gunboats, damaging a coastal defense ship, and killing 36 men. 
0
17 Jan 1941 WW2 British corvette HMS Rhododendron hit a mine in Liverpool Harbor, England, United Kingdom. She was to remain out of action for three months for repairs. 
0
18 Jan 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer captured Norwegian tanker Sandefjord 1,000 miles off the coast of Angola, Portuguese West Africa. The ship, along with her cargo of 11,000 tons of crude oil, was sent to France as a prize ship. 
0
18 Jan 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran sank British tanker British Union 700 miles west of the Canary Islands, killing 10. 28 survivors were captured by Kormoran and 7 survivors were rescued by British auxiliary cruiser HMS Arawa on the following day. 
0
18 Jan 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers attacked Malta for the third consecutive day, destroying 6 RAF aircraft and damaging many more at the Luqa and Hal Far airfields. 
0
18 Jan 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Castleton was damaged by German bombing while under repair at Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom. 
0
19 Jan 1941 WW2 Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia crossed the border between Sudan and Italian Eritrea, traveling toward his home country behind advancing British and Commonwealth troops. 
0
19 Jan 1941 WW2 British and Commonwealth troops attacked Italian Eritrea. 4th and 5th Indian Infantry Divisions captured the railway junction at Kassala, Sudan, on the border with Italian Eritrea. This allowed the column led by British General William Platt to march south. 
0
19 Jan 1941 WW2 Benito Mussolini visited Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden in Germany, accepting German assistance in North Africa, but not Albania. Hitler noted that he would launch an invasion of Greece if British troops there began to threaten the oil refineries at Ploiesti, Romania. 
0
19 Jan 1941 WW2 British transport ships Clan Cumming, Clan MacDonald, and Empire Song departed Pireaus, Greece for Alexandria, Egypt at 0800 hours. At 1153 hours, 25 miles south of Pireaus, Italian submarine Neghelli attacked, damaging Clan Cumming with a torpedo. Escorting destroyer HMS Greyhound sank Neghelli with depth charges, killing the entire crew of 46. Escorting destroyer HMS Janus escorted Clan Cumming back to Pireaus while the rest of the convoy sailed on. 
0
19 Jan 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers attacked Valletta Harbour, Malta for the fourth consecutive day in their attempt to finish off the damaged British carrier HMS Illustrious, which was only further damaged with near missed. Destroyers HMS Imperial and HMS Decoy were also damaged by the attack. One Stuka aircraft was shot down by a Fulmar aircraft, which was also shot down later in the battle. 
0
19 Jan 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe aircraft bombed RAF Feltwell in England, United Kingdom. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 The Iron Guard rebellion in Romania was put down by Marshal Antonescu. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 Japan expanded annual intelligence budget to $500,000 to gather more intelligence on the United States. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 Compulsory Fire Watch duty was instituted in the United Kingdom. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 In reprisal for partisan attacks, Germans executed 2,324 males in the Yugoslavian town of Kragujevac, including 144 boys who were herded out of school. Furious at the partisan activity, Hitler had decreed that for every German soldier wounded in attacks, 100 civilians would be executed. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank British ship Florian 200 miles southeast of Iceland at 0042 hours, killing the entire crew of 41. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 German Kriegsmarine ordered the construction of 75 new submarines. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer sank British ship Stanpark and captured Dutch ship Barneveld 1,000 miles off the coast of Angola. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 In the Atlantic Ocean, Italian submarine Luigi fired a spread of three torpedoes at a group of three Allied destroyers but none hit. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Marcello, en route to Bordeaux, France for repairs, encountered Belgian ship Portugal and sank her with the deck gun. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Relonzo hit a mine and sank off Liverpool, England, United Kingdom, killing 19. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 RAF Wellington and Blenheim bombers, monitor HMS Terror, and gunboats HMS Gnat and HMS Ladybird attacked Italian positions at Tobruk, Libya overnight. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 At Adolf Hitler's Berghof residence near Berchtesgaden, Germany, Hitler mentioned to Benito Mussolini and Galeazzo Ciano that Germany viewed the Soviet Union as a threat, but did not reveal the plan to invade. 
0
20 Jan 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Clement Bridgman was named the equipping officer of HMS Dianthus. 
0
21 Jan 1941 WW2 The British government suppressed the publication of communist newspaper 'The Daily Worker'. 
0
21 Jan 1941 WW2 The Allies began attacking Tobruk, Libya, starting with an artillery barrage at 0540 hours. Australian engineers cleared a path for 18 British Matilda tanks and a few captured Italian tanks to pass through, leading infantrymen. Blenheim aircraft flew overhead throughout the day to provide support. 8,000 Italians were captured in overrun defensive positions, including General Petassi Manella. After nightfall, the headquarters of the Australian 19th Brigade offered Manella a ceasefire, but it was rejected, as the Italian general had orders from Benito Mussolini to fight until the last man. Overnight, Italian bombers attacked the British forward base; some bombs fell on the buildings holding prisoners of war, killing 50-300 Italians. 
0
21 Jan 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British rescue tug HMS Englishman 50 miles off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland; the entire crew of 18 were killed. 
0
21 Jan 1941 WW2 Commander Arthur Reid Pedder was named the commanding officer of HMS Mauritius. 
0
21 Jan 1941 WW2 The last recorded charge by cavalry against a British battery occurred in Eritrea, Italian East Africa when a battery of the 144th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regiment Royal Artillery was surprised by about sixty mounted Eritreans, led by an Italian officer, who came on at the gallop firing from the saddle and lobbing grenades as they charged; the Battery replied with shell ands small arms fire, and the cavalry retired leaving about forty of their number killed or wounded on the field. Elsewhere, Indian 5th Infantry Division advanced 50 miles into Eritrea, capturing Aicota unopposed. Finally, Indian 10th Infantry Brigade and 2nd Battalion of the British Highland Light Infantry marched for Keru. 
0
22 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian cruiser San Giorgio was scuttled by her own crew at Tobruk, Libya at 0415 hours. In the afternoon, Brigadier General Vincenzo della Mura surrendered the Italian 61 Infantry Division "Sirte". Meanwhile, Allied troops continued the attacks throughout the day, with monitor HMS Terror and gunboats HMS Gnat and HMS Ladybird continuing to offer support with their guns. British aircraft sank Italian liner Liguria. Before the end of the day, Admiral Massimilian Vietina surrendered to the Australian troops. 
0
22 Jan 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau departed from Kiel, Germany for Operation Berlin. 
0
22 Jan 1941 WW2 4th Indian Division attacked Italian positions at Keru, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, leading to General Fongoli surrendering his 1,200 men. 
0
22 Jan 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Luda Lady hit a mine and sank in the Humber estuary in northern England, United Kingdom, without any casualties. 
0
22 Jan 1941 WW2 The first massacre of Jews in Romania took place. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 Charles Lindbergh testified before the US Congress, recommending that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Germany. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 Allied troops captured Tobruk, Libya, but fighting would continue at outposts outside the city for another day. In the harbor, British minesweeping trawlers HMT Arthur Cavanagh and HMT Milford Countess began clearing sunken Italian ships. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 USS Arizona became the flagship of Battleship Division 1's Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 German Fw 200 aircraft bombed British ship Lurigethan 200 miles west of Ireland; 16 were killed in fires while 35 were taken off. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, damaged by Stuka dive bombers on 10 Jan, completed temporary repairs and departed Malta for Alexandria, Egypt with destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Juno, HMS Janus, and HMS Greyhound in escort. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 German pocket battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were spotted in the Great Belt between mainland Denmark and the island of Zealand by a British agent who alerted the Admiralty in London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 Destroyer USS Edsall attacked a submarine contact in the Vernon Islands 30 miles northwest of Darwin, Australia; Edsall suffered damage from one of her own depth charges in this attack. 
0
23 Jan 1941 WW2 Commander Vittorio Moccagatta was made the head of the Special Weapons Section of 1a Flottiglia MAS at La Spezia, Italy. 
0
24 Jan 1941 WW2 All Italian outposts surrounding Tobruk, Libya were captured by the Allies. Meanwhile, en route to Derna, Libya, Allied troops encountered units of the newly organized Italian Special Armoured Brigade and defeated them near Mechili, destroying 9 Italian tanks at the cost of 7 British tanks. 
0
24 Jan 1941 WW2 German He 114 seaplane from armed merchant cruiser Atlantis attacked British ship Mandasor 300 miles east of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Atlantis soon arrived, stopping Mandasor with gunfire, killing 6. A launch from Atlantic drove away sharks with machine gun fire as the Germans rescued 82 survivors. Mandasor was eventually sunk with a torpedo. As the He 114 aircraft attempted to land in the water for recovery, the rough seas caused her to capsize and become lost. Four Allied cruisers later arrived on the scene in response, but Atlantis had already departed. 
0
24 Jan 1941 WW2 Lord Halifax arrived at Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States aboard battleship HMS King George V. He had arrived to take up his new post as the British ambassador to the United States. 
0
24 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank Norwegian ship Vespasian with a torpedo 200 miles west of Ireland at 2148 hours, killing the entire crew of 18. 
0
24 Jan 1941 WW2 Thai aircraft bombed the airfield at Angkor near Siem Reap, Cambodia, French Indochina; the resulting dogfights would be the final air battle of the Franco-Thai War. 
0
25 Jan 1941 WW2 Nigerian, Ghanaian, East African, and South African troops of 11th African Division under British General Harry Edward de Robillard Wetherall and 12th African Division under British General Reade Godwin-Austen crossed into the Italian Somaliland from Kenya. Italian troops withdrew 100 miles behind the Juba River in response. 
0
25 Jan 1941 WW2 HMS Illustrious arrived at Alexandria, Egypt. 
0
25 Jan 1941 WW2 After sundown, British minelaying cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Hotspur, and HMS Encounter departed Alexandria, Egypt for Tobruk, Libya. They were discovered and attacked by 10 German Stuka dive bombers and 2 Italian S.79 medium bombers 35 miles away from their destination. HMS Latona was hit by a 500kg bomb and sank at 2230 when the fire detonated the magazine; 27 were killed. HMS Hero was damaged by three near misses. 
0
25 Jan 1941 WW2 Adhering to orders given by General Yasuji Okamura in which all Chinese villages suspected of harboring Chinese communist guerrilla fighters were to be wiped out, 1,230 residents of Panjiayu, Hebei, China were massacred by troops of the Japanese Army. 
0
25 Jan 1941 WW2 British Admiral Sir John Tovey departed Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom with a fleet to intercept German pocket battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau believed to be in the Iceland-Faroes passage. 
0
26 Jan 1941 WW2 In Libya, Italian troops evacuated Mechili while Allied troops captured Derna. General O'Moore Creagh of British 7th Armored Division was ordered to cut the coastal road south of Benghazi. 
0
26 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 attacked British ship Lurigethan and the escorting corvette HMS Arabis 200 miles west of Ireland; Lurigethan was already damaged by German aircraft three days earlier. Two torpedoes were fired at HMS Arabis, both of which missed. At 0212 hours, Lurigethan was hit and sank, killing 16. HMS Arabis picked up 35 survivors. 
0
26 Jan 1941 WW2 HMS Hermes detected a French blockade runner in the Indian Ocean south of South Africa, but lost the ship in the pursuit. 
0
27 Jan 1941 WW2 British troopship Ulster Prince (which would soon depart with Italian prisoners of war) and transports Cingalese Prince, Rosaura, and Chakla (the three brought in supplies and men) became the first Allied ships to arrive in the harbor of recently captured Tobruk, Libya. 100 miles to the northwest, Australian 6th Division captured Fort Rudero near Derna, capturing 290 Italian prisoners and 5 field guns, but the Italian garrison at Wadi Derna nearby continued to pose a serious threat. 
0
27 Jan 1941 WW2 British No. 830 Squadron Fleet Air Arm Swordfish torpedo bombers from Malta sank German ship Ingo 100 miles north of Tripoli, Libya. Survivors were picked up by Italian torpedo boat Orione. 
0
27 Jan 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Darogah hit a mine and sank in the Thames Estuary in southern England, United Kingdom. 
0
27 Jan 1941 WW2 US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Harold Stark ordered the 3rd Defense Battalion of the US Marine Corps to Midway, 1st Defense Battalion to Johnston and Palmyra, and 6th Defense Battalion to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. 
0
27 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian manufacturing firm Caproni delivered midget submarines CB-1 and CB-2 to the Italian Navy at La Spezia, Italy. 
0
28 Jan 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Naiad spotted German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the Iceland-Faroes passage at 0649 hours. Fearing this might lead to the arrival of a stronger British fleet, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau turned to the north, attempting to enter the Atlantic Ocean via the Denmark Strait instead. 
0
28 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian artillery at Wadi Derna, Libya continued to pin down Australian 6th Division. 
0
28 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Luigi Torelli sank British submarine Urla 250 miles west of Ireland; the entire crew of 42 survived. 
0
28 Jan 1941 WW2 British corvette HMS Bluebell and destroyer HMS Westcott collided off Ireland; the former would be under repair until 4 Mar. 
0
28 Jan 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upholder damaged German ship Duisberg off Cape Bon, Tunisia. Duisberg was towed to Tripoli, Libya for repairs. 
0
28 Jan 1941 WW2 B-10 medium bombers of the Thai 50th Bomber Squadron, escorted by 13 Hawk 75N fighters of the Thai 60th Fighter Squadron, bombed Sisophon, Cambodia, French Indochina. The effective date of the cease fire to be signed on 31 Jan 1941 would backdate to this date. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 M. A. Korizis took over as the new Premier of Greece upon his predecessor's death. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 British forces based in Kenya led by General Sir Alan Cunningham began attacking the Italian colonial garrison. Meanwhile. the South African troops came ashore in Italian Somaliland. This combined with British advances through Eritrea made the Italian armies in the Horn of Africa increasingly in danger of being surrounded. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran sank British ships Afric Star (75 captured) and Eurylochus (11 men killed, 43 men captured, 16 crated engine-less bombers captured) 600 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 During the night 25 British Wellington bombers attacked battleship Tirpitz to little effect. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 Ioannis Metaxas died of toxaemia in Athens, Greece. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 Elements of British 7th Armoured Division outflanked Italian artillery overlooking Derna, Libya, forcing General Bergonzoli to withdraw the guns overnight. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarines attacked Allied convoy SC-19 en route from Nova Scotia, Canada to Britain at about 200 miles northwest of Ireland. Between 0348 and 0405 hours, U-93 sank British ship King Robert, British tanker W. B. Walker, and Greek ship Aikaterini. At 0629 hours, U-94 sank British ship West Wales. At 0715 hours, U-106 sank Egyptian ship Sesostris. U-101 also attempted to attack, but she was chased off by British destroyers. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 Submarine Marlin was launched, sponsored by Mrs. John D. Wainwright. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 The prototype Tupolev ANT-58 (which would later be developed into the successful Tu-2 medium bomber) made its maiden flight. 
0
29 Jan 1941 WW2 Secret US-British staff talks began in Washington DC, United States regarding the possible US involvement in the European War. 
0
30 Jan 1941 WW2 Rudolf Höss was promoted to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer. 
0
30 Jan 1941 WW2 German submarine U-94 attacked Allied convoy SC-19 northwest of Ireland at 0310 hours, sinking British ship Rushpool; the entire crew of 40 survived and rescued by destroyer HMS Antelope. Rushpool was the sixth and final ship sunk in a series of German submarine attacks in 24 hours, totaling 33,723 tons. 
0
30 Jan 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upholder attacked Italian ships Motia and Delfin 30 miles north of Zavia, Libya. Italian torpedo boat Aldebaran chased off HMS Upholder before she was able to damage any Italian ships. 
0
30 Jan 1941 WW2 Otto Skorzeny was promoted to the rank of Untersturmführer; he would not receive the notification for this promotion until Mar 1941, however. 
0
30 Jan 1941 WW2 Germany announced that any ship bringing goods into Britain, regardless of nationality, would be attacked. 
0
30 Jan 1941 WW2 Lavrentiy Beria was promoted to the rank of State Security General Commissar. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 In Oslo, Reichsführer-SS Himmler accepted the oath of the first group of Norwegian enlistees in the Waffen-SS. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Free French forces from Chad, French Equatorial Africa attacked the Italian forces at Kufra, Libya, supported by T Patrol of the British Long Range Desert Group. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Indian 4th Division flanked and then captured Agordat, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. 1,000 Italian troops and 43 field guns were captured. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian torpedo boat Francesco Stocco hit a mine, broke in two, and sank off Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia). 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Dandolo sank British tanker Pizarro 350 miles southwest of Ireland after dark with torpedoes; 23 killed and 6 survived. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis stopped British ship Speybank with gunfire and captured the ship. Speybank would soon set sail for Bordeaux, France where she would be converted into an auxiliary minelayer named Schiff 53/Doggerbank and serve in the German Navy. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Destroyer USS Edison (DD-439) was commissioned with Lieutenant Commander A. C. Murdaugh in command. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Oberstleutnant Hans Korte stepped down as the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 The cease fire ending the Franco-Thai War was signed aboard Japanese cruiser Natori at Saigon, French Indochina, effective 28 Jan 1941. 
0
31 Jan 1941 WW2 Submarine Grayback was launched in Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by the wife of Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, who was the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 At Maug Island in the Mariana Islands, Orion received one Japanese-built E8N float plane, purchased from Japan earlier that year, from German ship Munsterland. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-48 sank Greek ship Nicolas Angelos with a torpedo and shots from the deck gun south of Iceland at 2215 hours. The crew was took to the lifeboat, which was never found. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps brigades stationed on the east and west coasts of the United States were reorganized as the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisoins, respectively; it was the first time the USMC organized units on the divisional level. To the south on the island of Cuba, the US Marine Corps 4th Defense Battalion arrived at Guantanamo Bay from Parris Island, South Carolina, United States. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 Oberstleutnant Benno Kosch was named the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 Captain William Derek Stephens was named the commanding officer of HMS Mauritius. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 Indian 4th Division captured Agordat, Eritrea, Italian East Africa while Indian 5th Division captured Metemma, Abyssinia. 2nd Lieutenant Premindra Singh Bhagat of the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners won the first Victoria Cross for the British Indian Army in WW2 for a "...continuous feat of sheer cold courage" clearing 15 minefields and 55 miles of roads in 48 hours. 
0
01 Feb 1941 WW2 In Britain, the Air Training Corps was established to provide pre-entry training for cadets over the age of 16 intending to enter the Royal Air Force or Fleet Air Arm. 
0
02 Feb 1941 WW2 Indian 5th Division captured Italian fortifications defended by 8,000 troops and 32 field guns at Barentu, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. To the east in the Indian Ocean, British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable launched aircraft in the Indian Ocean to mine the harbor of Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland. 
0
02 Feb 1941 WW2 Australian troops advanced west from Derna, Libya, continuing to push back the Italian troops. Meanwhile, Richard O'Connor received the authorization from Archibald Wavell to use tanks of British 7th Armoured Division to flank the Italian retreat. 
0
02 Feb 1941 WW2 Torpedo bombers from British carrier HMS Ark Royal attacked the hydroelectric plant at the Santa Chiara Dam on the Tirso River on Sardinia, Italy. The attack failed to damage the facilities. One Swordfish aircraft was shot down, with its crew of 3 taken prisoner. 
0
02 Feb 1941 WW2 British trawler HMT Almond hit a mine and sank off Falmouth, England, United Kingdom, killing 19. 
0
02 Feb 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis stopped and captured Norwegian tanker Ketty Brøvig in the Indian Ocean overnight. With 6,370 tons of fuel oil and 4,125 tons of diesel oil from Bahrain aboard, Ketty Brøvig was to be used as a supply ship for German raiders and warships deployed at sea. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 Mussolini sent Fascist Party leaders to the Albanian front to bolster morale. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 General Erwin Rommel was appointed as the head of an unit temporarily named "German Army Troops in Africa"; it would later become the Afrika Korps. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian troops in Eritrea, Italian East Africa withdrew into towns in the mountains. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Empire Citizen 300 miles south of Iceland at 0223 hours; 77 were killed, 5 survived. At 2333 hours, U-107 struck again, sinking British ship HMS Cirspin; 20 were killed, 121 survived. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-93 attacked British ship Dione II 50 miles northwest of Ireland at 1410 hours; the torpedo missed. A German Fw 200 aircraft arrived later in the day and bombed the ship, causing damage. At 2300 hours, U-93 surfaced near Dione II and engaged in a brief gun battle. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Arctic Trapper was sunk by German bombing off Ramsgate, Kent, England, United Kingdom; 17 were killed, 3 were wounded. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 German military leaders presented detailed plans for Operation Barbarossa to Adolf Hitler. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps Air Station Ewa was commissioned in US Territory of Hawaii after five months of conversion work; it had previously been a US Navy airship base. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 USS Arizona arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps established an airfield near the Ewa villages at Kapolei, Honolulu County, US Territory of Hawaii with the aircraft of Marine Aircraft Group 2 originally based at Naval Air Station Ford Island, also on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 Vsevolod Merkulov was named the People's Commissar of State Security of the Soviet NKGB with responsibilities to oversee espionage and intelligence activities. The new ministry NKGB would last only until the German invasion when it would be merged back into the NKVD. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 Kliment Voroshilov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time. 
0
03 Feb 1941 WW2 Henry Arnold was promoted to the permanent rank of major general. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 The United Service Organizations, USO, was established to maintain the morale of American military personnel. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 The Italians began evacuating Benghazi, Libya. At dawn, British 7th Armoured Division departed from Mechili, Libya to move across the desert toward Jebel El Akhdar 150 miles away in an attempt to cut off the Italian retreat. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-93, having damaged British ship Dione II on the previous day with gunfire northwest of Ireland, sank the ship at 0440 hours with the deck gun and the anti-aircraft gun; 28 were killed, 5 survived. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-52 sank Norwegian ship Ringhorn 500 miles west of Ireland at 0838 hours; 14 were killed, 5 survived. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank British ship Empire Engineer 1,000 miles west of Ireland at 1644 hours; the entire crew of 39 was lost, some during the sinking while others, aboard rafts, were never found. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 German pocket battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau broke out into the Atlantic Ocean via the Denmark Strait undetected by the British Royal Navy. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 Erich Raeder thought that the US entry into the war might be advantageous for the Germans as it would force Japan into belligerency. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 HMS Hermes set sail toward Kismayo, Somaliland, Italian East Africa. 
0
04 Feb 1941 WW2 The American newspaper Chicago Tribune featured an article on the US government's secret plan for war, including details such as a 10,000,000-strong military, half of which were to be destined for the to-be-established American Expeditionary Force for fighting in Europe. 
0
05 Feb 1941 WW2 After crossing 150 miles of desert in 30 hours, armored cars of British 7th Armoured Division set up roadblocks at Sidi Saleh south of Benghazi, Libya, just in time to meet and stop the leading elements of the retreating Italian Tenth Army. In the evening, the British 4th Armoured Brigade reached Beda Fomm 10 miles north of the roadblocks, preventing Italian retreat to the east. 
0
05 Feb 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops attacked Italian-held hills near Dongolaas Gorge en route to Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. 
0
05 Feb 1941 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMT Tourmaline was sunk by German aircraft off North Foreland, Kent, England, United Kingdom. 
0
05 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Sealion sank Norwegian ship Ryfylke 2 miles off the Norwegian coast near Stadlandet. 
0
05 Feb 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Finback was laid down. 
0
05 Feb 1941 WW2 Transport ship No. 74 under construction at Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation's shipyard at Kobe, Japan was named Irako. She was assigned to the Sasebo Naval District. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler made his final appeal to Francisco Franco to bring Spain into the war on the Axis side. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 The British House of Commons voted for the first £1,600,000,000 war credit of the year. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 On the Benghazi-Tripoli road in Libya, the trapped Italian Tenth Army attempted to break out without success. Australian 6th Division captured Benghazi while 7th Support Group of British 7th Armoured Division captured Sceleidima; these captures further secured the envelopment of the Italian Tenth Army. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 The German High Command issued the order for Operation Sonnenblume, which called for the organization and transfer of a German force to reinforce Italian forces in North Africa. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 Near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, Indian 3rd Battalion of 14th Punjab Regiment attacked Brig's Peak but was pushed back by Italian 65th Infantry Division "Granatieri di Savoia". 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 German Motor Torpedo Boats S.30, S.54, S.58, S.59 sank British ship Angularity on the east coast of England, United Kingdom; 2 were killed, 1 was captured by S.30. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank Canadian ship Maplecourt 250 miles northwest of Ireland at 1752 hours, killing the entire crew of 37. 
0
06 Feb 1941 WW2 HMS King George V arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom after delivering Lord Halifax to the United States. 
0
07 Feb 1941 WW2 The Italian Italian Special Armoured Brigade saw some initial success in a dawn attempt to break out of the encirclement of the Italian Tenth Army on the Benghazi-Tripoli road in Libya, but the breakthrough was quickly contained by Allied field guns. The 25,000-strong Italian Tenth Army formally surrendered before the end of the day. 
0
07 Feb 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops continued to hold the Cameron Ridge near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, which was a ridge named after the British infantry regiment Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders which had initially taken it at the start of the Battle of Keren. On the other side of the Gorge, Indian 4th Division launched an attempt to flank the Italian troops at Dologorodoc Fort by moving through the Scescilembi Valley. 
0
07 Feb 1941 WW2 The first Beaufighter IF fighter (T4623) built at the Fairey factory in Stockport near Manchester, England, United Kingdom made its maiden flight. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 The newly formed German Afrika Korps began departing Naples, Italy for North Africa. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau detected Allied convoy HX-106, but did not attack due to the presence of British battleship HMS Ramillies. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 Bulgaria agreed to allow German troops to transit within its borders. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 USS Grampus began patrolling in the Caribbean Sea. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 Mr. Malcolm MacDonald was appointed to be the British High Commissioner in Canada. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 Philippe Pétain offered Philippe Laval a cabinet seat in the Vichy government, but the offer was declined. 
0
08 Feb 1941 WW2 In Britain, Lord Moyle became Secretary of State for the Colonies, Ernest Brown became Minister of Health, and the Duke of Norfolk became the Joint Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 Admiral Darlan became the new Vice Premier of Vichy France. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 13 British aircraft from Scampton, Lincolnshire attacked battleship Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The air crews reported to have caused damage, but in actuality no hits were scored. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 Allied troops captured El Agheila, Libya, marking an end of Operation Compass. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of Generalleutnant. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 British Force H, including two battleships and one cruiser, with carrier HMS Ark Royal supporting from a distance, bombarded Genoa, Italy at 0815 hours. 273 15-inch shells and 782 6-inch shells were fired. Four merchant ships and a training vessel were sunk, 18 ships were damaged, harbor facilities and nearby industrial areas were damaged, and the cathedral was also hit. 144 Italians were killed, most of whom were civilians. The British lost 1 Swordfish torpedo bomber. Italian battleships Vittorio Veneto, Cesare, and Doria, supported by cruiser and destroyers, were launched to intercept the British fleet but failed to find them. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau detected Allied convoy HX-106 off Newfoundland at 0830 hours. Because it was escorted by British battleship Ramilies, the German fleet withdrew at 1000 hours per orders not to engage British capital ships. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-37 attacked Allied convoy HG-53 435 miles west of Gibraltar at 0430 hours, sinking British ships Estrellano (5 killed, 21 survived) and Courland (3 killed, 27 survived). U-37 had also reported the sighting to aircraft based in Bordeaux, France, which led to the arrival of five Fw 200 Condor bombers, which sank British ships Jura, Dagmar I, and Brittanic and Norwegian ship Tejo. 
0
09 Feb 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Neptune was damaged by German bombing at Plymouth, England, United Kingdom. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 The Stirling aircraft made its operational debut as bombers of No. 7 Squadron RAF bombed oil storage facilities at Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders claimed his 56th victory. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-37 attacked Allied convoy HG-53 600 miles west of Gibraltar at 0633 hours, sinking British ship Brandenburg, killing entire crew of 23 plus 26 of the 27 passengers on board. The passengers were survivors of the ship Courland, which had just been sunken by U-37 on the previous day. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-52 sank British ship Cranford Chine 200 miles west of Ireland at 1435 hours, killing the entire crew of 35. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 222 British aircraft attacked Hannover, Germany. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 British Prime Minister Churchill ordered General Wavell to prioritize the campaign in Greece over that in North Africa. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 The German convoy carrying the newly formed German Afrika Korps, with one Italian destroyer and three torpedo boats in escort, departed Palermo, Sicily, Italy for Tripoli, Libya. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 1st Punjab Regiment of Indian 3rd Battalion captured Brig's Peak near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. To the south, British General Cunningham launched Operation Canvas against Italian positions on the Juba River in Italian Somaliland. 
0
10 Feb 1941 WW2 6 Whitley bombers of No. 91 Squadron RAF delivered 38 paratroopers of British No. 11 Special Air Service Battalion to the Tragino aqueduct in southern Italy at 2200 hours in what was codenamed Operation Colossus. They were to plant explosives on one of the columns to stop supplies of fresh water to nearby military and civilian centers. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 In Operation Colossus, British paratroopers blew up the Tragino aqueduct in southern Italy. All but one were captured during their escape, remaining prisoners of war until 1943. The aqueduct they destroyed would soon be repaired and returned to service. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 Indian 3rd Battalion captured Sanchil hill in the Dongolaas Gorge near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, but the Italian Savoia Grenadiers conterattack recaptured the hill as well as Brig's Peak by the end of the day. To the South, British troops from Kenya captured the road junction at Afmadow at the north end of the Juba River. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 British monitor HMS Erebus bombarded Ostend, Belgium between 0100 and 0140 hours. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 The first German troops arrived at Tripoli, Libya. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Snapper, en route from the River Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom to the Bay of Biscay off France. The crew of 41 was never seen again. She probably ran into a minefield or was sunk by German minesweepers M-2, M-13, and M-25. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Hipper sank British ship Iceland of Allied convoy HX53 800 miles west of Gibraltar; the entire crew of 23 survived and were picked up by Admiral Hipper. Admiral Hipper would soon detect the rest of the convoy on radar at the distance of 15 kilometers. 
0
11 Feb 1941 WW2 British RAF bombed Hannover, Germany. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 General Erwin Rommel arrived in Tripoli, Libya, to take command of the Afrika Korps. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Hipper attacked Allied convoy HX53 800 miles west of Gibraltar at 0618 hours, sinking 7 ships (British ships arlaby, Westbury, Oswestry Grange, Shrewsbury, and Derrynane; Norwegian ship Borgestad; and Greek ship Perseus). At 0740 hours, Admiral Hipper broke off the attack as rain helped the remaining Allied transports escape. Admiral Hipper had nearly expended all of her 203-mm shells in this attack. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 Indian and Italian troops continued the fighting on the north side of the Dongolaas Gorge and in Happy valley on the south side of the gorge near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 A second convoy, consisted of ships Adana, Aegina, Kybfels, and Ruhr with troops of German Afrika Korps troops on board, departed Naples, Italy for North Africa. Italian destroyer Camicia Nera and torpedo boat Procione escorted the transports. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 In Abyssinia, Captain Richhpal Ram led an Indian attack despite having his right foot blown off. Even when he was fatally wounded he still encouraged his men on to victory. Captain Ram would be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 HMS Hermes captured an Italian merchant ship off Italian East Africa. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 Viktor Abakumov arrived at Moscow, Russia. 
0
12 Feb 1941 WW2 British Foreign Secretary and Chief of Imperial General Staff left London, England, United Kingdom for Cairo, Egypt to coordinate military assistance to Greece. They were also trying to create an anti-Axis agreement, which would soon be rebuffed by Yugoslavia and Turkey. 
0
13 Feb 1941 WW2 Two German submarines attacked Allied convoy HX-106 225 miles south of Iceland. U-96 sank British tanker Clea at 1508 hours, killing the entire crew of 59. U-103 stopped British tanker Arthur F. Corwin by two torpedoes, allowing U-96 to sink her at 1950 hours, killing the entire crew of 46. 
0
13 Feb 1941 WW2 British carrier HMS Formidable launched 14 Albacore aircraft against Massawa, Italian East Africa, sinking Italian ship Moncalieri and damaging others. Two Albacore aircraft were shot down with six crew members taken prisoner. 
0
13 Feb 1941 WW2 A German Fw 200 aircraft sank British antisubmarine trawler HMT Rubens 275 miles southwest of Ireland, killing the entire crew of 21. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 Hitler pressured Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite Pact. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 The second convoy of German Afrika Korps troops arrived at Tripoli, Libya, which included the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion and the 39th Anti-Tank Battalion. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 African Commonwealth troops captured the port city of Kismayu, Italian East Africa, with gunfire support from cruisers HMS Shropshire, HMS Hawkins, HMS Ceres, and HMS Capetown. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis, with a fleet of two prize ships and one supply ship, made rendezvous with German cruiser Admiral Scheer. The ships transferred supplies amongst each other while prize ship tanker Ketty Brøvig refueled Admiral Scheer. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-101 sank British ship Holystone 400 miles west of Ireland at 2257 hours, killing 40. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Bianchi sank British ship Belcrest west of Ireland. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 British motor torpedo boat MTB.41 hit a mine and sank in the North Sea, killing 8. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 Grayson was commissioned into service. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 The 14th Demi-Brigade de marche de la Légion Étrangère under the command of Colonel Raoul Magrin-Vernerey landed unopposed at Port Sudan, Sudan. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 Food transport ship Irako was launched at the Kawasaki Kobe Shipyard, Japan. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 Kichisaburo Nomura presented his credentials to Franklin Roosevelt at the White House, Washington DC, United States. 
0
14 Feb 1941 WW2 The rear echelon of the US Marine Corps 3rd Defense Battalion arrived at Midway. 
0
15 Feb 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom broke off diplomatic relations with Romania. 
0
15 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank British ship Alnmoor 600 miles west of Ireland at 0038 hours, killing the entire crew of 55. 
0
15 Feb 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Hipper arrived at Brest, France, after a short but successful cruise that sank 8 Allied ships totalling 34,000 tons. 
0
15 Feb 1941 WW2 British General Platt suspended the piecemeal attacks on Italian positions at Dongolaas Gorge near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. Instead, he began to plan for a larger offensive. 
0
15 Feb 1941 WW2 The US Congress approved the construction of a new base for the US Marine Corps' Fleet Marine Force at New River, North Carolina, United States. 
0
15 Feb 1941 WW2 An advance echelon of the US Marine Corps 1st Defense Battalion departed San Diego, California, United States aboard USS Enterprise for Johnston Island and Palmyra Atoll via Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
16 Feb 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Neptune, in dock for repairs, was damaged again by German bombing at Chatham, England, United Kingdom. 
0
16 Feb 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Ormonde was sunk by German aircraft 25 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom, killing 19. 
0
16 Feb 1941 WW2 British Swordfish aircraft of No. 830 Squadron from Malta sank Italian ship Juventus 5 miles off Chebba, Tunisia. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 An Italian Auto-Saharan Company detachment counterattacked Free French and British forces near Kufra, Libya in failure. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-101 sank British ship Gairsoppa 370 miles west of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom shortly after 0000 hours, killing 84. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 damaged British tanker Edwy R. Brown with five torpedoes 100 miles south of Iceland between 0633 and 0833 hours, eventually sinking the tanker. 50 took to two lifeboats, but they were never seen again. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-69 sank British ship Siamese Prince 200 miles northwest of Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 2212 hours. 57 took to lifeboats, but they were never seen again. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 Turkey and Bulgaria signed a friendship agreement in Sofia, Bulgaria. Under pressure from Germany, Turkey also agreed to not protest German troop movements through Bulgaria. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 British Admiral Sir Percy Noble was appointed Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches. 
0
17 Feb 1941 WW2 The decision to despatch a British Expeditionary Force to Greece was communicated to General Bernard Freyberg VC, General Officer Commanding New Zealand Division. The force initially was planned to consist of the New Zealand Division, 1st British Armoured Brigade, 6th Australian Division, Polish independent Brigade Group and 7th Australian Division. However Erwin Rommel's sudden advance into the Cyrenaica of Libya would result in the Poles and 7th Australian Division being held back to defend Tobruk. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 The German 5th Light Division (later renamed the 21st Panzer Division) was formed for operations in North Africa. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 Free French forces besieged El Tag fort at Kufra, Libya, bombarding the fort with 75-millimeter field guns (whose range was longer than their Italian counterparts) and 81-millimeter mortars. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 German aircraft mined the Suez Canal in Egypt, forcing the transit of carrier HMS Formidable into the Mediterranean Sea to be delayed. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96 sank British ship Black Osprey 140 miles south of Iceland at 0227 hours; 25 were killed, 11 survived. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank British ship Seaforth 330 miles south of Iceland at 2133 hours. 59 survivors took to lifeboats, but they were never seen again. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 South African 1st Division captured Mega, Abyssinia. 
0
18 Feb 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler met with tank generals and tank designers at his residence Berghof in southern Germany. He insisted on using larger (either 50-millimeter or 75-millimeter) high velocity guns for Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. He also demanded some soldiers to be released from the front to man tank factories. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 The Australian 8th Division arrived in Singapore. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 German bombers began a three-day campaign against the port city of Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, Chief of the General Staff John Dill, Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Archibald Wavell, and Mediterranean Fleet chief Admiral Andrew Cunningham met in Cairo, Egypt to discuss diverting forces from North Africa to aid Greece. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 The name German Africa Korps (Deutsches Afrikakorps) was established for German forces in North Africa. It began to patrol out of Tripoli, Libya. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 German Motor Torpedo Boats S.28, S.101, and S.102 raided the coast of Norfolk, England, United Kingdom, sinking British ship Algarve off Sheringham, killing the entire crew. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tigris sank French ships Jacobsen and Guilvinec 60 miles west of Bayonne, France. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-69 sank British ship Empire Blanda west of Scotland, United Kingdom at 0818 hours, killing 39. 
0
19 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank Norwegian ship Benjamin Franklin 360 miles northwest of Ireland at 2222 hours; the entire crew of 36 survived. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies arrived in Britain for talks with Winston Churchill. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 The German Africa Korps made contact with British patrols for the first time in North Africa, near El Agheila between Benghazi and Tripoli in Libya. In the sea, British submarine HMS Regent attacked German ships Arta, Heraklea, Menes, and Martiza carrying German Afrika Korps troops from Naples, Italy to Tripoli escorted by Italian destroyers Freccia, Saetta, and Turbine; Menes was damaged by a torpedo hit but was able to be towed to Tripoli; Saetta counterattacked HMS Regent, causing damage. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Ouse hit a mine and sank off Tobruk, Libya; 12 were killed and 9 survived. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian ship Eritrea, Italian armed merchant cruisers Ramb I and Ramb II, and German supply ship Coburg broke out of Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa and sailed into the Indian Ocean. Ramb I and Ramb II were ordered to sail east to raid Allied shipping in the Pacific Ocean. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sank Greek steamer Grigorios C II (27 survivors were taken prisoner) and captured British tanker British Advocate west of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. Advocate was to be sent to France as a prize ship. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe bombed Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom for the second consecutive night. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 The first Beaufighter IF figher (X7540) built at Bristol's new factory at Weston-super-Mare, England, United Kingdom was completed. 
0
20 Feb 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to his unit at Berck-sur-Mer, France after a period of rest at home. 
0
21 Feb 1941 WW2 Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom was attacked for the third consecutive and final day as bombers flew over the port city from 1950 hours until after midnight. Over the course of the three days, 35,000 incendiary bombs and 800 high explosive bombs were dropped on Swansea, killing 230 and wounding 409, but the strategically important docks and nearby oil refineries were relatively unaffected. 
0
21 Feb 1941 WW2 German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sank British ship Canadian Cruiser 575 miles west of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. Before being taken prisoner, the crew radioed for help, which was received by British cruiser HMS Glasgow. 
0
21 Feb 1941 WW2 British antisubmarine trawler HMT Lincoln City shot down a German bomber but was then bombed and sunk at Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, a constituent country of Denmark, killing 8. 
0
21 Feb 1941 WW2 British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, in the Red Sea awaiting transit through the Suez Canal while it was swept for mines, launched 7 Albacore aircraft to attack the harbor of Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, causing little damage. 
0
21 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Ursula attacked an Italian convoy it was en route between Trapani, Sicily, Italy and Tripoli, Italy. Italian ship Sabbia was damaged, but Ursula was damaged after being counterattacked by Italian torpedo boat Montanari. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 430 Dutch Jews were deported from Amsterdam to Auschwitz Concentration Camp as reprisal for the murder of a Dutch Nazi Party member. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau attacked a convoy of unescorted empty cargo ships en route to the United States, sinking three British cargo ships and two tankers, totaling 25,431 tons. 10 were killed and 180 were taken prisoner. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 British 11th and 12th African Divisions attacked and overran Italian positions at Jilib, Somaliland, Italian East Africa. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 Greek King George II and Commander-in-Chief General Alexander Papagos met with British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and General Archibald Wavell in Athens, Greece, designing a defense plan that assumed Yugoslavia would remain neutral. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 British monitor HMS Terror was spotted at about noon by a German Ju-88 aircraft off the Libyan coast. 5 Ju-88 aircraft were launched from Sicily, Italy at 1533 hours, and they intercepted HMS Terror 10 miles north of Derna, Libya at 1830 hours. Heavily damaged by near misses, HMS Terror was abandoned by her crew at 2200 hours. Minesweeper HMS Fareham and corvette HMS Salvia attempted to tow her back to port, but this effort would ultimately fail. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer sank Dutch collier Rantau Pandjang off the east coast of Africa. Distress signals were received by British cruiser HMS Glasgow, which was already aware of Admiral Scheer's presence by the sinking of British ship Canadian Cruiser on the previous day. HMS Glasgow launched her seaplane to search for the German raider, but the aircraft would return without any findings. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 Filipp Golikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 Dmitry Pavlov was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. 
0
22 Feb 1941 WW2 HMS Hermes was ordered to search for German cruiser Admiral Scheer in the Indian Ocean; the search did not yield any results. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 British monitor HMS Terror sank off the Libyan coast at 0420 hours after receiving fatal damage from German aircraft on the previous day. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft led German submarines U-69, U-73, U-96, U-107, and U-123 and Italian submarines Bianchi and Barbarigo to Allied convoy OB-288 300 miles south of Iceland. Just before midnight, U-69 sank British ship Marslew (13 killed, 23 rescued) and U-96 sank British ship Anglo-Peruvian (29 lost, 17 rescued). U-107 and Bianchi damaged and chased British ocean boarding vessel HMS Manistee through the night. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upright sank Italian ship Silvia Tripcovich 50 miles off Sfax, Tunisia. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 Prime Minister Alexandros Korizis of Greece accepted British offer of aid, but British and Greek commanders debated on the defense strategy against a German invasion through Bulgaria. The Greeks preferred to dig in along the Metaxas Line, while the British argued for a line further southwest along the Vermion Mountains and the Haliacmon River. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop hosted Hiroshi Oshima in his home in Germany, where Ribbentrop attempted to persuade the Japanese ambassador that it was the time for Japan to strike British territories in Asia. Ribbentrop argued that there was little worry regarding the United States as American possessions in Asia could be bypassed easily, but should the Americans decide to go to war, the Japanese Navy was vastly superior to the US Navy. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 British 12th African Division marched up the Juba River in Somaliland, Italian East Africa toward the Abyssinian border while the motorized British Nigerian Brigade of the 11th African Division drove up the coastal road toward Mogadishu. 
0
23 Feb 1941 WW2 Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg chemically identified the recently discovered new element Plutonium in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley, California, United States. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 British Manchester bombers of No. 207 Squadron from Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom made the Manchester model's operational debut by bombing Brest, France overnight and into the next day. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 Omar Bradley was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian ship Sabbia, damaged by a unsuccessful attack by British submarine HMS Ursula three days prior, nearly made it to Tripoli, Libya when she was intercepted and sunk by British submarine HMS Regent. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 300 miles south of Iceland, German submarine U-107 sank British ship HMS Manistee, killing the entire crew of 141, after a chase since the previous day. German submarines U-95 and U-96 and Italian submarine Bianchi attacked the other ships of Allied convoy OB-288 which HMS Manistee was a part of, sinking 7 merchant ships before dawn. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank 3 British ships and damaged Norwegian tanker G.C. Brøvig of Allied convoy OB-289 south of Iceland. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 A German patrol with tanks, armored cars, and motorcycles ambushed a British and Australian patrol west of El Agheila, Libya, taking 3 prisoners. 
0
24 Feb 1941 WW2 Three German He 111 bombers attacked British destroyers HMS Dainty and HMS Hasty in Tobruk harbor, Libya at 1900 hours. HMS Dainty was sunk by a 500kg bomb, killing 16. 
0
25 Feb 1941 WW2 February Strike: In occupied Amsterdam, a general strike began in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazi occupation administration. 
0
25 Feb 1941 WW2 German battleship Tirpitz was commissioned to Kapitän zur See Friedrich Karl Topp. 
0
25 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upright attacked an Italian convoy 45 miles off Sfax, Tunisia at 0343 hours, sinking Italian cruiser Armando Diaz; 464 were killed, 147 survived. The convoy was traveling from Naples, Italy to Tripoli, Libya. 
0
25 Feb 1941 WW2 Nigerian Brigade of the British 11th African Division captured Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland, Italian East Africa and the 400,000 gallons of fuel in its stores. 
0
25 Feb 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Exmoor either hit a mine and sank or was sunk by German motor torpedo boat S-30 12 miles off Lowestoft, England, United Kingdom; 105 killed, 32 survived. 
0
25 Feb 1941 WW2 Viktor Abakumov was named the NKVD deputy commissar. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 Before dawn, British destroyer HMS Decoy, destroyer HMS Hereward, and gunboat HMS Ladybird landed 200 commandos and 24 Royal Marines on the Italian-held Dodecanese island of Castelorizo, off the coast of Turkey, capturing a small Italian garrison. Italian aircraft responded, damaging HMS Ladybird, but was able to retrieve the raiders and sail for the British Crown Colony of Cyprus. The codename for the raid was Operation Abstention. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders claimed his 60th victory. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 American scientists Glenn Seaborg and Arthur Wahl discovered Plutonium. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-47 attacked Allied convoy OB-290 190 miles northwest of Ireland before dawn, sinking 3 merchant ships and damage 1. U-47 was attacked by depth charges, which called for assistance in the form of Fw 200 bombers of I. Gruppe KG 40 based in Bordeaux, France. The aircraft attacked the convoy from 0900 to 1845 hours, sinking 8 ships. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 German bombers sank 4 merchant ships and German motor torpedo boats sank 1 merchant ship at various locations on the British coast. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-70 sank Swedish ship Gotenborg south of Iceland. 
0
26 Feb 1941 WW2 Francisco Franco refused Hitler's 6 Feb 1941 request for Spain to enter the war. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 During the night, 30 British Wellington bombers from Wyton in Cambridgeshire, Marham in Norfolk, and Stradishall in Suffolk attacked battleship Tirpitz. The 26 aircraft that arrived attacked and reported success, though the actual results were questionable. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 Norwegian tanker Sandefjord, captured by German cruiser Admiral Scheer in the Atlantic Ocean on 18 Jan 1941, arrived in France with the cargo of 11,000 tons of crude oil. She was to be renamed Monsun and pressed into German service. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 Before dawn, Italian torpedo boats Lupo and Lince landed 240 troops on the Greek island of Kastelorizo near Turkey, then bombarded British positions after daybreak, killing 3 and wounding 7. The action was commenced to counter the British Operation Abstention. British destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Hereward, instead of counterattacking the Italian torpedo boats, departed for Egypt. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Leander sank Italian armed merchant cruiser Ramb I 200 miles west of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean; 113 survivors were picked up by HMNZS Leander and taken to Addu Atoll, Maldives. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Remillo hit a mine and sank in the Humber Estuary, England, United Kingdom, killing 17. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Bianchi British ship Baltistan west of Ireland; 51 were killed, 18 survived. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-47 sank British ship Holmelea west of Ireland overnight; 27 were killed, 11 survived. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau refueld from tankers Ermland and Friedrich Breme 1,000 miles west of the Azores. They also transferred 180 prisoners taken from Allied ships sunk on 22 Feb. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 The former US Ambassador to France made a public announcement in which he accused the United States of not doing nearly enough or working fast enough in the present international crisis. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 Yosuke Matsuoka arrived in Berlin, Germany. 
0
27 Feb 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Koki Yamamoto was named the commanding officer of the Mako naval port at Pescadores islands, Taiwan. 
0
28 Feb 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Hereward land 200 more British troops on the Greek island of Kastelorizo in the Dodecanese Islands to reinforce Operation Abstention; as the Italians reinforced the two torpedo boats in the area, Lupo and Lince, with destroyer Crispi, destroyer Sella, and two more torpedo boats, the British decided to cancel Operation Abstention; 40 British commandos were left behind and captured in the hastened retreat. To the north, German troops began to across into Bulgaria. Meanwhile, one squadron of RAF Hurricane fighters and one squadron of RAF Gladiator biplane fighters shot down 27 Italian aircraft over the Albanian mountains in support of Greek troops on the ground. 
0
28 Feb 1941 WW2 Bread ration was reduced from 350g to 280g in Vichy France. 
0
28 Feb 1941 WW2 During the night 23 British Hampden aircraft from Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom attacked battleship Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Low clouds resulted in only 4 aircraft locating the battleship, and they failed to hit their target. 
0
28 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian forces at Kufra, Libya began surrender negotiations with Free French and British forces. 
0
28 Feb 1941 WW2 British liner Anchises, damaged by a German Fw 200 aircraft of I./KG 40 on the previous day, began sinking slowly at 1130 hours. The remaining 33 crew members took to a lifeboat; 12 of them would be killed when the lifeboat was accidentally sucked under corvette HMS Kingcup's bow, which had arrived to rescue them. In the afternoon, German aircraft returned and completed Anchises' sinking with bombs. 
0
28 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank British ship Effna 200 miles south of Iceland at 2332 hours, killing the entire crew of 33. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 German troops entered Romania. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 US Navy established the Support Force Atlantic Fleet for the purpose of providing protection for merchant shipping. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Bulgarian Prime Minister Bogdan Filov signed the Tripartite Pact, which gave Germany the option of invading Greece through Bulgaria. Bulgaria was promised territories lost to Yugoslavia and Greece after WW1. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Bread rations in Italy was halved in order to increase food export to Germany. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Free French forces from Chad captured Kufra in southeastern Libya. The Italians suffered 3 killed (all 3 were Libyan colonial troops), 4 wounded, and 282 captured (29 Italians, 273 Libyan colonial troops); the French suffered 4 killed and 21 wounded. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer entered the South Atlantic from the Indian Ocean. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT St. Donats collided with destroyer HMS Cotswold and sank 45 miles east of Grimsby, England, United Kingdom. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Larissa, Greece suffered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 In Port Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, as HMS Formidable waited for mine clearing operations to complete in the Suez Canal, she launched 5 Albacore aircraft to bomb Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, causing little damage. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Hiroshi Nemoto was named the commanding officer of the 24th Division in China. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was promoted to the rank of Oberfähnrich. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Two battalions of Indian 4th Division and 2 Free French battalions reached Mescelit Pass 15 miles northeast of Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa; lacking artillery, the force's goal was only to tie down Italian forces in the region. On the same day, Italian submarines Gauleo Ferraras, Perla, and Archimede departed Massawa, Eritrea for the long journey around Africa for Europe. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Lieutenant General Hiroshi Takahashi was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Heinrich Himmler paid his first visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. During the visit, he ordered Commandant Rudolf Höss to expand the current camp to hold a total of 30,000 prisoners, expand the camp to Birkenau with capacity for 100,000 prisoners, supply 10,000 prisoners to work for the nearby I.G. Farben factory, and to expand the camp's agricultural and industrial output. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Lieutenant General Takaji Wachi was named the chief of staff of the Taiwan Army. 
0
01 Mar 1941 WW2 Mr. John Winant, the new United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was greeted by the Duke of Kent on his arrival by air. On his way to London by rail he was met and welcomed by His Majesty the King. 
0
02 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarines U-552, U-95, and U-147 attacked Allied convoy HX-109 170 miles northwest of Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom. At about midnight, U-552 sank tanker Cadillac (37 killed, 5 survived) while U-95 sank the ship Pacific (34 killed, 1 survived). Near the end of the day at 2212 hours, U-147 sank Norwegian ship Augvald (29 killed, 1 survived). 
0
02 Mar 1941 WW2 British 11th African Division began marching from Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland toward Jijiga, Abyssinia in pursuit of retreating Italian forces. 
0
02 Mar 1941 WW2 German Twelfth Army moved from Romania into Bulgaria the day after Bulgaria joined the Axis alliance. 
0
02 Mar 1941 WW2 The RAF conducted a heavy bombing raid on Köln (Cologne), Germany. 
0
02 Mar 1941 WW2 At Kufra, Libya, Free French Major Philippe Leclerc pledged not to lay down his weapons until the French flag once again flew over the cathedral at Strasbourg, France. 
0
02 Mar 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom severed diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. 
0
03 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel moved German 5th Light Division to a narrow pass 17 miles west of the Allied forward positions at El Agheila, Libya to block any Allied advances toward Tripoli. He also ordered the construction of defensive positions in the desert to the south to prevent the Allies from bypassing the pass. 
0
03 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian aircraft bombed Larissa, Greece; 5 bombers were shot down by RAF Hurricane fighters. 
0
03 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau reached the Cape Verde Islands area in Central Atlantic. 
0
03 Mar 1941 WW2 German submariner Bootsmannsmaat Artur Mei fell overboard from U-97 440 miles west of Ireland. He was never seen again. 
0
03 Mar 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps set up 8 men (6 Marines and 2 US Navy corpsmen) and 2 5-inch guns on Johnston Island. 
0
04 Mar 1941 WW2 Prince Paul, Regent of Yugoslavia, arrived in Berchtesgaden in Germany where Hitler applied further pressure for Yugoslavia to join Tripartite Pact. Hitler offered to cede Salonika and part of Macedonia to Yugoslavia in return for allowing German troops to transit into Greece. 
0
04 Mar 1941 WW2 Four British freighters departed Alexandria and Port Said, Egypt with men and equipment, escorted by destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Stuart, for Greece; it was codenamed Operation Lustre. Meanwhile, British General Wilson arrived in Athens, Greece to take command of all Allied ground forces; he discovered the Greek troops were still manning the Metaxas Line on the Bulgarian-Greek border rather than the agreed upon Aliakmon Line. From the sea, Italian warships bombarded Greek coastal positions in Albania. 
0
04 Mar 1941 WW2 Australian Walrus seaplane of HMAS Canberra spotted German ship Coburg and captured Norwegian tanker Ketty Brøvig, which was being used to supply German armed merchant cruisers. The German ships escaped HMAS Canberra's interception attempt. 
0
04 Mar 1941 WW2 Richard O'Connor was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. 
0
04 Mar 1941 WW2 HMS Hermes arrived at Colombo, Ceylon. 
0
04 Mar 1941 WW2 British landing ships HMS Queen Emma and HMS Princess Beatrix, escorted by five destroyers, landed 500 British Commandos, Royal Engineers, and Free Norwegian troops at four ports in the Loftoten Islands, off Narvik, Norway at dawn. Operation Claymore, the first large scale commando raid of the war, saw the destruction of fish oil factories (along with 3,600 tons of fish oil, used for high explosives) and nine merchant ships. An unexpected bonus was the discovery of coding rotors for the Enigma cryptographic sysyem found aboard German trawler Krebs. The raiders withdrew without a single casualty along with 228 German captives. 
0
05 Mar 1941 WW2 British reinforcement from North Africa arrived in Greece. On the same day, the British government broke off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria in response to their alliance with Germany. 
0
05 Mar 1941 WW2 Hermann Göring met with General Antonescu in Vienna, Austria, demanding Romanian participation in the upcoming German invasion of the Soviet Union. 
0
05 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Triumph sank Italian ships Marzamemi and Colombo Lo Faro 20 miles east of Catania, Sicily, Italy. 
0
05 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-95 sank Swedish ship Murjek, which had been broadcasting its neutral status continuously, with 5 torpedoes 200 miles south of Iceland at 0525 hours. The entire crew of 31 was killed. 
0
05 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler issued the order to the German Foreign Ministry to try to draw Japan into the war by attacking British possessions in Asia, but it was still important to keep the United States out of the war at this point. 
0
06 Mar 1941 WW2 Two British convoys departed from Alexandria, Egypt for Greece; the first convoy, consisted of British cruisers HMS York, HMS Bonaventure, and HMS Gloucester departed with troops to reinforce Greece; the second, consisted of freighters Clan Macauley and Cingalese escorted by destroyers, departed with tanks and equipment. At 0715 hours, an empty convoy returning from Greece to Egypt was attacked by Italian submarine Anfitrite east of Crete; Anfitrite was counterattacked and forced to the surface and was scuttled by her own crew. 
0
06 Mar 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Keryado hit a mine and sank in the English Channel, killing 9. 
0
06 Mar 1941 WW2 New German laws decreed that Polish farm workers were not to complain, were denied from any cultural events, and were forbidden to have sexual intercourse. 
0
06 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck departed Hamburg, Germany. 
0
06 Mar 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan with new skipper Captain Toichi Takahata. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck entered the Kiel Canal. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 Günther Prien passed away. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sighted an Allied convoy near Azores, but did not attack due to the presence of British battleship HMS Malaya. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarines U-47, U-70, U-90, and U-A attacked Allied convoy OB-293 320 miles northwest of Scotland, United Kingdom. British whaling factory ship Terje Viken (largest in the world) and British tanker Athelbeach were sunk, while two others were damaged. U-47 was lost with all 48 on board to unknown causes on the same day. U-70 was rammed by Dutch tanker Mijdrecht, then suffered a four-hour depth charging by corvettes HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus, killing 20; the 25 survivors eventually surrendered. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-37 sank Greek ship Mentor in the North Atlantic. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 12 German motor torpedo boats attacked British ships of convoys FN.426 and FS.429 off East Anglia, England, United Kingdom, sinking 5 ships, damaging 1 ship, and killing 59. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 German Jews began to be pressed into forced labor. 
0
07 Mar 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS York, HMS Bonaventure, and HMS Gloucester arrived at Piraeus, Greece, disembarking troops from North Africa. 
0
08 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck exited the Kiel Canal and entered Dock C of Deutsche Werke Kiel. 
0
08 Mar 1941 WW2 The Panzer Regiment of German 5th Light Division departed Naples, Italy aboard freighters Alicante, Arcturus, Wachtfels, and Rialto bound for Tripoli, Libya in two convoys. 
0
08 Mar 1941 WW2 British freighters Clan Macauley and Cingalese, escorted by destroyers HMS Nubian, HMS Mohawk, and HMS Wryneck Prince arrived in Piraeus, Greece with tanks and equipment from North Africa. 
0
08 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-A sank British ship Dunaff Head of Allied convoy OB-293 150 miles south of Iceland at 0119 hours; 5 were killed and 38 survived. Destroyer HMS Wolverine counterattacked and damaged U-A. 
0
08 Mar 1941 WW2 Off Western Africa, German submarines U-105, U-106, and U-124 received sighting reports of Allied convoy SL-67 from surface ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. They searched for the escorting battleship HMS Malaya in failure; instead, U-105 sank British ship Harmodius at 0341 hours and U-124 sank four ships between 0547 and 0608 hours. U-105 received damage from depth charges as she was counterattacked. A total of 62 British sailors were killed; 300 survivors were picked up. 
0
08 Mar 1941 WW2 Erich Raeder warned Adolf Hitler of a possible American landing in northwest Africa should the United States enter the war. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 Benito Mussolini visited Tiranë, Albania; he announced on radio that he would personally lead a renewed offensive against Greece. On queue, 12 Italian divisions attacked Greek lines through the Trebeshinë heights between Osum and Vjosë Rivers, but the Greek First Army was generally able to hold the lines. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarines HMS Unique, HMS Upholder, HMS Upright, and HMS Utmost detected an Italian convoy 35 miles off the coast of Tunisia. HMS Utmost made an unsuccessful attack on the armed merchant cruiser Deffenu but was able to sink the freighter Capo Vita. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 Minesweeping work completed in the Suez Canal in Egypt, and British Royal Navy commanders gave aircraft carrier HMS Formidable the go ahead to sail through from the Red Sea into the canal. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 German cruiser Scharnhorst sank Greek ship Marathon 250 miles north of Cape Verde Islands after taking the entire crew prisoner. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Gulfoss hit a mine and sank in the English Channel 3 miles south of Dungeness, Kent, England, United Kingdom, killing 10. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 British RAF Bomber Command was ordered to mount attacks on German U-Boat bases, construction yards and industries associated with their manufacture.  
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 Vichy France announced that authorization was now needed for Jews to sell or rent a company. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 Polish Jews from the city of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) began to be deported to the town of Chrzanow in southern Poland. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 German aircraft bombed London, England, United Kingdom overnight, damaging Buckingham Palace and destroying the underground nightclub Café De Paris; 80 patrons were killed at the latter. 
0
09 Mar 1941 WW2 A Japanese intelligence network was established in San Diego, California, United States to observe the transportation of war materials. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 The German 5th Panzer Regiment arrived in North Africa. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 French diplomat Gaston Henry-Haye was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in the United States. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank Icelandic trawler Reykjaborg with surface weapons 460 miles southeast of Iceland at midnight, killing 12. Of the 3 survivors, 1 of them would die before being rescued by British corvette HMS Pimpernel four days later. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS H.28 was damaged during a collision with a freighter in the Irish Sea. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Unique sank Italian ship Fenicia 100 miles northwest of Tripoli, Libya. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom overnight, killing 10 people on shore, sinking minesweeping trawler HMT Revello (killing 1) and damaging destroyer HMS Sherwood, destroyer HMS Witherington, destroyer HMS Tynedale, training ship HMS Marshal Soult, and 4 minesweeping trawlers. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 Nikolai Voznesensky stepped down as the Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Soviet Union and took the new role as the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 Maksim Saburov became the Chairman of State Planning Committee of the Soviet Union. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 The British Nigerian Brigade engaged Italian units at Degehabur, Abyssinia, about 100 miles south of Jijiga. 
0
10 Mar 1941 WW2 The newly worked-up aircraft carrier, HMS Formidable, passed through the Suez Canal to join Admiral Andrew Cunningham's Mediterranean fleet at Alexandria, Egypt, which has been without an armoured carrier since HMS Illustrious had been withdrawn as a result of the serious damage it had suffered from enemy dive-bombers in January 1941. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-74 attacked Icelandic trawler Frodi with her deck gun 192 miles southeast of Iceland at 0800 hours. 5 were killed in the attack. Frodi would be able to escape to Vestmannaeyjar Island on the next day. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship Memnon 200 miles west of Senegal, French West Africa, killing 5. Of the 69 survivors, 4 were captured by German battlecruiser Gneisenau, 22 made land in Senegal on 21 Mar, and 43 made land in Sierra Leone on 24 Mar. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 The Panzer Regiment of German 5th Light Division completed disembarking from freighters at Tripoli, Libya. A parade was staged with the newly arrived tanks, with some of the tanks going around the town multiple times to make their numbers seem greater. The tanks headed east toward Sirte after the parade. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 135 German aircraft dropped 122 tons of high explosive bombs and 830 incendiary bombs on Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 During the night of 11 to 12 Mar, six British Handley Page Halifax bombers of No. 35 Squadron of No. 4 Group from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom attacked Le Havre, France. It was the operational debut of the four-engine heavy bomber. It was marred by the accidental shoot-down of one of them by an RAF nightfighter. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 Japan dictated that France would return parts of Cambodia and Laos, which the French had gained from Thailand about 40 years prior, to Thailand. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 As English diplomats arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, a bomb smuggled into their luggage exploded, killing 2. 
0
11 Mar 1941 WW2 US President Roosevelt signed the Lend Lease Act into law, which allowed Allied nations to purchase weapons and other supplies from the United States on credit. 
0
12 Mar 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill thanked the US for "a new Magna Carta", referring to the Lend-Lease Act signed into law on the previous day. 
0
12 Mar 1941 WW2 Benito Mussolini visited Italian troops in Albania to bolster morale. 
0
12 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-37 sank Icelandic trawler Pétursey with surface weapons 300 miles south of Iceland at 1805 hours. All 10 crew members were reported to have taken to lifeboats, but they would never been seen again. 
0
12 Mar 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Merseyside (containing the city of Liverpool), England, United Kingdom. 8 merchant ships were sunk, one floating crane was destroyed, and 174 people were killed in the town of Wallasey. 
0
13 Mar 1941 WW2 Germany repeated demands for Yugoslavia to join the Axis alliance. 
0
13 Mar 1941 WW2 236 German bombers attacked Glasgow and Clydeside, Scotland, United Kingdom for the first time, targeting munitions factories and docks, sinking 3 cargo ships and damaging 2 destroyers. To the south, German bombers attacked Liverpool for the second night in a row, pushing total casualty to about 500. 
0
13 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler appointed Alfred Rosenberg the minister of the eastern occupied territories, while further conquests would be assigned to Heinrich Himmler. Hermann Göring was given the responsibility of exploiting the resources in conquered Soviet territory. 
0
13 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel moved his headquarter to Sirte, Libya. 
0
13 Mar 1941 WW2 British sloop HMS Scarborough intercepted Norwegian whalers Star XIX and Star XXIV, which were captured on 15 Jan 1941 by German merchant raider Pinguin, 400 miles north of the Azores. Both whalers were scuttled by their German crews to prevent capture. 
0
13 Mar 1941 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was wounded in combat. 
0
14 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck began embarking supplies at Scheerhafen, Kiel. 
0
14 Mar 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii; among the passengers disembarked was Kita Nagao, the newly appointed Japanese Consul General to hawaii. 
0
14 Mar 1941 WW2 Seeing the Greeks had repeated repulsed Italian attacks in the past few days, Italian Chief of the Supreme Command General Ugo Cavallero recommended Benito Mussolini to halt the Primavera Offensive. On the same day, 5 British Swordfish torpedo bombers from Paramythia, Greece struck Vlorë, Albania, sinking Italian hospital ship Po and ship Santa Maria at the loss of one aircraft. 
0
14 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Emo sank British ship Western Chief 250 miles south of Iceland, killing 22. 
0
14 Mar 1941 WW2 203 German bombers bombed Glasgow and Clydebank, Scotland, United Kingdom for the second night in a row, damaging shipyards and the Rolls Royce aircraft engine factory. 
0
14 Mar 1941 WW2 The British Admiralty placed an order for a new battleship (to a design by Sir Stanley Goodall) to be built at Clydebank, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 Indian 4th and 5th Divisions attacked Italian positions at 0700 hours near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, capturing hilltops on either side of the gorge after an entire day of fighting in which both sides suffered heavy casualties. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 US shipping company American Export Lines announced that it would stop taking orders from Lisbon, Portugal because there were too many refugees waiting in its ports. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 Japanese troops launched an offensive towards Shanggao, Jiangxi Province, China. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 Belgian politicians formed the cross-party resistance organization Independence Front at Liege. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck received two aircraft at Scheerhafen, Kiel. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau attacked an Allied convoy 950 miles east of Nova Scotia, Canada, sinking 3 tankers (killing 7, most of the survivors were captured) and capturing 3 tankers. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 made rendezvous with armed merchant cruiser Kormoran 650 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands and received 7 torpedoes and other supplies. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-110 detected Allied convoy-112, consisted of 41 merchant ships escorted by 7 warships, and shared the finding with U-37, U-74, U-99, and U-100. Overnight, U-110 set British tanker Erodona on fire with a torpedo, killing 36, but she would be towed to Iceland for repairs. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian Navy's Special Weapons Section of 1a Flottiglia MAS, based at La Spezia in Italy, was renamed 10th MAS Flotilla, which served only as a cover name as the special forces function of the unit would not change. 
0
15 Mar 1941 WW2 Benjamin Kelsey was promoted to the war time rank of major. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 At Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, British 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment climbed up the steep mountain to attack Italian positions at Fort Dologorodoc overnight; to the British troops' advantage, some of the Italian troops had departed from the fort to attack Indian 5th Mahratta Light Infantry Regiment at the base of the mountain, allowing the fort to be captured at 0630 hours after about 2 hours of combat, yielding 400 prisoners of war. In British Somaliland, 2 Indian battalions conducted an amphibious landing at Berbera; the port was defended by only 60 Italian troops, who surrendered without resisting. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-100 became the first submarine to be tracked by radar. It was sunk by HMS Vanoc with depth charges. Only 6 of the 44 crew survived; commanding officer Joachim Scepke went down with U-100. In the same action, U-99 was scuttled after being damaged by HMS Walker; most of the crew survived, including the captain Otto Kretschmer. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau attacked an Allied convoy 950 miles east of Nova Scotia, Canada between 0428 and 1550 hours, sinking or capturing 10 ships. Danish ship Chilean Reefer sent distress signals and returned fire with her deck gun, and was sunk by Gneisenau's 11-inch shells, killing 9. British battleship HMS Rodney received the distress signals, but arrived only after the German ships had already departed the area. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 The Italian Primavera Offensive was called off after 8 days after the Italians had suffered 12,000 casualties. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British anti-submarine trawler HMT Lady Lilian and damaged HMT Angle 85 miles west of Ireland. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Parthian damaged Italian steamer Giovanni Boccaccio 50 miles east of Malta. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank Dutch ship Almkerk 220 miles off the coast of Gambia, British West Africa. The entire crew of 66 survived the attack and took to 2 lifeboats, and all would survive. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 162 German bombers attacked Bristol, England, United Kingdom overnight, targeting the docks at Avonmouth and the city center; 257 were killed, 391 were wounded. 
0
16 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler predicted that the United Kingdom would fall by 1942. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 US Coast Guard cutter Cayuga delivered American representatives to Greenland in search of suitable locations for bases. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 In Britain, jam and marmelade rationed to 8 ounces per person per month. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarines U-99 and U-100 attacked Allied convoy HX-112 250 miles southeast of Iceland; U-99 sank 2 freighters and three tankers, while damaging another tanker. At 0318 hours, destroyers HMS Walker and HMS Vanoc depth charged U-100, forcing her to surface, then HMS Vanoc rammed U-100; as U-100 sank, 38 were killed, including commanding officer Kapitänleutnant Joachim Schepke. At 0343 horus, HMS Walker dropped 6 depth charges on U-99, killing 3 and forcing her to surface from heavy damage. U-99 was scuttled by her crew. 6 U-100 and 40 U-99 officers and men were captured by the British, including U-99's commanding officer Korvettenkapitän Otto Kretschmer. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck departed Kiel, arriving at Gotenhafen on the same day. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel sent a message to the besieged Italian garrison at Giarabub in southeastern Libya, asking the troops to hold on for a few more weeks and promising that his forces would arrive in relief in that time. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 Frenchman Francois Scornet, 22, became the only civilian to be executed by firing squad in Jersey of the Channel Islands throughout the German occupation. Scornet was one of 16 young Army Cadets who had fled France in a small boat with the intention of joining the Free French forces in England, United Kingdom. Lost in rough weather, they sailed into Guernsey, Channel Islands believing it to be the Isle of Wight and were captured. As an example to other escapees, Scornet was picked out as the ringleader and shot. After the war his remains were reinterred in his home village in Brittany, France. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran and submarine U-124 made rendezvous with cruiser Admiral Scheer 1,150 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands. U-124 transferred quartz aboard Admiral Scheer for her radar; although planned, the transfer of torpedoes from Kormoran to U-124 was canceled due to rough seas. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106, after tracking Allied convoy SL-68 for the past two days, struck 250 miles west of Dakar, French West Africa at 2107 hours, sinking British ship Andalusian and Dutch ship Tapanoeli. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 British 11th African Division captured Jijiga, Abyssinia, Italian East Africa unopposed. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 HMS Dianthus was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander Clement Bridgman in command. 
0
17 Mar 1941 WW2 Richard Saul was made Companion of the Order of the Bath. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 US and Canada declared a joint defense pact, which included cooperation in ship building efforts on the Great Lakes. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian troops bombarded Fort Dologorodoc near Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, which British and Indian had only recently gained. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel departed North Africa for a meeting with Adolf Hitler. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion arrived at American Samoa. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler met with Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, and Erich Raeder; Raeder urged Hitler to convince Japan to attack Singapore and recommended Hitler to reveal the plans of the Soviet invasion to Japan. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Vlorë, Albania, sinking Italian torpedo boat Aldebaran. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 attacked Allied convoy SL-68 west of Senegal, French West Africa at 0400 hours, sinking British ship Medjerda, killing the entire crew of 52 and 2 gunners. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran transferred 7 torpedoes to submarine U-124 1,050 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck entered the Baltic Sea for trials. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 Germany centralized all coal mining and distribution. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 British armed boarding vessel Rosaura, carrying Italian prisoners of war, hit a mine and sank off Tobruk, Libya. 14 crew, 5 guards, and 59 Italians were killed. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 British Swordfish torpedo bombers of Fleet Air Arm 830 Naval Air Squadron based in Malta bombed the harbor at Tripoli, Libya; 1 Swordfish aircraft was shot down, with its crew of 2 taken prisoner. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 The French government-in-exile in Britain established a central bank. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 German 1st S-boat Flotilla (with 6 motor torpedo boats) raided shipping on the east coast of England, United Kingdom, sinking French ship Daphne II off the Humber Estuary. 
0
18 Mar 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader was promoted to the rank of wing commander. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 The French government-in-exile in Britain established a central bank. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 Mass-produced vegetable casseroles went on sale in Britain for 8 pence per pound. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel met with Adolf Hitler, Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch, and Chief of Staff General Franz Halder. Rommel was told to expect no reinforcements in Libya until May, when the German 15th Panzer Division would be assigned to him. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler gave Prince Paul of Yugoslavia an ultimatum, asking him to join the Tripartite Pact within five days, or face invasion. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 sank Dutch ship Mandalika of Allied convoy SL-68 350 miles west of Nouakchott, Mauritania, French West Africa. 3 were killed and 62 survivors were rescued by British corvette HMS Marguerite. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 Scharnhorst and Gneisenau began their return voyage to Brest, France. 
0
19 Mar 1941 WW2 370 German Luftwaffe aircraft bombed London, England, United Kingdom, killing 750. Several freighters and auxiliary anti-aircraft ship Helvellyn were sunk or damaged in London docks. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Indian troops captured Hargeisa in Italian-occupied British Somaliland. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin was assured by this staff that Germany would not attack the Soviet Union until United Kingdom was defeated. Meanwhile, the United States shared the intelligence of a possible German invasion of the Soviet Union with Soviet Ambassador Konstantin Umansky. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler appointed Alfred Rosenberg the Delegate for Central Planning for Questions of the Eastern European Area. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel received Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were detected by aircraft of the British Coastal Command; they were met by German aircraft at 1900 hours, escorting them as they headed for Brest, France. Meanwhile, two ships that they had captured 5 days prior, tankers Bianca and San Casimiro, were spotted by British aircraft from carrier HMS Ark Royal; battleship HMS Renown would advance in an attempt to recapture. The German crew scuttled both tankers before surrendering themselves along with the 46 prisoners of war aboard the two ships. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 King George and Queen Elizabeth visited Plymouth, England, United Kingdom where they took tea with Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to take a seat in the commons. The local people took the Royal visit as a "gala day" with bands and dancing on the Hoe, but no sooner had the Royal party departed 125 German bombers appeared overhead causing great damage to the docks (sinking British tug HMS Sir Bevois (9 killed), tug HMS Elan, and transport Mari II) and city centre. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 damaged Dutch ship Meerkerk of Allied convoy SL-68 and escorting battleship HMS Malaya 550 miles west of Nouakchott, Mauritania, French West Africa at 2323 hours. HMS Malaya received temporary repairs at Trinidad and then was sent to New York Naval Yard in the US for permanent repairs which would last for four months. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Heß, Fritz Todt, Reinhard Heydrich, and other top Nazi German official met in Berlin, Germany to discuss plans for resettling Eastern Europe with Germans. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 A flight of three Manchester bombers from RAF Waddington in England, United Kingdom set out to bomb German submarines at Lorient, France. Less than thirty minutes into the mission one aircraft developed an engine fire which forced its captain to order the crew to abandon the stricken aircraft. Four crewmen jumped but only two survived and two others were killed. The pilot (with one other crewman still aboard) then attempted to bring the aircraft home but in attempting to land struck a tree and crashed, killing both airmen. Aircraftsman Charles Leonard Wheatley, seeing that the fire threatened to explode the high-explosive bombs still aboard, bravely fought the fire, from only two yards away, and successfully prevented any further damage to the base. For this gallant action Wheatley would be awarded the George Medal from the King on 4 Nov 1941. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States; among the disembarked passengers was Colonel Hideo Iwakuru, who was dispatched by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to Washington DC to help the Japanese Embassy in reconciling relations with the United States. 
0
20 Mar 1941 WW2 Rather than accepting dictated German terms, four Yugoslavian ministers resigned their posts. 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 Yugoslavians protested Prince Paul's pact with Hitler. Many ministers resigned in protest. 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 After laying siege to the Italian garrison at Giarabub in southeastern Libya for the past three months, Australian forces finally gathered enough strength to begin a large scale assault. 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were detected by aircraft of the British Coastal Command. They were met by friendly aircraft at 1900 hours, escorting them as they headed for Brest, France. 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 attacked Allied convoy SL-68 500 miles west of Cap blanc, French West Africa at 0046 hours, sinking British ships Clan Ogilvy (61 killed, 24 survived) and Benwyvis (34 killed, 21 survived). At 2200 hours, U-105 attacked the same convoy again, sinking British ship Jhelum (8 killed, 49 survivors). 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 German aircraft attacked Allied convoy AS-21 en route between Piraeus, Greece and Alexandria, Egypt, sinking Greek ship Embiricos Nicolaos (2 killed) and damaging Norwegian tanker Solheim (1 killed). 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 Nigerian Brigade of British 11th African Division attacked Italian defenses at Marda Pass east of Hadew in eastern Abyssinia at 1200 hours. Italian defenses held off the attacks for hours before falling back after sundown. 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 German aircraft attacked British shipping off various ports in England, United Kingdom; minesweeping trawler HMT Asama was sunk near Plymouth, ship Millisle was sunk off Bristol (10 killed), and ship London II was sunk off Swansea (4 killed). 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed San Francisco, California, United States; among the passengers was German Army General Werner Thiel. 
0
21 Mar 1941 WW2 George Murray was named the commanding officer of USS Enterprise. 
0
22 Mar 1941 WW2 Britain agreed to allow American ships to deliver emergency flour to Vichy France. 
0
22 Mar 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran stopped empty British tanker Agnita with shellfire in the Mid-Atlantic about halfway between Brazil and British West Africa. After capturing the crew, the Germans sank Agnita with demolition charges, nine 105mm shells, and one torpedo. 
0
22 Mar 1941 WW2 The first production Beaufighter IIF fighter (R2270) with 1,280 hp Merlin XX engines was completed. 
0
22 Mar 1941 WW2 Edward Heath, the future British Prime Minister (1970-1974), was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery. 
0
22 Mar 1941 WW2 German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were met by friendly destroyers at 0300 hours as they approached Brest, France. They docked shortly after 0700 hours, ending Operation Berlin. 
0
22 Mar 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops continued to hold Fort Dologorodoc in Eritrea, Italian East Africa despite repeated Italian counterattacks and shelling. Elsewhere, in Abyssinia, Italian troops declared Harar an open city. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 Anti-Axis demonstrations were held in Yugoslavia. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 Australian troops captured Giarabub in southeastern Libya. The commander of the Italian garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Castagna, was captured and would spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in India. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-110 fired a spread of three torpedoes at Norwegian ship Siremalm 200 miles southwest of Iceland at 0427 hours. One torpedo hit but failed to explode, while the other two missed. U-110 next attempted to attack with her deck gun, but a crewman had forgotten to remove the water plug from the gun, causing it to explode, wounding three men and causing some damage. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMT Visenda sank German submarine U-551 in the North Atlantic, killing the entire crew of 45. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank British tanker Chama 600 miles west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom at 2326 hours, killing the entire crew of 59. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 Greek submarine Triton attacked an Italian convoy 20 miles east of Brindisi, Italy. The transport Carnia was damaged; she would be towed to Brindisi where she intended to receive repairs, but she would ultimately be lost. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel departed Europe for Libya. 
0
23 Mar 1941 WW2 South African 2nd Division arrived in the recently recaptured Berbera, British Somaliland by sea. In Abyssinia, Nigerian Brigade of British 11th African Division advanced 36 miles toward Addis Ababa to Babile Pass, where they were paused for several hours by Italian defensive positions. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 Axis forces opened Rommel's offensive in North Africa at 0600 hours. Australian troops on the front line destroyed a leading German armored car, but they were soon overwhelmed by German tanks. Axis forces would capture El Agheila, Libya, the furthest point of the British advance against the Italians. British 2nd Armoured Division fell back 30 miles to Marsa Brega. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel returned to Libya after a series of meetings in Germany and Italy. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 German and Italian ships continued to leave Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa ahead of Allied advances, while Allied warships attempted to intercept them. British sloop HMS Shoreham intercepted German ship Oder, which was scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture. British Royal Navy aircraft detected Italian freighter India; to prevent capture by British warships that were sure to come, the crew entered the port of Assab nearby. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank Norwegian ship Hørda 750 miles west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom at 1643 hours, killing the entire crew of 30. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Veniero sank British ship Agnete Maersk in the Atlantic Ocean, killing the entire crew. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship Eastlea 40 miles east of Boa Vista, Cape Verde Islands, killing the entire crew of 37. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 It was announced that the Soviet Union had given Turkey an assurance that the USSR would stay neutral if Turkey found herself in conflict with a third power. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 James Lacey, flying a Spitfire fighter, damaged a German Fw 190 aircraft. 
0
24 Mar 1941 WW2 The RAF conducted its first bombing raid on Berlin, Germany for the year. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops attacked Italian positions on the heights above the Dongolaas Gorge in Eritrea, Italian East Africa at 0300, capturing 2 small hills and 500 prisoners by 0530 hours, gaining control of the road through the gorge. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor sank British liner Britannia 750 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa. 203 crew and 281 passengers (most of which were British military personnel) took to lifeboats. Thor began to rescue the survivors, but after taking on only one man, Thor detected British radio transmissions and fled the area before British warship arrived (which never came). 255 survivors of Britannia would be lost. Later on the same day, Thor sank Swedish merchant ship Trolleholm, capturing the entire crew of 31. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran captured empty Canadian tanker Canadolite in the Mid-Atlantic about halfway between British West Africa and Brazil; Canadolite was sent to Brest, France as a prize ship. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian destroyers Crispi and Sella departed Leros, Dodecanese Islands in Greece, each carrying three 2-ton motor assault boats loaded with 300-kg explosives. At 2330 hours, the destroyers released the motor boats 10 miles off Suda Bay, Crete, Greece to attack British warships. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Rodolfo Graziani stepped down as the Governor-General of Italian Libya, succeeded by Italo Gariboldi. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Two Swordfish aircraft squadrons of HMS Eagle were temporarily transferred to Port Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Prime Minister Dragisa Cvetkovic of Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact at Vienna, Austria; in secret, Yugoslavia had also allowed German troops to travel on Yugoslavian railroads for an attack on Greece. Upon hearing of the signing of this document, anti-Axis demonstrations escalated in Belgrade. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Captain Kiichi Hasegawa was assigned the commanding officer of Akagi. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Petre Dumitrescu was named the commanding officer of Romanian 3rd Army. 
0
25 Mar 1941 WW2 Jams and marmalade ration in Britain was reduced to 8 ounces per person per month and meat ration cut to 6 ounces per person per week. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 The German Army High Command authorized the RSHA organization to operate death squads (Einsatzgruppen) in occupied Poland. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Six Italian explosive motor boats crippled Norwegian tanker Pericles and British cruiser HMS York (killing 2) in Suda Bay, Crete, Greece at 0446 hours; all six Italian boat drivers survived the attack, but all were captured. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 British conscripts could now opt for civil defense duties. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto, 5 cruisers, and 10 destroyers sortied out of Naples, Taranto, and Brindisi in Italy to patrol the area of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Greece; the goal was to attack Allied convoys bringing troops and supplies to Greece. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Anti-Axis demonstrations continued in Yugoslavia. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill sent a message to Archibald Wavell, hinting at Wavell's timidity in countering the recent Axis advances in Libya; he said "e are naturally concerned at rapid German advance to El Agheila. It is their habit to push on wherever they are not resisted. I presume you are only waiting for the tortoise to stick his head out far enough before chopping it off." 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Canadian armed yacht HMCS Otter caught fire and sank off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, killing 19. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 In a radio broad cast to the American people, US Colonel William Donovan said about the East African campaign, "The British have done a superb job, a better job than they have let the world discover". 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka arrived in Berlin, Germany. He was not met by Joachim von Ribbentrop immediately as his German counterpart was busy with the recent political developments in Yugoslavia. 
0
26 Mar 1941 WW2 Allied troops repaired the road running through Dongolaas Gorge in Eritrea, Italian East Africa. Italian troops at nearby heights only realized this after nightfall, by then it was too late to stop the Allied column that was starting to advance, thus the Italians began to withdraw to Keren. Meanwhile, in Abyssinia, The British Nigerian Brigade captured Harar unopposed. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 The US Congress approved US$7,000,000,000 for the Lend-Lease program. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-98 sank British ship Koranton 400 miles southwest of Iceland at 1350 hours, killing the entire crew of 34. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa to be postponed due to changing political situations in the Balkan Peninsula. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 Allied tanks and infantry captured heights beyond the Dongolaas Gorge in Eritrea, Italian East Africa. By 1000 hours, Keren was captured without opposition as Italian troops fled toward Asmara. The Battle of Keren ended with 536 Allies killed and 3,229 wounded, while the Italians suffered 6,500 casualties. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 Battleship HMS Warspite, battleship HMS Barham, battleship HMS Valiant, carrier HMS Formidable, and nine destroyers of the British Mediterranean Fleet departed Alexandria, Egypt to hunt for an Italian fleet known to have departed bases in Italy. Four cruisers and four destroyers also departed from Piraeus, Greece, launching spotter planes to search for the Italian fleet, locating it at noon. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Pöttgen of German submarine U-46 fell overboard from the submarine and was lost. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka met with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, Germany in the morning; Ribbentrop noted to Matsuoka that the United States was intimidated by the Axis alliance thus would not enter into the war even if Japan joined in to strike at British possessions in Asia. In the afternoon, Matsuoka met with Adolf Hitler. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 The first transfers of prisoners out of Oflag IV-C camp at Colditz Castle in Germany took place; 27 Polish officers were moved to Oflag VII-B in Eichstätt, Germany. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrived at the US Territory of Hawaii aboard the passenger liner Nitta Maru, under the guise of a diplomat. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 American and British representatives met at Washington DC, United States. 
0
27 Mar 1941 WW2 General Dusan Simovic and other anti-German officers overthrew the pro-Axis government in Yugoslavia, placing Regent Prince Paul with King Petar II and intending to back out of the Tripartite Pact. Upon hear the news, Adolf Hitler ordered an invasion of Yugoslavia; the German foreign ministry prepared messages to Hungary, Bulgaria, and Italy for them to join in the partition Yugoslavia. On the same day, 500 German military aircraft were dispatched for Bulgaria and Romania. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 150 miles off Cape Matapan, Greece at 0635 hours, Italian seaplane spotted a group of four Allied cruisers, and three Italian cruisers moved in to attack, engaging in combat at 0812 hours, to be joined by the big guns of Italian battleships at 1055 hours; after the morning's exchange of shellfire, all four Allied cruisers were damaged by near misses. At 1200 and 1509 hours, Allied torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable attacked, putting battleship Vittorio Veneto out of action for about 90 minutes at the cost of one aircraft. At 1936 hours, HMS Formidable's aircraft returned, joined by land-based aircraft from Crete, Greece, putting cruiser Pola out of action, but failed to catch Vittorio Veneto as she had received temporary repairs and was already en route back to Taranto, Italy. After dark, British battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant, and HMS Warspite moved in within 3.5 kilometers of the Italian cruisers undetected, opening fire at 2330 hours on the unsuspecting Italians. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 Armored cars of Indian 4th Division and Indian 5th Division pursued Italian troops withdrawing from Keren, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. Italian rear guards fought a series of delay action engagements, slowing Allied advances by taking advantage of the terrain. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian torpedo boat Chinotto hit a British mine and sank off Palermo, Sicily, Italy. The mines in the region were laid by British submarine HMS Rorqual on 25 Mar 1941. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Utmost sank German ship Heraklea and damaged German ship Ruhr off the coast of Tunisia, Italian North Africa. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 En route to Brest, France, German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were spotted by a British Spitfire fighter pilot. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka again met with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, Germany. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 Before dawn in Berlin, Germany, General Franz Halder completed the German invasion plan for Yugoslavia. 
0
28 Mar 1941 WW2 Anti-Axis demonstrations continued in Yugoslavia. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 Vichy France established an office to deal with Jewish affairs, placing Xavier Vallat at its helm. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 British battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant, and HMS Warspite continued to shell the Italian fleet off Cape Matapan, Greece. Italian cruiser Fiume, cruiser Zara, destroyer Alfieri, and destroyer Carducci were sunk, while destroyer Oriani was heavily damaged. At 0400 hours, British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Nubian approached damaged Italian cruiser Pola, captured her crew, and sank her with torpedoes. British ships rescued 905 Italian sailors but hurriedly departed at daybreak, fearing Luftwaffe attack; the Royal Navy would provide coordinates of remaining survivors to Italian ship Gradisca to continue to rescue. The Battle of Cape Matapan would close with 5 Italian warships lost, killing 2,303 men; the British suffered only 3 killed, the air crew of a single torpedo bomber lost on 28 Mar 1941. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 After 3 days of inaction caused by sandstorms, German tanks and armored cars advanced at El Agheila, Libya, engaging British counterparts in the desert between El Agheila and Mersa Brega. Behind Allied lines, Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed an Allied train carrying gasoline. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-48 attacked Allied convoy HX-115 120 miles south of Iceland between 0619 and 0806 hours, sinking 3 freighters. Most survivors were picked up by British corvette HMS Dianella. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-46 sank Swedish ship Liguria 300 miles southwest of Iceland at 1750 hours; 19 were killed, 10 survived. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 South African 1st Brigade relieved the Nigerian Brigade in the Allied assault into Italian-occupied Abyssinia, capturing railway town of Diredawa and its airfield. 
0
29 Mar 1941 WW2 Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka again met with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, Germany. Ribbentrop offered Matsuoka that, should the Soviet Union attack Japan while Japan embarked on a military campaign against British possessions in Asia, Germany would lend military assistance. Matsuoka countered, noting that the Soviet Union seemed to be friendly toward Japan. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 Construction of defenses for the US Navy base at Palmyra and Jonston Islands began. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 An aircraft carrying British Air Marshal Arthur Tedder crash-landed in the Western Sahara; Tedder was not injured. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-69 sank British ship Coultarn 300 miles southwest of Iceland at 0734 hours, killing 3. 39 survivors were later picked up by British armed merchant cruiser HMS California. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Rorqual sank Italian tanker Laura Corrado 33 miles northwest of Trapani, Sicily, Italy with torpedoes and the deck gun. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel ordered German 5th Light Division commander General Johannes Streich to capture Mersa Brega, Libya. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Dagabur attacked British cruiser HMS Bonaventure, escorting Allied convoy GA-8, in the Mediterranean Sea between Crete, Greece and Egypt at 2027 hours. The attack failed to damage the British ship. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Umona 90 miles southwest of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2300 hours. 102 were killed and 5 survived. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 The British RAF launched 109 aircraft after sundown to attack German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France. 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 In a lengthy speech in the Cabinet Room of the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Hitler told his assembled commanders of his intention to "exterminate" communism "for all time". 
0
30 Mar 1941 WW2 At a conference in Washington DC, United States, the US and the United Kingdom agreed on military coordination in the event of US entry into the war. In accordance to another agreement made in the conference, the Americans seized 2 German, 26 Italian, and 35 Danish ships in US ports; 850 Italian and 63 German officers and men were imprisoned. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 British Army Dental Corps Private Coe arrived in Switzerland after escaping from a German prisoner of war camp. He was the first to successfully do so. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 Before dawn, 109 RAF bombers attacked German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Brest, France, scoring no hits. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 German 5th Light Division attacked British 2nd Armoured Division at Mersa Brega, Libya starting at 0745 hours, supported by dive bombers. After holding off the offensive for most of the day, German tanks broke through at 1730 hours, capturing the town by 1900 hours. As the sun slowly set, British commanders decided not to counterattack with their tanks, but instead withdraw 30 miles northeast toward Agedabia. The day's engagement cost the British 60 men killed, 8 armored carriers destroyed, and 1 anti-aircraft gun destroyed. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Ambra sank British cruiser HMS Bonaventure 125 miles south of Crete, Greece at 0244 hours. Bonaventure was escorting Allied convoy GA8 from Greece to Alexandria, Egypt at the time. 138 were killed, 310 survived. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 German submarine U-46 sank Swedish tanker Castor 300 miles east of the southern tip of Greenland at 1033 hours, killing the entire crew of 15. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Rorqual sank Italian submarine Pier Capponi by torpedo 28 miles northwest of Messina, Sicily, Italy, killing the entire crew of 49. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 Prince of Wales was commissioned into service. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 Husband Kimmel and Walter Short received a report noting the weakness of the base at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to surprise air attacks. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops broke through the roadblocks on the road between Keren and Asmara in Eritrea, Italian East Africa, capturing 560 Italian troops; continuing the push south, Indian 5th Infantry Division engaged Italian troops near Adi Tekelezan, which was less than 50 kilometers from Asmara and was the last town before Asmara. To the east, Italian destroyers Leone, Pantera, and Tigre departed Massawa, Eritrea to attack British port facilities at Port Sudan, British Sudan; Leone struck underwater rocks en route, and Pantera and Tigre were forced to sink Leone by gunfire, and the attack was called off with two surviving ships heading back to Massawa. 
0
31 Mar 1941 WW2 HMS Howe was completed. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 Pro-German officers under Rashid Ali began their move against the government; Rashid Ali declared himself the "Chief of the National Defence Government." 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 To avoid being captured by the Americans and Canadians, 8 German merchant ships were scuttled by their own crews in various South American ports. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British tanker San Conrado and Norwegian tanker Hidlefjord 45 miles west of Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom, killing the entire crew of 29 of the latter. Three other tanks were also damaged during this attack. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 George Giffard was mentioned in a despatch for his service in the Middle East between 1939 and 1940. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was promoted to the rank of Leutnant. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 Richard O'Connor was Mentioned in Despatches. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 Werner Haase joined the Nazi SS organization. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 In Italian East Africa, advancing British tanks were met by 2 police officers from Asmara, declaring the Eritrean capital an open city; troops of Indian 5th Division entered the city at 1000 hours, accepting the surrender of 5,000 Italian prisoners of war, while British armored cars under Colonel Bernard Fletcher raced toward Adigrat to cut off the Italian retreat into Abyssinia. To the east, German merchant ships continued to leave the port of Massawa; British destroyer HMS Kandahar intercepted German ship Bertram Rickmers, which was scuttled by her own crew. 
0
01 Apr 1941 WW2 4th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of 13th Composite Wing of 72nd Observation Group of US Army Air Corps was assigned to Losey Field in Puerto Rico. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops captured Agedabia and Zuetania in North Africa. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck received two aircraft. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-48 sank British ship Beaverdale with one torpedo and deck gun 300 miles southwest of Iceland at 0150 hours; 21 were killed and 58 survived. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 Canadian armed merchant cruiser Prince Henry intercepted two German merchant ships off Peru; the German ships were scuttled by their own crews to prevent capture. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Allied convoy AS23 25 miles south of Crete, Greece, sinking 2 freighters and damaging 2 others. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 Allied convoy SC-26 ran into a patrol line formed by eight German submarines 460 miles southwest of Iceland. Overnight, German submarines U-46, U-69, U-73, and U-74 sank 6 merchant ships, damaged 1 merchant ship, and damaged the escorting British armed merchant cruiser HMS Worcestershire; 110 men were killed. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 Subhash Chandra Bose arrived in Berlin, Germany. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 In Eritrea, Italian East Africa, British troops offered surrender terms to Italian Admiral Mario Bonetti's fleet which had sortied out of Massawa on the previous day; Bonetti chose to press on with his planned attack on Port Sudan in British Sudan. British armored cars under Colonel Bernard Fletcher cut off the Italian retreat from Eritrea at Adigrat. Finally, in Abyssinia, 22nd East African Brigade of the British 11th African Division reached the Awash River. 
0
02 Apr 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a Hurricane fighter near Tobruk, Libya at 1250 hours. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 Overnight, RAF unsuccessfully attacked German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France, but some German naval officers were killed when a bomb struck the Continental Hotel in the city. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 Axis troops marched toward Benghazi, Libya. British troops evacuated the city per General Philip Neame's orders. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 German aircraft conducted a heavy raid on Bristol, England during the night. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 Pál Teleki passed away. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian Admiral Mario Bonetti's fleet of 5 destroyers and smaller warships, which had sailed out of Massawa, Italian East Africa on the previous day, was detected and attacked by a force of British aircraft. Without air cover, one by one the Italian ships became so damaged by bomb hits that they had to be abandoned. The last survivor, the torpedo boat Orsini, tried to flee back to Massawa but being badly damaged by the British air attacks, she eventually settled and had to be scuttled before reaching the port. With British ground forces only an hour away from entering the port the remaining Italian ships there (Acerbi and half a dozen small MAS boats) were destroyed with demolition charges. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill recommended Richard O'Connor as the new British commander in Libya, but O'Connor declined. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-76 sank Finnish ship Daphne 150 miles south of Iceland, killing both crew members. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tigris sank German tanker Thorn 100 miles southwest of Saint-Nazaire, France. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British munitions ship Northern Prince 17 miles west of Crete, Greece. All crew members survived. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 The Iraqi Parliamentary government was overthrown by the military coup d’état that began two days prior. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 HMS Argus and HMS Ark Royal, ferrying 12 Hurricane fighters and 3 Skua dive bombers, successfully launched them to reinforce Malta, completing Operation Winch. 
0
03 Apr 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill warned Joseph Stalin (via the Soviet ambassador in London, England, United Kingdom) German troop movements into Poland detected by British intelligence. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarines continued their attack on Allied convoy SC-26 250 miles southwest of Iceland, which was initially intercepted two days prior. Between 0000 and 0344 hours, U-94 and U-98 sank three ships; 36 were killed and 70 survived. At 1956 hours, U-76 sank Athenic; the entire crew of 40 were rescued. Destroyer HMS Wolverine and sloop HMS Scarborough were able to locate U-76 and launched depth charges, damaging the submarine. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 Hitler promised ambassador Matsuoka that in case of war between US and Japan, Germany would lend assistance. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 The anti-British propaganda film Ohm Kruger was released. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 Axis troops captured Benghazi, Libya, which was evacuated by British forces on the previous day. They pushed further east to the Green Mountain, where they were held by 3 companies of the Australian 9th Division. In the desert to the south, while German 5th Light Division was held in place waiting for a resupply of fuel, the British did not realize the German offensive through the desert had paused and continued to fall back. From the air, German Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed a convoy of 21 trucks, destroying 1,600 gallons of gasoline. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 George Patton was promoted to the temporary rank of major general. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 German raider Thor and British armed merchant cruiser Voltaire engaged in a 55-minute gun duel 900 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands at the distance of 9 kilometers. Voltaire was sunk, killing 74; Thor picked up 195 survivors. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank British ship Conus 500 miles southwest of Iceland at 2006 hours, killing 59. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Marlene 75 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa; 13 were killed, 47 survived. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 British mooring vessel HMS Buffalo wondered into a minefield laid by friendly vessels, struck a mine, and sank off Singapore, killing 32. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian bombers sank Greek torpedo boat Proussa and Greek freighter Sussanna off Corfu, Greece. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers sank Free French sloops Suippe and Conquerant at Falmouth, England, United Kingdom. 
0
04 Apr 1941 WW2 After securing Asmara, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, Indian 5th Division moved east toward Massawa while Indian 4th Division was withdrawn from the region to reinforce Libya where a renewed Axis offensive was underway. 6 German and 7 Italian freighters were scuttled at Massawa to prevent Allied capture, while British RAF aircraft sank Italian torpedo boat Acerbi in the harbor. In Abyssinia, Italian troops were evacuated out of Addis Ababa as British 11th African Division advanced. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 At Moscow, Russia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union entered into a non-aggression treaty. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 Axis forces advanced toward Msus and Mechili in Libya. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 Before dawn, shortly after midnight, British destroyer HMS Wolverine, corvette HMS Arbutus, and sloop HMS Scarborough, escorting Allied convoy SC-26, forced German submarine U-76 to surface 250 miles south of Iceland. The German crew scuttled the submarine to prevent capture. During the attack on the submarine, 1 German crewman was killed; the 42 survivors were captured by the British. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 sank British ship Ena de Larrinaga 800 miles northwest of Natal, Brazil at 0338 hours; 5 were killed, 38 survived. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 The US Congress passed the "Fifth Supplemental National Defense Appropriation Act, 1941", which allocated US$14,575,000 for establishing a Marine Corps training ground on the east coast of the United States. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 The German embassy in Moscow, Russia reported that Soviet exports to Germany had dramatically increased in the month of Mar 1941, but the flow of goods from Germany to the Soviet Union had slowed. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 All British, Australian and New Zealand forces in Greece came under command of the veteran Australian, General (later Field Marshal Sir) Thomas Blamey to form the 1st Australian Corps. 
0
05 Apr 1941 WW2 Indian 5th Division reached Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. Italian Admiral Bonetti, the head of the 10,000-strong garrison who had ignored surrender demands previously, asked for surrender terms at 1330 hours. Before the Allies responded, however, his superiors in Rome, Italy ordered him to fight until the last man. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 British 11th African Division captured the Abyssinian capital Addis Ababa unopposed; the Italian garrison originally based in Addis Ababa had withdrawn north to Gondar and Amba Alagi. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 British armed merchant cruiser HMS Comorin, carrying military personnel for British West Africa, caught fire 450 miles west of Ireland; 20 were killed, 405 survived. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank Norwegian tanker Lincoln Ellsworth 100 miles southwest of Ireland at 1700 hours with 2 torpedoes and 121 rounds from the deck gun. The entire crew survived in 2 lifeboats. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 RAF Beaufort aircraft torpedoed German battlecruiser Gneisenau at Brest, France. During this attack, Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell of No. 22 Squadron RAF Coastal Command, who scored the hit with an Mk XII torpedo, was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed with the loss of the entire crew. Campbell would be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his gallantry. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 British and Australian troops hurriedly evacuated Barce and Derna, Libya, falling back toward Tobruk to avoid being cut off by the advancing German troops. On the same day, Axis troops captured Msus, Libya, a major fuel and supply dump; the fuel was destroyed by the Allies before German capture. German troops besieged Mechili by 1700 hours. After dark, British generals General Neame and O'Connor began evacuating themselves to Tmimi west of Tobruk. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 A transport of 1,021 prisoners from Pawiak Prison in Warsaw, Poland arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Famous actors Bronislaw Dardzinski, Tadeusz Hertman Kanski, Stefan Jaracz, Zbigniew Nowakowski, and Leon Schiller were among them, arrested for the murder of actor Igo Sym who collaborated with German propaganda efforts. 
0
06 Apr 1941 WW2 Before dawn, German, Hungarian, and Italian forces invaded Yugoslavia from Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. German Luftwaffe swiftly destroyed Yugoslavian Air Force on the ground and devastated Belgrade with aerial bombing between 0700 and 0830 hours, killing 4,000 civilians; on the ground, German forces spearheaded by armor reached the Skopje and Veles areas in southern Yugoslavia. On the same day, German, Hungarian, and Italian forces invaded Greece from Bulgaria. Unlike the success in Yugoslavia, the invasion was slowed by Greek and British troops at the Metaxas Line. After sundown, a Luftwaffe raid on Piraeus, Greece got an unexpected boost when the ammunition ship Clan Fraser was hit, with the resulting blast doing more damage to the port facilities than the aerial bombs dropped by the Germans; the explosion also caused the sinking of 11 other freighters. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 US Navy transferred 3 battleships, 1 carrier, 4 light cruisers, 18 destroyers, and other ships from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 The British government raised income tax again, by another 1 shilling and 6 pence to 10 shillings in the pound. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 British armed merchant cruiser HMS Comorin, damaged by a fire on the previous day, was scuttled by the guns of destroyers HMS Broke and HMS Lincoln 450 miles west of Ireland after all survivors were rescued. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 Yugoslavian troops were forced to withdraw to southern Macedonia when the Germans captured Skopje, exposing their flank. German 2nd Panzer Division had reached Strumica, Yugoslavia by the end of the day, which was only 10 miles from the Greek border, from which point it would be able to bypass the Metaxas Line defenses, where German troops conducted a failed frontal assault on this day. The United Kingdom promised aid to Yugoslavia and broke off relations with Hungary; meanwhile, RAF bombers conducted a raid on Sofia, Bulgaria. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 A US Navy base began operations in Bermuda, which was leased to the United States for 99 years in exchange for destroyers. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 Before dawn, a motor column containing British military governor of Cyrenaica, Libya Lieutenant General Philip Neame and British Lieutenant General Richard O'Connor got lost and became captured by a German patrol between Mechili and Derna. During the day, Axis troops captured Derna, Libya. 50 miles to the south, British, Australian, and Indian troops prepared their defenses at Mechili, which had been surrounded by Axis troops since the prior day. The Axis forces had not yet attacked Mechili due to sandstorms; Rommel ordered that an attack must be launched on the next day. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 229 RAF bombers conducted a raid on Kiel, Germany. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers sank minesweeping trawler HMT Rochebonne off the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, killing 11. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank Canadian ship Portadoc with 1 torpedo and 24 rounds from the deck gun 240 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1750 hours. The entire crew fo 20 survived in 2 lifeboats. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Capetown bombarded Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. Italian torpedo boat MAS.213 counterattacked and seriously damaged HMS Capetown with a torpedo at 2315 hours, but Capetown was able to escape despite the damage. She would be towed to Bombay, India for repairs. 
0
07 Apr 1941 WW2 The Gloster E.28/39 jet powered prototype piloted by Chief Test Pilot P.E.G.Sayer commenced taxiing trials at Gloster's Hucclecote airfield in Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers conducted a raid on Coventry, England, United Kingdom. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 German 2nd Panzer Division crossed from southern Yugoslavia into northern Greece near Dojran Lake. Elsewhere, German 73rd Infantry Division moved into the Monastir Valley and captured Prilep, Yugoslavia and prepared to move south toward Salonika, Greece. German 6th Mountain Division penetrated the Metaxas Line by crossing a 7,000 feet mountain range. Finally, German bombers attacked Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 British, Indian, and Free French troops captured hill forts surrounding Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa. RAF aircraft sank Italian minelayer Ostia in the Massawa harbor; avoiding capture, Italian destroyer Orsini and 12 other vessels were scuttled, leaving the harbor nearly unusable with so many wrecks. Shortly after, British General Heath accepted the formal surrender by Italian Admiral Bonetti and his 10,000-strong garrison. Prior to the surrender, ammunition and supply dumps were destroyed. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 Before dawn, some of the British, Australian, and Indian troops fled from Mechili, Libya, which would be captured by Axis troops by the end of the day. Major General John Lavarack assumed the duties of Lieutenant General Philip Neame as the British military governor of Cyrenaica, Libya; Neame was captured by a German patrol on the previous day. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Eskdene with 2 torpedoes and 104 rounds from the deck gun 200 miles south of the Azores at 0742 hours; the entire crew of 39 survived. At 1940 hours, U-107 sank British ship Helena Margareta in the same region; 27 were killed, 9 survived. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Tweed 150 miles off Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1225 hours; 3 were killed, 22 survived in 2 lifeboats. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 The Gloster E.28/39 jet powered prototype made a series of short hops along the Hucclecote airfield runway in Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom before being dismantled and moved by road to RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire, England where it was felt that the longer runway would be an advantage for flight tests. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Long Beach, California, United States. 
0
08 Apr 1941 WW2 Josias was promoted to the rank of General der Polizei. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops reached the Monastir Gap in Macedonia, southern Yugoslavia, preparing to cross into Greece to outflank the Metaxas Line and the Aliakmon Line. German troops also arrived at Nis, Yugoslavia and Salonika, Greece on this day. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 RAF bombers attacked the German naval base at Kiel. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 237 German bombers conducted a raid on Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, dropping 285 tons of high explosive bombs and 1,110 incendiary bombs. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian 27th Division "Brescia" and German 5th Light Division reached Tobruk, Libya. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 Danish ambassador to the United States Henrik Kauffmann signed an agreement with the US that made Greenland an American protectorate for the duration of the war. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Harparthian 400 miles northeast of Canary Islands at 0037 hours; 4 were killed, 39 survived. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-98 sank Dutch ship Prins Willem II 200 miles southeast of Iceland at 0216 hours; 3 were killed, 22 survived in 2 lifeboats. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 North Carolina was commissioned into service. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle departed Alexandria, Egypt. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 The P.111 prototype aircraft took its first flight. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 Prince Hiroyasu stepped down as the chief of the Japanese Navy General Staff. 
0
09 Apr 1941 WW2 The head of the Soviet Air Force Directorate Pavel Rychagov complained to Joseph Stalin that his pilots were flying in "coffins", referring to the poor condition of aircraft due to state neglect. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 The Germany Navy, Kriegsmarine, ordered the construction of 60 submarines. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 In Yugoslavia, German troops capture the Croatian capital of Zagreb; Croatian Fascist chief Ante Pavelic returned from exile to proclaim the independent state of Croatia. Further South, German 9th Panzer Division and Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment moved through the Monastir Gap, moved across the Greek border, and captured the town of Florina. British troops fell back from the Aliakmon Line southwest of Salonika, Greece. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt approved the transfer of 10 Lake-class Coast Guard Cutters to the British Royal Navy; the transfers were completed between 30 Apr and 30 May 1941. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Seiichi Ito was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 206 Luftwaffe aircraft attacked Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, dropping 246 tons of high explosive bombs and 1,183 incendiary bombs. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Overnight, RAF aircraft attacked German battlecruisers in Brest, France, hitting Gneisenau with 4 bombs and causing extensive damage. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 The German 15th Panzer Division under General Heinrich von Prittwitz und Gaffron attacked Tobruk, Libya from the west. Prittwitz was killed while personally leading a reconnaissance mission by armored cars. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British tanker Duffield at 0345 hours; 25 were killed, 28 survived. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-52 sank Dutch ship Saleier 500 miles southwest of Iceland at 1955 hours. The entire crew of 63 abandoned ship in 3 lifeboats and were rescued by American destroyer USS Niblack. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 American destroyer USS USS Niblack attacked a German submarine off Iceland; the submarine escaped without being damaged. It was the first shot fired between the US and Germany. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Chuichi Nagumo was named the commanding officer of the First Air Fleet. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Nigerian troops of the British 11th African Division marched from Addis Ababa toward Jimma in Abyssinia, while Indian 5th Division marched from Massawa, Eritrea toward Amara, Abyssinia. At Assab, Eritrea, Italians scutled 7 freighters to prevent capture. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Teiichi Yoshimoto was named the chief of staff of Kenkichi Ueda (Japanese Kwantung Army in northeastern China). 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Overnight, RAF aircraft attacked Berlin, Germany, destroying the historical Opera House. It would be restored by 1943, but would again be bombed in Feb 1945. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Akagi became the flagship of the newly organized First Air Fleet and assigned to Carrier Division 1. She spent the next few weeks in and around Yokosuka, Japan and off Kyushu. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Kaga was assigned to Carrier Division 1 of the Japanese Navy First Air Fleet. 
0
10 Apr 1941 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld shot down a British Wellington bomber shortly after 0000 hours over the IJsselmeer in the Netherlands. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian forces redoubled their efforts to link up with units in Albania. In northern Greece, German troops captured Vevi. In the evening, British, Australian, and New Zealand troops engaged German troops in Greece for the first time just south of Vevi, stopping the advance of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment at Klidi Pass. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 153 Luftwaffe aircraft bombed Bristol, England, United Kingdom; it was nicknamed the "Good Friday Raid". The city's docks, St Philip's Bridge, and residential areas were damaged. The city tramways power supply line was destroyed by the bomb that hit St Philip's Bridge; it was decided that the damage was too severe to repair and all the tram cars were soon to be scrapped for the war effort; none of the tram cars were preserved for historical purposes. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 Italy and Hungary joined the German invasion of Yugoslavia. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel performed a flanking movement in Libya, cutting the road east of Bardia at 1300 hours; all attacks on the city itself, however, were repulsed. On the same day, German aircraft bombed Tobruk harbor, damaging British ship Draco. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 George Patton was made the commanding officer of the 2nd Armored Division. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank Greek ship Aegeon 200 miles southwest of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2100 hours; 4 were killed, 27 survived. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 German armored train Atlas arrived at Mönichkirchen, Germany (occupied Austria) to prepare the village for Adolf Hitler's arrival on the following day. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini concluded their four-day meeting at Salzburg in occupied Austria, during which Hitler convinced Mussolini to remain in the war. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed that the Red Sea was to be no longer considered as a war zone so as to enable it to be used by American shipping. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 French Lieutenant Alain le Ray became the first Allied serviceman to escape from Colditz Castle, site of the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C, in Germany. 
0
11 Apr 1941 WW2 Destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Janus, HMS Nubian, and HMS Mohawk of the British 14th Destroyer Flotilla arrived in Malta to act as a night striking force. 
0
11 Apr 1941 RELIGIOUS French-born American Trappist monk Thomas Merton affirmed in his "Secular Journal": 'If we are willing to accept humiliation, tribulation can become, by God's grace, the mild yoke of Christ, His light burden.'
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops captured Belgrade in the Serbia region of Yugoslavia as Hugarian troops also crossed the border into Yugoslavia, joining the invasion. On the Danube River in Yugoslavia, German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, sinking river monitor Drava (54 were killed, 13 survived) while forcing three others, Morava, Sava, and Vardar, to be scuttled. To the south in Greece, German SS troops overran British and Australian troops south of Vevi, forcing the Allies to fall back from the Aliakmon Line to the Mount Olympus Line to block the German troops at Vevi from advancing further. On the same day, British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry, destroyer HMS Decoy, destroyer HMS Encounter, and troopship Glenroy evacuated a battalion of troops, 1,000 tons of supplies, and 40 vehicles from the Greek island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea near Salonika. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship St. Helena 100 miles southwest of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 0509 hours; all 41 aboard survived and were rescued by destroyer HMS Wishart. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 British bombers conducted a raid on the fish oil factories in Hammerfest, Norway. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 US established air and naval bases in Greenland. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops captured Bardia, Libya. At Tobruk, the German probing attacks with tanks and armored cars were repulsed. Meanwhile, columns of Axis troops were dispatched to move toward the Libyan-Egyptian border to cut off the Allied forces in Libya. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tetrarch sank Italian tanker Persiano 55 miles northeast of Tripoli, Libya. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran sank Greek ship Nicolaos D. L. 920 miles southwest of British West Africa, capturing the entire crew of 38. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived at Mönichkirchen, Germany (occupied Austria) via his personal train Amerika. He would remain in his village to oversee the operations in the Balkan Peninsula. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
12 Apr 1941 WW2 The 8th airfield in the Panama Canal Zone was declared operational. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 Soviet Union and Japan signed a 5-year neutrality pact. In Moscow, Russia, German ambassador Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg reported that Joseph Stalin was unexpectedly friendly to both Japanese and German diplomats on this date. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 The German Leibstandarte SS Regiment attacked through the Metsovon Pass in an attempt to flank the Greek positions on the front with Albania. To prevent this, Greek General Papago ordered Greek troops in Albania to fall back, allowing Italian 11th Army to capture Korçë, Permet, and Porto Palermo in Albania. Further south, German aircraft attacked Piraeus, Greece, sinking Greek destroyer Psara and damaging destroyer Vasilevs Georgios I. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 Axis artillery bombarded Allied defensive positions at Tobruk, Libya at 1700 hours, and 30 minutes later German 5th Light Division, Italian Ariete Division, and Italian Trento Division commenced an attack. Australian troops repulsed the repeated attacks. Further east, German troops captured Fort Capuzzo near the Libyan-Egyptian border. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-108, having tracked and unsuccessfully attacked the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Rajputana for the past two days, sank her with a torpedo 100 miles west of Iceland at 0743 hours; 40 were killed, 283 were rescued by destroyer HMS Legion. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Corinthic 75 miles west of Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2229 hours; 2 were killed, 39 survived. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 Alarmed by the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the US Navy to scale back operations in the Atlantic Ocean to avoid war with Germany, as naval resources might need to be diverted to the Pacific Ocean to counter this new threat. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 The two Swordfish aircraft squadrons of HMS Eagle which had been temporarily transferred to Port Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan three weeks prior returned to the carrier shortly after she had transited the Suez Canal. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Malta. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 British battleship HMS King George V, light cruiser HMS Nigeria, and destroyers HMS Mashona, HMS Electra, and HMS Escapade departed Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0107 hours in poor weather. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 The forty Manchester bombers on the strength of Nos. 207 and 97 Squadrons were grounded for engine modifications. During the work alterations were also made to allow the carriage of 4000-pound HC (high capacity) bombs; the first of which was dropped by a No. 207 Squadron aircraft on Berlin, Germany on the night of 8 to 9 May 1941. 
0
13 Apr 1941 WW2 USS Astoria entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States for a refit. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 Corporal John Edmondson of 2/17th Battalion of Australian 9th Division led a bayonet charge at Tobruk, Libya despite being shot in the stomach and neck, later dying of these wounds. He would be awarded a Victoria Cross. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 The Greek Epirus Army continued to withdraw from Albania, and German 73rd Infantry Division attempted to block it at Kastoria Pass, resulting in heavy fighting. On the eastern coast of Greece, the German advance was halted at Platamon between Mount Olympus and the Aegean Sea. King Petar II of Yugoslavia fled to Athens, Greece as German troops advanced on his capital; in the evening, the Yugoslavian government asked General Ewald von Kleist of the German 1st Panzer Group for a ceasefire. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 King Farouk of Egypt invited Adolf Hitler for a discussion on Egyptian independence from the United Kingdom. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 British gunboat HMS Aphis bombarded Bardia, Libya, while gunboat HMS Gnat bombarded German troops at Sollum, Egypt. German aircraft damaged HMS Gnat, killing 1. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-52 sank Belgian passenger ship Ville de Liège 400 miles southwest of Iceland at 0117 hours; 40 were killed, 12 survived. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 British Swordfish torpedo bombers of No. 815 Squadron based in Paramythia, Greece sank Italian steamers Luciano and Stampalia at the port of Vlorë, Albania overnight; 1 Swordfish aircraft was shot down, with 1 airman killed and 2 captured. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 At Tobruk, Libya, German infantry filled anti-tank ditches and cutting wires at the El Adem road starting at 0230 hours, with the work interrupted periodically by Allied fire. At 0520 hours, 36 tanks of German 5th Panzer Regiment moved through the gap created by the infantry, but were halted by British guns and dug-in Crusader tanks 2 miles beyond the line. In the air, British, German, and Italian fighters engaged in combat in the air while 40 German Stuka dive bombers attacked the Tobruk harbor. At 0730 hours, the Axis offensive was called back after losing 16 tanks and 400 men (150 killed, 250 captured). 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 The British cargo ship, Fort Stikine, carrying 1,400 tons of explosives and 124 gold bars worth £1 million, caught fire in Bombay harbour, India and exploded, showering the docks with blazing debris. The blast and tidal wave which followed sank four ships and damage a further eleven, one of which, a troopship, was hurled out of the water and onto the roof of a warehouse. Half an hour later, the wreck of the Fort Stikine was devastated by a second massive explosion which threw debris 3,000 feet into the air and over a square mile of the docks and city. The two explosions killed 231 and injured a further 476. The bodies of more than 500 dock workers and civilians were also recovered, another 1,000 people simply disappeared and 2,000 were hospitalised. Eleven ships were lost. In 1960 a dredger working in the harbour recovered a single gold bar. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 A US Marine Corps garrison designated Marine Detachment, 1st Defense Battalion, was established at Palmyra Atoll. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 The first major mass arrest of Jews in Paris, France took place. 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 Australian infantry outside Tobruk, Libya reported the sighting of a number of "long-barrelled guns on strange carriages". This was the first indication that the Germans were deploying the dreaded 88-mm anti-tank gun in the Western Desert (although on this occasion the guns were soon withdrawn when German infantry failed to create a gap). 
0
14 Apr 1941 WW2 USS Gar was commissioned into service at New London, Connecticut, United States with Lieutenant D. McGregor in command. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 Yugoslavian 2nd Army surrendered Sarajevo to the Germans, effectively ending the country's official resistance; many fighters, however, fled into the mountains and would later fight as guerrillas. In Greece, German aircraft bombed the British RAF airfield at Larisa at dawn, destroying 10 Blenheim aircraft on the ground. Troops of Leibstandarte SS Regiment took the road to Greneva, isolating the Greek Epirus Army which was attempting to move from Albania back into Greece. This move also exposed the flank of the Allied Mount Olympus Line; in response, British General Wilson ordered the Mount Olympus Line abandoned at 1000 hours, with Australian and New Zealand troops acting as rear guards for several more days as the remaining Allies fell back to the Thermopylae Line. As the situation grew dire, British Admiral Cunningham begins began considering a general evacuation from Greece. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 Starting at 2300 hours, a heavy German air raid by 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The attack would last until 0500 hours on the next day. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt approved the formation of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) of combat pilots in China. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Achates departed Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0840 hours for Scapa Flow to the north, but was rerouted to Loch Alsh at 1400 hours. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Tazzoli sank British ship Aurillac 500 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal, killing 1. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 1,000 Italian troops attacked Tobruk, Libya at 1730 hours, overrunning Australian defensive lines, but they were driven back at 1815 hours the arrival of an Australian reserve company and heavy artillery. 250 Italians were killed and 113 were captured in this failed attack. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 Flying in a Bf 109 fighter en route to Theo Osterkamp's birthday party, Adolf Galland took a detour toward Britain in search of targets. After shooting down one Spitfire fighter, he was shot down by another Spitfire. He was rescued from the water a few hours later. 
0
15 Apr 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh completed escort duties with Allied convoy SL.69 and arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 The first US Lend-Lease food shipment arrived in Britain. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 British aircraft carrier Furious, under repair at Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom was damaged by German bombing. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Janus, HMS Nubian, and HMS Mohawk, aided by Ultra intercepts of German communications, ambushed an Axis convoy on the Tunisian coast after sundown. 4 German troopships and 1 Italian ammunition ship (carrying German 15th Panzer Division less its tanks) as well as Italian destroyers Luca Tarigo, Baleno, and Lampo; 1,800 were killed, 1,200 survived. Luca Tarigo was able to fire two torpedoes at HMS Mohawk, which hit and killed 43 men; HMS Mohawk would soon be scuttled in a hurry, leaving behind secret documents outlining Alexandria, Egypt defenses for Italian divers to capture shortly after. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 Yugoslavians negotiated with the Germans for armistice terms in Belgrade, but the first emissary dispatched did not have sufficient authority to sign the surrender document. In Zagreb, Croatian leader Ante Pavelic formally came into power as the head of the Independent State of Croatia. In Greece, German troops attacked the Platamon Pass between Mount Olympus and the Aegean Sea, forcing New Zealand troops to withdraw across the river at the bottom of the Tempe Gorge, a move that greatly alarmed Allied leadership. Meanwhile, German 6th Mountain Division attacked across Mount Olympus using goat paths, taking heavy casualties. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 Troops of the Italian 62nd "Trento" Regiment attacked Tobruk, Libya in the late afternoon; the attack was personally observed by Erwin Rommel. The attack was driven back by heavy artillery fire, and the entire 1st Battalion of the Italian 62nd Regiment, 775 men and 25 officers, was captured. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor stopped Swedish ship Sir Ernest Cassell with two warning shots 500 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands. The crew of Sir Ernest Cassell was taken aboard, and the ship was scuttled with demolition charges. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 The German embassy in Moscow, Russia continued to report unexpectedly friendliness from the Soviets toward Germany. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 At 0500 hours, the German air raid on Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom which began at 2300 hours on the previous date ended; the 203 tons of high explosive bombs, 80 parachute mines, and 800 incendiary bombs dropped killed 758, wounded 1,500, and destroyed 56,000 homes; 100,000 residents were made homeless. At the end of the day and into the next day, 681 German aircraft bombed London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Achates departed Loch Alsh, Scotland, United Kingdom and arrived at Scapa Flow at 2100 hours. 
0
16 Apr 1941 WW2 British Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin, announced a National Registration of Women for war work. The first registrations, for women in the age group 20 and 21, was to commence on 19 April 1941. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 German motor torpedo boats S.41 S.42 S.43 S.55, S.104 attacked Allied convoy FS464 off Great Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom, sinking 2 small freighters and damaging a large steamer. The German S-boats were engaged by British motor gun boats MGB.60, MGB.59, and MGB.64, without success. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank Swedish MV Venezuela 600 miles west of Ireland at 1730 hours; the crew of 49 abandoned ship in lifeboats, but they were never seen again. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 Egyptian steamship Zamzam, with American passengers aboard, was shelled and sunk by German auxiliary cruiser Atlantic in the South Atlantic; 138 Americans were rescued. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 Rashid Ali al-Gaylani's 16-day old Iraqi government submitted a request to Germany for military assistance in its attempt to remove British forces from Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces surrounded the RAF airbase at Habbaniya while British 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment, originally based in Karachi, India, arrived at RAF Shaibah near Basra. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian infantry and tanks attacked Tobruk, Libya in the early afternoon, but it was repulsed. After dark, 12 Axis tanks engaged Allied counterparts along the line; 3 Axis tanks were destroyed. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 Masafumi Arima became the deputy commanding officer of Yokosuka Naval Air Corps and the chief training officer of the same unit. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Truant sank Italian barque Vanna off the Libyan coast; Vanna was carrying ammunition and fuel to Derna, Libya. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 SS-Untersturmfuehrer Maximilian Grabner at Auschwitz Concentration Camp announced that urns containing the ashes of Polish political prisoners who died at Auschwitz no longer needed to be sent to their families. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 King Petar II of Yugoslavia arrived at London, England, United Kingdom via Athens, Greece. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 The bombing of London, England, United Kingdom which began on the previous date ended before dawn. 1,179 were killed. 
0
17 Apr 1941 WW2 Yugoslavia formally surrendered to Germany as Foreign Minister Cincar-Marcovic signed the armistice with German and Italian representatives in Belgrade. Germans captured Yugoslavian destroyers Beograd and Dubrovnik at Kotor, but destroyer Zagreb was scuttled by her crew (2 killed in the process). In Greece, New Zealand 21st battalion reinforced by Australian 2/2nd Battalion demolished the Pinios River railway bridge and held the Tempe and Pinios Gorges, delaying the German advance down the Aegean coast, allowing other Allied troops to withdraw to new defenses on the Thermopylae line. British Prime Minister Churchill agreed to the proposal for the evacuation of Allied troops from mainland Greece to the island of Crete, should it become necessary; this plan was then communicated to the government of Greece shortly after. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 German 3rd Regiment and 2nd Panzer Division crossed the Pinios River in Greece while German 6th Mountain Division reached Mount Olympus in Greece, putting the Australian and New Zealand troops at the Pinios Gorge in danger. As German troops continued to move south in Greece, Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis committed suicide in the evening; in response to this suicide, Athens was placed under martial law by the government to maintain stability. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 Indian 20th Infantry Brigade landed at Basra, Iraq unopposed. It was originally based in Karachi, India and had arrived in Iraq in 8 transports which were escorted by carrier HMS Hermes, cruiser HMS Emerald, cruiser HMNZS Leander, 6 sloops, and gunboat HMS Cockchafer. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Urge sank Italian tanker Franco Martelli in the Bay of Biscay north of Spain. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Newark and HMS Volunteer collided just off the northern coast of Ireland. Both were seriously damaged and would be under repair at Belfast until Aug 1941. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 Australian General Leslie Morshead reorganized the defenses at Tobruk, Libya, creating additional reserve brigades and building secondary defensive lines, all in order to create additional depth to the city's defenses. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis attacked Egyptian passenger liner ZamZam without warning 1,400 miles west of South Africa at 0600 hours, mistaking it for a British troop ship. All 129 crew and 202 passengers escaped in lifeboats before the Germans scuttled the ship with demolition charges. Life magazine photographer David Sherman, who was aboard ZamZam during the attack, took a photograph of Atlantis. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 German dive bombers sank empty British troopship HMS Fiona 50 miles northwest of Sidi Barrani, Egypt, killing 54. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 US Navy Admiral Kimmel wrote a letter to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Stark requesting additional resources for base construction at Wake Island and for a US Marine Corps defense battalion to be stationed there. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 The groundbreaking ceremony for the future Consolidated-Vultee aircraft plant in Fort Worth, Texas, United States was held, attended by General Gerald Brant and local civic leader Amon Carter. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 The United States declared that the Pan-American Security Zone, last defined with the 3 Oct 1939 Declaration of Panama, to be extended to 26 degrees west longitude, 2,300 nautical miles east of New York on the east coast of the United States. It was just 50 nautical miles short of Iceland, which was a major Allied convoy staging area. 
0
18 Apr 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt told a Press Conference that he did not think that public opinion in America was yet fully aware of the gravity of the military crisis in Europe or its implications for the safety of the United States. 
0
19 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops captured Larisa, Greece, theoretically allowing them to move south along the eastern coast of Greece, thus this movement was to be hampered by roads and bridges that were destroyed by retreating Allied troops. Elsewhere, troops of German Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment captured Ioannina 50 miles from the western coast of Greece, further frustrating the southward retreat of Greek Epirus Army from Albania. British General Wavell flew to Athens, Greece for a meeting with King George II where the king agreed that the Allies could not hold Greece, and preparations should begin immediately to evacuate troops to Crete to prevent further destruction of the country. General Wilson was ordered to prepare for a stand at Thermopylae with a small rearguard force to protect the southward evacuation of British troops. 
0
19 Apr 1941 WW2 450 British commandos conducted an amphibious raid against Axis forces in Bardia, Libya. An Italian supply dump and a coastal artillery battery were destroyed. While most men were successfully evacuated after the raid, 1 was killed by friendly fire and 67 were captured after getting lost and going to the wrong beach. 
0
19 Apr 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel personally inspected the front lines in the Libyan-Egyptian border area. 
0
19 Apr 1941 WW2 Indian 5th Division (marching south from Amara, Eritrea, Italian East Africa) and British 1st South African Brigade (marching north from Addis Ababa, Abyssinia) attacked toward the 7,000-strong Italian garrison at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia. 
0
19 Apr 1941 WW2 712 German bombers conducted a heavy raid on London, England, United Kingdom starting in the evening hours. Although the primary target was the London docks, the Old Place School in Poplar, East London, which was being used as a sub-fire station, was struck by a stray bomb, killing 13 London firefighters of both genders and 21 male Beckenham firemen; it was the largest single loss of firefighters in British history. The bombing continued past midnight. 
0
19 Apr 1941 RELIGIOUS Robert F. Wagner, Sr. introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate stating that U.S. policy should favor the "restoration of the Jews in Palestine." The resolution was supported by 68 Senators.
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-73 sank British ship Empire Endurance 400 miles west of Ireland at 0332 hours; the ship was the former German ship Alster, having been captured in Norway in the previous year. 65 were killed and the military supplies destined for Egypt were lost. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 Athens, Greece was heavily bombed by German dive bombers; one of seven RAF Hurricane aircraft lost in beating off the raid was flown by Squadron Leader Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle, believed to be the Allies' top scoring fighter pilot of the war with at least 50 kills (that number could not be officially recognised as his record of service in Greece was lost); Pattle died trying to protect a fellow pilot. Piraeus, Greece was also attacked from the air, sinking Greek destroyer Psara with 37 killed; 22 German aircraft were lost while the British lost 10 Hurricane fighters. Unable to withstand the German advances, British forces withdrew from Mount Olympus toward Thermopylae on the same day that King George II led a new government. To the north in Albania, General Tsolakoglou surrendered the Greek Epirus Army, without authorization, to the German Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment; Italian leader Mussolini protested, requesting that the surrender must be accepted by an Italian general. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 The American Liberty ship, Paul Hamilton, loaded with men and explosives, was hit by an aerial torpedo off Algiers, French Algeria and blew to pieces. Not one of the 580 men on board, the vast majority US Army Air Force personnel, survived. Only one body was ever recovered. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 British Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Wavell requested for more tanks to reinforce Tobruk, Libya. Prime Minister Churchill agreed and ordered a convoy to sail directly into the Mediterranean Sea to deliver 295 tanks to Tobruk. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 Erich Raeder attempted to convince Adolf Hitler to allow German submarines to attack American ships; Hitler rejected the request, citing his unwillingness to provoke the Americans to fully enter the war. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler celebrated his birthday at the temporary headquarters Frühlingssturm in eastern Austria. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 Georgios Tsolakoglou surrendered the III Army Corps to the Germans. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMT Topaze was accidentally rammed by British battleship HMS Rodney and sank in the Clyde Estuary, Scotland, United Kingdom, killing 18. 
0
20 Apr 1941 WW2 The bombing of London, England, United Kingdom which began on the previous date ended before dawn; 449 were killed. Via a speech made in Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Eamon De Valera protested the German bombing of Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom; "they are our people", he said, "we are one and the same people, and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows". 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 German air and ground forces attacked British, Australian, and New Zealand troops at Thermopylae, Greece; dive bombers sank Greek torpedo boat Thyella, hospital ship Ellenis, hospital ship Esperos, and several freighters. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 In Operation MD2, British battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Barham, and HMS Valiant, supported by cruiser HMS Gloucester and 9 destroyers, bombarded Tripoli before dawn. Aircraft from carrier HMS Formidable dropped flares to aid the bombardment as it took place before dawn. Italian torpedo boat Partenope and 6 freighters were damaged. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Calchas 300 miles north of the Cape Verde Islands at 1500 hours; 24 were killed, 89 survived. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps established the temporary command Marine Aircraft, South Pacific to assist with administrative and logistical duties of 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wings. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 HMCS Trillium rescued 24 survivors of the British merchant ship Empire Endurance, which was sunk between Iceland and Ireland on the previous day by German submarine U-73. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 Georgios Tsolakoglou signed the surrender of the entire Greek Army to Germany. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 The town of Nigata and the village of Hiro were merged into Kure, Japan. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 24 German bombers escorted by 21 fighters attacked Tobruk, Libya, sinking 2 ships and damaging another 2. RAF Hurricane fighters of No. 73 and No. 273 Squadrons shot down 4 German aircraft. 
0
21 Apr 1941 WW2 Starting after sundown and lasting until the next day, German bombers attacked Plymouth, England, United Kingdom, damaging cruiser HMS Kent, destroyer HMS Lewes, and destroyer HMS Leeds. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 British warships bombarded Tripoli, Libya. On the return trip, battleship HMS Valiant hit a mine and was lightly damaged. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel received the Gold Medal of Military Valor in Silver. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 The US Congress passed an act that would increase the authorized enlisted strength of the US Navy and the US Marine Corps; the latter's active list was to be 20% of the former. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union protested to Germany regarding border violations by German troops and aircraft. Among the evidence presented was a downed German aircraft in Soviet territory which contained maps of the Soviet Union, aerial photographic equipment, and rolls exposed film. The Soviets, however, remained generally friendly toward Germany. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 Erich Raeder reported to Adolf Hitler regarding American belligerency despite of neutrality pledges. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 British 1st South African Brigade captured Camboicia Pass, Abyssinia and 1,200 Italian prisoners of war. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 German aircraft attacked British-controlled airfields near Athens, Greece, forcing remaining British fighters in the region to be withdrawn to Argos in southern Greece. In the Saronic Gulf, German dive bombers sank Greek minelayer Aliakmon, hospital ship Sokratis, 11 freighters, and 1 tanker. At 1800 hours, 35 German dive bombers sank Greek destroyer Hydra at Piraeus; 41 were killed, 115 survived. Further south, German aircraft damaged cruiser HMS York at Suda Bay, Crete with near misses. Finally, on the same day, Yugoslavian torpedo boats Kajmakcalan and Durmitor arrived at Suda Bay and joined the Allied fleet. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 Australian troops raided Axis positions surrounding Tobruk, Libya, capturing 455 Italian prisoners of war and destroying a number of field guns and anti-aircraft guns. 27 Australians were killed and 28 were wounded in this action. From above, German aircraft bombed Tobruk harbor, hitting British hospital ship Vita, forcing the 437 patients, 6 doctors, and 6 nurses to be evacuated. 
0
22 Apr 1941 WW2 Light cruiser HMS Birmingham arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0602 hours after completing escort duties which began on 8 Feb. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops attacked westward in Greece from Ioannina. Meanwhile, German paratroopers landed on Aegean Islands. On the same day, German bombers destroyed 13 British Hurricane fighters on the ground at Argoes (forcing the survivors to evacuate to Crete) and sank Greek torpedo boat Kios, minelayer Nestos, hospital ship Policos, battleship Kilkis, battleship Lemnos, 12 freighters, and 1 tanker; damaged Greek torpedo boat Doris was scuttled to prevent capture. King George II of Greece, Crown Prince Paul, Prime Minister Emmanuel Tsouderos and other important figures of the Greek government were evacuated by the RAF to Crete, where an attempt to evacuate personnel from Crete to Egypt had begun; King George II instructed that his wine cellar should be distributed to the Allied troops who fought to defend his country. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 An Axis convoy was spotted by British aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea sailing toward Tripoli, Libya. British destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Jaguar, HMS Janus, and HMS Juno failed to intercept. Overnight, however, destroyer HMS Juno was able to find and sink empty Italian troopship Egeo off the Libyan coast. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe bombers attacked Tobruk habor in Libya, sinking several ships at the cost of 6 German aircraft. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Plymouth, England, United Kingdom. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 At the America First Committee meeting in New York City, New York, United States, Charles Lindbergh publicly called for the United States to stay out of the war. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor arrived at Hamburg, Germany, ending a 322-day raiding mission that covered 57,532 miles which saw the sinking of 11 merchant ships and 1 British armed merchant cruiser. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 Lemnos was beached at Salamis, Greece during a German air raid to prevent sinking. 
0
23 Apr 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his 8th kill, a British Hurricane II fighter, over Tobruk, Libya during the morning sortie. In the afternoon sortie, he was shot down and safely landed in German territory. 
0
24 Apr 1941 WW2 German paratroopers captured the Corinth Canal in Greece. Meanwhile, German aircraft sank hospital ship Andros and 11 freighters off the coast and damaged British cruiser HMS York and submarine HMS Rover at Suda Bay, Crete; Greek torpedo boats Aigli, Alkyoni, and Arethousa were scuttled to prevent capture. British troops held off German attacks through the afternoon at Thermopylae, destroying 15 German tanks, before withdrawing after sundown. At 1900 hours, Greek luxury yacht Hellas was bombed at Piraeus while boarding 500 British civilians and 400 wounded Allied soldiers, killing 500. 
0
24 Apr 1941 WW2 US Navy extended its range for Neutrality Patrols to as far east as Iceland and as far south as Rio de Janeiro. 
0
24 Apr 1941 WW2 The German Naval Attaché in Moscow, Russia reported back to German Navy headquarters that it had been learned that the British had deduced the German invasion of the Soviet Union to take place around 26 Jun 1941, and the British had shared this information with the Soviet Union. 
0
24 Apr 1941 WW2 Italian infantry attacked two points of the Tobruk, Libya defenses at 0700 hours; the attacks were halted within an hour with heavy casualties and 107 captured. 
0
24 Apr 1941 WW2 The first M3 tank constructed at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in Michigan, United States was delivered to the US Army. 
0
24 Apr 1941 WW2 In a statement, Frank Knox, the United States Secretary for the Navy, proclaimed: "We can no longer occupy the immoral and craven position of asking others to make all the sacrifices for this victory which we recognize as so essential to us." 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank Norwegian ship Polyana 200 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands at 0038 hours, killing the entire crew of 25. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 Allied rearguard forces from Thermopylae, Greece traveled 100 miles within 12 hours and reached the Greek capital of Athens around noon time; while crowds welcomed their arrival, diplomats of various countries burned papers as Axis capture was imminent. Just to the south, British troopship Pennland was damaged by German aircraft while attempting to evacuate troops, resulting in 4 deaths; other ships were able to evacuate 5,500 Allied personnel on this day. Out at sea, German aircraft sank 6 merchant ships and 1 yacht; 6 Greek destroyers and 5 submarines were able to escape toward Alexandria, Egypt. Finally, on this date, Hitler issued Führer Directive 28 for the attack on Crete, Greece, which was to be codenamed Operation Merkur. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 The Axis offensive on the Libyan-Egyptian border resumed despite the lack of progress at Tobruk, Libya; German troops engaged British patrols near Fort Capuzzo. The 2 remaining Hurricane fighters in Tobruk were withdrawn to Egypt to join the mere 13 Hurricane fighters there, leaving Tobruk with only Lysander aircraft to perform artillery spotting duties and no aircraft capable of air defense. Out at sea, British submarine HMS Upholder sank Italian ship Antonietta Lauro off the Tunisian island of Kerkenah. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin attacked British ship Empire Light, stopping the ship. After the 70 crew members were taken off, Pinguin scuttled Empire Light. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 The German 8th Panzer Regiment departed Italy in three convoys for North Africa. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 Tanikaze was commissioned into service. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt called Charles Lindbergh an appeaser in response to Lindbergh's 23 Apr 1941 calls for the United States to stay out of the war. 
0
25 Apr 1941 WW2 James Lacey, flying a Spitfire fighter, damaged a German Fw 190 aircraft. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 German troops attack British and Australian positions at Halfaya Pass on the Libyan-Egyptian border. Allied troops held the pass all day, but after dark they withdrew to Buq Buq, Egypt. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 German paratroopers attacked the Corinth Canal bridge in Greece early in the morning; the bridge was blown up as the German approached; by the end of the day, however, German engineers would erect temporary crossings at this point of the canal. Overnight, 8,300 Allied troops were evacuated from beaches south of Athens while 12,950 were evacuated from beaches on the Peloponnese Peninsula. German aircraft sank Greek torpedo boat Kydonia and 3 other ships on this date. To the north in Yugoslavia, British destroyer HMS Defender evacuated the crown jewels of Yugoslavia. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 General Georgy Zhukov, the recently appointed Soviet Chief of Staff, ordered a creeping mobilization to begin, in response to widespread evidence that German forces were moving eastward. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 General MacArthur issued his third plan for the seizure of the New Britain, New Guinea, and New Ireland area, emphasizing cooperation between the US Army and US Navy as the two services each moved toward the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 The German Nachtjagdfliegerdienst nightfighter unit scored its 100th night kill. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 General Lord Gort was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 South African 1st Brigade captured Dessie, Abyssinia, taking 4,000 Italians as prisoners of war. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived at Mombasa, Kenya. 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 Wolfgang Falck, stationed at Deelen in the Netherlands, was ordered to attend a meeting at Hamburg, Germany. He would use the opportunity to learn more about new aircraft-mounted radar systems under development: Morgenstern, Flensburg, and SN-2 (Lichtenstein). 
0
26 Apr 1941 WW2 British freighters Clan Chattan, Clan Campbell, Clan Lamont, Empire Song, and New Zealand Star, carrying 295 tanks for Egypt, departed from the Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom in Operation Tiger. They were escorted by battleship HMS Rodney, cruiser HMS Naiad, destroyer HMS Havelock, destroyer HMS Hesperus, and destroyer Harvester. 
0
27 Apr 1941 WW2 At 0400 hours, Dutch passenger liner Slamat departed Nauplia in southern Greece with 211 crew and 500 evacuating Allied troops; Slamat and escorting destroyers HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck were all sunk by German Stuka dive bombers at 0700 hours, killing about 900. Later in the same morning, German 2nd Panzer Division captured Athens, raising the Nazi German flag above the Acropolis as a sign of victory and capturing large quantities of fuel, ammunition, and heavy vehicles; surrendered Greek officers were allowed to retire to their homes with their sidearms without being interned as prisoners of war. German 5th Panzer Division moved across the Corinth Canal all day and Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment crossed onto the Peloponnese Peninsula in southern Greece at Patras at 1730 hours. 4,200 Allied troops were evacuated from beaches south of Athens. 
0
27 Apr 1941 WW2 Heinrich Himmler visited Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. 
0
27 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-110 sank British ship Henri Mory 300 miles west of Ireland at 0130 hours; 28 were killed, 4 survived. 80 miles south of Iceland, U-552 sank British trawler Commander Horton at 0210 hours, killing the entire crew of 14. Shortly after, at 0242 hours, 100 miles southwest of the Faroe Islands, U-147 sank Norwegian ship Rimfakse; 11 were killed, 8 survived. At 1612 hours, U-147 struck again, sinking British ship Beacon Grange; 2 were killed, 82 survived. 
0
27 Apr 1941 WW2 German medium and dive bombers attacked Tobruk, Libya, destroying 4 anti-aircraft guns (killing 8); 1 German aircraft was lost. After these losses, the British moved the anti-aircraft guns to conceal positions while dummy guns were constructed in the old anti-aircraft gun positions. 
0
27 Apr 1941 WW2 German Deputy Chief of Staff Friedrich Paulus arrived in Libya. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 detected Allied convoy HX121 150 miles south of Iceland and radioed the finding to 5 other submarines. At 0415 hours, U-552 sank a tanker. At 0725 hours, U-96 sank 2 tankers and 1 freighter. While attacking, U-65 was sunk by depth charges launched by British destroyer HMS Douglas, killing the entire crew of 50. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 British Stirling bombers of No. 7 Squadron RAF attacked Emden, Germany during the day. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 In Berlin, Germany, German ambassador to the Soviet Union Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg attempted to convince Adolf Hitler that the Soviet Union was generally friendly toward Germany, and the two nations could achieve greater friendship by working closer together. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 German aircraft sank Greek torpedo boat Kyzikos and 2 other ships during the day. 2 companies of the German 5th Panzer Division captured the port of Kalamata, Greece, disrupting evacuation of Allied troops; though Allied forces would recapture the port by the end of the day, all British ships had already departed from Kalamata. Overnight, 4,170 Allied troops were evacuated from the Peloponnese Peninsula in southern Greece. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 Sergeant Jack Hinton of New Zealand 2nd Division led an attack to retake the quay at Kalamata, Greece, clearing out 3 machine gun nests and a mortar with grenades and capturing a 6-inch gun. He was shot in the stomach and taken prisoner. He would later win the Victoria Cross. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 Günther Altenburg was made the Reich Plenipotentiary for Greece. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin attacked British ship Clan Buchanan in the Arabian Sea 1,200 miles east of Mogadishu, British Somaliland. Before the crew of 110 surrendered and the ship scuttled, a distress signal was sent out, and British warships were dispatched to the area to hunt for Pinguin. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 At 0600 hours, German bombers attacked Tobruk, Libya. During the day, German Deputy Chief of Staff Friedrich Paulus ordered Erwin Rommel to delay the planned ground assault on Tobruk. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down his 8th kill, a British Blenheim light bomber, over the water off Tobruk, Libya. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Malta overnight, badly damaging destroyer HMS Encounter in the drydock and destroying minesweeper HMS Fermoy. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Caroline, manned by Dutch sailors, hit a mine and sank off Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom, killing the entire crew. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill, without reference to the Chiefs of Staff, issued a directive stating that there is no need at the present time to make provisions for the defence of Malaya and Singapore. 
0
28 Apr 1941 WW2 Charles Sweeney joined the United States Army Air Corps; he would later become the pilot of B-29 Superfortress bomber Bockscar that delivered the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 Allied resistance on mainland Greece ended at 0530 hours when 8,000 British, New Zealand, Australian, Greek, and Yugoslavian troops surrendered at Kalamata, Greece. On the same day, British intelligence picked up positive information about the German invasion of Crete; in response, most British troopships at Suda Bay in Crete were dispatched to Alexandria, Egypt to prevent being attacked by German aircraft. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 Charles Lindbergh resigned from the US Army reserves. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 Overnight, German bombers attacked Plymouth, England, United Kingdom, damaging cruiser HMS Trinidad and sinking auxiliary patrol vessel Pessac. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-75 hit British passenger liner City of Nagpur 500 miles west of Ireland with 4 torpedoes between 0230 and 0600 hours, ultimately sinking her and killing 16; 452 survivors were picked up by destroyer HMS Hurricane. 10 miles off the coast of England, United Kingdom in the North Sea, German motor torpedo boats sank British ship Ambrose Fleming, killing 11. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Allied defenses at Tobruk, Libya as well as its harbor, sinking HMS Chakla. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 Indian 20th Infantry Brigade arrived at Basra, Iraq from Bombay, India. 
0
29 Apr 1941 WW2 The British Admiralty issued a request for six C-3 Liberty hulls to be converted to fighter aircraft carriers. Five of these (HMS Archer, Avenger, Biter, Dasher and Tracker) would enter service in 1943 equipped with Martlet and Swordfish aircraft. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 New Zealand General Bernard Freyberg was appointed commander of Allied forces on Crete, Greece, commanding a garrison of poorly-armed 29,000 British, Australian, and New Zealand troops and 9,000 Greek troops. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 6,000 Iraqi troops with 30 artillery pieces departed Baghdad, Iraq on an ostensibly training exercise before dawn. At first light, they reached a plateau overlooking the RAF airbase at Habbaniya 45 miles west of Baghdad. British Ambassador Kinahan Cornwallis warned British civilians to leave Baghdad; 230 of them would soon flee to Habbaniya while 350 and 150 would seek shelter in the British Embassy and the American Legation, respectively. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 Friedrich Paulus gave Erwin Rommel the authorization to begin a ground assault on Tobruk, Libya, which was launched at 2000 hours after an entire day of artillery shelling at Ras el Madauar near Tobruk. German tanks broke through the defensive perimeter, and infantry overran several Australian positions, penetrating as far as 3 kilometers. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 British gunboats HMS Aphis and HMS Ladybird bombarded Axis positions at Gazala, Libya and Sollum, Egypt. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Lassell 300 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands at 2200 hours; 2 were killed, 51 survived. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler set the launch date of Operation Barbarossa to 22 Jun 1941. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 U-576 was launched at Hamburg, Germany. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 Georgios Tsolakoglou was named the Prime Minister of the German puppet Hellenic State. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 German aircraft bombed Malta; a bomb passed through British cruiser HMS Gloucester without detonating. 
0
30 Apr 1941 WW2 Four old US Coast Guard Cutters were commissioned into British Royal Navy service at New York, New York, United States; they were christened HMS Banff, HMS Culver, HMS Fishguard, and HMS Hartland and were manned by crew members of battleship HMS Malaya, which was currently under repair. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 British ocean boarding vessel HMS Cavina captured Italian tanker Sangro 400 miles north of the Azores islands. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 At 2215 hours, German bombers began attacking Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; it was to be the first of seven consecutive nightly bombings on the city. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 German tanks attacked Tobruk, Libya at 0715 hours; slowed by a minefield, they were attacked by 2-pounder anti-tank guns and then by British tanks; the Germans lost 12 tanks in this engagement while the British lost 4. In the evening, Australian 2/48th Battalion conducted a counterattack but it was repulsed with heavy casualties. 300 kilometers to the west, RAF aircraft attacked Benghazi and sank an Italian freighter. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Kapitän zur See Friedrich Hüffmeier took command of cruiser Köln. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Iraqi forces overlooking RAF Habbaniya grew to 9,000 men, 50 artillery pieces, 12 armored cars, and a few light tanks. They demanded the airfield to cease flight operations, but the local RAF commander ignored the threat, a decision backed by Winston Churchill. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upholder sank freighters Arcturus and Leverkusen off Kerkenah island, Tunisia. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank British passenger liner Nerissa 100 miles north of Ireland at 0027 hours; 207 were killed, 83 survived. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank British ship Samsø 200 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1834 hours. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Groß-Rosen Concentration Camp, formerly a satellite camp of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, became an independent camp. It was located in Groß-Rosen, Lower Silesia, Germany (now Rogoznica, Poland). 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Generalleutnant August Krakau succeeded Robert Martinek as the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 The Marine Barracks of New River, North Carolina, United States was established with Lieutenant Colonel William P. T. Hill in command. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle was ordered to sail for Durban, South Africa. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Viceroy of Italian East Africa Duke of Aosta and 7,000 troops were trapped at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia by Indian 5th Indivision to the north and South African 1st Brigade in the south. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Kasuga Maru began conversion into an escort carrier at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Kaga entered the drydocks at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down his 10th and 11th kills, two British Hurricane fighters, while escorting German Stuka dive bombers to Tobruk, Libya. 
0
01 May 1941 WW2 HMS Jersey hit a mine in Valetta, Malta, and later sank during a German air raid. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 Sandstorms at Tobruk, Libya limited the offensive capabilities of German tanks on this date. 100 kilometers to the west, British gunboat HMS Ladybird bombarded Axis positions at Derna. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 British ship Parracombe, with 21 crated Hurricane fighters on board for Malta, hit a mine and sank off Cape Bon, Tunisia. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 At 0500 hours, during Muslim morning prayers, 33 British aircraft from RAF Habbaniya and 8 Wellington bombers from RAF Shaibah attacked the Iraqi artillery positions which had been threatening RAF Habbaniya for the past two days. Iraq troops responded by shelling RAF Habbaniya, killing 13 and wounding 29. Elsewhere, RAF aircraft attacked the Rashid airfield near Baghdad, Iraq, destroying 22 aircraft on the ground. The RAF lost 5 aircraft in Iraq on this date. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 After sundown, German bombers attacked Liverpool, England, United Kingdom for the second consecutive night. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Alberic and destroyer HMS St. Albans collided in Pentland Firth between the Orkney Islands and Britain. HMT Alberic sank with the loss of 13 crew. The HMS St. Albans sailed to Southampton, England, United Kingdom for repairs to her bow. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 British aircraft sank German anti-submarine trawler Vp 808 off the island of Borkum near the Dutch-German border. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Jersey hit a mine and sank off Grand Harbour, Malta, killing 35 and wounding 48. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 A German memorandum noted that the plan to remove large quantities of food out of Eastern Europe to feed German civilians and military personnel would likely result in the starvation of millions of Eastern Europeans especially through the winter. The plan would continue to be implemented, however. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was promoted to the rank of Unteroffizier while stationed in Libya. 
0
02 May 1941 WW2 The British Royal Navy commissioned convoy escort ship HMS Lulworth, a former US Coast Guard Cutter, into service at New York, United States. She was manned by former crew members of battleship HMS Resolution, which was under repair in the US at the time. 
0
03 May 1941 WW2 Australian troops launched a counterattack at Tobruk, Libya. Italian troops repulsed the counterattack, losing only one bunker. 
0
03 May 1941 WW2 Alexander Löhr was promoted to the rank of colonel general. 
0
03 May 1941 WW2 Allied and Italian troops engaged in heavy fighting at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia. 
0
03 May 1941 WW2 The Panama Canal Zone was placed under the Panama Sector of the US Caribbean Defense Command. 
0
03 May 1941 WW2 General Jan Smuts announced to the House of Assembly the deployment of South African troops to Egypt. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 Allied aircraft conducted a raid on Baghdad, Iraq. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 As the Axis offensive on Tobruk, Libya began to stall, Paulus ordered Rommel to besiege rather than eliminate Tobruk. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank Swedish ship Japan off the coast of French Guinea at 1915 hours; her deck gun exploded during the attack, injuring the gun crew. The entire crew of 54 of Japan survived. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 The German bombing on Liverpool, England, United Kingdom that began on the previous date ended before dawn on this date, killing 850 people and destroying ammunition ship Malakand in the harbor. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 In a speech, Adolf Hitler said Winston Churchill was not a capable leader, both on political and military fronts. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh supported the raid on Lofoten Islands, Norway. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 29th Brigade of the Indian 5th Division launched another attack at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia, capturing 3 hills between 0415 and 0730 hours. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 German aircraft sank British minesweeper Fermoy in dock at Malta. 
0
04 May 1941 WW2 The Politburo appointed Joseph Stalin the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, thus taking over as the actual head of the Soviet government, which position was previously held by Vyacheslav Molotov. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Major General Bernard Freyberg was appointed the commander of British and Commonwealth forces at Crete, Greece. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 A shipment of US flour arrived in Vichy France. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Keitel, and Günther Lütjens embarked battleship Bismarck. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler visited the German naval yard at Gdynia and inspected battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank British ship Queen Maud 200 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1117 hours; 1 was killed, 43 survived. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 In the United Kingdom, German aircraft bombed naval facilities at Belfast in Northern Ireland (carrier HMS Furious, seaplane tender HMS Pegasus, destroyer HMS Volunteer, and corvettes HMS Bryony, HMS Buttercup, and HMS La Malouine suffered minor damage), Liverpool in England (bombed consecutively since 1 May 1941), and the Clyde Estuary in Scotland (HMS Marksman, submarine HMS Traveller, and submarine HMS Trooper suffered damage). 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Operation Tiger: British freighters, with 295 tanks destined for Egypt, passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Australian destroyers HMAS Voyager and HMAS Waterhen entered Tobruk, Libya, becoming the first ships to bring in supplies since the city became besieged. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Taku sank Italian ship Cagliari off the east coast of Italy. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Stalin announced at a passing-out ceremony for military cadets that there did exist a threat from Germany for which the Red Army had to prepare itself rapidly. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 3/2nd Punjab Battalion advanced toward the Italian stronghold at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia at 0415 hours. They were pinned down by 12 Italian machine guns for the most of the day. The attack was called off at dusk. 
0
05 May 1941 WW2 Abyssinian Emperor Haile Selassie returned to his capital Addis Ababa. He had fled the city exactly five years during the Italian invasion. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 Overnight, Iraqi troops withdrew from the plateau overlooking RAF Habbaniya after suffering 1,000 casualties, largely by RAF aircraft, abandoning large amounts of weapons and supplies. They were pursued by the British King's Own Royal Regiment, which caught up with the Iraqi troops at Sinn El Dhibban, taking 433 prisoners at the cost of 7 British troops killed and 14 wounded. To the south, the 21st Infantry Brigade of the Indian 10th Division arrived by sea at Basra. Meanwhile, Vichy France and Germany signed the Paris Protocol, which gave permission for German troops to march through Syria for Iraq to reinforce the Iraqis; in return, Germany lowered the tribute that France had to pay Germany from 20 million to 15 million Reichsmarks daily. German Luftwaffe Colonel Werner Junck was ordered to establish Fliegerführer Irak with 12 Bf 110 fighters and 12 He 111 bombers. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 German submarines U-103 and U-105 sank 3 more British freighters off Sierra Leone, British West Africa, killing 12; the crew of U-103 stopped to help the survivors righting a listing lifeboat. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 British submarines HMS Taku and HMS Truant sank Italian ship Bengasi off Italy. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 The German 8th Panzer Regiment arrived in North Africa. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft took its maiden flight. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 General Bernard Freyberg received intelligence that the Germans were likely to launch a large airborne assault on Crete, Greece on 17 May; he would continue to expect the invasion to come from the beaches rather than the sky, however. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 Polish doctor Zygmunt Klukowski noted in his diary that, on this date, he observed Germans conscripting Polish civilians to build military airfields and air raid bunkers even though there was no active war in Eastern Europe. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank British ocean boarding vessel HMS Camito and recently captured Italian tanker Sangro 500 miles west of Ireland, killing 28. 
0
06 May 1941 WW2 Henry Stimson, the United States Secretary for War, made a surprise statement by telling his countrymen that the United States must use its fleet to ensure the triumph of democracy. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 German aircraft conducted the first of the two consecutive nightly raids on Hull, England, United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Liverpool, England was bombed for the seventh (and final) consecutive night, damaging destroyer HMS Hurricane; by this time, 75% of Liverpool's port capacity had been destroyed. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 HMS Somali captured the German weather ship München off Iceland along with an Enigma cypher machine and code book. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 The first of the B-17 Flying Fortress bombers in Britain arrived at RAF Watton. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin stopped small British tanker British Emperor 400 miles off British Somaliland with gunfire, whose crew was able to send distress signals before being taken prisoner. The tanker was scuttled with torpedoes from Pinguin. Meanwhile, British cruiser HMS Cornwall sailed toward the location of the distress signal. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank British ship Ixion and Norwegian ship Eastern Star 150 miles south of Iceland at 2300 hours. Destroyer HMS Bulldog and sloop HMS Rochester dropped 98 depth charges over 4 hours, but U-94 was able to escape with only minor damage. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Norwegian ship Ferlane off West Africa. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 During the day, German bombers sank British minesweeper HMS Stoke at Tobruk, Libya, killing 21. After nightfall, British cruiser HMS Ajax and destroyers HMS Havock, HMS Hotspur, and HMS Imperial bombarded Benghazi, Libya, sinking Italian ships Tenace and Capitano Cecchi. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 Indian 20th and 21st Brigades marched out of Basra, Iraq to attack nearby port of Ashar. 
0
07 May 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 aircraft and claimed another probable. 
0
08 May 1941 WW2 German aircraft conducted the last of the two consecutive nightly raids on Hull, England. 
0
08 May 1941 WW2 A Walrus seaplane from British cruiser HMS Cornwall spotted German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin 400 miles off British Somaliland. The two ships fired on each other at 1714 hours; Pinguin was fatally damaged by Cornwall's superior firepower, but Cornwall was also hit, killing 1 and wounding 3. Shortly after Pinguin's commanding officer gave the abandon ship order, an eight-inch shell hit Pinguin, detonating her store of 130 naval mines and sinking her; 341 crew and 214 prisoners were killed, 66 crew and 22 prisoners survived. 
0
08 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank British ship Ramillies in the North Atlantic; 29 were killed, 12 survived. 
0
08 May 1941 WW2 Indian troops attacked Amba Alagi, Abyssinia at dawn, taking the Falagi Pass and three hills east and south of the city, respectively. Later in the morning, Italian troops counterattacked and recaptured two of the hills. 
0
08 May 1941 WW2 359 British RAF bombers attacked Hamburg and Bremen in Germany. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-110 and U-201 attacked Allied convoy OB-318, sinking 3 British freighters. U-201 was damaged by 99 depth charges but was able to return to her home port for repairs. U-110 was forced to surface by 10 depth charges from British corvette HMS Aubretia, then shelled by destroyers HMS Bulldog and HMS Broadway. The German crew thought the submarine had already been fatally damaged and sinking, and abandoned ship. Recognizing the opportunity to capture the ship, the commanding officer of HMS Bulldog quickly rescued many of the German crew and put them belowdecks so they could not observe (but submarine commander Lemp died in the water, possibly shot as he attempted to swim back to the submarine), and sent a boarding party to capture her. The capture was completed at 1245 hours, yielding an Enigma cipher machine and code book. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler disembarked battleship Bismarck. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 German intelligence intercepted a British radio transmission containing weather information in the Libyan-Egyptian border region; this gave suspicion that an offensive was about to be taken place. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 British transport ship Empire Song hit two mines and sank in off Malta; in addition to the 18 men killed, 57 tanks aboard were also lost. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 After nightfall, Australian destroyer HMAS Vendetta departed Alexandria, Egypt and arrived in Tobruk, Libya to embark wounded troops. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank British ship City of Winchester 700 miles west of Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2309 hours; 6 were killed, 92 survived. In the same area, Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Norwegian tanker Alfred Olsen; the entire crew survived. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union declared that it no longer recognised the diplomatic standing of Belgium, Norway and Yugoslavia. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 A peace treaty was signed between Thailand and France in Tokyo, Japan, officially ending the Franco-Thai War; the French was coerced by the Japanese to relinquish their hold on the disputed border territories. 
0
09 May 1941 WW2 At RAF Waddington in Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, a direct hit by a German bomb on the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) station and a nearby air-raid shelter killed three airmen and seven women who worked in the NAAFI, including Mrs. Raven, the manageress. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 Sparking a controversy that will last long after the war, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess landed in Scotland, United Kingdom with a Bf 110 fighter in an attempt to dissuade Duke of Hamilton to introduce him to King George VI in order to broker peace between the United Kingdom and Germany. This mission was not authorized by Adolf Hitler. He landed 12 miles from the Duke's residence, broke his ankle, and was arrested by a farmer. He was taken into custody and remained so until his death. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 A German rocket engine test reached the speed of 1,002 kilometers per hour. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-556 attacked Allied convoy OB-318 between Greenland and Iceland, sinking British ship Empire Caribou (34 killed, 11 survived) and Belgian ship Gand (1 killed, 43 survived) and damaging British ship Aelybryn (1 killed). 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Kelly, HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Kashmir, and HMS Kelvin from Malta bombarded Benghazi, Libya at 1700 hours; German dive bombers fought back but caused no damage. After nightfall, also in Libya, British gunboat HMS Ladybird shelled Gazala 30 miles west of Tobruk. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-110, captured by HMS Bulldog on the previous day, sank while being towed toward Iceland. Her Enigma cipher machine and code book, however, had already been retrieved by the British. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 The 200th Beaufighter aircraft was completed. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 Bulgaria established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 Indian troops marched out the Falagi Pass, which was captured on the previous day, toward the 11,400-foot Mount Gumsa east of Amba Alagi, Abyssinia. Italian troops who held Mount Gumsa would be withdrawn into Amba Alagi after sundown. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 RAF bombers conducted a raid on Hamburg, Germany. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 British Lieutenant Anthony "Peter" Allan escaped the Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle, Germany by hiding in a straw mattress that was being carried out of the camp by cooperative French laborers. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 Italian manufacturing firm Caproni delivered midget submarines CB-3, CB-4, CB-5, and CB-6 to the Italian Navy at La Spezia, Italy. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Toshio Shimazaki was named the Chief of Staff of the Mako naval port at Pescadores islands, Taiwan. 
0
10 May 1941 WW2 German bombers mounted what would turn out to be the last major raid on London, England, United Kingdom. Low tide on the River Thames made firefighting difficult as it was harder to draw water, thus fires caused more damage than usual. The Houses of Parliament were among the buildings damaged during this night. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 German forces completed the occupation of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 British Brigadier Kingstone departed Haifa, Palestine with a column of horse cavalry and armored cars to reinforce RAF Habbaniya, Iraq. Meanwhile, the first 3 German Luftwaffe aircraft from Greece landed at Mosul, Iraq. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank British ship City of Shanghai with the last torpedo 750 miles southwest of Sierra Leone at 0130 hours after tracking her for 16 hours; 6 were killed, 67 survived. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 The first combat mission by the RAF's new four-engine Halifax bombers failed to succeed when the bombers failed to find their French targets. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler summoned top Nazi Party officials to discuss how to handle Rudolf Heß's unauthorized flight to the United Kingdom. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Galland was ordered by Hermann Göring to dispatch his pilots to search for and shoot down Rudolf Hess' Me-110 aircraft somewhere over the North Sea. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 South African 1st Brigade arrived at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 RAF bombers attacked Hamburg and Bremen in Germany. 
0
11 May 1941 WW2 John Colville, secretary to Winston Churchill, observed great fires burning on the southern shore of River Thames in London, England, United Kingdom, result of the previous night's bombing. During the day, German Luftwaffe aircraft bombed RAF Feltwell in England. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 Admiral Günther Lütjens and other staff officers embarked battleship Bismarck. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 Italian torpedo boats Pleiadi and Pegaso sank British submarine HMS Undaunted off Tripoli, Libya at 2030 hours, killing the entire crew of 32. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 The British convoy carrying 135 infantry tanks, 82 cruiser tanks, 21 light tanks, and 43 Hurricane fighters arrived at Alexandria, Egypt having traveled through the dangerous Mediterranean Sea. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 Polish Lieutenant Mietek Chmiel and Lieutenant Miki Surmanowicz failed in their attempt to escape the Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle, Germany. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 Joseph Goebbels visited Adolf Hitler at Berghof in Berchtesgaden in southern Germany. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 47 German dive bombers sank British gunboat HMS Ladybird in Tobruk harbor, Libya with two bomb hits, killing 4 and wounding 14; Ladybird's gunners damaged two German dive bombers in return. Although she settled in 10 feet of water, her 6-inch gun was still above water, and thus she would remain useful as a stationary anti-aircraft gun platform while repairs were being done. Admiral Andrew Cunningham sent the message to her commanding officer "Great fighting finish worthy of highest ideals and tradition of the Navy and an inspiration for all who fight on the seas." 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Rorqual sank two small Greek vessels carrying German troops off the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. 
0
12 May 1941 WW2 Three former US Coast Guard Cutters were commissioned into Royal Navy at New York, United States as HMS Sennen, HMS Walney, and HMS Totland. Like cutters commissioned shortly before them, they were manned by the crew of battleship HMS Malaya, which was currently under repair in the United States. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen conducted refueling exercises. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen conducted refueling exercises. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 British troops began gathering for the Operation Brevity offensive in the Libyan-Egyptian border region. Axis aircraft discovered and bombed one tank concentration. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 German submarines U-98 and U-111 attacked Allied convoy SC-30 off Greenland in the morning, sinking British ship Somersby (entire crew of 43 survived and rescued by Greek ship Marika Protopapa) and armed merchant cruiser HMS Salopian (3 were killed, 287 survived). Also in the morning, U-105 sank British ship Benvrackie at 0748 hours 700 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa; 28 were killed, 55 survived. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 British gunboat HMS Gnat shelled the German airfield at Gazala, Libya 30 miles west of Tobruk after sundown in an attempt to disrupt the German aerial campaign against the besieged Tobruk. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 A shipment of Vichy French weapons arrived in Mosul, Iraq from French Mandate of Syria, containing 15,500 rifles, 6 million rounds of ammunition, 200 machine guns, 4 75-mm field guns, and 10,000 shells. Meanwhile, a British mobile column from Palestine reached Rubah, Iraq, finding it already abandoned by Iraqi forces. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 The Red Army commenced the movement of substantial forces to the western frontier, but out of the thirty-three divisions deployed only four or five were fully equipped by the outbreak of war. 
0
13 May 1941 WW2 In Germany, a new Decree on wartime military jurisdiction was published, which removed crimes against civilians from the sphere of courts martial and suspended any obligation to punish offences against "hostile civilian persons" committed by soldiers. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 The British RAF formed No. 121 Squadron, also known as the second Eagle Squadron. It was consisted of American volunteers. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Romania passed laws which required all adult Jews to become forced laborers. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Axis aircraft attempted to locate British troop concentrations near the Libyan-Egyptian border as a British offensive was suspected; none were found. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck and light cruiser Leipzig conducted exercises; the port side crane was damaged during the exercises. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck and light cruiser Leipzig conducted exercises. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 A British Blenheim bomber flying reconnaissance over Syria spotted a German Ju 90 transport aircraft at the Vichy French airfield at Palmyra. The British government gave permission to attack, and RAF fighter soon attacked the airfield, damaging two He 111 bombers. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Dido departed Suda Bay, Crete, Greece and headed for Alexandria, Egypt with £7,000,000 worth of Greek gold aboard. She was escorted by destroyers HMS Stuart, HMS Vendetta, HMS Janus, and HMS Isis. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis sank British ship Rabaul with shellfire 500 miles west of South Africa; 7 were killed, 51 were captured. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Victorious was commissioned into service. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Lord Gort was appointed the Governor of Gibraltar. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 3,600 French Jews in Paris, France were arrested. 
0
14 May 1941 WW2 Kaga departed the drydocks at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 At midnight, British cruisers HMS Gloucester and HMS Fiji completed the transfer of the 2nd Battalion Leicester Regiment from Alexandria, Egypt to Heraklion, Crete, Greece. During the day, German Luftwaffe aircraft attacked Salamis Navy Yard at Suda Bay, Crete, sinking Greek destroyer Leon. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 British losses in France and Norway were publicly announced to be 13,250 killed and 41,000 captured out of 437,000 deployed. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 Admiral Darlan returned from meeting with Hitler and Ribbentrop; Vichy-French cabinet approved German concessions as well as French counter-concessions. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 British Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin declared that he would not negotiate with Rudolf Heß. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 Axel von Blomberg passed away. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 In the Libyan-Egyptian border region, British forces advanced in three columns and captured Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo before noon, capturing 347 Axis prisoners (mostly Italians). A German Panzer battalion counterattacked, recapturing Fort Capuzzo by 1445 hours, taking 70 British prisoners. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 An Iraqi Blenheim bomber attacked the British column moving from Palestine into Iraq, causing no damage. British Swordfish aircraft from HMS Hermes attacked the Al Qushla barracks in Samawah, Iraq; one aircraft was shot down. Meanwhile, British bombers again attacked French airfields at Palmyra and Damascus, Syria. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 sank British ship Benvenue 400 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2029 hours; 2 were killed, 55 survived and rescued by British liner Empire Trader. To the north, 430 miles west of Brest, France, German submarine U-43 sank French sail Notre Dame du Châtelet; 28 were killed, 10 survived. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 In Russia a document from military planners was issued recommending a short strike against any assembling forces threatening Soviet territory. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 Washington was commissioned into service. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 Graph was commissioned into service. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 Dr. Sigmund Rascher requested Heinrich Himmler via a letter requesting concentration camp prisoners to be placed in his disposal to conduct experiments in decompression chambers which simulated high altitude environments. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 South African and Indian troops linked up at Triangle Hill near Amba Alagi, Abyssinia; they were also joined by Abyssinia guerrilla forces. Meanwhile, Allied shelling of the Italian fortress damaged a oil tank, causing a major oil leak into the garrison's only source of drinking water. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 RAF aircraft conducted raids on Berlin, Cuxhaven, and Hannover in Germany. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 The Dame of Sark Sibyl Mary Hathaway was reported to be transferred to a German concentration camp as reprisal for civil disobedience. 
0
15 May 1941 WW2 Gloster's E.28/39 prototype jet fighter took its first flight. The test pilot was Lieutenant Gerry Sayer. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 RAF aircraft conducted raids on Köln (Cologne) and Bramsfield in Germany; at the latter target the Atlantik rubber works was damaged. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British troopship Archangel 10 miles off Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom; 52 were killed, 435 survived. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 The damaged port side crane aboard Bismarck was repaired. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 Italian sappers cleared barbed wires and mines. The subsequent attack on Tobruk, Libya saw Italian troops capturing several bunkers. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 Brigadier Gott withdrew British tanks and infantry from the desert around Sollum and Fort Capuzzo, Libya to consolidate a hold on Halfaya Pass on the Egyptian-Libyan border. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 The final British reinforcements arrived on Crete, Greece. On the same day, German aircraft bombed various British positions on Crete (including airfields) as well as the shipping in Suda Bay (sinking several freighters and damaging HMS York). 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 German Me 110 and He 111 bombers attacked RAF Habbaniyah in Iraq, surprising the British; the British and the Germans each lost one aircraft during the attack. Meanwhile, German aircraft strafed British reinforcements traveling eastward from Palestine. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 attacked British ship Rodney Star 400 miles west of Sierra Leone, British West Africa between 0548 and 0930 hours, hitting her with torpedoes and gunfire; Rodney Star sank; the entire crew of 83 survived. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-109 stumbled upon an American fleet containing a battleship and several destroyers. She dove and avoided attack. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 Vsevolod Merkulov reported to Joseph Stalin regarding the final deportation plan for the Baltic States, which targeted political leaders, land owners, officers, and others, plus their families. He recommended 8-year imprisonment in labor camps for them, and the exile to faraway lands in the Soviet Union for their families. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 With drinking water fouled in the Italian stronghold of Amba Alagi, Abyssinia, the Italian Viceroy Duke of Aosta requested the British to send in fresh water. When the British refused, he called for a ceasefire in order to begin surrender negotiations. By this point, his forces had suffered incurring 289,000 casualties. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 German bombers damaged British destroyer HMS Encounter in drydock at Malta. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 Wing Commander J. Warfield was named the commanding officer of RAF Station Takali on Malta. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 German bombers conducted what would turn out to be the last major raid against London, England, United Kingdom, as most Luftwaffe units were being transferred to the Eastern Front. 
0
16 May 1941 WW2 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the defence of China to be vital to the United States. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 Pilot Officer Mike Kolendorski, an American serving in the British RAF, became the first No. 121 Squadron RAF member to be killed. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 attacked Dutch tanker Marisa with a torpedo at midnight, killing 2; U-107 allowed the 47 survivors to abandon ship before sinking her with guns. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 Operation Brevity: German Colonel Maximilian von Herff launched a counterattack in the area near Bir Wair and Musaid after 1600 hours. British Brigadier General William Gott withdrew his troops into the Halfaya Pass, Egypt, ending his offensive operation. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire delivered fresh Australian troops to Tobruk, Libya at 0100 hours; the artillery pieces that arrived with the destroyer were deployed on the front lines as early as 0530 hours. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Bramsfeld, 12 kilometers northwest of Köln, Germany; the Atlantik rubber plant was hit with 2 high explosive and 44 incendiary bombs. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 Arthur Compton and the United States National Academy of Sciences published a report noting the success rate of developing an atomic weapon was favorable. On the same day, Vannevar Bush created the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD). 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 Viceroy of Italian East Africa Duke of Aosta surrendered Amba Alagi, Abyssinia to the British at 1730 hours. 
0
17 May 1941 WW2 Sonderkommando Junck, a special formation of German Luftwaffe fighters, bombers and transports which had been hastily painted with Iraqi markings, commenced (with a dozen Bf 110 aircraft of 4./ZG 76) air attacks on British positions, especially those at Habbaniya, Iraq; or the next ten days the Bf 110 aircraft attacked, losing several aircraft in the process. Late in the evening, the British force from Palestine arrived at Habbaniya. After sundown, British and colonial troops crossed the Euphrates River toward Fallujah. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 After sundown, German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen departed Gotenhafen, Germany (now Gdynia, Poland) for the North Atlantic. The fleet was commanded by Admiral Günther Lütjens aboard Bismarck. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 Italy annexed Dalmatia into its borders. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck anchored in the bay at 1200 hours to embark supplies and fuel for Operation Rheinübung. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 Prinz Eugen departed for Operation Rheinübung. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Piako 130 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2227 hours; 10 were killed, 65 survived and rescued by British sloop HMS Bridgewater. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 British battleship HMS Nelson and aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, en route from Cape Town, South Africa to Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa in search of German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis, sailed within 7 kilometers of the German ship without detecting her. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 German dive bombers attacked British hospital ship Aba 50 miles south of Crete, Greece. Petty Officer Alfred Sephton of British light cruiser HMS Coventry won the Victoria Cross for directing anti-aircraft fire against the German aircraft despite being partially blinded by a machine gun bullet; he would die from his injuries on the next day. In anticipation of a German invasion of Crete, Greece, 700 Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders were transported from Port Said, Egypt, on troopship Glengyle; they would land at Tymbaki, Crete after sundown. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 British aircraft from RAF Habbaniya bombed Iraqi positions in Falluja throughout the day. Meanwhile, Arab troops loyal to Britain relieved the besieged RAF Habbaniyah which was defended only by out-of-date training aircraft. The base had been under attack from the pro-German forces of General Rashid Ali using Bf 110 and He 111 aircraft. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 General Mosley Mayne, British commander of Indian 5th Division, had lunch with Italian commander Duke of Aosta at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia. The Italian duke agreed to not destroy guns, to not destroy supplies, and to dismantle or identify mines. 
0
18 May 1941 WW2 Soviet leadership began a purge against Soviet Air Force officers. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 Iraqis surrender the town of Fallujah after it was subjected to aerial and artillery bombardment by the British; 300 Iraqi troops were taken prisoner. On the same day, German bombers attacked RAF Habbaniya in Iraq. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 German aircraft attacked British airfields on Crete, Greece. To prevent destruction, the British RAF evacuated all aircraft from Crete to Egypt. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 Vichy France announced the repatriation of 100,000 French prisoners of war. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck departed Gotenhafen at 0200 hours and made rendezvous with heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and destroyers Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt and Z-23 off Rügen Island at 1200 hours. At 2230 hours, destroyer Z-10 Hans Lody joined the group. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 Heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen made rendezvous with battleship Bismarck off Rügen Island at 1200 hours. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96 sank British ship Empire Ridge 50 miles northwest of Ireland at 0324 hours; 31 were killed, 2 survived and rescued by destroyer HMS Vanquisher. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 "Guidelines for the behaviour of the troops in Russia" demanded that German troops use "ruthless and energetic action against Bolshevik agitators, guerrillas, saboteurs (and) Jews" and approved the complete liquidation of any "active or passive resistance". 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 4,777 Italian and colonial troops formally surrendered at Amba Alagi, Abyssinia at 1115 hours, parading out of the fortress with rifles on their shoulders. 
0
19 May 1941 WW2 British Army Sergeant Nigel Leakey was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross after being killed in action single-handedly knocking out Italian tanks in Abyssinia. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 German invasion of Crete, Greece began with an airborne assault at 0800 hours, capturing Maleme airfield on the northern coast. At 1615 hours and 1730 hours, the second airborne assault was conducted at Rethimnon and Heraklion, respectively; 1,856 German airborne troopers were killed during the second attack wave. At Suda Bay, Crete, German bombers sank British minesweeper HMS Widnes. After sundown, British destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Nizam, and HMS Ilex bombarded the German-controlled airfield on the Greek island of Karpathos. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Prime Minister Churchill noted that he was not prepared to make a statement on the arrival of Rudolf Heß in Britain. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Swedish cruiser Gotland detected German battleship Bismarck in the Kattegat at 1300 hours. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Swedish cruiser Gotland detected German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in the Kattegat at 1300 hours. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Thomas Adlerson of British Air Raid Precautions was presented the George Cross award by King George VI. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Swedish seaplane-cruiser Gotland spotted German warships Bismark and Prinz Eugen in the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden. This information was passed on to the British naval attaché in Stockhlom, Sweden Henry Denham, who in turn passed it to the British Admiralty. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 German submarines U-94, U-98, U-109, and U-556 attacked Allied convoy HX-126 250 miles southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland, sinking 7 ships. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-138 sank British ship Javanese Prince 155 miles northwest of Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Otaria sank British ship Starcross 430 miles west of Ireland; the entire crew survived. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Polish Lieutenant J. Just, a prisoner of war of Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in Germany, escaped from the hospital at Villingen, Germany but was captured near Basel on the Swiss-German border. 
0
20 May 1941 WW2 Viceroy of Italian East Africa Prince Amedeo, the Duke of Aosta, surrendered himself into British captivity. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 At a meeting of the Central Committee War Section in Moscow, Russia, the intelligence reports, provided by Communist sympathisers in Germany, that an attack on the Soviet Union was imminent was greeted with much apprehension. Stalin however still refused to accept the intelligence, believing that the reports must be either deliberate provocation of misinformation by the British to get the Soviet Union involved in the war. When General Proskurov, the head of Soviet Intelligence, argued personally with Stalin, he was duly arrested and shot. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 In the early hours of the day, 3 British cruisers and 4 destroyers intercepted and sank 11 small Axis vessels, killing 297 Germans. In the morning, 650 men of the German 5. Gebirsgäger Division landed on Crete, Greece in time to support the paratroopers already in position against a British counter attack at Maleme airfield. Many of the transport aircraft that delivered the troops would be damaged or destroyed on the airfield before they could take off. New Zealand General Freyberg held back his reserves despite German presence at Maleme, believing that the main German invasion was still to come at the beaches. At the nearby island of Milos, 19 fishing boats and 2 small passenger ships disembarked 2,331 German infantry. Out at sea, German aircraft damaged HMS Dido, HMS Orion, and HMS Ajax while Italian bombers sank HMS Juno (128 killed, 97 survived). 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 The Women's Land Army in the United Kingdom was declared to have over 11,000 members. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 A Vichy French military court sentenced 56 enlisted soldiers who sided with de Gaulle to death or hard labor, in absentia. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 Vichy France government confiscated all property owned by Free French troops. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-69 sank unarmed American freighter Robin Moor by torpedo and gunfire 800 miles off the coast of British West Africa at 0525 hours; Robin Moor was the first American merchantman to be sunk by a German submarine in WW2. All 46 aboard survived. US President Roosevelt protested the sinking and unsuccessfully demanded compensation from Germany. At midnight at the very end of the day, U-69 struck again, sinking British ship Tewkesbury; all 42 aboard survived. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 The German fleet containing Bismarck was spotted by a British Coastal Command Spitfire aircraft at 1315 hours in the Korsfjord. It departed Korsfjord at 2000 hours. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 The German fleet containing Prinz Eugen was spotted by a British Coastal Command Spitfire aircraft at 1315 hours in the Korsfjord. It departed Korsfjord at 2000 hours. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen stopped in Grimstadfjord, Norway to refuel Prinz Eugen. At 1315 hours, RAF Flying Officer Michael Suckling, flying a Spitfire fighter, spotted the warships. British Home Fleet commander Admiral John Tovey dispatched all available warships to prevent the Germans from breaking out to the North Atlantic. The German ships completed refueling at 1900 hours and began moving westwards. After dark, British bombers attacked the empty Grimstadfjord. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-93 sank Dutch tanker Elusa off Greenland; 5 were killed, 49 survived. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-98 sank British ship Marconi; 22 were killed, 56 survived and rescued by US Coast Guard patrol boat General Greene. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 8 I-15 fighters of the Chinese 29th Squadron intercepted 27 Japanese G3M bombers over Lanzhou, Gansu, China, shooting down one and damaging another. 
0
21 May 1941 WW2 Kaga was made the flagship of Carrier Division 1 of the Japanese Navy First Air Fleet at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 The first flight of the Curtiss Hawk 81 fighters, known as Kittyhawk I to the British and P-40D to the Americans, was ordered by both the British Royal Air Force and the US Army. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 US Navy transferred ships from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 Before dawn, British warships searched for an Axis convoy off the Greek island of Milos; after sunrise, German aircraft spotted the ships, damaging HMS Naiad (6 killed), HMS Calcutta (14 killed), and HMS Kingston (1 killed) at 1000 hours. At 1200 hours, HMS Greyhound was sunk (76 killed) and HMS Warspite was damaged (43 killed). Shortly after, HMS Gloucester (722 killed) and HMS Fiji (257 killed) were also sunk. Meanwhile, at Crete, Greece, Australian and New Zealand troops counterattacked at Maleme at 0330 hours, but German 5. Gebirsgäger Division troops repulsed the attack. During the day, additional Ju 52 aircraft brought two more battalions of troops to Maleme. Australian and New Zealand troops were pulled back from Maleme to Suda Bay to protect the main supply point while regrouping for another counterattack. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 Himmler formed a Norwegian SS organization, modeling it after the German counterpart. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 HMS King George V patrolled the waters off Iceland. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 Iraqis counterattacked the British troops at Fallujah, Iraq with Italian-made light tanks. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 British aerial reconnaissance confirmed the German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen had left Grimstadfjord, Norway. The German aerial reconnaissance to Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom, seeing dummy warshipsk, reported that the British fleet was still in port. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-111 sank British ship Barnby 400 miles southwest of Ireland at 1340 hours; 1 was killed, 44 survived. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank British tanker Grenadier 50 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at midnight; the entire crew of 49 survived. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 New Zealand Second Lieutenant Charles Upham commanded a forward platoon in an attack on Maleme, Crete, Greece, during which he led his unit in advancing 3,000 yards, destroying many enemy defensive positions along the way, including wiping out a machine gun post with a grenade by himself. While falling back, he helped a wounded man out of the battle zone under fire and helped an isolated company back to friendly lines. He would later win the Victoria Cross award. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 7 I-16 fighters of the Chinese 24th Pursuit Squadron and 1 SB bomber of the Chinese 9th Bomb Squadron were ordered to intercept the incoming 25 Japanese G3M bombers at Lanzhou, Gansu, China. Bad weather forced the Chinese aircraft to land at Chung Chuan Chun Airfield, but upon sighting the Japanese bombers overhead the Chinese fighters were able to takeoff and shoot down one bomber and damaging another. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh intercepted German ship Lech in the Bay of Biscay. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 Vyacheslav Molotov met with Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg in Moscow, Russia. Schulenburg, the German ambassador, reported that Molotov was extremely friendly. 
0
22 May 1941 WW2 Erich Raeder responded to Adolf Hitler's inquiry regarding a German occupation of the Azores islands as long range bomber bases (although Germany had no such bombers at that time) as difficult, as the German Navy was not strong enough to guard the islands should they be taken. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 HMS Kelly commanded by Lord Louis Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, was sunk 35 miles south Crete, Greece at 0800 hours, shortly a bombardment mission; 181 were killed, 297 survived. On the island itself, bitter fighting continued. During the day, German reinforcements arrived at Maleme airfield, but the attempts to land troops by sea were rebuffed. The Germans now controlled the west end of the island. On the same day, German bombing of Suda Bay sank 5 British motor torpedo boats. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck sighted British cruiser Suffolk on her portside at 1922 hours, then cruiser Norfolk at 2030 hours. Her main battery fired at Norfolk but did not score any hits. At 2200 hours, Bismarck reversed course to chase Suffolk, but Suffolk would be able to escape. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler issued Directive 30 to send forces to aid Iraq in its war against the British. At Fallujah, Iraq, fighters of the German Fliegerführer Irak squadron strafed British positions. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen were spotted by British cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk in the Denmark Strait at 1922 hours. Bismarck forced the British cruisers to back off with her guns, but the cruisers would follow at a safer distance to report the German position. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank Dutch ship Berhala 200 miles off Guinea, French West Africa at 2020 hours; 3 were killed, 59 survived. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 Grampus was commissioned into service. 
0
23 May 1941 WW2 Hermann Göring ordered the plunder and destruction of Soviet industrial centers since the conquered Soviet population would be no more than low laborers for Germany. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 King George II of Greece departed Crete, Greece for Cairo, Egypt. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 British battlecruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales engaged German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen at 0552 hours at the distance of 24 kilometers. At 0600, a 15 inch shells from Bismarck penetrated Hood's thin deck armor, detonating a magazine and sinking her with almost all killed. Prince of Wales broke off from the battle at 0604 hours after being hit 7 times. Bismarck was hit 3 times and began to sail south for repairs. At 2350 hours, 8 British Swordfish torpedo bombers from aircraft carrier HMS Victorious attacked Bismarck and scored one torpedo hit. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 The British government collected £124,000,000 in donations after a week-long War Weapon Week event. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 At 0552 hours, battleship Bismarck reported 'in fight with two heavy units' as she was engaged by British warships. Between 0555 and 0601 hours, she was hit on the port side by three shells from HMS Prince of Wales, but by 0601 she was able to sink HMS Hood. Between 0602 and 0609, she scored four hits on HMS Prince of Wales. At 0801 hours, Bismarck reported damage with electric plant no. 4 and boiler room no. 2; she would head for Saint-Nazaire due to her low fuel levels. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 Prinz Eugen engaged in combat with HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Hood alongside of German battleship Bismarck. She scored the first hit on HMS Hood. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 British Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn of the submarine HMS Upholder won the Victoria Cross for sinking an Italian transport off Sicily, Italy and surviving 37 depth charges in 20 minutes. By the end of the year he had sunk 140,000 tons of enemy shipping. Wanklyn and Upholder were lost off Tripoli in Apr 1942. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 Allied troops began to fall back southward in Crete, Greece. German bombers attacked Chaniá on the northern coast, causing great damage. After dark, British minelayer HMS Abdiel transported 200 British commandos from Alexandria, Egypt to Suda Bay, Crete; another effort to transport 800 commandos to Port Lutro, Crete was canceled due to bad weather. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank British ship Vulcain off British West Africa at 0249 hours, killing 7. In the same general area, U-103 sank Greek ship Marionga at 0356 hours, killing 26. 
0
24 May 1941 WW2 German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis sank British ship Trafalgar 850 miles off South Africa; 12 were killed, 33 survived. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 After being reinforced through Maleme airfield on Crete, Greece, German Stuka dive bombers attacked Allied lines at 1600 hours, softening defenses for a ground assault toward Galatas on the northern coast. Elsewhere on the island, German aircraft bombed Heraklion. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck sailed for Saint-Nazaire, closely monitored by Allied aircraft and warships. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk lost radar contact with German battleship Bismarck at 0306 hours as the German ship unexpectedly turned west. Several hours later, the British learned of Bismarck's general area after intercepting a radio message sent by Admiral Lütjens. All British attempts to locate Bismarck on this date, however, failed. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank Egyptian ship Radames off Monrovia, Liberia at 1631 hours, killing 1. At 2213 hours, U-103 struck again, sinking Dutch ship Wangi Wangi, killing 1. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 Luftwaffe Lieutenant-General Kurt Student arrived at Maleme in Crete, Greece. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa and refueled. 
0
25 May 1941 WW2 Pierre Laval criticized the Vichy French government during an interview with American journalist Ralph Heinzen in Paris, France. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 Battleship Bismarck was detected by Allied PBY Catalina aircraft 700 miles west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom at 1030 hours, and Royal Navy's Force H was ordered to attack. Carrier-based Swordfish torpedo bombers attacked between 2047 and 2115 hours. Two or three torpedoes hit her, one of which hit the stern and jammed her rudder at 12 degrees to port. At 2140 hours, she radioed in the message "Ship unable to maneuver. We will fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer." Within hours, Allied warships closed in on her. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 Operation Skorpion: German Colonel Maximilian von Herff launched an offensive and captured Halfaya Pass in Egypt, near the border with Libya. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 Six Albacore carrier aircraft from HMS Formidable attacked Italian airfields on Scarpanto in the Dodecanese Islands in Operation MAQ3. German bombers counterattacked the carrier, hitting her twice and killing 12; escorting destroyer HMS Nubian was also hit, seriously damaging the stern and killing 15. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 During the day, German aircraft misidentified the German column moving from Galatas, Crete, Greece toward Canea on the Suda Bay. After sundown, poor communications and conflicting orders caused 1,000 Allied troops at Canea to become surrounded. Also during the night, British minelayer HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Hero and HMS Nizam arrived at Suda Bay from Alexandria, Egypt and disembarked 750 British commandos under Colonel Robert Laycock; they evacuated personnel from the naval base as they departed. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 Japanese fighters intercepted 18 I-15 fighters of the Chinese 29th Pursuit Squadron while in transit in Gansu Province, China; nearly all Chinese fighters were destroyed. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler met with tank generals and tank designers at his residence Berghof in southern Germany. In a similar meeting three months prior he had asked for 75-millimeter guns for Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. Because 75-millimeter guns relied on special tungsten shells, Hitler now asked for 88-millimeter guns to be used for future heavy tanks. He also demanded 100-millimeter frontal armor and 60-millimeter side armor. 
0
26 May 1941 WW2 Iraqi forces received supplies by train from Vichy French forces in Syria, including 8 155mm guns, 6,000 shells, 30,000 grenades, and 32 trucks. By this date, all German fighters in Iraq had become unserviceable after 10 days of engagements with British fighters; the Germans then evacuated their main base at Mosul, Iraq before the Commonwealth forces could overrun it. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 German troops captured Canea, Crete, Greece, thus securing the use of the anchorage at Suda Bay. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 US Navy transferred ships from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt announced unlimited state of emergency, which enabled him to send more war supplies to the United Kingdom. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 At 0710 hours, battleship Bismarck sent in what would become her last radio report. She was sighted by battleships HMS King George V and HMS Rodney at 0844 hours, and their guns fired 3 minutes later, hitting Bismarck and quickly disabling her guns. Heavy cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Dorsetshire joined in on the attack shortly after. After receiving about 400 gunfire hits from the British ships and several torpedo hits from HMS Dorsetshire, Bismarck's crew set off scuttling charges in the boiler room to scuttle her. She sank at 1039 hours; 2,091, most of her crew, were killed. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Colonial off Guinea, French West Africa at 0146 hours; the entire crew of 100 survived and rescued by HMS Centurion. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 Allied forces advanced toward Baghdad, Iraq in two columns. From the south, Indian 20th Brigade advanced north along and on the Euphrates River while Indian 21st Brigade advanced on the Tigris River from Basra. From the west, British forces departed Fallujah. Also on this date, 12 Italian CR.42 biplane fighters arrived at Mosul to reinforce the German and Iraqi forces in the area. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 Scirè launched three manned torpedoes into Gibraltar harbor; they failed to damage any enemy vessel. 
0
27 May 1941 WW2 In Britain a secret War Office memo banned Fascists and Communists from joining the Home Guard. All those already in the service are to be dismissed as "Services no longer required". 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 British General Archibald Wavell ordered Operation Battleaxe against Axis positions in Libya; it was to be launched on 7 Jun. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 The evacuation of British and Commonwealth troops from Crete, Greece began before dawn; the evacuation centered around Sphakia on the southern coast of Crete, while Colonel Laycock commanded a rearguard force to guard the evacuation. British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, and HMS Dido and destroyers HMS Decoy, HMS Jackal, HMS Imperial, HMS Hotspur, HMS Kimberly, and HMS Hereward departed Alexandria, Egypt for Heraklion, Crete to help with the evacuation; German aircraft damaged HMS Ajax (killing 6, wounding 18, and forcing her to turn back) and HMS Imperial (wounding 1); the force, less Ajax, arrived at Heraklion at 2330 hours. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 British Lord Woolton announced experimental egg rationing and further restrictions on fish and milk. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 In the United Kingdom, successful prosecutions under Food Control Orders now totaled 17,319. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked HMS Tartar and HMS Mashona 100 miles west of Ireland in the morning, killing 36 men as a bomb hit Mashona. HMS Tartar rescued 184 survivors and destroyers HMS Sherwood and HMCS St. Clair scuttled Mashona with gunfire. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 Indian 20th Brigade, en route to Baghdad in Iraq, reached the city of Ur. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank Greek ship Papalemos off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1600 hours; 2 were killed and 27 survived. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts was appointed as a Field Marshal in the British Army. He was the first South African to hold the rank. 
0
28 May 1941 WW2 Jan Smuts was given the rank of field marshal in the British Army. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 US Navy extended its boundaries of Neutrality Patrol to North and South Atlantic. On the same day, a joint US Army-US Navy plan was drafted to occupy the Portuguese Azores islands with 14,000 Marines and 14,000 troops; the proposed commanding officer was US Marine Corps Major General Holland M. Smith. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 Prinz Eugen arrived at Brest, France. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 A British force of cruiser and destroyers embarked 3,486 men at Heraklion, Crete and departed for Egypt at 0245 hours. At 0400 hours, HMS Imperial's steering failed; she transferred her crew and passengers, and then was scuttled by HMS Hotspur. After dawn, HMS Hereward was bombed by Italian aircraft, 76 were killed and 89 survivors were captured. Cruisers HMS Orion and HMS Dido were also attacked, killing 105 crew and 260 passengers on the former and 27 crew and 100 passengers on the latter. The force would finally arrive at Alexandria, Egypt at 2000 hours. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-557 sank British ship Empire Storm in the North Atlantic at 2043 hours; 3 were killed, 40 survived and were rescued by Norwegian ship Marita. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank British ship Tabaristan 250 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 2350 hours; 21 were killed, 39 survived and were rescued by British armed trawlers HMS Bengali and HMS Turcoman. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 The German Navy began to execute its plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle began patrolling the South Atlantic for German shipping. 
0
29 May 1941 WW2 13 British and Polish prisoners of war of Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany attempted to escape via a tunnel, but the attempt was a failure. 
0
30 May 1941 WW2 Erich Raeder recommended Adolf Hitler an attack on the Suez Canal in Egypt. 
0
30 May 1941 WW2 Before dawn, a force of British cruiser and destroyers embarked 6,029 troops and departed Sphakia, Crete, Greece for Egypt. En route, they were attacked by Axis aircraft; a bomb hit on cruiser HMS Perth killed 13, but RAF fighter escorts prevented Axis aircraft from dealing the kind of damage they did on the previous day against a different evacuation convoy. Destroyer HMS Kelvin, sailing north from Egypt, was damaged by a bomb en route, killing 1. On land, German aircraft strafed evacuation beaches at and near Sphakia. 
0
30 May 1941 WW2 British and Indian forces reached the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, causing Rashid Ali's government to collapse. 
0
30 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship Silveryew near Cape Verde Islands at 0036 hours, killing 1. 
0
30 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank British ship Empire Protector off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1407 hours, killing 5. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 At 0200 hours, Dublin, Ireland was accidentally bombed by German bombers intending to hit Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; 28 were killed and 87 were wounded, while about 25 homes were destroyed and about 300 homes were seriously damaged. Germany would later offer compensation. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Napier and HMS Nizam embarked 1,510 troops at Sphakia, Crete, Greece and departed before dawn for Egypt; they were attacked by Axis aircraft en route, causing minor damage. At 0600 hours, British cruiser HMS Phoebe, minelayer HMS Abdiel, and destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Kimberley, and HMS Hotspur departed Alexandria, Egypt for Sphakia to evacuate more troops. On the same day, 54 senior level Allied officers, including General Freyberg, were evacuated from Crete by aircraft. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 The mayor of Baghdad, Iraq surrendered to British Ambassador Sir Kinahan Cornwallis at the Washash Bridge. As a sign of good faith, the British allowed the Iraqi Army to return to their barracks, and all captured equipment were returned. Both sides released captured prisoners of war with the exception of German and Italian troops captured by the British. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-69 sank British ship Sangara at Accra harbor, Gold Coast at 0025 hours. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-38 sank Norwegian ship Rinda off Liberia at 0024 hours; 13 were killed, 18 survived and were rescued by British anti-submarine trawler HMS Pict. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship Clan MacDougall near Cape Verde Islands at 0334 hours; 2 were killed, 85 survived. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Sire off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 0739 hours; 3 were killed, 46 survived and were rescued by British corvette HMS Marguerite. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-147 sank British ship Gravelines 100 miles northwest of Ireland; 11 were killed, 25 survived and were rescued by British sloop HMS Deptford. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 German submarine U-204 sank small Icelandic fishing boat Holmsteinn northwest of Iceland at 0515 hours, killing the entire crew of 4. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked Merseyside, England, United Kingdom in the early hours of the day. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 After successfully escaping the Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle, Germany earlier in the month, British Lieutenant Anthony "Peter" Allan failed to secure assistance from the US Consulate at Vienna in occupied Austria. Giving up, he turned himself in at a local police station and was eventually returned to Colditz. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 A Soviet decree stated that children of traitors could be criminally charged after they reached the age of 15. 
0
31 May 1941 WW2 US 22nd and 23rd Fighter Squadrons, both operating P-40 Warhawk fighters, was assigned to St. Croix Airfield, US Virgin Islands. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 A pro-British government was established in Iraq under Amir Abdul Illah, restoring the monarchy. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 Before dawn, British cruiser HMS Phoebe, minelayer HMS Abdiel, and destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Kimberley, and HMS Hotspur embarked 3,710 Allied troops at Sphakia, Crete, Greece and departed; the force would arrive safely at Alexandria, Egypt later on the same day. Anti-aircraft cruisers HMS Calcutta and HMS Coventry were dispatched from Alexandria to cover this force; HMS Calcutta was attacked by Axis aircraft, sinking at 0945 hours with 118 lost and 255 wounded. Although the Allied efforts had evacuated 16,511 men from Crete, 5,000 still remained; they would be surrendered by Australian Lieutenant Colonel Theo Walker by the end of the day, thus ending the German campaign on Crete. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 Mildred Tuttle married David Axton and took her husband's last name. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-105 sank the ship Scottish Monarch southwest of the Cape Verde Islands at 0052 hours; 1 was killed, 44 survived. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Alfred Jones 140 miles off Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1409 hours; 14 were killed, 62 survived and rescued by British corvette HMS Marguerite. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked Merseyside, England, United Kingdom in the early hours of the day. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 In the Soviet Union, 793,500 conscripts were called up. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh was ordered to patrol the Denmark Strait. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 Erich Müller was made the military governor of the Channel Islands, succeeding Rudolf von Schmettow. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 German cruiser Prinz Eugen arrived in Brest, France to join battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau docked there for refits. 
0
01 Jun 1941 WW2 Clothing rationing was introduced in Britain. Everyone was allowed 66 clothing coupons a year; equivalent to about one complete outfit. A man's overcoat cost 16 coupons; a dress 11; a pair of pyjamas eight; a nightdress six; underpants four; a pair of stockings two; a handerchief could be had for half a coupon. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked Manchester and Salford in England, United Kingdom in the early hours of the day; 70 were killed and 86 were seriously injured. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 In light of the successful campaign at Crete, Greece, Göring boasted that there was no such thing as an unconquerable island, hinting a similar fate for Britain. As for the killings of German paratroopers by civilians at Crete, Göring officially ordered reprisals to be conducted as if the killers were partisan fighters. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 RAF bombers conducted a raid in the Ruhr region of Germany. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy French government published anti-Semitic legislation based on German laws; among it was the banning of Jews from holding public office. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-147 attacked Allied convoy OB-329 northwest of Ireland, damaging Belgian ship Mokambo (all 47 aboard survived), but was destroyed by depth charges from British destroyer HMS Wanderer and corvette HMS Periwinkle, killing all 26 German sailors aboard. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank British catapult-armed merchant ship Michael E. about 1,050 miles west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom at 2043 hours; 4 were killed, 47 survived. The Hurricane fighter aboard was also lost. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 Long Island was commissioned into service. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy French aircraft claimed a British Blenheim aircraft shot down over Syria-Lebanon. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort reported to the main US Navy building at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii for his new duty heading up a cryptanalysis section. 
0
02 Jun 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met again at the Brenner Pass on the Italian-Austrian border. 
0
03 Jun 1941 WW2 The Attlee memorandum approved by 2,430,000 to 19,000 at Labour Party conference in Britain. 
0
03 Jun 1941 WW2 A German He 111 bomber encountered a British de Havilland Dragon aircraft en route back to France and shot it down. The aircraft turned out to be a civilian joy-riding aircraft from St Mary's island of the Isles of Scilly off the tip of southwestern England, United Kingdom. The pilot and all 5 passengers were killed. 
0
03 Jun 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Aurora and HMS Kenya attacked German tanker Belchen 80 miles southwest of Greenland as the tanker refueled submarine U-93. U-93 escaped, but Belchen was damaged by shellfire and a torpedo from Aurora; her crew scuttled the ship. 5 were killed during the attack; U-93 later returned and picked up 50 survivors. The attack on Belchen was enabled by Ultra intercepts. To the south, U-48 and U-75 attacked Allied convoy OB-327 950 miles west of Brest, France, sinking Dutch ship Eibergen (4 killed; 35 survived) and British tanker Inversuir (45 survived). 
0
03 Jun 1941 WW2 British passenger liner Mamari, modified to look like carrier HMS Hermes, was attacked by German aircraft off Cromer, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom. She became stuck on the wreck of tanker Ahamo while evading the attack. After sundown, German E-boats arrived and hit Mamari with torpedoes. 
0
03 Jun 1941 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked Hull and Tweedmouth in England, United Kingdom in the early hours of the day. 
0
04 Jun 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS London and destroyer HMS Brilliant intercepted German tanker Esso Hamburg 750 miles southwest of Cape Verde islands based on Ultra intercepts; Esso Hamburg's entire crew of 87 survived the attack and the tanker was scuttled. Also from Ultra intercepts, British armed merchant cruiser HMS Esperance Bay and aircraft from HMS Victorious spotted German supply ship Gonzenheim 380 miles northeast of the Azores; battleship HMS Nelson and cruiser HMS Neptune approached to board but not before Gonzenheim was scuttled; all 63 aboard survived and picked up by Neptune. Finally, ocean boarding vessel HMS Marsdale captured German tanker Gedania also off the Azores; Gedania would later be pressed into British service as Empire Garden. 
0
04 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-101 attacked British ship Trecarrell 1,200 west of Brest, France at 0503 hours, killing 4; 41 abandoned ship. At 0640, U-101 rammed Trecarrell, bending Trecarrell's bow, and then left Trecarrell to sink on her own. 
0
04 Jun 1941 WW2 British dredger Robert Hughes hit a mine, which was laid by U-69 on 27 May 1941, and sank in Lagos Harbor, Nigeria; 14 were killed, 17 survived. 
0
04 Jun 1941 WW2 Dutch minelayer HNLMS Van Meerlant hit a mine and sank in the Thames Estuary in southern England, United Kingdom, killing 3. 
0
04 Jun 1941 WW2 The British Home Security Situation Report noted that, for the week ending at 0600 hours on 4 Jun 1941, about 178 were killed by German bombing in Britain, and 185 were seriously injured. 
0
04 Jun 1941 WW2 Former German Emperor and King of Prussia Kaiser Wilhelm II died in Doorn, Netherlands. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 Germany announced that 15,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war were captured at Crete, Greece. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru departed Yokohama for Vancouver, with some Jewish refugees on board. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-48 sank British ship Wellfield 670 miles north of the Azores at 0131 hours; 8 were killed, 30 survived. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 The German Kriegsmarine issued orders for 102 new submarines to be constructed. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Triumph sank Italian gunboat Valoroso and two small transports, Frieda and Trio Frassinetti, off the coast of Libya with her deck gun. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS London and destroyer HMS Brilliant, using Ultra intercepts, intercepted and attacked German tanker Egerland 700 miles southwest of Cape Verde islands. Egerland's crew scuttled the ship; all 94 aboard survived. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked Birmingham, England, United Kingdom in the early hours of the day; the bombs mostly missed their targets and fell outside the city. 
0
05 Jun 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft flew more than 20 sorties against Chongqing, China over a 3-hour period, dropping bombs on civilian sections of the city. In the Jiaochangkou air raid shelter tunnel, more than 1,000 Chinese died from asphyxiation. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 Hitler implemented the Kommissarbefehl, or Commissar Order, which would bring about the summary execution of any captured Soviet political commissars; this order would be ignored by most German Army commanders. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 The British Air Ministry issued a contract to Avro for the supply of 454 Lancaster Mk I heavy bombers powered by four Merlin XX engines, plus two prototype Lancaster Mk II fitted with four Bristol Hercules VI engines. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Marconi sank British ship Baron Lovat (the entire crew survived) and Swedish ship Taberg (15 killed) 350 miles west of Gibraltar. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship Sacramento Valley 250 miles west of Cape Verde Islands at 0503 hours; 3 were killed, 39 survived. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-43 sank Dutch ship Yselhaven 930 miles northwest of the Azores at 2024 hours; 24 were killed, 10 survived. Three hours later at 2325 hours, 630 miles northwest of the Azores, U-48 sank British ship Tregarthen, killing all 45 aboard. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 Aircraft from HMS Eagle sank German blockade runner Elbe in the South Atlantic. 
0
06 Jun 1941 WW2 RAF fighters shot down a French 167F bomber over Palestine. 
0
07 Jun 1941 WW2 British Operation Battleaxe, an offensive against Axis positions in Libya, was delayed. 
0
07 Jun 1941 WW2 Polish physician Zygmunt Klukowski's diary entry for this date noted his observation of heavy German military traffic moving east. 
0
07 Jun 1941 WW2 US President Roosevelt learned that Germany was unlikely to invade the Iberian Peninsula, and suspended the planning for the occupation of the Portuguese Azores islands. 
0
07 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet Armaments Commissar Boris Vannikov was arrested. 
0
08 Jun 1941 WW2 Germany experienced the largest RAF bombing raid thus far. 
0
08 Jun 1941 WW2 Commonwealth and Free French forces in northern Palestine crossed the border into southern French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon; the Free French promised the counties full independence for their co-operation. Troops of the British No. 11 (Scottish) Commando was to conduct an amphibious raid in an attempt to secure a crossing on the Litani River for the Australian troops, but bad weather delayed their arrival by sea. 
0
08 Jun 1941 WW2 After two German air raids on Alexandria, Egypt, which had killed 400 people, 40,000 residents were evacuated from the city. 
0
09 Jun 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom established a national Fire Service Council. 
0
09 Jun 1941 WW2 As the British commando raid to secure crossings on the Litani River in French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon had been delayed by weather, Australian troops crossed the river in canvas boats. The commandos later arrived and joined the Australians in the assault. French destroyers Valmy and Guépard bombarded Allied troops in the Litani River area, but they were driven off by New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Leander and British destroyers HMS Janus, HMS Hotspur, HMS Isis, HMS Jackal (HMS Janus was badly damaged in the engagement). Further off the coast, French submarine Caiman attacked British cruiser HMS Phoebe, but without success. The Allies were able to secure several strongpoints on the opposite shore of the Litani River by the end of the day. 
0
09 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-46 sank British ship Phidias in the North Atlantic with the deck gun in the early hours of the day; 8 were killed, 43 survived. 
0
09 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-101 sank British ship Trevarrack in the North Atlantic at 1835 hours; 45 survived the attack in 3 lifeboats, but they were never found. 
0
09 Jun 1941 WW2 At Berchtesgaden, Germany, Adolf Hitler issued the summons for his top military leaders to gather for the final planning meeting for Operation Barbarossa. 
0
10 Jun 1941 WW2 Desperate for sources of raw materials, Japanese leadership was infuriated when the United States won the contract to purchase all the Tungsten mined in Bolivia over the next three years. 
0
10 Jun 1941 WW2 Allied troops captured several villages in the French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon as they advanced toward Beirut. 
0
10 Jun 1941 WW2 British steamship Royal Scot hit an acoustic mine and sank in the Humber estuary on the eastern coast of England, United Kingdom. Patrol vessel HMS Pintail arrived to assist, but also struck a mine, sinking immediately; 55 were killed aboard Pintail, 22 survived. 
0
10 Jun 1941 WW2 Lord Simon met with Rudolf Heß for 2.5 hours, during which Hess asked Lord Simon to work with the British government to negotiate peace with Germany. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 The 15th Punjab Regiment of the Indian 3rd Battalion captured Assab, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, thus securing the Red Sea. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 German heavy cruiser Lützow departed Kiel, Germany for Norway, escorted by light cruisers Emden and Leipzig and six destroyers. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-79 sank Norwegian ship Havtor 150 miles west of Iceland at 2051 hours; 6 were killed, 14 survived. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 British Submarine HMS Torbay rammed and sank a Greek fishing boat being used as a German troop transport 15 miles south of the island of Lesbos, Greece. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Taku sank German ship Tilly LM Russ in Benghazi Harbor, Libya. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 Major General Douglas Wimberley took over command of British 51st Highland Division from Sir Neil Ritchie who moved to a staff appointment in British Eighth Army. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 After dark, British bombers conducted the first of 20 consecutive nightly raids on the Ruhr and Rhineland industrial areas in Germany. Several German port cities such as Hamburg and Bremen were also hit. 
0
11 Jun 1941 WW2 USS Arizona departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Long Beach, California, United States. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 Men of the US Naval Reserve were called to active duty. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Sheffield sank German tanker Friedrich Breme with shellfire in the Atlantic Ocean; 2 were killed 86 survived. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 Indian and Free French forces under French General Paul Legentilhomme captured Deraa, Sheikh Meskine, and Ezraa in southwestern French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon, but were held up Kissoué. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Taku sank Italian ship Silvio Scaroni 70 miles west of Benghazi, Libya; Italian torpedo boats Pallade and Polluce counterattacked without success. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Torbay sank Italian schooner Gesue E Maria off the island of Skiros, Greece. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine O.24 sank Italian tanker Fianona and auxiliary patrol ship Carloforte 10 miles north of the island of Elba, Italy. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-48 sank British ship Empire Dew in the North Atlantic; 23 were killed, 18 survived. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-371 sank British ship Silverpalm in the North Atlantic, killing the entire crew of 68. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-558 sank British ship Susan Mærsk (all 24 aboard killed) and Norwegian tanker Ranella (all 29 aboard survived) in the North Atlantic. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank British ship Chinese Prince west of Ireland; 45 were killed 19 survived. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 German heavy cruiser Lützow, light cruiser Emden, light cruiser Leipzig, and destroyers passed through the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 The South African Air Force embarked on its first combat mission in North Africa. 
0
12 Jun 1941 WW2 A three-day conference of SS men of SS-Gruppenführer rank began at the SS castle of Schloß Wewelsburg in Büren, Germany. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 The Soviet news agency TASS denied any German threat and labeled such rumors as hostile propaganda. Meanwhile, those in the Baltic States who might support such a German invasion were arrested. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 Luftwaffe bombers conducted a raid on the British naval base at Chatham, England with little effect. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy French troops held up the Australian 7th Division at Jezzine in southern French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 Australian Private James Gordon won the Victoria Cross medal for single-handedly neutralizing a French machine gun post while fighting in the French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank British ship Tresillian 300 miles off Newfoundland, Canada at 0545 hours; all 46 aboard survived and rescued by US Coast Guard cutter Duane. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank Greek ship Pandias 300 miles north of the Azores islands at noon; 11 were killed, 23 survived. 4,894 tons of coal and 1,050 tons of military equipment, including 11 crated Spitfire fighters, originally destined for Alexandria, Egypt for the Allied troops, were lost. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Brin sank British ship Djurdjura (33 killed, 5 survived) and Greek ship Eirini Kyriakides (entire crew of 31 killed) of Allied convoy SL75 100 miles east of the Azores islands. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 German heavy cruiser Lützow, light cruiser Emden, light cruiser Leipzig, and destroyers passed through the Skagerrak between Denmark and Norway. Despite aerial cover by Bf 110 fighters, a British force of Beaufort torpedo bombers with fighter escort was still able to get through and attack, damaging Lützow with a torpedo hit in the engine room. Lützow was forced to return to Kiel, Germany for repairs. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps Major General Holland M. Smith relinquished command of the 1st Marine Division to become the commanding general of the I Corps (Provisional) attached to the US Navy Atlantic Fleet. The mixed Marine-Army corps was consisted of the 1st Marine Division and the 1st Infantry Division. 
0
13 Jun 1941 WW2 Walther von Brauchitsch returned to Berlin, Germany from an inspection of invasion forces in Poland. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Griffin bombardeded Sidon, French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon. Two French destroyers based in Beirut counterattacked at 1620 hours, but was chased off by New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Leander and British destroyers; 8 German Ju 88 aircraft also attempted to attack, but were driven off by P-40 Tomahawk fighters of No. 3 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force based in the British Mandate of Palestine, shooting down 3 Ju 88 aircraft. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 The British RAF began daylight fighter sweeps across northern France. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 Croatia became the newest member of the Tripartite Pact. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler met with his High Command regarding Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, including a planned start date; the "Lucy" spy ring in Germany promptly passed along this information. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russia, Vyacheslav Molotov informed Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg that the Soviet Union was to publish, on the next day, that the rumors of a German attack on the Soviet Union were all fabricated by the British. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 Assets of German and Italian nationals in the United States were frozen. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 The June Deportation, which was the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, began. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 British tanks gathered on the Egyptian-Libyan border to prepare for a major offensive; Germans reinforced the front lines and strengthened the siege on Tobruk, Libya as they detected the British movement. After sundown, German artillery bombarded Tobruk. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-751 sank British ship St. Lindsay 700 miles west of Ireland at 0346 hours, killing all 44 aboard. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Clyde sank Italian ship Giovanni Bottigliere south of Sardinia, Italy. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 Molotov was commissioned into service. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe ace Oberfeldwebel Robert Menge was shot down and killed near Marquise, France by Squadron Leader James E. Rankin of No. 92 Squadron RAF. At the time of his death Menge had 18 kills to his credit. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious, escorted by cruiser HMS Renown and 7 destroyers, set sail from Gibraltar for Operation Tracer and launched 47 Hurricane fighters for Malta; 43 of them would reach their destination safely. 
0
14 Jun 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille suffered damage in the engine of his fighter and was forced to crash land in friendly territory in Libya. He returned to based, took off in another fighter, and later was shot down once again, and again was able to crash land and escape unharmed. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 German units moved into their start positions for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Likewise, the Soviet Union moved the new conscript units into forward positions. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 The British launched the Operation Battleaxe offensive toward in Libya at 0200 hours, engaging Axis defenses by 0600 hours. On the first day of the offensive, British troops were able to besiege Halfaya Pass and capture Fort Capuzzo, but at the high price of about half of their tank strength. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 Galeazzo Ciano sent a message to his Hungarian counterpart, advising that Hungary should prepare to deal with a potential Soviet attack, which might be forthcoming due to suspected German aggression against the Soviet Union. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov began participation in a week-long exercise. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 Aircraft from HMS Eagle damaged German tanker Lothringen in the South Atlantic, allowing the ship to later become captured by the crew of HMS Dunedin. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 US government criticized the Japanese raids on civilian sections of Chongqing, China. Meanwhile, unrelated to the US complaint, the Japanese air raid on Chongqing damaged the US embassy. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 Indian and Free French troops attacked Kissoué in the French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon at 0400 hours, capturing it by 0900 hours. 5 miles to the west, Vichy French troops threatened to capture Quneitra. At sea, British destroyers bombarded Sidon in the French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon and was retaliated against by German Ju 88 aircraft; HMS Jackal, HMS Ilex, and HMS Isis were damaged and were ordered out of the area for repairs. In the evening, aircraft of French 4th Naval Air Group bombed British naval units off the Syrian coast. 
0
15 Jun 1941 WW2 Japanese spies Itaru Tachibana and Toraichi Kono were arrested in the United States. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 The United States forced the closure of German and Italian consulates, expelling the diplomats. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 British unemployment figures for May 1941 was at its lowest, showing 243,656, compared to over 600,000 one year prior. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 German troops launched limited counterattacks at British positions in Libya; the attack at British troops at Fort Capuzzo was fought off, but the series of skirmishes toward Hafid Ridge saw many British tanks destroyed by the superior German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. At 1600 hours, Erwin Rommel decided to launch a decisive counterattack on the next day. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy French tanks defeated the British Royal Fusiliers battalion which had been surrounded at Quneitra, French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon; 177 officers and men surrendered at 1900 hours. Further north, Indian and Free French troops advanced toward Damascus. Out at sea, British torpedo bombers sank Vichy French destroyer Chevalier Paul carrying ammunition from Toulon, France. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill received an honorary degree from the Rochester University in New York, United States. In his radio address shortly after receiving this degree, he urged the American people to join the Allies in the fight against Germany. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps established the 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) at Charleston, South Carolina, United States under the command of Brigadier General John Marston. The brigade was soon to be transferred to Iceland. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 Galeazzo Ciano met with Joachim von Ribbentrop in Venice, Italy. When Ciano asked Ribbentrop about the rumors of a German attack on the Soviet Union, Ribbentrop denied the rumors, but he shared the confidence that, should war really break out, a German victory would be achieved very quickly. 
0
16 Jun 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille suffered heavy damage with his fighter while in combat in North Africa. Unable to see due to oil-smeared windscreen, he still landed successfully, guided down over the radio by his flight leader Reiner Pöttgen. 
0
17 Jun 1941 WW2 Finland began to secretly mobilize its military for Operation Silver Fox, the Finnish invasion of the Soviet Union in concert with the German Operation Barbarossa. 
0
17 Jun 1941 WW2 A German counterattack launched at 0430 hours broke through the Allied lines in Libya, threatening to cut off the Allied forces attacking Halfaya Pass. In the afternoon, the Allied leadership decided to call off the Operation Battleaxe offensive. The British 7th Armoured Division tanks formed a rearguard against pursuing German tanks until 1600 hours to allow Allied troops to fall back. The failure of the operation, especially in regards to the heavy losses in tank strength, would soon cost Wavell his position as the British commander-in-chief in the region. 
0
17 Jun 1941 WW2 The Guards Armoured Division was established by the British Army with Major General Sir Oliver Leese in command. 
0
17 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-43 sank British ship Cathrine 250 miles southwest of Ireland at 0315 hours; 24 were killed, 3 survived. 
0
17 Jun 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Hurricane fighters over Halfaya Pass in Egypt while escorting Stuka dive bombers; they were his 12th and 13th kills. 
0
17 Jun 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked a French destroyer, carrying ammunition which she had brought from France, in the port of Beirut in French Syria-Lebanon. 
0
18 Jun 1941 WW2 British press reported details of development of radiolocation technology (later more popularly known by its American acronym RADAR) and its use in Battle of Britain. 
0
18 Jun 1941 WW2 The keel for the civilian ship Steel Architect was laid down at Tacoma, Washington, United States by Todd Pacific Shipyards. 
0
18 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank British ship Norfolk 150 miles northwest of Ireland at 0438 hours; 1 was killed, 70 survived. 
0
18 Jun 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Faulknor, HMS Fearless, HMS Forester, HMS Foresight, and HMS Foxhound sank U-138 with depth charges 100 miles west of Gibraltar; all 27 German crew members of U-138 survived and were all taken prisoner. 
0
18 Jun 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was granted medical leave; he would depart Libya for Berlin, Germany shortly. 
0
19 Jun 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union ordered black-outs in all cities along the border with Germany and the camouflaging of airfields, but still did not deploy for defense; the latter order, the camouflaging of airfields, would be scarcely commenced when the invasion took place. 
0
19 Jun 1941 WW2 US Consular officials in Germany and Italy were expelled in retaliation to a similar action by the US three days prior. 
0
19 Jun 1941 WW2 Indian and Free French troops launched a two-prong attack on Damascus in French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon from the south. Elsewhere in the region, Vichy French troops held Free French troops at Qadim while the Indian 5th Infantry Brigade became surrounded at Mezze. 
0
19 Jun 1941 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht bulletin of the headquarters of the German Wehrmacht. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt addressed the US Congress in regards to the sinking of American freighter Robin Moor by German submarine on 21 May 1941. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 Alfred Rosenberg delivered a speech in which he stated that the job of feeding Germans was the top German priority, while feeding the conquered peoples in Eastern Europe was not of Germany's concern. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 The German troops amassing on the border with the Soviet Union were told that they were undergoing a large scale exercise. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 2 Indian and 2 Free French companies attempted to relieve the surrounded Indian 5th Infantry Brigade at Mezze, French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, but the attack on Vichy French would result in failure. After sundown, Free French, British, and Australian troops captured Qadim. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank Portuguese ship Ganda off Casablanca, French Morocco at 2030 hours; 5 were killed, 61 survived. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-203 sighted USS Texas in the North Atlantic 750 miles west of Ireland and took no action. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov completed a week-long exercise. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was renamed the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) under the command of Major General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. The USAAF was to be autonomous from the US Army. 
0
20 Jun 1941 WW2 US Navy placed a contract with the Douglas Aircraft Company for two prototype aircraft of a new carrier torpedo/dive bomber design. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet military attaché to France Major General Ivan Sousloparov warned his superiors in Moscow, Russia of a potential German invasion, which Joseph Stalin immediately disregarded as British provocation. Stalin's opinion was agreed by head of Soviet State Security Lavrentiy Beria, who told Joseph Stalin that Germany would not attack the Soviet Union in 1941. Georgy Zhukov disagreed, but it would not be until 1905 hours when the military attaché to Germany Mikhail Vorontsov provided concrete evidence of German movement when Stalin and the Politburo were finally convinced to organize two new wartime fronts (rather than peacetime military districts) to prepare the defenses. By the time the telegrams were deciphered many units would already be bombed by German aircraft. Elsewhere, in the evening, Soviet Foreign Minister Vycheslav Molotov met with German Ambassador Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg and asked him regarding the rumors of invasion, which Schulenburg denied as false. Within hours, however, to Schulenburg's surprise, he would receive orders from his superiors to destroy documents, code books, ciphers, and communications equipment, and he would receive a declaration of war to be delivered to Molotov in the morning. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy France enacted a law to exclude Jews from schools. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Free French troops captured the city of Damascus in the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, but fighting would continue in the surrounding villages. Elsewhere in the region, at the village of Mezze, the Indian 5th Infantry Brigade surrendered to Vichy French troops after being surrounded for two days; the victorious Vichy French troops, however, would fall back toward Beirut, allowing Australian troops to capture the village later on the same day. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 After dark, German bombers bombed Southampton, England, United Kingdom and dropped many naval mines in surrounding waters. The bombing caused a leak in the King George V Dry Dock, and demolished the down-line platform of the Southern Railway Central Station, blocking much rail traffic. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 In the afternoon, Adolf Hitler wrote a message to Benito Mussolini, informing him of the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. This message would not reach Mussolini until early in the next day, less than an hour before the operation began. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet aircraft engineer A. M. Isayev proposed to use compressed air rather than a pump to force propellant into the rocket engine that he was developing for a new fighter design. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Over France, Oberstleutnant Adolf Galland was shot down for the first time after scoring his 68th and 69th victories, both of which were British Blenheim aircraft; the fighters that shot him down were British Spitfire fighters from No. 145 Squadron RAF; Galland crash landed his fighter in a grassy field, returned to base, and took off from another mission by the afternoon. After achieving his 70th kill in the afternoon, he was shot down again. This time he ditched the aircraft, his parachute barely opening before reaching ground, and was brought to a first aid station by French civilians using a horse-drawn cart. When he returned to base that evening, he found that he had been awarded Swords to his Knight's Cross for achieving 69 kills. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109E aircraft off Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Kaga departed Sasebo, Japan. 
0
21 Jun 1941 WW2 Semyon Timoshenko belatedly ordered the manning of fortifications along the Molotov Line in Soviet-occupied Poland, but only some would be ready for fighting when the German invasion commenced in few hours time. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 Churchill offered whatever aid possible to the Soviet Union. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 Jews from the Dorohoi district of Romania were branded as communists and spies and transported by cattle cars to concentration camps in Tirgu and Craiova. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 At about 0300 hours, Benito Mussolini was awaken as an urgent message was received from Adolf Hitler's office, informing Mussolini of the invasion of the Soviet Union; though annoyed by not having been notified earlier, he dutifully declared war on the Soviet Union. Romania would also make a declaration of war on the Soviet Union on this date. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders shot down three Soviet bombers and one fighter; he was awarded Swords of his Knight's Cross, to be presented to him by Adolf Hitler on 3 Jul. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-141 sank Swedish ship Calabria 100 miles north of Ireland at 0329 hours; 3 were killed, 21 survived. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank British weather ship Arakara 550 miles east of St. Johns, Newfoundland at 2236 hours; all 33 aboard were killed. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 After dark and into the next date, a British fleet of two cruiser and six destroyers attacked French destroyer Guepard off Syria; Guepard was able to flee under the cover of darkness. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 General Dmitry Pavlov ordered, belatedly as the German invasion had already begun, his troops to man the fortified regions in his sector in Byelorussia at 0300 hrs. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 At about 0100 hours, the Red Army was ordered to assume defensive posture, but it was too late to improve defenses significantly as Germany tore up the non-aggression pact and launched Operation Barbarossa. At 0325 hours, Georgy Zhukov woke Joseph Stalin by phone to inform him of the news of the invasion; initially, Stalin refused to give Zhukov the permission to strike back at the Germans, believing it to be a German provocation. At 0630 hours, Stalin finally realized it was a full scale invasion and gave his authorization for the Red Army to fire back. At a strength of 3.5 million men, Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in history, overwhelming Soviet defenses which were further disadvantaged by poor communications. In support, German aircraft destroyed 2,000 aircraft, many on the ground, allowing the Germans to gain air superiority across the entire front. 
0
22 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov announced the German invasion to the Soviet people at 2300 hours. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 US Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Stark ordered the 1st Defense Battalion of the Fleet Marine Force of the US Marine Corps to be established at Wake Island as soon as possible. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 The German 6th Panzer Division encountered Soviet KV tanks for the first time at the Dubysa River in Lithuania. German General Reinhard was surprised to learn that the Soviet military possessed such a heavy tank, especially after learning that some German 105-millimeter shells were bouncing off the thick armor, and that some KV tanks had reportedly crushed German vehicles and guns by driving over them. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 The 5,000 man 1st Greek Brigade was established by the British in Palestine under the command of Colonel Ev. Antoniou. The Brigade (under Colonel Pafsanias Katsotas) would later see action in 1942 at El Alamein in Egypt as a part of the British 50th Division. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 German submarine U-144 sank Soviet submarine M-78 9 miles west of Vindava, Latvia at 0654 hours, killing all 15 aboard. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Gnevniy hit a mine and sank off the island of Hiiumaa, Estonia. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Bystryb hit a mine and sank in the Black Sea off Sevastopol, Russia. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 The Soviet Army armored counter attack near Tilsit, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Sovetsk, Russia) was beaten back. Meanwhile, German forces crossed the Bug River, penetrating 50 miles beyond the Soviet lines. From the air, German Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed another 1,200 Soviet aircraft on this day. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 German Gestapo leader Mueller issued directives to the Gestapo office in the city of Tilsit, Germany (now Sovetsk, Russia) to set up Einsatkommando Tilsit which would be responsible for killing Jews in Lithuania. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived for the first time at his new secret Wolfsschanze (English: The Wolf's Lair) headquarters, which had been constructed in the Masurian woods near Rastenburg, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland). 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet submarines Ronis, Spidola, and S-1 were scuttled by their own crews at Libau, Latvia to prevent German capture. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded Constanza, Romania. 
0
23 Jun 1941 WW2 The Southern Railway Central Station in London, England, United Kingdom, damaged by German bombing over the night of 21 to 22 Jun 1941, was cleared of debris and returned to full operational status. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 German Armeegruppe Nord moved into Lithuania and Byelorussia, seizing Vilnius and Kaunas. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Japan asserted pressure on France for Indochina. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Large demonstrations began in Madrid, Spain in support of the German invasion of the Soviet Union; demonstrations soon spread to other parts of Spain. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Hungary broke relations with the Soviet Union. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 British House of Commons voted for the second £1,000,000,000 war credit of the year as war expenditure now exceeded £10,250,000 per day. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 In Russia a Council of Evacuation was set up with emergency powers to oversee the evacuation of machinery, skilled workers and food stuffs on a large scale, away from the German advance. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 The German E-Boat S35 discovered the Soviet submarine S3 (N. A. Kostromityev) off Steinort, Germany and fired several torpedoes which all missed. S3 was then sunk by depth charges and hand grenades. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived at the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, Germany. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Chongqing, China, damaging the British Consulate among other buildings. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Scirè launched manned torpedoes into Grand Harbour, Malta; they failed to damage any enemy vessels. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet Air Force Directorate chief Pavel Rychagov, as well as his wife Maria Nesterenko, a famed aviatrix, were arrested during the purge of the Soviet Air Force. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet Deputy Defense Commissar General Kirill Meretskov was arrested by agents of the 3rd NKO Directorate. He would later be cleared of suspicion in Sep 1941 and was given front line command once again. 
0
24 Jun 1941 WW2 Ivan Bagramyan attempted to launch a counterattack against German advances in Ukraine, but it would fail to achieve much due to the unprepared state of his troops. 
0
24 Jun 1941 RELIGIOUS The two-day Constitutional Assembly of the Nippon Kirisuto Kyodan opened, during which was formed the United Church of Christ in Japan.
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet Air Force attacked several Finnish airfields, hoping to destroy Luftwaffe aircraft believed to be stationed there. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 Lithuanian militiamen in Kovno were encouraged by German security officers to stage a pogrom, and that night 1,500 Jews were murdered with particular savagery. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down two German Bf 109F aircraft. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Parthian sank French submarine Souffleur by torpedo off Syria. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 French Lieutenant E. Boulé, a prisoner of war at Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, was nearly successful at his escape. Dressed as a young German woman and readily walking away from the castle, he accidentally dropped his watch and was caught when a German guard returned the watch to him. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 Colonel General Vasily Kuznetsov was ordered by Semyon Timoshenko to organize a defense along the Daugava River (Western Dvina). 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 In Stockholm, Sweden the Riksdag sanctioned the passage of the German Wehrmacht's Engelbrecht Division from Norway across Swedish soil to the front in Finland. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 German Army 1.Panzergruppe captured Dubno and Lutsk in Ukraine. 
0
25 Jun 1941 WW2 During the day, a report was released that, for the week ending at 0600 hours on 25 Jun 1941, about 39 people were killed and 116 were seriously injured in Britain due to German bombing; none of the casualties were from London, England, United Kingdom. After dark, German bombers bombed Southampton, England, United Kingdom and dropped many naval mines in surrounding waters. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 James Johnson shot down a German Bf 109 fighter. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 Finland issued declaration of war against the Soviet Union. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 Tomahawk fighters of No. 3 Squadron RAAF destroyed 5 French D.520 fighters and damaged a further six on the ground at Homs Airfield in Syria. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler officially named Hermann Göring his successor. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 U-576 was commissioned into service under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans-Dieter Heinicke. She was assigned to the 7th Submarine Flotilla. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 German 56th Panzer Corps reached Daugava River (Western Dvina); 8th Panzer Division and 3rd Motorized Division established bridgehead near Daugavpils, Latvia. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 German Panzer units closed the Bialystok pocket in Poland. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 Aircraft of the German Luftwaffe began to bomb Leningrad, Russia. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 In the Soviet capital of Moscow, Joseph Stalin visited the General Staff headquarters twice, voicing frustration at the heavy losses that the Red Army was suffering against the invading German forces. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 Spain officially began to organize a unit of volunteers to fight in Russia on the side of the Axis. 
0
26 Jun 1941 WW2 The mixed Marine-Army I Corps (Provisional), which was attached to the US Navy Atlantic Fleet, was redesignated Task Force 18 of the Atlantic Fleet. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 German troops captured Bobruisk in Byelorussia and Przemysl in Poland. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Bremen, Germany. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 In Kaunas, Lithuania, a group of Lithuanian nationalists gathered more than 50 Jewish men in a horse stable and beat them violently with iron bars in public view. None of the victims survived the Lietukis Garage Massacre. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin gave permission to military tribunals to give out death sentences to members of the Red Army without his personal approval. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of the Socialist Workers Party in Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, United States, seizing large quantities of Communist literature. 
0
27 Jun 1941 WW2 The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia appointed Tito as Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslavian Peoples Army. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 German troops captured Minsk, Byelorussia, encircling 27 Soviet Army divisions in the process. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 Albania declared war on the Soviet Union. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 Scirè's mission to attack Grand Harbour, Malta was canceled. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop sent a message to the Japanese embassy in Berlin, Germany, asking the Japanese to jointly invade the Soviet Union by tearing up the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and attack Vladivostok, Russia. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 The Soviet NKVD, NKGB, and the Chief Prosecutor Office signed a top secret joint order to coordinate the investigation of traitors. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Whale was laid down at Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, United States. 
0
28 Jun 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Wahoo was laid down at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 The German Army 20.Gebirgsarmee began advancing on Murmansk in northern Russia. 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 Lord Beaverbrook became the British Minister of Supply. 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 Former US President Herbert Hoover warned against aiding the Soviet Union. "If we go further and join the war and we win, then we have won for Stalin the grip of communism on Russia.... f we join the war and Stalin wins, we have aided him to impose more communism on Europe and the world." 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 A haggard and tense Stalin set up a Soviet Defence Committee consisted of Molotov, Voroshilov, Malenkov, Beria, and himself, and then retired to his dacha on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, staying there until the following day writing a speech to the Soviet people and drafting two important directives on the Soviet war effort. 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Chongqing, China; among the property damaged were the British Embassy in the city and American gunboat USS Tutuila at Lungmenhao lagoon. 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 Colonel General Vasily Kuznetsov was ordered by Semyon Timoshenko to maintain pressure on the German bridgehead on the Daugava River (Western Dvina) near Daugavpils, Latvia. Kuznetsov would use all his reserves to mount a counterattack that would be repulsed by the Germans. 
0
29 Jun 1941 WW2 Romanian troops conducted a pogrom against Jews in the town of Jassy, killing 10,000. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy France broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders shot down three Soviet bombers, bringing his total score to 82 victories and surpassing the record set by Manfred von Richthofen, "Red Baron", during WW1. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 The active duty strength of the US Marine Corps was reported to be 3,339 officers and 51,020 enlisted men for the total of 54,359. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 The Netherlands Purchasing Commission placed an order with North American Aviation to purchase 162 B-25C bombers for the Dutch government-in-exile. These aircraft were intended for the Dutch East Indies to counter the growing Japanese threat. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 The Handley Page Halifax bomber made its first daylight operation during a raid on Kiel, Germany but it did not take long to discover that its defensive armament was inadequate for daylight use and by the end of the year Halifax bombers were only used on night raids. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 At least 100 of the Soviet bombers attacking German tanks near Minsk, Byelorussia were shot down by aircraft of Oberst Werner Mölders' JG-51. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 Scirè launched manned torpedoes into Grand Harbour, Malta; they failed to damage any enemy vessels. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld's Bf 110 aircraft collided with another Bf 110, piloted by Rudolf Schoenert while in exercise over northern Netherlands. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union formed the State Defense Committee (GKO) to coordinate defense efforts; it was consisted of Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov, Georgy Malenkov, and Lavrentiy Beria. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 German troops captured Lvov, Ukraine. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York, United States. 
0
30 Jun 1941 WW2 USS Grayback was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Willard Saunders in command. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Coal deliveries to all establishments in Britain were limited to one ton per month. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 RAF began daylight bombing raids in France and the Low Countries. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of General der Panzertruppe. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 The British Special Air Service (initially titled "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade) was formed by Colonel David Stirling. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Stalin returned to the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia as Chairman of the new State Defence Committee, set up by law the day before. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Under the provisions of a German Law on the use of Prisoner Labour, Russian prisoners of war were permitted to be sent to work camps for employment in agriculture, construction or heavy industry. The death rate on these camps would be extremely high. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 The American Volunteer Group, also known as the Flying Tigers, was officially formed. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet Naval Air Unit 401 IAP went into action with its new MiG-3 fighters and destroyed four German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters on its first operation. This unit was commanded by a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Lieutenant-Colonel Stepan Suprun (who was already an ace with fifteen Civil War victories), Hero of the Soviet Union. Many of Suprun's pilots were pre-war test pilots and therefore highly experienced airmen. During the next two days the 401st IAP destroyed eight enemy aircraft for no loss. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine M81 was sunk by a German mine in the Baltic Sea. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Crown Prince Yi Un was made the commanding officer of the Japanese 51st Division. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 The German 2.Panzergruppe reached Berezina, Byelorussia. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 British mechanized cavalry and an Arab Legion desert patrol broke up a Vichy French mobile column northeast of Palmyra, Syria, capturing four officers and 60 men. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Kaga arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 The German 4.Panzergruppe captured Riga, Latvia. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 German 11th Army, Romanian 3rd Army, and Romanian 4th Army crossed Prut River into the Bessarabia and Bukovina regions of Moldova. 
0
01 Jul 1941 WW2 Bruce Fraser was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 While in the dock at Brest, France, Prinz Eugen was hit by a bomb during an Allied air raid. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 Romanian Third Army, Romanian Fourth Army, and German Eleventh Armies attacked out of Moldavia towards Vinnitsa and Odessa, Ukraine. To the north, 4.Panzergruppe breaks through near Ostrov, Russia. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 The Japanese Army ordered a conscription of one million men. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 RAF bombed the German cities of Bremen and Köln overnight. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 The British Military Application of Uranium Detonation (MAUD) Committee assigned the responsibility of writing its final draft of the report of its findings on the development of atomic weapons to James Chadwick. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 While flying against a formation of British Blenheim bombers, Adolf Galland's fighter was damaged by 20-millimeter shells fired by an escorting British Spitfire fighter. Though injured, his life was saved by a recently-installed armor plating in the cockpit. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader was awarded the Bar to his Distinguished Service Order. Later on the same day, he claimed one Bf 109 fighter destroyed and another damaged. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 French Lieutenant Pierre Mairesse Lebrun, a prisoner of war at Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, escaped the camp by leaping the wire fence and scaling outer brick wall. He would eventually successfully make it to Switzerland. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 The local police in Riga, Latvia was organized by a German commander to murder 400 Jews and burn down all Riga's synagogues. 
0
02 Jul 1941 WW2 Riots broke out in Lvov, Ukraine against racist laws. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 In his first public speech of the new war, Stalin ordered a scorched earth policy to be put into effect as German troops were pushed back; meanwhile, the Bialystok pocket in Poland was eliminated by German troops, taking 300,000 prisoners. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders was presented Swords to his Knight's Cross by Adolf Hitler. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 Biscayne was commissioned into service. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 The only daylight bombing on Britain during the week of 2 Jul to 9 Jul occurred on this date at Land's End in southwestern England, United Kingdom; the German aircraft dropped bombs but they failed to explode. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet Naval Air unit 402 IAL, based at Idritsa in Russia and commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel P. Stefanovsky, went into action with its new MiG-3 fighters and destroyed six enemy aircraft, followed by a similar number on the next day. The unit's primary task was close support and low level fighter reconnaissance, and its pilots had orders to avoid combat if possible. The unit's adjutant, Major K. A. Gruzdev however was an aerobatic champion and soon devised a tactic to bring the enemy to battle. This involved making a steep spiral climb to between 15,000 and 18,000 feet where the MiG-3 fighters enjoyed a performance advantage over the German fighters. The German pilots almost always followed the climb, believing they were chasing a novice pilot, only to realise their mistake when Gruzdev suddenly stall-turned and shot them down. By the end of the year this talented pilot had no less than nineteen confirmed victories top, his credit. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 William Slim of Iraq Command outflanked Vichy French troops at Deir ez-Zor, Syria. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Essen, Germany. 
0
03 Jul 1941 WW2 In a radio address, Joseph Stalin called the Soviet people "brothers and sisters" for the first time. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 German troops captured Ostrov in northern Russia. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 British Communist Party decided to stop campaigning for peace; instead, they supported the national war effort. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 US Marines arrived at Iceland for occupation duties, freeing British troops for war efforts elsewhere. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 Wing Commander Hughie Edwards of 105 Squadron RAF won the Victoria Cross for leading a low level attack on Bremen, Germany in which his Blenheim bomber was hit twenty times. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 While flying a MiG-3 fighter Lieutenant-Colonel Stepan Suprun, commanding officer of Soviet Naval Air Unit 401 IAP, was shot down by a German Fw 200 aircraft. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader collided with a German Bf 109E fighter during a dogfight; the German fighter was scored as a probable kill. 
0
04 Jul 1941 WW2 The Soviet NKVD arrested Colonel General Dimitry Pavlov for not attacking German forces as Joseph Stalin had ordered. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden officially ruled out any chance of negotiations with Germany. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 63 British Wellington bombers attacked Münster, Germany at between about 0050 hours and 0250 hours local time with 396 500-pound bombs, 50 250-pound bombs, and almost 6,000 4-pound incendiary bombs. The railway station was the intended main target. German authorities at Münster estimated 240 high explosive bombs and 3,000 incendiary bombs were dropped. 21 were killed and several fires were started. It was the first time Münster was subjected to large scale bombing. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 British troopship HMT Anselm, carrying RAF peronnel to Africa, was tropedoed in the Atlantic Ocean. RAF Volunteer Reserve Herbert Cecil Pugh would later be awarded a posthumous George Cross in 1947 for tending to the wounded, helping with life rafts, and finally asking to be lowered into the flooding hold to be with his comrades who could not escape. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Hidehiko Ukita succeeded Vice Admiral Teruhisa Komatsu as the commanding officer of the Ryojun Military Port (previously known as Port Arthur; now Lushunkou, Liaoning Province, China), Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 Australian 21st Brigade arrived at the Damour River in Lebanon. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 The Soviet Special Group (later 4th NKVD Directorate) was formed, initially with 5,000 members, with the goal of terrorizing the enemy rear areas. 
0
05 Jul 1941 WW2 German 6th Army broke through near Lvov, Ukraine, while German 1st Panzer Group drove toward Zhitomir and Berdichev, Ukraine. On the same day, Romanian 3rd Army captured Chernivtsi, Ukraine. 
0
06 Jul 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Roden Cutler won the Victoria Cross for clearing enemy positions in Syria. Wounded, he lay in the open for 26 hours before comrades could get to him, by which time his leg required amputation. 
0
06 Jul 1941 WW2 After sundown, German bombers conducted a light attack on Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom. 
0
06 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 aircraft. 
0
06 Jul 1941 WW2 Australian troops attacked French troops at El Atiqa and El Boum in Lebanon, capturing both positions by nightfall. 
0
06 Jul 1941 WW2 The Military Collegium of the Soviet NKVD sentenced four teenagers to death for being the son and nephews of Nestor Lakoba, political enemy of Lavrentiy Beria (already killed in Dec 1936). 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 Stalin replaced top army commanders, putting Marshal Kliment Voroshilov in command of the Northern Front, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko in the Central Front, and Marshal Semyon Budyonny on the Southern Front. On the same day, the German 4.Panzergruppe captured Pskov, Russia as it moved towards Leningrad. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 Reversing former statements, Maxim Litvinov broadcasted from Moscow in English that the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom must work together against Germany. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps organized Marine Air Group 1. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 With one of his engines on fire, second pilot Sergeant James Ward tied a rope around himself and climbed out onto the wing of his Wellington bomber to extinguish the flames. Although he was badly burned, the aircraft made it home. The New Zealander is awarded the Victoria Cross but never received the medal, being killed on a raid two months later. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 Occupied Yugoslavia was carved up between Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria, with Croatia becoming an independent state. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Münster, Germany. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 After sundown, German bombers attacked Southampton, England, United Kingdom. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 Jürgen Stroop was assigned to the infantry regiment of German 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 German 20th Panzer Division crossed the Daugava River (Western Dvina), threatening to outflank the Polotsk Fortified Region in Byelorussia. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 Australian troops outflanked French positions at Damour, Lebanon. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 Iceland, coerced by the United Kingdom, allowed the United States to oversee the defense of the island. US 1st Marine Brigade arrived later on the same day and began to relieve the British garrison. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 General Seishiro Itagaki was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea, relieving Kotaro Nakamura. 
0
07 Jul 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps established the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Quantico, Virgina, United States under Lieutenant Colonel Louis E. Woods. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 British B-17 bombers were deployed on a combat mission for the first time as three of them were ordered to attack Wilhelmshaven, Germany. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 Jews in the Baltic states were forced to wear the Star of David. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 German troops captured Pskov, Russia. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 Before dawn, British bombers attacked Münster, Germany. During the day, German anti-aircraft guns began arriving at the city in response to the recent successive night bombings. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 Rationing of basic foodstuff begins in Moscow, Leningrad and other major Soviet Union cities. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 After sundown, German bombers conducted a light attack on Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 Australian troops cut off the road leading into the northern part of Beirut, Lebanon. South of Beirut, Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion and elements of the 6th Divisional Cavalry Regiment also approached Beirut. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 USS Arizona arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 Kaga departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
08 Jul 1941 WW2 A Soviet military mission arrived in London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 The US Congress authorized the funding of $14,990,000 for the construction of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point over 32 square-kilometers of land in North Carolina, United States. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 Troops of the German 3.Panzergruppe captured Vitebsk, Byelorussia. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 The British Air Ministry instructed Bomber Command to concentrate its efforts against the German transportation system and breaking the morale of the civilian population. At about 0130 hours, British bombers attacked Münster, Germany; the reading room of the state archive, warehouse of the state theater, the post office at the Domplatz, and the eastern wall of the cathedral were destroyed. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 The head of Gosplan, the young economist Nikolai Voznesensky, was given responsibility for drafting a new war production plan for the whole Soviet economy. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 A British report noted that, for the week ending at 0600 hours on 9 Jul 1941, an estimated 78 people were killed by German bombing while an estimated 67 people had been seriously injured. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt announced that American troops were to relieve British troops in the occupation of Iceland. Adolf Hitler responded by publicly noting that it was a clear act of aggression against Germany; however, when Erich Raeder asked Hitler whether it was time for the German Navy to deliberately attack American vessels, Hitler still rejected the request. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 The French High Commissioner in Syria, General Henri Dentz, applied to the British authorities for discussions to begin which would lead to an armistice. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader claimed one probable German aircraft shot down and another damaged. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet aircraft engineers met to compile a report on their rocket-powered fighter development, which was to be forwarded to Joseph Stalin. 
0
09 Jul 1941 WW2 Submarine Flying Fish was launched at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States, sponsored by the wife of US Navy Admiral Husband Kimmel. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 Finnish Army began an attack toward Lake Ladoga north of Leningrad, Russia. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 After sundown, Private James Gordon of Australian 7th Division crept forward under heavy fire during fighting in Syria and took out a enemy post by grenade and bayonet. For this act of gallantry along with continued bravery exhibited through the following day, he would later be awarded the Victoria Cross in Oct 1941. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop again asked the Japanese to attack Vladivostok, Russia. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 James Lacey shot down a German Bf 109 fighter. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader claimed one German Bf 109 aircraft over Bethune, Pas-de-Calais, France, and later shot down a Bf 109E aircraft over nearby Calais. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 Five French D.520 fighters intercepted a flight of Blenheim bombers of No. 45 Squadron RAF escorted by 7 Tomahawk fighters of No. 3 Squadron RAAF over Syria; 3 British bombers and 4 French fighters were destroyed in the engagement. On the ground, troops of Australian 21st Brigade neared Beirut, Lebanon. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan for Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii on her 68th voyage. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 Lev Mekhlis was apointed the deputy commissar of the Soviet NKO. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 German 13th Panzer Division captured Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Further east, German troops crossed the Dnieper River. 
0
10 Jul 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps established the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at San Diego, California, United States under Colonel Francis P . Mulcahy. 
0
11 Jul 1941 WW2 Kaga arrived at Ariake Bay at Kyushu, Japan. 
0
11 Jul 1941 WW2 As the German 1.Panzergruppe marched near Kiev, Ukraine, Stalin replaced Army commanders. Marshal Voroshilov was given responsibility in the north, Marshal Timoshenko in the center, and Marshal Budyonny in the south. 
0
11 Jul 1941 WW2 USS Astoria completed her refit at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States. 
0
11 Jul 1941 WW2 William Donovan was made the Coordinator of Information. 
0
12 Jul 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders reported that under his command JG 51 had destroyed 500 Soviet aircraft at the cost of only three casualties during the first 20 days of Operation Barbarossa. 
0
12 Jul 1941 WW2 1st US Marine Brigade completed taking over the occupation of Iceland from British troops. 
0
12 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 fighter and damaged three others over Pas-de-Calais, France. 
0
12 Jul 1941 WW2 French Lieutenant-General Joseph-Antoine-Sylvain-Raoul de Verdillac attended the French-British negotiations for a ceasefire in the French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon. Making progress in the discussions during the day, the process to draft the Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre began at 2200 hours near Acre, British Mandate of Palestine. Meanwhile, French naval vessels and aircraft were ordered to go to neutral Turkey, where they were interned. 
0
12 Jul 1941 WW2 Four days after the Soviet military mission arrived in London, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union signed an agreement of mutual assistance, noting that neither country would negotiate a separate peace with the Axis powers. 
0
13 Jul 1941 WW2 The first of the Spanish volunteers began leaving Spain for military training in Germany. 
0
13 Jul 1941 WW2 The German Armeegruppe Nord continued advancing towards Luga in northern Russia. 
0
13 Jul 1941 WW2 The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre negotiations at Acre, British Mandate of Palestine was stalled as the French rejected British demands. 
0
13 Jul 1941 WW2 The newspaper The New York Times reported that the famed Polish Jewish violinist Henri Czaplinski (aka. Genrikh Maksimovich Chaplinsky in Soviet documents) had escaped an NKVD prison in Lvov, Ukraine during a German bombing. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 Observing the German forces reaching the River Luga thus expecting a rapid victory in northern Russia., Hitler ordered the arms industry to switch production from guns and tanks to aircraft and submarines. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 French High Commissioner for Syria and the Lebanon signed the Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre at Acre, British Mandate of Palestine, surrendering his command to the British. In exchange, he received the British agreement for the French soldiers to retain their personal arms and full honors. The agreement contained no reference to the Free French. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 Captain Robert Henry English, Jr. was named the commanding officer of USS Helena, relieving Captain Max Burke DeMott. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 Wilhelm Keitel appeared on the cover of the American news publication Time Magazine. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 Amon Göth was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 British Blenheim bombers of No. 2 Group attacked Le Havre, France, damaging dock facilities at a cost of two bombers shot down by German fighters. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Simoom was laid down. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 The British anti-submarine trawler HMS Quadrille was commissioned into service. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 German Ju 88 bombers based in Crete, Greece attacked Suez, Egypt, damaging harbor facilities and ships in port. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Herring was laid down. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima informed German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that, in regards to the 10 Jul 1941 request for Japan to attack Vladivostok, Russia, Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka was in agreement with the proposal but the Japanese cabinet in general did not agree with such a suggestion. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 James Lacey shot down a German Bf 109 fighter. 
0
14 Jul 1941 WW2 Katyusha rocket launchers were used in combat for the first time at Rudnya, Smolensk, Russia. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel was officially declared the commanding officer of Panzergruppe Afrika. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders claimed his 100th and 101st victories over the Soviet Union. He was awarded Diamonds to his Knight's Cross for achieving 100 victories, which was to be presented later by Adolf Hitler personally. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The British Military Application of Uranium Detonation (MAUD) Committee issued its final report on atomic weapons. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Kashii was commissioned into service. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of Canadian destroyer Huron was laid down at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, United Kingdom. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-223 was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-224 was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-623 was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-624 was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-507 was launched. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet troops began a counter offensive in the Lake Ilmen area near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet commandos attacked the island of Morgonland in Finland and captured the 5 men stationed at the observation station. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Honoring Charles de Gaulle's previous proclamation that the Allies had invaded the Vichy-held French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon as liberators rather than conquerors, the British who had accepted the Vichy surrender on the previous day handed control of the territory to the locals. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 All pilots of the US Army 3rd Pursuit Squadron and 20th Pursuit Squadron based in the Philippine Islands were certified to fly the P-35A fighters. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The United States established a Naval Air Station and a Naval Operating Base at Argentia Bay, Newfoundland. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of carrier Cabot was laid down at Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of cruiser Oakland was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 ShCh-401 attacked German auxiliary submarine chasers UJ 177 and UJ 178 off Kiberg, Norway with a torpedo; the torpedo missed. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 Inigo Campioni was appointed governor of the Italian Aegean Islands, also known as the Italian Dodecanese. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 German troops encircled Smolensk, Russia. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 German 228th Regiment cleared four Stalin Line bunkers and crossed the Ljadowa River, a tributary of the Dniester River, in Ukraine. 
0
15 Jul 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps activated the Marine Detachment at the American Embassy in London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Germany reversed a prior decree by allowing those who were 50% Jewish and those who were married to women who were 50% Jewish to serve in the military. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Vichy France enacted a law to exclude Jewish lawyers. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Alfred Rosenberg's appointment as the Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories was confirmed by Adolf Hitler during a conference at Adolf Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia, Germany. In that conference, which was led by Hitler and also attended by Hermann Göring, Wilhelm Keitel, Martin Bormann, and Hans Lammers, Hitler provided his vision of the future of Eastern Europe in which the Baltic States were to be incorporated into Germany, Crimea to be populated with ethnic Germans, Caucasus to be a German concession, and Leningrad given to Finland. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 French corvette Lobelia was commissioned into service. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-701 was commissioned into service. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-408 was launched. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet Army Lieutenant Jacob Jughashvili, son of Joseph Stalin, was taken prisoner by the Germans. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Charles de Gaulle protested the Armistice of Saint Jean D'Acre between the United Kingdom and Vichy France for it made no mention of the Free French. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 US Army General Leonard Gerow recommended General George Marshall to activate the Philippine Army and to provide it additional funding. He also recommended that Douglas MacArthur to be asked to return from the retired list as the commander in chief in the Philippine Islands. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler instructed that Ukraine and the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia were to be annexed into Greater Germany in the future, while East Karelia in northern Russia was to be given to Finland. In secret, he instructed other German leaders to prepare plans for a possible future annexation of Finland. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 Anatoliy Mikheev accused Semyon Timoshenko was being a traitor. Joseph Stalin did not order Timoshenko's arrest, but he would relieve Timoshenk as the defense commissar (NKO) several days later and would assume the title himself. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 General Wladyslaw Sikorski was presented with the Standard of the Polish Air Force at RAF Swinderby in England, United Kingdom. Smuggled out of Poland, via Stockholm in Sweden, the Standard would subsequently be held by each Polish Squadron in the United Kingdom during the war years. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 American transport USS West Point embarked 137 Italian and 327 German citizens off Staten Island, New York, United States and set sail for Lisbon, Portugal at 1455 hours. 
0
16 Jul 1941 WW2 USS Astoria departed Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 The first elements of the Spanish Volunteer Division arrived at the large training camp at Grafenwöhr in southern Germany. Spanish uniforms were exchanged for German; the only item of clothing retained being the Falangist dark blue shirt, from which the title "Blue Division" (officially the 250th Infantry Division) was derived. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Alfred Rosenberg officially took on the position of Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories. Among his responsibilities were the Germanization of the occupied lands and the exploitation and extermination of Jews. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 After sundown, German bombers attacked Hull, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. 160 fires displaced 3,500 people and several factories were damaged. 111 were killed and 108 were seriously injured. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Corvette HMS Narcissus was commissioned into service. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Heinz Guderian was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 German Navy placed an order for four submarines; this order would later yield U-487, U-488, U-489, and U-490. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-449 was laid down. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine was U-579 commissioned into service. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 The Italian Navy introduced a new cipher. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 The Political Commissars were re-introduced into the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy organizational structures. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Field Marshal Keitel's son Hans-Georg Keitel died from wounds received in combat. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Reinhardt Heydrich ordered the four SS Einsatzgruppen under his command to exterminate Jewish and Roma communities in his sphere of influence. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 HMCS Grizzly was assigned to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada to serve as a stationary defensive vessel. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Destroyer USS Ingraham was commissioned into service. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 George Marshall approved Leopard Gerow's recommendation to re-activate Douglas MacArthur from the retired list and plans regarding the Philippine Army; Marshall forwarded Gerow's proposals to US Secretary of War Henry Stimson for further review and implementation. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 James Lacey shot down a German He 59 seaplane. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Yasunori Yoshioka was named the chief of staff of Japanese 44th Army, also known as the Kwangtung Defense Army, based in Xinjing, northeastern China. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 The Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany hosted a visit from the Orthodox Bishop of Dresden, Germany. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 Axis aircraft attacked airfields on Malta. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 The Soviet 3rd NKO Directorate was merged back into the NKVD, becoming NKVD's Special Departments Director (UOO). Viktor Abakumov was named UOO's chief and Solomon Milshtein was named the deputy. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 German Armeegruppe Sud encircled 20 Soviet Army divisions near Uman, Ukraine. Further south, troops of the Romanian 3rd Army reached the Dniester River, captured a row of bunkers on the far bank, and repulsed a series of Soviet counterattacks. 
0
17 Jul 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull met with Japanese Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura in Washington DC, United States in an attempt to open negotiations bewteen the two countries regarding peace in the Pacific region. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 British ASV radar equipment was deployed to one PBY Catalina and two PBM Mariner aircraft. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 Prince Fumimaro Konoe retained his office as he was named the 39th Prime Minister of Japan. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 Three Blenheim bombers of No. 21 Squadron of No. 2 Group RAF damaged a German tanker in the English Channel off Gravelines, France; one of the three bombers were shot down by anti-aircraft fire. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-703 was launched. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 In Canada, Canadian corvette HMCS Algoma arrived at Montreal, Quebec, and corvette HMCS Shediac arrived at Quebec City, Quebec. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 Works Progress Administration Assistant Commissioner Corrington Gill reported to the House of Representatives of the US Congress that 5,000,000 Americans would remain unemployed in the latter half of 1941. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 Finland established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 The Orthodox Bishop of Dresden, Germany completed his two-day visit of the Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle and departed. 
0
18 Jul 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union signed a friendship treaty with the Czechoslovakian government-in-exile in London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 British radio station BBC broadcasted about the "V Army", informing the general public on the resistance movements in occupied Europe. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 British citizen George Armstrong was executed at Wandsworth prison for spying. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Captured (by German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis on 10 Nov 1940) Norwegian tanker Ole Jacob arrived at Bordeaux, France, carrying aviation fuel and the captured crew of tanks Ole Jacob and Teddy. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Submarine HMS Umpire collided with a trawler off Kent, England, United Kingdom during her sea trials, sinking in 60 feet of water; 22 men were lost. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 11 British Blenheim bombers attacked an 8-ship German convoy escorted by 6 anti-aircraft ships off the Hague, Netherlands, sinking four of the transports and damaging another. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered that American shipping were not to be attacked by German forces in order to keep the United States from fully entering the war. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank transport Holmside northeast of Cape Verde islands at 1042 hours; 21 were killed, 16 survived. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Fijian ship Viti departed Suva, Fiji for Gilbert and Ellice Islands with New Zealand military servicemen aboard; she was to drop off small reconnaissance parties on many of the atolls and small islands to act as lookouts, or "coastwatchers", to watch for German surface raiders. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-153 was commissioned into service. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-375 was commissioned into service. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the German 2nd Panzer Group to move south toward Kiev, Ukraine as soon as the group completed the conquest of Smolensk, Russia. Heinz Guderian, commanding officer of the 2nd Panzer Group, protested and cited Moscow, Russia as the logical primary target, but Hitler would overrule him. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Italo Gariboldi stepped down as the Governor-General of Italian Libya, succeeded by Ettore Bastico. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin declared himself the Soviet Defense Commissar (NKO). 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Heavy fighting between German and Soviet forces took place near Lake Peipus near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Viktor Abakumov officially assumed the role as the head of UOO of the Soviet NKVD. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill decided to share military intelligence gained by deciphering the German Enigma-encoded messages with the Soviets, but the Soviets would not be told how the intelligence was gained; instead, they were told that the intelligence was gained through a spies in Berlin. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US destroyer Baldwin was laid down. 
0
19 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US minesweeper Swallow was laid down. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru arrived at Osaka, completing her 73rd round trip across the Pacific. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union resumed diplomatic relations with the countries occupied by Germany. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 6 British Blenheim bombers damaged a tanker off Le Touquet, France with three high explosive bombs and several incendiary bombs, forcing the ship to beach near Berck-sur-Mer to prevent sinking. Two British aircraft and one German Bf 109 fighter were shot down. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 Italian torpedo boat Circe sank British submarine HMS Union with depth charges southwest of the Italian island of Pantellaria between Sicily and Tunisia. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-126 spotted transport Canadian Star in the Atlantic Ocean at 0100 hours and proceeded to attack at 0242 hours with both torpedoes fired missing; U-126 and Canadian Star engaged in a duel with surface guns, and U-126 was forced to abandon the attack. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-95 attacked transport Palma in the Atlantic Ocean at 0505 hours with both torpedoes fired missing. At 0528, U-95 opened fire with her deck gun, hitting Palma three times (though the German lookouts only spotted and recorded one hit), but Palma would be able to escape. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 In a broadcast to the people of occupied Europe, Prime Minister Winston Churchill inaugurated the "V" (for victory) campaign. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 The German 2nd Rannikkoiskukompania arrived at Bengtskär island, Finland at the entry of the Gulf of Finland. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders was promoted to the rank of Oberst and was transferred to the Reich Air Ministry in Berlin, Germany. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Stremitel'ny was sunk by German aircraft in Kolafjord north of Murmansk, Russia. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 Vsevolod Merkulov stepped down as the People's Commissar of State Security of the Soviet Union. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 Brendan Bracken was named the British Minister of Information. 
0
20 Jul 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Lively was commissioned into service. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Hiroaki Abe was transferred out of Japanese Navy Destroyer Squadron 6. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-140 sank the 161-ton Soviet submarine M94 by torpedoes in the Baltic Sea. The survivors were rescued by M98 operating nearby off Hiiumaa Island. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 German submarine U-109 refueled from German supply ship Thalia off Cadiz, Spain. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Japan secured an agreement from the Vichy-French government to permit a virtual Japanese occupation of Indo-China. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Orion rounded Cape Horn and entered the Atlantic Ocean. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Outside Minsk, Byelorussia, German SS troops ordered 30 Byelorussians to bury 45 Jews alive in a pit; upon meeting refusal, the SS men executed the entire group of 75 by machine gun fire. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Canadian minesweeper HMCS Guysborough was launched in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Free French leader Charles de Gaulle met with British Minister of State in Cairo Oliver Lyttleton in Cairo, Egypt, complaining of the shortcomings in the arrangement in the Middle East where Free French troops were placed under British command. De Gaulle noted that Free France would assume direct control of troops in the theater as of noon of 24 Jul 1941. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The Allied convoy "Substance" departed Gibraltar to supply Malta; it contains six transports, carrier Ark Royal, battlecruiser Renown, battleship Nelson, several cruisers, and six destroyers. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The Majdanek Concentration Camp near Lublin, Poland became operational. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 195 German Luftwaffe bombers, most of which were He 111 bombers, took off from an airfield near Smolensk, Russia to attack the Soviet capital of Moscow in multiple waves during the night; the resulting air alarms were the first to be sounded in the city. Moscow had strong anti-aircraft defences, the city was protected by 170 fighters, and the citizens were able to take shelter in the newly completed underground railway stations, but German air crews reported the presence of very few Soviet fighters after sunset. On the next day the Soviets would report the downing of 22 German bombers, but German records only showed 6 bombers failing to return. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet troops evacuated from the positions along the Dniestr River in western Ukraine. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Hugh Dalton informed Winston Churchill that his Special Operations Executive was now ready to support covert operations in German-occupied Europe. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of British minesweeper HMS Cadmus was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of British minesweeper HMS Circe was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Gunnel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US minesweeper Velocity was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US minesweeper Tumult was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US minesweeper Token was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US destroyer Evans was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 The keel of US destroyer John D. Henley was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt asked the United States Congress to modify the Selective Service Act, increasing the period of service from one year of active service to also include 30 months in reserve. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 Vichy France enacted a law that required Jews to register their businesses, which in effect excluded all Jews from commerce and industry. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 Remy Van Lierde arrived in Britain. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler sent an armored train equipped with anti-aircraft weapons to Benito Mussolini as a birthday present. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 Italian Count Galeazzo Ciano noted in his diary that Benito Mussolini had staged a mock air raid over Rome, Italy on this date, with anti-aircraft positions firing. The purpose of this production was to give the citizens the impression that a serious war was going on. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 The last Japanese ship departed the Panama Canal Zone. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 In captivity at the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, Russia, General Dimitry Pavlov explained that out of the 600 artillery fortifications on the western border, only 169 of them actually had guns inside, and other similar facts explained why he could not counterattack the German forces as Joseph Stalin had ordered. Regardless, he was found guilty and was executed before the end of the day. His rank was stripped and his properties were confiscated by the state. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 The Soviet NKGB was merged into the NKVD. 
0
22 Jul 1941 WW2 For the second consecutive night, German bombers attacked Moscow, Russia. Of the 115 bombers dispatched, two failed to returned, one of which was a pathfinder aircraft while the other served in the traditional bomber role. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 German troops captured Brest-Litovsk, Byelorussia after a month-long siege. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 A German Hudson aircraft, while on convoy escort duty, shot down a German aircraft 107 miles west-southwest of Achill Head, Achill Island, Ireland; the German crew was later rescued and interrogated. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 Scharnhorst was detected by British RAF Coastal Command aircraft at La Pallice, La Rochelle, France by the results of a photo reconnaissance flight at 0915 hours. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 HMS Manchester suffered an aerial torpedo hit on the port quarter in the Mediterranean Sea while escorting a convoy for Malta. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 Repair ship Akashi operated off Indochina. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 aircraft. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 A British No. 44 Squadron Hampden bomber, returning from to Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom from a minelaying sortie, crashed into the staff residence of Lincoln Girls High School on Lindum Hill in the nearby city of Lincoln. The crew of four were all killed immediately as was the senior French mistress who died trying to escape from the burning building. Four other members of staff were injured and exploding ammunition peppered the surrounding area, seriously hampering the work of the fire and rescue teams. 
0
23 Jul 1941 WW2 In Washington DC, United States, Senator Wendell Willkie (the defeated Republican candidate at the 1940 Presidential election) urged America to give unlimited aid to Britain. 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps established a Marine Detachment under the 1st Defense Battalion at Johnston Island. 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 The RAF submitted a report for the week ending 24 Jul 1941. Coastal Command flew 252 patrols (364 sorties) and escorted 94 convoys (264 sorties). Fighter Command flew 704 shipping protection patrols (1,476 sorties). 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh arrived at Malta. 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 USS Astoria departed San Pedro, California, United States. 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 Free France, distrustful of British command of its troops in the Middle East, took back control effective at 1200 hours. 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 James Lacey engaged two German Bf 109 fighters and claimed kills on both of them after the two German aircraft collided in mid-air during the dogfight. 
0
24 Jul 1941 WW2 68 Dutch officers arrived at the Oflag IV-C camp at Colditz Castle in Germany; they were the first Dutch prisoners at this prisoners of war camp. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Otoji Nakamura became the commanding officer of I-68. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 Quintin Brand was appointed the commanding officer of the No. 20 (Training) Group. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders traveled to the Wolf's Lair at Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany and met with Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Keitel, and Hermann Göring. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 British bombers took off at 2230 hours on the previous day, reaching Kiel, Germany at about 0145 hours on this date; bombs were dropped on the Deutsche Werke shipyard facilities; surviving attacks landed at their bases in Britain at about 0600 hours. On the same day, Bombers of British No. 102 Squadron RAF attacked Hanover, Germany after sundown. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh was attacked by a German torpedo bomber at Malta; the torpedo missed. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe II./KG 4 were briefed for a night bombing mission over Moscow, Russia, but at the last minute they were ordered to mine the waters off Saaremaa island (German: Ösel) off Gulf of Riga, Estonia. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe I./KG 55 attacked Soviet anti-aircraft positions at Dorogobush, Smolensk Oblast, Russia. One bomber was shot down. 
0
25 Jul 1941 WW2 General Paul von Kleist's 1st Panzer Group clashed with no fewer than six Soviet mechanised corps under the capable General Mikhail Kirponos in Ukraine. A sprawling tank battle, the largest of the war up to that point, swayed backwards and forwards across the steppes for four days, before superior German tactical handling and communications, plus their use of 88-mm guns, won the day. Kiponos was forced to retreat eastward towards Kiev. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 US Army recalled Douglas MacArthur to active service as the commander of units in the Far East; Philippine troops already under MacArthur's command were integrated into the US Army. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 Three full Soviet armies were trapped and destroyed near Mogilev, Byelorussia. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt passed executive orders to freeze all Japanese and Chinese assets, forbade the export of oil, iron, and rubber to Japan, as well as marking the Panama Canal off-limits to Japanese shipping. UK and the Netherlands followed suit. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders was presented Diamonds to his Knight's Cross by Adolf Hitler. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 German aircraft bombed Moscow, Russia. Many bombs fell near the Kremlin, and the images were captured on film by journalist Margaret Bourke-White. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 US Navy Admiral Husband Kimmel ordered long range air patrols to be conducted from various Pacific Ocean bases in case Japan reacted aggressively against US President Franklin Roosevelt's executive order to freeze Japanese assets. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 Commander Ernesto Forza took over command of 10th MAS Flotilla at La Spezia, Italy, which was in actuality a special forces unit for the Italian Navy. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 3,800 Lithuanian Jews were killed during a pogrom in Kovno. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 Six Italian E-boats escorted by MC.200 fighters attempted to attack shipping in Valletta's Grand Harbour at Malta. The Hurricane fighters of Nos. 126 and 185 Squadrons were scrambled and set about the E-boats, sinking four and causing the other two to surrender. 
0
26 Jul 1941 WW2 Roderick Carr was named the commanding officer of No. 4 Group RAF. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters officially decided to pursue a southern advance, abandoning the previous ambitions against Russia. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom nationalized railroads for the duration of the war. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 German leader Adolf Hitler requested Romanian leader Ion Antonescu to conquer and occupy the Ukrainian territory between Dniester and Bug Rivers. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 Wilhelm Keitel ordered all copies of the 13 May 1941 order, which effectively allowed German military personnel to murder Soviet civilians, destroyed. Several copies would remain, however, and surface during the Nuremberg Trials. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 Five British motor torpedo boats (MTB) sailed from Dover, England, United Kingdom to attack a German destroyer in the English Channel. Two of the boats narrowly escaped collision when crossing each other's bows at top speed by only ten feet. When the attack took place the torpedoes were fired at too great a range scoring no hits, in fact one torpedo actually just missed one of the friendly MTBs. On the way home one of the MTBs opened fire on a British aircraft which came down to investigate them. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 German troops captured Tallinn, Estonia. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 Italian manned torpedoes and motor torpedo boats attacked Grand Harbour, Malta, causing minor damage to British vessels and installations but nearly all Italian vessels were lost in the attack. Commander Vittorio Moccagatta was among the Italian fatalities. 
0
27 Jul 1941 WW2 Four teenagers, son and nephews of Nestor Lakoba, political enemy of Lavrentiy Beria (already killed in Dec 1936), were executed in Moscow, Russia as sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Soviet NKVD. 
0
28 Jul 1941 WW2 Japan froze American assets in retaliation of a similar action committed by the US on 26 Jul 1941. 
0
28 Jul 1941 WW2 German troops began crushing the Smolensk pocket in Russia. 
0
28 Jul 1941 WW2 Finland severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. 
0
28 Jul 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru set a new trans-Pacific crossing record. 
0
28 Jul 1941 WW2 The joint US Army and US Marine Corps unit Task Force 18, attached to the US Atlantic Fleet under Major General Holland M. Smith, was redesignated the 1st Joint Training Force. 
0
28 Jul 1941 WW2 A special commission created on Heinrich Himmler's orders arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp to select prisoners within the framework of the "Euthanasia Program" for the incurably ill, extended in 1940 to Jews and in the middle of 1941 to prisoners of concentration camps. The 573 selected, most were sick Polish prisoners from Block 15, were told that they were to be transferred to other camps for easier work because of their conditions. At last moment, two German criminals Johann Siegruth and Ernst Krankemann were added to the list. The 575 were sent to Sonnenstein Castle under the supervision of Franz Hössler and were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in a gas chamber disguised as a shower room. 
0
29 Jul 1941 WW2 Marshal Georgy Zhukov resigned as Chief of Staff of the Soviet forces. 
0
29 Jul 1941 WW2 Orion sank the ship Chaucer by gunfire in the South Atlantic. The entire crew of 48 was rescued by Orion. 
0
29 Jul 1941 WW2 British merchant seaman David Hay was awarded an Albert Medal for his daring rescue of a fellow sailor from shark infested waters during the journey between Liverpool, England, United Kingdom and Takoradi, British Gold Coast. 
0
29 Jul 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort reported to US Navy Admiral Husband Kimmel that the Japanese fleet detected outside of Japanese home waters were heading back to Japan, thus there was no immediate threat of an aggressive Japanese response to Franklin Roosevelt's decision to freeze Japanese assets. 
0
30 Jul 1941 WW2 A committee consisted of US Treasury, State, and Justice Department officials granted an exception of the rule to freeze Japanese national assets so that Tatsuta Maru's owners could withdraw enough funds to pay for fuel for a return trip to Japan. 
0
31 Jul 1941 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich received instructions from Hermann Göring to prepare the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish question, Endlösung. 
0
31 Jul 1941 WW2 Reichskommissar Josef Terboven declared Norway under a state of emergency. 
0
31 Jul 1941 WW2 Romanian leader Ion Antonescu formally accepted German leader Adolf Hitler's request for Romanian troops to conquer and occupy the Ukrainian territory between Dniester and Bug Rivers. 
0
31 Jul 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelny made rendezvous with British minelayer HMS Adventure near the Gorodetski lighthouse at the entrance to the White Sea in northern Russia. 
0
31 Jul 1941 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 The United States announced an oil embargo against all aggressor states. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Hiroaki Abe became the commanding officer of Japanese Navy Cruiser Division 8. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber took flight for the first time. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 USS Marlin was commissioned into service with Lieutenant George A. Sharp in command. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Nine British Blenheim bombers escorted by Hurricane fighters attacked Axis vehicles at Sidi Omar, Libya. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Denmark established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels fabricated a quote from US Secretary of War Henry Stimson suggesting that Stimson thought the British war situation was hopeless. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Walter Grabmann was named the commanding officer of the Zerstörerschule 2 training unit based in Memmingen, Germany. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin, satisfied with the progress of the rocket-powered fighter development project, issued an ordered in late Jul (and dated for 1 Aug 1941) for a prototype aircraft to be completed in a little more than a month. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 British minelayer HMS Adventure arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia and delivered a supply of naval mines. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Finland for invading Russia. Just over a year earlier, Britain had supported the Finns against the Russians. 
0
01 Aug 1941 WW2 The US Navy established the Naval Air Station at Midway under Commander Cyril T. Simard. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 All civilian radios in Norway were confiscated by the German occupation. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 Two Australian companies attacked Italian positions near Tobruk, Libya with the support of over 60 field guns. The attacks were repulsed after suffering heavy casualties. This particular attack represented the last Australian attempt to regain positions lost in early May 1941. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 German dive bombers attacked an Allied convoys off Libya, but they were driven away by British fighters; about 3 German aircraft were shot down at a loss of 3 British Hurricane fighters. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet submarines M99 and S11 were sunk by German mines in the Baltic Sea. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 Croatia established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 Soviet NKVD operatives were ordered to arrest those who injure themselves on the front lines just as they would arrest deserters. 
0
02 Aug 1941 WW2 The keel of light cruiser Miami was laid down by William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 
0
03 Aug 1941 WW2 The battle at Roslavl in Russia ended with 38,000 encircled Soviet soldiers being taken prisoner. 
0
03 Aug 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Robert Everett RNVR of British No. 804 Squadron Fleet Air Arm became the first pilot launched from a CAM ship (HMS Maplin) to shoot down a German Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft which had sighted the Atlantic convoy SL81 en route from Sierre Leone, British West Africa. 
0
03 Aug 1941 WW2 21 British Maryland bombers attacked Axis positions at Tobruk, Libya while fighters swept nearby airfields. 
0
03 Aug 1941 WW2 General Nicolae Ciuperca's Romanian 4th Army crossed the Dniester River in Ukraine. 
0
04 Aug 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler visited Fedor von Bock's Army Group Center headquarters in the Soviet Union. The anti-Nazi officer plotted to arrest Adolf Hitler upon arrival, but failed to do so as he had under-estimated Hitler's personal guards. 
0
04 Aug 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered Hermann Hoth's 3rd Panzer Group to aid Wilhelm von Leeb in the north and Heinz Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group to assist Paul von Kleist in the south. 
0
04 Aug 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed San Francisco, California, United States with US$2,500,000 worth of raw silk and 85,589 gallons of oil, both which was only allowed after Captain Toichi Takahata fought hard for due to the recently passed executive order to freeze Japanese assets in the United States. 
0
05 Aug 1941 WW2 Thailand established diplomatic relationship with the Japanese-sponsored puppet state of Manchukuo. 
0
05 Aug 1941 WW2 Romanian troops arrived in the vicinity of Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
06 Aug 1941 WW2 US Navy aircraft based in Reykjavik, Iceland began routine patrols of the North Atlantic. 
0
06 Aug 1941 WW2 The first German strategic reports on progress in Russia claimed that Germany had taken nearly 900,000 prisioners and destroyed or captured 13,100 tanks, 9,100 aircraft and more than 10,000 heavy guns. 
0
06 Aug 1941 WW2 The clearing of the land to build a US Marine Corps airfield (future Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point) began in North Carolina, United States. 
0
06 Aug 1941 WW2 British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden issued another warning to Japan stating that any action against the independence of Thailand would be regarded as a threat to imperial security. 
0
06 Aug 1941 WW2 Leutnant Hans Thurner of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
06 Aug 1941 WW2 The first Bell Airacobra fighter arrived in the United Kingdom. By the end of Sep 1941, eleven machines had been received by No. 601 Squadron RAF, but during trials by the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford it was found that the much publicised performance figures claimed by the manufacturer were much overrated (having been obtained by a highly polished machine weighing a ton less than the production aircraft delivered to the RAF). The maximum speed for example being some 33 mph slower than anticipated and, although pleasant enough to fly, was definitely inferior to the Hurricane and Spitfire in climb rate and ceiling. 
0
07 Aug 1941 WW2 Stalin promoted himself to Generalissimo of the Soviet Army. 
0
07 Aug 1941 WW2 Bruno Mussolini, Benito Mussolini's son, was killed in a plane crash. 
0
07 Aug 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders was named the Inspector General of Fighters of the Luftwaffe. 
0
07 Aug 1941 WW2 After dark, 84 British aircraft were launched to attack Essen, Germany (108 tons of high explosive bombs and 5,720 incendiary bombs were dropped, damaging the Krupp coke oven batteries), 31 launched against Hamm (damaging rail marshalling yard), 32 launched against Dortmund, 88 launched against Kiel (104 tons of high explosive bombs and 4,836 incendiary bombs were dropped, damaging Deutsche Werke Shipyards), and a number of bombers were launched against Hamburg (poor visibility and results were not observed). 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 Yugoslavia was dissolved, with Italy annexing large areas. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 US Army aircraft and troops embarked for Iceland. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 The construction for trawler Anticosti was ordered. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 The Romanian General Staff issued Directive No. 31 calling for the capture of Odessa and the defeat of Soviet forces between the Dniester River and the Tiligulskiy Estuary in Ukraine. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Valerian Kuibyshev made rendezvous with British submarine HMS Tigris off northern Russia. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 During the night, the first Soviet air attack was made on Berlin, Germany by naval Ilyushin Il-4 twin-engine bombers. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 Shokaku was commissioned into service at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin ordered the formation of eight Guards mortar regiments directly under the control of the Stavka to operate Katyusha rocket launchers. 
0
08 Aug 1941 WW2 The 6th and 12th Soviet Armies in the Uman Pocket in Ukraine were wiped out by German troops; over 100,000 Soviet prisoners were taken. 
0
09 Aug 1941 WW2 Atlantic Charter Conference began between US and UK leadership. 
0
09 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet Shchuka-class submarine ShCh-307 (Treska) commanded by N. I. Petrov torpedoed and sank the German submarine U-144 west of Hiiumaa Island in the Baltic Sea. 
0
09 Aug 1941 WW2 Battle of Britain ace Wing Commander Douglas Bader was involved in a mid-air collision with a German Bf 109 fighter over northern France. He parachuted from his crippled aircraft by releasing and leaving behind in his Spitfire fighter one of his two artificial legs. 
0
09 Aug 1941 WW2 Romanian 30th Dorobanti Regiment captured the village of Ponyatovka, Ukraine while other Romanian units captured the railway town of Razdelnaya. 
0
10 Aug 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt and his staff visited HMS Prince of Wales to attend British religious services. 
0
11 Aug 1941 WW2 Matome Ugaki was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet. 
0
11 Aug 1941 WW2 Vichy France enacted a law to exclude Jewish doctors. 
0
11 Aug 1941 WW2 Captain Yoshioki Tawara was named the commanding officer of Naka. 
0
11 Aug 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Colonel Harold D. Shannon, executive officer of the US Marine Corps 6th Defense Battalion, arrived at Midway to prepare for his battalion to relieve the 3rd Defense Battalion. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party ordered the security forces to deport the entire population of the Volga German Autonomous Republic to destinations in Central Asia and Siberia. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 The US Army-US Marine Corps 1st Joint Training Force under Major General Holland M. Smith was redesignated the Atlantic Amphibious Force. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 Before dawn, British bombers attacked railway yards at Hanover, Germany. After sundown, 78 British bombers, escorted by 485 fighters, conducted the heaviest daylight attack against Germany to date, targeting the powerplants near Köln (Fortuna Power Station in Knapsack and Goldenburg Power Station in Quadrath) and other targets in a wide area. The Germans were only able to scramble few fighters, but anti-aircraft fire was heavy. The Germans suffered four fighters shot down (plus five likely shot down) and heavy damage to both powerplants; the British suffered 12 British Blenheim bombers shot down and 10 British fighters shot down. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 HMS Picotee (Lieutenant R. A. Harrison) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-568 in the North Atlantic. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 Zhao Chengshou signed a secret armistice with the Japanese. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho became the flagship of Carrier Division 3. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 Crown Prince Yi Un was assigned to Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 French Marshal Philippe Pétain appointed Admiral François Darlan as Minister for War, the Navy, the Air and the Colonies. General Maxime Weygand was thus placed under Darlan's orders. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 Battleship No. 1 departed Kure, Japan for trials. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet Politburo granted thousands of Polish prisoners of war amnesty for the formation of a Polish unit under General Wladislaw Anders to fight against Germany. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 Semyon Timoshenko drafted an order calling for the execution of deserters; it would be revised by Joseph Stalin and issued as Order No. 270 four days later. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 No. 489 (NZ) Squadron RAF was formed at RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom from New Zealand personnel under the command of Wing Commander J. A. S. Brown. The squadron would see extensive service on anti-shipping strikes in the North Sea and protection of the North Cape convoys. 
0
12 Aug 1941 WW2 The United States Congress passed a modification to the Selective Service Act, which extended the service period of draftees as requested by Franklin Roosevelt, by a single vote. 
0
13 Aug 1941 WW2 Stalin released the Polish prisoners of war taken in Sep 1939, ostensibly to form a Polish Army in Russia. 
0
13 Aug 1941 WW2 Journalist Richard Capell paid tribute in a radio broadcast the defenders of Tobruk, Libya, with specific mention of anti-aircraft gunners but also generally of Australians, Indians, and British "oys", who "within weeks, turn into hardened men." 
0
13 Aug 1941 WW2 Dutch prisoners Dufour and Imitescaped the Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany; they would be recaptured within a few days. 
0
14 Aug 1941 WW2 Roosevelt and Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter. 
0
14 Aug 1941 WW2 Overnight, British bombers attacked railway yards at Hanover, Germany. 
0
14 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet transport ship Sibir, carrying 2,500 wounded soldiers from Estonia, was bombed by German aircraft. There were few survivors. 
0
14 Aug 1941 WW2 Edmund Herring was promoted to the temporary rank of major general and was given command of Australian 6th Division in Egypt. 
0
15 Aug 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur oversaw the induction of the Philippine Army Air Corps. 
0
15 Aug 1941 WW2 Orion reached Spanish territorial waters and disguised herself as the Spanish ship Contramestre Casado. 
0
15 Aug 1941 WW2 In Germany it became a criminal offence for Jews not to wear the yellow Star of David. 
0
15 Aug 1941 WW2 German parachutist Josef Jakobs, captured in Britain on 1 Feb 1941, was executed by firing squad at the Tower of London in England, United Kingdom at 0715 hours. He was the last person to be executed at that site. 
0
16 Aug 1941 WW2 Stalin agreed to an aid plan from US and UK. 
0
16 Aug 1941 WW2 German troops captured Novgorod, Russia. 
0
16 Aug 1941 WW2 Dutch prisoners Steinmetz and Larive escaped the Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany; they would later become the first successful Dutch escapees of Colditz. 
0
16 Aug 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur received word from his superiors in Washington DC, United States that the Philippine Islands would start receiving reinforcements, shipped from the US no later than 5 Sep 1941. This included the 200th Coastal Artillery Regiment, a tank battalion, and an ordnance battalion. 
0
16 Aug 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 270, ordering all deserters executed and deserters' families arrested. 
0
16 Aug 1941 WW2 German troops of Armeegruppe Sud captured the Soviet naval base at Nikolaev in Ukraine on the Black Sea. Nearby, Romanian troops launched a renewed attack on Odessa. 
0
17 Aug 1941 WW2 Overnight, British bombers attacked the rail station at Duisburg, Germany. Air crews reported poor visibility due to bad weather. 
0
17 Aug 1941 WW2 American ship Longtaker was sunk by a German submarine while delivering supplies to the US military garrison in Iceland. 
0
17 Aug 1941 WW2 German troops captured Narva, Estonia. 
0
17 Aug 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan; Captain Toichi Takahata was replaced by Japanese Navy Reserve officer Captain Sakao Kimura. 
0
17 Aug 1941 WW2 Romanian troops captured the water reservoirs of Odessa, Ukraine with heavy casualties. 
0
17 Aug 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt arrived in Washington DC, United States. 
0
18 Aug 1941 WW2 British War Cabinet member Mr. Butt wrote a report to the RAF Bomber Command, noting "f those aircraft recorded as attacking their target, only one in three got within five miles" of the intended targets. The conclusion was reached after studying post-bombing reconnaissance photos taken between 2 Jun and 25 Jul 1941. 
0
18 Aug 1941 WW2 Radio Belgrade played an obscure German record which had been found in a pile of dusty 78s in the cellar of Radio Vienna. The song, Lili Marleen, sung by Lale Andersen, was an instant success. Within a week the station was receiving thousands of requests from the soldiers of the Deutsche Afrika Korps for it to be played over and over again. The song's success did not end there for, with English lyrics, it would become equally popular with the British and Commonwealth soldiers fighting in the Western Desert. 
0
18 Aug 1941 WW2 In southern Ukraine, German troops established a bridgehead across the Dnieper River at Zaporizhia. Further southwest along the river, German troops began an attack on the city Kherson situated on the western bank of the river. The port facilities of Odessa, Ukraine was struck by He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe KG 27; the pilots reported overwhelming success in terms of Soviet shipping destroyed. Out at sea, Two Romanian torpedo boats, NMS Viscolul and NMS Vijelia, damaged a Soviet destroyer south of Odessa. 
0
18 Aug 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt announced that Pan American Airways had agreed to ferry Lend-Lease US warplanes to British forces in the Middle East.  
0
19 Aug 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop requested Japan to join in the attack on the Soviet Union by attacking Vladivostok in eastern Russia; Japan responded by saying that such a venture would require much time for deliberation and planning. 
0
19 Aug 1941 WW2 German X Corps narrowly averted being encircled near Lake Illmen in northern Russia, saved by a counterattack by LVI Corps. 
0
19 Aug 1941 WW2 Replacement prosthetic leg for captured Douglas Bader was dropped by a British bomber over Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France with permission by German Luftwaffe leaders. After the delivery, the British bomber took the opportunity to surprise-attack a power station in occupied France (though the attack would fail to materialize due to weather). 
0
19 Aug 1941 WW2 The first permanent military garrison was established at Wake Atoll, which consisted of 449 men of the US Marine Corps 1st Defense Battalion under the command of US Navy Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham. 
0
20 Aug 1941 WW2 German 250th Infantry Division, nicknamed "Blue Division" and consisted of Spanish volunteers, was formed and began to move to Poland. 
0
20 Aug 1941 WW2 The German siege of Leningrad, Russia began. 
0
20 Aug 1941 WW2 After sundown, the Germans conducted another round-up of Jews in Paris, France. Their French passports were confiscated, and they would eventually be deported to the Drancy Concentration Camp and later to various concentration camps in Germany and Eastern Europe. 
0
20 Aug 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki stepped down as the chief of staff of Kure Naval District, Japan. 
0
20 Aug 1941 WW2 Captain Takahiko Kiyota was named the commanding officer of Nachi. 
0
20 Aug 1941 WW2 German Eleventh Army captured Kherson, Ukraine. Romanian aircraft destroyed a Soviet armored train at Odessa Ukraine. 
0
21 Aug 1941 WW2 Hitlers ordered that the Russian city of Leningrad was to be besieged, not captured. 
0
21 Aug 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft sank Chinese gunboats Jiangxi and Jiangkun at Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China. 
0
21 Aug 1941 WW2 A German naval cadet became the first victim of French Resistance, shot in a Metro station in Paris, France. Over 150 Parisians were shot in reprisal. 
0
21 Aug 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler directed the transfer of units away from the Moscow, Russia area in order to bolster the siege on Leningrad (aiming for the linking up with Finnish forces) and the battles in Ukraine (aiming for the oil fields in the Caucasus region). 
0
21 Aug 1941 WW2 The first Allied Arictic convoy, codenamed Dervish, set sail from Hvalfjörður, Iceland for Arhangelsk, Russia. 
0
22 Aug 1941 WW2 Soviet passenger ship Pomorie hit a mine and sank in the White Sea in northern Russia; 60 were killed, 20 survived. 
0
23 Aug 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler rejected Heinz Guderian's advice to attack Moscow, Russia; instead, he moved troops to the south. 
0
23 Aug 1941 WW2 Orion arrived at Gironde, Bordeaux, France. 
0
23 Aug 1941 WW2 HMS Zinnia was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-564 off the coast of Portugal. 
0
23 Aug 1941 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Ariake, Tokyo, Japan and became the flagship of 1st Air Fleet of Carrier Division 5. 
0
24 Aug 1941 WW2 Romanian forces suffered heavy losses during the Soviet counter attack near Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
24 Aug 1941 WW2 Vichy France passed anti-terrorist laws, punishable with death sentences, to deal with the resistance movement. 
0
24 Aug 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the end of the euthanasia program that had already killed 70,273 mentally-ill people. Some doctors would continue to kill the mentally-ill through the end of the European War. 
0
24 Aug 1941 WW2 Oberleutnant Hans Philipp became the 33rd member recipient of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union jointly attacked pro-German regime in Iran. While the British troops crossed the western border and Soviets to the north, the respective ambassadors in Tehran demanded Iran to accept British and Soviet protection of oil supplies. British forces sank two small Iranian warships. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 German submarine U-752 sank Soviet minesweeping trawler T-898 in the Barents Sea 80 miles east of Cape Chernyi, northern Russia at 1011 hours; 41 were killed, 2 survived. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMS Vascama and a British Catalina aircraft sank German submarine U-452 with depth charges in the North Sea, killing all 42 aboard. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 The German Navy placed orders for 61 submarines to be constructed. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Destroyer HMS Wolsey rammed and sank British minesweeper Kos XVI (with Norwegian crew) 30 miles off Grimsby, England, United Kingdom just before midnight. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Richard "Dick" Winters enlisted in the US Army. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 German Navy issued the order to build the future submarine U-869. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Submarine Finback was launched, sponsored by Mrs. A. E. Watson. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 A British RAF Catalina Mk. 1 of No. 209 Squadron cooperating with naval forces sank German submarine U-453 off Iceland. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Pierre Laval was shot four times by student Paul Collete as he saw off French volunteers going off to fight with the Germans in Russia. Laval survived the assassination attempt, but was seriously wounded particularly by a bullet that penetrated his body about an inch from his heart. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Held responsible for the failure of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, and believing that his superiors had abandoned him, and convinced that his arch rival Inspector General Erhard Milch was plotting his down fall, the normally ebullient Ernst Udet (who was already showing signs of illness through depression and strain) reported sick. His duties were assumed by Milch. 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Benito Mussolini arrived at Adolf Hitler's Wolfsschanze headquarters in eastern Germany (now Poland). 
0
25 Aug 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to Ain el Gazala, Libya from his home leave in Berlin, Germany to Libya. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 Soviet forces in Velikije Luki were surrounded and destroyed by the German Armeegruppe Nord. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 A combined force of Canadian, British, and Norwegian commandos landed on Spitzbergen. The coal-mining installations and equipment there were destroyed and the Norwegian civilian populace was evacuated. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 Otto Skorzeny was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class medal for recovering a damaged vehicle under enemy fire at the bridgehead in Yelnya, Russia. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 German submarine U-571 seriously damaged Soviet submarine supply ship Marija Uljanova with two torpedoes 27 miles north of Teriberskij lighthouse in northern Russia in the Barents Sea at 0459 hours; Marija Uljanova would be written off as a loss on the next day. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 British troops captured Abadan, Iran, along with the oil-related installations there. Far to the north, Soviet troops captured Tabriz while aircraft bombed Tehran. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 Wing Commander David Lascelles, a cousin of the British Royal family, was killed leading a daylight anti-shipping strike. Lascelles was No. 82 Squadron's seventh commanding officer in eleven months and the third to be killed. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 Paul Collete was arrested after shooting and wounding Pierre Laval; Laval would recommend giving Collete a light sentence, citing that the young man was likely only a pawn used by more senior plotters behind the scenes. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 was a commissioned at Hamburg, Germany with Kapitänleutnant Axel-Olaf Loewe in command. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 The Hungarian Army rounded up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine. 
0
26 Aug 1941 WW2 Adolf Hilter and Benito Mussolini inspected Axis troops at Uman, Ukraine. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 German 250th Infantry Division, consisted of Spanish volunteers, began to march on foot from the Polish-Lithuanian border toward Smolensk, Russia. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 The British government took over the control of railways for the duration of the war; the private owners and operators were to receive £43,000,000 per year as compensation. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 German submarine U-570 surfaced at 1050 hours in the Atlantic Ocean and was spotted by a British Hudson aircraft, which attacked the submarine with four 250-pound depth charges and returned for strafing. U-570 eventually surrendered; while awaiting the British to send a capture party, confidential papers and the cipher machine were dumped overboard. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 Reza Shah of Iran appointed Mohammad Ali Foroughi as the Prime Minister, who immediately began negotiations with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom to end the hostilities. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 German submarine U-557 attacked Allied convoy OS-4 300 miles west of Ireland between 0125 and 0426 hours, sinking four ships. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 German submarine U-202 sank British trawler Ladylove off Iceland at 1435 hours, killing the entire crew of 14. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 The German Armeegruppe Nord captured Tallinn, Estonia. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
27 Aug 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a Hurricane fighter near Gambut, Libya. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 Australian Prime Minister Menzies resigned. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 Mohammad Ali Foroughi signed a treaty allowing the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to occupy oil fields and the Trans-Iranian Railway in Iran, as well as closing down German, Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian legations in Tehran. However, he refused to allow British and Soviet troops in the capital city. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet NKVD blew up Zaporozhye hydroelectric dam on the River Dnieper in Ukraine to prevent German use. Thousands of civilians who resided downstream were killed by the flooding. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet Baltic Fleet departed from Estonia for Kronstadt, Russia under the command of Vice Admiral Vladimir Tributs. En route, the fleet was slowed by a minefield off Cape Juminda, and it was soon targeted by shore-based artillery, German aircraft, and German and Finnish torpedo boats. 15 warships and 15 transports would be sunk. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 British Submarine HMS Rorqual sank Italian ship Cilicia 130 miles west of Crete, Greece. Italian torpedo boat Antares counterattacked by ramming the submarine, damaging the periscope. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 German submarines U-101 and U-558 attacked Allied convoy OS-4 330 miles west of Ireland; U-558 sank British merchant ship Otaio (13 were killed, 58 survived); U-101's attack was unsuccessful and invited a 3-hour counterattack by 30 depth charges which caused little damage. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 Axis troops launched a renewed offensive against Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 The final P-43 Lancer fighter delivery was made to the United States Army. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 Tenryu was assigned to Truk, Caroline Islands to join Cruiser Division 18 of Japanese 4th Fleet. Captain Mitsutaro Goto was named her new commanding officer. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 British prisoner of war Lieutenant Airey Neave attempted to escape the Oflag IV-C camp at Colditz Castle in Germany with a fake German guard uniform; he was spotted near the front gate and captured. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Kobe, Japan; among the passengers were 349 Jewish refugees. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 On his first combat mission after reutrning from home leave to recover from dysentery, Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a South African Air Force Hurricane fighter flown by Lieutenant V. F. Williams; it was his 14th kill. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 18 British Bleinheim bombers attacked German targets at Rotterdam, the Netherlands; 7 bombers were shot down. 
0
28 Aug 1941 WW2 Lewis Puller returned to the United States from China. 
0
29 Aug 1941 WW2 Soviet troops evacuated the Karelian Isthmus as Finnish forces retook Viipuri in northern Russia. 
0
30 Aug 1941 WW2 German troops captured Mga, Leningrad Oblast, Russia, severing the last railway leading into the city of Leningrad. 
0
30 Aug 1941 WW2 Panzergruppe 1 of Army Group South under Paul von Kleist and Panzergruppe 2 of Army Group Center under Heinz Guderian began to envelope the Soviet Southwestern Front under Mikhail Kirponos at Kiev, Ukraine. 
0
30 Aug 1941 WW2 Romanian troops captured Kubanka, Ukraine, but Soviet forces recaptured the city later in the day. 
0
30 Aug 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop asked Soemu Toyoda regarding a possible Japanese attack on Vladivostok, Russia; the Japanese Navy admiral responded by saying that Japan was preparing for such a venture, and required more time to complete the preparations. 
0
30 Aug 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyers Grozny, Oritsky, and Kuibyshev escorted the Allied convoy Dervish into the Dvina River and on to Arkhangelsk, Russia. Crewmen of the merchant ships of this first Allied convoy to arrive in Arkhangelsk reported poor cooperation from the Soviets. No stevedores were found so the crewmen attempted to unload the cargo themselves, only to be stopped by Soviet armed guards because they did not have the proper passes to step onto the shore; the situation was only improved after the arrival of higher ranking Soviet officers later in the day. 
0
31 Aug 1941 WW2 The Soviet Baltic Fleet completed its evacuation from Tallinn, Estonia to Kronstadt off Leningrad, Russia. 165 vessels arrived in Leningrad with 28,000 military personnel and civilians on aboard. 
0
31 Aug 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked Alexandria, Egypt, killing 2 British Royal Navy officers but otherwise doing little to no damage to ships and port facilities, which were the primary targets. 
0
31 Aug 1941 WW2 Kasuga Maru completed her conversion into an escort carrier at Sasebo, Japan. She was renamed Taiyo. 
0
31 Aug 1941 WW2 A mixed-gender anti-aircraft battery with 200 men and an equal number of women was established, with great public interest, in Richmond Park, London, England, United Kingdom. The women were the first to take a combat role in Britain. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Cruiser Köln began supporting the invasion of Dagö and Ösel islands and disabled Soviet coastal batteries at Cape Ristna. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 All Jews above the age of six in Germany and occupied lands were ordered to wear the yellow Star of David with the word "Jude" inscribed in black within; this was to be effective 19 Sep 1941. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 The 9th Company of German Police Battalion 322 participated in the murder of more than 900 Jews from the Minsk area in Byelorussia. On the same day, the Police Regiment South reported shooting 88 Jews, and Battalion 320 reported shooting 380. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Mineichi Koga was named the head of the China Area Fleet of the Japanese Navy. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Battleships USS Idaho, USS Mississippi, and USS New Mexico, escorted by 2 cruisers and 13 destroyers, were dispatched to patrol the Denmark Strait to protect American merchant shipping. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Nobutake Kondo was named the commanding officer of the Japanese 2nd Fleet. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 In China, the American Consul-General at Shanghai, the commander of the Yangtze Patrol, and the commanding officer of the 4th Marine Regiment at Shanghai recommended that all naval forces in China be withdrawn. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Captain Chiaki Matsuda was named the commanding officer of Settsu. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Ikuta Sakamoto was named the commanding officer of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur mobilized the Filipino military. 
0
01 Sep 1941 WW2 The BI-1 rocket-powered prototype aircraft was ready for unpowered flight at Khimki, Moscow Oblast, Russia. 
0
02 Sep 1941 WW2 RAF bombers began daylight bombing of targets in northern France. 
0
02 Sep 1941 WW2 Kasuga Maru was commissioned into service. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 The equivalent of a whole Red Army Division under NKVD officers was sent south to round up and deport all the Soviet Union's ethnic Germans they could find. By Jan 1942, 800,000 Germans from all parts of the Soviet Union had been shipped eastward. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 Operation EGV.1, which involved an air attack on German targets at Tromsø, Norway by carrier aircraft from HMS Victorious, was cancelled due to lack of cloud cover. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 German bombers damaged British ship Fort Richepanse at noon in the Atlantic Ocean; at 2042 hours, German submarine U-567 caught up with the damaged ship 450 miles west of Ireland, sinking her with 41 deaths; 22 survived. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 In England, United Kingdom, Alan Brooke inspected 70 Welsh Young Soldiers’ Battalion at Duxford, A Company of 70th King's Royal Rifle Corps at Debden, and B Company of 70th King's Royal Rifle Corps at Castle Camp in the morning. After lunch with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he inspected A and B Companies of 70th Suffolks regiment at Martlesham and A and B Companies of 70th Essex regiment at Southend. He was disappointed by the progress of the training of the Essex regiment. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 German and Romanian troops captured the village of Vakarzhany, Ukraine. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft sank Chinese vessel Ganlu at Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 Experimental trials of gas chambers at Block II of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland began, using Soviet prisoners of war as test subjects. Zyklon-B was used. 
0
03 Sep 1941 WW2 Canadian Lieutenant-General Arthur Grasett MC, DSO (1888-1971), the former General Officer Commanding in Hong Kong, suggested to the Chiefs of Staff in London, England, United Kingdom that with the addition of two or more battalions, the colony's garrison would be strong enough to resist, for an extensive period, any Japanese seige. He further affirmed that Canada might be prepared to provide the battalions. 
0
04 Sep 1941 WW2 Finnish troops captured Beloostrov, which was 20 miles from Leningrad, Russia. Germany requested Finland to immediately press on against the city, but Finland rejected, noting that Finland was only attempting to reclaim territory lost to the Soviets. 
0
04 Sep 1941 WW2 American destroyer Greer pursued German submarine U-652 for 2 hours 190 miles southwest of Iceland; the two ships attacked each other but no damage was inflicted on either side. The torpedoes fired at USS Greer represented the first German attack on a US warship. 
0
04 Sep 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer departed the Baltic Sea for Oslo, Norway. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy Captain Shutoku Miyazato (former commanding officer of Naka) was posted as the Chief Equipping Officer of Battleship No. 1. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked chemical works at Hüls, Germany. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 British 1st Parachute Brigade was founded with Brigadier Richard Gale in command. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 Remy Van Lierde joined the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 Captain Karou Umetani was named the commanding officer of light carrier Hosho; Hosho was relieved the duty of being Carrier Division 3's flagship. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team detected sudden increase in Japanese naval radio traffic. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 The exhibition "Le Juif et la France" ("The Jews and France") opened in Paris, France based on the work of the anti-Semitic French Professor George Montandon with the urging of the Nazi German occupation. 
0
05 Sep 1941 WW2 A song in mourning of Prince Nagahisa was released in Japan. The music was composed by Yuji Koseki, the lyrics were written by Count Yoshinori Futara, and it was performed by popular singer Akiko Futaba and veteran Takeo Ito. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 Hitler issued Directive 35 for Operation Typhoon, which he intended should destroy in a swift blow any remaining Soviet resistance. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 HMS Brora was wrecked off the Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 The keel of hull number 533 was laid down for the future USS Wilkes-Barre. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 The Red Army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda ("Red Star") noted that it was a shame to become captured by the enemy. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 The hospital ship, RFA Maine, was badly damaged during an air raid on Alexandria, Egypt. Four of her crew, including a Medical Officer, were killed, but fortunately none of thew patients sustained injury. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 Emperor Showa of Japan agreed with the proposal that, unless peace could be achieved by 10 Oct 1941, Japan was to prepare for war. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 The Vilna Ghetto was established in Lithuania, containing 40,000 Jews. 
0
06 Sep 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt arrived at Hyde Park, New York, United States to see his ailing mother Sara Roosevelt. 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 The German 6.Armee broke through near Konotop, Ukraine. 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 The autonomous Volga German Republic was formally abolished; all German males were formed into construction brigades working as forced labourers wherever the regime directed them in conditions littler different from the Gulag camps. 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 German motor torpedo boats S.48, S.49, S.50, S.52, and S.107 attacked an Allie convoy off the coast of Norfolk, England, United Kingdom, sinking British ship Duncarron (9 killed) and Norwegian ship Eikhaug (15 killed, 4 survived). 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt attacked an Axis convoy and sank Italian ship Sirena 50 miles west of Benghazi, Libya. 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Nigeria and HMS Aurora attacked a German convoy in Hammerfjord in northern Norway at 0130 hours, sinking German gunnery ship Bremse; HMS Nigeria was damaged in the bow and was sent back to Britain for repairs. Elsewhere, British Albacore aircraft from HMS Victorious searched for German shipping off Tromsø, Norway. 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 HMS Argus delivered Hurricane fighters of No. 81 Squadron RAF and No. 134 Squadron RAF to Vaenga near Murmansk, Russia. 
0
07 Sep 1941 WW2 Sara Roosevelt, mother of the US President, passed away at Hyde Park, New York, United States shortly before 1200 hours.  
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 Leningrad in northern Russia became completely surrounded as German troops reached Lake Ladoga at Orekhovets. German aircraft attacked the city with primary targets being warehouses that might be holding food. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Croome forced Italian submarine Maggiore Baracca to surface 275 miles northeast of the Azores islands, then proceeded to ram the submarine, resulting in her sinking. 23 Italian sailors were killed; 34 survived. HMS Croome was damaged in the stern and was ordered to Gibraltar for repairs. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 British Flying Fortress bombers unsuccessfully attacked the German cruiser Admiral Scheer in Oslofjord, Norway. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 British sloop HMS Rosemary and Polish destroyer Burza collided at Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom; both suffered minor damage. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 German aircraft attacked and damaged British destroyers HMS Kipling, HMS Kimberley, and HMS Decoy as the ships carried supplies from Alexandria, Egypt for besieged Tobruk, Libya. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 USS Grampus began patrolling in the Caribbean Sea. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team detected increased radio traffic between carriers and land bases, and interpreted it as the Japanese Navy conducting fitting out operations of carriers with new air groups. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Yokosuka, Japan and disembarked Commander First Air Fleet. 
0
08 Sep 1941 WW2 USS Grayback departed New London, Connecticut, United States. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine O.24 sank Italian ship Italo Balbo 2 miles east of Corsica, France. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 British carrier HMS Ark Royal launched 14 Hurricane fighters to reinforce Malta. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-81 sank British ship Empire Springbuck 50 miles east of Greenland at 0655 hours, killing all 42 on board. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer was ordered to sail from Oslo, Norway for Swinemünde, Germany (now Swinoujscie, Poland). 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 General Nicolae Ciuperca was replaced by Lieutenant General Iosif Iacobici as the commanding officer of the Romanian 4th Army. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 The Iranian Government accepted the Soviet and British terms, which included the closure of Axis legations and the surrender of German nationals. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 Vojtech Tuka, with the guidance of German SS-Hauptstrumführer Dieter Wisliceny, enacted the Ordinance Judenkodex which required Slovakian Jews to wear the yellow Stars of David, annulled all debts owed to Jews, confiscated Jewish property, and deported all Jews from the capital Bratislava. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii noticed carrier Akagi was using new call signs in her radio communications. 
0
09 Sep 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a Hurricane fighter over the Bay of Sollum in the morning, his 15th kill. In the afternoon, on another mission, he shot down another Hurricane fighter, the 16th kill, while escorting Stuka dive bombers toward Bardia, Libya. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 The first B-24 Liberator bombers were en route for Britain. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 Generalleutnant August Krakau succeeded Robert Martinek as the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 HMCS Moosejaw and another Flower-class corvette HMCS Chambly shared the sinking of the German submarine U-501 by depth charges and ramming; 11 German sailors were killed along with 1 Canadian sailor who boarded the sinking submarine; 37 German sailors survived. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarines U-81, U-82, U-85, U-432, and U-652 attacked Allied convoy SC-42 100 miles east of Greenland, sinking 6 merchant vessels and damaging 2 more. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-111 sank Dutch merchant ship Marken 300 miles north of Brazil; all 37 aboard survived and were given food by U-111's crew. The survivors would later be rescued by a Spanish ship on 21 Sep 1941. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank Italian boat Svam I off Sirte, Libya. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Topazio sank British ferry Murefte off Haifa, Palestine. 1 was killed; the survivors were picked up by Egyptian ship Talodi. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 German Panzergruppe 1 and Panzergruppe 2 completed the crossing of the Dnieper River in southern and northern Ukraine, respectively, and were both heading toward Kiev. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 Scirè departed La Spezia, Italy for Gibraltar with three manned torpedoes on board. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 Shokaku became the flagship of Carrier Division 5. She would remain at Yokosuka, Japan for the rest of the month. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 Koichi Shiozawa stepped down as the commanding officer of the Yokosuka Naval District, Japan. 
0
10 Sep 1941 WW2 The US 88th Infantry Battalion commenced training to convert to an air-landed role, following in the footsteps of the 550th Battalion which had successfully converted in late 1940. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 Konstantin Rokossovsky was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 King Leopold III of Belgium, whilst a prisoner of the Germans, secretly married London-born Lilian Baels. As this had no validity under Belgian law a second ceremony was conducted on 6 Dec 1941. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 US President Roosevelt announced that American warships will attack German and Italian submarines on sight during his "fireside chat" radio address, equating the attacks to piracy. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 German artillery bombarded Leningrad, Russia throughout the day. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarines U-82, U-202, U-207, U-432, and U-433 attacked Allied convoy SC-42, sinking seven merchant ships 100 miles east of Greenland. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Leamington and HMS Veteran sank German submarines U-207, killing all 41 aboard. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank German ship Livorno 65 miles southwest of Benghazi, Libya. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille claimed shooting down a South African Maryland bomber over Libya, but the kill was not confirmed. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 Roza Shanina took on a job at kindergarten No. 2 in Arkhangelsk, Russia to help pay for her tuition. 
0
11 Sep 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps 6th Defense Battalion relieved the 3rd Defense Battalion as the garrison force at Midway. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 United States Coast Guard cutters intercepted and boarded Norwegian trawler Buskoe in Mackenzie Bay, Greenland; the trawler was operated by Germans, attempting to establish weather stations in the North Atlantic. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 German troops reported the first snowfall on the Russian front. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 The daily bread ration in Leningrad, Russia was cut to 500 grams for manual workers and 300 grams for office workers and children under 12. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 In Operation EGV2, British Albacore aircraft of carrier HMS Victorious damaged the Glomfjord hydroelectric power plant and the ships at anchor at Bodo in Norway. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 Three Allied corvettes (British HMS Gladiolus, Canadian HCMS Wetaskiwin, and Free French Mimosa) and eight destroyers (British HMS Douglas, British HMS Veteran, British HMS Leamington, British HMS Saladin, British HMS Skate, American USS Sims, American USS Russell, and American USS Charles F. Hughes) added to Allied convoy SC-42's escort force. In the air, British Catalina aircraft also appeared to provide protection during the day. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 Axis troops launched a renewed offensive against Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 993 adult male, 1,670 adult female, and 771 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 3,334 people. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 Nadejda Russo was awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of Aeronautical Virtue with Swords. 
0
12 Sep 1941 WW2 British Air Vice-Marshal G. R. Bromet was appointed Air Officer Commanding, No. 19 Group RAF with the primary task of attacking surfaced German submarines in the Bay of Biscay. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 The German OKW determined that Soviet prisoners of war would receive fewer rations than prisoners of other nationalities. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders married Luise Baldauf (née Thurner), widow of a friend who had been killed in combat. They would have one daughter, Verena, born after Mölders' death. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 British Submarine HMS Tigris sank Norwegian coastal steamer Richard With off Breisund, northern Norway. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 Finnish coastal defense ship Ilmarinen struck a mine and sank in the Gulf of Finland; 271 were killed, 132 survived. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 A Soviet motor torpedo boat sank German auxiliary patrol boat VP 308 off of the Porkkala Peninsula in the Gulf of Finland. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a British Hurricane fighter over Sofafi, Libya, his 17th kill. The Hurricane fighter was flown by Sergeant Nourse. 
0
13 Sep 1941 WW2 General Georgy Zhukov arrived in Leningrad, Russia to replace Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as the commanding officer of the city's garrison. 
0
14 Sep 1941 WW2 The German Armeegruppe Mitte encircled two full Soviet Armies near Kiev, Ukraine. 
0
14 Sep 1941 WW2 The German XXXXI Armeekorps (mot) attacked Soviet positions southwest of Leningrad, Russia, while Soviet troops counterattacked into the flanks of the German assault. 
0
14 Sep 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the Australian Hurricane fighter flown by Lieutenant Pat Byers over Bardia, Libya, his 18th kill. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 The 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment was established. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Hirota Tachibana was named the commanding officer of destroyer Yuzuki. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet 8th and 42nd Armies clashed with the German XXXXI Armeekorps (mot) southwest of Leningrad Russia on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank British ship Newbury at 0816 hours (all 45 aboard survived but were never seen again), Greek ship Pegasus at 2038 hours (16 killed after lifeboat capsized, 13 survived), and British ship Empire Eland at 2348 hours (all 38 survived but were never seen again) 800 miles west of Ireland; all three ships were members of Allied convoy ON-14. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 After sundown, British destroyers HMS Napier, HMS Nizam, and HMS Havock set sail from Alexandria, Egypt to the besieged city of Tobruk, Libya with supplies; they would all return to Alexandria in the morning of the next day. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet troops outside of Odessa, Ukraine withdrew southeast toward the city. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was awarded the Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe goblet. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Jürgen Stroop was transferred out of the infantry regiment of German 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Shanghai, China. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 German soldiers were attacked by resistance fighters in Paris, France. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked the rail station at Hamburg, Germany. 
0
15 Sep 1941 WW2 Captain Jisaku Okada was named the commanding officer of Kaga. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 5 PBM Mariner aircraft and 1 PBY Catalina aircraft received radar to help these American aircraft conduct their neutrality patrols. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 The German XXXXI Armeekorps (mot) successfully cut off the Soviet 8th Army in the Oranienbaum Pocket southwest of Leningrad, Russia after two days of fighting. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-98 sank British ship Jedmoor of Allied convoy SC-42 100 miles northwest of Isle of Lewis, Scotland, United Kingdom at 2316 hours; 31 were killed, 5 survived. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Smeraldo sank in the Mediterranean Sea to unknown cause, killing all 45 aboard. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 Without authorization, Hans-Joachim Marseille flew over an Australian airfield in Libya, amidst anti-aircraft fire, to deliver a message that pilot Lieutenant Pat Byers, whom he shot down two days prior, was being treated at a German hospital in Libya. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 German Generals Guderian and Kleist's Panzergruppen linked up east of Kiev, Ukraine, encircling 5 Soviet Armies. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 German troops massacred Jews en masse in Vinnitsa, Ukraine. 
0
16 Sep 1941 WW2 Romanian troops captured the heights northwest of Gross-Liebenthal district of Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 Japanese troops crossed the Sinchiang River during advance on Changsha, China. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 At a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, German physicist Werner Heisenberg warned his mentor Niels Bohr that Germany had embarked on atomic weapon research and gave him a drawing of a reactor as proof. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 Australian 9th Division continued to be withdrawn from Tobruk, Libya. Relieving them was the British 70th Infantry Division, currently in Beirut in the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon awaiting transportation by British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Neptune, and HMS Hobart which had just departed from Alexandria, Egypt. After sundown, British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Hasty made a roundtrip from Alexandria to Tobruk with supplies for the besieged city. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 The first operation conducted by a British Mosquito aircraft was launched to take photographs of German-controlled ports. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 At Adolf Hitler's Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, Germany, Erich Raeder once again asked Hitler for permission to attack American shipping; Hitler again rejected him. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 The general deportation of German Jews began. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho departed Hashirajima, Japan and arrived at Kure, Japan later on the same day. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 337 adult male, 687 adult female, and 247 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,271 people. 4 Communists were also executed in Vilnius by Jager's Einsatzgruppen on this date. 
0
17 Sep 1941 WW2 Admiral Thomas Hart proposed to move his naval forces in the Philippine Islands south to combine with the British allies to better counter the more powerful Japanese Navy should it attack. He would change his mind on this plan before the start of the Pacific War. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt requested US Congress to allocate US$1,500,000,000 for the Lend-Lease program. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 The Soviet Union announced conscription for all men aged 16-50. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 Change of German strategy against Leningrad, Russia, switching from assault to besieging, led to the tanks of the German 4th Panzer Army were loaded onto trains at for Moscow, Russia. This shift in strategy partially resulted from Adolf Hitler's order earlier on this date that Leningrad was to be razed to the ground. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 British aircraft located a convoy of three Italian troopships escorted by four destroyers from Taranto, Italy, sailing for Tripoli, Libya. Submarines HMS Upholder, HMS Upright, HMS Ursula, and HMS Unbeaten were dispatched to attack. HMS Upholder sank troopships Neptunia and Oceania over a four hour period about 70 miles east of Tripoli (384 killed, 6,500 survived), while HMS Ursula attacked troopship Vulcania unsuccessfully. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 After dark, British minelaying cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Napier, HMS Havock, and HMS Nizam sailed from Alexandria, Egypt and delivered supplies to the besieged garrison at Tobruk, Libya. They would return to Alexandria in the morning of the next day. HMS Nizam was damaged on the return trip when she hit the wreck of Italian ship Serenitas at Tobruk. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 Admiral Soemu Toyoda was named the commanding officer of Kure Naval District, Japan. 
0
18 Sep 1941 WW2 German troops captured Poltava, Ukraine. 
0
19 Sep 1941 WW2 Japanese troops crossed the Milo River during advance on Changsha. 
0
19 Sep 1941 WW2 Lord Woolton called the black market in Britain "a thorn in our side". 
0
19 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-74 sank Canadian corvette HMCS Lévis of Allied convoy SC-44 125 miles east of Iceland at 0603 hours; 18 were killed, 40 survived). At 1433 hours, German submarine U-372 attacked the same convoy 100 miles east of Iceland, sinking already-damaged British ship Baron Pentland; 2 were killed, 39 survived). 
0
19 Sep 1941 WW2 Cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Neptune, and HMAS Hobart arrived in Alexandria, Egypt after delivering supplies to Tobruk, Libya and began to embark troops of the UK 70th Infantry Division. 
0
19 Sep 1941 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded Axis troop positions near Sevastopol, Russia. 
0
19 Sep 1941 WW2 German troops captured Kiev, Ukraine, along with 600,000 prisoners, 2,500 tanks, and 1,000 artillery pieces. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ships Baltallinn and Empire Moat of Allied convoy convoy OG-74 500 miles west of Brest, France at 2331 hours; 60 survivors were rescued by British rescue ship Walmer Castle. Meanwhile, a Martlet Mk II fighter of No. 802 Squadron from escort carrier HMS Audacity shot down a German Fw 200 C Condor aircraft attempting to shadow OG-74; it was the first kill by a British carrier-based aircraft. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank two tankers and U-74 sank catapult armed merchant ship Empire Burton, all of Allied convoy SC-44, 200 miles east of Iceland between 0113 and 0327 hours; 102 survivors were rescued by British corvette HMS Honeysuckle. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-111 sank British ship Cingalese Prince 500 miles east of Brazil; 57 were killed, 20 survived in lifeboats. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Kimberley, and HMS Hasty delivered 1,000 troops and 120 tons of supplies to Tobruk, Libya after sundown. They departed for Alexandria, Egypt 30 minutes after arrival. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 128 adult male, 179 adult female, and 99 children, all Jews, were killed in Nemencing, Lithuania for a total of 403 people. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 An accidental fire aboard HMS Eagle killed one aircraft mechanic and damaged many Swordfish aircraft while sailing in the South Atlantic. 
0
20 Sep 1941 WW2 Scirè launched three manned torpedoes into Gibraltar harbor, which sank tanker Fiona Shell (killing 1), damaged tanker RFA Denbydale, and damaged freighter Durham. All six Italian personnel manning the three torpedoes swam to Spain and would eventually return to Italy as heroes. 
0
21 Sep 1941 WW2 German Stuka dive bombers sank Soviet battleship Marat in shallow water at Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia with two 1,000-kilogram bombs. 
0
21 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-201 sank British ships Runa, Lissa, and Rhineland of Allied convoy OG-74 500 miles west of Brest, France at 2320 hours. While British rescue ship Walmer Castle came to aid the survivors, a German Fw 200 aircraft attacked her, killing 16 previously-rescued survivors onboard the ship; Walmer Castle sustained heavy damage in the attack and was scuttled by British corvette HMS Marigold and sloop HMS Deptford. 
0
21 Sep 1941 WW2 Allied convoy ON.18 departed Liverpool, England, United Kingdom with destroyers HMS Leamington, HMS Saladin, HMS Skate, and HMS Veteran in escort. 
0
21 Sep 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin sent a message to Georgy Zhukov, Andrei Zhdanov, Nikolai Kuznetsov, and Vsevolod Merkulov, noting that if the Germans used Russian civilians as messengers to request Soviet troops at Leningrad, Russia to surrender, those civilians must be all killed for that they were "more dangerous than the fascists". 
0
21 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet forces attacked the Romanian 15th Infantry Division near Odessa, Ukraine by landing 1,617 troops of the 3rd Naval Rifle Regiment (by Soviet cruiser Krasni Kavkaz, cruiser Krasni Krym, destroyer Boyki, destroyer Besposhchadny, destroyer Bezuprechny, and destroyer Frunze) and by launching 157th and 421st Rifle Divisions on the ground. Destroyer Frunze was sunk by German Stuka dive bombers in the action. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-562 sank British ship Erna III 200 miles east of Iceland at 0233 hours, killing all 25 aboard. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarines U-68 attacked Allied convoy SL-87 300 miles west of the Canary Islands at 0222 hours, damaging British merchant ship Silverbelle. At 2346 hours, U-103 attacked the same convoy, sinking British merchant ships Edward (all 63 aboard survived) and Niceto de Larrinaga Blyden (2 killed, 53 survived). 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Griffin departed Alexandria, Egypt with supplies for Tobruk, Libya. They would arrive overnight and return on the following day. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 512 adult male, 744 adult female, and 511 children, all Jews, were killed in Riess, Lithuania for a total of 1,767 people. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 The US 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) was placed under the command of the US Army's Iceland Base Command. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 German Stuka dive bombers damaged Soviet destroyer Bezuprechny at 1300 hours, destroyer Besposhchadny at 1630 hours, and destroyer Boyki in the Black Sea off Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS London departed Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom with Lord Beaverbrook and Averell Harriman aboard for Archangel, Russia for Lend-Lease discussions. She was escorted by Soviet and British destroyers. 
0
22 Sep 1941 WW2 King George II of the Hellenes, with members of his family and government who have escaped from Crete, Greece arrived in England, United Kingdom. 
0
23 Sep 1941 WW2 German Stuka dive bombers attacked Soviet warships at Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia, hitting battleship Marat (already sunk in shallow water on 21 Sep 1941) with two bombs, igniting the forward magazine. The shipyard in Leningrad were also attacked, sinking submarines P-2 and M-74; cruisers Maksim Gorki and Kirov were also attacked. 
0
23 Sep 1941 WW2 The German authorities in Paris, France issued a decree that stated that any French man concealing or assisting a British Airman would be shot, and any woman would be sent to a concentration camp. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was detached from US Navy jurisdiction for service with the US Army in Iceland. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-67 sank St. Clair II at about 0000 hours. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 and U-67 attacked Allied convoy SL-87 and sank four British ships 350 miles west of Madeira island; 16 were killed, 197 survived. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 Allied convoy ON.18 became the first westbound convoy to be escorted by American ships as it made rendezvous with US destroyers USS Madison, USS Gleaves, USS Lansdale, USS Hughes and USS Simpson in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran stopped, evacuated, and scuttled Greek ship Stamatios G. Embiricos in the Indian Ocean 600 miles west of the Maldives islands; the crew of 31 were captured. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Napir, HMS Kingston, and HMS Hotspur departed Alexandria, Egypt with troops and supplies for the besieged Tobruk, Libya; they would set sail to return to Alexandria overnight, arriving in the following day. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a Maryland bomber and five Hurricane fighters near Buq Buq, Egypt, his 19th through 24th kills. Among his victims were South African Captain C. A. van Vliet, South African Second Lieutenant J. Mac Robert, South African Lieutenant B. E. Dodd, and New Zealand Pilot Officer D. F. Westenra. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 Tobacco ration in Paris, France dropped to 4 cigarettes per day for men and 0 for women. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 The German Armeegruppe Sud started its offensive from southern Ukraine towards Crimea, Russia. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 The German Einsatzgruppe C set up its headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine. 
0
24 Sep 1941 WW2 Arthur Coningham was made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 Hitler ordered a halt to attacks on Leningrad in northern Russia, instead ordering that the city be starved into submission. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 Zuikaku was commissioned into service. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Empire Stream 500 miles north of the Azores islands at 0744 hours; 8 were killed, 27 survived. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 John Kennedy enlisted in the US Navy. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 215 adult male, 229 adult female, and 131 children, all Jews, were killed in Jahiuna, Lithuania for a total of 575 people. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 Captain Tsunekichi Fukuzawa was named the commanding officer of repair ship Akashi. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 German and Romanian troops reached the Perekop Isthmus in Russia and began to cut off the Crimean Peninsula. 
0
25 Sep 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Sunfish was laid down at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 German battleship Tirpitz sailed with other warships to patrol off of the Aaland Islands in the Baltic Sea to prevent Soviet naval maneuvers. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 General de Gaulle's Free French government signed an alliance with the Soviet Union. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet troops in Kiev, Ukraine were beginning to run out of food and ammunition. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarines U-124 and U-203 attacked Allied convoy HG-73 500 miles north of the Azores islands and sank 6 merchant ships; HMS Larkspur counterattacked U-203 with depth charges but caused no damage. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tetrarch sank Italian ship Citta Di Bastia off Greece; the Italian ship was en route from Piraeus to Crete. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 British minelaying cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Kimberley, and HMS Hasty departed Alexandria, Egypt with troops and supplies for the besieged Tobruk, Libya; they would set sail to return to Alexandria overnight, arriving in the following day. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 ShCh-320 fired a torpedo at a merchant ship north of Danzig Bay; the torpedo missed. 
0
26 Sep 1941 WW2 Raizo Tanaka was named the commanding officer of 2nd Destroyer Squadron; he broke his flag aboard light cruiser Jintsu. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 The first rains fell on Eastern Front of the European War; mud began to become an issue for the attacking German forces. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Panamanian tanker I. C. White after sundown; 3 were killed, 34 survived. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 German submarine U-201 attacked Allied convoy HG-73 600 miles north of the Azores islands, sinking two merchant ships and the anti-aircraft ship HMS Springbank; 32 were killed, 201 survived. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 14 Liberty Ships were launched in the United States; they were to be transferred to the United Kingdom via the Lend-Lease program. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upright sank Italian submarine chaser Albatros between Sicily and mainland Italy. German submarine U-371 rescued 42 survivors. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Griffin departed Alexandria, Egypt after sundown with supplies for Tobruk, Libya. This would be the final Operation Supercharge supply run for the besieged city. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 989 adult male, 1,636 adult female, and 821 children, all Jews, were killed in Eysisky, Lithuania for a total of 3,446 people. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 The Italian garrison at Wolchefit Pass in Abyssinia surrendered to British King's African Rifles regiment. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 Japanese troops in plain clothes infiltrated the north gate of the walled city of Changsha, Hunan Province, China, but failed to complete their sabotage mission. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort warned US commanders at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii that the Japanese communication codes were being changed. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 An Italian torpedo bomber hit British battleship HMS Nelson in the bow with a torpedo in the Mediterranean Sea between Sardinia, Italy and Tunisia; Nelson was escorting the Operation Halberd convoy for Malta. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 HMS London arrived in Archangel, Russia with Lord Beaverbrook and Averell Harriman aboard. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 The Soviet GKO issued the Directive to Organize a Strategic Defense, which proved to be disastrous as it led to over 50 divisions of Soviet troops being trapped at Vyazma and Bryansk in Russia shortly after. 
0
27 Sep 1941 WW2 23,000 Jews were massacred at Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 US and British representatives traveled to Moscow, Russia to discuss the matter of western aid to the Soviet Union. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 The Second Battle of Changsha commenced. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 The British transferred the airfield RAF Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom to the US Army. The airfield would soon house the USAAF 91st Bombardment Group, which would remain until the end of the war. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 The Oak Leaves and Swords to the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross award, and Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, were both established in Germany. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tetrarch damaged German ship Yalova 20 miles south of Naples, Italy; Yalova was beached to prevent sinking. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 British corvette HMS Hyacinth sank Italian submarine Fisala 35 miles west of Palestine. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh arrived at Malta. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho became the temporary flagship of Carrier Division 3. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 Georgy Zhukov announced to his troops that family members of those who become captured by the enemy would be arrested and shot. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 A uprising against Bulgarian occupation began in Macedonia region of Greece. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort warned US commanders at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii that the recent Japanese Navy communications changes might mean the preparation of a large exercise or another major action. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 The Allied Operation Halberd convoy arrived in Malta and began to disembark 50,000 tons of supplies aboard its ships. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-1, which was consisted of 14 British and Soviet merchant ships escorted by British cruiser HMS London and four minesweepers, departed Arkhangelsk, Russia at about 1200 hours for Britain. 
0
28 Sep 1941 WW2 A notice was posted in Kiev, Ukraine, requiring all Jews in the region to gather at Dorogozhitshaya Street at 0700 hours the next day. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich was named Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 The first Allied convoy for the Arctic departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland (having originated from Scotland, United Kingdom) at 1845 hours with 11 merchant ships escorted by cruiser HMS Suffolk, destroyer HMS Antelope, destroyer HMS Impulsive, and four minesweepers. By the end of the year five other convoys had followed it, landing 120,000 tons of supplies at Murmansk, Russia, including 600 tanks, 800 aircraft and 1,400 motor vehicles. It was somewhat embarrassing to the Germans that, between 29 Sep and 31 Dec 1941, all 55 vessels of these first six convoys reached their destination without loss. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, British Minister of Supply Lord Beaverbrook, and American envoy Harriman met in Moscow, Russia to discuss lend-lease aid to the Soviet Union. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-319 attacked German minesweepers M151 and M203 off Liepaja, Latvia and then disappeared; she was presumed lost after striking a naval mine. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered that Leningrad, Russia was to be wiped out by artillery and aerial bombardment. Germany could not and would not feed its population, which was of no use for the future of Germany. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was relieved the duty of being Carrier Division 3's temporary flagship. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 After sundown, 10 bombers of British No. 102 Squadron were launched from RAF Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom for an attack on Stettin, Germany; the anti-aircraft fire was reported to be heavy. Another group of bombers took off to attack Hamburg, Germany. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-1 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 The German Einsatzgruppen massacred somewhere between 50,000 and 96,000 Ukrainians, 33,771 of whom Jews, at the Babi Yar ravine outside Kiev. 
0
29 Sep 1941 WW2 Soviet resistance prevented the Germans from moving from southern Ukraine into the Krym (Crimea) region of Russia. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 The RAF withdrew B-17 bombers from service. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 Chinese troops at Changsha declared victory at the Second Battle of Changsha after pushing Japanese troops back to the Yueyang region. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 The German Operation Typhoon got an unofficial start when Guderian's Panzergruppe 2 attacked two days ahead of the rest of the operation. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 The detention center in Peel, Isle of Man had its guard forces strengthened after disturbances; 20 arrested British fascists were transferred to Liverpool as another result. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked shipyards at Tyneside in northern England, United Kingdom; submarine HMS Sunfish was badly damaged during the attack. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 366 adult male, 483 adult female, and 597 children, all Jews, were killed in Trakai, Lithuania for a total of 1,446 people. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 Representatives of France and Thailand further defined the boundaries between Thailand and French Indochina per the 9 May 1941 peace treaty. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 Pierre Laval was discharged from the hospital after recovering from the wounds sustained during the unsuccessful assassination attempt against him on 25 Aug 1941. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Stettin and Hamburg in Germany after sundown for the second consecutive night. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Adua attacked British ships sailing for Malta to Gibraltar (having just completed escorting the Operation Halberd on the previous day) 250 miles east of Gibraltar. British destroyers HMS Gurkha and HMS Legion counterattacked with depth charges, sinking the Italian submarine, killing all 46 aboard. 
0
30 Sep 1941 WW2 The leadership of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet began to consider evacuating forces in Odessa, Ukraine to the Crimean region of Russia (now also in Ukraine). 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 The British House of Commons voted for the third £1,000,000,000 war credit of year. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 German government reports published this month noted that 2,139,553 foreign workers were employed, about half of which, 1,007,561, were Polish. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 The protocol produced at the end of the US-UK-USSR aid conference determined immediate and long-term deliveries to the Soviet Union, with the agreement subject to annual review. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 The Italian "M" battalions were established. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 King George VI of the United Kingdom granted the name Royal New Zealand Navy to the New Zealand ships fighting within the British Royal Navy. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 The British RAF reported internally on Hugh Dowding's (forced) retirement. When Prime Minister Winston Churchill learned of it, he was extremely displeased, and demanded the RAF to find a new position for Dowding. Dowding had originally conceded to political pressure and was preparing his retirement, but ultimately yielded to Churchill's wish and accepted whatever new position the RAF would give him. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 Finnish troops reached Petrozavodsk, the capital of Soviet Republic of Karelia, further cutting off Leningrad in northern Russia. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 HMS Edinburgh departed Malta. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 Wilhelm Keitel ordered that, in regards to the hostages the German military had been holding and executing in retaliation of partisan attacks, choice of victims would be important, as well-known victims would have greater effect in keeping the occupied peoples in line. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 ShCh-320 fired a torpedo at a merchant ship north of Danzig Bay; the torpedo missed. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 Operations began at Majdanek Concentration Camp near Lublin, Poland. 
0
01 Oct 1941 WW2 The Soviet NKVD ordered the release of 51,257 Polish prisoners of war for the formation of a Polish unit under General Wladislaw Anders to fight against Germany. 
0
02 Oct 1941 WW2 The remainder of the German Armeegruppe Mitte launched Operation Typhoon, the attack on Moscow, Russia. Meanwhile, the German Panzergruppe 2 under General Guderian was split into two pincers at Sevsk, Russia; the northern pincer moved toward Bryansk while the northeastern pincer moved toward Orel. 
0
02 Oct 1941 WW2 After sundown, in England, United Kingdom, German bombers attacked the Tyneside and Tees-side areas in northern England (50 were killed, 250 buildings were destroyed, shipbuilding and repairing facilities at South Shields severely damaged) and Dover area in southeastern England (10 killed). 
0
02 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-94 chased and attacked British tanker San Florentino 600 miles west of Ireland over a course of six hours, sinking her at 0552 hours; 23 were killed, 35 survived. 250 miles east of Iceland at 0652 hours, German submarine U-562 sank British catapult armed merchant ship Empire Wave; 29 were killed, 31 survived. At 0709 hours, west of Ireland, German submarine U-575 sank Dutch merchant ship Tuva; 1 was killed, 34 survived. 
0
02 Oct 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Perseus sank German ship Castellon 60 miles west of Benghazi, Libya. 
0
02 Oct 1941 WW2 The third Messerschmitt Me 163A rocket-powered prototype aircraft, piloted by Heini Dittmar, achieved an unofficial world speed record of 623.85 mph. 
0
02 Oct 1941 WW2 The keel of Britain's last battleship, HMS Vanguard, was laid down at Clydebank, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 The official copy of the British Military Application of Uranium Detonation (MAUD) Committee Report, written by James Chadwick, reached Vannevar Bush. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 In Russia, Panzergruppe 2 of the German Armeeguppe Mitte captured Orel 220 miles south-southwest of the Soviet capital in Moscow. Elsewhere, German troops attempted to encircle the Soviet Bryansk Front. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 The number of deaths in motor vehicle accidents in Britain during this second year of war had increased by 65% when compared to pre-war figures. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Talisman sank the already beached German ship Yalova south of Naples, Italy. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 At about 0001 hours, German submarine U-431 sank British ship Hatasu 650 miles east of Newfoundland; 40 were killed, 7 survived. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked and damaged British destroyer HMS Vivacious in the North Sea. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 British motor torpedo boat MTB56 sank Norwegian tanker Borgny off Bergen, Norway. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 A British Walrus reconnaissance aircraft from British cruiser HMS Kenya spotted German supply ship Klara 300 miles northeast of the Azores islands. HMS Kenya closed in and sank Klara, but did not stop to pick up survivors due to the presence of German submarine U-129. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine O.21 sank Vichy French ship Oued Yquem off Sardinia, Italy. 
0
03 Oct 1941 WW2 At the Berliner Sportpalast in the German capital, Adolf Hitler announced during a rally that the Germans had captured 2,500,000 Soviet prisoners of war, destroyed or captured 22,000 guns, destroyed or captured 18,000 tanks, destroyed 14,500 aircraft, and since 1939 had expanded Germany by an area four times as large as Britain. He stressed that the Soviet Union had been broken and would never rise again. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-129 picked up 119 survivors of German supply ship Klara, sunken by British cruiser HMS Kenya on the previous day, 300 miles northeast of the Azores islands. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMS Lady Shirley forced German submarine U-111 to the surface with depth charges 225 miles west of Tenerife, Canary Islands. U-111's crew scuttled the submarine after a brief gunfire exchange; U-111 suffered 8 killed and 44 captured, while HMS Lady Shirley suffered 1 killed. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMS Whippet was sunk by German bombing 30 miles north of Bardia, Libya, killing 1. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Talisman sank French ship Theophile Gautier in a convoy from Crete to the Greek mainland. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 432 adult male, 1,115 adult female, and 436 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,983 people. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 Friedrich Knackfuss was named the civilian administrator of the Channel Islands. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 US Navy awarded a contract to build Dock No. 4 and a 20,000-kilowatt bomb-proof power plant at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 German Panzergruppe 3 and Panzergruppe 4 began to surround rear elements of the Soviet Western Front in Russia, capturing Kirov and Spa-Demensk in the process. The German troops continued to advance toward Vyasma to complete the envelopment. 
0
04 Oct 1941 WW2 British motor torpedo boat MTB56 and Norwegian destroyer Draug arrived at the Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 US and UK naval commanders met in Singapore. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 Field Marshal Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist was named the commander of German 1.Panzerarmee. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 The German Second Panzer Group was reorganized as the Second Panzer Army; Heinz Guderian remained the unit's commanding officer. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 A Blenheim bomber of No. 1404 Meteorological Flight of British RAF Coastal Command attacked German submarines U-563 and U-565 in the Bay of Biscay; a 250-lb bomb missed U-563 at about 1030 hours, and another 250-lb bomb hit the conning tower of U-565 at 1102 hours but it failed to explode. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 Allied convoy SC-48 departed Sydney, Australia for the United States. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 Swordfish torpedo bombers of British No. 830 Squadron Fleet Air Arm based in Malta attacked an Italian convoy en route from Naples, Italy to Tripoli, Libya 67 miles north of Misrata, Libya, sinking tanker Rialto; the 145 survivors were rescued by Italian destroyer Gioberti. 
0
05 Oct 1941 WW2 The leading German formations reported that they were only about 100 kilometers from Moscow, Russia. On the same day, Moscow-based Soviet fighters discovered German vehicles as close as 50 kilometers from Moscow; when Moscow Military District's Air Force Fighter Command chief Nikolai Sbytov reported this to his supeiors, he was investigated by the NKVD for disseminating false rumors, but he was lucky that Joseph Stalin believed him. For precaution, Stalin ordered the Soviet Western Front to withdraw to Vyazma to form a new defensive line under a new commanding officer, Georgy Zhukov, replacing Ivan Konev. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 Eight Soviet Armies were encircled at Bryansk and Vyazma, Russia by a surprise maneuver conducted by German 17th Panzer Division. In less than two weeks, the Germans have taken nearly 700,000 prisoners and destroyed or captured 1,200 tanks and 5,000 heavy guns. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-129 transferred 119 rescued survivors of sunken German supply ship Klara to a Spanish tug. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 German bombers attacked shipping in the Gulf of Suez east of Egypt, sinking British ship Thistlegorm, which carry aboard, among other items, two steam locomotives; 9 were killed. Australian ship Salamaua, Norwegian tanker Norfold, and British ship Scalaria were also damaged during this attack. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 Heinz Guderian noted in his diary that he had observed snow for the first time in the campaign in the Soviet Union. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 213 adult male, 359 adult female, and 390 children, all Jews, were killed in Semiliski, Lithuania for a total of 962 people. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 U-576 began her first war patrol. 
0
06 Oct 1941 WW2 In Russia, Georgy Zhukov departed Leningrad for Moscow to take command of Soviet Western Front. General Ivan Fedyuninsky assumed command at Leningrad. 
0
07 Oct 1941 WW2 In an effort to boost morale in the Soviet Union, Stalin lifted the ban on religion. 
0
07 Oct 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom demanded Finland to stop fighting the Soviet Union; the demand was ignored. 
0
07 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-502 damaged British whaling ship Svend Foyn 100 miles south of Iceland at 1617 hours; Svend Foyn was to be towed to Liverpool, England, United Kingdom for repairs. 
0
07 Oct 1941 WW2 German 10th Panzer Division captured Vyasma, Russia at 1030 hours, surrounding 5 Soviet Armies. Georgy Zhukov, who had been recalled from Leningrad, Russia and sent to report on the situation on the West Front, arrived at Ivan Konev's headquarters to discover that there was no information concerning the Vyasma encirclement. He was forced to report to Joseph Stalin that there was no longer a continuous front in the west, and the large gaps could not be closed because the command had run out of reserves. 
0
08 Oct 1941 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Kure, Japan and joined new sister ship Zuikaku for the first time. She moved around in Kure, Oita, Saeki area in the remainder of the month. 
0
08 Oct 1941 WW2 British RAF airmen in Murmansk and Arkhangel areas in northern Russia began to hand over their aircraft and related equipment to their Soviet counterparts. 
0
08 Oct 1941 WW2 German Panzergruppe 1 reached Berdyansk and Mariupol in Ukraine in an attempt to reinforce the German 11th Army against Soviet 9th and 18th Armies. Across many sectors of the Eastern Front of the European War, heavy rain set in, resulting in mud that crippled the German Panzers' mobility and held up supplies. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 Hitler publicly announced that the war against the Soviet Union is all but over. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 Georg von Bismarck was named the commanding officer of the 20th Panzer Division. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 Vannevar Bush took the British Military Application of Uranium Detonation (MAUD) Committee Report to US President Franklin Roosevelt, who agreed to work together with the British to develop atomic weapons. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 The keel of trawler Anticosti was laid down. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 1,169 adult male, 1,840 adult female, and 717 children, all Jews, were killed in Svenciany, Lithuania for a total of 3,726 people. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 A trade agreement was signed between Turkey and Germany under which the latter would get no deliveries of chrome until 1943. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 No. 601 Squadron RAF mounted a mission with four P-39 Airacobra aircraft, strafing German barges near Dunkerque, France. This was to be the final Airacobra mission with the RAF. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 A detachment of Soviet NKVD troops prevented a company of German Brandenburg 800 Division saboteurs from destroying the Istra Water Reservoir near Moscow, Russia. 
0
09 Oct 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-1 arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 The German 250.Infanterie Division, also known as the Blue Division, entered service on the Eastern Front. This division was notable as being made up of Spanish volunteers. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 General Zhukov took command of a new Soviet Western Front, which was made up of the remnants of the former Western Front, the Southwestern Front, and the Reserve Front. He immediately called for the formation of a new defensive Mozhaysk Line to protect Moscow, Russia, stretching from Tula south of the city to Volokolamsk to the northwest. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 The German 1.Panzergruppe reached the Sea of Azov. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 Indomitable was commissioned into service. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 German Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau issued the "Severity Order" in which he ordered the annihilation Bolshevism and the extermination of Jews. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-126 sank British ship Nailsea Manor 150 miles northeast of the Cape Verde Islands at 0543 hours; all 51 survived and were picked up by British corvette HMS Violet. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank Italian ship Citta di Simi northeast of Crete, Greece. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-322 departed Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich established a camp-ghetto in Sudetenland in southern Germany (occupied Czechoslovakia) that would later be known as the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. He recommended the site to be used to house deported German, Austrian, and Czechoslovakian Jews. He placed Adolf Eichmann and Rolf Günther in charge of establishing this camp-ghetto. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered a stop to night intruder operations over RAF airfields in eastern England; 1/NJG2 who have been conducting successful harrying of returning RAF bombers were consequently transferred to the Mediterranean. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 The Soviet 32nd Rifle Division began to arrive at Mozhaysk, west of the Soviet capital of Moscow in Russia, from Siberia. Further west in Gzhatsk in Smolensk Oblast, 40 miles west of Mozhaysk and 32 miles east of Vyasma, Soviet 18th and 19th Tank Brigades halted a German offensive. German 4th Panzer Division reached Mtsensk, Russia in Oryol Oblast, but it would be held there for many days by stubborn Soviet resistance. 
0
10 Oct 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-1, which was consisted of 14 British and Soviet merchant ships escorted by British cruiser HMS London and four minesweepers, from Arkhangelsk, Russia arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 At Bryansk, Russia, enveloped Soviet 3rd and 13th Armies counterattacked positions held by troops of German Panzergruppe 2 and broke through. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-322 was lost in the Gulf of Finland to unknown reason; all 40 aboard were killed. She had most likely struck a mine. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine S8 departed Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Malta-based British bombers of No. 830 Squadron attacked an Italian convoy 100 miles north of Tripoli, sinking ships Zena and Casaregis. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Thousands fled Moscow, Russia based on rumors of an imminent German capture of the Soviet capital. To the west, the enveloped Soviet troops at Vyasma suffered a heavy artillery and air bombardment that caused heavy casualties. 
0
11 Oct 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-1, consisted of 11 merchant ships escorted by 7 British warships, arrived in Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 German 250th Infantry Division of Spanish volunteers was deployed on the River Volkhov near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops captured Bryansk and Kaluga in Russia. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine S8 was lost off Öland, Sweden in the Baltic Sea to unknown reason; all 48 aboard were killed. She presumably struck a mine. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-83 stopped Portuguese ship Corte Real 100 miles off Portugal at 1400 hours. Upon discovering that Corte Real was en route to Canada and Australia, the Germans removed the 42 crew members onto 3 lifeboats and then sunk Corte Real. U-83 towed the lifeboats for 3 hours toward Lisbon, Portugal before cutting the tow lines. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 German motor torpedo boats S41, S47, S53, S62, S104, and S105 attacked Allied convoy FN531 just off the coast of East Anglia, England, United Kingdom, sinking British ship Chevington (9 killed) and Norwegian ship Roy (3 killed). 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 In Operation Cultivate, British cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Kipling, and HMS Nizam departed Alexandria, Egyupt for Tobruk, Libya. German submarine U-75 discovered them and attacked 35 miles west of Tobruk, sinking two landing craft which resulted in the killing of 34 Allied personnel and 2 Italian prisoners of war. U-75 picked up one survivor, whom would be delivered to Germany for interrogations. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 After dark, 118 British bombers took off to attack Hüls and Bremen, Germany. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 After dark, German bombers attacked Manchester, Clayton, Denton, and Oldham in England, United Kingdom, causing generally light damage. 23 were killed at Oldham. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 Heinz Guderian noted in his diary that snow continued to fall amidst the campaign in the Soviet Union. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 The American and Japanese Press announced that Tatsuta Maru would depart Yokohama, Japan for San Francisco, California, United States via Honolulu on 15 Oct 1941. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his 24th and 25th kills as he shot down P-40 fighters piloted by Flying Officer H. G. Roberts and Sergeant Derek Scott over Bir Sheferzan, Libya. He also damaged another P-40 fighter on this day. 
0
12 Oct 1941 WW2 11,000 Jews of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine were massacred. 
0
13 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops captured Kalinin (now Tver) and Rzhev northwest of Moscow, Russia; the Soviet 30th Army was encircled and wiped out at Rzhev. West of the Soviet capital, Soviet 18th and 19th Tank Brigades fell back from Gzhatsk (now Gagarin) toward Mozhaysk 30 kilometers closer to Moscow where the new main defensive line was being constructed. 
0
13 Oct 1941 WW2 A production order was placed for the improved Republic P-47D Thunderbolt fighter. 
0
13 Oct 1941 WW2 General Fedyuninsky was ordered to plan a breakout from Leningrad, Russia by attacking the area south of Lake Ladoga, which was to take place by 20 Oct 1941. 
0
13 Oct 1941 WW2 Heinrich Kreipe was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal. 
0
13 Oct 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-2 departed Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. 
0
13 Oct 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort was promoted to the rank of commander, retroactively effective 1 Apr 1941. 
0
14 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-206 sank British corvette HMS Fleur de Lys (Lieutenant A. Collins; escorting Allied convoy OG-75) 60 miles west of Gibraltar at 0336 hours; 71 were killed, 3 survived and were rescued by a Spanish ship. 
0
14 Oct 1941 WW2 The German Kriegsmarine placed orders for 49 more submarines to be constructed. 
0
14 Oct 1941 WW2 Germany announced that all Jews within the 1933 border would be deported; these Jews were beginning to be deported to ghettos in Poland, Byelorussia, and Ukraine. 
0
14 Oct 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru was acquired by the Japanese Navy and was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District, Japan. Her civilian crew was replaced by that from the military. 
0
14 Oct 1941 WW2 The Soviet troops in the Bryansk pocket in Russia were eliminated (50,000 captured), while the Vyazma pocket was within days of the same fate. In Berlin, Germany, Adolf Hitler ordered that the Soviet capital of Moscow was to be enveloped, not attacked directly. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Joseph Stalin briefed 23 senior Soviet military and civilian officials between 1530 and 1815 hours on a plan to evacuate the city in an orderly fashion; he ordered four theater groups (Lenin State Theater, Maxim Gorkiy Artistic Academic Theater, Little Academic Theater, and Vakhtangov Theater) to be evacuated first. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy Captain Shutoku Miyazato, Chief Equipping Officer of Battleship No. 1, was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps Major James P. S. Devereux relieved Major Lewis A. Hohn as the commanding officer of the Wake Island Marine Detachment. Devereux also took on the responsibility of the island's overall commander. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 British authorities reported that, in the week ending at 0600 hours on 15 Oct 1941, an estimated 61 people were killed and 69 seriously injured by German bombing. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-553 attacked Allied convoy SC-48 500 miles west of Ireland at 0815 hours, sinking British ship Silvercedar (21 killed, 26 survived) and Norwegian ship Ila (14 killed, 7 survived). Merchant ship Silverelm attempted to ram the submarine, and hours later Canadian destroyer HMCS Columbia attacked with depth charges, but none damaged U-553. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-558, en route to attack Allied convoy SC-48, came across and sank Canadian ship Vancouver Island in the Atlantic Ocean at 2317 hours; all aboard were lost. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 German SS-Brigadeführer Franz Stahlecker of Einsatzgruppe A sent a 130-page report to Berlin, Germany on this date. He reported that, among other things, 71,105 Jews had been liquidated in Lithuania and 30,000 Jews in Latvia, and 3,387 Communists in Russia. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 German SS General Hans Frank, the Nazi Governor-General of occupied Poland, issued a general order proclaiming that any Jews leaving the Warsaw ghetto would be liable for the death penalty as would any person who knowingly gave shelter to such Jews. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 ShCh-320 fired a torpedo at a merchant ship north of Danzig Bay at 1115 hours; the torpedo missed. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived at Munich-Riem Airfield in Germany to be introduced to the new Bf 109E-7 and Bf 109F4 variant designs. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan for the United States; she carried American nationals who wished to return to the US due to the rapidlyl deteriorating US-Japan relations. She would maintain radio silence throughout the entire journey. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 Raizo Tanaka was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 In Russia, German 1st Panzer Division turned northwest, thus away from Moscow, to attack Soviet Northwestern Front from the rear. The Soviet GKO ordered the NKVD, various agencies, and various foreign legations to evacuate from Moscow to Kuibyshev (now Samara). 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 The Lubyanka Prison staff began the evacuation from Moscow, Russia, transferring the first group of prisoners to Kuibyshev (now Samara) and Saratov on this day. 
0
15 Oct 1941 WW2 In southern Ukraine, Soviet troops set off explosive charges to destroy port facilities and defensive structures at Odessa in preparation of the evacuation of 35,000 Soviet troops from Odessa to Sevastopol in Russia, which would commence after sundown. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 Tanks of SS Reich Division and 10th Panzer Division attacked the Mozhaysk Line at Borodino, Russia 125 kilometers west of the Soviet capital of Moscow; lacking infantry support, Soviet troops halted the attacks. While thousands of civilians continued to flee the city, the Soviet government and diplomatic corps moved to Kuibyshev 1,500 miles to the east; Joseph Stalin, however, chose to stay. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe submitted his letter of resignation. He recommended Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni as his successor. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-568 sank British ship Empire Heron of Allied convoy SC-48 400 miles west of Ireland at 0114 hours; 42 were killed, 1 survived and picked up by escorting corvette HMS Gladiolus (Lieutenant Commander H. M. C. Sanders). Later in the day, however, HMS Gladiolus was lost from an unknown cause. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 RAF Pilot Officer A. J. Heyworth was able to return hom to Britain after his Wellington bomber suffered serious damage while bombing Mannheim, Germany. He flew most of the way on only one engine while the other was aflame. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 German merchant raider Kormoran made rendezvous with supply ship Kulmerland off Cape Leeuwin, Australia and began to take on fuel and supplies. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 382 adult male, 507 adult female, and 257 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,146 people. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 A round of mass deportation of Jews from Germany began. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe I./KG 4 was relocated to Pskov (German: Pleskau), Russia. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 A large group of Latvian military leaders was executed by the Soviets. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 The Soviets executed the wives of Mikhail Tukhachevsky and his fellow accused (and already executed) conspirators. 
0
16 Oct 1941 WW2 The final Soviet evacuation ships departed Odessa, Ukraine at 0510 hours. In the past two weeks, 121,000 troops and civilians were evacuated from the city, along with 1,000 trucks and 20,000 tons of ammunition. Romanian troops entered the city later on this date, capturing the city. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 American destroyer USS Kearney, escorting Allied convoy SC-48, was damaged by a torpedo from German submarine U-568 off Iceland, killing 11. On the same day, U-432 and U-558 each sank three freighters in this convoy. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 The first transport of deported Czech Jews departed for various locations in Eastern Europe. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 attacked a small Allied convoy 50 miles west of Alexandria, Egypt at 0325 hours, sinking Greek ship Samos (31 killed, 3 survived) and British tanker Pass of Balmaha (all 20 aboard were killed). 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 German SS Reich and 10th Panzer Divisions made slow advances along the Moscow Highway and Minsk Highway toward the Soviet capital of Moscow, Russia. The Soviet 5th Army slowly fell back toward Mozhaysk, Russia. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Havock, and HMS Nizam departed Alexandria, Egypt for Tobruk, Libya. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 The US began evacuating non-essential personnel from Guam, Mariana Islands. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 Harold Stark informed Husband Kimmel that in his personal opinion that while he expected Japan to take action some time in the near future, an attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii was not likely. 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 The German propaganda ministry declared Luxembourg Judenfrei, "Free of Jews". 
0
17 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops captured Taganrog in southern Russia, a port city on the Sea of Azov. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 Hideki Tojo was named 40th Prime Minister of Japan. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Havock, and HMS Nizam arrived in Alexandria, Egypt from Tobruk, Libya. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-101 attacked Allied convoy SC-48 west of Iceland, damaging destroyer HMS Broadwater with one torpedo at 0420 hours; 46 crew and 11 previously rescued survivors were killed, 85 crew survived. HMS St. Apollo scuttled HMS Broadwater by gunfire at 1541 hours. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 German SS Reich and 10th Panzer Divisions captured Mozhaysk, Russia. In the evening, a motorcycle battalion of SS Reich Division found the Minsk Highway toward Moscow, Russia, 90 kilometers to the east, undefended. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-132 sank Soviet ship Argun in the Barents Sea 5 miles off the Russian coast at 1320 hours; all aboard survived. At 2017 hours, U-132 struck again, sinking trawler RT-8 Seld; all aboard were killed. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 Eleven Albacore and two Swordfish aircraft of British No. 828 Squadron took off from HMS Ark Royal to reinforce Malta. One Swordfish torpedo bomber was lost en route, however. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 Lavrentiy Beria ordered the execuation of Nikolai Rychagov, Rychagov's wife, and other conspirators. 
0
18 Oct 1941 WW2 German Colonel General Erich von Manstein launched his Eleventh Army against the Perekop Isthmus in Russia but fierce Soviet resistance on a narrow front caused the German advance to proceed extremely slowly. 
0
19 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-126 torpedoed and sank American freighter Lehigh 100 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa at 1051 hours; all 38 aboard survived. U-126 had misidentified the American ship as a Greek vessel. 
0
19 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-204 sank British tanker Inverlee carrying 35 miles southwest of Tangier, Spanish Morocco at 0300 hours; 22 were killed, 21 survived. In the same region, German submarine U-206 sank British ship Baron Kelvin at 0614 hours; 26 were killed, 16 survived. British corvettes from Gibraltar were dispatched to hunt for these submarines; HMS Mallow was able to find and sink U-204 at 2146 hours with depth charges. 
0
19 Oct 1941 WW2 British gunboat HMS Gnat bombarded a German artillery battery near Tobruk, Libya after sundown. 
0
19 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops began rounding up men over the age of 16 in the Serbian town of Kragujevac in Yugoslavia. Of the 2,324 gathered, about 300 of them were students from the First Boys High School. 
0
19 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops defeated the Soviet forces within the Vyazma pocket in Russia and captured 670,000 men, 1,000 tanks, and 4,000 artillery pieces. At Volokolamsk, the northwest end of the Mozhaysk defensive line, newly arrived Soviet 316th Rifle Division halted the attack by German 4th Panzer Army. In Moscow, Lavrentiy Beria advised the Soviet GKO to evacuate the capital "or they will strangle us like chickens", but it was rejected by Joseph Stalin; however, Stalin did order the Politburo (less Stalin, Beria, and Georgy Malenkov) to evacuate. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru departed Yokohama for Seattle. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 In reprisal for partisan attacks the Germans executed 2,324 Serbian men and boys in the Yugoslavian town of Kragujevac, including 300 boys who were herded out of the First Boys High School on the previous day. Local German authorities announced that the mass execution was in resopnse to a recent attack that saw 10 Germans killed and 26 wounded. Furious at partisan activity, Adolf Hitler had previously decreed that for every German soldier killed in attacks, 100 civilian would be executed, and for every German wounded, 50 would be executed. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 Hornet (Yorktown-class) was commissioned into service. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 After sundown, British cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Kingston, HMS Encounters, and HMS Nizam departed Alexandria, Egypt for Tobruk, Libya, returning in the early hours of the next day. To protect them, British cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Galatea and Australian cruiser HMAS Hobart, escorted by destroyers HMS Griffin and HMS Jaguar, bombarded German coastal guns near Tobruk. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 In northern Russia, Soviet General Fedyuninsky launched an attack south of Lake Ladoga with 70,000 troops and 97 tanks in an attempt to break through the Leningrad siege. Meanwhile, German troops moved to attack the rail and road junction at Tikhvin 120 kilometers to the east to strengthen the siege. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-126 damaged British tanker British Mariner 80 miles off British West Africa at 0554 hours; 3 were killed, 48 survived; the tanker would be towed to Freetown where she was written off as a loss but would remain in service as an oil hulk. U-126 shadowed another tanker nearby, but was chased away by an escorting vessel before she could launch an attack. 
0
20 Oct 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom and France concluded a Treaty of Mutual Assistance with Turkey. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 Civilian ship Steel Architect was launched. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 The cruisers HMS Aurora (Captain W. G. Agnew) and HMS Penelope (Captain A. D. Nicholl) arrived in Malta and with the destroyers HMS Lance and HMS Lively formed a small squadron known as Force K. For some reason Force K always seemed to go to sea on a Saturday. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-79 hit British gunboat HMS Gnat with a torpedo 30 miles northwest of Bardia, Libya at 0334 hours, blowing away 20 feet of her bow but caused no casualties. Gnat would be successfully towed back to Alexandria, Egypt where she would serve as a stationary anti-aircraft gun platform. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-123 damaged British armed merchant cruiser HMS Aurania with a torpedo 400 miles west of Ireland at 0428 hours; a lifeboat launched sank with 2 killed, 3 rescued by destroyer HMS Croome, and 1 captured by U-123; Aurania was escorting Allied convoy SL-89 and would be successfully towed to port for repairs. At 2200 hours, German submarine U-82 attacked the same convoy, sinking the ships Serbino (14 were killed, 51 survived) and Treverbyn (all 46 aboard were killed). 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Napier, HMS Hasty, and HMS Decoy departed Alexandria, Egypt with supplies for Tobruk, Libya, returning with men of the Australian 9th Division in the early hours of the following day. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 A civilian on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic spotted a submarine off its coast, but the report was not regarded as important. The submarine was most likely German submarine U-68, which would strike on the next day. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 departed Lorient, France. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 718 adult male, 1,063 adult female, and 586 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 2,367 people. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine M58 hit a mine laid by the Romanians and sank in the Black Sea near the opening of the Danube River, killing all 19 aboard. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 Georg von Küchler was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
21 Oct 1941 WW2 Troops of the German 6.Armee captured Stalino in the Donets Basin in southern Ukraine. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 An explosion at the Romanian Command Headquarters in Odessa, Ukraine killed 67, including Romanian General Glogojeanu and four German Navy officers. The explosion was caused by a time-delayed bomb left by Soviet Coastal Army personnel during the evacuation. Antonescu ordered 100 Jews and Communists would die for each enlisted man and 300 for each officer killed in this explosion. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 The assassination of Colonel Karl Hotz in Nantes, France two days prior brought reprisal deaths of 48 French civilians (mostly communist resistance fighters) with the promise of 50 more deaths if the assassin was not caught. The shooting of a German major in Bordeaux, France brought 100 arrests and 50 immediate executions. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 Georgy Zhukov took command of Soviet central sector. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 German Panzergruppe 2, resupplied with fuel and ammunition, continued the northeastward advance on Moscow, Russia. German 4th Panzer Division resumed the attack on Mtsensk, Russia. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-68 sank British oiler RFA Darkdale off St. Helena in the South Atlantic at 0142 hours, destroying 3,000 tons of fuel oil, 850 tons of aviation fuel, and 500 tons of diesel oil; 41 were killed, 4 survived including the captain. Darkdale was the first British ship to be sunk south of the Equator in WW2. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 Marshal Philippe Pétain and Admiral François Darlan broadcast an appeal to the French nation calling restraint from any actions against the occupying German troops which could bring down reprisals on hostages. 
0
22 Oct 1941 WW2 Prince Takahito married Yuriko Takagi. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii at 1000 hours and disembarked American nationals who wished to return to the US due to the rapidly deteriorating US-Japan relations. Two Japanese intelligence agents who carried instructions for the consulate and a supply of radios for civilian spies already in place on Oahu, Hawaii were also disembarked. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 In Odessa, Ukraine, as reprisals to the previous day's bombing, 5,000 Jews were murdered by shooting, 19,000 Jews were murdered by burning, and 20,000 civilians (mostly Jews) were arrested. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 Charles de Gaulle met with leaders of resistance movements, asking them to bide their time and protect the lives of innocents. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 German merchant raider Kormoran completed taking on 4,000 tons of diesel oil and 6 months of supply from supply ship Kulmerland off Cape Leeuwin, Australia. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 The Soviet attempt to break out of Leningrad, Russia south of Lake Ladoga was halted by the Germans. Meanwhile, 120 kilometers to the east, two divisions of the Soviet 54th Army were dispatched to reinforce Tikhvin, which had been under attack by the Germans. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 The 3rd Panzer Division of the German Panzergruppe 2 outflanked Soviet troops at Mtensk, Russia, 100 kilometers south of Moscow. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 Four crew members of German submarine U-106, on watch on the deck, were swept overboard in the Bay of Biscay and were all lost. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine SC.323 sank German merchant ship Baltenland in the Baltic Sea. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Neptune, and HMS Hobart, escorted by destroyers HMS Eridge and HMS Avonvale, departed Alexandria, Egypt and bombarded Bardia, Libya. Meanwhile, also from Alexandria, British destroyers HMS Napier, HMS Nizam, HMS Jupiter, and HMS Hasty bombarded Sollum, Egypt. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 The German government banned the emigration of Jews. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 Kaga was relieved as the flagship of Carrier Division 1 of the Japanese Navy First Air Fleet. 
0
23 Oct 1941 WW2 2,014 German Jews originally from Cologne, Germany arrived at the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops captured Belgorod, Russia. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops captured Kharkov, Ukraine. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 Elements of the German 4th Panzer Division moved from Mtsensk, Russia northward toward Moscow, reaching Chern 20 kilometers away. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 Romanian troops massacred Ukranian civilians in the village of Dalnik near Odessa, setting fire to warehouses full of people. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarines U-563 attacked Allied convoy HG-75 300 miles west of Gibraltar at 0038 hours, damaging British destroyer HMS Cossack with a torpedo; 159 were killed, 60 survived. At 0636 hours, U-564 joined in on the attack, sinking British ships Carsbreck, Ariosto, and Alhama; 30 were killed, 96 survived. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawlers HMS Lucienne Jeanne and HMT Emilion struck naval mines and sank in the Thames Estuary in southern England, United Kingdom. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 50 communists were executed by the Germans at Camp Souge, France in retaliation for the killing of German occupation administrator Hans-Gottfried Reimers three days prior. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 After sundown, British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Kingston, and HMS Griffin departed Alexandria, Egypt with troops and supplies for Tobruk, Libya, returning with troops of Australian 9th Division early in the next day. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii for San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
24 Oct 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt hosted Princess Märtha of Sweden (Crown Princess of Norway) at his home in Hyde Park, New York, United States. 
0
25 Oct 1941 WW2 A Canadian brigade under the command of Brigadier John Lawson MC sailed from Vancouver, Canada to reinforce the garrison on Hong Kong. 
0
25 Oct 1941 WW2 As German victories had now rendered Nikolai Voznesensky's first war production plan redundant, a new economic plan was published for what was left of Soviet territory in the centre and east of the country. 
0
25 Oct 1941 WW2 The US State Department issued a bulletin denouncing German practice of rounding up and executing civilians in retaliation of partisan attacks. 
0
25 Oct 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Galileo Ferraris attacked Allied convoy HG-75 500 miles west of Gibraltar and was discovered by a British Catalina aircraft; Galileo Ferraris' crew scuttled the submarine after being attacked by the aircraft and destroyer HMS Lamerton, but the Italians were able to hit Lamerton with the deck gun before the engagement was over; 6 Italians were killed in the engagement, 44 survived. Later in the same day, German submarine U-563 attacked HG-75, but she was driven away by British corvette HMS Heliotrope. 
0
25 Oct 1941 WW2 Romanian troops set a warehouse, full of Ukrainian civilians, mostly Jews, on fire at Dalnik, Ukraine. 
0
25 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 1,776 adult female and 812 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 2,578 people. 
0
25 Oct 1941 RELIGIOUS The first Youth For Christ rally was held at Bryant's Alliance Tabernacle in New York City. An international evangelical youth organization, YFC has no single founder, but rather emerged out of weekly rallies held for the youth of New York City during the 1930s.
0
26 Oct 1941 WW2 General Fedyuninsky was transferred from Leningrad, Russia to lead the Soviet 54th Army at Tikhvin about 120 kilometers to the east. The relieved commanding officer of the Soviet 54th Army, General Mikhail Khozin, who had previously served in Leningrad in 1938, was assigned to direct the defenses there. 
0
26 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-83 attacked Allied convoy HG-75 in the central Atlantic at 0354 hours and damaged British fighter catapult ship HMS Ariguani with a torpedo, killing 2. 
0
26 Oct 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tetrach departed Malta for Gibraltar. 
0
26 Oct 1941 WW2 Karl von Le Suire was awarded the Order of the Cross of Liberty 1st Class with Swords. 
0
26 Oct 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived off Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet forces launched multiple counter-attacks around Moscow, Russia, trying to blunt the German advance. German troops were now positioned in the west at Volokolamsk 60 kilometers from Moscow and in the south at Plavsk 110 kilometers from Moscow. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 Mountbatten replaced Roger Keyes as the British Chief of Combined Operations. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 President Franklin Roosevelt addressed his country, noting that the German attack on the destroyer USS Kearny "was to frighten the American people off the high seas - to force us to make a trembling retreat", claiming that the "American spirit" was now "aroused". 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 HMS Cossack, damaged by German submarine U-563 300 miles west of Gibraltar on 24 Oct 1941, sank while under tow. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Tetrach, one day out of Malta, hit an Italian naval mine and sank between Sicily and Tunisia; all 62 aboard were killed. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 946 adult male, 184 adult female, and 73 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,203 people. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 USS Arizona entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii for overhaul, during which she would receive a mounting atop her foremast for future installation of a search radar. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 Admiral Thomas Hart, having changed his mind on moving the US fleet at the Philippine Islands south to combine with the British allies, decided to base his main force in Manila Bay. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 Erich von Manstein's German Eleventh Army broke through the mud and fog on the Perekop Isthmus into the Crimean Peninsula in Russia. 
0
27 Oct 1941 WW2 The trial of twenty-eight people indicted on a charge of being in violation of the 1861 Sedition Act and the Smith Act began at the Federal District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 34,000 Jews were massacred in Kiev, Ukraine. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 American destroyer Anderson detected a submarine contacted and dropped depth charges; shortly after, she reported seeing "considerable oil slick". 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank British ship Ulea 320 miles northeast of the Azores islands at 0500 hours; 19 were killed, 9 survived and were rescued by British corvettes HMS La Malouine and HMS Bluebell. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank British ship King Malcolm in the North Atlantic, killing all 38 aboard. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-68 sank British ship Hazelside 600 miles southeast off the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic at 0343 hours; 2 were killed, 44 survived and picked up by British merchant ship Malayan Prince. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 Axis forces rehearsed for the planned assault on the besieged city of Tobruk, Libya. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 Zang Shiyi signed a document in Nanjing, China that formally recognized Manchukuo's recognition of fellow Japanese-sponsored puppet state in the formal Chinese capital. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet General Grigoriy Savchenko was executed without trial. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 Nikolai Rychagov, Rychagov's wife, and other accused conspirators were executed by the Soviets near Kuibyshev (now Samara), Russia. 
0
28 Oct 1941 WW2 The Soviet Military Collegium evacuated Moscow, Russia for Chkalov (now Orenburg), Russia. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 torpedoed and damaged American tanker Salinas off Iceland. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 15,000 Jews were massacred in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. Their remains were buried in mass graves at the Ninth Fort. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 General Walter Kuntze was named the commanding officer of the German 12th Army. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 The Atlantic Amphibious Force, consisted of both US Army and US Marine Corps units and commanded by Major General Holland M. Smith, was redesignated Amphibious Force of the US Navy Atlantic Fleet. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMS Flotta ran aground off the east coast of Scotland, United Kingdom and became damaged. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 Kampfgruppe Eberbach of German 4th Panzer Division reached Tula, Russia, which was about 110 kilometers south of Moscow. The group dug in near Tula to organize an offensive in the next day. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 German forces pushed Soviet units back to Sevastopol, Russia. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was slightly wounded by a German bomb while working at his office in Moscow, Russia. 
0
29 Oct 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill visited the Harrow School in London, England, United Kingdom, which he attended in his younger days. In a speech there, he gave the advice "Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 In Russia, Kampfgruppe Eberbach of German 4th Panzer Division began to advance north from Tula toward Moscow at 0530 hours; it was soon turned back by heavy anti-tank fire. Another attempt was made at 1000 hours, again at 1300 hours, and a final time at 1600 hours, inflicting heavy casualties on the Soviets but failing to break through. During the night, Soviet 32nd Tank Brigade arrived to reinforce Tula, while the German troops began to feel the cold Russian winter. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-106 damaged oiler USS Salinas 700 miles east of Newfoundland at 0900 hours. While USS Salina limped to Argentia, Newfoundland for repairs, U-106 was chased by escort vessels for nine hours, surviving but sustaining serious damage. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 The British cabinet received the report that, in the week ending 29 Oct 1941, 886 ships (including 24 ships flying flags of neutral nations) were convoyed; 113 destroyers (including 24 American destroyers), 117 smaller ships, and 9 anti-aircraft ships were deployed as convoy escorts. During the war thus far, a total of 86,687 ships had been convoyed, of which 451 were lost by enemy action. In terms of goods transported, the report indicated that, in the week ending 25 Oct 1941, 1,435,869 tons of supplies were imported into Britain, which was an increase from 789,286 tons from the previous seven-day period. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 382 adult male, 789 adult female, and 362 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,553 people. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich appointed Siegfried Seidl the commandant of the camp-ghetto soon to be known as the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 German 132nd Infantry Division reached the outskirts of Sevastopol, Russia. After sundown, Soviet cruiser Krasnyi Kavkaz brought in the Soviet 8th Naval Infantry Brigade from Novorossiysk as reinforcements, while the Soviet Black Sea Fleet relocated many of its warships out of Sevastopol as a safety measure. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-2 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
30 Oct 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States and disembarked non-Japanese passengers who departed due to the rapidly deteriorating US-Japan relations, including El Savadorian Consul General Leon Siguenza and Commander P. D. Perkins of the American Foreign Office in Japan. She then embarked Japanese nationals who wished to leave the US for similar reasons, and departed San Francisco. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-552 attacked Allied convoy HX-156 725 miles west of Iceland at 0834 hours, sinking American destroyer USS Reuben James (115 killed, 45 survived); USS Reuben James was the first American warship lost in the Atlantic Ocean in WW2. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 A German submarine fired a torpedo at American destroyer USS DuPont; the torpedo missed its target. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 The British 1st Airborne division was formed on under the command of Major General Frederick "Boy" Browning. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 To ease labour shortages, Hitler agreed that Soviet prisoners of war could be used in the Reich, as long as they were isolated from the Home population. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-374 sank British ship Rose Schiaffino 120 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland at 0903 hours; all 41 aboard were killed. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96 sank Dutch ship Bennekom 400 miles west of Iceland at 1047 hours; 8 were killed, 46 survived. British sloop HMS Lulworth counterattacked with 27 depth charges in failure. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 It was announced that RAF aircraft operating out of Malta had destroyed 76,500 tons of enemy shipping in the Mediterranean Sea. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Bodry and other warships shelled German tank concentrations 25 miles north of Sevastopol, Russia. Meanwhile, German dive bombers attacked Soviet warships in the harbor, causing 50 casualties but failing to cause damage to the ships. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 Solomon Milshtein reported to Lavrentiy Beria that, from the start of the Russo-German war and 10 Oct 1941, 657,364 troops were arrested for falling back without authorization, 249,969 of whom by agents of UOO and 407,395 by agents of NKVD. The majority of them were returned to the front, while 10,201 were executed, 3,321 of whom were executed in front of their units to set an example. 
0
31 Oct 1941 WW2 USS R-5 arrived at New London, Connecticut, United States. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Roosevelt placed the US Coast Guard under the control of US Navy for the duration of national emergency. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 American PBY Catalina aircraft provided air cover for Atlantic convoy ON 30. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Three US destroyers, screening Atlantic convoy HX 157, carried out depth charge attacks on sound contacts off St. John's, Newfoundland. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 General der Gebirgstruppe Rudolf Konrad was named the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Drum was commissioned into service. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 After sundown, the Red Army evacuated the first group, 4,230 men, of the 28,000 men from the Hanko Peninsula, Finland to Leningrad, Russia via naval vessels. On the return trip to Hanko, Soviet minelayer Marti and minesweeper T-210 were damged by mines, and submarine Kalev was lost, probably to a mine as well. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-68 sank British ship Bradford City 300 miles off German South-West Africa at 0654 hours; all 45 aboard survived in 2 lifeboats. U-68 accidentally collided with the sinking ship but did not suffer serious damage. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Zhao Chengshou began to distance himself from the Japanese and the Chinese collaborators. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was made the commanding officer of the 9th Squadron in the German Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 wing. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 On this date, Japan time, the Combined Fleet Order No. 1 was issued for additional radio communications to be generated to make US cryptanalytic efforts more difficult. Meanwhile, on the other side of the international date line, Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team of the US Navy in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii reported that all Japanese Navy call signs had changed. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy formed the Pacific Escort Force at Pearl Harbor to protect transports and certain merchant vessels carrying troops and valuable military cargoes between Hawaii and the Far East. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy Captain Gihachi Takayanagi (former commanding officer of battleship Ise) relieved Rear Admiral Shutoku Miyazato as the Chief Equipping Officer of Battleship No. 1, as Miyazato was being transferred to become the Chief of Personnel for Kure Naval District. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 Troops of the German 11.Armee captured Simferopol, Russia. To the southwest in Sevastopol, the Soviet 30th Coastal Battery bombarded the German 132nd Infantry Division at 1230 hours near the village of Bazarchik, slowing its preparations for an assault. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived at Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 A newly issued Typhoon fighter of British No. 56 Squadron plunged into the ground near East Harling, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom, killing Pilot Officer J. F. Deck. Subsequent investigations revealed that he had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning leading to the entire Typhoon fleet being grounded for modifications to cockpit sealing and the fitting of improved extended exhausts, although the problem was never satisfactorily resolved. 
0
01 Nov 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps established the 2nd Joint Training Force at Camp Elliot, California, United States under Major General Clayton B. Vogel. It was composed of the US Marine Corps 2nd Marine Division and the US Army 3rd Infantry Division. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-208 sank British ship Larpool 250 miles southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland at 0526 hours; 26 were killed, 17 survived. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus made the first successful radar attack by a submarine as she damated Italian tanker Tampico off Andros 50 miles southeast of Athens, Greece. Italian torpedo boats Monzambano and Castelfidardo counterattacked and chased off the British submarine. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii, embarked Japanese nationals who wished to return to Japan due to the rapidly deteriorating US-Japan relations, and then departed for Japan; she would become the last passenger ship to leave the US before the start of the Pacific War. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 Over 2,000 enslaved Jews from Zagare, Poland attacked their Lithuanian guards, wounding seven. As reprisal, 150 of them were shot on the spot, and the rest were executed later. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 Hugh Woods and William L. Boyd of the China National Air Corporation (CNAC) made the first flight over the Hump, the China-Burma air supply route. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 Wake Island received reinforcement from the US Marine Corps 1st Defense Battalion in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. The island's defense now consisted of 15 officers and 373 enlisted Marines. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov was damaged by two 250-kilogram bombs from German aircraft, flooding a magazine, causing a fire in turret No. 3, and jamming the rudder. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 German 132nd Infantry Division attacked toward Sevastopol, Russia and was halted at Bakhchisaray by Soviet 8th Naval Brigade. Nearby, ships of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet evacuated troops from Yalta, Yevpatoria, and Feodosiya, transporting them to Sevastopol; cruiser Voroshilov was damaged by German aircraft during this effort. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 In Britain the Minister of Food announced an extension of food rationing to include canned meat, canned fish and canned beans to become effective from 17 Nov 1941. 
0
02 Nov 1941 WW2 Aircraftsman Charles Leonard Wheatley received the George Medal for gallantry while putting out a fire threatening to detonate high explosive bombs on a crash-landed Manchester bomber. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-202 sank British ships Flynderborg (3 were killed, 21 survived) and Gretavale (38 were killed, 6 survived) of Allied convoy SC-52 200 miles northeast of Newfoundland at 0500 hours. At 1828 hours, U-203 attacked the same convoy, sinking British ships Everoja (all 41 aboard survived) and Empire Gemsbuck (all 43 aboard survived). 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 In Russia, German Panzer Army 2 attacked Tula while other German units captured Kursk 180 miles to the southwest to protect the southern flank of the assault toward Moscow. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 American PBY Catalina aircraft provided air cover for Atlantic convoy ON 31. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 American destroyer Upshur, escorting convoy HX 157, depth charged sound contact. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 Chief of the Japanese Naval General Staff Admiral Osami Nagano approved the draft plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. On the other side of the international date line, Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team of the US Navy in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii was realizing that the Japanese were inflating the amount of radio traffic. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 Heinz Guderian noted in his diary that the first cold wave had hit Russia, bringing temperature to the freezing point. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese plan to occupy Rabaul, Bismarck Islands and to transform it into a forward base was presented to Emperor Showa. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-214 sank Turkish schooner Kaynakdere with gunfire in the Black Sea. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was awarded the silver Honor Cup (Ehrenpokal) in Germany. 
0
03 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-2 departed Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
04 Nov 1941 WW2 Before dawn, Soviet destroyers Smetlivy and Surovy evacuated troops from the naval base at Hanko in southern Finland; Smetlivy was damaged by coastal artillery during the process and would sink en route to Leningrad, Russia, killing several hundred passengers. At the end of the day, Finnish troops recaptured Hanko. 
0
04 Nov 1941 WW2 German 170th Division captured Feodosiya, Ukraine. 
0
04 Nov 1941 WW2 American cruisers Omaha and Memphis, accompanied by three destroyers, sortied to hunt for German surface raiders. 
0
04 Nov 1941 WW2 The repair work on light cruiser Voroshilov, damaged two days prior by German aircraft, began. 
0
04 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine M-34 was lost somewhere off Constanza, Romania in the Black Sea; she was presumed to have struck a mine. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 At a conference with Emperor Showa, Japanese leaders decided to go to war with the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands in early Dec 1941 should diplomatic relations with the US did not improve by 1 Dec. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese passenger ship Kehi Maru hit a Soviet mine and sank 75 miles off Korea in the Sea of Japan; 131 were killed, 379 survived. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-324 was lost in the Baltic Sea off Tallinn, Estonia; she had presumably hit a mine. All 38 aboard were killed. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 Cordell Hull had learned, via Magic intercepts of Japanese messages to Kichisaburo Nomura, that 25 Nov 1941 was Japan's final deadline for the decision on war. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 U-576 completed her first war patrol. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-214 sank Italian tanker Torcello in the Black Sea. 
0
05 Nov 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii detected improvements in security of Japanese naval communications and the recall of some of the merchant ships back to home waters. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 American light cruiser Omaha and destroyer Somers captured German blockade runner Odenwald, which was disguised as the American freighter Willmoto, off Permanbuco, Brazil. Odenwald was transporting rubber from Japan to Germany. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 Frostbite began to make its appearance among German troops fighting in the Soviet Union. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 The Finnish advance into Russia was halted. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 American destroyer Madison, escorting convoy ON 39, depth charged contacts. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMS Flotta was lost when she foundered off the east coast of Scotland, United Kingdom. She was damaged running aground on 29 Oct 1941. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 A small number of Wellington bombers based in Malta conducted an attack on Naples, Italy after dark. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 340 adult male, 749 adult female, and 252 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,341 people. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 Ivan Bagramyan was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the first time. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 Clarence Tinker was named the commanding officer of the US 3rd Fighter Command. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese military mobilized for war. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii continued to encounter a great deal of dummy radio traffic being sent by the Japanese Navy. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 General Rikichi Ando was named the commanding officer of the Taiwan Army. 
0
06 Nov 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt had dinner with Princess Märtha of Sweden (Crown Princess of Norway) at the White House in Washington DC, United States. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy conducted a carrier exercise. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 Three American destroyers escorting Atlantic convoy ON 30 made depth charge attacks on sound contact. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet hospital ship Armenia departed Yalta, Ukraine at 0800 hours with 7,000 civilians and wounded troops aboard, against orders forbidding sailing during daylight hours. At 1129 hours, despite the red cross marking, she was attacked and sunk by a He 111 bomber of German KG26. Only 8 people survived. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 British merchant ship Nottingham, on her maiden voyage, spotted German submarine U-74 in the North Atlantic and attempted to ram her. At 2234 hours U-74 counterattacked, sinking Nottingham. All 62 aboard escaped in lifeboats, but they were never seen again. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 Heinz Guderian noted in his diary that his troops were beginning to suffer severe frostbite in Russia. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 After dark, 160 British RAF bombers attacked Berlin, Germany. 20 bombers were shot down. The Germans reported minimal damage. 
0
07 Nov 1941 WW2 Joseph Stalin made a speech during the October Revolution anniversary celebration predicting that even though German troops were less than 100 miles from Moscow, they were facing disaster. Meanwhile, in Berlin, the German Army High Command (OKH) was determined to continue the advance on Moscow in spite of up to 80 Soviet Army divisions in front of them. 
0
08 Nov 1941 WW2 Troops of the German Armeegruppe Nord captured Tikhvin near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
08 Nov 1941 WW2 Per the Great Army Instruction No. 992, the Japanese Army and Navy were ordered to coordinate their plans for the opening phases of the Pacific War. 
0
08 Nov 1941 WW2 At the annual Beer Hall Putsch speech, Adolf Hitler claimed that the war with Soviet Union was effectively won, citing 3.6 million prisoners taken, and by conjecture the Soviet forces must had suffered eight to ten million casualties thus far. In regards to the United States, Hitler noted that the aggressive US President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered American ships to deliberately attack any German submarines they crossed, while Hitler continued to order restraint for German submarine captains; nevertheless, he noted that the submarines would fight back fiercely should they be fired upon. 
0
08 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine M-59 struck a mine and sank off Constanza, Romania in the Black Sea; all men aboard were killed. 
0
08 Nov 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope and destroyers HMS Lance and HMS Lively were dispatched from Malta to intercept an Axis convoy (intelligence gained through Ultra; a Maryland aircraft was dispatched to create the illusion that the convoy was spotted) that had just departed from Italy consisted of German freighters Duisburg and San Marco; Italian freighters Maria, Sagitta, and Rina Corrado; and Italian tankers Conte di Misurata and Minatitlan. This convoy carried 223 troops, 389 vehicles, 34,473 tons of supplies, and 17,281 tons of fuel. The convoy was escorted by 2 Italian cruisers and 7 Italian destroyers. 
0
08 Nov 1941 WW2 USAAF 12th Bombardment Squadron began anti-submarine operations from St. Croix Airfield in the US Virgin Islands. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 Heinrich Müller ordered that all Soviet prisoners of war bound to be executed who were not fit to travel to the places of execution were to be killed at their places of imprisonment. This was to avoid allowing civilians the see these malnourished and diseased prisoners as it could damage morale. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 76 adult male, 77 adult female, and 18 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 171 people. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 Hungarian freighter Ungvar struck a mine (previously laid by Soviet submarine L-4) and sank in the Black Sea. Nearby Romanian torpedo boats Viforul and Vijelia were also destroyed in the explosion. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 Zuikaku arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 Akagi arrived at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 At 0100 hours, British cruiser HMS Aurora, cruiser HMS Penelope, destroyer HMS Lance, and destroyer HMS Lively, which had sailed from Malta late on the previous day, intercepted their target, an Axis convoy that was bound for Libya. All five freighters (German freighters Duisburg and San Marco; Italian freighters Maria, Sagitta, and Rina Corrado; and Italian tankers Conte di Misurata and Minatitlan) and Italian destroyer Fulmine were sunk with radar gunnery, while damaging destroyers Grecale and Maestrale. At 0640 hours, British submarine HMS Upholder attacked Italian destroyer Libeccio, which was busy rescuing survivors of the night time battle; an attempt was made to tow her back to port for repairs, but Libeccio would sink en route. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 The 19,894-strong Soviet Independent Coastal Army, with 10 T-26 tanks and 152 guns, arrived in Sevastopol, Russia from Odessa, Ukraine, significantly bolstering the city's defenses. 40 kilometers east of Sevastopol, German troops captured Yalta. 
0
09 Nov 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt had dinner with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd in Washington DC, United States. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 American warships including carrier USS Ranger began to escort a troop convoy with more than 20,000 soldiers from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for Britain; the troop ships were US Navy ships as well. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 American destroyer Ericsson, escorting convoy HX 157, depth charged sound contact. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy Asiatic Fleet issued orders to withdraw Yangtze River river gunboats and US Marines from China. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 Operation Flipper was launched, with submarines HMS Torbay and HMS Talisman, with commandos aboard, to be delivered behind enemy lines in Libya. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 Walther von Brauchitsch suffered a heart attack. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus sank German ship Ithaka off the island of Milos, Greece. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 Greek submarine Glaukos damaged German ship Norburg north of Crete, Greece. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 The Operation Perpetual convoy, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya, cruiser HMS Hermione, and seven destroyers, departed from Gibraltar. At the center of the convoy, British carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Argus were tasked with delivering 37 Hurricane fighters for Malta. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 The Italian "San Marco" naval infantry regiment formed a 3rd battalion by drawing three companies from the two existing battalions. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 German General Erich von Manstein launched a major assault against Sevastopol, Russia with 50th Infantry Division, followed by the 132nd Infantry Division on the next day. On the Soviet side, Vice Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky (with Major General I. A. Petrov as his deputy) mobilized 52,000 men, of whom 21,000 were sailors, together with 170 guns (some were in modern steel and concrete emplacements), for the defence of Sevastopol. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Tunny was laid down at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States. 
0
10 Nov 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt ordered protection for dams, power plants, and other important infrastructure sites. In the evening, he had dinner with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 I-68 joined the Advance Expeditionary Force for the Pearl Harbor attack; she departed Saeki, Japan for Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 German government report published on this date noted there were 700,000 Soviet prisoners of war employed as forced laborers. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 American Lend-Lease program expanded to include Free France based in Britain. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 American destroyer Edison, en route to escort Atlantic convoy ON 34, depth charged sound contact. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 American destroyer Decatur, escorting Atlantic convoy HX 159, depth charged sound contact off the Grand Banks, Newfoundland. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-580 collided with target ship Angelburg and sank 33 miles west of Klaipeda, Lithuania by accident; 12 were killed, 32 survived. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 British Hudson aircraft of No. 53 Squadron RAF damaged German submarine U-203 with four depth charges in the Bay of Biscay at 1415 hours. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-561 sank Panamanian ship Meridian at 2335 hours, killing all 26 aboard. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 After dark, Soviet destroyers Stoiki and Leningrad, minelayer Ural, troop transport Andrei Zhdanov, and three minesweepers departed the island of Gogland (known in Finnish as Suursaari) in the Gulf of Finland for the Hanko Peninsula in southern Finland. After Andrei Zhdanov was sunk by a mine (7 were killed, 66 survived) and Leningrad damaged by a mine, the convoy abandoned its mission to evacuate Soviet troops from Hanko and sailed back to Gogland. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 Ten Japanese submarines departed from Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan for Kwajalein of the Marshall Islands, where they would proceed for US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 Kaga entered the drydocks at Sasebo Naval Shipyard, Japan. 
0
11 Nov 1941 WW2 Robert Johnson completed aviation cadet training and began his service with the US Army at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 Charles Huntziger passed away. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-203, with one engine and aft diving planes damaged by a British air attack on the previous day, arrived in Brest, France. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 After sundown, the temperature in the Moscow region of Russia dropped to 5 degrees Fahrenheit or -15 degrees Celsius, which was harsh on the troops on either side, but particularly to the Germans who were less prepared to deal with the weather. The vehicles that had not been frozen, however, were now able to move as the mud hardened, and the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies prepared to take advantage of the situation for an offensive. Meanwhile, 22 infantry divisions, 14 cavalry divisions, and 11 ski battalions began to arrive to reinforce the Soviet capital. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine S-34 was lost off the Bulgarian coast near Cape Emine, presumably to a mine; all 51 aboard were lost. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 Finnish vessels laid mines in the Gulf of Finland to disrupt the Soviet attempts to evacuate personnel from Hanko in southern Finland. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 Oberleutnant Adalbert Karbe and Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Argus from the Operation Perpetual convoy launched 37 Hurricane fighters to reinforce Malta. 
0
12 Nov 1941 WW2 Stuka dive bombers of German StG 77 damaged Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina with 3 bombs at Sevastopol, Russia. Destroyers Sovershenny and Besposhchadny were also damaged, with the former capsizing at the naval shipyard. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 German troops fighting near Moscow, Russia were fighting temperatures as low as -8° F (-22° C). As the mud freezes, however, the Germans prepared for a new offensive amidst increasing casualties due to weather. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese Admiral Yamamoto gathered his commanders at Iwakuni air base at Yamaguchi, Japan to discuss Pearl Harbor tactics. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the German Navy to restraint from attacking American ships, but should German warships be fired upon by the Americans, they were to fire back in defense. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 After sundown, Soviet destroyers Gordy and Surovy departed Gogland, Russia for Hanko, Finland, escorted by minelayer Ural, four T-class minesweepers, and four MO-class submarine chasers. En route, Surovy, T-206, and MO-301 struck Finnish naval mines and sunk. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 General Kirill Meretskov attacked German troops at Tikhvin, Russia with Soviet 4th, 52nd, and 54th Armies. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-81 sank British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal in the Mediterranean Sea 150 miles east of Gibraltar at 0437 hours; 1 was killed, 1,487 survived. Destroyer escorts counterattacked with 130 depth charges, but U-81 would escape. HMS Ark Royal was taken in tow. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-126 sank British merchant vessel Peru at 0042 hours, all 50 aboard survived and were rescued by South African whale factory ship Uniwaleco. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied troops established a new defensive line from the mouth of the Muar River to Gemas in British Malaya. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina, damaged by German aircraft on the previous day, sank at Sevastopol, Russia. Her guns would be salvaged to be used on shore. 
0
13 Nov 1941 WW2 The British Air Ministry instructed Sir Richard Pierse, the Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command, to curtail drastically the scale of sorties against Germany, especially in bad weather. The War Cabinet stated the instruction "having stressed the necessity to conserve our resources in order to built a strong force to be available by the spring of next year". 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 British carrier HMS Ark Royal sank off Gibraltar at 0813 hours from the damage sustained from the previous day's German submarine attack. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Gordy struck a mine and sank en route to Hanko, Finland. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-561 sank Panamanian ship Crusader in the North Atlantic; 33 were killed, 1 survived. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine L-2 struck three mines in a minefield off Keri, Estonia in the Baltic Sea between 0107 and 0617 hours, eventually sinking, killing 50 of 53 aboard. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine M-98 struck a mine and sank in the Gulf of Finland, killing all aboard. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-211 was lost to unknown reason off Varna, Bulgaria in the Black Sea, presumably lost of a Romanian mine. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 US Marines in China (Shanghai, Beiping, and Tianjin) were ordered to evacuate to the Philippine Islands. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Shokaku was relieved of her status as the flagship of Carrier Division 5; that responsibility was passed to Zuikaku. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Kaga exited the drydocks at Sasebo Naval Shipyard, Japan. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 Operation Flipper: After dark, submarines HMS Torbay and HMS Talisman delivered 36 (of planned total of 59, due to rough seas) British commandos of No. 11 (Scottish) Group behind enemy lines in Libya. 
0
14 Nov 1941 WW2 The British launched unescorted freighters disguised as French, Italian, and Spanish ships with supplies for Malta. Meanwhile, Operation Astrologer was commenced with transports Empire Defender and Empire Pelican, also with supplies for Malta; Empire Pelican was found and sunk by Italian SM.79 torpedo bombers near the Galite Islands off Tunisia, killing 1. 
0
14 Nov 1941 RELIGIOUS Inter_Varsity Christian Fellowship was incorporated in Chicago. An interdenominational organization with chapters at both colleges and schools of nursing, IVCF provides Christian fellowship, nurture and discipleship among Christian college_age students.
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 German Panzergruppen 1, 2, and 3, with 2, 4, and 9.Armeen, resumed the attack on Moscow, Russia. Soviet 30th Army was pushed back from the Volga Reservoir and Moscow Sea Reservoir areas 75 miles north of Moscow. Across the Eastern Front, the temperature fell to -20 degrees Celsius, freezing both men and machines; the German offensive was generally slowed to a yard-by-yard advance from this date on. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 US Army dispatched troops to Dutch Guiana to protect bauxite mines; this was agreed upon by the Dutch government-in-exile. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Saburo Kurusu arrived in the United States. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-752 attempted to attack Soviet minelayer ZM-93 Jushar southeast of Murmansk, Russia at 1700 hours, but escorting minesweeping trawler T-889 forced U-752 to dive. At 1849 hours, U-752 fired a torpedo at T-889, sinking her and killing all 43 aboard. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-583 collided with U-153 and sank 90 miles northeast of Danzig at 2148 hours, killing all 45 aboard. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Lieutenant Henry Drummond Campsie was named the commanding officer of HMCS Trillium. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was named the commanding officer of the 5th Squadron of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 wing. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Italian SM.79 torpedo bombers sank British freighter Empire Defender of the Operation Astrologer convoy near the Galite Islands off the Tunisian coast, killing 4. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Erich Mußfeldt was transferred from Auschwitz Concentration Camp to Majdanek Concentration Camp as the chief of the crematorium. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 US 22nd and 23rd Fighter Squadrons, both operating P-40 Warhawk fighters, was assigned to Losey Field in Puerto Rico. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe III./KG 4 arrived at Pskov (German: Pleskau), Russia. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Free French Air Force pilots formed the Paris and Versailles squadrons. They operated out of Britain, flying Blenheim and Hurricane aircraft. 
0
15 Nov 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt had lunch with Princess Märtha of Sweden (Crown Princess of Norway) at the White House in Washington DC, United States, followed by a private showing of the film Dumbo. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese carrier fleet exercised in the Kurile Islands. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 Canadian troops arrived at Hong Kong. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 British Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Keyes' team, tasked with capturing or assassinating Erwin Rommel in Libya, hid during daylight and moved into positions after sundown. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 German 3rd Panzer Party established a crossing over the Lama River 70 miles west of Moscow, Russia. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 British corvette HMS Marigold damaged German submarine U-433 with depth charges 50 miles east of Gibraltar at 2255 hours. After U-433 surfaced, Marigold continued to attack her with guns. U-433's crew scuttled the boat after suffering 6 killed; the 38 survivors were captured. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-3 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland in stormy weather. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 Obsolete Japanese battleship Settsu began to sail around the Inland Sea in Japan to generate fake radio communication messages at different ports. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 Crown Prince Yi Un was attached to the training department of the Japanese Army. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 On this Sunday, a Catholic Mass was secretly held in a dark aisle between bunks on the second floor of Block 4 at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. 
0
16 Nov 1941 WW2 The German 11.Armee captured Kerch, Russia. Soviet Deputy Navy Commissar Admiral Gordei Levchenko was arrested after being deemed responsible for this defeat. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 US Congress amended the Neutrality Act of 1939, thus allowing American merchant ships to be armed and allowing them to enter war zones. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 The United States delivered escort carrier Archer to the United Kingdom, the first of 38 escort carriers that would be delivered during the war under Lend-Lease. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 The Reichskommissariat Ostland was established under Alfred Rosenberg to administer territories taken from the Soviet Union. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 German troops near Moscow, Russia fought Central Asian troops for the first time (Soviet 44th Cavalry Division) at Musino, Russia, 70 miles west of the capital. German artillery blunted the cavalry charges, with the Germans claiming 2,000 killed. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy Admiral Yamamoto revealed the Pearl Harbor attack plan to the naval leadership. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-331 landed eight commandos on the Egyptian coast to mine the railway line near Daba, 60 miles west of Alexandria. They would soon be captured before they completed their mission. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviets dispatched several small teams to test the thickness of the ice on Lake Ladoga near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-2 arrived at Kirkwall, Scotland, United Kingdom and convoy PQ-4 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 Following twelve months of illness, depression and strain at the Luftwaffe's increasing losses on the Eastern Front, Generaloberst Ernst Udet, the German Director General of Air Armament, commited suicide by shooting himself. Udet, Germany's second highest fighter ace of the First World War (behind the Red Baron) with 62 kills, had already lost favour with Hitler after the air force's performance in the Battle of Britain. The official version was that he had died whilst testing a "new weapon" and Jagdgeschwader 3 was named in his honour. Udet was accorded a state funeral at which he was eulogised by Hermann Göring, who described him as his "best friend". 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 Kaga arrived at Saeki Bay off Oita, Japan and embarked 100 aerial torpedoes. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 British Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Keyes led the daring Operation Flipper commando raid to either kill or capture Rommel at his Afrika Korps Headquarters at Sidi-Rafa. He was mortally wounded and the other commandos were forced to withdraw. Only two men made it back, the rest being either killed or captured. Keyes would be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross even though the raid was doomed from the start - Rommel was not even at Sidi-Rafa. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe III./KG 55 received orders to relocate from Kirovograd, Ukraine to Saint-André-de-l'Eure, France for rest and refitting after spending only seven weeks at Kirovograd. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 The ration of canned meat, canned fish, and canned beans began in the United Kingdom; this was announced 15 days earlier by the British Minister of Food. 
0
17 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese special envoy Kurusu Saburo arrived in Washington DC and met with US Secretary of State Cordell Hull. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokohama, completing her 74th and last round trip across the Pacific. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 British, New Zealand, and Indian troops launched Operation Crusader, a major offensive from Egypt into Libya. Surprise was achieved, and the attack met no serious resistance on the first day. The Germans would later call this offensive Winterschlacht. After sundown, British cruisers HMS Naiad and HMS Euryalus and destroyers HMS Kipling and HMS Jackal bombarded German positions at Halfaya Pass. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 Five large Japanese carrier submarines, each containing midget submarines, departed from Kure Naval Base, Japan for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. Meanwhile, Joseph Rochefort's US Navy cryptanalytic team reported no Japanese carrier movement. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 Archer was commissioned into service. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 General John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 Japan requested Germany to not conclude a separate peace with any common enemies of the two countries, but did not share its plans to attack the United States. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 The teams dispatched on the previous day out of Leningrad, Russia to Lake Ladoga returned to the besieged city at 0400 hours, reporting that the ice on the lake was about 10 centimeters thick, which made light travel possible, but not for heavy equipment such as 1-ton trucks. 
0
18 Nov 1941 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army launched a 400-tank attack 70 miles west of Moscow, Russia, supported by 3 infantry divisions; Soviet 30th Army fell back northward to Klin, while Soviet 16th Army was pushed south to Istra. 120 miles south of Moscow, German 3rd Panzer Army was held up at Tula, with its latest attempt to surround the Soviet garrison there foiled by the newly-arrived Soviet 413th Rifle Division. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 British newspaper The Times estimated that 82,000 Polish people had been killed since Poland became occupied. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 Franz Halder noted in his diary that, in a meeting Adolf Hitler held with his top military leaders on this date, Hitler no longer talked about ending the war in 1941; instead, plans for Soviet targets east of Moscow, Russia were made for spring and summer of 1942. Meanwhile, 70 miles west of Moscow, German 4th Panzer Army attempted to penetrate the gap between the Soviet 30th and 16th Armies which were pushed back on the previous day, but stubborn Soviet resistance slowed the German advance in the area of Istra. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 HMAS Sydney was intercepted by German raider Kormoran 140 miles west of Shark Bay, Australia, with Kormoran firing the first shot at 1730 hours. Both ships were heavily damaged after the 20-minute battle. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 In northern Russia, Soviet 4th and 52nd Armies continued to attack Tikhvin, held by the Germans, 120 kilometers east of Leningrad. Meanwhile, near Leningrad, General Feofan Nikolaevich Lagunov drove an American-built M1 Scout Car across the frozen Lake Ladoga and declared it safe to use as a truck route. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 German 2nd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FS.650 10 miles east of Lowestoft, England, United Kingdom, sinking tanker War Mehtar and transports Aruba and Waldinge. German torpedo boat S.41 collided with a convoy escort and sank. British destroyer HMS Garth was damaged by friendly fire during the engagement. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 6 prisoners of war and 8 Polish Jews were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 During this month, the excavated fossils of the Peking Man were packed up at the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Beiping Union Medical College, and the US Marines stationed in China, who already received orders to be withdrawn, were supposed to bring the bones back to the United States for safekeeping. During the hurried transit between Beiping and the port of Qinghuangdao, the boxes vanished, and had not been found to this day. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 Shokaku departed the Inland Sea with Zuikaku for Hittokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands to join the ships massing for the Hawaii Operation. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 Kaga departed Saeki Bay off Oita, Japan for Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 Italian Ariete Division halted the advance of British 22nd Armoured Brigade at Bir el Gubi, Libya; 40 British Crusader tanks were destroyed or disabled. Elsewhere, British 7th Armoured Brigade continued its advance toward Tobruk, capturing Sidi Rezegh airfield in the process. To the north, tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade engaged German tanks of the 21st Panzer Division. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 HMS Hermes arrived at Simon's Town, South Africa for a refit. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese embassy in Washington DC, United States was instructed that, should war be decided with the United States, Japanese public radio broadcast would include the code phrase "higashi no kaze ame" (“east wind rain”), with the Soviet Union "ita no kaze kumori" ("north wind cloudy"), and with the United Kingdom "nishi no kaze hare" ("west wind clear"). This clear preparation for a likely war was intercepted by the Americans. 
0
19 Nov 1941 WW2 A ground echelon from US Marine Aircraft Group 21 was dispatched to Midway Island to prepare the island to receive aircraft. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 Kurt von Briesen passed away. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 German troops captured Rostov, Russia. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 The Norwegian government-in-exile officially endorsed the resistance movement Milorg. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese ambassador to the US Nomura presented Japan's final proposal to keep peace in Asia and the Pacific. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 HMAS Sydney sank some time after midnight from the damage sustained in the engagement with German raider Kormoran; all 645 aboard were lost. Kormoran, likewise heavily damaged, was abandoned at 1900 hours and was scuttled three hours later; 81 were killed and 318 survived. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 The daily bread rations in besieged Leningrad, Russia was reduced to 500 grams for military personnel, 250 grams for engineers and technical workers, 125 grams for other workers and children. The situation was hoped to be improving soon, however, as the first successful crossing of the frozen Lake Ladoga was made with horse-drawn sleighs, hoping to bring back food from Kobona. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 One of the ships of Allied convoy PQ-3 struck an iceberg and another developed mechanical problems; both were turned back toward Iceland. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 In Vilnius, Lithuania, 3 prisoners of war were executed as later reported by the Jager Report on 1 Dec 1941. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese-controlled Ryojun Military Port (previously known as Port Arthur; now Lushunkou, Liaoning Province, China), Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China was upgraded to the status of a Guard District. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 Crown Prince Yi Un was assigned to Guangdong Province, China. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 The British 7th Armoured Brigade repulsed a counter attack launched by the German 90th Light Infantry Division and the Italian Bologna Division. In the afternoon, the British 4th Armoured Brigade engaged with heavier tanks of the German 15th Panzer Division, losing several American-built M3 tanks. After dark, British cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Neptune and Australian cruiser HMAS Hobart bombarded Bardia, Libya. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 The two crematoria of Auschwitz Concentration Camp were inactivated for servicing; camp commandant ordered that corpses of prisoners were to be transported to Birkenau (not yet a camp) for burying in mass graves until the servicing was done on 3 Dec 1941. 
0
20 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese naval base at Mako in Pescadores Islands, Taiwan was upgarded to full Guard District status. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 American destroyer Shaw and oiler Sabine were damaged in a collision in Hawaiian waters. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 The construction of the future Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point began in North Carolina, United States. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 Heinz Guderian wrote Franz Halder from Russia, noting the miserable cold and fierce Soviet resistance. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 The horse-drawn sleigh team returned to Leningrad, Russia from Kobona, bringing back flour, sugar, and fat across the frozen Lake Ladoga for the first time since the city was surrounded. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Utmost attacked and damaged Italian cruiser Trieste 10 miles east of Catania, Sicily, Italy at 2312 hours. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was officially awarded the German cross in Gold, but he would not physically receive this medal until 17 Dec 1941. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's US Navy cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii detected the arrival of a Japanese submarine squadron in the Marshall Islands. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy acquired luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru for use as a hospital ship; Hikawa Maru was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District, Japan. 
0
21 Nov 1941 WW2 The Allied garrison at Tobruk, Libya attempted a breakout to link up with the main attack force coming from Egypt, which engaged with German 15th Panzer Division in a large-scale tank battle that would last for the next three days near Sidi Rezegh. Pressed for fuel, Erwin Rommel dispatched Italian cruiser Cardona from Brindisi, unescorted, to bring fuel to Benghazi. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 The German 3.Panzerkorps captured Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy issued Task Force Ultrasecret Operation Order 1: warships were to proceed to Hawaiian waters in secrecy, with mission to conduct pre-emptive strikes on any potential threats against Hawaii. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Werner Mölders was killed during a landing accident while traveling as a passenger aboard a He 111 aircraft. Hours later, Jagdgeschwader 51 was christened "Mölders" in his honor. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 A Swordfish torpedo bomber of British No. 830 Squadron damaged Italian cruiser Abruzzi at 0038 hours off Sicily, Italy; the aircraft was shot down in the process, with 1 killed and 1 captured. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 As the ice on Lake Ladoga reached 20 centimeters in thickness, 60 trucks made the crossing, aiming to bring back food into Leningrad, Russia on their return trip on the next day. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 The British Royal Navy dispatched cruisers HMS Devonshire, HMS Dorsetshire, and HMS Dunedin to the South Atlantic to search for the German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis. HMS Devonshire successfully found Atlantis, fueling submarine U-126. While U-126 was able to escape, Atlantis' crew had no choice but to scuttle her. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Sardonyx collided with anti-submarine trawler HMT St. Apollo near the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom. Sardonyx received damage while St. Appollo would sink. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-3 crossed the Arctic Circle west of Norway. Later in the same day, German Stuka dive bombers attacked the convoy without success; two dive bombers were lost during the mission. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Robert von Greim was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht radio report. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Akagi arrived at Hitokappu Bay at Etorofu Island, Kuriles Islands as part of the assembling Mobile Force. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Shokaku and the Carrier Division 5 arrived at Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands as part of a last-minute addition to the Carrier Striking Force. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Kaga arrived at Hitokappu Bay, Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 Italian cruiser Cardona arrived at Benghazi, Libya with fuel badly needed by Axis vehicles on the front line; the journey was made without any escorts due to the pressing need. On land, New Zealand and Italian troops engaged in fighting near Sollum, Egypt while the Indian 7th Brigade captured Sidi Omar, Libya. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 The personnel of German Luftwaffe III./KG 4 departed Pskov (German: Pleskau), Russia by rail for a period of rest in Fassberg, Germany. The group's aircraft were reassigned to I./KG 4 for continued use against Soviet positions in the Leningrad area. 
0
22 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese embassy in Washington DC, United States was instructed that the proposal submitted by Japanese diplomats two days prior would be the final proposal. The deadline for a successful conclusion was pushed back to 29 Nov 1941, upon which date, should the proposal be rejected, the war plans would be executed. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 I-68 departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands for her first war patrol in the Hawaii Islands area. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 German forces captured Solnechnogorsk, Russia advanced to within 35 miles of the Soviet capital of Moscow. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 US Army troops arrived in Dutch Guiana and occupied the region on behalf of the Dutch government-in-exile in order to protect bauxite mines. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese carriers made a rendezvous at Hitokappu Bay, Kurile Islands, Japan in preparation for the Pearl Harbor attack. On the other side of the international date line, Joseph Rochefort reported to his superiors that his cryptanalytic team had detected a Japanese submarine squadron moving into the Marshall Islands. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Sakaide, Shikoku, Japan, escorting a troop convoy. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 The German ambassador in Japan Eugen Ott warned Germany that the Japanese military seemed to be on the verge of a war, its military preparing to move southward. He was not aware of Japan's plans to attack the United States. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 60 trucks brought in 33 tons of flour and 2.5 tons of sugars and fats into besieged Leningrad, Russia, driving across the frozen Lake Ladoga; this was the first of many over-ice truck runs that would ramp up to bring in 100 tons of supplies each day. The population of Leningrad, however, required about 600 tons of supplies for survival. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 British Captain Philip Gardner led two Matilda tanks in the rescue of the crews of two armored cars pinned under enemy fire at Tobruk, Libya, becoming wounded in the process. He was later awarded the Victoria Cross award. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 The Italian High Command in Rome, Italy agreed to put the Italian XX Mobile Corps, which included the Ariete Division and the Trieste Division, under Erwin Rommel's direct command. On the same day, at the Battle of Totensonntag, Axis troops outflanked British forces south of Sidi Rezegh, Libya, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing the British 7th Armored Division to withdraw 20 miles. 
0
23 Nov 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe II./KG 55 departed Kirovograd, Ukraine for Saint-André-de-l'Eure, France for rest and refitting. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 German Luftwaffe Leutnant Heinz Schnabel and Oberleutnant Harry Wappler received 28-day solitary confinement sentences by their British captors for their nearly-successful escape attempts from a prisoner or war camp in Britain. Masquerading as Dutch pilots in the RAF, they managed to get airborne before realizing they had not enough fuel to reach France, causing them to turn back to Britain. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 Elements of German LVI Panzer Corps captured Rogachevo, Russia, north of Moscow. To the south of the Soviet capital, XXIV Panzer Corps captured the road junction at Venyov 30 miles east of Tula. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British cruiser HMS Dunedin 650 miles east of Natal, Brazil at 1521 hours, hitting her with two torpedoes. 236 were killed; 250 survived the sinking, but only 67 would survive the entire ordeal, succumbing to wounds, drowning, and shark attacks. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 British landing ship HMS Prince Leopold landed 90 men of British No. 9 Commando battalion at Butte de Houlgate, France, who captured some classified documents and immediately returned to Britain aboard the same ship. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 German 4th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FS.654 off East Anglia, England, United Kingdom, sinking British tanker Virgilia (23 killed, 17 survived) and Dutch ship Groenlo (10 killed). 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 The United States government announced the takeover of the defence of Dutch Guiana in South America as a precaution against the Germans securing the use of the French base at Dakar in Africa. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 The Theresienstadt camp was established in occupied Czechoslovakia to serve as a transit point for Jews en route to concentration camps to the east. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 German and Italian tanks advanced and split the British XXX Corps in Libya, but Allied aircraft halted the attack. The offensive was uncoordinated and achieved little. 
0
24 Nov 1941 WW2 USS Gar departed New London, Connecticut, United States. 
0
24 Nov 1941 RELIGIOUS American Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in his "Secular Journal": 'Spiritual dryness is an acute experience of longing therefore of love.'
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 German 2nd Panzer Division was halted by British-built Matilda tanks of the Soviet 146th Tank Brigade at Peshki, 35 miles northwest of Moscow. 30 miles west of Moscow, German 10th Panzer Division and SS Reich Division attacked Istra, which was being defended by Soviet 78th Rifle Division. Finally, German XXIV Panzer Corps launched a new attack 100 miles south of Moscow, cutting the rail line to Moscow near Tula. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler met with Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, agreeing on the need for the elimination of the "Jewish element". 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 American submarines Triton and Tambor arrived at Wake Island on "simulated" war patrols. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Indian 7th Brigade repulsed an attack by the German 5th Panzer Regiment at Sidi Omar, Libya. Australian troops from Tobruk linked up with advancing New Zealand forces at Ed Duda, Libya. After dark, Erwin Rommel conducted an inspection of the front, got lost, and was forced to wait until daybreak to find his way back. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-331 torpedoed British battleship HMS Barham in the Mediterranean Sea, which went down after a magazine ignited. Fewer than 400 of her crew of 1,258 survived. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Captain James Jackson was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for organising defences at Tobruk, Libya, where he was killed by a mortar splinter. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet patrol vessel CKP-25 rammed German submarine U-578 in the Arctic Sea, causing light damage. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 9 adult male, 46 adult female, and 8 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 63 people. Additionally, 1 Polish national was also executed for possession of arms. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, the British RAF Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, informed Oliver Lyttelton, Winston Churchill's Minister of State for the Middle East, that General Alan Cunningham was not confident in winning the battle in Libya. The following day Cunningham was relieved as Eighth Army commander. Neil Ritchie would take his place on the following day. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese troops transports en route to Malaya were detected off Taiwan. 
0
25 Nov 1941 WW2 Henry Stimson noted in his diary that, during a cabinet meeting, Franklin Roosevelt thought Japan was likely to attack the United States in as soon as one week, and it would provide Roosevelt the reason to take the United States into the war. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese carrier fleet departed Hitokappu Bay, Kurile Islands, Japan for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. At Pearl Harbor, Joseph Rochefort sent a report for his superiors that his cryptanalytic team had detected Japanese fleet movements and that the Japanese warships were seemingly staging for actions in the South Pacific. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 US intelligence detected Japanese troop movements in Indochina. In response, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull submitted the final proposal to Japanese diplomats for readjustment of US-Japanese relations, demanding the Japanese to withdraw all troops from China and Indochina, and with full expectation that the Japanese were not going to entertain this demand in any way. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 American aircraft ferry USS Kitty Hawk was commissioned into service. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 German and Italian forces fought the New Zealand 5th Brigade en route to Fort Capuzzo, Libya. Meanwhile, Erwin Rommel's staff recalled the troops at Sidi Rezegh, Libya, allowing British 7th Armoured Division to capture the town. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet troops re-opened the Tula-Moscow rail line in Russia. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 In Libya, Lieutenant Colonel H. C. J. Yeo took the British 44th Royal Tank Regiment on a spectacular night attack which broke through the besiegers' lines and effected a link up with the Tobruk garrison. Many had suggested that the attack was impossible, but Colonel Yeo and his men had proven them wrong, and reinforced the matter with a similar operation against Barcia on 1 Jan 1942. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Pompon was laid down. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Kyushu, Japan. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie DSO, MC (1897-1983) was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Eighth Army in North Africa. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Free French General Georges Catroux announced that France would place Syria and Lebanon on a course for full independence. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Akagi, flagship of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's First Air Fleet, departed Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands leading the Carrier Striking Force ("Kido Butai") in the "Hawaii Operation", the surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 With Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's First Air Fleet, Shokaku departed Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands for the Hawaii Operation, the attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Kaga departed Hitokappu Bay, Etorofu Island, Kurile Islands. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Naka became the flagship of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura of Japanese 4th Destroyer Squadron; she departed the Terashima Strait near Sasebo, Japan. 
0
26 Nov 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday in Warm Springs, Georgia, United States. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 In Russia, German SS Reich Division captured Istra west of Moscow while 7th Panzer Division advanced to the Moskva-Volga canal at Yakhroma east of Moscow. The forward-most German troops were reported within 19 miles of the Soviet capital, and noted the sighting of the Kremlin. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Harold Stark warned commanders of Pacific and Asiatic Fleets that attacks on Malaya, Philippine Islands, and Dutch East Indies were now a possibility. US Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall sent a similar message to commanders of US Army Hawaii and Philippine Departments. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 As the German 21st Panzer Division withdrew to the west for resupplying, the 15th Panzer Division captured Sidi Azeiz, Libya, taking 700 prisoners. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Haha Jima, Japan. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 New Zealand 2nd Division supported by 90 tanks penetrated the German encirclement of Tobruk, Libya and broke into the besieged city. Tanks of German 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions moved in to counterattack, but Australian and British troops halted it during the day; German tanks would attempt to close in on the city after sundown. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-559 sank Australian sloop HMAS Parramatta and ammunition ship Hanne 40 miles northeast of Tobruk, Libya at 0046 hours, killing a total of 168. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo rejected the American counter-proposal for peace. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 Russian partisan fighter Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was captured by the Germans. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-3 departed Arkhangelsk, Russia and convoy PQ-5 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 The Italian garrison at Gondar, Abyssinia surrendered as the British 12th (African) Division captured two mountain passes overlooking the town. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy-chartered passenger liner President Madison departed from Shanghai, China for the Philippine Islands with the 2nd Battalion of the US 4th Marine Regiment. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 Husband Kimmel met with Joseph Rochefort at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in the late afternoon to discuss possible moves Japan might take should Japan and United States continued to head toward a military conflict. Rochefort believed that the main Japanese thrust would be toward the South Pacific, and the Hawaiian Islands did not seem to be in direct danger for now. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 In Libya, German pilot Otto Schulz took off, shot down a British Bristol twin-engine aircraft, and landed safely near Gazala, Libya all within three minutes. Several British SAS personnel were killed aboard the Bristol aircraft. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 American radio intelligence analysts stationed in the Philippine Islands reported their suspicion that, contrary to the findings of their counterparts in the Hawaiian Islands, the Japanese warships detected to have been recently moved into the Marshall Islands were likely to take actions eastward rather than southward. Also, they concluded that main Japanese carrier force was still at Sasebo, Japan rather than in the Marshall Islands. 
0
27 Nov 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia, United States for a belated Thanksgiving holiday break. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 The German 3.Panzerkorps evacuated Rostov-on-Don, Russia due to lack of supplies; the city was reoccupied by Soviet forces later on the same day. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 The air echelon of US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 secretly flew 12 F4F-3 fighters from Ewe to Ford Island for further transfer to USS Enterprise. Later on the same day, USS Enterprise set sail for Wake Island. En route, Captain G. D. Murray of the USS Enterprise informed his subordinates that the carrier was now operating under war conditions. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy Commander W. S. Cunningham relieved US Marine Corps Major James P. S. Devereux as the overall commanding officer of Wake Island. 9 US Navy officers and 58 sailors arrived with Cunningham aboard seaplane tender USS Wright. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 German 7th Panzer Division crossed the Yakhroma bridge over the Moskva-Volga canal 37 miles north of Moscow, Russia at 0330 hours, but it would be driven back at the end of the day. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 British 7th Armored Division attacked German 15th Panzer Division with numerical superiority, but the Germans continued to press on toward Tobruk, Libya. Nearby, commanding officer of the German 21st Panzer Division General Johann von Ravenstein was captured by troops of the New Zealand 2nd Infantry Division. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 While being shadowed by German submarine U-95, Dutch submarine O-21 fired two stern torpedoes at its stalker 125 miles east of Gibraltar, sinking the German boat; 35 were killed, 12 survived and captured. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy-chartered passenger liner President Harrison departed from Shanghai, China for the Philippine Islands with the final elements of the US 4th Marine Regiment. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 USS Marblehead arrived at Tarakan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 A state funeral was held for Werner Mölders in Berlin, Germany. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop met with Hiroshi Oshima in Berlin, Germany, promising that Germany would declare war on the United States should Japan and the US enter a state of war; Ribbentrop, however, did not know Japan was planning on starting the war soon. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini arrived in Berlin, Germany. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-4 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
28 Nov 1941 WW2 Naka arrived at Mako, Pescadores islands. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 Operation Crusader: Italian Ariete Division overran the New Zealand 21st Battalion at Point 175 in Libya. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Stark directed that defense recommendations made by Major Alfred R. Pefley was to be implemented immediately, consisting mostly of the construction of defensive gun positions on various Pacific islands. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps Major Walter L. J. Bayler arrived at Wake Island with a detachment of Marines from Marine Aircraft Group 21 to set up air base communication facilities. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese ambassador in Germany Hiroshi Oshima reported that, on the previous day, Joachim von Ribbentrop had verbally promised a German declaration of war on the United States should Japan and the US enter a state of war. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 Russian partisan fighter Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was publicly executed by hanging by the Germans. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 The German 4th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attacked Allied convoy FN.564 off the coast of East Anglia, England, United Kingdom, sinking British tanker Asperity and freighters Empire Newcomen and Cormarsh. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-43 sank British ship Thornliebank 240 miles north of the Azores islands at 0411 hours, killing all 75 aboard. The navigator of U-43 was injured by showering debris. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 German 7th Panzer Division completed the evacuation of the Yakhroma bridgehead near Moscow, Russia; 45 were killed in the unsuccessful attempt to cross the Moskva-Volga canal. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 Soviet destroyer Slavny, destroyer Stoiki, troop ship Iosif Stalin, and other vessels, escorted by 5 minesweepers, 4 torpedo boats, and 7 submarine chasers, departed Kronstadt, Russia for Hanko, Finland to evacuate troops. German aircraft discovered the force, attacked, and sank icebreaker ship Oktyabr. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 US Navy river gunboats Luzon and Oahu departed Shanghai, China for Manila, Philippine Islands. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 British aircraft from Malta sank Italian tanker Berbera and damaged Italian tanker Volturno at Navarino (now Pylos), Greece. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 British Royal Navy Force B (cruiser HMS Ajax, cruiser HMS Neptune, destroyer HMS Kimberly, and destroyer HMS Kingston) under the command of Rear Admiral Bernard Rawlings arrived in Malta. 
0
29 Nov 1941 WW2 The British Royal Air Force's No. 151 Wing, which had been conducting successful combat missions in Northern Russia, handed over its Hurricane fighters to Lieutenant Colonel Boris Safonov's Soviet 72nd Air Regiment before sailing back home. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Emperor Showa ordered Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to proceed with plans to start the Pacific War, and subsequently Tojo rejected US proposals to de-escalate tension in the Far East. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Passenger liner President Madison, chartered by the US Navy, arrived at Olongapo, Philippine Islands, disembarking the 2nd Battalion of the US 4th Marine Regiment before continuing on to Singapore. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 New Zealand 24th and 26th Battalions were battered by Axis attacks at Sidi Rezegh, Libya. German forces launched a fresh attack on Tobruk, Libya. Out at sea, British aircraft from Malta sank Italian ship Capo Faro and damaged Italian ship Iseo, which were en route from Brindisi, Italy to Benghazi, Libya; they were carrying fuel and other supplies that were very much needed for the Axis campaign in North Africa. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 The United States Marine Corps reported the strength of 65,881 personnel. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Shoho was commissioned into service. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 The Japanese ambassador in Germany Hiroshi Oshima was informed by his superiors that war with the United States was near, and he was to inform Adolf Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentrop of such news. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 A Soviet force consisted of two destroyers, a troop ship, and other minor vessels arrived at Hanko, Finland to evacuate troops, while another force consisted of troop ship Maya, 3 minesweepers, 2 submarine chasters, and 1 gunboat departed Kronstadt, Russia for Hanko. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau replaced Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt as the commanding officer of German Army Group South in the Caucasus region of southern Russia. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-206 became missing in the Bay of Biscay west of France, possibly lost in a British minefield. All 46 men aboard were lost. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Whitley bombers of No. 502 Squadron RAF based in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom attacked German submarines U-71 and U-563 with depth charges in the Bay of Biscay, damaging U-71. This attack marked the first successful use of air-to-surface vessel radar. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 The warming of temperature in the region around Leningrad, Russia meant a decrease in the ice thickness over Lake Ladoga, which led to the decrease of supplies delivered by ground vehicles driving over ice; only 61 tons of food made its way into the city on this date. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Elements of German 2nd Panzer Division captured the railway station at Lobnya 19 miles north of Moscow, Russia. Meanwhile, Georgy Zhukov was ordered by Joseph Stalin to organize a counterattack. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96 dove to evade attacks by a British Swordfish aircraft off Gibraltar at 2235 hours. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 German submarine U-43 sank British ship Ashby 170 miles south of the Azores islands at 1926 hours; 17 were killed, some survived and were rescued by Portuguese destroyer Lima. U-43 survived the subsequent depth charging without any damage. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill sent Franklin Roosevelt a message requesting a conference on the impending war with Japan. Roosevelt would reject the request to avoid appearing like he was taking the United States toward war for the defense of the British Empire. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 launched a scout aircraft for a reconnaissance mission over Suva Bay, Fiji. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Komet arrived at Hamburg, Germany after a 516-day, 87,000-mile, circumnavigating journey. She sank 5 ships, captured 1 ship, and shared credit for another two sinkings on this mission. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Japanese destroyers Akembono and Ushio departed Tokyo Bay, Japan for Midway, where they were to bombard US military facilities when hostilities would begin. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 Latvian and German Jews were massacred near Riga, Latvia. 
0
30 Nov 1941 WW2 USS Grayback arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States for a scheduled overhaul. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru entered Mitsubishi Zosen yard for conversion into a hospital ship; naval surgeon Captain Kanai Izumi took command of the ship. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy changed its communications code. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered US Navy yacht Isabel and two other small vessels to be deployed off of the coast of Indochina; they were planned to be bait for the Japanese to fire the first shot, should war become unavoidable. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 American river gunboats Luzon and Oahu, submarine rescue vessel Pigeon, and minesweeper Finch set sail from China toward Philippine Islands, under the watchful eyes of a Japanese floatplane and several naval vessels. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 German 15th Panzer Division practically wiped out the 20th Battalion of New Zealand 2nd Division at Belhamed, Libya, but the attack was driven off by tanks of the British 4th Armoured Brigade. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 The Japanese ambassador in Germany Hiroshi Oshima was ordered to secure Joachim von Ribbentrop's signature on a document which stated that Germany would declare war on the United States should Japan and US enter a state of war. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 SS-Standartenfuhrer Jager submitted a report dated on this day, noting that his Einsatzgruppen, operating in Lithuania, had killed 99,804 Jews in that country to this date. In the same report, the detachment also under Jager sent to Minsk, Byelorussia reported killing 620 adult male, 1,285 adult female, and 1,126 children, all Jews; 19 communists were also executed in Minsk by this detachment. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-96, having escaped British air attacks in the Bay of Biscay, surfaced at 0445 hours and returned to France. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Three German infantry divisions and one German armored division advanced along the Minsk-Moscow highway, penetrating through the lines of the Soviet 33rd Army, capturing Naro-Fominsk 43 miles southwest of Moscow, Russia. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Dorsetshire located German supply ship Python refueling submarines UA and U-68 in the South Atlantic 1,150 miles west of South Africa. Python was scuttled as her crew sighted Dorsetshire, but Dorsetshire backed off due to the threat of the two submarines. Two additional German submarines and four Italian submarines arrived to join UA and U-68 in rescuing Python's survivors. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 A Soviet force consisted of troop ship Maya, 3 minesweepers, 2 submarine chasters, and 1 gunboat arrived in Hanko, Finland to evacuate troops. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Palau Islands. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Eduard Neumann and General der Flieger Hans Geisler awarded Hans-Joachim Marseille the German Cross in Gold. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps established a Marine Corps Air Station at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands under Lieutenant Colonel Ford O. Rogers (redesignated from Marine Corps Air Facility, Bourne Field). 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps 2nd Defense Battalion and 4th Defense Battalion arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Radio messages sent from Sasebo, Japan using outdated call signs tricked US Navy cryptanalysts in US Territory of Hawaii into believing that carrier Akagi was still in home waters. Later on the same day, the cryptanalysts realized that all Japanese warships' call signs had changed. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy Destroyer Division 7 sailed from Tokyo, Japan sailed for Midway, soon to join the rest of the Midway Neutralization Unit. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Kure, Japan. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 At an Imperial Conference held in Tokyo, Japan, the decision was taken to go to war with the United States. According to Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, Emperor Showa, the country's devine ruler, did not utter a single word in response. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Malta-based British reconnaissance aircraft spotted an Italian supply convoy traveling for North Africa. The subsequent attack 60 miles off Libya saw the sinking of tanker Iridio Mantovani (with 10,000 tons of fuel) by aircraft and the sinking of transport Adriatico by cruisers HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope. HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope were attacked by Italian destroyer Alvise Da Mosta with torpedoes and gunfire, but the British cruisers fought back, sinking the destroyer and killing 200. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Passenger liner President Harrison arrived at Olongapo, Philippine Islands with elements of US 4th Marine Regiment recently withdrawn from Shanghai, China; the liner departed for China later on the same day to embark the last US Marines stationed in China. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 During this month, the Japanese Army established the Research Department within the Taiwan Army. One of the missions of this department was to develop jungle warfare tactics. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 As US-Japan relations rapidly deteriorated, the Japanese Consulate General in California began to destroy its records, as did the Consulate General, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and the Japan Institute in New York City. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signed Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps established a Marine Corps Air Station at Cunningham Field, Cherry Point, North Carolina, United States under Colonel Thomas J. Cushman. 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps established a Marine Corps Air Station at Quantico, Virginia, United States under Major Ivan W. Miller (redesignated from Base Air Detachment 1, Marine Barracks). 
0
01 Dec 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Harder was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 Edward Rydz-Śmigły passed away. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 Motorcycle patrols from the German 2nd Panzer Division at Moscow, Russia reached Khimki and claimed that they were as close as 10 miles northwest from the Kremlin. The 2nd Panzer Division, however, was unable gather enough strength to exploit the weakly defended lines that the reconnaissance troops discovered. To the west, additional Soviet reinforcements reached Naro-Fominsk. To the south of Moscow, another German attack on Tula cut the Tula-Moscow rail line. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 US PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported 20 Japanese transports congregating in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 British Prime Minister Churchill's new National Service Bill included compulsory service for women. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-43 torpedoed and sank the unarmed US tanker Astral with a crew of 37. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet troopships Iosif Stalin and Maya, along with a number of other warships and transport vessels, departed Hanko, Finland with the last of the 12,000 troops aboard. This marked the final Soviet evacuation from Finnish territory occupied by the Soviet Union at the conclusion of the Winter War. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese embassies in United States, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, and Philippine Islands were ordered to destroy certain documents and code books. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese carrier fleet refueled in the North Pacific at 42 degrees north and 170 degrees east; at 2000 hours, the code "Niitaka Yama Noboru 1208" was issued, indicating that the attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii was to be launched on 8 Dec 1941 Tokyo time, 7 Dec on the other side of the international date line. Meanwhile, at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel was briefed of the disposition of the Japanese fleet, with the whereabouts of Carrier Division 1 and Carrier Division 2 (four fleet carriers total) not known; the best American guess was that they were at Kure, Japan. Finally, at Honolulu, Hawaii, Consul-General Nagao Kita was asked to provide a report regarding the presence of any barrage balloons or torpedo nets. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 The Axis attack on Tobruk, Libya that began on 30 Nov 1941 was halted as Axis tank losses reached such a level that repairs must be made before any further operations were possible. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Prince of Wales arrived at Singapore. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Repulse arrived at Singapore. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-562 sank British ship Grelhead in the Atlantic Ocean 2 miles off Morocco at 0119 hours; 41 were killed, 2 survived. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-557 sank Norwegian ship Fjord east of Gibraltar at 2033 hours; 14 were killed, 22 survived. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-43 attacked US tanker Astral near the Azores islands just after 0000 hours; all torpedoes missed. At 0924 hours, U-43 attacked Astral again, destroying the tanker with two torpedo hits; all 37 aboard were killed. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan for San Francisco, ostensibly for the second repatriation voyage to bring Japanese nationals in the United States to Japan. Her planned voyage would take her to Honolulu and San Francisco in the United States, then Manzanillo in Mexico, followed by Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone. 
0
02 Dec 1941 WW2 American submarine USS Trout began a "simulated war patrol" off Midway. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy yacht Isabel set sail for the coast of Indochina on Roosevelt's orders; she was planned to be one of three vessels that would attempt to draw first fire from Japanese warships should hostilities become unavoidable. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 The Japanese carrier fleet tasked with the Pearl Harbor attack turned south after refueling on the previous day, approaching the Hawaii Islands with increased speed. At Pearl Harbor, the American intelligence report on the location of Japanese Navy warships had "no information on submarines or carriers". Elsewhere in Hawaii, Consul-General Nagao Kita received orders to burn code ciphers and important papers; this was noticed by the Americans, who also received intelligence that several Japanese embassies around the world were doing the same. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 US PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported 30 Japanese transports congregating in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina, 10 more than the previous day. Meanwhile, a Japanese fleet departed Hainan Island in southern China for Thailand. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank the unarmed US freighter Sagadahoc in the South Atlantic with torpedoes. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy issued the order to its senior admirals that hostilities against United States, Britain, and the Netherlands would begin on 8 Dec 1941 (Tokyo time). 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines began forming lines in Central and East Pacific. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Carrier USS Enterprise began to launch F4F Wildcat fighters of the US Marine Corps for Wake Island. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Hitler issued a decree on "Simplification and Increased Efficiency in our Armaments Production" (commonly known as the "Rationalization Decree") in which he chided German firms for failing to adopt the practice of large factories and simple production methods, and ordered the military to simplify and standardize the design of all weapons to make possible "mass production on modern principles". 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Japan asked Italy to declare war on the United States should Japan and US enter a state of war. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 The Soviet evacuation convoy that had departed Hanko, Finland on the previous day sailed into the Corbetha minefield in the Gulf of Finland. One minesweeper was sunk and several other vessels were damaged. The passengers and crew aboard troop ship Iosif Stalin, which was seriously damaged by a mine, abandoned ship; about 4,000 of the nearly 6,000 that went overboard died in the water. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 German 4th Army was halted at Naro-Fominsk west of Moscow, Russia, thus exposing the flank of the German 2nd Panzer Army, which was assaulting the Tula region south of Moscow. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 The Axis attempt to reach Bardia in Libya and Sollum and Halfaya Pass in Egypt failed to breach the Allied positions that stood in the way. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank US ship Sagadahoc 1,250 west of South Africa at 2147 hours; 1 was killed, 34 survived. She was to be the last American merchant ship to be lost to the German Navy before the US officially entered the war. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-3 began to arrive in Allied waters. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Scirè departed La Spezia, Italy for Alexandria, Egypt with three manned torpedoes on board. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to his unit at Ain el Gazala, Libya after duties in Germany. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 American submarine USS Argonaut began a "simulated war patrol" off Midway. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Gar reached the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 The two crematoria of Auschwitz Concentration Camp that was inactivated on 20 Nov for service were reactivated. 
0
03 Dec 1941 WW2 President Franklin Roosevelt announced that Lend-Lease aid would be given to Turkey, as the safety of that country was considered vital to American defence. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Carrier USS Enterprise completed launching F4F Wildcat fighters of the US Marine Corps for Wake Island and set sail for Hawaii Islands, scheduling to arrive on 6 Dec 1941. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Schedule of Pearl Harbor attack was transmitted to the Japanese submarine fleet along with the latest intelligence and weather information. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese invasion fleets departed from various locations for their destinations in Malaya and Thailand. Later this day, American PBY Catalina patrol aircraft reported that the 30 Japanese transports detected on the previous day in Cam Ranh Bay off Indochina were no longer there. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 12 F4F-3 fighters of US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 arrived at Wake Island, delivered by USS Enterprise; they began daily patrols immediately. Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft scouted Wake Island undetected. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 On the Eastern Front of the European War, temperature dropped to -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-37 degrees Celsius). In this cold weather, Günther von Kluge ordered German Army Group Center to fall to defensive positions. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 American river gunboats Luzon and Oahu, submarine rescue vessel Pigeon, and minesweeper Finch reached Manila, Philippine Islands from China. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 American river gunboat Mindanao set sail from Hong Kong for Manila, Philippine Islands. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Keith Park was made a companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Arizona conducted a night gunnery exercise. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Haha Jima, Japan with Destroyer Division 23, escorting the invasion fleet for Guam, Mariana Islands. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Curtiss-Wright Corporation opened a new factory complex in Columbus, Ohio, United States. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 The British 4th Armoured Brigade moved east to counter the Axis advance toward Bardia, Libya and Sollum, Egypt. Erwin Rommel responded by pulling back the advances toward Bardia and Sollum for a concentrated attack toward Tobruk. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Perseus sank Italian freighter Eridano 6 miles off Lefkada, Greece. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 American river gunboats Wake and Tutuila remained near Shanghai and Chongqing, respectively, to maintain communications with American diplomatic offices in China. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Eichmann appointed Jacob Edelstein, originally from Prague, the chairperson of the Council of Jewish Elders of Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. 
0
04 Dec 1941 WW2 At an event at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Joseph Stalin noted to Aleksandr Vasilevsky his surprise that Vasilevsky only had a single Order of the Red Star and a medal on Vasilevsky's uniform; the Soviet leader had expected the general to be better decorated. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese invasion fleet boarded a Norwegian freighter and destroyed her radio. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines surrounded Hawaii Islands. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Japan announced that recent troop movements in Indochina were merely precautionary. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 The Germans canceled Operation Typhoon on this date during which the lowest temperature dropped to -36 degrees Fahrenheit (-38 degrees Celsius). Meanwhile, Soviet General Zhukov launched Konev's Kalinin Front against German forces northwest of Moscow, Russia at 0300 hours, meeting strong resistance. From Germany, Adolf Hitler ordered the transfer of the German 2nd Air Corps from Russia to the Mediterranean Sea region. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 British 4th Armoured Brigade remained in the Libyan-Egyptian border region despite observing the withdrawing of Axis troops, unsure of Erwin Rommel's intentions. Meanwhile, German tanks attacked positions held by the Indian 11th Brigade near Tobruk, Libya. On the same day, Rommel was advised that supply situation would turn badly soon, and he considered withdrawing to the Gazala Line. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 U-175 was commissioned into service. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop gave Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Oshima a draft document which noted that Germany would declare war on the United States should Japan and the US enter a state of war. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Australian pilot Clive Caldwell, in a Tomahawk fighter, shot down five Stuka dive bombers in Libya. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet General Meretskov launched a final assault on German positions in Tikhvin, Russia, which was 110 miles east of Leningrad. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 The E15K floatplane took its maiden flight. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 The Germans captured the damaged and abandoned troop ship Iosif Stalin near the Estonian coast with 2,000 survivors still on board. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Lexington departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Islands to ferry US Marine Corps SB2U Vindicator dive bombers to Midway Atoll. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Arizona arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and was moored at Ford Island. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to join Task Force 12. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Irako was commissioned into Japanese Navy service with Captain Eisaku Tsuji in command. She departed Kobe, Japan. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Crown Prince Yi Un toured Keijo (now Seoul), Korea. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a British Hurricane fighter while escorting Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers south of Bir el Gubi Libya at 1525 hours. It was his 26th kill. 
0
05 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft conducted reconnaissance flights over the coasts of Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru was in the Pacific en route for San Francisco, California, United States; her planned passenger list after arriving in the United States now included employees of the Japanese Raw Silk Intelligence Bureau, the Silk Department of Mitsui and Company, Gunze Corporation, Asahi Corporation, Japanese Cotton and Silk Trading Company, Hara and Company, Katakura and Company, Morimura and Company, Arai and Company, and Shinyai and Company. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom declared war on Finland, Hungary, and Romania. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy yacht Isabel was detected by a floatplane from Japanese seaplane carrier Kamikawa Maru off Indochina; Isabel was later ordered to abort her current mission as bait for first fire and to sail for Manila, Philippine Islands. Shortly after, nearby, a Japanese Zero fighter covering the Malaya invasion force found and shot down a British PBY Catalina patrol aircraft. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet troops 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. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 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. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 US President Roosevelt sent a personal message to Emperor Showa, attempting to calm situation in Indochina. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Enterprise encountered heavy weather which delayed her refueling operation for destroyers and delayed the arrival at Pearl Harbor. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer US Decatur, escorting convoy ONS 39, depth charged suspicious contacts in the North Atlantic off Iceland. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Arizona began receiving maintenance work by the crew of repair ship USS Vestal. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Vannevar Bush and Arthur Compton assigned Harold Urey to develop research into gaseous diffusion as a uranium enrichment method and Ernest Lawrence to investigate electromagnetic separation methods. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 The official wedding ceremony between King Leopold III of Belgium and Lilian Baels was held; they had already secretly wed on 11 Sep 1941. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Oberst Adolf Galland was appointed General der Jagdflieger. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 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. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 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. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Ryujo departed Palau Islands for the Philippine Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-131 sank British ship Scottish Trader with 6 torpedoes south of Iceland, killing all 43 aboard. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Perseus struck an Italian mine while recharging her batteries on the surface 2 miles off Kefalonia, Greece. She sank, killing 60. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed the Palau Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Palau Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-204 was sunk by Bulgarian aircraft in the Black Sea 24 miles south of Varna, Bulgaria. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi departed Palau Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese spy Yoshikawa reported US ship locations in Pearl Harbor; the message was decrypted aboard Japanese carrier Akagi 36 minutes later. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Battleships USS Oklahoma arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Battleships USS Nevada arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Islands. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Hurricane fighters, his 27th and 28th kills, over El Adem, Libya at 1210 and 1225 hours. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 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. Elsewhere, a Japanese invasion fleet boarded and scuttled a Norwegian freighter. 
0
06 Dec 1941 WW2 The US Navy leadership in Washington DC, United States was warned of the burning of papers at the nearby Japanese embassy. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 At about midnight at the very beginning of the day, Tatsuta Maru was ordered to reverse course. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Fusata Iida passed away. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Naoji Iwasa passed away. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel ordered his forces to pull back by about 10 miles toward the Gazala Line, abandoning the Tobruk objective. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 American steam-powered schooner Cynthia Olson, under charter of the US Army, was shelled and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 with no survivors; two US Army personnel were on board. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops invaded Khota Baru, Malaya, two hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. A series of landings in nearby Thailand initially met stiff resistance, but the Thai government negotiated for an armistice within hours. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft bombarded Singapore, Guam, and Wake, while two Japanese destroyers shelled Midway Atoll, causing 14 casualties and damaging much equipment. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Hitler published his notorious Nacht und Nebel (Night and Fog) decree which allows the Gestapo to dispose of their prisoners without trace. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 After suffering a heart attack, Feldmarschall von Brauchitsch tendered his resignation. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 The office of the US Navy Chief of Naval Operations ordered unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Arizona received two bomb hits during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. The second bomb hit led to the detonation of her forward ammunition magazine, which led to her sinking. 1,177 were killed, including Battleship Division 1 commanding officer Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd and her commanding officer Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Isaac Kidd became the first US Navy flag officer to be killed in action during WW2. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Mitsuo Fuchida led the Pearl Harbor attack, remaining over the target area throughout both waves of attacks to observe the degree of damage done to the American fleet. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 The commanding officer of the US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion at American Samoa ordered his troops to man their positions as he was informed of the attacks on American positions across the Pacific Ocean. He also called the Samoan Marine Reserve Battalion to active duty. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet forces captured Tikhvin, Russia east of Leningrad. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet 30th Army attacked German 3rd Panzer Army at Klin while Soviet 50th Army attacked German 2nd Panzer Division near Moscow, Russia. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Harvester and HMS Hesperus sank German submarine U-208 115 miles west of Gibraltar, killing the entire crew of 45. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Canadian corvette HMCS Windflower, escorting Allied convoy SC-58 off Newfoundland, collided with Dutch freighter Zypenberg in poor visibility due to fog and sank; 23 were killed. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho departed the Inland Sea, Japan with a large fleet. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 It was announced that from midnight the British Empire would be at war with Finland, Hungary and Romania. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 One day prior to the opening of the Pacific War (owing to the International Date Line), the first three Australian Hudson medium bombers arrived at Rabaul, Bismarck Islands; they were under the command of Flight Lieutenant John Murphy. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 River gunboat USS Wake was captured by the Japanese in Shanghai, China. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese armored cruiser Izumo sank British river gunboat HMS Peterel in Shanghai, China. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Two strike waves were launched against Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Akagi's torpedo planes were instrumental in sinking the battleships USS Oklahoma and West Virginia. Vice Admiral Nagumo ordered a withdrawal following recovery of the second attack wave. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Operation Z: 360 Japanese carrier aircraft (104 bombers, 135 dive bombers, 40 torpedo bombers, and 81 fighters) attacked Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, sinking or damaging 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 1 anti-aircraft training ship, 1 minelayer; destroying 188 aircraft; and killing 2,459 (57 of which were civilian) and wounding 1,282 (35 of which were civilian). The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines; 55 were killed and 10 were wounded. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Helena suffered a torpedo hit during the Pearl Harbor raid at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a British Hurricane fighter, his 29th kill, at 0930 hours near Sidi Omar, Libya. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Shokaku participated in the two strike waves against Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Chuichi Nagumo ordered a withdrawal following recovery of the second attack wave. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka departed Mako, Pescadores islands to escort the Philippine Islands invasion force. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill had lunch with Duchess of Marlborough Alexandra Mary Cadogan and her son Marquess of Blandford John Spencer-Churchill. He had dinner with US Ambassador John Gilbert Winant and W. Averell Harriman; after dinner, they learned of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor in the US Territory of Hawaii. He would later write that he "slept the sleep of the saved and thankful", relieved that the United States was finally in the war, and Britain was no longer alone. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 British RAF airmen returning from Murmansk and Arkhangelsk areas of northern Russia began to arrive in Britain by ships. 
0
07 Dec 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt met with Chinese ambassador Hu Shih at the White House in Washington DC, United States, had lunch with Harry Hopkins, and at 1347 hours he was interrupted by a telephone call from Frank Knox, informing him of the Pearl Harbor attack. At 2030 hours, Roosevelt gave a briefing to a small group of Congressmen. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 The rebuilding of the interior of Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru began. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 I-68 traveled to the entrance of Pearl Harbor to rescue any surviving midget submarine crews. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 RAF Hudson aircraft bombed Japanese invasion shipping off Kota Bharu, British Malaya, setting cargo ship Awajisan Maru afire. The Japanese 143rd Infantry Regiment of 55th Division (under command of 25th Army) landed on four beaches in southern Thailand; local Thai forces, unaware of their government's agreement to allow free passage to the Burma border, put up a fierce resistance and killed 79 Japanese soldiers. Japanese aircraft began arriving at Songkla in southern Thailand to prepare for air raids against targets in British Malaya. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet offensive broke through German Armeegruppe Mitte near Moscow, Russia, cutting the Klin-Kalinin road. German units began making hasty withdrawals to prevent encirclement, abandoning large numbers of immobilized equipment in the process. Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive 39 which called for German troops to hold their ground. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-123 mined Balabac Strait in Philippine waters while I-124 mined the entrance to Manila Bay. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Striking Force of the US Navy Asiatic Fleet departed from Iloilo, Philippine Islands for Makassar Strait. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese naval aircraft from carrier Ryujo attacked seaplane tender USS William B. Preston in Davao Gulf; the ship escaped in tact, but two of the PBY Catalina flying boats she was tending were destroyed. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese forces invaded the British colony of Hong Kong. British and Canadian garrison at Hong Kong was hopelessly outnumbered and beyond reach of any Allied help. Within less than two days the defenders would be forced to retreat to Hong Kong island itself. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese invasion fleet for Wake Island departed from Kwajalein while aircraft of the Japanese Navy 24th Air Flotilla (based at Roi-Namur, Kwajalein) attacked Camp One, Camp Two, and the airstrip on Wake; Japanese aircraft destroyed seven of the Eight F4F-3 fighters were destroyed as well as a 25,000-gallon capacity aviation gas tank. Meanwhile, Pan American Airways aircraft evacuated Caucasians from Wake Island, leaving airline staff of Chamorro ethnicity behind. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 In the Mariana Islands, Japanese land-based aircraft from Saipan attacked Guam, damaging various facilities and sinking minesweeper USS Penguin in Apra Harbor (1 killed, 60 wounded). 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki conducted anti-submarine operations in the Mariana Islands area. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue gave the order to the Japanese Navy Fourth Fleet at Truk, Caroline Islands to began executing the plans to capture Wake, Guam (Mariana Islands), Makin (Gilbert Islands), Tarawa (Gilbert Islands), and other islands and atolls in the Pacific Ocean. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the German Navy to begin attacking American shipping. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Galeazzo Ciano called Joachim von Ribbentrop to discuss the American entry into the war; Ciano later noted that Ribbentrop was happy with this latest development. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 German bombers sank British minesweeping trawlers HMT Milford Earl (5 killed) and HMT Phineas Beard off the east coast of Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho passed through the Bungo Strait between Kyushu and Shikoku, Japan. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Costa Rica, Dominica, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared war on Japan. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 The fourth Australian Hudson medium bomber arrived at Rabaul, Bismarck Islands. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Canada declared war on Japan. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 In China, Colonel William W. Ashurst surrendered the US Marine Corps detachments in Tianjin, Beiping, Qinhuangdao (Camp Holcomb), and the American embassy to the Japanese. In Shanghai, Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops captured US Navy river gunboat Wake before the gunboat's crew could scuttle her. US passenger liner President Harrison, en route to northern China to evacuate US Marines, was captured by the Japanese at Sha Wai Shan, China; she was later refloated and pressed into service as Kakko Maru and later Kachidoki Maru. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 China, having already been engaged in war with Japan since Jul 1937, formally declared war on Japan and Germany. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 While at Tarakan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies, USS Marblehead received the alert that Japan had started hostilities. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese ambassador in Germany Hiroshi Oshima sent a note to Joachim von Ribbentrop, requesting Germany to declare war on the United States. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Helena entered dry dock at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-6 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a P-40 fighter, his 30th kill, over El Adem, Libya at 0845 hours. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Tenryu departed Roi-Namur, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet land-based aircraft from Taiwan attacked US Army airfields on Luzon island, Philippine Islands as well as shipping in Manila Bay; at the latter location, American freighter Capillo was abandoned after receiving heavy damage. Japanese Army aircraft joined in on the attack on this date also, striking Baguio and Tuguegarao at 0930 hours. North of Luzon, a Japanese force landed on Batan Island and established an air base. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Saburo Sakai of Japanese Navy Tainan Air Group, flying an A6M Zero fighter, attacked Clark Field in the Philippine Islands; he shot down one P-40 Warhawk fighter. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Chelmno Concentration Camp near Lodz, Poland began gassings; it was the first large camp established for the purpose of mass exterminations. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 United Kingdom declared war on Japan. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 The French government-in-exile in Britain declared war on Japan. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 The Dutch government-in-exile in Britain declared war on Japan. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 United States Congress declared war on Japan after Franklin Roosevelt's "a date which will live in infamy" speech. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Saratoga departed San Diego, California for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 The keel of submarine Runner was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States. 
0
08 Dec 1941 WW2 Edward Murrow and his wife Janet had dinner at the White House in Washington DC, United States with Eleanor Roosevelt. The dinner was arranged prior to the Japanese attack, and Murrow had expected the invitation to be canceled, but surprisingly Franklin Roosevelt insisted that the plans be kept; although Roosevelt was too busy to join them at the meal, he would make sure to meet with Murrow for some time late in the evening. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops seized Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines RO-63, RO-64, and RO-68 bombarded Howland and Baker Islands; it was believed that the US Navy had seaplane bases on those islands, but that intelligence was incorrect. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Transport William Ward Burrows, en route to Wake Island, was re-routed to Johnston Island. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 After more than four years of full scale war, China finally formally declared war on Japan. Cuba and Panama also declared war on Japan on this day. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy purchased 25 airborne search radar sets for service test in dive bombers and torpedo planes. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet troops recaptured Tikhivin, northern Russia. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 When the rest of his flight was jumped on take-off by Japanese fighters, RAF Squadron Leader Arthur Scarf went on alone to bomb his target in Malaya. Attacked by 12 fighters on the way back, he was fatally wounded but landed his Blenheim bomber and saved his crew. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 shelled and sank unarmed Panamanian-flag motorship Donerail 200 miles southeast of Hawaii; only 8 out of the 40 people onboard survived. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Bitter fighting between British and Japanese troops took place for the airfield at Kota Bharu in British Malaya, while two groups of Indian troops crossed into Thailand to destroy roads and railroads. In Thailand, the Japanese entered Bangkok. Out at sea, Japanese aircraft and submarine I-65 spotted British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse; torpedo bombers were launched from Saigon, occupied French Indochina, but they failed to locate the ships. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 USN river gunboat Mindanao, en route from Hong Kong to Manila, captured a Japanese fishing vessel and took her Taiwanese crew of ten aboard as prisoners. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Swordfish became the first US submarine to attack the enemy when she fired on a Japanese ship 150 miles west of Manila. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 USS R-1 patrolled the New England coast of northeastern United States. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft commenced the bombing of Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands; among the first targets in the capital city region was the US Army airbase Nichols Field. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft bombarded American defensive positions at Guam, Mariana Islands. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops breached a western segment of the British Gin Drinker's Line, which stretched from the Gin Drinker's Bay (Zuijiu Wan) in the west to the White Sands Bay (Baisha Wan) in the east, at 225 High Ground north of Hong Kong Island. 27 prisoners were taken. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-652 sank French ship Saint Denis 50 miles south of the Balearic Islands at 1400 hours, killing 3; the ship was sunk in a case of misidentification, as she flew the flag of Vichy France. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-134 mistakenly sank German ship Steinbek 20 miles off of northern Norway at 2100 hours; 12 survived. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese destroyers Ayanami and Yugiri discovered Dutch submarine O 20 twenty miles east of Kota Bharu, British Malaya and attacked her with depth charges from 1100 to 1730 hours. O 20 was finally forced to surface after sundown and was scuttled. 7 were killed during the attack; 32 survived and were captured. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill sent Franklin Roosevelt a message requesting a conference on the war with Japan. Roosevelt initially intended to reject this request, wishing to give his top generals more time to research the situation to avoid the British dominating the conference. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Australian Hudson medium bombers began patrolling out of Rabaul, Bismarck Islands. They spotted an unidentified aircraft that was suspected to be Japanese, but they failed to intercept it. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Kenkichi Ueda was awarded Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Orchidaceae of the puppet nation of Manchukuo and received a special medal to commenmorate the opening of the National Shinto Shrine of Manchukuo. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived in Berlin, Germany at 1100 hours. He decided to declare war on the United States on this date, but decided to withhold the announcement until 11 Dec in order to have enough time to draft his speech. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Pollack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Skipjack departed Manila, Philippine Islands for her first war patrol. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Saburo Sakai, flying an A6M Zero fighter, attacked US positions in the Philippine Islands in poor weather. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet 30th Army attacked north of Moscow, Russia, capturing many trucks and field guns abandoned by the German 3rd Panzer Army. South of Moscow, Soviet troops captured Venev and Yelets. Despite the victories, Soviet logistic situation was extremely poor largely due to the destruction of many vehicles at the hands of the Germans in the past few months; for example, Viktor Abakumov reported on this day that on 25 Nov 1941 Soviet 18th Ski Battalion went without any food. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt had his first "Fireside Chat" radio address since the United States had entered the war, noting that the Axis powers had been tainted with "a decade of immorality". 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 Bob Feller enlisted in the United States Navy. 
0
09 Dec 1941 WW2 At Wake Atoll, Japanese Navy 24th Air Flotilla aircraft bombed Naval Air Station on Peale Island and Batteries A and E at Peacock Point. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Thomas Phillips passed away. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Operation Crusader: The siege of Tobruk, Libya was lifted. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Destroyer Squadron 6 conducted amphibious invasion on Wake and Wilkes islands in failure, losing one destroyer and three other craft to shore battery and one destroyer to US aircraft, making them the first Japanese ships to be sunk in the Pacific War; this invasion was the only time in the Pacific War that shore defenders overcame an amphibious landing. In the air, USMC Captain Elrod shot down a Japanese G3M2 Type 96 land attack aircraft at Wake, which was the first USMC air-to-air kill of the Pacific War. On the same day, Japanese aircraft destroyed a 125-ton dynamite cache, and the resulting explosion caused damage to coastal batteries. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Aircraft from USS Enterprise sank Japanese submarine I-70 in Hawaiian waters. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 German spy Karel Richter was executed at Wandsworth Prison in Britain. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 In the Mariana Islands, 1,400-strong landing party of the Japanese Navy 5th Defense Force from Saipan landed on Dungcas Beach at Guam. At the same time, 5,500 men of the Japanese South Seas Detached Force landed at Tumon Bay, near Merizo, and at Talafofo Bay. US military governor of Guam, Captain McMillin, surrendered the island to the Japanese Navy commanding officer. Two patrol craft, thirteen lighters, one dredge, three barges, and one auxiliary vessel at Guam were turned over to the Japanese. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-58 spotted British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse off British Malaya, launched five torpedoes, but all of them missed; beginning at 1117 hours, Japanese aircraft began to attack. Overwhelmed, HMS Repulse was sunk at 1233 hours (513 killed), followed by HMS Prince of Wales at 1318 hours (327 killed); destroyers HMS Electra, HMS Express, and HMS Vampire rescued 1,862 survivors. On land, the British commanders dispatched the 1st Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Gurkha Rifles regiment to Changlun and Asun in northern British Malaya to counter the Japanese advance; contact was made at Changlun at 2100 hours, where two Japanese tanks were destroyed before the Punjabi troops fell back toward Asun. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 British troops withdrew onto Hong Kong island after the defensive Gin Drinker's Line collapsed. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 USS R-1 patrolled the New England coast of northeastern United States. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill transferred Burma under the operational command of Archibald Wavell in India. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 The Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet was reorganized to contain three air flotillas, a destroyer division, three transports, and two Special Naval Landing Forces. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop ordered the German chargé d'affaires in Washington DC, United States to avoid provoking the United States, as Adolf Hitler would like to declare war on the United States first. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet troops encircled three German divisions at Livny, south of Moscow, Russia. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-130 attacked Allied convoy SC-57 200 miles southwest of Ireland just before midnight at the end of the day, sinking British transport Kurdistan, British transport Kirnwood, and Egyptian transport Star of Luxor. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Captain Karou Umetani of light carrier Hosho received a US submarine sighting report and decided to launch aircraft to hunt for the submarine even though the late launch meant he would have to turn on the flight deck lights after dark when the aircraft returned. No hostile submarines made use of the flight deck lights to attack the carrier, but the landing operations caused Hosho to be separated from the fleet. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Russian ship Kuzbass and tug Arcos, Stragglers of Allied convoy QP-3, were found by Soviet ice breaker Fyodor Litke, rescue ship Squall, and Soviet patrol ship SKR-19 at 0900 hours. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Joseph Rochefort and his team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii began working on decrypting the main Japanese Navy operational code. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the South African P-40 fighter piloted by Lieutenant B. G. S. Enslin near El Adem, Libya at 0850 hours. It was his 31st kill. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippine Islands was heavily damaged by Japanese aircraft; destroyers Peary and Pillsbury, submarines Seadragon and Sealion, and submarine tender Otus were damaged; ferry Santa Rita was sunk; minesweeper Bittern was destroyed by fire; about 60% of US Navy Asiatic Fleet's torpedoes were destroyed at Cavite. A PBY Catalina aircraft, fleeing from the attack on Cavite Navy Yard, was attacked by three Zero fighters; gunner Chief Boatswain Payne shot down one of the Zero fighters, thus scoring the US Navy's first verifiable air-to-air kill of a Japanese aircraft in the Pacific War. Elsewhere, Japanese aircraft attacked Manila Bay area, damaging American freighter Sagoland. Finally, Japanese troops of the 2nd Taiwan Regiment of the 48th Division landed on Camiguin Island and at Gonzaga, Vigan, and Aparri on Luzon Island. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 While guarding transports which disembarked troops on Luzon, Philippine Islands, Naka was attacked by US B-17 bombers, P-35A fighters, and P-40B fighters, receiving slight damage from strafing. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Saburo Sakai, flying an A6M Zero fighter, shot down a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber flown by Captain Colin Kelly in the Philippine Islands. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Gar arrived at San Diego, California, United States. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Flying Fish was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander Glynn Donaho in command. 
0
10 Dec 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt tore up a letter he drafted for Winston Churchill intending to delay Churchill's request for a conference as he heard news of the Japanese sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse off Malaya and realized the urgency of having to plan for a campaign against the Japanese. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese infantrymen under the command of Colonel Shizuo Saeki overran the defenses set up by Punjabi troops between Changlun and Asun, British Malaya, and gave chase into Asun, where Gurkha troops slowed the Japanese advance by destroying the two Japanese tanks in the spearhead; the Gurkha positions, however, would be captured by 1900 hours, killing or capturing 350 men. Nearby, Japanese troops also under Saeki reached the outskirts of Jitra, British Malaya, which was defended by troops of the 11th Indian Division. Out at sea, Japanese pilot Lieutenant Ito, flying a torpedo bomber over the location where Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk on the previous day, dropped a wreath to honor the killed British sailors. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; United States responded with a declaration of war. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox arrived at Hawaii to personally assess the damage inflicted on 7 Dec 1941 by the Japanese. Meanwhile, Japanese submarine I-9 shelled the unarmed US freighter Lahaina about 800 miles northeast of Honolulu. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 US submarine Triton successfully attacked a Japanese ship south of Wake Island. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Legaspi, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 In North Africa the Italians reformed the line running south from the coast at Gazala with their armour on the right flank. Rommel's Afrika Korps, reduced to just forty operational tanks after the Operation Crusader battles, protected the open southern flank. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 USS R-1 arrived at Bermuda. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 North of Moscow, Russia, Soviet 16th Army captured Istra while Soviet 20th Army reached Solnechnogorsk. South of Moscow, Soviet troops captured Stalinogorsk. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-374 sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Lady Shirley in the Strait of Gibraltar at 0421 hours, killing all 33 aboard. 21 minutes later, U-374 sank British patrol yacht HMS Rosabelle, which attempted to locate U-374; 30 were killed, 12 survived and rescued by patrol yacht HMS Sayonara. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Truant fired two torpedoes at Italian tankers in Suda Bay, Crete, Greece; one of them hit torpedo boat Alcione, killing 20. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 British destroyer HMS Farndale forced Italian submarine Caracciola to surface 30 miles northeast of Bardia, Libya and sank her with gunfire; 1 was killed (a passenger with the rank of an army general), 53 survived. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho rejoined the fleet; in the previous night, she fell out of formation as she slowed to conduct a night time landing operation. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler announced that since the start of the war against the Soviet Union, the German forces had captured 3,806,865 Soviet prisoners of war. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit began her first war patrol in Philippine waters. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 U-576 began her second war patrol. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops advanced southward along the Kowloon Peninsula north of Hong Kong, capturing Stonecutter's Island. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Irako began embarking food supplies in the western Inland Sea region in Japan. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the British P-40 fighter piloted by Canadian Flight Sergeant M. A. Canty southeast of El Adem, Libya. It was his 32nd kill. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landing at Legaspi, Philipine Islands. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 While bombarding US installations at Wake Atoll, Tenryu was strafed by a US Marine Corps F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, wounding 5 sailors and mildly damaged three torpedoes in the No. 1 mount. 
0
11 Dec 1941 WW2 The 2,890-ton Japanese light cruiser Yubari, flagship of Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, was seriously damaged by shell fire from two 5-inch guns at Peacock Point, Wake Island, and forced to retire listing heavily to port. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet aircraft attacked the US Navy base at Olongapo in Luzon, Philippine Islands. At Legaspi, Japanese troops captured an airfield and moved north. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox departed from Oahu, Hawaii after personally inspecting damages. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 The United Kingdom declared war on Bulgaria while Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Germans reported widespread typhus on the Eastern Front of the European War. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Refugee ship SS Struma departed Romania with 769 Rumanian Jews on board, sailing for Palestine. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 US submarine S-38 claimed sinking the first Japanese ship in the Pacific War by an American vessel, but the sinking was not confirmed. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Churchill placed the defence of Burma under Wavell's command, promising four fighter and six bomber squadrons and matérial reinforcements, together with the 18th Division and what remained of 17th Indian Division (since two of its Brigades had been diverted to Singapore). On the same day, the 3rd Squadron of the American Volunteer Group was transferred to Rangoon, Burma. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 In a meeting with Adolf Hitler, Erich Raeder noted to Hitler that the Americans would most likely divert warships to the Pacific Ocean which was advantageous for the German Navy. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Wilhelm Keitel clarified Adolf Hitler's Nacht und Nebel decree to the leaders of the German military. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Colonel Shizuo Saeki led elements of the Japanese 5th Division attacked Jitra, British Malaya. After sundown, British General Lewis Heath gave the order for the 11th Indian Division to withdraw from Jitra. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Italian cruisers Alberto da Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano departed Palermo, Sicily, for Tripoli, Libya with 135 men and 950 tons of various types of fuel. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Legaspi, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 The Australian government decided to abandon Rabaul in the Bismarck Islands should the Japanese invade; only civilians, restricted to women and children, were allowed to be evacuated. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho detected a hostile submarine near Okinoshma Lighthouse in Japan. Later in the day, she arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka departed Vigan, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Semyon Timoshenko of Soviet Southwestern Front and Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Military Council ordered the arrest of the head of the Special Department of the 1st Tank Brigade and the assistant to the Technical Department of the Tank Regiment for "overreaching their authority" and "unauthorized shootings" for the execution, while intoxicated, of a lieutenant of the 1st Tank Brigade without reason. 
0
12 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese reconnaissance flying boats bombed Wake and Peale Islands in a pre-dawn raid, followed by daylight bombing by land-based attack aircraft from Majuro, Marshall Islands; neither bombing caused significant damage. Aircraft from US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 reported a possible sinking of a Japanese submarine 25 miles southwest of Wake Atoll. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 I-68 was attacked by American depth charges on this day and following days, damaging many battery cells and flooded the aft torpedo tubes. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 New Zealand and Indian troops of the British Eighth Army launched an attack on the Gazala Line in Libya while the Germans launched a counterattack. British tanks exploited the gap opened by Indian troops, but the advance was soon halted by German tanks. Both sides incurred heavy casualties in men and equipment after the day's fighting. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Niihau Incident: Downed Japanese pilot attempted to recover sensitive documents seized from him by Niihau islanders; two of the islanders attacked and killed the pilot. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 General Timoshenko's Southwest Front assaulted German lines at junction of 2.Panzergruppe and 2.Armee. 2.Armee withdrew, leaving 2.Panzergruppe's flank unprotected. Feldmarschall von Bock secretly ordered Armeegruppe Mitte to withdraw to a winter line 90 miles west of current positions, without informing Hitler. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Chinese troops mounted an offensive against Japanese troops in the Hong Kong area; earlier on the same day, the last British troops in Kowloon on the mainland were evacuated onto Hong Kong island. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy aircraft again struck the US Navy base at Olongapo at Subic Bay at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Various other bases and airfields in the Manila Bay area were attacked as well. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Maori, and HMS Legion and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Isaac Sweers defeated Italian light cruisers Alberto da Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano and torpedo boat Cigno off Cape Bon, Tunisia at 0325 hours. The two Italian cruisers sank (1,020 killed, 645 survived) with nearly 2,000 tons of aviation fuel meant for Axis forces fighting in North Africa. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Goebbels wrote in his diary "The World War is here, the extermination of the Jews must be the necessary consequence." 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 The United States Marine Corps formed the Marine Garrison Forces, 14th Naval District at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Just after 0000 hours, Dutch submarine O.16 entered Mueang Patani, Thailand and damaged four Japanese freighters with six torpedoes, sinking a number of them in shallow water. All ships would later be repaired and put back into service. At 0200 hours, rearguard Indian troops blew up the bridge at Jitra, British Malaya before joining the main body falling back toward Gurun to the south. Later on the same day, Japanese troops arrived at the abandoned airfield at Alor Setar, British Malaya, capturing bombs and aviation fuel. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upright sank Italian transports Fabio Filzi and Carlo del Greco in Gulf of Taranto, Italy. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 British battleship HMS Duke Of York departed the Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom with Winston Churchill on board, sailing for the United States. The battleship was escorted by destroyers HMS Faulknor, HMS Foresight, and HMS Matabele. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto departed Naples, Italy. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Pollack departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his 33rd and 34th kills, both South African P-40 fighters, when he shot down Flying Officer Thomas Trimble and either Lieutenant Connel or Lieutenant Meek northeast of Tmimi, Libya at 1600 and 1610 hours. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Roi, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 US 22nd and 23rd Fighter Squadrons, both operating P-40 Warhawk fighters, was assigned to Vega Baja Auxiliary Airdrome in Puerto Rico. 
0
13 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-5 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 British 4th Armored Brigade moved south toward Bir Halegh el Eleba, Libya in a plan to outflank Axis forces on the Gazala Line. On the same day, the Polish Independent Brigade was deployed under a New Zealand division in Libya. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 US Congress authorized the US Navy to keep enlisted men in service past their enlistment expiration. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Task Force 11 with USS Lexington, three cruisers, and nine destroyers set sail for the Marshall Islands, acting as decoy in attempt to lure Japanese naval vessels out of the Wake Island area. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Franz Halder and Günther von Kluge gave permission for a limited withdrawal for troops of the Army Group Center (Armeegruppe Mitte) in the Moscow area to the west of the Oka river, without Hitler's approval. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine shelled Kahului and Maui, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Seawolf fired a torpedo at Japanese seaplane carrier Sanyo Maru off Aparri, Philippine Islands; the torpedo hit its target but failed to detonate. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Hiroshi Oshima was awarded the German medal Order of the German Eagle 1st Class. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Urge attacked Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto in the Strait of Messina between southern Italy and the island of Sicily; the heavy damage caused by this torpedo attack would put the battleship out of action for several months. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Italian submarine Dagabur attacked British cruiser HMS Galatea while en route to Alexandria, Egypt at 1955 hours, causing no damage. Just before midnight, German submarine U-557 conducted a second attack on HMS Galatea, sinking her 35 miles west of Alexandria. 470 were killed in the sinking and 154 survived. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 The British authorities at Hong Kong refused the Japanese demand for surrender. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 A battalion from the Japanese 143rd Infantry Regiment occupied Victoria Point, Burma on the Kra River near the Thai-Burmese border. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Thai Prime Minister Plaek Pibunsongkhram signed a secret agreement with Japan which formally allowed Japanese troops to operate in Thailand. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 In the Philippine Islands, three US B-17 bombers took off from the Del Monte airfield on Mindanao to attack the Japanese beachhead at Legaspi, Luzon. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 10 Japanese troop transports departed Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina, with the Borneo invasion force on board. The convoy was escorted by 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 German pilot Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster was strafed by a British fighter while he was descending in a parachute. Some thought the British pilot might had been Clive Caldwell. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 At 1500 hours, Japanese troops overran Allied defenses near Gurun, British Malaya but failed to reach the town. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka arrived at Mako, Pescadores islands. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 The 2nd Marine Brigade was created by the US 2nd Marine Division at Camp Elliott, California, United States for the task of defending American Samoa. 
0
14 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese reconnaissance flying boats from Wotje and Roi, Marshall Islands bombed Wake Island in a pre-dawn raid, damaging Camp One facilities, the airstrip, and a fighter; Wake Atoll's aircraft was now operating on only one airstrip. After daybreak, more Japanese land-based attack aircraft struck the atoll. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel ordered the Cyrenaica region of Libya abandoned, using his remaining tanks to guard Point 204 on the Gazala Line as rearguard for the troops that would begin to fall back. To the southwest, British 4th Armoured Brigade arrived at Bir Halegh el Eleba at 1500 hours where they planned to outflank the Axis forces. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 US Submarine sank first Japanese merchantman. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 To the north of Moscow, Russia, Soviet tanks cut the road west of Klin; to prevent encirclement, the German 3rd Panzer Army abandoned Klin at 2130 hours and fled to the southwest, abandoning most of its heavy equipment. On the same day, Soviet state offices moved back to Moscow. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy seaplane tender Tangier, oiler Neches, and four destroyers sailed from Pearl Harbor for Wake Island. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-22 shelled Johnston Island, destroying a 1,200-gallon oil tank; another submarine, I-1, shelled Kahului, Maui, Hawaii Islands. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 The American Federation of Labor established a no-strike policy in war industries. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 The construction of submarine Tang was ordered. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Archibald Wavell received a cable from Winston Churchill, which warned him of a likely Japanese invasion of Burma. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 A group of 300 Japanese troops crossed the Lye Mun Channel onto Hong Kong island at 0300 hours, but the Allied defenders on the beach drove off this amphibious attack. Starting on this date, the Japanese artillery and aerial bombardment on the northern coast of Hong Kong island began. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops overran the Allied defenses at Gurun, British Malaya, opening up the road toward Penang. On the same day, the British abandoned the RAF base at Butterworth near Penang, flying all of of the remaining aircraft to Singapore. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 The US B-17 bombers at the Del Monte airfield on Mindanao, Philippine Islands were ordered to fly to Australia on the following day. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Australian destroyer HMAS Nestor sank German submarine U-127 with depth charges 200 miles west of Gibraltar, killing all 51 aboard. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine HNMS O 16 struck a mine and sank 22 miles northeast of Tioman Island, British Malaya at 0230 hours, killing 41. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Edward Brooks was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Australian Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Erwin spotted the Japanese invasion fleet, 19 barges and 1 transport, gathering at Kapingamarangi northeast of Rabaul, Bismarck Islands. Hudson medium bombers were dispatched to attack, but they caused no damage. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi arrived in the Palau Islands. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese reconnaissance flying boats bombed Wake Island. Meanwhile, US Navy Task Force 14 (USS Saratoga, USS Astoria, USS Tangier, with escorts; under Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher), carrying a US Marine Corps expeditionary force consisted of elements of the 4th Defense Battalion and Marine Fighter Squadron 211, departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to reinforce Wake. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 German SS personnel began killing the remaining Jews in Liepaja, Latvia, most of whom were women and children. 
0
15 Dec 1941 WW2 Henry Arnold was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Captain Gihachi Takayanagi, Chief Equipping Officer of Battleship No. 1, was commissioned as Yamato's first commanding officer. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed on British Borneo at 0500 hours and captured the oil fields at Miri and Seria and the oil refinery at Lutong. British and Dutch authorities began to issue orders to destroy other oil related facilities to avoid further capture. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 As Axis troops in North Africa began to fall back towards El Agheila in Libya in earnest, British 4th Armoured Brigade failed to outflank the retreat in the Bir Halegh el Eleba region. To supply the Axis forces operating in Libya, the Italian Navy dispatched a convoy of four freighters from Taranto, Italy, escorted by a powerful fleet of four battleships, five cruisers, twenty destroyers, and one torpedo boat. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy expanded its pilot training program from 800 students per month to 2,500 per month. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Hiryu, Soryu, Tone, Chikuma, and two destroyers broke from the Pearl Harbor attack force to reinforce the Wake Island attack force. Meanwhile, Japanese naval land-based aircraft bombed Wake Island. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 US submarine Tambor, damaged, departed from Wake Island area for repairs. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Enterprise task force returned to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii after failing to find the Japanese Pearl Harbor attack force. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 During a cabinet meeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, asked his peers to shed any feeling of pity for the victims of the genocide. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 US submarine Swordfish was credited with the first confirmed sinking of a Japanese ship in the Pacific War. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Vice Admiral William Pye replaced Admiral Husband Kimmel as the acting Commander-in-Chief of the USN Pacific Fleet; he would soon be relieved by the newly-appointed permanent Pacific Fleet chief Rear Admiral Chester Nimitz, who was already en route to Hawaii. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese continued to bombard the northern shore of Hong Kong island by artillery and aircraft. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet forces captured Kalinin, Russia. The lowest temperature recorded in this region of Russia on this date was -42 degrees Fahrenheit (-41 degrees Celsius). 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 European civilians began to evacuate from Penang, Malaya while Allied troops destroyed guns, ammunition dumps, and other military facilities to prevent Japanese capture; the radio station and the ships in the harbor, however, were overlooked and would later be pressed into Japanese service. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Italian torpedo boat Orione mis-identified German submarine U-557 as a British submarine and rammed her 18 miles west of Crete, Greece at 2144 hours. U-557 sank, killing all 43 aboard. Orione sailed to Suda Bay, Crete to receive repairs for damage sustained during the ramming. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Five German U-Boats departed from Biscay ports along the French coast for Operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat) off the American coast. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 USN Task Force 14, centered around USS Saratoga, departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to relieve Wake Island. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 A Japanese floatplane flew near Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in a reconnaissance mission. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 The German SS slaughter of Jews in Liepaja, Latvia continued. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 Five German motor torpedo boats from Sicily, Italy entered Malta's Valletta harbour during the night and drop seventy mines there. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 US B-17 bombers at Del Monte airfield on Mindanao in the Philippine Islands departed for Australia. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 The refugee ship Struma arrived in Istanbul, Turkey with 769 Romanian Jews aboard; without permission to enter Palestine, they would remain on the ship for the following two months. 
0
16 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Yorktown departed Norfolk, Virginia, United States to return to the Pacific Fleet. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Seaplane from Japanese submarine I-7 conducted a reconnaissance mission on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Lexington ordered to sail north to join Task Force 14 to reinforce Wake Island. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines RO-62 and RO-66 collided 25 miles southwest of Wake Island at 2020 hours in bad weather while recharging their batteries on the surface. RO-66 sank; all 63 inside the submarine were killed, while the 3 men on duty atop the ship survived the sinking. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Walther von Brauchitsch again requested permission for him to resign due to health reasons. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 The Japanese artillery and aerial bombardment on the northern coast of Hong Kong island, which began on 15 Dec 1941, ceased at 1130 hours as the Japanese observed the raising of a white flag from the defensive positions on the beaches. At 1430 hours, Governor of Hong Kong Sir Mark Young again rejected the Japanese demand for surrender. The bombardment would resume shortly after. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Fedor von Bock was relieved as the commander-in-chief of German Army Group Center; the official reason was health concerns. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops established a defensive line 65 miles south of Penang, British Malaya near the Perak River. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarines U-67, U-107, U-108, U-131, and U-434 shadowed Allied convoy HG-76 en route from Gibraltar to Britain. At 0925 hours, 230 miles northeast of Madeira, a Martlet aircraft from carrier HMS Audacity discovered U-131. At 1247 hours, U-131 was forced to surface. U-131 opened fire and shot down the Martlet aircraft (which was the first Allied aircraft to be shot down by an enemy submarine), but she was soon damaged by British warships. U-131 was scuttled at 1330 hours; all 47 aboard were captured. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 The 1,100-strong Australian Gull Force arrived at Ambon, Dutch East Indies to reinforce the Dutch garrison. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 British minesweepers HMS Hazard and HMS Speedy, in escort of Allied convoy PQ-6 30 miles north of Cape Gorodetski in northern Russia, were attacked by German destroyers Z23, Z24, Z25, and Z27; Speedy was hit 4 times (2 were killed) and was forced to turn back. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 In North Africa, No. 3 Squadron RAF received its first Kittyhawk fighters. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi departed Palau Islands. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Five French prisoners of Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany were sent to the town dentist for treatment. On the way back, escorted by two guards, three of them ran in three different directions; they would ultimately reach neutral territory successfully. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 2,749 Jews, mostly women and children, were killed on the beach near Liepaja, Latvia. Most Jews of Liepaja were now eliminated, short of a small left alive to be used as slave laborers. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his 35th and 36th kills as he shot down two South African Hurricane fighters southeast of Derna, Libya at 1100 and 1128 hours; he also damaged another enemy fighter in combat. Later in the day, Albert Kesselring personally presented him the German Cross in Gold medal. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied and Italian naval forces engaged in the First Battle of Sirte as convoys of each side unexpectedly came across each other 185 miles northwest of Benghazi, Libya. Italian battleships Littorio, Andrea Doria, and Giulio Cesare fired on Allied cruisers and destroyers from the distance of 32 kilometers, which was too far to hit accurately, but did still damage British destroyer HMS Kipling and Australian destroyer HMAS Nizam with near misses. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 American passenger ship Corregidor departed Manila, Philippine Islands with about 1,200 civilians on board; a short distance later, while still in Manila Bay, she struck a mine previously laid by Japanese submarine I-124 and sank, killing many. To the north, 24 transports with 7,000 Japanese troops aboard departed from the Ryukyu Islands, heading for Lamon Bay at eastern Luzon island. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 1st Lieutenant Boyd "Buzz" Wagner became USAAC's first ace in WW2 after shooting down a Japanese aircraft over the Philippine Islands. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Another German assault on Sevastopol, Russia was launched, consisted of 15,551 men. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Sarawak; British troops nearby, not strong enough to counter the Japanese offensive, destroyed oil refineries and withdrew. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 The keel of the large cruiser USS Alaska (CB-1) was laid down by New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, United States. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Columbia was launched in Camden, New Jersey, United States, sponsored by Miss J. A. Paschal. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 A PBY Catalina flying boat led 17 SB2U-3 Vindicator dive bombers of Marine Scout-Bomber Squadron 231 from Hickam Field, Oahu, Hawaii Islands to Midway Atoll; at 9 hours and 45 minutes covering 1,137 miles, it was the longest mass over-water flight by single-engined aircraft to date. 
0
17 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Wake Atoll, igniting a diesel oil tank on Wilkes Island and damaged an evaporator unit that was vital for the island's water supply. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 US Congress passed the First War Powers Act, giving the US President complete authority to reorganize the executive branch, independent government agencies, and government corporations during the time of war. It also authorized the US President to censor mail and other forms of communication between the United States and foreign countries. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 As oil refineries on the northern coast of Hong Kong island burned with thick black smoke, 3,500 Japanese troops crossed the Lye Mun Channel and established a beachhead at 2200 hours. Two hours later, another force of 4,000 would follow. Japanese troops executed 20 colonial Chinese prisoners of war at Sai Wan Hill, while 26 male medical personnel and 2 wounded soldiers were executed by beheading at the Salesian Mission Advanced Dressing Station; the female medical personnel at the latter location were set free after being forced to witness the beheading. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Hitler finally accepted Brauchitsch's resignation, and took personal command of the Army and all Eastern Front operations. He fired Feldmarschall Bock, replacing him with Kluge. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 The Soviet Army created the Bryansk Front between the West and Southwestern Fronts. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 A Dutch Do 24 bomber attacked and sank Japanese destroyer Shinonome off Miri, Borneo, killing all 219 aboard. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 American cruiser Indianapolis returned to Pearl Harbor after failing to find the Japanese carrier fleet. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 American seaplane tender Wright transported 126 Marines to Midway. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 The S-1 Section of the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development, the forerunner of the Manhattan Project, held its first meeting. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Five German Type IX submarines departed Lorient, France for the east coast of the United States in preparation for Operation Paukenschlag. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Nazi German philosopher Alfred Rosenberg declared "... biological extermination of the whole of European Jewry was to take place on Soviet territory." 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Archibald Wavell flew to Calcutta, India to meet with General Henry Pownall. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 British 4th Armoured Brigade reached Mechili, Libya, too far behind the main body of the retreating Axis forces to achieve its goal of out-flanking the retreat, specifically the German tanks. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 In Russia, German 3rd Panzer Army and 4th Panzer Army shook off the persuing Soviet forces and reached Lama River and Ruza River, respectively, on their retreat from the Moscow. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Stanley and HMS Blankney, escorting Allied convoy HG-76, discovered shadowing German submarine U-434, one of four submarine shadowing the convoy, 560 miles west of Gibraltar at 0945 hours. U-434 was forced to surface. The 44 crew members of U-434 scuttled the submarine and jumped into the water; 42 would be captured while 2 were killed by HMS Blankney accidentally while the British destroyer approached. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 British bombers attacked Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France during the daylight hours at about 1230 hours. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Günther von Kluge's Chief of Staff, Günther Blumentritt, took over command of the German Fourth Army pending the arrival of General Ludwig Kubler on 26 Dec 1941. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Two Japanese reconnaissance aircraft were spotted flying over Rabaul, Bismarck Islands. Wirraway fighters were scrambled, but they were not fast enough to intercept. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 The 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the American Volunteer Group was transferred to Kunming, Yunnan, China. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 At Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii, the Roberts Commission began investigating the American preparations prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet Chester Nimitz ordered the submarines of Task Force 7 near Wake Atoll to move south out of the area until reinforcements arrived. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops captured Naga, Luzon, Philippine Islands. To the north, the invasion convoy for the Lingayen Gulf assault departed from Taiwan and the Pescadores islands. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Dutch and Australian troops occupied Portuguese Timor to establish a defense against advancing Japanese forces. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka departed Mako, Pescadores islands. 
0
18 Dec 1941 WW2 Robert Johnson was assigned to the Missouri Institute of Aeronautics in Sikeston, Missouri, United States for flight training. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler relieved Walther von Brauchitsch as army commander-in-chief and took over command of the army himself, promising "to educate it to be National Socialist". Among the first orders he issued was the "no retreat" order, condemning thousands of troops to die in position outside of Moscow, Russia, without the chance to maneuver in defense. On the same day, the Soviet Military Collegium, having previously evacuated to Chkalov (now Orenburg), Russia, returned to Moscow. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops captured Penang, Malaya. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops reached the Wong Nai Chung Gap in central Hong Kong island where they were held by Canadian and colonial Chinese troops. Seven ships of the British Royal Navy (river gunboat HMS Tern, minelayer HMS Redstart, boom vessel HMS Watergate, boom vessel HMS Barlight, boom vessel HMS Aldgate, tug HMS Poet Chaucer, and tug HMS Alliance), along with several merchant vessels, were scuttled in the Hong Kong harbor to prevent Japanese capture. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Generalmajor Wilhelm Weiß succeeded Rudolf Konrad as the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Olongapo, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 In fierce hand-to-hand fighting in Hong Kong, Canadian Army Company Sergeant Major John Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers inspired his men by scooping up and hurling back Japanese grenades. One he could not reach in time so he threw himself onto the it in order to save his comrades. Osborn was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, which was Canada's first. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Indian 4th Division captured Derna, Libya. To the west, 30 tanks arrived at Benghazi as Axis reinforcement. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Multiple German submarines continued to shadow Allied convoy HG-76 en route between Gibraltar and Britain. At 0415 hours, 435 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal, U-574 fired 3 torpedoes at British destroyer HMS Stanley and sank her, killing 136; British sloop HMS Stork counterattacked with depth charges, forced U-574 to surface, and sank her by ramming at 0427 hours; 28 were killed, 16 survived. At 0615 hours, U-108 attacked HG-76, damaging British transport Ruckinge (3 killed, 39 survived); HMS Samphire scuttled Ruckinge by gunfire after all survivors were taken off. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 British cruisers HMS Neptune, HMS Aurora, and HMS Penelope and destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Lance, HMS Lively, and HMS Havock sailed into a minefield 30 miles northeast of Tripoli, Libya at 0100 hours. Aurora, Penelope, and Kandahar (79 killed, 104 survived) were damaged, and Neptune sank after hitting four mines (766 killed, 1 survived). 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Lieutenant George Edward Gaudreau was named the commanding officer of HMCS Trillium. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 William Dimoline was promoted to the rank of colonel. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Italian frogmen on human torpedoes slipped into Alexandria harbour in Egypt and sank British WW1-era battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant with limpet mines; 6 Italians were captured in this mission. Although both were later refloated and repaired, their loss coupled with the sinking in the previous month of the Barham left the Royal Navy without a single capital ship in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, giving the Italian Navy superiority in the region. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 In a daring daylight raid by 41 RAF Manchester bombers on the French port of Brest, the gates to the dock containing the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst were so badly damaged that the mighty warship would be confined at the port for a further month. Two aircraft of No. 97 Squadron were lost to ground fire and Luftwaffe fighters. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Clarence Tinker was named the Commander of the US Army Air Forces in the Hawaii Islands. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 In India, General Archibald Wavell received a telegram from Chiang Kaishek in which the Chinese leader offered to join any plan proposed by the Allies. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Davao, Philippine Islands. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 The Soviets landed 20,000 men on the Kerch Peninsula in Russia with the aim of lifting the siege of Sevastopol. 
0
19 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Navy land-based attack aircraft from Roi, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands attacked Wake Atoll, seriously damaging defense battalion facilities at Camp One. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur was promoted to the rank of general. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 German Armeegruppe Mitte reached a defensive line 100 kilometers to its west, where it was to stand and fight in accordance with Adolf Hitler's order after Hitler countermanded Franz Halder and Günther von Kluge's order to withdraw six days earlier. On the other side of the line, Soviet troops attacked west from Tula, Russia, aiming for the rail and road junction at Kaluga. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Goebbels made the first radio broadcast appealing for winter clothing for troops on the Eastern Front. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Pilots of the 1st American Volunteer Group, "Flying Tigers", saw their first combat with the Japanese in China. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed near Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands, seizing the nearby airfield. At Cavite in southern Luzon, Lieutenant Colonel J. P. Adams received orders to evacuate his Marines from the area. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-17 shelled, torpedoed, and sank American tanker Emidio about 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, California, United States. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-23 shelled unarmed American tanker Agwiworld off the coast of California, United States. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King was relieved of command from the Atlantic Fleet and was promoted to the Commander-in-Chief of US Fleets. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Kandahar was scuttled off the Libyan coast. She was severely damaged after hitting Italian naval mines early on the previous day. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 After holding off the Japanese troops at Wong Nai Chung Gap in central Hong Kong island for a day, Canadian and colonial Chinese troops begin falling back suffering heavy casualties. Out to sea, British motor torpedo boats MTB 12 and MTB 26 were sunk and MTB 7, MTB 11, and MTB 18 were damaged during an attempt to disrupt Japanese landing operations. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Leutnant Fritz Bliesener and Hauptmann Rudolf Kiel of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit completed her first war patrol in Philippine waters. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Two RAF Buffalo fighters attacked the Japanese barracks at Victoria Point, Burma near the border with Thailand, inflicting heavy casualties. Meanwhile, in Malaya, Japanese troops attempted to flank the Allied positions on the Perak River while another column marched along the Grik Road. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Fighters of the 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the American Volunteer Group intercepted 10 Japanese bombers over Kunming, Yunnan, China, shooting down 9 bombers while losing 1 P-40 fighter. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Task Force 8 with USS Enterprise departed from Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for waters between Johnston Island and Midway. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee, damaged during the attack earlier in the month, departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for shipyards on the west coast of the United States. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Submarine tender Taigei was assigned to the Japanese Navy Kure Naval District as Reserve Ship No. 3, and was taken out of service for conversion under the supervision of Captain Tatsuo Kiyama. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Davao, Philippine Islands. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-6 arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
0
20 Dec 1941 WW2 The American garrison at Wake Atoll received its first guest since the start of the Pacific War as a US Navy PBY aircraft arrived from Midway Atoll. The PBY crew brought news that aircraft from Marine Fighter Squadron 221 and men from the 4th Defense Battalion were being prepared to reinforce Wake. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Former luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru completed her conversion into a Japanese Navy hospital ship. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Isopescu, the Romanian governor of Golta, Transnistria, Romania (now Pervomaisk, Ukraine), ordered the execution of Jews at Bogdanovka Concentration Camp. 4,000 Jews were moved into cow sheds then burned alive. An unknown number of Jews were marched into a ravine and executed by gunfire in the following four days. The massacre ended in the evening of 24 Dec 1941. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 US submarines based in Manila in the Philippine Islands withdrew to Surabaya, Java. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 General Wavell arrived in Rangoon, Burma already aware that most of the promised reinforcements had already been diverted to Malaya. Wavell still entertained hopes of receiving the two East African Brigades from Kenya and most of the 17th Indian Division (Major-General J. H. "Jackie" Smyth VC). When the American Lieutenant General George H. Brett arrived in Rangoon on his way to visit Chiang at Chongqing, Wavell decided to go too, telling his chief of staff, Thomas Hutton, to take over from the GOC Burma (Major General D. K. McLeod) whose proposed replacement had been taken sick. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 A Japanese submarine fired star shells over Sand Island, Johnson Atoll. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 While Canadian and colonial Chinese troops completed the withdraw from Wong Nai Chung Gap in central Hong Kong island, order began to crumble as panic built up rapidly. On the same day, Japanese aircraft sank British river gunboat HMS Cicala, killing 1 and wounding 1. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Having seen previous success with the same tactic on a smaller scale, Japanese launched a large number of rafts down the Perak River toward Kuala Kangsar, Malaya in an attempt to bypass nearby roadblocks; casualties were heavy, but the Japanese troops were able to establish a bridgehead downstream, causing the British to abandon the Perak River positions and to fall back. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine K XVII struck a mine and sank 18 miles north of Tioman Island while exiting the Gulf of Siam; all 36 aboard were killed. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-567 attacked Allied convoy HG-76, en route between Gibraltar and Britain, 500 miles west of Cape Finisterre, Portugal at 1923 hours, sinking Norwegian ship Annavore; 34 were killed, 4 survived. During the counterattack, a merchant ship fired a flare in an attempt to visually find the attacker, but the flare was used by German submarine U-741at 2137 hours to spot and sink escort carrier HMS Audacity; 73 were killed, 407 survived. At 2230 hours, U-567 attacked again, but she was discovered by sloop HMS Deptford and corvette HMS Samphire, which jointly sank the submarine with depth charges, killing all 47 aboard. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-451 was sunk by a Swordfish aircraft of British No. 812 Squadron off Morocco; 44 were killed, 1 survived. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet 31st Cavalry Division attacked Kaluga near Moscow, Russia. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied troops pursued retreating Axis units toward Beda Fomm, Libya. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Stingray detected the Japanese invasion fleet sailing from Taiwan toward the Philippine Islands at 1313 hours, but did not attack. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Seal sank Japanese cargo ship Hayataka Maru off Vigan, Luzon island, Philippine Islands. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Yamato departed Kure, Japan for Hiroshima Bay, Inland Sea and anchored west of battleship Nagato at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Germans and Italians increased air attacks on Malta. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 USS S-38 attempted to attack the Japanese invasion fleet in the Lingayen Gulf in western Luzon, Philippine Islands at 0710, but all four torpedoes missed. At 0758 hours, she attacked again, sinking freighter Hayo Maru at 0758 hours. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 Thailand declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom; only the United Kingdom reciprocated the declaration of war. On the same day, Thailand and Japan formally entered into an alliance. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps 1st Marine Aircraft Wing arrived at San Diego, California, United States; the unit had previously been based in Quantico, Virginia, United States. 
0
21 Dec 1941 WW2 The US Navy PBY aircraft which had arrived at Wake Atoll on the previous day departed with passengers; these passengers would be the last US personnel to leave the atoll. During the day, 29 Japanese carrier aircraft from Soryu and Hiryu attack the island, followed by 33 land-based aircraft four hours later, damaging Battery D on Peale Island. Meanwhile, American intelligence indicated a large Japanese air force build-up in the Marshall Islands and a possible Japanese fleet present east of Wake Atoll, the latter of which seriously threatened the attempts to reinforce Wake. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 The First Washington Conference (Arcadia) between Roosevelt and Churchill began aboard HMS Duke of York in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States. The Americans and the British planned a Combined Chiefs of Staff represented by both countries. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 American troops originally destined for Philippine Islands arrived at Brisbane; they were the first American troops to arrive in Australia. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-19 shelled American tanker H. M. Storey southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, United States. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 The Japanese 55th Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Takeuchi Yutaka, assembled at Bangkok, Thailand and was issued orders for it to cross the Thai-Burma frontier and capture Moulmein, which happened to be held by the Headquarters of 17th Indian Division. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-68 bombarded Johnston Island. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied troops reached Beda Fomm, Libya while pursuing retreating Axis troops, but was halted by a group of 30 German tanks. Further west, Axis forces began evacuating Benghazi by ships. Out at sea, German ship Spezia and Italian ship Umbra Cadamosto ran into an Italian minefield off Misrata and were destroyed. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 bombarded the US Naval Air Station on Palmyra Atoll. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 US Army troops arrived at Brisbane, Australia; they were the first American soldiers to arrive in this country. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 With the ice over Lake Ladoga thickening, Soviet forces began to move tanks across the lake to reinforce Leningrad, Russia. At the same time, trucks brought in 687 tons of food, also over the lake; it was the first time over 600 tons of food were brought in on a single day, which was the minimum daily requirement to feed the population. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit began her second war patrol in Philippine waters. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 45,000 troops of Japanese 48th Division and 90 tanks landed at Lingayen, Luzon, Philippine Islands at 0200 hours. From the capital city of Manila, Douglas MacArthur sent a radio message to his superior George Marshall in Washington DC, United States, noting that he had decided to announce Manila to be an open city to reserve the strength of his forces and to spare the lives of the civilians. In southern Philippine Islands, 9 American B-17 bombers from Darwin, Australia attacked Japanese ships in Davao Gulf, Mindanao and then landed at Del Monte, Mindanao. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka guarded transports as they disembarked 7th Tank Regiment and an infantry regiment of the Japanese 48th Infantry Division at Caba, Luzon, Philippine Islands; she departed for Mako, Pescadores islands later on the same day. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 Satoru Anabuki, flying a Ki-27 fighter, shot down a P-40 fighter over Lingayen, Philippine Islands, his first victory. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 In Sarawak, a Japanese invasion force departed Miri for Kuching. 
0
22 Dec 1941 WW2 33 dive bombers and 6 fighters from carriers Soryu and Hiryu attacked Wake Atoll; during the aerial battle, one of the last two operational F4F Wildcat fighters of Marine Fighter Squadron 211 was shot down, while the other one was badly damaged. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 In the Philippine Islands, as Japanese 48th Division marched south toward Manila, US Army General Douglas MacArthur began withdrawing to Bataan, declaring Manila an open city. On the same day, USAAF B-17 bombers attacked Japanese ships at Lingayen Gulf and Davao in the Philippine Islands, while P-35 and P-40 fighters strafed landing ships in San Miguel Bay, Luzon, damaging destroyer Nagatsuki. On Mindanao, the 9 US B-17 bombers originally from Australia refueled and took off to attack Japanese ships in Davao Gulf and Lingayen Gulf, damaging Japanese destroyer Kuroshio. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 shelled American facilities at Palmyra Atoll. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 54 Japanese bombers escorted by 24 fighters attacked Rangoon, Burma in the late morning, killing 1,250; of those who became wounded as the result of this raid, 600 died. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Three Curtiss-Wright CW-41B fighters, assembled by the Chinese Aircraft Manufacturing Company at Loiwing (now Leiyun) in Yunnan Province, China on the border with Burma, crashed into a mountain whilst being delivered to the A.V.G. at Rangoon, Burma. Two of the pilots were killed. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied troops in Hong Kong withdrew to the final line, "The Ridge", at the Stanley Peninsula. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 again bombarded the US Naval Air Station on Palmyra Atoll. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Trucks brought in 786 tons of food into Leningrad, Russia across the frozen Lake Ladoga; for the second day in a row, enough food was brought in to feed the population. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-559 sank British passenger ship Shuntien 29 miles east of Tobruk, Libya at 1902 hours, killing 6 crew members and 700 passengers, who were mostly Axis prisoners of war. 64 crew members and 400 POWs were rescued by British corvette HMS Salvia and destroyer HMS Heythrop. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Hasty and HMS Hotspur sank German submarine U-79 with depth charges 40 miles north of Sollum, Egypt; all 44 aboard survived. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Song Ziwen was named the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Three CW-21 fighters crashed in poor weather while being ferried from Rangoon, Burma to Kunming, China. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 U-576 arrived at Saint-Nazaire, France, ending her second war patrol. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Akagi returned to Hashirajima, Japan. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Shokaku returned with Akagi, Kaga, and Zuikaku to Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan on her first voyage for the Japanese Navy. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki inspected food transport ship Irako at Hashirajima, Japan. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Kaga arrived at Hashirajima in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit fired two torpedoes at a Japanese destroyer in the South China Sea; both torpedoes missed. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Kuching, Sarawak. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-21 sank American tanker Montebello about four miles south of the Piedras Blancas Light Station at Point Piedras Blancas, California, United States. Survivors were machine-gunned by I-21, but none of the survivors were hurt by the fire. Elsewhere, southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, Japanese submarine I-17 shelled American tanker Larry Doheny. 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Churchill and Roosevelt met at the White House, Washington DC during the First Washington Conference (Arcadia). 
0
23 Dec 1941 WW2 Before dawn, at 0235 hours, 1,500 troops of the Japanese Maizuru Second Special Naval Landing Force landed on Wake Island and Wilkes Island in the Wake Atoll; from the air, carrier aircraft from Soryu and Hiryu provided support by attacking targets on Wilkes, Peale, and Wake Islands. Given that defeat was now imminent, acting commander of the US Navy Pacific Fleet Vice Admiral William Pye recalled Task Force 14 with USS Saratoga; the force was originally dispatched to reinforce Wake. At 0800, the Americans surrendered. On Wilkes Island, the Americans attempted one final counterattack, killing 100 Japanese troops at the cost of 11 US Marines killed and 5 wounded. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Atlanta was commissioned into service. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops penetrated the final Allied defensive line, "The Ridge", at the Stanley Peninsula on Hong Kong island. At St. Stephen's College Emergency Hospital, 56 wounded soldiers, doctors, and nurses were bayoneted while a number of female civilians were raped. Near the coast, British destroyer HMS Thracian was damaged by Japanese aircraft and was forced to run aground to prevent sinking. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine K XVI sank Japanese destroyer Sagiri with two torpedoes off Borneo; 121 were killed, 120 survived and were rescued by destroyer Shirakumo and a minesweeper. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-568 sank British corvette HMS Salvia 50 miles northeast of Mersa Matruh, Egypt at 0135 hours, killing all aboard, which included 106 crew members and an unknown number of passengers. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Joseph Goebbels broadcasted a Christmas Eve message over radio, urging for Germans to follow the lead of Adolf Hitler and to work and fight for a German victory. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill broadcasted a Christmas Eve message over radio, wishing for one evening of happiness throughout the English-speaking world during this time of global conflict. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Lamon Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 The Free French seized the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, off the southern coast of Newfoundland, and deposed the governor. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 ShCh-401 attacked an enemy ship with four torpedoes off Bosfjord, Norway at 2003 hours; all torpedoes missed. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Isoroku Yamamoto met with his top lieutenants aboard battleship Nagato. It was possibly in this meeting that he began discussing the possibility of a strike on the Americas with aircraft launched from a submarine. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Clive Caldwell damaged the German Bf 109 fighter piloted by Oberleutnant Erbo von Kageneck over Agedabia, Libya. Kageneck would die of the wounds sustained in this engagement in a military hospital in Naples, Italy on 12 Jan 1942. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Salvia (Lieutenant Commander J. I. Miller) was torpedoed and sunk west of Alexandria, Egypt by the German submarine U-568. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-17 shelled unarmed American freighter Absaroka about 26 miles off San Pedro, California, United States. To the north, off Monterey Bay, Japanese submarine I-23 shelled American steamship Dorothy Philips. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 A Japanese submarine damaged dredge Sacremento by gunfire 3,000 yards south of Palmyra Atoll. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 7,000 troops of Japanese 16th Division landed at Lamon Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands and marched toward Manila, which was only 50 miles away to the northwest. Near Ligayen Gulf on the western side of Luzon, the 26th Filipino Cavalry initially held up the Japanese invaders near Binalonian, but were forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses; meanwhile, the Japanese landed an additional 10,000 men at Lingayen Gulf. In Manila, General Douglas MacArthur met with various leaders to organize the retreat into the Bataan peninsula per WPO-3; the 4th Marine Regiment was ordered to Mariveles at the peninsula's tip before going to Corregidor island. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Jolo, Philippine Islands. She departed Philippine waters later in the day for Palau Islands. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 94 Soviet prisoners of war and 23 political prisoners died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. On the same day, 37 prisoners from block 20 of Auschwitz were killed by heart phenol injection. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops captured the town Kuching, Sarawak at 1600 hours after heavy fighting against troops of the Indian 15th Punjab Regiment. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka arrived at Mako, Pescadores islands. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps formed the 2nd Marine Brigade under Colonel Henry Larsen at Camp Elliott, California, United States for the defense of American Samoa. It was consisted of the 3rd Marine Regiment, the 2nd Battalion, the 10th Marine Regiment, and the 2nd Defense Battalion. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 American seaplane tender Wright disembarked US Marine reinforcements at Midway. 
0
24 Dec 1941 WW2 100 officers and men arrived at Midway Atoll as reinforcement from Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Over 3,000 people had died of starvation in Leningrad, Russia to date. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Adolf Hitler sacked Heinz Guderian over conflicting visions on the strategy for war against the Soviet Union. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Jolo, Philippine Islands and captured the island after wiping out the garrison of 300 Filipino militia and policemen. Meanwhile, US Navy moved the headquarters of the Asiatic Fleet from Manila, Philippine Islands to Java. US Marines destroyed docks, fuel tanks, and ammunition dumps at Cavite Naval Shipyard. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 British Governor of Hong Kong Sir Mark Young and Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong General Maltby ordered the surrender of the colony at 1515 hours, which was signed shortly after at the Japanese field headquarters at the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel by Young. At around the same time, British river gunboat HMS Robin was scuttled to prevent capture. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 General Sir Alan Brooke replaced General Sir John Dill as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS). 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Archibald Wavell arrived in Rangoon, Burma by aircraft, landing amidst a Japanese air raid. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 The Allies completed the abandonment of defensive positions along the Perak River in Malaya and established new positions at Ipoh about 10 miles to the south. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-66 sank Dutch submarine K XVI 70 miles northwest of Kuching, Sarawak, island of Borneo at 1145 hours, killing all 36 aboard. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese carrier and a destroyer in the Dutch East Indies without success, expending three torpedoes. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Akagi arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Eduard Neumann ordered Hans-Joachim Marseille to depart Libya for Athens, Greece (changing the destination from Rome, Italy as originally planned) for rest due to the symptoms of sickness Marseille exhibited. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 While flying over German positions in Libya in an attempt to boost morale on this religious holiday, German pilot Oberleutnant Ludwig Franzisket was wounded by friendly anti-aircraft fire. He departed later on this day for Athens, Greece for medical treatment. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 60 Soviet prisoners of war and 23 political prisoners died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops captured the British airfield near Kuching, Sarawak at 1640 hours. 
0
25 Dec 1941 WW2 Carrier USS Saratoga launched F2A Buffalo aircraft of Marine Fighter Squadron 221, originally intended to relieve Wake Atoll, to Midway Atoll. They became the first fighters to be based in Midway, and they immediately began a daily patrol schedule. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Despite that the Philippine capital of Manila was already declared an open city on 23 Dec 1941, Japanese bombing continued without interruption. Shortly after, US Navy Admiral Hart of the Asiatic Fleet departed Manila by submarine USS Shark for Soerabaja, Java. In Manila Bay, USS Peary was damaged by Japanese aircraft. Philippine naval defense vessels moved to the island of Corregidor at the mouth of Manila Bay, and 411 US Marines originally based at Cavite moved to Corregidor Island. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet Kalanin Front attacked German 9th Army northwest of Moscow, Russia, aiming to penetrate between German Army Group North and Army Group Center. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 General Takashi Sakai, commander of Hong Kong Operation, paraded through Victoria, Hong Kong with the troops of the Japanese 38th Infantry Division. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Erwin Rommel ordered the withdraw of tanks to Agedabia, Libya. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 223 British Commandos and 77 Norwegian troops landed on Moskenesøya in the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway in Operation Anklet, destroying a radio transmitter at Glåpen and capturing several prisoners. To the north in Vestfjord, British cruiser HMS Arethusa and destroyers HMS Somali, HMS Ashanti, and HMS Eskimo attacked and captured two Norwegian coastal ships and sank a German patrol boat; an Engima machine and code settings were captured aboard the patrol boat. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-559 damaged Polish troop transport Warszawa 20 miles east of Tobruk, Libya at 1429 hours with a torpedo, killing 4 crew members and 19 troops. 445 survivors were taken off by British corvette HMS Peony. At 1930 hours, U-559 struck again, sinking the damaged Warszawa. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 British submarine H31 became missing while on patrol in the Bay of Biscay; all 22 aboard were never heard from again. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Dutch B-10 bombers from Samarinda, Dutch Borneo sank Japanese minesweeper W6 and collier Unyo Maru off Kuching, Sarawak, British Borneo. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Two Japanese Type 97 flying boats were spotted over Rabaul, Bismarck Islands. Wirraway fighters were scrambled, but they were not fast enough to intercept. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Anglo-Indian and Japanese troops clashed at Chemor, Malaya north of Ipoh. Later in the day, the Allies withdrew from Ipoh and fell back to Kampar 25 miles to the south. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet troops conducted an amphibious assault on the Kerch Peninsula in an attempt to relieve the siege of Sevastopol, Russia, landing 13,000 men of the Soviet 51st Army. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-7a departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. Russian ship Kuzbass, straggler of Allied convoy QP-3, arrived at Iokanka, Russia under tow by Soviet icebreaker Fyodor Litke. 
0
26 Dec 1941 WW2 American seaplane tender Tangier disembarked men of Battery B of the US Marines 4th Defense Battalion, ground echelon of Marine Fighter Squadron 221, and additional equipment including radar at Midway Atoll. These men and equipment were originally intended for Wake Atoll. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 At the battle of El Haseia in Libya, German tanks flanked British 22nd Armoured Brigade, destroying many tanks, but failed to break through. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 British Commandos and Norwegian troops completed the Operation Anklet raid in the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway, embarking a number of ships to return to Britain along with 29 prisoners of war and 200 Norwegian volunteers who wished to joined the forces of the Norwegian government-in-exile. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese air units bombed Manila, Philippine Islands while 6 US PBY Catalina aircraft attacked Japanese warships at Jolo (4 would be shot down). On land, Allied forces withdrew to the Santa-Ignacia-Gerona-Guimba-San Jose line 30 miles south of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya. Meanwhile, Japanese troops advanced toward Kampar in western Malaya and Kuantan on the east coast. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese 3rd, 6th, and 40th Divisions attacked Chinese city of Changsha, but they marched into an ambush that slowed the momentum of the attack. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 German 250th Infantry Division of Spanish volunteers repulsed a heavy Soviet attack about 100 kilometers south of Leningrad, Russia which began on 23 Dec 1941. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Kenya and four destroyers bombarded German defenses on Vaagso Island, southern Norway in Operation Archery at dawn. Shortly after the bombardment, 560 British Commandos and 12 Norwegian troops landed, fought off the 150 German mountain troops, destroyed fish oil production and storage facilities, and captured a complete German naval code as well as 98 German and Norwegian prisoners. In this operation, the Allies suffered 21 British and 1 Norwegian killed, while the Germans suffered 120 killed. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit completed her second war patrol in Philippine waters. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 British and Indian troops originally based in Kuching, Sarawak, island of Borneo fled into Dutch territory. To the north, Japanese troops captured the Tambelan Islands, Dutch East Indies, which was the first Dutch territorial loss in the Pacific War. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived in Athens, Greece for treatment for malaria, jaundice, amoebic dysentery, and gastroenteritis. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Lexington arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy reported the strength of 23 officers, 31 non-commissioned officers, and 446 enlisted men. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Roi, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 46th Infantry Division of the German 11th Army counterattacked the Soviet beachheads on the Kerch Peninsula, Russia, but the attacks failed to stop further Soviet reinforcements from the sea. 
0
27 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-25 shelled unarmed American tanker Connecticut about 10 miles west of the mouth of the Columbia River off the American states of Oregon and Washington. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 I-68 arrived at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands and received temporary repairs. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 American destroyer USS Peary, while in transit from the Philippine Islands toward Australia, was attacked by 4 Japanese aircraft at 1420 hours, causing no damage. At 1800 hours, she was mistaken for a Japanese ship and was bombed and damaged by 3 RAAF Hudson bombers off Kina, Celebes, Dutch East Indies, killing 1 and wounding 2. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 The US Navy Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, requested that construction battalions be recruited. These construction personnel were soon to be known as the "Seabees". 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 Lieutenant-General Thomas Hutton assumed command of Burma army. A competent and efficient Staff Officer (he had been responsible for the great expansion of the Indian army), he had not actually commanded troops for twenty years. Across the border in Thailand, Japanese Colonel Keiji Suzuki announced the disbandment of the Minami Kikan (Burmese armed pro-Japanese nationalists) organization, which would be replaced by the formation of a Burma Independence Army (BIA), to accompany the Invasion force. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 Indian 22nd Brigade arrived at Kuantan, Malaya. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-75 attacked Allied convoy ME-8 off Mersa Matruh, Egypt, sinking British ship Volo; 24 were killed, 14 survived. British destroyer HMS Kipling counterattacked and sank U-75 with depth charges; 14 were killed, 30 survived. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 George Brett arrived in Darwin, Australia. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 While in Athens, Greece, Hans-Joachim Marseille received a short telegram from his mother stating that his sister, Ingeborg, was dead, asking him to return to Berlin, Germany. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 On Luzon island, Philippine Islands, the US 4th Marine Regiment completed its move from the Bataan Peninsula to Corregidor Island except for the radar detachment. Meanwhile, also on Luzon, north of the capital of Manila, the Allied defenses fell back to the Tarlac-Cabanatuan line. Over Manila, Japanese aircraft appeared again, sinking four freighters in Manila Bay. To the south, Japanese 16th Division captured Luisiana, with forward units reaching as far as Los Baños on the southern shore of Laguna de Bay. 
0
28 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit embarked Admiral Thomas Hart's staff at Mariveles Harbor at the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula, Philippine Islands for evacuation. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 The German Navy decided to send battleship Tirpitz to Norway on 10 Jan 1942 to tie down Allied naval resources in the North Atlantic. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 40 land-based bombers of the Japanese Navy 5th Air Group attacked Corregidor in the Philippine Islands for the first time. On Luzon island, Japanese Lingayen Force captured Cabanatuan, but American and Filipino forces held on to Tarlac to the west. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Arizona was placed in ordinary status as she was inoperable. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese bombers struck Rangoon, Burma, destroying the railway station and dock facilities. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 British troops, Indian troops, and civilians from Kuching, British Borneo arrived at Singkawang II airfield in Dutch Borneo. The British and Indian troops were incorporated under Dutch command to bolster the airfield's defenses, while the civilians were sent further south to Pontianak to await further evacuation. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 In North Africa, No. 112 Squadron RAF received its first Kittyhawk fighters. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi departed Palau Islands. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese and Chinese troops clashed in northern Hunan Province, China. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 Tenryu departed Roi, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 The Soviet 44th Army landed 23,000 men and a battalion of tanks at Feodosiya to reinforce Sevastopol, Russia at 0350 hours. In response, General Hans von Sponeck ordered the German 46th Infantry Division to fall back, losing much heavy equipment in the process and against Adolf Hitler's "no retreat" order. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 While offloading troops at Sevastopol, Russia, Soviet cruiser Molotov was damaged in the stern by German artillery. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy QP-4 departed Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka departed Takao, Taiwan. 
0
29 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Pennsylvania arrived at San Francisco, California, United States for repairs. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Tennessee arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, United States for repairs. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Maryland arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, United States for repairs. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-1 shelled Hilo, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 5-inch and 3-inch anti-aircraft batteries and 16 machine guns, along with their crew, arrived at Johnston Atoll. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 General Sir Archibald Wavell assumed command of the newly created ABDA Command (American-British-Dutch-Australian) with his headquarters in Java, Dutch East Indies. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill spoke to the Canadian Parliament. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Soviet troops captured Kaluga, Russia near Moscow. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Three British Blenheim aircraft from Singapore airdropped 900 pounds of food and ammunition over Singkawang II airfield in Dutch Borneo for the British, Dutch, and Indian troops there. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Lingayen Force captured Tarlac on Luzon, Philippine Islands; American and Filipino forces fell back to the Bamban-Sibul Springs Line, the final defensive line north of Manila. South of Manila, the Japanese 16th Division reached the Laguna De Bay lake. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 8,000 troops of the 9th Brigade of the Japanese 5th Division launched probing attacks on Kampar on the west coast of British Malaya. On the east coast, Japanese troops attacked the defensive positions north of the Kuantan River, whose defenders were confused by inaccurate intelligence that the Japanese were to land from the sea behind them. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 German and British tanks clashed near El Haseiat, Libya; the Germans destroyed 65 tanks at the loss of only 30. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Ernest King was officially sworn in as the Commander-in-Chief of US Fleet. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 American submarine Thresher departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands region. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Sergio Osmeña was sworn in as the Vice President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines at the west entrance of the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Manuel Quezon was sworn in as the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines at the west entrance of the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 Soivet cruiser Molotov departed from Sevastopol, Russia with 600 wounded men on board. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 German troops retreated from Kerch, Russia. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 10,000 Jews were massacred in Simferopol, Russia. 
0
30 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Yorktown arrived at San Diego, California, United States after a 15-day trip from Norfolk, Virginia, United States. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Roi, Marshall Islands. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 At 0947 hours, German submarine U-32 sank neutral Norwegian transport SS Luna, which was returning from London, England, United Kingdom with rubber hoses and zinc plates, with a torpedo. Survivors were rescued by Norwegian steamer Colombia and taken to Kopervik, Norway. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 I-68 departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Indomitable arrived at Cape Town, South Africa en route to the Far East. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Admiral Chester Nimitz assumed command of the US Navy Pacific Fleet; the ceremony was performed on board submarine Grayling at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines shell Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 American passenger ship Ruth Alexander, en route from Manila, Philippine Islands to Balikpapan, Borneo was bombed and damaged by Japanese flying boat in the Makassar Strait. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 American carrier USS Yorktown became the flagship of Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher's newly-formed Task Force 17. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Pollack fired two torpedoes at a Japanese destroyer off Honshu, Japan; both torpedoes missed. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 British 155th Field Regiment of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry stopped a Japanese attack at Kampar, British Malaya; further south on the western coast, the Japanese landed behind the Allied lines. On the east coast, the Indian 9th Division fell back to the south side of the Kuantan River. Far to the south, at Singapore, British and Dutch transports took on civilians for evacuation to South Africa. Finally, off the Chinese coast, 56 Japanese troop transports departed the island of Taiwan, escorted by 3 cruisers and 16 destroyers, for an amphibious operations in British Malaya. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops reached the outskirts of Changsha, Hunan Province, China. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Task Force 11 with USS Saratoga departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for patrol. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-7b departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese Lingayen Force captured Sibul Springs, Luzon, Philippine Islands, breaching part of the final defensive line north of Manila. South of the city, Japanese tanks of Sonoda Force reached Baliuag. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi arrived in Davao Gulf, Philippine Islands. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Germans halted their attacks on Sevastopol, Russia for the winter. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt notified Chiang Kaishek that he had obtained agreement from the governments of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands for the establishment of a China Theatre of War with the Chiang as the Supreme Allied Commander. 
0
31 Dec 1941 WW2 At the Arcadia Conference in Washington DC, United States, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt agreed on a "Germany First" strategy. 
0
year 1940 year 1942
© 2016 OnThisDay.net All rights reserved.
Loaded in 0.2165s.