Historical Events in 1941

Events 1 - 200 of 615

Jan 1 Netherlands begins taxing wages

Zhukov Russian Chief of General Staff

Jan 1 Russian general Georgy Zhukov appointed chief of general staff

Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov

Jan 2 World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales
Jan 2 World War II: The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program to build freighters in support of the war effort.
Jan 3 American National Collegiate Football Rules Committee announces a new rule permitting free substitution of players
Jan 3 Canada & US acquire air bases in Newfoundland (99 yr lease)
Jan 3 Italian counter offensive in Albania

Symphonic Dances

Jan 3 Sergei Rachmaninoff's final composition "Symphonic Dances" premieres in Philadelphia, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra

Composer, Virtuoso Pianist and Conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff

Jan 4 Resistance fighters D'Estienne d'Orves and Jan Doornik 1st meet at a café in Montparnasse, Paris
Jan 5 British Australian troops conquer Bardia, Libya

Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Speech

Jan 6 US President Franklin Roosevelt makes his "Four Freedoms" speech (freedom of speech and worship; freedom from want and fear) during his US State of Union address [1] [2]

Eleanor Roosevelt studies the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

New Fourth Army Incident

Jan 7 New Fourth Army Incident: Chinese Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang Kai-Shek fire on surrounded Communist New Fourth Army at Maolin, Anhui Province, killing or capturing 7,000 troops

Chinese Military and Political Leader Chiang Kai-shek

Jan 9 6,000 Jews murdered in a pogrom in Bucharest, Romania
Jan 9 Maiden flight by Canada's British-built Avro Lancaster military plane
Jan 10 Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic & Old Lace" premieres in NYC
Jan 10 Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews
Jan 10 World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.
Jan 11 Princess Irene Brigade established in Congleton

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Jan 16 US vice admiral Bellinger warns of an assault on Pearl Harbor

Jan 16 War Department forms first Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets
Jan 17 Chiang Kai-Shek disbands the Communist New Fourth Army after the New Fourth Army incident at Maolin, Anhui Province between the nationalist and communist armies leaves many dead
Jan 18 World War II: A counter-offensive is launched by the British against the Italians in East Africa
Jan 19 British offensive in Eritrea
Jan 19 British troops occupies Kassalaf, Sudan

Bartók's 6th String Quartet,

Jan 20 Béla Bartók's 6th string quartet, premieres in NYC

Jan 20 Chinese Communist leaders reorganize the New Fourth Army in defiance of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek's order for it to be disbanded
Jan 21 1st anti-Jewish measures in Bulgaria
Jan 21 1st commercial extraction of magnesium from seawater, Freeport, Texas
Jan 21 Australian and British troops attack Tobruk, Libya
Jan 21 British communist newspaper "Daily Worker" banned
Jan 22 1st mass killing of Jews in Romania
Jan 22 British and Australian troops capture Tobruk from Italians
Jan 23 Groundbreaking for NACA (now NASA) Lewis Research Center
Jan 23 WOR-AM in Newark NJ moves to NYC
Jan 24 British troops march into Abyssinia

Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu

Jan 25 Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

Jan 27 Peruvian ambassador Ricardo Rivera-Schreiber warns American Ambassador of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor
Jan 28 French-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
Jan 29 Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece
Jan 30 Australian troops conquer Derna, Libya
Jan 31 Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem, Netherlands
Jan 31 British army Layforce commando units set sail

Louis vs. Burman

Jan 31 In his 13th title defense Joe Louis KOs Red Burman in the 5th round at Madison Square Garden, New York to retain NYSAC heavyweight boxing crown

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis

Feb 3 US Supreme Court upheld Federal Wage & Hour law, sets minimum wages & maximum hours
Feb 4 British tanks occupy Maus, Libya
Feb 4 Former Dutch premier De Geer flies to Berlin
Feb 4 United Service Organization (USO) founded
Feb 5 Dutch Premier De Geer returns from Lisbon to Netherlands
Feb 6 Auke Adema wins 6th official Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race (9:19)
Feb 6 Battle of Beda Fomm: Italian 10th army destroyed
Feb 6 British troops conquer Bengazi, Libya

Everything Happens to Me

Feb 7 Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey orchestra record "Everything Happens to Me"

Jazz Trombonist and Big Band Leader Tommy Dorsey

Feb 8 Radio presenter and National Socialist Max Blokzijl begins Nazi propaganda on Dutch national radio (executed for it in 1946)
Feb 9 British troops conquer El Agheila
Feb 9 Nazi collaborators destroy pro-Jewish café Alcazar Amsterdam (Alcazar refused to hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front of cafe)
Feb 10 1st highway post office makes 1st trip, Washington, D.C. to Harrisonburg, Virginia
Feb 10 Anti-Nazi "Het Parool" begins publishing in Netherlands

Rommel Arrives in Tripoli

Feb 11 Lt-Gen Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli

Feb 11 Sicherheitsdienst complains about Dutch anti German sentiments
Feb 12 First injection of penicillin into a patient by British physician Charles Fletcher at Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, England
Feb 12 Jewish Council for Amsterdam forms under Ascher and Cohen
Feb 12 Occupation Police arrest "Jewish Foursome"
Feb 13 Nazi leaders attack Dutch Jewish Council
Feb 14 Carson McCuller's "Reflections in a Golden Eye" published
Feb 14 Cebrie Park in the Bronx renamed Halsey Street
Feb 14 German Afrika Korps lands in Tripoli, Libya
Feb 14 One millionth vehicle traverses the NY Midtown Tunnel

Take the A Train

Feb 15 Duke Ellington first records "Take the A Train"

Jazz Musician and Composer Duke Ellington

Music History

Feb 15 Greek-American singer Maria Callas makes her professional opera debut as Beatrice, in Franz von Suppé's "Boccaccio" at the Olympia Theatre in Athens, Greece

Feb 17 In his 14th title defense Joe Louis KOs Gus Dorazio in the 2nd round at the Convention Center, Philadelphia to retain NYSAC heavyweight boxing crown
Feb 19 Nazi police attacked & driven away from Koco, Amsterdam (by young Jews)
Feb 20 1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland
Feb 20 Nazi Germany orders Polish Jews barred from using public transportation
Feb 20 Romania breaks relations with Netherlands

General Bradley

Feb 21 US officer Omar Bradley is promoted to the rank of brigadier general

Feb 22 Arthur "Bomber" Harris becomes British Air Marshal
Feb 22 German assault on El Agheila Libya
Feb 22 IG Farben company decides to build its Buna-Werke (rubber factory) adjacent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp to have easy access to slave labor and safe cover from Allied bombing
Feb 22 Nazi police raid Amsterdam and round up 429 young Jews for deportation to be sent to Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps
Feb 22 Paul Creston's 1st Symphony premieres
Feb 22 Roy Harris' "Ballad of a Railroad Man" premieres
Feb 23 Plutonium first produced and isolated by American chemist Glenn T. Seaborg at Berkeley
Feb 24 43 Geuzen resistance fighter trial opens in the Hague
Feb 24 Anti-Nazi meeting at Noordermarkt Amsterdam
Feb 25 Boston Bruins set NHL record of 23-game unbeaten streak (15-0-8)
Feb 25 February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam
Feb 26 2 fighters unable to continued slugfest, referee declares double KO
Feb 26 Cowboys' Amateur Association of America organized (California)
Feb 26 Utrecht & Zaandam strike against raid on Jews
Feb 26 Vichy-France makes religious education in school mandatory

Academy Awards

Feb 27 13th Academy Awards: "Rebecca", James Stewart & Ginger Rogers win

Feb 28 British-Italian dogfight above Albania
Mar 1 1st US commercial FM radio station goes on the air, Nashville, Tennessee

Captain America

Mar 1 Captain America created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby is first published by Timely Comics (premiere issue released on December 20, 1940)

Himmler Inspects Auschwitz

Mar 1 Commander of the SS, Heinrich Himmler inspects Auschwitz concentration camp for the first time, orders it be expanded [1]

Leading Nazi and Reichsführer of the SS Heinrich Himmler

Mar 1 Former University of Notre Dame star fullback Elmer Layden is named first Commissioner of the NFL
Mar 1 German troops invade Bulgaria
Mar 1 Rangers' goalie Dave Kerr becomes the 5th goaltender in NHL history to record 200 career victories when New York wins, 3-1 over the Canadiens at Montreal
Mar 2 World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joined the Axis Pact.

Mussert Visits Goering

Mar 3 Netherlands NSB-leader Mussert visits Hermann Goering in Berlin

Mar 4 18 Geuzen resistance fighters sentenced to death in The Hague
Mar 4 Chicago Black Hawks goaltender Sam LoPresti faces NHL record 83 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Bruins in Boston

Prince Paul Rejects Hitler Deal

Mar 4 Prince Paul, prince regent of Yugoslavia meets with Adolf Hitler at the Berghof, Bavaria, where he rejects deal to allow Nazi's access to Greece

Mar 4 The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands, during World War II.
Mar 7 3rd largest snowfall then in NYC history (18.1")
Mar 7 50,000 British soldiers land in Greece during WWII
Mar 7 British troops invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
Mar 8 1st baseball player drafted into WW II (Hugh Mulcahy, Phillies)
Mar 10 Lee MacPhail, Dodger GM predicts all players will wear batting helmets

Nagurski vs Steele

Mar 11 Bronko Nagurski regains the World Wrestling title from Ray Steele in Minnesota, after losing to him a year earlier

Hall of Fame American Football Player Bronko Nagurski

Lend-Lease Bill

Mar 11 FDR signs Lend-Lease Bill, allowing US to provide material support to Great Britain's war effort in return for future use of land for US military bases in England

Mar 12 German occupiers confiscate AVRO studios in Netherlands
Mar 13 Fons de Boungne and Corneil Dombret found AGRA (Amis du Grand Reich Allemand (Friends of the Greater German Reich)) in Begium
Mar 14 Nazi occupiers of Holland forbid Jewish owned companies
Mar 14 Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra record "Babalu"
Mar 15 Blizzard in North Dakota kills 151 people
Mar 16 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60
Mar 16 National Gallery of Art opens in Washington, D.C.

Shostakovich Honored

Mar 16 Russian composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich receives the Stalin Prize

Mar 19 Jimmy Dorsey & his Orchestra record "Green Eyes" and "Maria Elena", with vocals by Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly, in New York City
Mar 20 Exhibition "Planning and Construction in the East" opens in Berlin to showcase Generalplan Ost (plan for the East) German rural settlements after planned deportation of millions of Slavs [1]
Mar 20 Nazi German-Yugoslav pact drawn
Mar 21 In a hard fought 15th title defense Joe Louis KOs Abe Simon in the 13th round at Olympia Stadium, Detroit to retain NYSAC heavyweight boxing crown
Mar 22 Grand Coulee Dam in Washington goes into operation

James Stewart in the Army

Mar 22 James Stewart is inducted into the Army, becoming the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II

Mar 24 British troops defeat Italians in Somaliland
Mar 24 German troops occupy El Agheila Libya

Glenn Miller's 1st Film

Mar 24 Glenn Miller begins work on his 1st movie "Sun Valley Serenade", starring Sonja Henie and John Payne, for 20th Century Fox

Big Band Leader and Jazz Composer Glenn Miller

Mar 24 Richard Wright and Paul Green's play "Native Son" premieres in NYC
Mar 25 Carolina Paprika Mills in Dillon, South Carolina, incorporated
Mar 27 Adolf Hitler signs Directive 27 (assault on Yugoslavia)
Mar 27 Britain leases defense bases in Trinidad to US for 99 years
Mar 27 Yugoslavian coup gets rid of pro-German Prince Paul
Mar 28 Sea battle at Cape Matapan: British fleet under Cunningham defeats Italy

Requiem Symphony

Mar 29 World premiere performance of Benjamin Britten's "Requiem Symphony" by the New York Philharmonic under John Barbirolli. at Carnegie Hall, New York City

Mar 30 German counter offensive in North Africa
Mar 31 Ground broken for Union Square Garage, San Francisco

Watch on the Rhine

Apr 1 Lillian Hellman's play "Watch on the Rhine" premieres in NYC

Apr 1 Nazis forbid Jewish access to cafés
Apr 1 Pro-German Rashid Ali al-Ghailani grabs power in Iraq
Apr 1 The Blockade Runner Badge for German Kriegsmarine is instituted.
Apr 1 US Navy takes over Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay
Apr 2 German occupier disallows Dutch scouting association

Churchill Warns Stalin

Apr 3 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warns Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that a German invasion is imminent

Apr 3 Rasjid al-Gailani forms pro-German regime in Iraq
Apr 3 Walton's overture "Scapino" premieres in Chicago
Apr 4 German troops conquer Benghazi, Libya
Apr 5 San Francisco Castro & Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses
Apr 6 Beginning of operation Bestrafung - German bombers attack Belgrade (17,000 die)
Apr 6 British major general Michael Gambier-Parry captured in North Africa
Apr 6 German bombardment of Piraeus (munitions ship explodes)
Apr 6 Italian forces holding Addis Ababa surrender to British & Ethiopian forces
Apr 7 British generals O'Connor & Neame captured in North Africa
Apr 8 In his 4th title defense in 9 weeks Joe Louis beats Tony Musto by TKO in the 9th round at the Arena, Saint Louis, Missouri to retain NYSAC heavyweight boxing crown
Apr 9 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Dorothy Kirby wins comfortably by 16 strokes ahead of Helen Sigel
Apr 9 PGA establishes Golf Hall of Fame
Apr 10 German troops conquer Libyan county Cyrenaica

Croatia German Puppet Statete

Apr 10 Independent State of Croatia led by Ante Pavelić established as fascist German puppet state

'Hitler Will Have to Break Us or Lose the War'

Apr 11 Germany blitzes Coventry, England

Buckingham Palace is bombed. Churchill, King George VI and Queen Consort Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) inspect the damage. Photo: NPA Rota

Apr 11 Jewish Weekly newspaper taken control by Nazis
Apr 11 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands confiscate Jewish assets
Apr 12 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Boston Bruins defeat Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 for a 4-0 series sweep

Darlan Consults with Hitler

Apr 12 Vichy-France's head of government Admiral François Darlan consults with Adolf Hitler

Admiral and Prime Minister of Vichy France François Darlan

Apr 13 Heavy German assault on Tobruk
Apr 13 Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.
Apr 14 1st massive German raid in Paris, 3,600 Jews rounded up
Apr 14 King Peter leaves Yugoslavia
Apr 15 1st helicopter flight of 1 hr duration, Stratford, Ct
Apr 16 Little Theater at Adelphi Strand, London closes
Apr 17 British troop land in Iraq
Apr 17 Egyptian steamer SS Zamzam attacked and later scuttled by German cruiser Atlantis (all on board rescued)
Apr 17 US Office of Price Administration forms (handled rationing)
Apr 17 World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.

Mother Courage and her Children

Apr 19 Bertolt Brecht's play "Mother Courage and her Children" premieres in Zurich

Apr 19 Bulgarian troops invade Macedonia
Apr 19 Milk rationed in Holland
Apr 20 100 German bombers attack Athens
Apr 20 Dodgers start to wear liners in their caps
Apr 21 WWII: Greece surrenders to Nazi Germany
Apr 23 Greek Army surrenders to Germany; British RAF evacuates the Greek King George II to Egypt
Apr 24 British army begins evacuation of Greece
Apr 24 Dutch Prince Bernhard becomes an RAF pilot
Apr 25 Operation Mercury: Adolf Hitler orders the conquest of the island of Crete, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history
Apr 26 A tradition begins, 1st organ at a baseball stadium (Chicago Cubs)
Apr 26 Potatoes rationed in Holland
Apr 27 German troops occupy Athens, Greece
Apr 28 Last British troops in Greece surrender

Citizen Kane

May 1 "Citizen Kane", directed by Orson Welles and starring himself, Joseph Cotten and Dorothy Corningore, premieres at the Palace Theater in New York City

May 1 General Mills introduces CheeriOats (renamed Cheerios in 1945) an oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal
May 1 German assault on Tobruk
May 1 US savings bonds go on sale to help finance the war effort
May 2 FCC approves regular scheduled commercial TV broadcasts to begin July 1