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  • China
    Jan, 1941
    Second Sino-Japanese War

    the New Fourth Army Incident

    China
    Jan, 1941

    The uneasy alliance began to break down by late 1938. Starting in 1940, open conflict between Nationalists and Communists became more frequent in the occupied areas outside of Japanese control, culminating in the New Fourth Army Incident in January 1941.




  • Germany
    1941
    Computer

    The world's First working Electromechanical Programmable

    Germany
    1941

    In 1941, Zuse followed his earlier machine up with the Z3, the world's first working electromechanical programmable, fully automatic digital computer. The Z3 was built with 2000 relays, implementing a 22 bit word length that operated at a clock frequency of about 5–10 Hz. Program code was supplied on punched film while data could be stored in 64 words of memory or supplied from the keyboard.




  • China
    1941
    Chinese Civil War

    The situation came to a head in late 1940 and early 1941 when clashes between Communist and KMT forces intensified

    China
    1941

    The situation came to a head in late 1940 and early 1941 when clashes between Communist and KMT forces intensified. Chiang demanded in December 1940 that the CPC's New Fourth Army evacuate Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces, due to its provocation and harassment of KMT forces in this area. Under intense pressure, the New Fourth Army commanders complied. The following year they were ambushed by KMT forces during their evacuation, which led to several thousand deaths.




  • Vietnam
    1941
    Ho Chi Minh

    Returning to Vietnam

    Vietnam
    1941

    In 1941, Hồ Chí Minh returned to Vietnam to lead the Việt Minh independence movement.




  • Poland
    1941
    Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List)

    Protecting his workers

    Poland
    1941

    In fall 1941, the Nazis began transporting Jews out of the ghetto. Most of them were sent to the Bełżec extermination camp and murdered. On 13 March 1943, the ghetto was liquidated and those still fit for work were sent to the new concentration camp at Płaszów. Several thousand not deemed fit for work were sent to extermination camps and murdered; hundreds more were murdered on the streets by the Nazis as they cleared out the ghetto. Schindler, aware of the plans because of his Wehrmacht contacts, had his workers stay at the factory overnight to prevent them from coming to harm. Schindler witnessed the liquidation of the ghetto and was appalled. From that point forward, says Schindlerjude Sol Urbach, Schindler "changed his mind about the Nazis. He decided to get out and to save as many Jews as he could."




  • Münster, Germany
    1941
    Martin Bormann

    The Catholic Bishop of Münster, Publicly Protested against The Persecution and against Action T4

    Münster, Germany
    1941

    In 1941 the Catholic Bishop of Münster, Clemens August Graf von Galen, publicly protested against the persecution and against Action T4, the Nazi involuntary euthanasia programme under which the mentally ill, physically deformed, and incurably sick were to be killed. In a series of sermons that received international attention, he criticised the programme as illegal and immoral. His sermons led to a widespread protest movement among church leaders, the strongest protest against a Nazi policy up until that point.




  • Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
    1941
    Alan Turing

    Turing and His Fellow cryptanalysts Gordon Welchman, Hugh Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry Were Frustrated

    Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
    1941

    By late 1941, Turing and his fellow cryptanalysts Gordon Welchman, Hugh Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry were frustrated. Building on the work of the Poles, they had set up a good working system for decrypting Enigma signals, but their limited staff and bombes meant they could not translate all the signals. In the summer, they had considerable success, and shipping losses had fallen to under 100,000 tons a month; however, they badly needed more resources to keep abreast of German adjustments. They had tried to get more people and fund more bombes through the proper channels, but had failed.


  • England
    1941
    Alan Turing

    Turing Proposed Marriage to Joan Clarke

    England
    1941

    In 1941, Turing proposed marriage to Hut 8 colleague Joan Clarke, a fellow mathematician and cryptanalyst, but their engagement was short-lived. After admitting his homosexuality to his fiancée, who was reportedly "unfazed" by the revelation, Turing decided that he could not go through with the marriage.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    1941
    Bretton Woods Conference

    John Maynard Keynes first proposed the ICU

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    1941

    John Maynard Keynes first proposed the ICU (International Clearing Union) in 1941, as a way to regulate the balance of trade. His concern was that countries with a trade deficit would be unable to climb out of it, paying ever more interest to service their ever-greater debt, and therefore stifling global growth. The ICU would effectively be a bank with its own currency (the "bancor"), exchangeable with national currencies at a fixed rate. It would be the unit for accounting between nations, so their trade deficits or surpluses could be measured by it.


  • Jing County, Anhui, China
    Wednesday Jan 8, 1941
    World War II

    New Fourth Army incident

    Jing County, Anhui, China
    Wednesday Jan 8, 1941

    Continued antipathy between Chinese communist and nationalist forces culminated in armed clashes in January 1941, effectively ending their co-operation. New Fourth Army incident was argued as a punishment of Communist insubordination and Nationalist treachery.


  • Israel
    1941
    Shimon Peres

    HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed

    Israel
    1941

    In 1941, he was elected Secretary of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed, a Labor Zionist youth movement.


  • Warsaw, Poland
    1941
    The Holocaust

    Warsaw ghetto contained 445,000 people

    Warsaw, Poland
    1941

    In early 1941, the Warsaw ghetto contained 445,000 people, including 130,000 from elsewhere, while the second-largest, the Łódź ghetto, held 160,000. Although the Warsaw ghetto contained 30 percent of the city's population, it occupied only 2.5 percent of its area, averaging over nine people per room. The massive overcrowding, poor hygiene facilities, and lack of food killed thousands. Over 43,000 residents died in 1941.


  • Netherlands
    1941
    The Holocaust

    Arthur Seyss-Inquart began to persecute the country's 140,000 Jews

    Netherlands
    1941

    In the Netherlands, the Germans installed Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Reichskommissar, who began to persecute the country's 140,000 Jews. Jews were forced out of their jobs and had to register with the government. In February 1941, non-Jewish Dutch citizens staged a strike in protest that was quickly crushed.


  • Gulf of Thailand
    Friday Jan 17, 1941
    First Indochina War

    The Battle of Ko Chang

    Gulf of Thailand
    Friday Jan 17, 1941

    Thai military successes were limited to the Cambodian border area, and in January 1941 Vichy France's modern naval forces soundly defeated the inferior Thai naval forces in the Battle of Ko Chang. The war ended in May, with the French agreeing to minor territorial revisions which restored formerly Thai areas to Thailand.


  • Washingtom D.C., U.S.
    Monday Jan 20, 1941
    Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Third Term

    Washingtom D.C., U.S.
    Monday Jan 20, 1941

    The third terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on January 20, 1941, the date of Roosevelt's third inauguration, and ended with Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    1941
    The palace of Westminster England

    Members' Lobby after bombing

    London, England, United Kingdom
    1941

    The room is similar to the Peers' Lobby but plainer in design and slightly larger, forming a cube 13.7 metres (45 ft) on all sides. After the heavy damage it sustained in the 1941 bombing, it was rebuilt in a simplified style, something most evident in the floor, which is almost completely unadorned. The archway of the door leading into the Commons Chamber has been left unrepaired as a reminder of the evils of war, and is now known as the Rubble Arch or Churchill Arch. It is flanked by bronze statues of Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George, the prime ministers who led Britain through the Second and First World War respectively; a foot of each is conspicuously shiny, a result of a long tradition of MPs rubbing them for good luck on their way in before their maiden speech. The Lobby contains the busts and statues of most 20th-century prime ministers, as well as two large boards where MPs can receive letters and telephone messages, designed for the use of the House and installed in the early 1960s.


  • China
    Feb, 1941
    Second Sino-Japanese War

    The Sino-British agreement

    China
    Feb, 1941

    In February 1941 a Sino-British agreement was forged whereby British troops would assist the Chinese "Surprise Troops" units of guerrillas already operating in China, and China would assist Britain in Burma.


  • United Kingdom
    Saturday Feb 1, 1941
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant

    United Kingdom
    Saturday Feb 1, 1941

    On 1 February 1941, Philip was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant after a series of courses at Portsmouth, in which he gained the top grade in four out of five sections of the qualifying examination.


  • Bordighera, Italy
    Wednesday Feb 12, 1941
    Francisco Franco

    Meeting with Mussolini

    Bordighera, Italy
    Wednesday Feb 12, 1941

    Franco and Serrano Suñer held a meeting with Mussolini and Ciano in Bordighera, Italy on 12 February 1941. Mussolini affected not to be interested in Franco's help due to the defeats his forces had suffered in North Africa and the Balkans, and he even told Franco that he wished he could find any way to leave the war.


  • U.S. and Japan
    1941
    World War II

    United States and Japan had been engaged in negotiations

    U.S. and Japan
    1941

    Since early 1941 the United States and Japan had been engaged in negotiations in an attempt to improve their strained relations and end the war in China. During these negotiations, Japan advanced a number of proposals which were dismissed by the Americans as inadequate. At the same time the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands engaged in secret discussions for the joint defence of their territories, in the event of a Japanese attack against any of them.


  • Germany
    1941
    Heinrich Himmler

    Einsatzgruppen

    Germany
    1941

    With Hitler's approval, Himmler re-established the Einsatzgruppen in the lead-up to the planned invasion of the Soviet Union.


  • (Present Day Vienna, Austria)
    Mar, 1941
    World War II

    Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact

    (Present Day Vienna, Austria)
    Mar, 1941

    By March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    Mar, 1941
    Charles de Gaulle

    The financial agreement between France and London after the war

    London, England, United Kingdom
    Mar, 1941

    The financial agreement was finalized in March 1941. A separate letter guaranteed the territorial integrity of the French Empire.


  • U.S.
    Mar, 1941
    Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Eisenhower was promoted to colonel

    U.S.
    Mar, 1941

    In March 1941 Eisenhower was promoted to colonel and assigned as chief of staff of the newly activated IX Corps under Major General Kenyon Joyce.


  • U.S.
    Tuesday Mar 11, 1941
    Winston Churchill

    Lend-Lease

    U.S.
    Tuesday Mar 11, 1941

    It was for this reason that Churchill was relieved when Roosevelt was re-elected in 1940. Upon re-election, Roosevelt set about implementing a new method of providing necessities to Great Britain without the need for monetary payment. He persuaded Congress that repayment for this immensely costly service would take the form of defending the US. The policy was known as Lend-Lease and it was formally enacted on 11 March 1941.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    Tuesday Mar 11, 1941
    World War II

    Lend-Lease

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    Tuesday Mar 11, 1941

    Roosevelt promoted Lend-Lease programmes of aid to support the British war effort.


  • Shanggao, Jiangxi, China
    Saturday Mar 15, 1941
    World War II

    Battle of Shanggao

    Shanggao, Jiangxi, China
    Saturday Mar 15, 1941

    In March, the Japanese 11th army attacked the headquarters of the Chinese 19th army but was repulsed during Battle of Shanggao.


  • Mediterranean Sea off Cape Matapan, Greece
    Thursday Mar 27, 1941
    World War II

    Battle of Cape Matapan

    Mediterranean Sea off Cape Matapan, Greece
    Thursday Mar 27, 1941

    Ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, intercepted and sank or severely damaged several ships of the Italian Regia Marina under Squadron-Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino. The Battle of Cape Matapan fought from 27 to 29 March 1941.


  • Off Cape Matapan, Mediterranean Sea
    Mar, 1941
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip was mentioned in dispatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan

    Off Cape Matapan, Mediterranean Sea
    Mar, 1941

    Philip was mentioned in dispatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan. in which he controlled the battleship's searchlights. He was also awarded the Greek War Cross.


  • Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Present Day Belgrade, Serbia)
    Thursday Mar 27, 1941
    World War II

    Yugoslav coup d'état

    Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Present Day Belgrade, Serbia)
    Thursday Mar 27, 1941

    The Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later (Tripartite Pact Signature) by nationalists. The Yugoslav coup d'état of 27 March 1941 in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, replaced the regency led by Prince Paul and installed King Peter II.


  • Yugoslavia
    Sunday Apr 6, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    Invasion of Yugoslavia

    Yugoslavia
    Sunday Apr 6, 1941

    On 6 April 1941, German forces, with Hungarian and Italian assistance, launched an invasion of Yugoslavia.


  • Oxford, England, United Kingdom
    1941
    Penicillin

    Howard Florey and his team treated a policeman

    Oxford, England, United Kingdom
    1941

    In 1941, they (Howard Florey and his team) treated a policeman, Albert Alexander, with a severe face infection; his condition improved, but then supplies of penicillin ran out and he died. Subsequently, several other patients were treated successfully.


  • U.S.
    1941
    Penicillin

    Florey and Heatley travelled to the US in order to interest pharmaceutical companies in producing the drug

    U.S.
    1941

    In 1941, Florey and Heatley travelled to the US in order to interest pharmaceutical companies in producing the drug and inform them about their process.


  • Yugoslavia
    Sunday Apr 6, 1941
    World War II

    Invasion of Yugoslavia

    Yugoslavia
    Sunday Apr 6, 1941

    Germany responded with simultaneous invasion of Yugoslavia. It was Known as the April War or Operation 25, which occurred between 6 to 18 April. The attack led to German occupation to Yugoslavia.


  • Yugoslavia
    Apr, 1941
    World War II

    Guerrilla liberation war in Yugoslavia

    Yugoslavia
    Apr, 1941

    Although the Axis victory was swift, bitter and large-scale partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, which continued until the end of the war (6 April 1941 – 25 May 1945).


  • Croatia
    Thursday Apr 10, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    Independent State of Croatia

    Croatia
    Thursday Apr 10, 1941

    On 10 April 1941, Slavko Kvaternik proclaimed the Independent State of Croatia, and Tito responded by forming a Military Committee within the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party.


  • Tobruk, Libya
    Thursday Apr 10, 1941
    World War II

    The Siege of Tobruk

    Tobruk, Libya
    Thursday Apr 10, 1941

    The Siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days in 1941, after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila in Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in Libya, during the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War. The siege diverted Axis troops from the frontier and the Tobruk garrison repulsed several Axis attacks.


  • Yugoslavia and Greece
    Apr, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Yugoslavia and Greece were invaded

    Yugoslavia and Greece
    Apr, 1941

    Yugoslavia and Greece were invaded in April 1941 and surrendered before the end of the month. Germany and Italy divided Greece into occupation zones but did not eliminate it as a country. The key areas of Central Macedonia, Athens, and Thessaloniki were occupied by Germany while others by Italians and parts by Bulgarian forces.


  • Moscow, Russia
    Sunday Apr 13, 1941
    Second Sino-Japanese War

    The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact

    Moscow, Russia
    Sunday Apr 13, 1941

    In April 1941, Soviet aid ended with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. This pact enabled the Soviet Union to avoid fighting against Germany and Japan at the same time.And in August 1945, the Soviet Union annulled the neutrality pact with Japan.


  • Moscow, U.S.S.R. (Present Day Moscow, Russia)
    Sunday Apr 13, 1941
    World War II

    Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact

    Moscow, U.S.S.R. (Present Day Moscow, Russia)
    Sunday Apr 13, 1941

    With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia, the two powers signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941.


  • Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
    Apr, 1941
    Edward VIII

    Visit to Florida

    Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
    Apr, 1941

    The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by German plots revolving around the Duke that President Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1941.


  • Belgrade, Serbia
    Thursday Apr 17, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    The Government and military met with the German officials in Belgrade

    Belgrade, Serbia
    Thursday Apr 17, 1941

    On 17 April 1941, after King Peter II and other members of the government fled the country, the remaining representatives of the government and military met with the German officials in Belgrade.


  • Mission Inn, Riverside, California, U.S.
    1941
    Anna May Wong

    Wong attended several socialite events

    Mission Inn, Riverside, California, U.S.
    1941

    Wong attended several socialite events at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California, in 1941.


  • Yugoslavia
    Thursday May 1, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    Calling on the people to unite in a battle against the occupation

    Yugoslavia
    Thursday May 1, 1941

    On 1 May 1941, Tito issued a pamphlet calling on the people to unite in a battle against the occupation.


  • Germany
    1941
    Heinrich Himmler

    Himmler's Orders

    Germany
    1941

    By early 1941, following Himmler's orders, ten concentration camps had been constructed in which inmates were subjected to forced labor. Jews from all over Germany and the occupied territories were deported to the camps or confined to ghettos.


  • Iraq
    Friday May 2, 1941
    World War II

    Anglo–Iraqi War

    Iraq
    Friday May 2, 1941

    The Anglo–Iraqi War occurred from 2 to 31 May 1941, was a British-led Allied military campaign against Iraq under Rashid Ali, who had seized power during the Second World War with assistance from Germany and Italy. The campaign resulted in the downfall of Ali's government, the re-occupation of Iraq by the United Kingdom, and the return to power of the Regent of Iraq, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, an ally to the United Kingdom.


  • Soviet Union (Present-Day Russia)
    Tuesday May 6, 1941
    Joseph Stalin

    Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union

    Soviet Union (Present-Day Russia)
    Tuesday May 6, 1941

    Became Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.


  • Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    May, 1941
    Stan Lee

    Debut as a text filler

    Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    May, 1941

    Marshaling his childhood ambition to be a writer, young Stanley Lieber made his comic-book debut with the text filler "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (cover-dated May 1941), using the pseudonym Stan Lee which years later he would adopt as his legal name.


  • United Kingdom
    Saturday May 10, 1941
    Martin Bormann

    Hess flew Solo to Britain

    United Kingdom
    Saturday May 10, 1941

    Hess was concerned that Germany would face a war on two fronts as plans progressed for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union scheduled to take place later that year. He flew solo to Britain on 10 May 1941 to seek peace negotiations with the British government. He was arrested on arrival and spent the rest of the war as a British prisoner.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    Saturday May 10, 1941
    The palace of Westminster England

    The Worst Raid

    London, England, United Kingdom
    Saturday May 10, 1941

    The worst raid took place in the night of 10–11 May 1941, when the Palace took at least twelve hits and three people (two policemen and the Resident Superintendent of the House of Lords, Edward Elliott) were killed.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Monday May 12, 1941
    Martin Bormann

    Bormann became The Head of The Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery)

    Berlin, Germany
    Monday May 12, 1941

    Hitler considered Hess' departure a personal betrayal, and ordered Hess to be shot should he return to Germany and abolished the post of Deputy Führer on 12 May 1941, assigning Hess' former duties to Bormann, with the title of Head of the Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery). In this position he was responsible for all NSDAP appointments, and was answerable only to Hitler. Associates began to refer to him as the "Brown Eminence", although never to his face.


  • Egyptian and Libyan border
    Thursday May 15, 1941
    World War II

    Operation Brevity

    Egyptian and Libyan border
    Thursday May 15, 1941

    Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was intended to be a rapid blow against weak Axis front-line forces in the Sollum–Capuzzo–Bardia area of the border between Egypt and Libya. Although the operation got off to a promising start, throwing the Axis high command into confusion, most of its early gains were lost to local counter-attacks, and with German reinforcements being rushed to the front the operation was called off after one day.


  • Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
    Monday May 19, 1941
    Jimmy Hoffa

    Second Child

    Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
    Monday May 19, 1941

    The couple had a son, James P. Hoffa on May 19, 1941, in Detroit, Michigan.


  • Crete, Greece
    Tuesday May 20, 1941
    World War II

    Battle of Crete

    Crete, Greece
    Tuesday May 20, 1941

    The Battle of Crete was fought on the Greek island of Crete, It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an airborne invasion of Crete. Greek and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island.


  • Crete, Greece
    May, 1941
    Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

    Philip was involved in the battle of Crete

    Crete, Greece
    May, 1941

    Among other engagements, Philip was involved in the Battle of Crete.


  • Kiev, U.S.S.R. (Present Day Kiev, Ukraine)
    Wednesday May 21, 1941
    03:41:00 AM
    World War II

    First Battle of Kiev

    Kiev, U.S.S.R. (Present Day Kiev, Ukraine)
    Wednesday May 21, 1941
    03:41:00 AM

    The Kiev offensive was overwhelmingly successful, resulting in encirclement and elimination of four Soviet armies, The First Battle of Kiev occurred from 23 August to 26 September, resulting German occupation to Kiev.


  • Berlin, Germany
    Saturday May 31, 1941
    Martin Bormann

    Extending The 1935 Nuremberg Laws

    Berlin, Germany
    Saturday May 31, 1941

    Bormann was invariably the advocate of extremely harsh, radical measures when it came to the treatment of Jews, the conquered eastern peoples, and prisoners of war. He signed the decree of 31 May 1941 extending the 1935 Nuremberg Laws to the annexed territories of the East.


  • San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
    Jun, 1941
    Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Eisenhower was appointed chief of staff to General Walter Krueger

    San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
    Jun, 1941

    In June 1941, he was appointed chief of staff to General Walter Krueger, Commander of the Third Army, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.


  • Syria and Lebanon
    Sunday Jun 8, 1941
    World War II

    Syria–Lebanon campaign

    Syria and Lebanon
    Sunday Jun 8, 1941

    Between June and July, United Kingdom invaded and occupied the French possessions Syria and Lebanon (8 June – 14 July 1941), with the assistance of the Free French.


  • Bucharest, Romania
    Jun, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Thousands of Jews were killed

    Bucharest, Romania
    Jun, 1941

    Thousands of Jews were killed in January and June 1941 in the Bucharest pogrom and Iași pogrom. According to a 2004 report by Tuvia Friling and others, up to 14,850 Jews died during the Iași pogrom.


  • Romania
    Jun, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Romania joined Germany in its invasion of the Soviet Union

    Romania
    Jun, 1941

    In June 1941, Romania joined Germany in its invasion of the Soviet Union. Jews were forced from government service, pogroms were carried out, and by March 1941 all Jews had lost their jobs and had their property confiscated.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    1941
    The palace of Westminster England

    Bomb hit the chamber of the House of Commons

    London, England, United Kingdom
    1941

    An incendiary bomb hit the chamber of the House of Commons and set it on fire; another set the roof of Westminster Hall alight. The firefighters could not save both, and a decision was taken to try to rescue the Hall.


  • Soviet Union
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941
    Francisco Franco

    Invasion of the Soviet Union

    Soviet Union
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941

    When the invasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941, Franco's foreign minister Ramón Serrano Suñer immediately suggested the formation of a unit of military volunteers to join the invasion. Volunteer Spanish troops fought on the Eastern Front under German command from 1941 to 1944.


  • Soviet Union
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941
    Adolf Hitler

    Contravening the Hitler–Stalin Non-Aggression Pact

    Soviet Union
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941

    On 22 June 1941, contravening the Hitler–Stalin Non-Aggression Pact of 1939, over 3 million Axis troops attacked the Soviet Union.


  • Soviet Union, (Russia)
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941
    Joseph Stalin

    Hitler launched an invasion

    Soviet Union, (Russia)
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941

    On 22 June 1941, Hitler launched an invasion of the Soviet Union.


  • U.S.S.R.
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Germany and Romania invaded the Soviet Union

    U.S.S.R.
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941

    Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, a day Timothy Snyder called "one of the most significant days in the history of Europe ... the beginning of a calamity that defies description".


  • U.S.S.R.
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941
    Winston Churchill

    Operation Barbarossa

    U.S.S.R.
    Sunday Jun 22, 1941

    Hitler launched his invasion of the Soviet Union on Sunday, 22 June 1941. It was no surprise to Churchill, who had known since early April, from Enigma decrypts at Bletchley Park, that the attack was imminent. He had tried to warn General Secretary Joseph Stalin via the British ambassador to Moscow, Stafford Cripps, but to no avail, as Stalin did not trust Churchill. The night before the attack, already intending an address to the nation, Churchill alluded to his hitherto anti-communist views by saying to Colville: "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favorable reference to the Devil".


  • Yugoslavia
    Friday Jun 27, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    Commander in Chief of all project national liberation military forces

    Yugoslavia
    Friday Jun 27, 1941

    On 27 June 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia appointed Tito Commander in Chief of all project national liberation military forces.


  • Yugoslavia
    Tuesday Jul 1, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    The Comintern sent precise instructions calling for immediate action

    Yugoslavia
    Tuesday Jul 1, 1941

    On 1 July 1941, the Comintern sent precise instructions calling for immediate action.


  • Smolensk, U.S.S.R.
    Thursday Jul 10, 1941
    World War II

    First Battle of Smolensk

    Smolensk, U.S.S.R.
    Thursday Jul 10, 1941

    During the summer, the Axis made significant gains into Soviet territory, inflicting immense losses in both personnel and materiel. By mid-August, however, the German Army High Command decided to suspend the offensive of a considerably depleted Army Group Centre, and to divert the 2nd Panzer Group to reinforce troops advancing towards central Ukraine and Leningrad. The First Battle of Smolensk was fought around the city of Smolensk between 10 July and 10 September 1941, about 400 km (250 mi) west of Moscow.


  • Jedwabne, Poland
    Thursday Jul 10, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Jedwabne pogrom

    Jedwabne, Poland
    Thursday Jul 10, 1941

    During the Jedwabne pogrom on 10 July 1941, a group of Poles in Jedwabne killed the town's Jewish community, many of whom were burned alive in a barn. The attack may have been engineered by the German Security Police.


  • Lviv, Ukraine
    Jul, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Lviv pogroms in Lwów

    Lviv, Ukraine
    Jul, 1941

    In June and July 1941, during the Lviv pogroms in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), around 6,000 Polish Jews were murdered in the streets by the Ukrainian People's Militia and local people.


  • England, United Kingdom
    Saturday Jul 12, 1941
    World War II

    Anglo-Soviet Agreement

    England, United Kingdom
    Saturday Jul 12, 1941

    In July, the UK and the Soviet Union formed a military alliance against Germany.


  • Vilnius, Lithuania
    Jul, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Ponary massacre

    Vilnius, Lithuania
    Jul, 1941

    Notable massacres include the July 1941 Ponary massacre near Vilnius (Soviet Lithuania), in which Einsatgruppe B and Lithuanian collaborators shot 72,000 Jews and 8,000 non-Jewish Lithuanians and Poles.


  • Romania
    Jul, 1941
    The Holocaust

    It was time for "total ethnic purification"

    Romania
    Jul, 1941

    In July 1941 Mihai Antonescu, Romania's deputy prime minister, said it was time for "total ethnic purification, for a revision of national life, and for purging our race of all those elements which are foreign to its soul, which have grown like mistletoes and darken our future".


  • Libya
    1941
    The Holocaust

    2,600 Libyan Jews were sent to camps

    Libya
    1941

    Several forced labor camps for Jews were established in Italian-controlled Libya; almost 2,600 Libyan Jews were sent to camps, where 562 died.


  • Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
    Thursday Jul 24, 1941
    Mamie Till

    Emmett was abducted at 14 years

    Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
    Thursday Jul 24, 1941

    Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store.


  • Germany
    Aug, 1941
    Heinrich Himmler

    The shooting of 100 Jews at Minsk

    Germany
    Aug, 1941

    Initially, the victims were killed with gas vans or by firing squad, but these methods proved impracticable for an operation of this scale. In August 1941, Himmler attended the shooting of 100 Jews at Minsk. Nauseated and shaken by the experience, he was concerned about the impact such actions would have on the mental health of his SS men. He decided that alternate methods of killing should be found.


  • Italy
    Thursday Aug 7, 1941
    Benito Mussolini

    Mussolini's third son was killed

    Italy
    Thursday Aug 7, 1941

    A third son, Bruno, was killed in an air accident while flying a Piaggio P.108 bomber on a test mission, on 7 August 1941.


  • Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    Aug, 1941
    Stan Lee

    Actual writing of comics

    Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    Aug, 1941

    Stan graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a backup feature, "'Headline' Hunter, Foreign Correspondent", two issues later. Lee's first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6 (August 1941). Other characters he co-created during this period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books to include Jack Frost, debuting in the U.S.A. Comics #1 (August 1941), and Father Time, debuting in Captain America Comics #6 (August 1941).


  • Placentia Bay, Newfoundland
    Saturday Aug 9, 1941
    Atlantic Charter

    First meeting

    Placentia Bay, Newfoundland
    Saturday Aug 9, 1941

    On 9 August 1941, the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales steamed into Placentia Bay, with Churchill on board, and met the American heavy cruiser USS Augusta, where Roosevelt and members of his staff were waiting. On first meeting, Churchill and Roosevelt were silent for a moment until Churchill said "At long last, Mr. President", to which Roosevelt replied "Glad to have you aboard, Mr. Churchill". Churchill then delivered to the president a letter from King George VI and made an official statement which, despite two attempts, the movie sound crew present failed to record.


  • Germany
    Aug, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Hitler canceled the T4 program

    Germany
    Aug, 1941

    In August 1941, after protests from Germany's Catholic and Protestant churches, Hitler canceled the T4 program, although the handicapped continued to be killed until the end of the war. The medical community regularly received bodies for research; for example, the University of Tübingen received 1,077 bodies from executions between 1933 and 1945.


  • Naval Station Argentia, Placentia Bay, Dominion of Newfoundland
    Thursday Aug 14, 1941
    World War II

    Atlantic Charter

    Naval Station Argentia, Placentia Bay, Dominion of Newfoundland
    Thursday Aug 14, 1941

    In August, the United Kingdom and the United States jointly issued the Atlantic Charter, which outlined British and American goals for the war, even though America had yet to officially join.


  • Newfoundland
    Thursday Aug 14, 1941
    Atlantic Charter

    Atlantic Conference

    Newfoundland
    Thursday Aug 14, 1941

    US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, discussed what would become the Atlantic Charter in 1941 during the Atlantic Conference in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. They made their joint declaration on 14 August 1941 from the US naval base in the bay, Naval Base Argentia, that had recently been leased from Britain as part of a deal that saw the US give 50 surplus destroyers to the UK for use against German U-boats (the US did not enter the war as a combatant until the attack on Pearl Harbour, four months later).


  • Placentia Bay, Newfoundland
    Aug, 1941
    Winston Churchill

    Atlantic Charter

    Placentia Bay, Newfoundland
    Aug, 1941

    In August 1941, Churchill made his first transatlantic crossing of the war on board HMS Prince of Wales and met Roosevelt in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. On 14 August, they issued the joint statement that has become known as the Atlantic Charter. This outlined the goals of both countries for the future of the world and it is seen as the inspiration for the 1942 Declaration by United Nations, itself the basis of the United Nations which was founded in June 1945.


  • Požarevac, Serbia (Then German-occupied Serbia)
    Wednesday Aug 20, 1941
    Slobodan Milošević

    Born

    Požarevac, Serbia (Then German-occupied Serbia)
    Wednesday Aug 20, 1941

    Milošević was born in Požarevac, four months after the Axis invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and raised during the Axis occupation of World War II.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    Thursday Aug 21, 1941
    Atlantic Charter

    The Charter's content

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    Thursday Aug 21, 1941

    No signed version ever existed. The document was threshed out through several drafts and the final agreed text was telegraphed to London and Washington. President Roosevelt gave Congress the Charter's content on 21 August 1941.


  • United Kingdom
    Sunday Aug 24, 1941
    Atlantic Charter

    The name Atlantic Charter

    United Kingdom
    Sunday Aug 24, 1941

    When it was released to the public, the Charter was titled "Joint Declaration by the President and the Prime Minister" and was generally known as the "Joint Declaration". The Labour Party newspaper Daily Herald coined the name Atlantic Charter, but Churchill used it in Parliament on 24 August 1941, and it has since been generally adopted.


  • Imperial State of Iran (Present Day Iran)
    Monday Aug 25, 1941
    World War II

    Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran

    Imperial State of Iran (Present Day Iran)
    Monday Aug 25, 1941

    The British and Soviets invaded neutral Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and Iran's oil fields. The invasion took place from 25 to 31 August.


  • Ukraine
    Aug, 1941
    The Holocaust

    Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre

    Ukraine
    Aug, 1941

    In the Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre (Soviet Ukraine), nearly 24,000 Jews were killed between 27 and 30 August 1941.Lviv, Ukraine


  • England
    Sep, 1941
    John Maynard Keynes

    Proposed to fill a vacancy in the Court of Directors of the Bank of England

    England
    Sep, 1941

    In September 1941 he was proposed to fill a vacancy in the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, and subsequently carried out a full term from the following April.


  • Tokyo, Japan
    Thursday Sep 4, 1941
    Hirohito

    The Japanese Cabinet Meeting

    Tokyo, Japan
    Thursday Sep 4, 1941

    On September 4, 1941, the Japanese Cabinet met to consider war plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters.


  • Tokyo, Japan
    Friday Sep 5, 1941
    Hirohito

    Prime Minister Submitted a draft of the Decision To The Emperor

    Tokyo, Japan
    Friday Sep 5, 1941

    On September 5, Prime Minister Konoe informally submitted a draft of the decision to the Emperor, just one day in advance of the Imperial Conference at which it would be formally implemented.


  • Vermont, U.S.
    1941
    Wind turbine

    Vermont megawatt-class wind turbine

    Vermont, U.S.
    1941

    In the autumn of 1941, the first megawatt-class wind turbine was synchronized to a utility grid in Vermont. The Smith–Putnam wind turbine only ran for 1,100 hours before suffering a critical failure. The unit was not repaired, because of a shortage of materials during the war.


  • France
    Sep, 1941
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle formed the Free French National Council

    France
    Sep, 1941

    In September 1941 de Gaulle formed the Free French National Council, with himself as president. It was an all-encompassing coalition of resistance forces, ranging from conservative Catholics like himself to communists.


  • Changsha, China
    Sunday Sep 7, 1941
    World War II

    Second Battle of Changsha

    Changsha, China
    Sunday Sep 7, 1941

    In September, Japan attempted to take the city of Changsha again and clashed with Chinese nationalist forces.


  • Leningrad, U.S.S.R. (Present Day Saint Petersburg, Russia)
    Monday Sep 8, 1941
    World War II

    Siege of Leningrad

    Leningrad, U.S.S.R. (Present Day Saint Petersburg, Russia)
    Monday Sep 8, 1941

    The siege of Leningrad was a military blockade undertaken from the south by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany against the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). The siege began on the 8 September 1941, when the Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began.


  • Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    1941
    Stan Lee

    Becoming the editor

    Manhattan, New York, U.S.
    1941

    When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left late in 1941, following a dispute with Goodman, the 30-year-old publisher installed Lee, just under 19 years old, as interim editor. The youngster showed a knack for the business that led him to remain as the comic-book division's editor-in-chief, as well as art director for much of that time, until 1972, when he would succeed Goodman as publisher.


  • Yugoslavia
    Friday Sep 19, 1941
    Josip Broz Tito

    Tito held talks with Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović

    Yugoslavia
    Friday Sep 19, 1941

    Despite conflicts with the rival monarchic Chetnik movement, Tito's Partisans succeeded in liberating territory, notably the "Republic of Užice". During this period, Tito held talks with Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović on 19 September and 27 October 1941.


  • Japan
    Sep, 1941
    World War II

    Plan Kantokuen

    Japan
    Sep, 1941

    Japan was planning an invasion of the Soviet Far East (Plan Kantokuen), intending to capitalize off the German invasion in the west, the plan cancelled on 9 August 1941.


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