:1941

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Events by month|1941}}

{{Year dab|1941}}

{{Year nav|1941}}

{{C20 year in topic|year=1941}}

{{Year article header|1941}}

The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, was the deadliest such year. Death toll estimates for both 1941 and 1942 range from 2.28 to 7.71 million each.{{Cite web |title=Deaths in conflicts by source |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-in-conflicts-by-source |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Our World in Data}}

{{TOC limit|2}}

Events

Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.

=January=

{{Main|1941}}

=February=

{{Main|February 1941}}

=March=

{{Main|March 1941}}

=April=

{{Main|April 1941}}

File:Ansel Adams - National Archives 79-AAB-01.jpg photograph of the Hoover Dam in 1941.]]

= May =

{{Main|May 1941}}

= June =

{{Main|June 1941}}

=July=

{{Main|July 1941}}

  • July – The British Army's Special Air Service is formed.
  • July 1
  • Commercial television is authorized by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States.
  • NBC Television begins commercial operation on WNBT, on Channel 1. The world's first legal TV commercial, for Bulova watches, occurs at 2:29 PM over WNBT, before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The 10-second spot displays a picture of a clock superimposed on a map of the United States, accompanied by the voice-over "America runs on Bulova time."{{cite web|url=http://www.bulova.com/about/about.aspx|title=About Bulova|website=Bulova|access-date=December 28, 2012|archive-date=February 20, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220122718/http://bulova.com/about/about.aspx|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://jeff560.tripod.com/chronotv.html|title=A U. S. Television Chronology, 1875-1970|publisher=}} As a one-off special, the first quiz show called "Uncle Bee" is telecast on WNBT's inaugural broadcast day, followed later the same day by Ralph Edwards hosting the second game show broadcast on U.S. television, Truth or Consequences, as simulcast on radio and TV and sponsored by Ivory Soap. Weekly broadcasts of the show commence in 1956, with Bob Barker.
  • CBS Television begins commercial operation on New York station WCBW (modern-day WCBS-TV), on Channel 2.
  • WWII:
  • German forces capture Riga.{{cite book|last1=Evans|first1=A. A.|last2=Gibbons|first2=David|date=2012|title=The Illustrated Timeline of World War II|location= |publisher=Rosen Publishing|page=69|isbn=978-1-4488-4795-2}}
  • Germany and Italy recognize the Japanese-sponsored Chinese reorganized national government under Wang Jingwei as the legitimate government of China.
  • July 2 – WWII: The Empire of Japan calls up 1 million men for military service.
  • July 3 – WWII: Joseph Stalin, in his first address since the German invasion, calls upon the Soviet people to carry out a "scorched earth" policy of resistance to the bitter end.
  • July 4Massacre of Lviv professors: Polish scientists and writers are murdered by Nazi German troops in the occupied Polish city of Lwów.
  • July 5 – WWII:
  • Operation Barbarossa: German troops reach the Dnieper River.
  • British troopship {{SS|Anselm}} is torpedoed and sunk by {{ship|German submarine|U-96|1940|6}} in the Atlantic Ocean, with the loss of around 250 out of about 1,310 on board.
  • July 531: Ecuadorian–Peruvian War is fought.
  • July 7
  • Uprising in Serbia: The Communist Party of Yugoslavia raises an uprising against the Nazi occupation, beginning when Žikica Jovanović Španac kills two gendarmes in the village of Bela Crkva,
  • WWII: American forces take over the defense of Iceland from the British.
  • July 10 – The Holocaust: Jedwabne pogrom: Local ethnic Poles massacre at least 340 Jewish residents of Jedwabne, in occupied Poland. The Jewish residents are locked in a barn and the barn set on fire{{cite web|title=The Jedwabne Tragedy|url=http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/J/|year=2000|publisher=Polish Academic Information Center, University at Buffalo|access-date=2012-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716185512/http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/J/|archive-date=July 16, 2012}}
  • July 11 – The Northern Rhodesian Labour Party holds its first congress in Nkana.{{cite book|author=J. R. T. Wood|title=The Welensky Papers: A History of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lzhzAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Graham Publishing|isbn=978-0-620-06410-1|page=80}}
  • July 13
  • WWII: An uprising in Montenegro against the Axis powers starts, the second popular uprising in Europe (the first being the "February strike" of February 25 (above) in the Netherlands).
  • Clemens August Graf von Galen, Catholic Bishop of Münster in Germany, preaches the first of 3 sermons against Nazi brutality.
  • July 14 – WWII: Vichy France signs armistice terms ending all fighting in Syria and Lebanon.
  • July 17Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak ends.
  • July 19
  • WWII: A BBC broadcast by "Colonel Britton" (Douglas Ritchie) calls on the people of occupied Europe to resist the Nazis, under the slogan "V for Victory".
  • The Tom and Jerry cartoon short The Midnight Snack is released; it is the second appearance for the duo, and the first in which they are officially named.
  • July 23 – WWII: Italian aircraft damage the British destroyer {{HMS|Fearless|H67|6}} which has to be sunk.
  • July 25Postal codes in Germany are introduced.
  • July 26 – WWII:
  • In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
  • General Douglas MacArthur is named commander of all U.S. forces in the Philippines; the Philippines Army is ordered nationalized by President Roosevelt.
  • July 29 – The Vichy Regime signs the Protocol Concerning Joint Defense and Joint Military Cooperation with the Empire of Japan, giving the Japanese a total of 8 airfields, allowing them greater troop presence, and the use of the Indochinese financial system, in return for continued French autonomy.
  • July 30 – WWII: Glina massacre of July–August 1941 – The Ustaše brutally kill 200 Serbs inside a Serbian Orthodox church in Glina, Croatia, with a total of 700–1,200 being killed in the area of the next few days.
  • July 31 – WWII: The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring orders S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question."{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies|editor1=Hayes, Peter|editor2=Roth, John K.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780199211869|page=122}}

=August=

{{Main|August 1941}}

=September=

{{Main|September 1941}}

=October=

{{Main|October 1941}}

=November=

{{Main|November 1941}}

  • November 5 – WWII: The United States holds peace talks with Japan.
  • November 6 – WWII: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule (the first time was earlier this year on July 2). He states that 350,000 Soviet troops have been killed in German attacks, but that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration), and that Soviet victory is near.{{Cite web |title=Memo from Joseph Stalin about Opening of Second Front during World War II, August 13, 1942 {{!}} State Historical Society of Iowa |url=https://history.iowa.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/world-war-ii/memo-joseph-stalin-about |access-date=2024-12-14 |website=history.iowa.gov}}{{Cite web |last=Stalin |first=Joseph |date=November 6, 1941 |title=Speech at Celebration Meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Working People's Deputies and Moscow Party and Public Organization |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1941/11/06.htm |access-date=March 24, 2024 |website=Marxist.org}}
  • November 7 – WWII: The Soviet hospital ship Armenia is sunk by German aircraft while evacuating refugees, wounded military and the staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that more than 5,000 die in the sinking.
  • November 10 – In a speech at the Mansion House, London, Winston Churchill promises "should the United States become involved in war with Japan, the British declaration will follow within the hour".
  • November 12 – WWII:
  • As the Battle of Moscow begins, temperatures around Moscow drop to −12 °C, and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time, against the freezing German forces near the city.
  • Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina is hit three times in the Severnaya Bay by bombs from German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers from II./StG 77 during the Siege of Sevastopol.Robert Forczyk (2008). Sevastopol 1942, Von Manstein's triumph, p. 40. {{ISBN|978-1-84603-221-9}}
  • November 14
  • WWII: British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} sinks under tow off Gibraltar, after being torpedoed the previous day by {{ship|German submarine|U-81|1941|6}}.
  • The Holocaust: In Slonim (Byelorussian SSR), German forces engaged in Operation Barbarossa murder 9,000 Jews.
  • November 17 – WWII: Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables to Washington, D.C. a warning, that Japan may strike suddenly and unexpectedly.
  • November 18 – WWII: Operation Crusader, a British Eighth Army operation to relieve the Siege of Tobruk in North Africa, begins.
  • November 19 – WWII: Battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran – Both commerce raiding German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran and Australian cruiser {{HMAS|Sydney|1934|6}} sink following a battle off the coast of Western Australia. There are no survivors from the 645 Australian sailors aboard Sydney.{{cite book|last=Muggenthaler|first=August Karl|title=German Raiders of WWII|publisher=Prentice-Hall|year=1977|isbn=0-13-354027-8|pages=186–191}}
  • November 21 – The live blues radio program King Biscuit Time is broadcast for the first time on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas; it will attain its 17,000th broadcast in 2014 making it the longest-running daily American radio broadcast.
  • November 22 – WWII: British heavy cruiser {{HMS|Devonshire|39|6}} sinks commerce raiding {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Atlantis||6}}, ending the longest warship cruise of the war (622 days without in-port replenishment or repair).{{cite book|last=Muggenthaler|first=August Karl|title=German Raiders of WWII|publisher=Prentice-Hall|year=1977|isbn=0-13-354027-8|page=114}}
  • November 26 – WWII:
  • The Hull note (Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement Between the United States and Japan), named for Secretary of State Cordell Hull, is delivered to the Empire of Japan by the United States.
  • A task force of 6 aircraft carriers, commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, leaves Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbor, under strict radio silence.
  • November 27
  • WWII: Germans reach their closest approach to Moscow. They are subsequently frozen by cold weather and stopped by attacks by the Soviets.
  • A group of young men stop traffic on U.S. Highway 99 south of Yreka, California, handing out fliers proclaiming the establishment of the State of Jefferson.
  • November 30 and December 8Rumbula massacre: Nazi forces kill approximately 24,000 Latvian Jews and 1,000 German Jews outside of Riga.

=December=

{{Main|December 1941}}

File:The USS Arizona (BB-39) burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - NARA 195617 - Edit.jpg]]

=Date unknown=

  • The Classic Comics series is launched in the United States, with a version of The Three Musketeers.
  • Chosun Tire and Rubber Manufacture, predecessor of South Korean tire brand Hankook, is founded in Seoul (at this time part of the Empire of Japan).{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
  • Factory Canteen, predecessor of multinational foodservice company Compass Group, is founded in England by Jack Bateman.{{cite journal|last=Long|first=Vicky|date=2014|title=Situating the factory canteen in discourses of health and industrial work in Britain (1914-1939)|journal=Le Mouvement Social|volume=2|issue=247|pages=65–83|doi=10.3917/lms.247.0065|issn=0027-2671|pmc=4113673|pmid=25082999}}

Births

{{BDToC|births}}

=January=

File:Abdiqasimsalad.jpg]]

File:Hayao Miyazaki cropped 1 Hayao Miyazaki 201211.jpg]]

File:HSB 2005 - Joan Baez.jpg]]

File:Faye Dunaway Cannes 2016.jpg]]

File:Concierto de Plácido Domingo (cropped).jpg]]

File:Neil Diamond HWOF Aug 2012 other (levels adjusted and cropped).jpg]]

File:Aaron Neville.jpg]]

File:46 Dick Cheney 3x4.jpg]]

=February=

File:Nick Nolte 2008 (2544500287).jpg]]

File:SergioMENDESFeb2016.jpg]]

File:Kim Jong-il on 24 August 2011 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Paddy Ashdown (2005) (cropped).jpg]]

=March=

File:Pawn Stars "Old Man".png]]

File:Mike Love Earth Day.jpg]]

File:Bernardo Bertolucci, film director.jpg]]

File:Bruno Ganz 2011.jpg]]

File:Dinner with Richard Dawkins and CFI... like a candle in the dark.jpg]]

|url=https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2021/09-07/9559693.shtml

|script-title=zh:宋绮云、徐林侠:革命伴侣共谱赞歌

|trans-title=The Short but Brilliant Eight-Year Life of "Little Radish Head" Song Zhenzhong

|date=24 May 2019

|work=Beijing News

|publisher=China News Service

|last1=Zhang

|first1=Jingshu

|author1-mask=Zhang Jingshu (张静姝)

|language=Chinese

|accessdate=15 October 2024

|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20241015145206/https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2021/09-07/9559693.shtml

|archivedate=15 October 2024 }}

=April=

File:Eric Braeden - Monte-Carlo Television Festival.jpg]]

File:2022_Michael_D._Higgins_(51988246304)_(cropped).jpg]]

File:Ryan Oneal - 1968.jpg]]

File:Ann Margret 1968.jpg]]

File:Barry Sharpless 02.jpg]]

=May=

File:Eric Burdon, 1973.jpg]]

File:GohChokTong-WashingtonDC-20010614.jpg]]

File:Bob Dylan - Azkena Rock Festival 2010 2.jpg]]

File:Владимир Воронин (12-06-2014).jpg]]

File:William Nordhaus EM1B6043 (46234132921).jpg]]

=June=

File:StacyKeachMay07.jpg]]

File:Charle-Watts-1965 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Cardinal George Pell in 2012.jpg]]

File:Václav Klaus Praha 2015 (2) (cropped).JPG]]

File:Liz Mohn 2017.jpg]]

File:Eduardo Suplicy 2013.JPG]]

File:Charles Whitman (1963).jpg]]

File:Otto Sander Berlinale 2008.jpg]]

=July=

File:Epeli Nailatikau 2012.jpg]]

File:Bill Oddie (383148953).jpg]]

File:Robert Forster 2009.jpg]]

File:LonnieMackRisingSun.jpg]]

File:Neelie Kroes (2018).jpg]]

File:Freitas do Amaral, XV Cimeira Ibero-Americana - Salamanca, Espanha.jpg]]

File:George Clinton in Centreville.jpg]]

File:Sergio Mattarella Presidente della Repubblica Italiana.jpg]]

File:Darlene Love 2013.jpg]]

File:Peter Cullen Photo Op GalaxyCon Richmond 2020.jpg]]

File:Paul Anka 1995.jpg]]

=August=

File:Martha Stewart (48926315347) (cropped).jpg]]

File:CrosbyDavid1983 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Ibrahim Babangida (cropped).jpg]]

File:Stevan Kragujevic, Slobodan Milosevic, portret.jpg]]

=September=

File:John Thompson (cropped).jpg]]

File:Bernie Sanders in March 2020.jpg]]

File:Otis Redding 1967.JPG]]

File:Ahmet Necdet Sezer.jpg]]

File:Linda McCartney 1976 (cropped).jpg]]

=October=

File:WIKI CHUBBY CHECKER 1.jpg]]

File:Duhalde23012007.jpg]]

File:Jesse Jackson 2013.jpg]]

File:Paul Simon at the 9-30 Club (b).jpg]]

File:Helen Reddy 1975.JPG]]

=November=

File:ArtGarfunkelPall230717-17 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Tom Conti Romantic Comedy Dec 2007.jpg]]

File:Franco Nero, 36th Fajr International Film Festival (86250) (cropped).jpg]]

File:Pete Best drumming.jpg]]

=December=

File:Beau Bridges 2011 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Kyu sakamoto.png]]

File:Lee Myung-bak presidential portrait.jpg]]

File:Maurice White 1982.jpg]]

File:Alex Ferguson 02.jpg]]

Deaths

=January=

File:Robert Baden-Powell in South Africa, 1896 (2).jpg]]

File:Revolutionary Joyce Better Contrast.jpg]]

=February=

File:Fredrick banting.jpg]]

File:Alfonso XIIIdeEspaña.jpg]]

=March=

File:Gutzon Borglum 1919.jpg]]

File:George Charles Beresford - Virginia Woolf in 1902 - Restoration.jpg]]

=April=

=May=

=June=

File:HansBerger_Univ_Jena.jpeg]]

File:Lou Gehrig as a new Yankee 11 Jun 1923.jpg]]

File:Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - 1902.jpg]]

File:Louis Chevrolet in 1914.jpg]]

=July=

File:Rudolf Ramek Svenska Dagbladets %C3%A5rsbok 1924.png]]

=August=

File:স্ফুলিঙ্গ-রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর (page 2 crop).jpg]]

File:Fr.Maximilian Kolbe 1939.jpg]]

=September=

File:Hans Spemann nobel.jpg]]

=October=

=November=

File:ChrisWatsonSepia crop.jpg]]

File:Pedro Aguirre Cerda.jpg]]

=December=

File:Drina Martyrs.jpg]]

Nobel Prizes

File:Nobel medal.png

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • William K. Klingaman. 1941: Our Lives in a World on the Edge (1988) world perspective based on primary sources by a scholar.

{{Authority control}}