1941 Explained
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.[1]
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
See main article: January 1941.
- January–August - 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Action T4 program here.
- January 1 - Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months).
- January 3 - A decree (Normalschrifterlass) promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua.[2]
- January 4 - The short subject Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card.
- January 5 - WWII: Battle of Bardia in Libya: Australian and British troops defeat Italian forces, the first battle of the war in which an Australian Army formation takes part.
- January 6
- January 10 - The Lend-Lease Act is introduced into the United States Congress.
- January 11 - WWII: The British Royal Navy light cruiser is bombed, catches fire and has to be sunk off Malta, with the loss of 81 crew.
- January 13 - All persons born in Puerto Rico since this day are declared U.S. citizens by birth, through U.S. federal law.[3]
-
- In a BBC radio broadcast from London, Victor de Laveleye asks all Belgians to use the letter "V" as a rallying sign, being the first letter of victoire (victory) in French and of vrijheid (freedom) in Dutch. This is the beginning of the "V campaign" which sees "V" graffities on the walls of Belgium and later all of Europe and introduces the use of the "V sign" for victory and freedom. Winston Churchill adopts the sign soon afterwards, though he sometimes gets it the wrong way around and uses the common insult gesture.[5]
- January 15 - John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry describe the workings of the Atanasoff–Berry computer in print.
- January 19 - WWII: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea in Africa.
- January 20 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for a third term as President of the United States.
- January 22
- January 23 - Aviator Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress, and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
- January 27 - WWII: Joseph Grew, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, reports to Washington a rumor overheard at a diplomatic reception, concerning a planned surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
- January 28 - Subhas Chandra Bose, the chief of the separatist Indian National Army, reaches Kabul, Afghanistan by successfully evading the British authorities in British India.
- January 30 - WWII: Australians capture Derna, Libya, from the Italians.
February
See main article: February 1941.
March
See main article: March 1941.
- March 1
- March 4 - WWII: Operation Claymore - British Commandos carry out a successful raid on the Lofoten Islands, off the north coast of Norway.
- March 5 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, having been President of the United States for 8 years, 1 day, became the longest-serving president in American history.
- March 8 - WWII: The U.S. Senate passes the Lend-Lease Act.
- March 11 - WWII: Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, providing for the U.S. to provide Lend-Lease aid to the Allies.
- March 15 - Richard C. Hottelet is arrested by the Gestapo on "suspicion of espionage", but eventually released in July as part of a prisoner exchange with the U.S.
- March 16 - A group of U.S. warships arrive in Auckland, New Zealand, on a goodwill visit. On March 20, they arrive in Sydney, Australia.
- March 17
- March 22 - Washington state's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.
- March 24 - WWII: Rommel launches his first offensive in Cyrenaica.
- March 25 - WWII: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers in Vienna.
- March 27 - WWII:
- March 30 - WWII:
- All German, Italian and Danish ships anchored in United States waters are taken into "protective custody".
- A German Lorenz cipher machine operator sends a 4,000-character message twice, allowing British mathematician Bill Tutte to decipher the machine's coding mechanism.[9]
April
See main article: April 1941.
- April - The Valley of Geysers is discovered on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, by Tatyana Ustinova.
- April 1 - A military coup d'état, launched by Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani, overthrows the pro-British regime in Iraq.
- April 4 - WWII: Axis forces capture Benghazi.
- April 6 - WWII: Germany, Italy and Hungary invade Yugoslavia and the Battle of Greece begins.
- April 9 - The U.S. acquires full military defense rights in Greenland.
- April 10 - WWII:
- April 12 - WWII: German troops enter Belgrade.
- April 13 - The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact is signed.[11]
- April 15 - WWII: Axis forces reach Halfaya Pass, on the Libyan-Egyptian frontier.
- April 18 - WWII:
- The Yugoslav Royal Army capitulates.
- Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis commits suicide as German troops approach Athens.
- April 19 - Bertolt Brecht's anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) receives its first theatrical production, at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.
- April 21 - WWII: Greece capitulates to Germany. Commonwealth troops and some elements of the Greek Army withdraw to Crete.
- April 23 - The America First Committee holds its first mass rally in New York City, with Charles Lindbergh as keynote speaker.
- April 25 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, criticizes Charles Lindbergh by comparing him to the Copperheads of the Civil War period. In response, Lindbergh resigns his commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve on April 28.
- April 27 - WWII: German troops enter Athens.
- April 28 - World War II persecution of Serbs: Gudovac massacre - Members of the Croatian nationalist Ustashe movement kill around 190 Bjelovar Serbs in the village of Gudovac, in the Independent State of Croatia.
May
See main article: May 1941.
- May 1
- The breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills in the United States.
- Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane premieres in New York City.
- The first Defense Bonds and Defense Savings Stamps go on sale in the United States, to help fund the greatly increased production of military equipment.
- May 2 - WWII: Anglo-Iraqi War: British combat operations against the rebel government of Rashid Ali in the Kingdom of Iraq begin.[12]
- May 5 - WWII: Emperor Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, which has been liberated from Italian forces; this date is subsequently commemorated as Liberation Day in Ethiopia.
- May 6 - At California's March Field, entertainer Bob Hope performs his first USO Show.
- May 8 - WWII: The German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin is sunk by British cruiser in the Indian Ocean; 555 are killed.
- May 9 - WWII: is captured by the British Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine, which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
- May 10
- May 11/May 12 - WWII: The Ustaše massacre 260–373 Serb men in a Catholic church in Glina, Croatia, where the men have assembled to be received into the Catholic faith in exchange for their lives.
- May 12 - Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
- May 13 - WWII: Yugoslav General Draža Mihailović and a group of 80 soldiers and officers cross the Drina river in Bosnia and Herzegovina, arrive at Ravna Gora, in western Nazi-occupied Serbia and start fighting with German occupation troops.
- May 15
- May 19 - The Viet Minh is formed at Pác Bó in Vietnam, to overthrow French rule of the nation, as an alliance between the Indochina Communist party, led by Ho Chi Minh, and the Nationalist party. It will become the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.
- May 20 - WWII: The Battle of Crete begins, as Germany launches an airborne invasion of Crete, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history.
- May 21 - sinks the U.S.-flagged off the west African coast, having allowed the passengers and crew to disembark.
- May 24 - WWII:
- In the North Atlantic, sinks British battlecruiser, killing all but 3 crewmen, from a total of 1,418 aboard the pride of the Royal Navy.
- British submarine torpedoes and sinks Italian ocean liner .
- May 26 - WWII: In the North Atlantic, Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the carrier cripple the steering of in an aerial torpedo attack.
- May 27
- May 29 - The Disney animators' strike begins, due to lack of recognition by Walt Disney of his animators' inequities of pay and privileges.
- May 30 - WWII: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas tear down the Nazi swastika on the Acropolis in Athens and replace it with the Greek flag.
- May 31 - Anglo-Iraqi War: British troops complete the re-occupation of the Kingdom of Iraq, returning Prince 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
June
See main article: June 1941.
- June 1 - WWII: The Battle of Crete ends, as Crete surrenders to invading German forces.
- June 4 – Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia are issued by Nazi high-command through OKW. This order (a lesser known precursor to the Commisar Order) explicitly commands that Jews (in addition to Bolshevik partisans and Commisars) be killed. In a sense, this order – in combination with the Commissar Order about to be delivered, and Goring's instruction to Heydrich to look into logistics later in the month, that is mentioned at the beginning of the Wannsee Conference of the following year – inaugurates the European Holocaust of the Jews.
- June 5
- June 6 - WWII: The Commissar Order is issued by Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, requiring all Soviet political commissars identified in Operation Barbarossa among captured forces to receive summary execution.
- June 8 - WWII: British and Free French forces invade Syria.
- June 13 - TASS, the official Soviet news agency, denies reports of tension between Germany and the Soviet Union.
- June 14
- June 16
- All German and Italian consulates in the United States are ordered closed, and their staffs to leave the country by July 10.
- WWII: British Fleet Air Arm aircraft sink the Vichy ship Chevalier Paul.
- June 18 - The German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship is signed between Nazi Germany and Turkey, in Ankara.
- June 20
- June 22
- WWII: Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany (with allies) invades the Soviet Union and declares war on it. Winston Churchill promises all possible British assistance to the Soviet Union in a worldwide broadcast: "Any man or state who fights against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe." Italy and Romania declare war on the Soviet Union.
- WWII: The First Sisak Partisan Brigade, the first anti-fascist armed unit in occupied Europe, is founded by Yugoslav partisans near Sisak, Croatia.
- June Uprising in Lithuania: A Provisional Government of Lithuania is established by the Lithuanian Activist Front, in an attempt to liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation.
- Rapid escalation of the Holocaust in Lithuania: Between now and the end of the year, an estimated 190,000-195,000 out of 210,000 Lithuanian Jews will be massacred, killing an estimated 95% of the nation's Jewish population.
- Rapid Vienna beats Schalke 04, in the final of the German Fottballchampionship, after 0:3 with 4:3.
- June 23 - WWII: Hungary and Slovakia declare war on the Soviet Union.
- June 24
- June 25 - WWII: Finland (as a co-belligerent with Germany) attacks the Soviet Union, starting the Continuation War.
- June 28 - WWII: Albania declares war on the Soviet Union.
- June 28 - 30 - The Holocaust: The Iași pogrom takes place, killing "at least 13,266" Romanian Jews.
- June 29 - WWII: Hitler's second-in-command, Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring, is appointed as Hitler's successor in a written decree. The decree will come into effect, should Hitler die in the middle of the war. (The decree becomes void in April 1945, after Göring tries to assume power while Hitler is still alive, leading to Göring's expulsion from the Nazi Party.)
July
See main article: 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."[15] [16] 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:
- 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 4 - Massacre of Lviv professors: Polish scientists and writers are murdered by Nazi German troops in the occupied Polish city of Lwów.
- July 5 - WWII:
- July 5–31: Ecuadorian–Peruvian War is fought.
- July 7
- 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[18]
- July 11 - The Northern Rhodesian Labour Party holds its first congress in Nkana.[19]
- July 13
- July 14 - WWII: Vichy France signs armistice terms ending all fighting in Syria and Lebanon.
- July 17 - Joe 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 which has to be sunk.
- July 25 - Postal 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."[20]
August
See main article: August 1941.
- August - The Political Warfare Executive is formed in the United Kingdom to disseminate propaganda to Germany and its occupied countries.
- August 1 - The Willys MB U.S. Army Jeep is first produced.
- August 5 - The Provisional Government of Lithuania is dissolved.
- August 6 - Six-year-old Elaine Esposito goes to have an appendix operation in Florida and lapses into a coma, dying 37 years later, still comatose.
- August 7 - WWII: British submarine sinks an Italian Marconi-class submarine.
- August 9 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet on board ship at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland. The Atlantic Charter (released August 14), setting goals for postwar international cooperation, is created as a result.
- August 16
- August 19 - The Tiraspol Agreement is signed between Germany and Romania.[21]
- August 21 - In revenge for the execution two days earlier of French Resistance member Samuel Tyszelman, communist activist Pierre Georges (with others) shoots and kills a member of the German military in occupied Paris, initiating a cycle of assassinations and retribution that will claim hundreds of lives.[22]
- August 25 - WWII: The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and oilfields begins.
- August 27 - WWII: Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre, 23,600 Jews are shot dead by Einsatzgruppen troops and local collaborators in Ukraine.
- August 28 - WWII: Soviet evacuation of Tallinn - German troops capture Tallinn, Estonia from the Soviet Union, while attacks on the evacuating Soviet ships leave more than 12,000 dead in one of the bloodiest naval battles of the war. German forces will capture the entire Estonian territory by December 6.
- August 29
- August 30
- German troopship Bahia Laura is sunk by British submarine ; 450 are killed.
- Germany and Romania sign another treaty, the Tighina Agreement.
- August 31
September
See main article: September 1941.
- September - The word "Teenager" is first recorded in print as a singular conjoined noun, in Popular Science magazine (U.S.)[23]
- September 3 - The Holocaust: SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch first uses the pesticide Zyklon B to execute Soviet prisoners of war en masse at Auschwitz concentration camp; eventually it will be used to kill about 1.2 million people.
- September 6 - The Holocaust: The requirement to wear a yellow badge with the Star of David and the word "Jew" (Jude) inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.
- September 8 - WWII: Siege of Leningrad - German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Germans deported to Siberia.
- September 11
- September 12
- WWII: The first snowfall is reported on the Russian front.
- Franklin Roosevelt gives one of his fireside chats, on the USS Greer incident.
- September 14 - The State of Vermont "declares war" on Germany, by defining the United States to be in "armed conflict", in order to extend a wartime bonus to Vermonters in the service.[24]
- September 15 - The Estonian Self-Administration, headed by Hjalmar Mäe, is appointed by the German military administration.
- September 16 - Rezā Shāh of Iran is forced to resign in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, under pressure from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, concluding the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
- September 16–30 - The Nikolaev massacre takes place in Mykolaiv (Soviet Union); 35,782 men, women and children, mostly Jews, are killed by Einsatzgruppe D and local collaborators.
- September 22 - The town of Reshetylivka in the Soviet Union is occupied by German forces.
- September 23 - The 1941 Texas hurricane makes landfall near Bay City, Texas, causing extensive damage and flooding in Galveston and Houston.
- September 27
- September 28 - WWII: The Drama Uprising against the Bulgarian occupation in northern Greece begins.
- September 29 - WWII: The Moscow Conference begins; U.S. representative Averell Harriman and British representative Lord Beaverbrook meet with Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, to arrange urgent assistance for Russia.
- September 29–30 - The Holocaust: Babi Yar massacre - German troops, assisted by Ukrainian police and local collaborators, kill 33,771 Jews in Kyiv.
October
See main article: October 1941.
- Mid-October - The first P-38E Lightning fighter is produced by Lockheed in the United States.
- October 1
- October 2
- October 5 - The Holocaust: In Berdychiv, 20–30,000 Jews are shot dead.
- October 7 - John Curtin becomes the 14th Prime Minister of Australia, following the defeat of Arthur Fadden's Country/UAP Coalition government, on the floor of the House of Representatives.
- October 8 - WWII: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov, with the capture of Mariupol.
- October 11 - WWII: Armed insurgents from the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia attack Axis-occupied zones in the city of Prilep, beginning the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
- October 11 - 12 - Fire destroys a Firestone Tire and Rubber Company plant in Fall River, Massachusetts, consuming 15,850 tons of rubber, and causing a setback to the United States military effort.[25]
- October 13 - The Holocaust: Heinrich Himmler instructs SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik to begin construction of Bełżec, the first of the Operation Reinhard extermination camps.
- October 15 - WWII: British submarine bombards the port of Apollonia, Cyrenaica in Italian Libya.
- October 16 - WWII: The Soviet government moves to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), but Stalin remains in Moscow.
- October 17 - WWII: Destroyer is torpedoed and damaged near Iceland, killing 11 sailors (the first American military casualties of the war, in which the US is at this time neutral).
- October 18 - General Hideki Tōjō becomes the 40th Prime Minister of Japan.
- October 18 - Film The Maltese Falcon is released in the United States, starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Huston.
- October 21
- October 23 - Walt Disney's fourth animated film Dumbo is released in the United States.
- October 25 - WWII: German fighter pilot Franz von Werra disappears during a flight over the North Sea.
- October 29 - The Holocaust: Kaunas massacre of October 29, 1941 - Over 9,200 Lithuanian Jews are shot dead.
- October 30
- October 31
November
See main article: 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.[26]
- 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:
- November 14
- 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 sink following a battle off the coast of Western Australia. There are no survivors from the 645 Australian sailors aboard Sydney.[28]
- 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 sinks commerce raiding, ending the longest warship cruise of the war (622 days without in-port replenishment or repair).[29]
- November 26 - WWII:
- 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 8 - Rumbula massacre: Nazi forces kill approximately 24,000 Latvian Jews and 1,000 German Jews outside of Riga.
December
See main article: December 1941.
- December 1 - WWII:
- December 2 - WWII: The code message "Climb Mount Niitaka" is transmitted to the Japanese task force, indicating that negotiations have broken down and that the attack on Pearl Harbor is to be carried out according to plan.
- December 4 - The State of Jefferson is declared in Yreka, California, with a judge, John Childs, as governor.
- December 5 - WWII: The United Kingdom declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
- December 6 - WWII:
- Soviet counterattacks begin against German troops encircling Moscow. The Heer is subsequently pushed back over 200miles.
- British submarine is mined off Cephalonia.
- December 7 (December 8 - 3:18 a.m., Japan Standard Time) - WWII:
- Attack on Pearl Harbor: Aircraft flying from Imperial Japanese Navy carriers launch a surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, thus drawing the United States into World War II. The attack begins at 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian Standard Time, and is announced on radio stations in the U.S. at about 11:26 p.m. PST (19.26 GMT).
- The Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire is published in Japanese evening newspapers, but not formally delivered to the U.S. until the following day. Canada declares war on Japan.
- Adolf Hitler makes his Nacht und Nebel decree, declaring that all political prisoners and those involved in both German resistance to Nazism and resistance to Nazism throughout German-occupied Europe are to be apprehended by the Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst and other security forces under Heinrich Himmler's control.
- Tobruk's British and Commonwealth garrison is relieved after Axis forces under Rommel withdraw.
- WWII: The Japanese Invade Shanghai International Settlement, to occupy the British and the American sectors, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- WWII: The Japanese invasion of the Philippines begins 10 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when Japanese forces invade Luzon and destroy U.S. aircraft on Clark Field.[30]
- WWII: President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his "Infamy Speech" to a Joint session of the United States Congress at 12:30 p.m. EST (17.30 GMT). Transmitted live over all four major national networks, it attracts the largest audience ever for an American radio broadcast, over 81% of homes.[31] Within an hour, Congress agrees to the President's request for a United States declaration of war upon Japan, and he signs it at 4:10 p.m.
- WWII: Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, the Free French, Yugoslavia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras also officially declare war on Japan, and the Republic of China declares war on the Axis powers.[30]
- WWII: Japanese forces attack British Malaya and Thailand.[30]
- WWII: The German advance on Moscow (Operation Typhoon) is suspended for the winter.[30]
- The Holocaust: The Nazi German Chełmno extermination camp opens in occupied Poland, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Between December 1941-April 1943 and June 1944-January 1945, at least 153,000 Jews will be killed in the camp.
- The Holocaust The first mass gassing of Jews begins at the Chełmno extermination camp on December 8, 1941, when the Nazis use gas vans to murder people from the Lodz ghetto.
- December 10 - WWII:
- December 11 - WWII:
- December 11 - 13 - WWII: Battle of Jitra: Japanese compel British troops to withdraw from their positions in Malaya.
- December 12 - WWII:
- December 13
- December 14 - WWII: The Independent State of Croatia declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom.
- December 15 - WWII: At Drobytsky Yar, 15,000 Jews are shot dead by German troops.
- December 19 - WWII:
- December 21
- December 22 - WWII: The Arcadia Conference opens in Washington, D.C., the first meeting on military strategy between the heads of government of the United Kingdom and the United States, following the latter's entry into the war.
- December 23 - WWII: A second Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is successful, and the American garrison surrenders, after a full night and morning of fighting.
- December 24 - WWII:
- British forces capture Benghazi.
- Dutch submarine HNLMS K XVI is the first Allied ship to sink a Japanese warship, sinking the destroyer Sagiri near Sarawak; K XVI is herself torpedoed the following day by Japanese submarine I-66.
- December 25 - WWII:
- December 26 - WWII: Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
- December 27 - WWII: British Commandos raid the Norwegian port of Vaagso, causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defenses, drawing vital troops away from other areas.
Date unknown
Births
January
- January 1
- January 3 – Shima Iwashita, Japanese actress
- January 4
- January 5
- January 7
- January 10 – José Greci, Italian actress (d. 2017)
- January 11
- January 12 – Long John Baldry, English singer (d. 2005)
- January 13 – Pasqual Maragall, Spanish politician
- January 14
- January 15 – Captain Beefheart, American singer (d. 2010)
- January 17 – Mircea Snegur, 1st President of Moldova
- January 19 – Pat Patterson, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2020)
- January 20
- January 22 – Rintaro, Japanese anime director
- January 24
- January 28 – Fernando Serena, Spanish footballer (d. 2018)
- January 29 – Robin Morgan, Poet, author, political theorist, activist, journalist, lecturer, and editor
- January 30
- January 31
February
- February 1
- February 3
- February 5
- February 6 - Stephen Albert, American composer (d. 1992)
- February 8
- February 9 - Kermit Gosnell, American abortionist and serial killer[33]
- February 10 – Michael Apted, British film director (d. 2021)
-
- Sonny Landham, American actor (d. 2017)
- Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (d. 1984)
- February 13
- February 15 - Florinda Bolkan, Brazilian actress and model
- February 16 - Kim Jong Il, Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (d. 2011)
- February 18 – Irma Thomas, African-American singer
- February 19 - David Gross, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 20 - Buffy Sainte-Marie, America singer[34]
- February 27 - Paddy Ashdown, British politician, diplomat (d. 2018)
March
-
- March 7 – Andrei Mironov, Soviet and Russian theatre and film actor (d. 1987)
- March 9 - Ernesto Miranda, American criminal (d. 1976)
- March 10 - George P. Smith, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 12 - Erkki Salmenhaara, Finnish composer (d. 2002)
- March 13 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
- March 14 - Wolfgang Petersen, German film director (d. 2022)
- March 15 - Mike Love, American musician (Beach Boys)
- March 16
- March 17 - Paul Kantner, American rock guitarist (Jefferson Airplane) (d. 2016)
- March 18 - Wilson Pickett, African-American singer (d. 2006)
- March 20 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese long-distance runner
- March 21 – Dirk Frimout, Belgian cosmonaut and astrophysicist
- March 22 - Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (d. 2019)
- March 23 - Jim Trelease, American educator, author
- March 26 - Richard Dawkins, British scientist
- March 27
- March 28
- March 29 - Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 31 - Rosario Green, Mexican economist, diplomat and politician (d. 2017)
April
- April 2 - Dr. Demento (Barret Eugene Hansen), American radio disc jockey, novelty music collector
- April 3
- April 5
- April 6 - Phil Austin, American comedian (The Firesign Theater) (d. 2015)
- April 7
- April 8 - Peggy Lennon, American singer (The Lennon Sisters)
- April 9 - Kay Adams, American country singer
- April 12 - Bobby Moore, English football player, World Cup winning captain (d. 1993)
- April 13 - Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 14 - Pete Rose, American baseball player
- April 18 - Michael D. Higgins, 9th President of Ireland
- April 19
- April 20 - Ryan O'Neal, American actor (Love Story) (d. 2023)
- April 21 - Eduardo Guedes, U.S., Portuguese film-maker (d. 2000)
- April 22 – Amir Pnueli, Israeli computer scientist (d. 2009)
- April 23
- April 24
- April 26 - Claudine Auger, French actress (d. 2019)
- April 28
May
-
- May 6
- May 8
- May 9 - Howard Komives, American professional basketball player (d. 2009)
- May 10
- May 11 - Eric Burdon, British singer
- May 13
- May 14 - Jesús Gómez, Mexican equestrian (d. 2017)
- May 17 – Ben Nelson, American politician, senator and governor from Nebraska
- May 18 – Miriam Margolyes, British-Australian actress
- May 19
- May 20 - Goh Chok Tong, 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore
- May 21 - Bobby Cox, American baseball manager
- May 22 - Menzies Campbell, British politician
- May 23
- K. Raghavendra Rao, Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and choreographer
- Rod Thorn, American basketball player, coach, and executive
- May 24
- May 25 - Rudolf Adler, Czech filmmaker
- May 26 - John Kaufman, British sculptor
- May 29 – Doug Scott, English mountaineer
- May 31
June
- June 1
- June 2
- June 5
- June 6 – Alexander Cockburn, Irish-American political journalist and writer (d. 2012)
- June 8
- June 9 - Jon Lord, English composer, pianist and organist (d. 2012)
- June 10
- June 12
- June 13 – Esther Ofarim, Israeli singer
- June 14
- June 15
- June 17 - Roberta Maxwell, Canadian actress
- June 19
- June 21
- June 22
- June 23
- June 24
- Erkin Koray, Turkish musician
- Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, psychoanalyst, feminist and novelist
- Nelson López, Argentine football defender
- Graham McKenzie, Australian cricketer
- Bill Reardon, American politician, educator
- Charles Whitman, American mass murderer (d. 1966)
- June 25
- Denys Arcand, French-Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer
- Miles Feinstein, American criminal law defense attorney, legal commentator
- Eddie Large, British comedian (d. 2020)
- Kenneth Walker, Australian cricketer
- Nick Macarchuk, American basketball head coach
- Tamara Moskvina, Russian competitive skater and pair skating coach
- Thomas Yeh Sheng-nan, Taiwanese prelate
- Ian Black, British competitive swimmer
- John Goold, Australian rules footballer
- James P. Hogan, British author (d. 2010)
- Mike Honda, American politician and educator
- Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish film director (d. 1996)
- Pavel Schenk, Czech volleyball player
- John Smyth, British barrister
- César Bejarano, Paraguayan fencer
- Len Boehmer, American Major League Baseball player
- Ruby Ann Darling, Bahamian politician
- Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (d. 2006)
- David Johnston, 28th Governor General of Canada
- Barbara Stolz, German gymnast
- June 29
- Chieko Baisho, Japanese actress, singer
- John Boccabella, American baseball player
- David A. Bramlett, United States Army four-star general
- Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture), Trinidadian-American civil rights activist (d. 1998)
- Margitta Gummel, German Olympic gold medalist
- Larry Stahl, American baseball player
- Roberto Castrillo, Cuban sports shooter
- Mike Leander, English arranger, songwriter and record producer (d. 1996)
- Otto Sander, German actor (d. 2013)
- Nigel Walley, English golfer, tea-chest bass player
July
- July 1
- Alf Duval, Australian rower
- Rod Gilbert, Canadian professional ice hockey forward
- Alfred G. Gilman, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2015)
- Zimani Kadzamira, Malawian academic, civil servant and diplomat
- Jaakko Kailajärvi, Finnish weightlifter
- Ursula Koch, Swiss politician
- Denis Michael Rohan, Australian citizen who, on August 21, 1969, set fire to the pulpit of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem (d. 1995)
- Nicolae Saramandu, Romanian linguist and philologist[36]
- Myron Scholes, Canadian-American financial economist
- Twyla Tharp, American dancer, choreographer and author
- July 2
- July 4
- Jay Carty, American basketball player (d. 2017)
- Sergio Oliva, Cuban bodybuilder (d. 2012)
- Digger Phelps, American former college basketball coach
- Peggy Miley, American actress, writer
- Epeli Nailatikau, Fijian chief, 4th President of Fiji
- Randall Robinson, African-American lawyer, author and activist
- Harold Leighton Weller, American conductor
- Marco Bollesan, Italian former rugby union player, coach and manager
- Alan Durban, Welsh international footballer, manager
- Louis Friedman, American astronautics engineer, space spokesperson
- Michael Howard, Welsh politician
- Bill Oddie, English writer, composer, musician and comedian
- John Fru Ndi, Cameroonian politician (d. 2023)
- Jim Rodford, English musician (d. 2018)
- July 8
- July 9
- Cirilo Bautista, Filipino poet, fictionist, critic and writer of nonfiction
- Tom Black, American professional basketball player
- Jan Lehane, Australian female tennis player
- Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, Swedish modern pentathlete
- Takehide Nakatani Japanese lightweight judoka
- Robert Pine, American actor
- Clive Puzey, Southern Rhodesian racing driver
- Jürgen Schmidt, German speed skater
- Tommy Vance, British disc jockey (d. 2005)
- Rosa Morena, Spanish flamenco-pop singer and actress (d. 2019)
- July 12
- July 13
- July 14
- July 15
- July 16
- Valeri Butenko, Soviet midfielder, football referee
- Desmond Dekker, Jamaican singer and songwriter (d. 2006)
- Ken Herock, American college, professional football player
- Seijirō Kōyama, Japanese film director
- Kálmán Mészöly, Hungarian football (soccer) player, coach
- Lloyd Sisco, American football coach
- Hans Wiegel, Dutch politician
- July 17
- July 18
- July 19
- July 20
- July 21
- July 22 – George Clinton, African-American musician
- July 23
- July 25
- July 26 - Darlene Love, African-American singer, actress
- July 30 - Paul Anka, Canadian-American singer, songwriter
August
- August 2 - Ede Staal, Dutch singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
- August 4
- August 5 - Gil Garcetti, American politician
- August 6 - Lyle Berman, American poker player
- August 8
- August 9 - Shirlee Busbee, American novelist
- August 12 - Deborah Walley, American actress (d. 2001)
- August 14
- August 15 - Nangolo Mbumba, 4th President of Namibia
- August 16
- August 20 - Slobodan Milošević, 3rd President of Yugoslavia and 1st President of Serbia (d. 2006)
- August 21
- August 26 - Ayşe Kulin, Turkish writer
- August 28 - A. I. Katsina-Alu, Nigerian judge (d. 2018)
- August 29 - Robin Leach, English television personality (d. 2018)
September
- September 2
- September 3 - Sergei Dovlatov, Russian short-story writer, novelist (d. 1990)
- September 4 - Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian politician
- September 8
- September 9
- September 10
- September 13
- September 14 - Alberto Naranjo, Venezuelan musician (d. 2020)
- September 17 - Bob Matsui, U.S. Congressman from California (d. 2005)
- September 18 - Priscilla Mitchell, American country music singer (d. 2014)
- September 19 - Cass Elliot, American singer (The Mamas & the Papas) (d. 1974)
- September 20 - Dale Chihuly, American glass sculptor
- September 21 - R. James Woolsey Jr., American lawyer and diplomat
- September 23 - George Jackson, American author (d. 1971)
- September 24
- Jesús Mosterín, Spanish philosopher (d. 2017)
- Guy Hovis, American singer
- Linda McCartney, American activist, musician and photographer (d. 1998)
- September 26 - Martine Beswick, British actress, model
- September 27
- Gay Kayler Ashcroft, Australian country music singer
- Sam Zell, American publisher, investor (d. 2023)
- September 28 - Edmund Stoiber, German politician
- September 29 - Fred West, British serial killer (d. 1995)
- September 30 - Angela Pleasence, British actress
October
- October 1 – Vyacheslav Vedenin, Soviet cross-country skier
- October 3
- October 4
- October 5 - Eduardo Duhalde, 50th President of Argentina
- October 8 - Jesse Jackson, African-American clergyman, civil rights activist and presidential candidate
- October 9 - Trent Lott, American politician and author
- October 10
- October 11 - Valerii Postoyanov, Soviet Olympic sport shooter (d. 2018)
- October 13 - Paul Simon, American singer, composer (Simon and Garfunkel)
- October 16 - Tim McCarver, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2023)
- October 17 - Earl Thomas Conley, American country music singer (d. 2019)
- October 19 - Peter Thornley, English professional wrestler best known for the ring character Kendo Nagasaki[39]
- October 20 - Anneke Wills, British actress
- October 21 - Dickie Pride, British rock and roll singer (d. 1969)
- October 23 - Mel Winkler, American actor (d. 2020)
- October 24 - Frank Aendenboom, Belgian actor (d. 2018)
- October 25
- October 28
- October 30 - Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics recipient
- October 31 - Sally Kirkland, American actress
November
- November 1
- November 2 - Bruce Welch, British guitarist and singer-songwriter
- November 2 - Arun Shourie, Indian author and economist
- November 5 - Art Garfunkel, American singer
- November 6 - Guy Clark, American folk singer-songwriter (d. 2016)[40]
- November 7 - Angelo Scola, Italian cardinal
- November 9 - Tom Fogerty, American guitarist (Creedence Clearwater Revival) (d. 1990)
- November 13 – Dack Rambo, American actor (d. 1994)
- November 17 - Tova Traesnaes, Norwegian-American cosmetician and businesswoman; wife of actor Ernest Borgnine
- November 18 - David Hemmings, English actor (d. 2003)
- November 19 - Dan Haggerty, American actor (Grizzly Adams) (d. 2016)
- November 20 - Dr. John, American singer and songwriter (d. 2019)
- November 21 – İdil Biret, Turkish pianist
- November 22 - Tom Conti, Scottish actor
- November 23
- November 24 - Pete Best, English drummer
- November 25
- November 27
- November 28 - Laura Antonelli, Italian actress (d. 2015)
- November 29
December
-
- December 6
- December 8 – Geoff Hurst, English footballer
- December 9
- December 11 - Max Baucus, American politician and diplomat
- December 12 – Vitaly Solomin, Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
- December 13 - John Davidson, American singer, actor
- December 19
- December 21
- December 23
- December 29 - Ray Thomas, English flautist, singer and songwriter (The Moody Blues) (d. 2018)
- December 30 - Mel Renfro, American football player
- December 31 - Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager (Manchester United)
Deaths
January
- January 1 - József Konkolics, Hungarian Slovene writer (b. 1861)
- January 4 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1859)
- January 5 - Amy Johnson, English aviator (aviation accident) (b. 1903)[41]
- January 8
- January 9 - Paul Brandon Barringer, American physician and the sixth president of Virginia Tech (b. 1857)
- January 10
- January 11 - Emanuel Lasker, German chess champion (b. 1868)
- January 13 - James Joyce, Irish writer, poet (b. 1882)
- January 15 - Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi, Italian nobleman, general and politician (b. 1856)
- January 17 - Virginio Arias, Chilean sculptor and art teacher (b. 1855)
- January 20 - Dennis E. Batt, American political journalist and trade union activist (b. 1886)
- January 21 - Rudolf von Brudermann, Austro-Hungarian general (b. 1851)
- January 24 - Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll, British aristocrat (murder) (b. 1901)
- January 29 - Ioannis Metaxas, Greek military officer, politician and Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1871)
February
- February 2 - Harris Laning, American admiral (b. 1873)
- February 4 - George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd, British politician and diplomat (b. 1879)
- February 7 - Giuseppe Tellera, Italian general (died of wounds) (b. 1882)
- February 11 - Rudolf Hilferding, German economist, Minister of Finance (b. 1877)
- February 13 - Blind Boy Fuller, African-American blues musician (b. 1904)
- February 15 - Pavel Blonsky, Russian Soviet psychologist, philosopher, and founder of Soviet paedology (b. 1884)
- February 20 - Carlos Baca-Flor, Peruvian painter (b. 1869)
- February 22 - Đuro Arnold, Croatian writer and philosopher (b. 1853)
- February 23 – Sister Blandina, Italian-born American Sister of Charity of Cincinnati and missionary (b. 1850)
- February 24 - Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German submarine commander (b. 1886)
- February 27 - William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)
- February 28 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
March
- March 3 - Bernard van Beek, Dutch painter (b. 1875)
- March 4 - Ludwig Quidde, German activist, politician and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- March 8 - Sherwood Anderson, American author (b. 1876)
- March 13 - Geoffrey Allard, British WWII flying ace (b. 1912)
- March 14 - C. R. M. F. Cruttwell, English historian (b. 1887)[42]
- March 15 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
- March 17 - Joachim Schepke, German submarine commander (killed in action) (b. 1912)
- March 18 - Alexander Pfänder, German philosopher (b. 1870)
- March 28
- March 30 - Vasil Kutinchev, Bulgarian general (b. 1859)
- March 31 - Lujo Bakotić, Serbian writer, publicist, lawyer, lexicographer and diplomat (b. 1867)
April
May
- May 2 - Craigie Aitchison, Scottish politician and judge (b. 1882)
- May 7 - James George Frazer, Scottish social anthropologist (b. 1854)
- May 11 - Peggy Shannon, American actress (b. 1910)
- May 12 - Ruth Stonehouse, American actress (b. 1892)
- May 14 - Maurice Bavaud, Swiss theology student who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1938 (b. 1916)
- May 23 - Herbert Austin, English automobile designer and builder who founded Austin Motor Company (b. 1866)
- May 24 - Lancelot Holland, British admiral (died in action) (b. 1887)
- May 27 - Günther Lütjens, German admiral (killed in action) (b. 1889)
- May 29 - Charles Alderton, American pharmacist and the inventor of Dr Pepper (b. 1857)
- May 30 - Prajadhipok, Rama VII, King of Siam (b. 1893)
June
- June 1
- June 2 - Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (New York Yankees), MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1903)
- June 6 - Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born automobile builder, race car driver (b. 1878)
- June 11 - Daniel Carter Beard, American scouting pioneer (b. 1850)
- June 15 - Evelyn Underhill, English Christian mystic (b. 1875)
-
- Ayyankali, Indian politician, social reformer, educator, economist, lawmaker, and revolutionary leader. (b. 1863)
- Cecilio Báez, former provisional President of Paraguay (b. 1862)
- June 21 - Elliott Dexter, American actor (b. 1870)
- June 23 - Frederick Gottwald, Austrian-American painter (b. 1858)
- June 25 - Luigi Capello, Italian general (b. 1859)
- June 28 - Richard Carle, American actor (b. 1871)
- June 29 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer and third Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1860)
July
-
- July 4 - Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b. 1881)
- July 8 - Alexandru Bassarab, Romanian painter, engraver, and fascist politician (b. 1907)
- July 9 - Božidar Adžija, Yugoslav politician and publicist (b. 1890)
- July 11 - Arthur Evans, English archaeologist (b. 1851)
- July 15 - Walter Ruttmann, German director (b. 1887)
- July 20 - Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer (b. 1867)
- July 22 - Dmitry Pavlov, Soviet general (executed) (b. 1897)
- July 23 - José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian aviator (b. 1914)
- July 24 - Rudolf Ramek, 5th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1881)
- July 25 - Allan Forrest, American actor (b. 1885)
- July 27
- July 28 - Pyotr Akhlyustin, Red Army major general (b. 1896)
- July 30
August
- August 1 - James Drake, Australian politician (b. 1850)
- August 4 - Mihály Babits, Hungarian poet, writer, essayist, and translator (b. 1883)
- August 7 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- August 10 - Ullie Akerstrom, American actress, dancer, playwright, and vaudeville performer (b. 1858)
- August 12 - Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon, British politician and colonial administrator, 22nd Viceroy of India, 13th Governor General of Canada (b. 1866)
- August 13 - J. Stuart Blackton, American film producer (b. 1875)
- August 14
- August 20 - John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven, British politician, 8th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1874)
- August 25 - Robert Alexander, United States Army officer (b. 1863)
- August 30 - Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish engineer and physicist (b. 1874)
September
- September 1 - Karl Parts, Estonian military commander (b. 1886)
- September 8 - Giuseppe Amisani, Italian painter (b. 1881)
- September 9 - Hans Spemann, German embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1869)
- September 14 - Alicia Amherst, English horticulturist, botanist, and author (b. 1865)
- September 15 - Italia Almirante Manzini, Italian actress (b. 1890)
- September 17 - Iosif Berman, Romanian photographer and journalist (b. 1892)
- September 20 - Mikhail Kirponos, Soviet general (b. 1892)
- September 29 - Felipe Agoncillo, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1859)
October
November
December
- December 2 - Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Polish marshal (b. 1886)
- December 3 - Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (b. 1856)
- December 6 - Louis Bertrand, French novelist, historian and essayist (b. 1866)
- December 7 - Isaac C. Kidd, American admiral (killed in action) (b. 1884)
- December 8 - Izidor Kürschner, Hungarian football player and coach (b. 1885)[44]
- December 9 - Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli, Austrian general, German field marshal (b. 1856)
- December 10 - Sir Tom Phillips, British admiral (killed in action) (b. 1888)[45]
- December 11 - Émile Picard, French mathematician (b. 1856)
- December 15 - Blessed Martyrs of Drina, Croatian nuns
- December 19 - Sir George Agnew, British art dealer, publisher and politician (b. 1852)
- December 28
- December 30 - El Lissitzky, Russian artist, architect (b. 1890)
Nobel Prizes
Further reading
- William K. Klingaman. 1941: Our Lives in a World on the Edge (1988) world perspective based on primary sources by a scholar.
Notes and References
- Web site: Deaths in conflicts by source . 2023-07-22 . Our World in Data.
- Web site: "The Bormann Decree" banning the use of the Fraktur typeface. About.com. 2013-10-23. December 2, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131202221347/http://german.about.com/library/gallery/blfoto_fraktur06E.htm. dead.
- .
- Book: Muggenthaler, August Karl. German Raiders of WWII. Prentice-Hall. 1977. 0-13-354027-8. 140–143. .
- Book: Telfer, Kevin . The Summer of '45 . 2015 . Aurum Press Ltd . Islington . 978-1-78131-435-7 . 5.
- Web site: Post-Gazette Feb. 3, 1941.
- 260–165.
- Book: Robertson, Patrick. The Shell Book of Firsts. London. Ebury Press. 1974. 124–5.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20100204035124/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8492762.stm BBC
- Web site: A Brief History of U.S. Navy Destroyers. Part II - World War II (1941-1943). America's Navy. US Navy. Washington, DC. 2018-04-28.
- Book: Quigley, Carroll. Tragedy And Hope. 1966. Macmillan. New York. 0-945001-10-X. 738.
- Book: I. S. O.. Playfair. F. C.. Flynn . C. J. C.. Molony. S. E.. Toomer. Butler. J. R. M. . History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. The Mediterranean and Middle East . II: The Germans come to the help of their Ally (1941). Naval & Military Press. 2004. 1956. 1-84574-066-1 . 182–183.
- http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/410527a.html Proclamation of Unlimited National Emergency
- Book: Lang, Karl. Solidarité, débats, mouvement: cent ans de Parti socialiste suisse, 1888-1988. Lausanne. Editions d'en bas. 1988. 270–2. 9782829000973.
- Web site: About Bulova. Bulova. December 28, 2012. February 20, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090220122718/http://bulova.com/about/about.aspx. dead.
- Web site: A U. S. Television Chronology, 1875-1970.
- Book: Evans. A. A.. Gibbons. David. 2012. The Illustrated Timeline of World War II. Rosen Publishing. 69. 978-1-4488-4795-2.
- Web site: The Jedwabne Tragedy. 2000. Polish Academic Information Center, University at Buffalo. 2012-07-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20120716185512/http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/J/. July 16, 2012.
- Book: J. R. T. Wood. The Welensky Papers: A History of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. 1983. Graham Publishing. 978-0-620-06410-1. 80.
- Book: The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies. Hayes, Peter. Roth, John K.. Oxford University Press. 2010. 9780199211869. 122.
- The beginning of war in the East and hastening the approaches against the Jewish population. Adina. Babeș. Alexandru. Florian. Holocaust. Studii și cercetări. 7. 2014. 30–44.
- Book: Hansen, Randall. 2014. Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Valkyrie. registration. Oxford University Press. 31. 978-0-19-992792-0.
- Web site: Teen Speak. The English Project. April 2008. 2024-06-28.
- Web site: Vermont declares war on Germany. https://archive.today/20130118101637/http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-14/lifestyle/30156127_1_actor-adam-lamberg-actor-walter-koenig-danielle-peck. 2013-01-18.
- News: No Sabotage Found in Firestone Blaze by FBI Men Making Probe. Fall River. The Herald News. 1941-10-14. 1.
- Web site: Stalin . Joseph . November 6, 1941 . Speech at Celebration Meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Working People's Deputies and Moscow Party and Public Organization . March 24, 2024 . Marxist.org.
- Robert Forczyk (2008). Sevastopol 1942, Von Manstein's triumph, p. 40.
- Book: Muggenthaler, August Karl. German Raiders of WWII. Prentice-Hall. 1977. 0-13-354027-8. 186–191.
- Book: Muggenthaler, August Karl. German Raiders of WWII. Prentice-Hall. 1977. 0-13-354027-8. 114.
- Book: Shaw, Antony. World War II Day by Day. Staplehurst. Spellmount. 2005. 1-86227-304-9.
- Book: Brown, Robert J.. Manipulating the Ether: the Power of Broadcast Radio in Thirties America. registration. 117–120. Jefferson, NC. McFarland & Co. 1998. 0-7864-2066-9.
- http://www.usna.com/page.aspx?pid=700 The United States Naval Academy Alumni Association and the United States Naval Academy Foundation website
- News: The Gosnell case: Here's what you need to know. .
- News: Leo . Geoff . Woloshyn . Roxanna . Guerriero . Guerriero . Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? . 31 October 2023 . CBC News . October 27, 2023.
- Web site: Denning: Going against social norms - The Prague Post. https://archive.today/20130910203650/http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/34384-denning-going-against-social-norms.html. September 10, 2013. September 10, 2013. archive.is.
- Web site: Nicolae SARAMANDU - Filolog, Lingvist. Romanian Academy. 23 February 2023. ro.
- Web site: David Crosby, Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash Co-Founder, Dies at 81 . January 19, 2023 .
- News: Nicolae-Șerban Tanașoca, In Memoriam. Adi. Mondiru. Agenția de presă RADOR. 10 April 2017. ro.
- Book: The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant. Bertrand. Hébert. Pat. Laprade. Tony. Stabile. April 28, 2020. ECW Press. 9781773054766 . Google Books.
- News: Sweeting . Adam . Guy Clark obituary . October 25, 2016. . May 19, 2016.
- Book: Luff, David. Amy Johnson: Enigma in the Sky. 2002. Airlife. Shrewsbury. 9781840373196.
- Ellis. Geoffrey. Cruttwell, Charles Robert Mowbray Fraser. 2007. 10.1093/ref:odnb/32655. 1 November 2010.
- Web site: Historic Figures: Wilhelm II (1859 - 1941) . BBC History . August 22, 2018.
- Web site: Ezen a napon született Kürschner Izidor, a kiváló játékos és világjáró edző, akinek Brazíliában szobrot állítottak. www.mtkbudapest.hu.
- Web site: Phillips, Sir Tom Spencer Vaughan. CWGC. 3 June 2020.
