1941
Year 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
- January 1 – Thailand 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 in Germany outlaws the use of Blackletter Gothic typefaces in favour of Antiqua.
- 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: At the 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 – The keel of the USS Missouri is laid at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn.
- January 10 – Lend-Lease is introduced into the U.S. Congress.
- January 13 – All persons born in Puerto Rico since this day are declared U.S. citizens by birth, through U.S. federal law 8 U.S.C. § 1402.
- January 14 – WWII: Commerce raiding hilfskreuzer Pinguin captures the Norwegian whaling fleet near Bouvet Island, effectively ending Southern Ocean whaling for the duration of the war.[1]
- January 15 – John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry describe the workings of the Atanasoff–Berry Computer in print.
- January 19 – WWII: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
- January 20 – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term.
- January 22 – WWII: Battle of Tobruk: Australian and British forces capture Tobruk from the Italians.
- January 22 – In Sweden, Victor Hasselblad had the Victor Hasselblad AB Camera Company registered.
- 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 – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Joseph C. 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 30 – WWII – Australians capture Derna, Libya from the Italians.
February
March
April
May
- May 1
- The breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills.
- 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 5 – WWII: Emperor Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, which had been liberated from Italian forces; this date has been since commemorated as Liberation Day in Ethiopia.
- May 6 – At California's March Field, entertainer Bob Hope performs his first USO Show.
- May 9 – WWII: The German submarine U-110 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 12 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
- May 15
- May 20 – WWII: The Battle of Crete begins as Germany launches an airborne invasion of Crete.
- May 24 – WWII: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship Bismarck sinks battlecruiser HMS Hood, killing all but 3 crewmen from a total of 1,418 aboard the pride of the Royal Navy.
- May 26 – WWII: In the North Atlantic, Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the carrier HMS Ark Royal cripple the steering of Bismarck in an aerial torpedo attack.
- May 27
- 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
June
July
August
- August – Political Warfare Executive is formed in the United Kingdom.
- August 1 – The first Jeep is produced.
- August 6 – Six-year-old Elaine Esposito goes to an appendix operation in Florida and lapses into a coma. She dies in 1978, still in a coma.
- August 9 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet at Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Atlantic Charter is created as a result.
- August 16 – The HMS Mercury, Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School open at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.
- August 18 – Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of the mentally ill and handicapped due to protests. However, graduates of the T-4 Euthanasia Program are then transferred to concentration camps, where they continue in their trade.
- August 22 – WWII – France: The German Occupation Authority announces that anyone found either working for or aiding the Free French will be sentenced to death.
- August 24 – WWII: A Luftwaffe bomb hits an Estonian steamer with 3,500 Soviet-mobilized Estonian men on board, killing 598 of them.
- August 25 – WWII: Operation Countenance begins with United Kingdom and Soviet forces invading Iran.
- August 27 – WWII – Pierre Laval is shot in an assassination attempt at Versailles, France.
- August 28 – WWII: The Soviets announce the destruction of the massive Dnieper River dam at Zaporozhye, to prevent its capture by the Germans.
- August 31 – The Great Gildersleeve debuts on NBC Radio.
September
- September 6 – Holocaust: The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.
- September 8 – WWII – The Siege of Leningrad begins: German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Germans deported to Siberia.
- September 11 – WWII: Charles Lindbergh, at an America First Committee rally in Des Moines, Iowa, accuses "the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt administration" of leading the United States toward war. Widespread condemnation of Lindbergh follows.
- September 12 – WWII: The first snowfall is reported on the Russian front.
- September 14 – The State of Vermont declares war on Germany.
- September 15 – The Estonian Self-Administration, headed by Hjalmar Mäe, is appointed by the German military administration.
- September 16 – Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran is forced to resign in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, under pressure from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.
- September 22 The town of Reshetylivka in the Soviet Union is occupied by German forces.
- September 27 – The first Liberty Ship, the SS Patrick Henry, is launched at Baltimore, Maryland.
- September 29 – WWII: The Moscow Conference begins; U.S. representative Averill Harriman and British representative Lord Beaverbrook meet with Soviet foreign minister Molotov to arrange urgent assistance for Russia.
- September 29–September 30 – Holocaust: Babi Yar massacre – German troops, assisted by Ukrainian police and local collaborators, killed 33,771 Jews of Kiev, Ukraine.
October
November
- 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 that year on July 2). He states that even though 350,000 troops have been killed in German attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration) and that Soviet victory is near.
- November 7 – WWII: The Soviet hospital Ship Armenia is sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees, wounded military and the staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people die in the sinking.
- November 10 – In a speech at the Mansion House in 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 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.
- November 14 – WWII: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sinks after being torpedoed by U-81.
- November 17 – WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables to Washington a warning that Japan may strike suddenly and unexpectedly.
- November 18 – WWII: Operation Crusader in North Africa begins
- November 19 – WWII: Both commerce raiding hilfskreuzer Kormoran and Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney sink following a battle off the coast of Western Australia. There are no survivors from the 645 Australian sailors aboard Sydney.[5]
- November 21 – The radio program King Biscuit Time is broadcast for the first time (it later becomes the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live blues radio program).
- November 22 – WWII: HMS Devonshire sinks commerce raiding hilfskreuzer Atlantis, ending the longest warship cruise of the war. (622 days without in-port replenishment or repair)[6]
- November 26 – WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: A fleet of 6 aircraft carriers commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo leaves Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbor under strict radio silence
- November 27
- 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.
- WWII: Germans reach their closest approach to Moscow. They are subsequently frozen by cold weather and attacks by the Soviets.
December
Date unknown
Births
January
- January 1 – Dardo Cabo, Argentine journalist and activist (d. 1977)
- January 3 – Van Dyke Parks, American composer, producer, and musician
- January 4
- January 5
- January 7
- January 8 – Graham Chapman, English comedian (d. 1989)
- January 9 – Joan Baez, American singer and activist
- January 11
- January 12 – Long John Baldry, British singer (d. 2005)
- January 14
- January 15 – Captain Beefheart, American singer (d. 2010)
- January 18 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
- January 19 – Pat Patterson, Canadian professional wrestler
- January 20 – Allan Young (d. 2009)
- January 21
- January 24
- January 25
- January 26
- January 27 – Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (d. 1981)
- January 30
- January 31
February
- February 1 – Jerry Spinelli, American children's author
- February 3 – Dory Funk, Jr., American professional wrestler
- February 5
- February 6 – Howard Phillips, American politician
- February 7 – Peter Foxhall, Australian evangelist
- February 8 – Nick Nolte, American actor
- February 10 – Michael Apted, English film director
- February 12 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (d. 1984)
- February 13
- February 19 – David Gross, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 20 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer
- February 26 – Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)
- February 27 – Paddy Ashdown, British politician
- February 28 – Suzanne Mubarak, Egyptian first lady
March
- March 1 – Joo Hyun, South Korean actor
- March 4
- March 5 – Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player
- March 6 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player (d. 2001)
- March 13 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian prominent poet and writer of prose (d. 2008)
- March 14 – Wolfgang Petersen, German film director
- March 15 – Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)
- March 16
- March 17 – Paul Kantner, American rock guitarist (Jefferson Airplane)
- March 18 – Wilson Pickett, American singer (d. 2006)
- March 20 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese long-distance runner
- March 23 – Jim Trelease, American educator and author
- March 26 – Richard Dawkins, British scientist
- March 28 – Jim Turner, American football player
- March 29 – Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 30 – Wasim Sajjad, President of Pakistan
April
- April 2 – Dr. Demento (Barret Eugene Hansen), American radio disc jockey and novelty music collector
- April 3
- April 8 – Peggy Lennon, American singer (The Lennon Sisters)
- April 9 – Kay Adams, American country singer
- April 11 – Shirley Stelfox, English actress
- April 12 – Bobby Moore, English football player and World Cup winning captain (d. 1993)
- April 13 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 14
- April 20 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor
- April 23
- April 24 – John Williams, Australian guitarist
- April 27 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
- April 28
May
- May 5 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)
- May 6 – Ivica Osim, Bosnian football player and manager
- May 11 – Eric Burdon, English singer (The Animals)
- May 13
- May 19
- May 20 – Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister of Singapore
- May 21 – Bobby Cox, American baseball manager
- May 22 – Menzies Campbell, British politician
- May 24 – Bob Dylan, American poet and musician
- May 26 – John Kaufman, English sculptor
- May 31 – Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
June
- June 2 – Stacy Keach, American actor
- June 4 – Erkin Koray, Turkish musician
- June 5
- June 6 – Neal Adams, American comic book artist
- June 8
- June 9 – Jon Lord, organist of Deep Purple, the "Lord of the Hammond organ"
- June 10
- June 12 – Marv Albert, American sports announcer
- June 14 – Roy Harper, English guitarist
- June 15 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (d. 1994)
- June 19
- June 21 – Joe Flaherty, American-Canadian actor and comedian
- June 22
- June 24
- June 27 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish film director (d. 1996)
- June 28 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (d. 2006)
July
August
September
October
- October 2 – Zareh Baronian, Archimandrite doctor, theologian of the Armenian Church, Bucarest
- October 4
- October 5 – Eduardo Duhalde, President of Argentina
- October 8 – Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and civil rights activist
- October 9 – Trent Lott, former United States Senate Minority Leader and United States Senate Majority Leader
- October 10 – Peter Coyote, American actor
- October 13 – Paul Simon, American singer and composer
- October 16 – Tim McCarver, American baseball commentator
- October 20 – Anneke Wills, British actress
- October 23 – Mel Winkler, American actor
- October 25
- October 27 – Gerd Brantenberg, Norwegian feminist author and gay rights activist
- October 28
- October 30 – Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics
- October 31 – Sally Kirkland, American actress
November
- November 1
- November 2 – Bruce Welch, British guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Shadows)
- November 5 – Art Garfunkel, American singer
- November 6 – Doug Sahm, American musician (d. 1999)
- November 17 – Tova Traesnaes, American cosmetician and fifth wife of Ernest Borgnine
- November 18 – David Hemmings, English actor (d. 2003)
- November 21 – Juliet Mills, English actress
- November 23 – Derek Mahon, Irish poet
- November 25
- November 26 – G. Alan Marlatt, American psychologist
- November 27 – Eddie Rabbitt, American country musician (d. 1998)
- November 29 – Bill Freehan, American baseball player
December
Deaths
January–February
- January 4 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1859)
- January 5 – Amy Johnson, English aviator (b. 1903)
- January 8 – Lord Robert Baden-Powell, English soldier and founder of the Boy Scouts (b. 1857)
- January 10
- January 13 – James Joyce, Irish writer (b. 1882)
- February 6 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet & journalist (b. 1864)
- February 9 – Aaron S. Watkins, American temperance movement leader (b. 1863)
- February 11 – Rudolf Hilferding, German economist and Minister of Finance (b. 1877)
- February 21 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
- February 24 – Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German submariner (b. 1886)
- February 27 – William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)
- February 28 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
March–July
- March 5 – Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, Russian royal (b. 1891)
- March 6 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor (Mount Rushmore) (b. 1867)
- March 8 – Sherwood Anderson, American author (b. 1876)
- March 15 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
- March 28
- April 5 – Sir Nigel Gresley, English steam locomotive engineer (Flying Scotsman and Mallard) (b. 1876)
- April 13 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (b. 1863)
- April 16 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, Bt, GCB, GBE, FBA, British civil servant, industrialist, economist, statistician and banker (b.1880)
- April 24 – Karin Boye, Swedish poetess (suicide) (b. 1900)
- April 30 – Edwin S. Porter, American film director (b. 1870)
- May 1 – Jenny Dolly, American singer (b. 1892)
- May 11 – Peggy Shannon, American actress (b. 1910)
- May 12 – Ruth Stonehouse, American actress (b. 1892)
- May 16 – Minnie Vautrin, American missionary and heroine of the Nanjing Massacre (b. 1887)
- May 30 – Prajadhipok, Rama VII, king of Thailand (b. 1893)
- June 1 – Hugh Walpole, British writer (b. 1884)
- June 2 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
- June 4 – Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany (b. 1859)
- June 6 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born automobile builder and race car driver (b. 1878)
- June 21 – Elliott Dexter, American actor (b. 1870)
- June 29 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer, and third Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1860)
- July 3 – Friedrich Akel, Estonian diplomat and politician (b. 1871)
- July 4 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b. 1881)
- July 10 – Jelly Roll Morton, African-American jazz musician and composer (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 25 – Allan Forrest, American actor (b. 1885)
- July 26 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)
- July 29 – James Stephenson, British actor (b. 1889)
August–December
- August 7 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- August 13 – James Stuart Blackton, American film producer (b. 1875)
- August 14 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
- August 30 – Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish engineer and physicist (b. 1874)
- August 31 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (suicide) (b. 1892)
- September 1 – Karl Parts, Estonia military commander (b. 1886)
- September 12 – Hans Spemann, German embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1869)
- September 18 – Fred Karno, British music hall comedian (b. 1866)
- October 5 – Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1856)
- October 8
- October 9 – Helen Morgan, American singer and actress (b. 1900)
- October 26
- October 29 – Harvey Hendrick, American baseball player (b. 1897)
- November 16 – Miina Härma, Estonian composer (b. 1864)
- November 18
- November 21 – Henrietta Vinton Davis, American elocutionist, dramatist, impersonator, public speaker (b. 1860)
- November 26 – Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (b. 1861)
- November 30 – Esmond Romilly, British socialist (b. 1918)
- December 3 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (b. 1856)
- December 7 – Isaac Campbell Kidd, American admiral (died in the attack on Pearl Harbor) (b. 1884)
- December 12 – César Basa, Filipino pilot (b. 1915)
- December 25 – Blanche Bates, stage actress (b. 1873)
- December 30 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)
Nobel Prizes
References
- ^ Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of WWII. Prentice-Hall. pp. 140–143. ISBN 0-13-354027-8.
- ^ Robertson, Patrick (1974). The Shell Book of Firsts. London: Ebury Press. pp. 124–5.
- ^ BBC
- ^ "No Sabotage Found in Firestone Blaze by FBI Men Making Probe." Fall River, Herald News, October 14, 1941, p.1
- ^ Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of WWII. Prentice-Hall. pp. 186–191. ISBN 0-13-354027-8.
- ^ Muggenthaler, August Karl (1977). German Raiders of WWII. Prentice-Hall. p. 114. ISBN 0-13-354027-8.
- ^ Brown, Robert J. (1998). Manipulating the Ether: the Power of Broadcast Radio in Thirties America. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. pp. 117–120. ISBN 0-7864-2066-9.