Year (''' MCMXLI ''') was a Common Year Starting On Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar .
:: ''(Below, many events of World War II have the " World War II " prefix.)''
- forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy , France .
- (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
- arrives in Tripoli .
- , South Wales . Over these three nights of intensive bombing, which lasted a total of 13 hours and 48 minutes, Swansea town centre was almost completely obliterated by the 896 High Explosive bombs employed by the Luftwaffe . A total of 397 casualties and 230 deaths were reported. The Three nights Blitz ended in the early hours of February 22.
- isolates and discovers Plutonium .
- March - Captain America Comics #1 issues the first '' Captain America '' & '' Bucky '' comic.
- signs the Tripartite Pact thus joining the Axis Powers .
- March 1
- --- W47NV begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee becoming the first FM Radio station.
- --- Arthur L. Bristol becomes Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy 's Support Force, Atlantic Fleet
- off the north coast of Norway .
- March 11
- --- Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
- --- Kinsmen Club Of Brantford is chartered.
- March 17
- ---In Washington, DC , the National Gallery Of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt .
- ---British Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin , calls for women to fill vital jobs.
- March 22 - Washington 's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate Electricity .
- in Vienna joins the Axis Powers
- March 27 - World War II :
- ---Anti-Axis coup d'etat in Yugoslavia - Prince Paul exiled; 17-year-old King Peter II assumes power.
- --- Attack On Pearl Harbor - Japan ese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii and begins to study the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor .
- - Off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean , British Naval Forces defeat those of Italy sinking five warships. Battle started on March 27 .
- March 30 - All German, Italian, and Danish ships anchored in United States waters are taken into "protective custody".
- May 1
- ---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 - 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 , Bob Hope performs his first USO Show .
- 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 - World War II :
- ---The United Kingdom 's House Of Commons is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an Air Raid .
- --- Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland claiming to be on a peace mission.
- May 12 - Konrad Zuse presented the Z3 , the world's first working programmable, fully automatic Computer in Berlin .
- May 15
- ---First British jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39 , is flown.
- --- Joe DiMaggio 's 56-game Hitting Streak begins, lasting until July 17 .
- - Germany launches airborne invasion of Crete .
- , the freighter SS ''Robin Moor'' becomes the first United States ship sunk by a German U-boat .
- , the German battleship '' Bismarck '' sinks the HMS ''Hood'' killing all but three crewman on what was the pride of the Royal Navy .
- , Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the carrier HMS Ark Royal fatally cripple the German Battleship Bismarck in torpedo attack.
- May 27 - World War II :
- --- President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency."
- ---German battleship '' Bismarck '' is sunk in North Atlantic killing 2,300.
- becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
- with the word " Jew " inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German -occupied areas.
- begins - German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union 's second-largest city, Leningrad . Stalin orders the Volga Deutsche deported to Siberia.
- September 11 - World War II :
- --- Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Navy to shoot on sight if any ship or convoy is threatened.
- --- 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 - World War II : First snowfall reported on Russian front.
- September 15 - Self-government of Estonia , headed by Hjalmar Mäe , is appointed by German military administration.
- September 16 - Reza Pahlavi , Shah 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 27 - The first Liberty Ship , the SS ''Patrick Henry'' , is launched at Baltimore, Maryland .
- 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 were killed in German attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration) and that Soviet victory was near.
- sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff of several Crimea ’s hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people died 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."
- drop to −12 ° C and the Soviet Union launches Ski Troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
- HMS ''Ark Royal'' is hit by German U-boat U-81
- November 14 - World War II :
- --- HMS ''Ark Royal'' capsizes and sinks, having been torpedoed by U 81 .
- --- Attack On Pearl Harbor - Japanese diplomat Saburo Kurusu arrives in the United States to assist Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura in peace negotiations.
- - Joseph Grew , the United States ambassador to Japan , cables the State Department that Japan had plans to launch an attack against Pearl Harbor , Hawaii (his cable was ignored).
- n war cruiser HMAS ''Sydney'' sinks off the coast of Western Australia , killing 645 sailors.
- November 21 - The Radio program '' King Biscuit Time '' is broadcast for the first time (it would later become the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live Blues radio program).
- grants Lend-Lease to the Free French .
- November 26
- ---US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States (this partly reversed a 1939 action by Roosevelt that changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November).
- ---The Hull Note ultimatum is delivered to Japan by the United States.
- --- Attack On Pearl Harbor - A fleet of six Aircraft Carrier s commanded by Japan ese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo leaves Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbor under strict Radio silence.
- November 27
- ---A group of young men stop traffic on highway US 99 south of Yreka, California , handing out fliers proclaiming the establishment of the State Of Jefferson .
-- Battle Of Moscow - Germans reach their closest approach to Moscow . They are subsequently frozen by cold weather and attacks by the Soviets .
- --- Attack On Pearl Harbor - All U.S. military forces in Asia and the Pacific are placed on war alert.
ablaze after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]]
- December 1 - World War II :
- --- Fiorello LaGuardia , Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office Of Civilian Defense , signed Administrative Order 9 creating the Civil Air Patrol under the authority of the United States Army Air Corps .
- ---State of emergency declared in Malaya and the Straits Settlements .
- - The code message "Climb Mount Niitaka" is transmitted to the Japanese task force, indicating that negotiations have broken down and that the attack is to be carried out according to plan.
- December 4 - State Of Jefferson declared in Yreka, California , with judge John Childs as a governor
- - Franklin D. Roosevelt makes a personal peace appeal to Emperor Hirohito of Japan .
- December 7 , December 8 (in Japan Standard Time ) - Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack consisting of two full regiments on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor , thus drawing the United States into World War II .
- December 8 - World War II :
- ---The United States officially declares war on Japan .
- --- China officially declares war on Japan
- ---The Netherlands declares war on Japan
- --- Japan launches invasions in Hong Kong , Malaya , Manila , and Singapore .
- and HMS ''Repulse'' are sunk by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea north of Singapore .
- December 11 - World War II :
- --- Germany declares war on the United States .
- ---American forces repel a Japanese landing attempt at Wake Island .
- December 12 - Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States . India declares war on Japan . United States seizes French ship Normandie .
- December 13 - Sweden 's low temperature record of -53°C was set in a village within Vilhelmina Municipality .
- becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army
- is successful, and the American garrison surrenders after a full night and morning of fighting.
- .
- becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a Joint Session Of The U.S. Congress
- raid the Norwegian port of Vaagso , causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defenses, drawing vital troops away from other areas.
- (the assassination of Heydrich in Prague ).
- January 3 - Van Dyke Parks , American composer, producer, and musician
- January 4 - John Bennett Perry , American actor
- January 5
- --- Hayao Miyazaki , Japanese filmmaker
- --- Kevin Keelan , English footballer
- January 7
- --- Iona Brown , British violinist and conductor (d. 2004 )
- --- John E. Walker , English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 8 - Graham Chapman , British comedian (d. 1989 )
- January 9 - Joan Baez , American singer and activitist
- January 11 - Dave Edwards , American musician (d. 2000 )
- January 12 - Long John Baldry , British singer (d. 2005 )
- January 14
- --- Faye Dunaway , American actress
- --- Milan Kučan , Slovenian politician and statesman
- January 15 - Captain Beefheart , American singer
- January 18 - David Ruffin , American singer (d. 1991 )
- January 21
- --- Plácido Domingo , Spanish-born tenor
- --- Richie Havens , American musician
- January 24
- --- Neil Diamond , American singer and songwriter
- --- Aaron Neville , American singer
- January 26
- --- Scott Glenn , American actor
- --- Henry Jaglom , English film director
- January 27 - Beatrice Tinsley , English astronomer
- January 30
- --- Dick Cheney , Vice President Of The United States
- --- Tineke Lagerberg , Dutch swimmer
- January 31 - Dick Gephardt , American politician
- February 1 - Jerry Spinelli , American children's author
- February 5
- --- David Selby , American actor
- --- Kaspar Villiger , Swiss Federal Councilor
- 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 13 - Sigmar Polke , German painter
- 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
- March 4
- --- Adrian Lyne , English film director
- --- John Aprea , American actor
- March 5 - Nona Gaprindashvili , Georgian chess player
- March 6 - Willie Stargell , baseball player (d. 2001 )
- March 14 - Wolfgang Petersen , German film director
- March 15 - Mike Love , American musician ( The Beach Boys )
- March 16
- --- Robert Guéï , military ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002 )
- --- Chuck Woolery , American game show host
- March 18 - Wilson Pickett , American singer (d. 2006 )
- 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 3 - Philippe Wynne , American musician (d. 1984 )
- April 8 - Peggy Lennon , American singer ( The Lennon Sisters )
- 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 - Julie Christie , British actress
- April 14 - Pete Rose , baseball player
- April 23
- --- Paavo Lipponen , Prime Minister Of Finland
- --- Ed Stewart , English disc jockey
- April 24 - John Williams , Australian guitarist
- April 27 - Lee Roy Jordan , American football player
- April 28
- --- Ann-Margret , Swedish-born actress
- --- K. Barry Sharpless , American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- --- Iryna Zhylenko , Ukrainian poet
- May 5 - Alexander Ragulin , Russian hockey player (d. 2004 )
- May 11 - Eric Burdon , English singer ( The Animals )
- May 13
- --- Senta Berger , Swedish actress
- --- Ritchie Valens , American singer (d. 1959 )
- May 15 - K.T. Oslin , American musician
- May 19
- --- Bobby Burgess , American dancer and singer
- --- Nora Ephron , American film, producer, director, and screenwriter
- May 20 - Goh Chok Tong , Prime Minister Of Singapore
- May 22 - Paul Winfield , American actor (d. 2004 )
- May 24 - Bob Dylan , American poet and musician
- May 26 - John Kaufman , Sculptor
- May 31 - Louis J. Ignarro , American pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine
- June 4 - Erkin Koray , Turkish musician
- June 5
- --- Martha Argerich , Argentine pianist
- --- Spalding Gray , American actor and screenwriter (d. 2004 )
- June 6 - Neal Adams , American comic book artist
- June 8
- --- Robert Bradford , Irish footballer and politician (d. 1981 )
- --- Fuzzy Haskins , American musician ( P-Funk )
- June 10 - Mickey Jones , American actor and musician
- June 21
- --- Joe Flaherty , American-Canadian actor
- --- John O'Kea , Welsh rally driver
- June 22 - Michael Lerner , American actor
- June 24 - Bill Reardon , American politician and educator
- June 27 - Krzysztof Kieślowski , Polish film director (d. 1996 )
- June 28 - Joseph Goguen , American computer scientist (d. 2006 )
- July 1
- --- Alfred G. Gilman , American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine
- --- Myron Scholes , American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 6 - Harold Leighton Weller , American conductor
- July 7 - Bill Oddie , English Comedian and Ornithologist
- July 10 - Jackie Lane , British actress
- July 11 - Tommy Vance , English disc jockey (d. 2005 )
- July 14
- --- Maulana Karenga , American author and activist
- --- Andreas Khol , Austrian politician
- July 19 - Vikki Carr , American singer
- July 27 - Bill Baxley , Alabama politician
- July 28 - Riccardo Muti , Italian conductor
- July 29
- --- Jennifer Dunn , American politician (d. 2007 )
- --- David Warner , English actor
- July 30 - Paul Anka , Canadian-American singer and songwriter
- July 31 - Amarsinh Chaudhary , Indian politician
- September 2 - David Bale , South African-born activist (d. 2003 )
- September 4 - Sushilkumar Shinde , Indian politician
- September 9
- --- Otis Redding , American musician (d. 1967 )
- --- Dennis Ritchie , American computer scientist
- September 10
- --- Christopher Hogwood , English conductor
- --- Gunpei Yokoi , Japanese computer game producer (d. 1997 )
- September 14 - Alberto Naranjo , Venezuelan musician
- September 15
- --- George Saimes , American football player
- --- Mirosław Hermaszewski , First Polish Cosmonaut in Space
- September 17 - Bob Matsui , U.S. Congressman from California (d. 2005 )
- September 19 - Cass Elliott , American singer (d. 1974 )
- September 24 - Guy Hovis , American singer
- October 4
- --- Jackie Collins , British writer
- --- Anne Rice , American writer
- October 5 - Eduardo Duhalde , President Of Argentina
- October 8 - Jesse Jackson , American clergyman and civil rights activist
- October 10 - Peter Coyote , American actor
- October 13 - Paul Simon , American singer and composer
- October 16 - Tim McCarver , baseball commentator
- October 20 - Anneke Wills , British actress
- October 25
- --- Helen Reddy , Australian singer and actress
- --- Anne Tyler , American novelist
- October 28
- --- John Hallam , Irish actor
- --- Hank Marvin , British guitarist, singer and songwriter
- October 30 - Theodor W. Hänsch , German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 1 - Nigel Dempster , British journalist, author, broadcaster and diarist (d. 2007 )
- November 5 - Art Garfunkel , American singer.
- November 6 - Doug Sahm , American musician (d. 1999 )
- November 18 - David Hemmings , English actor (d. 2003 )
- November 23 - Derek Mahon , Irish poet
- November 25 - Gohar Shahi , Spiritual Leader of Pakistan (d. 2001 )
- November 26 - G. Alan Marlatt , American psychologist
- November 27 - Eddie Rabbitt , American musician (d. 1998 )
- November 29 - Bill Freehan , baseball player
- January 4 - Henri Bergson , French philiosopher, 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. 1847 )
- January 10
- --- Frank Bridge , English composer (b. 1879 )
- ---Sir John Lavery , Irish artist (b. 1856 )
- --- Joe Penner , American comedian and actor (b. 1904 )
- 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 6 - Gutzon Borglum , American sculptor (b. 1867 )
- March 8 - Sherwood Anderson , American author (b. 1876 )
- March 15 - Alexej Von Jawlensky , Russian painter (b. 1864 )
- March 28 - Virginia Woolf , English writer (b. 1882 )
- April 13 - Annie Jump Cannon , American astronomer (b. 1863 )
- April 16 - Josiah Stamp , 1st Baron Stamp, Bt, GCB, GBE, FBA, a British civil servant, industrialist, economist, statistician and banker (b. 1880 )
- April 24 - Karin Boye , Swedish poetess (suicide) (b. 1900 )
- April 28 - Luisa Tetrazzini , Italian Coloratura Soprano (b. 1871 )
- 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 2 - Lou Gehrig , 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 29 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski , Polish pianist, composer, and third Prime Minister Of Poland (b. 1860 )
- July 4 - Antoni Łomnicki , Polish mathematician (b. 1881 )
- July 10 - Jelly Roll Morton , American jazz musician and composer (b. 1890 )
- July 11 - Arthur Evans , English archaeologist (b. 1851 )
- July 25 - Allan Forrest , American actor (b. 1885 )
- July 26 - Henri Lebesgue , French mathematician (b. 1875 )
- 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 12 - Hans Spemann , German embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (b. 1869 )
- October 5 - Louis Brandeis , U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1856 )
- October 26 - Arkady Gaidar , Russian writer (killed in combat) (b. 1904 )
- November 18
- --- Walther Nernst , German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864 )
- --- Chris Watson , third Prime Minister Of Australia (b. 1867 )
- November 21 - Henrietta Vinton Davis , American elocutionist, dramatist, impersonator, public speaker (b. 1860 )
- November 26 - Niels Hansen Jacobsen , Danish sculptor and ceramist (b. 1861 )
- 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 30 - El Lissitzky , Russian artist and architect (b. 1890 )
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