Timeline of World War II (1941)


This is a timeline of events that stretched over the period of World War II from 1941, marked also by the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front.
1941: [|January] FebruaryMarch AprilMay JuneJulyAugust September OctoberNovemberDecember

January

: RAF bombs aircraft factories in Bremen, Germany.
: Tobruk, the next target, is 70 miles away.
: German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement is signed.
: German aircraft damage aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, which is heading for Malta. German Luftwaffe, it is now clear, has command of air over the Mediterranean. The attack is also the opening of Malta's agony over the next months.
: Greek forces in Albania take the strategically important Klissoura pass.
: German bombers pound Valletta, Malta, and HMS Illustrious is hit again.
: Molotov meets German Ambassador Schulenburg in Moscow. The Soviets are surprised that they have not received any answer from Germany to their offer to join the Axis. Schulenburg replies that it has to be first discussed with Italy and Japan.
: Hitler and Mussolini meet at Berchtesgaden; Hitler agrees to provide aid in North Africa.
: There are reports that Romanian Fascist are executing Jews in Bucharest.
: Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler
: Germany forcibly restores Pierre Laval to office in Vichy.
: British forces reach El Agheila, Cyrenaica.
: British battleships shell Genoa and British aircraft attack Livorno.
: Churchill again pleads with the US: "give us the tools."
: British forces enter Italian Somaliland.
: Afrika Korps starts to move eastward towards the advance British positions at El Agheila. The British in North Africa have been weakened by the transfer of some troops to Greece.
: Admiral Darlan is appointed the head of the Vichy government in France.
: Mogadishu, the capital of Italian Somaliland, is captured by British forces during the East African Campaign.
: Bulgaria officially signs the Tripartite Pact.
: British military force in Libya is thinned down as some men are sent to assist the Greeks in their emerging battle with approaching German troops.
: Prince Regent Paul of Yugoslavia agrees to join the Axis pact.
: Portsmouth suffers heavy casualties after another night of heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe.
: The United States of America converts its Corps Areas to Defense Commands, with the term Corps reassigned as an intermediate field command of a Field Army.
: Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii and begins to study the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor.
: Hitler orders his military leaders to plan for the invasion of Yugoslavia. One result of this decision will be a critical time delay in the invasion of Soviet Union.
: British forces advancing from the Sudan win the decisive Battle of Keren in Eritrea.
: Battle of Cape Matapan: the British navy meets an Italian fleet off southern Greece. The battle continues until the 29th.
: During this month the heavy bombing of British cities continues, and convoy losses remain heavy.
: In Iraq, pro-German Rashid Ali and other members of the "Golden Square" stage a military coup d'état and overthrow the regime of the pro-British Regent 'Abd al-Ilah. Rashid Ali names himself Chief of a "National Defence Government."
: Bristol, England, suffers another heavy air attack.
: British troops take Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, from the Italian armies.
: Rommel takes Benghazi, Libya; Tobruk will remain a threat for the next seven months.
: An Atlantic convoy suffers almost 50% losses to U-boat campaign.
: The Italian Army is driven out from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
: The northern wing of Rommel's forces take Derna, on the Libyan coast. The southern wing moves toward Mechili, and takes it on the 8th.
: While still being invaded, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is split up by Germany and Italy. The Independent State of Croatia is established under Ante Pavelić and his Ustaša.
: Germans encircle the port of Tobruk, Libya, opening the siege; some of Rommel's forces move east to take Fort Capuzzo and Sollum, on the border with Egypt.
: The destroyer attacks a German U-boat that had just sunk a Dutch freighter. The Niblack was picking up survivors of the freighter when it detected the U-boat preparing to attack. The Niblack attacked with depth charges and drove off the U-boat.
: Heavy Luftwaffe raids on Coventry and Birmingham, England.
: The Germans defeat Commonwealth forces at the Battle of Vevi.
: Japan and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality pact.
: In Iraq, a small contingent of British reinforcements are air-lifted to RAF Shaibah.
: The German LSSAH Panzer division captures the strategic Kleisoura Pass and begins cutting the line of retreat for the Greek army in Albania.
: Germans continue the invasion southward into Yugoslavia; they cut off the Greek army in Albania, which had had notable success against the Italians in January.
: In Iraq, in accordance with the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, British forces from India start to land at Basra.
: Plymouth suffers the third night of heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe.
: Axis forces defeat Commonwealth forces at Thermopylae after Australian general George Vasey staunchly claims that they will not be beaten.
: Hurricane fighter planes are delivered as important reinforcements for besieged Malta.
: In Iraq, Iraqi armed forces occupy the plateau to the south of the RAF Habbaniya air base and inform the base commander that all flying should cease immediately.

May

: The Luftwaffe arranges to send a small force to Iraq.
: Bombing of Nottingham by the Luftwaffe.
: The United Kingdom's House of Commons is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid. Other targets are Hull, Liverpool, Belfast, and the shipbuilding area of the River Clyde in Scotland. This is close to the end of the Blitz, as Germany shifts its focus toward Soviet Union and the East.
: The Soviet Union recognizes Rashid Ali's "National Defence Government" in Iraq.
: The bulk of the German "Flyer Command Iraq" arrives in Mosul to support the Iraqi government of Rashid Ali.
: The German military mission to Iraq, Special Staff F, is created to support of "The Arab Freedom Movement in the Middle East". Sonderstab F is to include Fliegerführer Irak and other elements already in Iraq.
: The Italian Viceroy in Ethiopia surrenders. Remnants of Italian troops keep on fighting.
, Iraq in [|June] 1941
: The Greek government leaves Crete for Cairo.
: The British forces from the Habbaniya area begin an advance on Baghdad and, within four days, approach the city from the west and from the north.
: Twelve Italian aircraft arrive at Mosul to join Fliegerführer Irak.
: By this date, it is clear that operation "Brevity" has failed.
: The Mayor of Baghdad surrenders the city to British forces and ends the Anglo-Iraqi War.

June

: Rationing of clothes begins in the United Kingdom.
: The British and Australians cross the Litani River, beating back Vichy French forces. During this battle, Moshe Dayan, leading an Australian unit, loses his eye. He becomes famous when his story is published a day later.
: Soviets begin deporting Lithuanians to Siberia. Deportations continue for five days and total 35,000 Lithuanians, among them 7000 Jews.
: 10,100 people from Estonia, 15,000 from Latvia and 34,000 from Lithuania are deported to Siberia by the Soviet Union.
began on 22 June 1941, marking the Soviet Union's entry into the war
: British general in Libya/Egypt Wavell is replaced by General Auchinleck.
: June Uprising against the Soviet Union in Lithuania.
: German troops massacre 42 at Ablinga.
: Huge German encirclement of 300,000 Red Army troops near Minsk and Białystok.
: Nuremberg Laws imposed on Jews of Lithuania and Vilnius in particular.

July

: The British win the Battle of Palmyra against the French in the Middle East.
: All American men over 21 are required to register for the draft.
: German troops occupy Latvia's capital, Riga, on the way to Leningrad.
: Hungarian troops take over Stanisławów and other towns in what is now Ukraine.
: The United States of America elevates its General Headquarters, United States Army in order to command and plan for military operations within the Zone of the Interior.
: Italian General Pietro Gazzera surrenders the remnants of his forces in the Jimma area.
: British troops employ brave and risky flanking tactics to win the Battle of Deir ez-Zor.
: Vilna Ghetto first Judenrat established.
: British torpedo planes sink an Italian destroyer at Tobruk; on the 20th, two more are sunk.
: German troops reach the Dnieper River.
: The Ecuadorian–Peruvian War conflict begins in South America.
: Britain and the USSR sign a mutual defence agreement, promising not to sign any form of separate peace agreement with Germany.
: Units of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia begin to arrive. A legion from the Independent State of Croatia is part of the Italian corps.
: Assistance Pact signed between the United Kingdom and the USSR.
: Argentia naval air base is set up in Newfoundland; it will prove an important transfer station for the Allies for some years.
: Germans order a Judenrat established in Stanisławów, Galicia. It is headed by Israel Seibald.
: The Germans push against Smolensk, and in the meantime solidify their presence in the Baltic states; native Jewish populations of the Baltic states are being exterminated.
: The Japanese naval ministry accuses the United States of intruding into their territorial waters at Sukumo Bay, and then fleeing. No evidence is offered to prove this allegation.
: Lewis B. Hershey succeeds Clarence Dykstra as Director of the Selective Service System in the United States.
: Ecuadorian–Peruvian War ends.

August

: Japanese occupy Saigon, Vietnam.
: The Germans declare Galicia as the fifth district of the Generalgouvernement.
: SS Commander Hans Krueger orders the registration of hundreds of Jewish and Polish intelligentsia in Stanisławów, who are subsequently tortured and murdered. This is the first implementation of the "one bullet one Jew" method in Galicia.
: American and British governments warn Japan not to invade Thailand.
: Chungking, the nominal capital of Nationalist China located far up the Yangtze River, suffers several days of heavy bombing.
: "The Great Provocation" in Vilnius – German forces stage an attack on their soldiers by Jews, leading to a 'retaliation' mass arrest of the residents of old Jewish quarter, to be murdered at Ponary, three days later.

September

: A pro-German Government of National Salvation formed in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia under Milan Nedić.
: All Jews under German rule must wear the yellow star of David badge with "Jew" clearly written in it, are forbidden to live with or marry non-Jews, and are forbidden to leave their towns without written consent, in accordance with the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. The decree, signed by Heydrich, is to take effect on September 19.
: Vilna Ghetto Jews required to hand over any gold or silver.
: "Moving Aktion" in Vilna Ghetto. Of 3,500 Jews "moved" between ghetto sections, only 550 arrive. The remaining 2,950 Jews are shot at the Ponary massacre death site.
: Vilna Ghetto Yom Kippur Aktions begin. In four separate incidents 3,900 Jews are kidnapped, shot and killed at the Ponary massacre death site, continued with an additional 2,000 Jews kidnapped and killed there, in the next two days.
: Bloody Sunday massacre at Stanisławów, 8,000–12,000 Jews were rounded up and shot into pits by SIPO together with German uniformed SS men. Dr. Tenenbaum of the Judenrat heroically refuses the offer of exemption and is shot along with the others.
: Vilna Ghetto Aktion. 3,000 Jews killed.
: The government of Japanese prime minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye collapses, leaving little hope for peace in the Pacific.
: General Hideki Tōjō becomes the 40th Prime Minister of Japan.

: Negotiations in Washington between the US and Japan seem headed toward failure.
: The massacre began after, that day, a delayed bomb planted by the Soviets kills 67 people at the Romanian headquarters, including the Romanian commander General Glogojeanu.
: 35,000 Jews are expelled to the Slobodka Ghetto and are left in freezing conditions for 10 days. Many perish in the cold.
: Vilna Ghetto Gelbschein I Aktion. 5,500 Jews including 140 old or paralyzed people killed.
: Vilna Ghetto Gelbschein III Aktion. 1,200 Jews killed.
: HMS Ark Royal delivers a squadron of Hurricane fighter planes to Malta.
: The aircraft carrier is torpedoed by the and sinks the following day.
: Ernst Udet, head of the Luftwaffe's Production and Development, commits suicide over his perceived inability to properly perform his mission.
: Rommel starts a counteroffensive, retaking Sidi Rezegh which the Allies had taken a few days earlier. British tank losses are heavy.
: The United States reaches an agreement with the Dutch government in exile whereby the Americans occupy Suriname to protect the bauxite mines there.
: Rommel begins a surprising 15-mile foray into Egypt; he meets no opposition.
: The Hull note ultimatum is delivered to Japan by the United States.
: After his brief dash into Egypt, Rommel retreats to Bardia for refuelling; it is during this brief withdrawal that Tobruk is temporarily relieved when the 8th Army meets with the besieged.
: Battle of Moscow – German Panzers are on the outskirts of Moscow, near the Moscow-Volga Canal.
: The last Italian armed forces in East Africa surrender at Gondar.

[|December]

: Fiorello H. La Guardia publishes creating the Civil Air Patrol for U.S Coastal Patrol and naming its national commander Major General John F. Curry.
: Approximately 20,000 Stanisławów Jews ordered into the Ghetto area, and non-Jews ordered out.
: SS officer Karl Jaeger reports "Lithuania clean of Jews" with some exceptions.
: A German combat engineer patrol reaches the town of Khimki while scouting for a hole in the Russian defense perimeter around Moscow. It is the closest advance the Germans make to the Russian capital.
: Vilna Ghetto Gestapo Workers Aktion – 800 Jews and 10 Poles shot at the Ponary massacre death site. Temperatures are minus 23 degrees Celsius.
: Adolf Hitler signs the German "Night and Fog decree" dictating the elimination of anti-Nazi resistance activities in Western Europe.
: Japanese forces take the Gilbert Islands. Clark Field in the Philippines is bombed, and many American aircraft are destroyed on the ground.
: Japanese troops attack Thailand in the Battle of Prachuab Khirikhan.
: The Battle of Hong Kong begins
: The Malayan Campaign begins.
: Kamenka, Krasnaya Polyana, and Kriukovo, are liberated by the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The Germans are never again within artillery range of Moscow.
: US forces repel a Japanese landing attempt at Wake Island.
: Japanese invade Burma.
: The United States and the United Kingdom declare war on Romania after It had declared war on both the United States and the United Kingdom; India declares war on Japan.
: US seizes French ship Normandie.
: Japanese under General Yamashita continue their push into Malaya. Under General Homma the Japanese forces are firmly established in the northern Philippines. Hong Kong is threatened.
: Commonwealth troops push Rommel back at the Gazala line.
: Vilna Ghetto 'Gestapo block' Aktion. 300 Jews shot at the Ponary massacre site.
: Japan invades Borneo.
: The German offensive around Moscow is now at a complete halt.
:, leading Force K, strikes a minefield and sinks with one survivor and a loss of 766 crew.
: Stanisławów Ghetto officially closed from the outside and sealed with walls.
: Vilna Ghetto 400 Jews killed by Lithuanian militias inside the ghetto.
: The inmates at Bogdanovka concentration camp are massacred to quell an outbreak of typhus. Roughly 40,000 die.
: Start of the Arcadia Conference in Washington, D.C., the first official meeting of British and American political and military leaders.
: General MacArthur declares Manila an "Open City."
: Japanese forces land on Sarawak.
: Japanese bomb Rangoon.
: All Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe are required to gather all fur coats or other furs from the Jews.
: On Christmas Eve the Free French liberate Saint Pierre and Miquelon from Vichy France.
: Allied forces retake Benghazi.
: Red Army and Navy amphibious forces land at Kerch, in the Crimea; their occupation will last through April.