1941

1941 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1941; MCMXLI
Ab urbe condita	2694
Armenian calendar	1390; ԹՎ ՌՅՂ
Assyrian calendar	6691
Baháʼí calendar	97–98
Balinese saka calendar	1862–1863
Bengali calendar	1348
Berber calendar	2891
British Regnal year	5 Geo. 6 – 6 Geo. 6
Buddhist calendar	2485
Burmese calendar	1303
Byzantine calendar	7449–7450
Chinese calendar	庚辰年 (Metal Dragon); 4638 or 4431; — to —; 辛巳年 (Metal Snake); 4639 or 4432
Coptic calendar	1657–1658
Discordian calendar	3107
Ethiopian calendar	1933–1934
Hebrew calendar	5701–5702
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1997–1998
- Shaka Samvat	1862–1863
- Kali Yuga	5041–5042
Holocene calendar	11941
Igbo calendar	941–942
Iranian calendar	1319–1320
Islamic calendar	1359–1360
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 16; (昭和１６年)
Javanese calendar	1871–1872
Juche calendar	30
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4274
Minguo calendar	ROC 30; 民國30年
Nanakshahi calendar	473
Thai solar calendar	2484
Tibetan calendar	阳金龙年; (male Iron-Dragon); 2067 or 1686 or 914; — to —; 阴金蛇年; (female Iron-Snake); 2068 or 1687 or 915

Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944

For the movie, see 1941 (film)

1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday.

Events

January-February

January 6 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address.
January 10 - Lend-Lease is introduced into the U.S. Congress.
January 19 - British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
January 21 - World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
January 22 - World War II: British troops capture Tobruk from the Italians.
January 23 - Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
February 3 - World War II: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France.
February 4 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
February 11 - World War II: Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli.
February 19 - World War II: The start of the "three nights' Blitz" over Swansea, 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.

March

March 1 - World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact thus joining the Axis powers.
March 1 - W47NV begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee becoming the first FM radio station.
March 1 - Arthur L. Bristol becomes Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy's Support Force, Atlantic Fleet
March 11 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
March 17 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
March 17 - British Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin, calls for women to fill vital jobs
March 22 - Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.
March 25 - World War II: Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Vienna joins the Axis powers
March 27 - World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor - Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii and begins to study the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor.
March 29 - World War II: Battle of Cape Matapan - Off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean, British naval forces defeat those of Italy sinking five warships. Battle started on March 27.

April

April 6 - World War II: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
April 17 - World War II: Yugoslav Royal Army capitulates.
April 21 - World War II: Greece capitulates. British troops withdraw to Crete.
April 27 - World War II: German troops enter Athens.
April - Russia and Japan sign a neutrality pact.

May

File:BismarckColor.jpg

The Bismarck, sunk by the Royal Navy in May 1941

May 1 - Breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills
May 1 - Orson Welles' film, Citizen Kane, premieres in New York City
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.
May 9 - World War II: 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 - World War II: The United Kingdom's House of Commons is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
May 10 - World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland claiming to be on a peace mission.
May 15 - World War II: First British jet, the Gloster E.28/39, is flown.
May 20 - World War II: Battle of Crete - Germany launches airborne invasion of Crete.
May 21 - World War II: 950 miles off the coast of Brazil, the freighter SS Robin Moor becomes the first United States ship sunk by a German U-boat.
May 24 - World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood killing all but three crewman on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
May 26 - World War II: In the North Atlantic, 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."
May 27 - World War II: German battleship Bismarck is sunk in North Atlantic killing 2,300.

June

June 1 - World War II: Allies evacuate Crete.
June 8 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
June 9 - World War II: Finland initiate mobilization and put some units under German command.
June 14 - Mass deportations by Soviet Union authorities take place in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
June 22 - World War II: Germany attacks the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa
June 25 - World War II: Finland attacked by the Soviet Union seeks the opportunity of revenge in the Continuation War.

July-August

July 4 - Mass murder of Polish scientists and writers, committed by German troops in captured Polish city of Lwów.
July 5 - World War II: German troops reach the Dnipro River.
July 5-19 - War between Peru and Ecuador
July 7 - World War II: American forces land in Iceland to forestall an invasion by the Nazis.
July 13 - World War II - Montenegro starts the first popular uprising in Europe against the Axis Powers.
July 26 - World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
July 31 - Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS 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."
August - Formation of the Political Warfare Executive in the United Kingdom
August 1 - The first jeep is produced
August 6 - 6-year-old Elaine Esposito goes to an appendix operation in Florida and lapses into a coma. She dies 1978, still in coma.
August 18 - Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped due to protests. However, graduates of the T-4 Euthanasia Program were then transferred to concentration camps, where they continued in their trade.

September-October

September 4 - World War II: The USS Greer 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.
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 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins - German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Deutsche deported to Siberia.
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.
October 1 - Original section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike opens between Carlisle and Irwin.
October 2 - World War II: Operation Typhoon - Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow.
October 8 - World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
October 21 - World War II: Germans rampage in Yugoslavia, killing thousands of civilians
October 24 - Franz von Werra disappears during a flight over North Sea
October 30 - World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves US$1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
October 31 - After 14 years of work, drilling is completed on Mount Rushmore.
October 31 - World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.

November

File:USSArizonaPearlHarbor.jpg

The USS Arizona ablaze after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

November 6 - World War II: 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 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.
November 12 - World War II: Battle of Moscow: 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 13 - World War II: The aircraft carrier 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.
November 17 - World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor - 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).
November 19 - World War II: The Australian 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).
November 24 - World War II: The United States 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).
November 26 - World War II: The Hull note ultimatum is delivered to Japan by the United States.
November 26 - World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor - A fleet of six 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 highway US 99 south of Yreka, California, handing out fliers proclaiming the establishment of the State of Jefferson.
November 27 - World War II: Battle of Moscow - Germans reach their closest approach to Moscow. They are subsequently frozen by cold weather and attacks by the Soviets.

December

December 1 - World War II: Former mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, and the director of the Office of Civilian Defense, sign an order creating the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) as the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (in April 1943 the CAP was placed under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Air Force).
December 4 - State of Jefferson declared in Yreka, California, with judge John Childs as a governor
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.
December 8 - World War II: China officially declares war on Japan
December 8 - World War II: The Netherlands declares war on Japan
December 11 - World War II: Germany declares war on the United States.
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 with -53° C was set in a village within Vilhelmina Municipality.
December 25 - World War II: British and Canadians are defeated by the Japanese at Hong Kong.
December 27 - World War II: Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a Joint session of the U.S. Congress
December 27 - World War II: British Commandos raid the Norwegian port of Vaagso, causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defenses
December 28 - World War II: starts the Operation Anthropoid (the assassination of Heydrich in Prague).

Unknown dates

John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry developed the Atanasoff Berry Computer.
Ives and Stilwell prove that ions radiate at frequencies affected by their motion.
In Sweden, Victor Hasselblad forms the Hasselblad camera company.
The Pinnacle Commune, a Rastafarian community, is destroyed by Jamaican authorities
Indochina Communist party, led by Ho Chi Minh, combines with Nationalist party to form the Vietminh.
Meet John Doe is brought out

Ongoing events

Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) (which may or may not be a part of World War II, depending on who's telling the tale)
World War II (1939-1945)

Births

January

January 3 - Van Dyke Parks, American composer, producer, and musician
January 5 - Miyazaki Hayao, Japanese film maker
January 7 - Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
January 7 - 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 14 - Faye Dunaway, American actress
January 14 - 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
January 21 - Richie Havens, American musician
January 26 - Scott Glenn, American actor
January 26 - Henry Jaglom, English director
January 27 - Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer
January 30 - Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States
January 30 - Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
January 31 - Dick Gephardt, American politician

February

February 31 - Kaspar Villiger, Swiss Federal Councilor
February 6 - Howard Phillips, American politician
February 8 - Nick Nolte, American actor
February 10 - Michael Apted, English director
February 13 - Sigmar Polke, German painter
February 16 - Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea
February 17 - Gene Pitney, American singer
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

March 4 - Adrian Lyne, English director
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)
March 16 - Chuck Woolery, American game show host
March 18 - Wilson Pickett, American singer
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 3 - Philippe Wynne, American musician (d. 1984)
April 13 - Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
April 14 - Pete Rose, baseball player
April 23 - Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland
April 23 - 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 and singer
April 28 - K. Barry Sharpless, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

May

May 5 - Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)
May 13 - Senta Berger, Swedish actress
May 13 - Ritchie Valens, American singer (d. 1959)
May 15 - K.T. Oslin, American musician
May 19 - 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 31 - Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

June

June 5 - Martha Argerich, Argentine pianist
June 5 - Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2004)
June 6 - Neal Adams, American comic book artist
June 8 - Robert Bradford, Northern Irish footballer and politician (d. 1981)
June 8 - Fuzzy Haskins, American musician (P-Funk)
June 10 - Mickey Jones, American actor and musician
June 24 - Bill Reardon, American politician and educator
June 27 - Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish film director (d. 1996)

July

July 1 - Alfred G. Gilman, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
July 1 - Myron Scholes, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
July 11 - Tommy Vance, English disc jockey (d. 2005)
July 14 - Maulana Karenga, American author and activist
July 14 - Andreas Khol, Austrian politician
July 19 - Vikki Carr, American singer
July 28 - Riccardo Muti, Italian conductor
July 31 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician

August-September

August 3 - Martha Stewart, American television and magazine personality
August 22 - Bill Parcells, American football coach
August 28 - Joseph Shabalala, South African musician (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
September 2 - David Bale, South African-born activist (d. 2003)
September 4 - Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian politician
September 9 - Otis Redding, American musician (d. 1967)
September 9 - Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist
September 10 - Christopher Hogwood, English conductor
September 10 - Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese computer game producer (d. 1997)
September 14 - Alberto Naranjo, venezuelan musician
September 15 - George Saimes, American football player
September 17 - Bob Matsui, U.S. Senator from Hawaii (d. 2005)
September 19 - Cass Elliott, American singer (d. 1974)

October-November

October 4 - Anne Rice, American writer
October 5 - Eduardo Duhalde, President of Argentina
October 9 - Chucho Valdés, cuban musician
October 16 - Tim McCarver, baseball commentator
October 20 - Anneke Wills, British actress
October 28 - John Hallam, Northern Irish actor
October 30 - Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
November 6 - Doug Sahm, American musician (d. 1999)
November 18 - David Hemmings, English actor (d. 2003)
November 26 - G. Alan Marlatt, American psychologist
November 27 - Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (d. 1998)
November 29 - Bill Freehan, baseball player

December

December 9 - Beau Bridges, American actor
December 10 - Colin Kelly, American airman
December 13 - John Davidson, American singer and actor
December 18 - Prince William of Gloucester
December 23 - Tim Hardin, American musician
December 24 - John Levene, British actor
December 30 - Mel Renfro, American football player

Unknown dates

Thom Bell, American record producer
T S Krishnamurthy, Chief Election Commissioner of India
Derek Mahon, Northern Irish poet
Peter Sarstedt, English singer and songwriter

Deaths

January

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 Scouting (b. 1847)
January 10 - Frank Bridge, English composer (b. 1879)
January 10 - Sir John Lavery, Northern Irish artist (b. 1856)
January 10 - Joe Penner, American comedian and actor
January 13 - James Joyce, Irish writer (b. 1882)

February

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 27 - William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)
February 28 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)

March

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-May

April 13 - Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (b. 1863)
May 16 - Minnie Vautrin, American missionary and heroine of the Nanjing Massacre (b. 1887)

June

June 2 - Lou Gehrig, baseball player (b. 1903)
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

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 26 - Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)

August

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-October

September 12 - Hans Spemann, German embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1869)
October 26 - Arkady Gaidar, Russian writer (killed in combat) (b. 1904)

November-December

November 18 - Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
November 18 - Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1867)
November 26 - Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (b. 1861)
December 3 - Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (b. 1856)
December 30 - El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)

Fiction

Sometime in this year, events of the Doctor Who episodes The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances take place.
Sometime in this year, in the movie Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane dies.

Nobel Prizes

Physics - not awarded
Chemistry - not awarded
Medicine - not awarded
Literature - not awarded
Peace - not awarded

Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944