Timeline 1941
Return to home
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 2,
The Andrews Sisters recorded what became a big hit for them, the
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie_Woogie_Bugle_Boy)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, Canada & US
acquired air bases in Newfoundland with a 99 year lease.
   (MC, 1/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 4, On the
Greek-Albanian front, the Greeks launched an attack towards Valona
from Berat to Klisura against the Italians.
   (HN, 1/4/00)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt asked Congress to support the lend-lease plan to help
supply the Allies. In an address to Congress President Franklin
Roosevelt expressed the general world aims of the United States as
these "Four Freedoms": of speech and expression; of worship; from
want; and from fear. Oscar Cox had helped draft the Lend-Lease Act.
   (HN, 1/6/99)(HNQ, 3/2/00)(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.W6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Robert Baden-Powell
(83), founder of the Boy Scout movement, died.
   (MC, 1/8/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 9, Joan Baez, American
folk singer and Vietnam War protester, was born.
   (HN, 1/9/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 9, Some 6,000 Jews
were exterminated in a pogrom in Bucharest, Romania. [see Jan 22]
   (MC, 1/9/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 10, The Soviets and
the Germans agreed on the East European borders and the exchange of
industrial equipment.
   (HN, 1/10/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, Adolf Hitler
ordered forces to be prepared to enter North Africa to assist the
Italian effort, marking the establishment of the Afrika Korps.
   (HN, 1/11/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, Emanuel Lasker
(b.1868), German mathematician and chess player, died. In 1927 he
authored “Lasker’s Manual of Chess.”
   (WSJ, 3/22/08,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, James Joyce,
Irish-born novelist, died in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1983 Richard
Ellmann authored the 900-page "James Joyce" biography. In 1999 Edna
O'Brien authored the pocket bio "James Joyce."
   (AP, 1/13/98)(SFC, 12/9/99, p.B1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 15, British troops
landed in Ethiopia [and ended the Italian occupation].
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.260)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 16, US vice admiral
Bellinger warned of an assault on Pearl Harbor.
   (MC, 1/16/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 16, The US War Dept
formed the 1st Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets.
   (MC, 1/16/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, US Pres. Franklin
D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his 3rd term. It was the first time
any US president had been elected for more than two terms.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, Hitler met with
Mussolini and offered aid in Albania and Greece.
   (HN, 1/20/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, Placido Domingo,
opera tenor (Pinkerton-Mme Butterfly), was born in Madrid, Spain.
   (MC, 1/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, Richie Havens,
folk singer (Here Comes the Sun), was born in Brooklyn.
   (MC, 1/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, Edwin Starr, US
singer (War), was born as Charles Hatcher.
   (MC, 1/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, The United States
lifted the ban on arms to the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 1/21/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, Australia &
Britain attacked Tobruk, Libya.
   (MC, 1/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, British communist
newspaper "Daily Worker" was banned.
   (MC, 1/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 22, British and
Australian troops captured Tobruk from Italians.
   (MC, 1/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 22, The 1st mass
killing of Jews took place in Romania. [see Jan 9]
   (MC, 1/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 24, Neil Diamond,
singer, actor (Jazz Singer), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
   (MC, 1/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 27, The United States
and Great Britain began high-level military talks in Washington.
   (HN, 1/27/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 28, French General
Charles DeGaulle's Free French forces sacked south Libya oasis.
   (HN, 1/28/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 30, Dick Cheney was
born in Lincoln, Neb. He served as chief of staff for Pres. Ford
from 1975-1977. He was a US Rep. From 1979-1989 and served as the
Sec. of Defense for pres. George H.W. Bush from 1989-1993. From 1995
to 2000 he served as the CEO of Halliburton Corp. and in 2000 was
chosen by Gov. George W. Bush as a running mate.
   (WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A28)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan, The US War Dept.
formed an all-black flying unit that achieved fame as the Tuskegee
Airmen. On June 20 the Tuskegee program officially began with the
formation of the 99th Fighter Squadron at the Tuskegee Institute.
Their 1st mission was in June 1943. African-Americans were barred
from the Air Corps until this year, and then were shunted to
all-black squadrons.
   (SFC, 9/22/99, p.A24) (WSJ, 8/17/99, p.A1)(NPub,
2002, p.14)Â Â Â
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 1, "Downbeat Magazine"
reported this day that Glenn Miller had inked a new three-year
contract with RCA Victor Records. The pact guaranteed Miller $750 a
side, the fattest record contract signed to that time.
   (440 Int'l, 2/1/1999)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, The US Supreme
Court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, ruling that
Congress can fix minimum wages and maximum hours for US workers.
   (AH, 2/06, p.14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 4, The United Service
Organization (USO) was chartered, in order to provide recreation for
on-leave members of the US armed forces and their families.
   (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb04.html)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Roy Plunkett, chemist,
patented a product later called Teflon. He produced the substance in
1938 while trying to create a refrigerant for DuPont.
   (Sm, 2/06, p.38)Â
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 5, The SS Politician
wrecked off the coast of the Isle of Eriskay in the Hebrides. It
carried some 20,000 cases of whisky, which the natives hid from
customs agents. The story was told in the 1947 book “Whisky Galore”
by Compton Mackenzie. The book was made into a film in 1949.
  Â
(http://heritage.scotsman.com/timelines.cfm?cid=1&id=40422005)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 5, Andrew Barton
"Banjo" Paterson (b.1864), Australian poet and journalist, died. He
is best known for his song “Waltzing Matilda.”
  Â
(www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/voice/writers/paterson0.htm)(NG, 8/04,
p.29)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 6, The RAF cleared the
way as British took Benghazi, Libya, trapping thousands of Italians.
   (HN, 2/6/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 6, Maximilien Luce
(b.1858), French anarchist and Neo-Impressionist painter, died.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Luce)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, Frank Sinatra and
Tommy Dorsey Orch recorded "Everything Happens to Me."
   (MC, 2/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 8, Japanese armored
barges crossed the Strait of Johore to attack Singapore.
   (MC, 2/8/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, British troops
conquered El Agheila.
   (MC, 2/9/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, Nazi collaborators
destroyed the pro-Jewish cafe Alcazar Amsterdam. Alcazar had refused
to hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front.
   (MC, 2/9/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, London severed
diplomatic relations with Romania. Romania’s indigenous fighter, the
IAR 80, saw service in defense of its homeland and against the
Soviets.
   (HN, 2/10/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, Iceland was
attacked by German planes.
   (HN, 2/10/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 11, Lt-Gen Erwin
Rommel arrived in Tripoli.
   (MC, 2/11/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, "Reflections in a
Golden Eye" by Carson McCullers was first published.
   (AP, 2/14/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, German Afrika
Korps landed in Tripoli, Libya.
   (MC, 2/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, Duke Ellington 1st
recorded "Take the A Train."
   (440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, K Reinmuth
discovered asteroids #1561 Fricke & #1785 Wurm.
   (440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 16, The Italians lost
their last position in the Sudan.
   (HN, 2/16/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 16, Kim Jong Il, son
of Kim Il Sung, was born in the far East of the Soviet Union. He
took over leadership of North Korea from his father in 1994.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, The SS Gairsoppa
was torpedoed by a German U-boat. The British ship was carrying some
219 tons of silver when it sank in the North Atlantic some 300 miles
(490 km) off the Irish coast. Of the 85 people on board, only one
survived. In 2011 Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration confirmed
the identity and location of the ship. In 2012 Odyssey Marine
Exploration said it had succeeded in removing about 43% of the
insured silver.
   (AFP,
9/27/11)(www.shipwreck.net/ssgairsoppahistoricaloverview.php)(SFC,
7/18/12, p.A2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, George Orwell
published his essay “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the
English Genius,” expressing his opinions on the situation in wartime
Britain.
   (Econ, 2/2/13, SR
p.5)(http://tinyurl.com/cg953fv)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, Nazi police were
attacked and driven away from Koco, Amsterdam by young Jews. Nazis
raided Amsterdam and rounded up 429 young Jews for deportation.
   (MC, 2/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, HamiltonÂ
Harty (61), composer, conductor, died.
   (MC, 2/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, The U.S. sent war
planes to the Pacific. General George C. Kenney pioneered aerial
warfare strategy and tactics in the Pacific theater.
   (HN, 2/19/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, The 1st transport
of Jews to concentration camps left Plotsk, Poland.
   (MC, 2/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, Nazis ordered
Polish Jews barred from using public transportation.
   (MC, 2/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, Arthur T "Bomber"
Harris became British Air Marshal.
   (MC, 2/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, IG Farben started
building Buna-Werke in the Auschwitz extermination camp.
   (MC, 2/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Cowboys' Amateur
Association of America was organized in California.
   (SC, 2/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, British took the
Somali capital in East Africa.
   (HN, 2/26/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Vichy-France made
religious education in school mandatory.
   (SC, 2/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Utrecht and
Zaandam struck against raid on Jews.
   (SC, 2/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Jan Keizer Zaanse,
February striker, was shot to death.
   (SC, 2/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 27, Jewish musicians
came together in Berlin and performed Gustav Mahler’s Second
Symphony. In 2001 Martin Goldsmith authored "The Inextinguishable
Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany."
   (SSFC, 4/8/01, BR p.5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, W47NV, the 1st US
FM radio station to broadcast with a commercial license, went on the
air in Nashville, TN.
  Â
(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=3021)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Elmer Layden became
the 1st NFL commissioner.
   (SC, 3/1/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Himmler inspected
the Auschwitz concentration camp.
   (SC, 3/1/02)
1941 Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Bulgaria joined
the Axis as the Nazis occupy Sofia.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 3/1/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, Netherlands
NSB-leader Mussert visited Göring in Berlin.
   (SC, 3/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, Moscow denounced
the Axis rule in Bulgaria.
   (HN, 3/3/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 4, 18 Geuzen
resistance fighters were sentenced to death in The Hague.
   (SC, 3/4/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 4, Serbian Prince Paul
visited Hitler.
   (SC, 3/4/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 5, Britain severed all
relation with Bulgaria and prepared for an air attack on Bulgaria.
   (HN, 3/5/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 6, John Gutzon de la
Mothe Borglum (b.1867), sculptor (Mount Rushmore), died.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutzon_Borglum)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 7, British troops
invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
   (MC, 3/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 7, 50,000 British
soldiers landed in Greece.
   (MC, 3/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 7, Gunther Prien,
German U-boat commander and war hero (U-47), died in battle.
   (MC, 3/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 8, Martial law was
proclaimed in Holland in order to extinguish any anti-Nazi protests.
   (HN, 3/8/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 9, Italians launched a
large-scale counterattack across the center of the front against
Greece, which, despite the superiority of the Italian armed forces,
failed. After one week and 12,000 casualties, Mussolini called off
the counterattack and left Albania 12 days later.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Greece)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 10, Vichy France
threatened to use its navy if Britain would not allow food to reach
France.
   (HN, 3/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, The Lend-Lease Act
was passed by the US Congress. It authorized the president to send
aid to nations whose defense he considered essential to US defense.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 13, Hitler issued an
edict calling for an invasion of the USSR
   (HN, 3/13/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 14, Xavier Cugat and
his Orchestra recorded "Babalu."
   (MC, 3/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, A blizzard in
North Dakota killed 151. [see Mar 16]
   (MC, 3/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, Philippine
Airlines maid its maiden flight from Manila to Baguio.
   (SFC, 9/24/98, p.A19)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 16, Chuck Woolery, TV
game show host, was born in Kentucky. He hosted Love Connection from
1983 to 1995.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)(SSFC, 7/6/08, p.B6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 16, A blizzard hit
North Dakota and Minnesota killing 60. [see Mar 15]
   (MC, 3/16/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 17, The National
Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
   (AP, 3/17/97)(HN, 3/17/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 19, Jimmy Dorsey and
Orchestra recorded "Green Eyes" and "Maria Elena" for Decca Records.
   (AP, 3/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, Nazi
German-Yugoslav pact was drawn.
   (MC, 3/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, D.A. van den
Bosch, anti-Nazi clergyman (Amersfoort Camp), died.
   (MC, 3/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, The last Italian
post in East Libya fell to the British.
   (HN, 3/21/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, The Grand Coulee
Dam in Washington state went into operation.
   (AP, 3/22/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 24, Joseph H. Taylor,
Jr., radio astronomer and physicist, was born.
   (HN, 3/24/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 24, German troops
occupied El Agheila, Libya.
   (MC, 3/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 25, Carolina Paprika
Mills in Dillon, SC, was incorporated.
   (MC, 3/25/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 25, Yugoslavia joined
the Axis powers.
   (HN, 3/24/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, Clinton Richard
Dawkins, British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular
science author, was born. He came to prominence with his 1976 book
“The Selfish Gene,” which popularized the gene-centered view of
evolution and introduced the term meme.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, In Yugoslavia the
pro-Axis Prince Paul was toppled in a palace revolution in Belgrade
and Prince Peter was put in as head of state.
   (SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, Britain leased
defense bases in Trinidad to the U.S. for a period of 99 years.
   (HN, 3/27/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, Tokeo Yoshikawa
arrived in Oahu, Hawaii, to begin spying for Japan on the U.S. Fleet
at Pearl Harbor.
   (HN, 3/27/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, Hitler signed
Directive 27 for an assault on Yugoslavia.
   (MC, 3/27/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 28, The Italian fleet
was routed by the British at the Battle of Matapan off the coast of
Greece. More than 2,000 Italian sailors died and five Italian ships
were destroyed. Mavis Batey (1921-2013) of British intelligence had
decoded a message that signaled the attack three days earlier.
   (HN, 3/28/99)(SFC, 11/29/13, p.C4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 28, Novelist and
critic Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), born as Virginia Stephen, died in
Lewes, England. She feared a mental breakdown and threw herself into
the River Ouse near her home in Sussex. Her body was never found.
She was an English novelist, essayist and critic and wrote standing
up. Her diaries over nearly three decades filled 26 volumes. In 1997
"Art and Affection, A Life of Virginia Woolf" was published. In 1997
a biography by Hermione Lee was published.
   (SFC, 6/23/96, Z1 p.2)(SFEM, 1/12/97, BR p.7)(AP,
3/28/97)(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.8)(HN, 3/28/01)(Econ., 5/23/20, p.70)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, Terence Hill,
actor (Super Fuzz, They Call Me Trinity), was born in Venice, Italy.
   (MC, 3/29/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, The British sank
five Italian warships off the Peloponnesus coast in the
Mediterranean. Captain Johnnie Walker was the Royal Navy’s most
effective weapon against the German U-boat menace.
   (HN, 3/29/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, Graeme Edge, rock
drummer (Moody Blues-Your Wildest Dreams), was born in England.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Edge)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, The U.S. seized
Italian, German and Danish ships in 16 ports.
   (HN, 3/30/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, The German Afrika
Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against
British forces in Libya.
   (HN, 3/30/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 31, Germany began a
counter offensive in North Africa.
   (HN, 3/31/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar, Timely Comics, the
predecessor of Marvel Comics, introduced the "Captain America”
comics.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 1, Lillian Hellman's
"Watch on the Rhine," premiered in NYC.
   (MC, 4/1/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 1, The US Navy took
over San Francisco Bay’s Treasure Island.
   (SFC, 5/9/97, p.A28)
1941      Apr 1, The first
contract for advertising on a commercial FM radio station began on
W71NY in New York City.
   (OTD)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 1, Nazi's forbade Jews
access to cafes in Paris.
   (MC, 4/1/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 2, USS Hornet with
Jimmy Doolittle's B-25s departed from SF.
   (MC, 4/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Walton's overture
"Scapino," premiered in Chicago.
   (MC, 4/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Churchill warned
Stalin of German invasion.
   (MC, 4/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Andre Michelin
(88), French tire manufacturer, died. In 2004 Herbert Lottman
authored "The Michelin Men: Driving an Empire," the story of Andre
and Edouard Michelin.
   (MC, 4/3/02)(WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Pal Teleki-von Szek
(61), PM Hungary (1920-21, 39-41), committed suicide.
   (MC, 4/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 4, Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi in North Africa.
   (HN, 4/4/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, In San Francisco
the Noe Valley and Marina street cars were retired.
   (SSFC, 4/3/16, DB p.50)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, German commandos
secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany's
invasion of the Balkans.
   (HN, 4/5/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, Italian-held Addis
Ababa surrendered to British and Ethiopian forces.
   (MC, 4/6/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop gave orders for the attack on
Yugoslavia to roll forward. Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb
Belgrade prior to the final drive into the capital. From August 6 to
10, more than 500 bombing sorties were flown against Belgrade,
inflicting more than 17,500 fatalities. Most of the government
officials fled, and the Yugoslav army began to collapse. German
Luftwaffe Marshall Alexander Lohr commanded a surprise air attack on
Belgrade and 17,000 died. Lohr was later tried and executed for the
bombings.
  Â
(www.thehistorynet.com/wwii/blbelgradebybluff/)(SFC, 4/8/99,
p.A10)(WSJ, 5/20/99, p.A21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, German troops
invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. Italian and Albanian forces attacked
and jointly occupied Yugoslavia. Germany, with support of Italy and
other allies defeated Greece and Yugoslavia.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A20)(www,
Albania, 1998)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6-1941 Apr 7, The
Luftwaffe delivered a heavy blow to the British expedition when
German bombers seriously damaged Piraeus, the port of Athens sinking
seven merchant ships, sixty lighters and 25 caiques.
  Â
(www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/greece.htm)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 8, Eugene-Marcel
Prevost, novelist, died.
   (MC, 4/8/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, The PGA established
a Golf Hall of Fame.
   (MC, 4/9/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, In Czestochowa,
Poland, a ghetto for Jews was created. By the end of WW II some
45,000 of Czestochowa's Jews were murdered by the Germans, almost
the entire Jewish community living there.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cz%C4%99stochowa)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, Paul Theroux,
author (The Great Railway Bazaar), was born.
   (HN, 4/10/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, U.S. troops
occupied Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration.
   (HN, 4/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 11, Ellen Goodman,
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, was born.
   (HN, 4/11/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 11, Germany bombers
blitzed Coventry, England.
   (HN, 4/11/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 11, The Jewish Weekly
newspaper was taken control by Nazis.
   (MC, 4/11/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 12, Vichy-France's
head of government Admiral Dalan consulted with Hitler.
   (MC, 4/12/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Margaret Price,
soprano (Pamlina-Die Zauberflote), was born in Tredegar, Wales.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, German troops
captured Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Hitler soon installed Gen. Milan
Nedic as a quisling leader. Nedic proceeded to wipe out the Jewish
community of Serbia. In 1997 Philip Cohen wrote "Serbia's Secret
War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History."
   (HN, 4/13/99)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A18)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, There was a heavy
German assault on Tobruk.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, A Russian-Japan
no-attack treaty went into effect.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, Julie Christie,
actress (Dr Zhivago), was born in Assam, India.
   (MC, 4/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, Pete Rose,
Cincinnati Reds, (most hits in majors), was born.
   (MC, 4/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, The 1st massive
German raid in Paris rounded up 3,600 Jews.
   (MC, 4/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, 1st helicopter
flight of 1 hour duration took place at Stratford, Ct.
   (MC, 4/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Office of Price
Administration OPA formed to handle war time rationing.
   (MC, 4/17/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, British troop
landed in Iraq.
   (MC, 4/17/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Yugoslavia
surrendered to Germany ending 11 days of futile resistance against
the invading German Wehrmacht. More than 300,000 Yugoslav officers
and soldiers were taken prisoner. Italian and Albanian forces
attacked and jointly occupied Yugoslavia.
   (SFC, 4/5/97, p.A20)(AP, 4/17/97)(MC, 4/17/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 18, In the village of
Audrini, Latvia, Boleslavs Maikovskis, chief of police for the
second precinct of Rezekne, ordered the arrest of all the 200-300
people in the village after Soviet partisans shot and killed several
policemen. He also ordered every house to be burned down. 200
villagers were then executed, but he claimed to have nothing to do
with the slaughter. He was charged with mass murder in Germany and
his trial began in 1988 but in Feb 1994 the court ruled that he was
too frail to continue.
   (SFC, 5/8/96, p.C-2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, Michel Roux, chef
de cuisine, was born.
   (MC, 4/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, B. Brecht's 1939
play "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and her
Children)," premiered in Zurich.
   (www.theatre.ubc.ca/mother_courage/subject.shtml)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, Joni Evans,
publisher of Simon & Schuster, Random House, was born in NYC.
   (MC, 4/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, Ryan O'Neal, actor
(Peyton Place, Paper Moon, was born in LA, Calif.
   (MC, 4/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21, Greece surrendered
to Nazi Germany.
   (MC, 4/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, Greece Army
surrendered to Nazis;Â RAF flew Greek king George II to Egypt.
   (MC, 4/23/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, British army began
the evacuation of Greece.
   (MC, 4/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, Dutch Prince
Bernhard became an RAF pilot.
   (MC, 4/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, The United States
and China formally signed a $50 million stabilization agreement to
support the Chinese currency.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Lee_Chennault)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 26, First organ played
at a baseball stadium, Chicago, Illinois.
   (HN, 4/26/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, Judith Blegen,
opera singer (Papagena-Magic Flute), was born in Missoula, Mont.
   (MC, 4/27/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, The Greek army
capitulated to the Germans. Greece and the Greek islands were
secured by Hitler.
   (SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)(HN, 4/27/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, Ann-Margret,
actress (Bye Bye Birdie, Tommy), was born in Valsjobya, Sweden.
   (MC, 4/28/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, Last British
troops in Greece surrendered.
   (MC, 4/28/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, Hungary under Admiral
Miklos Horthy, entered WWII as an ally of Germany.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikl%C3%B3s_Horthy)(Econ, 11/9/13,
p.59)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, The motion picture
"Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles (24), premiered
in New York. Randolph Hearst attempted to bury the film by banning
all advertising in his newspapers. One in five Americans read a
Hearst paper at this time. Citizen Kane won an Academy Award. A PBS
special from the American Experience covered the story in 1996. His
biography, "Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles" by David Thompson,
was published in 1996.
   (WSJ, 1/25/96, p.A-16)(TMC, 1994, p.1941)(SFC,
6/9/96, BR p.15)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, General Mills
introduced Cheerioats, later renamed Cheerios. It was made possible
by the development of the “puffing gun” invented earlier by Lester
Borchardt Sr.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerios)(WSJ,
1/27/07, p.A6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, A German assault
took place on Tobruk.
   (MC, 5/1/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, Martin Bormann
succeeded Rudolf Hess as Hitler's deputy.
   (MC, 5/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, Hostilities broke
out between British forces in Iraq and that country's pro-German
faction under PM Rashid Ali. There was a pro-Axis coup led by the
army. Quickly overthrown by British troops, a pro-British regime
under PM Nuri al-Said was installed, declaring war on the Axis
powers in 1943.
   (HN, 5/2/99)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, There was a German
air raid on Liverpool.
   (MC, 5/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, Pierre Seel (17)
was arrested in Alsace-Lorraine by the German Gestapo and tortured
for 10 days for his homosexuality. In 1994 he authored the memoir
“I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual.”
   (SFC, 12/2/05, p.B5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Robert E Sherwood (There shall be no night).
   (MC, 5/5/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, Emperor Haile
Selassie returned to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
   (MC, 5/5/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 6, Ghena Dimitrova,
soprano (Nabucco), was born.
   (MC, 5/6/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 6, Bob Hope (b. May
29, 1903) began broadcasting his first USO radio show from March
Field at Riverside, Ca. The United Service Organizations (USO) began
operations this year and provided free coffee, donuts, and
entertainment to US military forces. The organization is supported
entirely by private citizens and corporations.
   (SFC, 5/28/97, p.D5)(HN, 5/6/98)(SFEC, 9/8/96,
Par p.8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 6, Dictator Josef
Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership, replacing Vyacheslav M.
Molotov.
   (AP, 5/6/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, Glenn Miller and
His Orchestra recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA Victor. It
became the first gold record in history.
   (AP, 5/7/99)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A23)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, British House of
Commons voted for Churchill (477-3).
   (MC, 5/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 9, The German
submarine U-110 was captured at sea by the Royal Navy, revealing
considerable Enigma material. Enigma was the German machine used to
encrypt messages during World War II.
   (HN, 5/9/99)(HNQ, 8/30/00)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 10, England’s House of
Commons was destroyed by a German air raid.
   (HN, 5/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 10, Rudolf Hess
(d.93), a deputy of Adolf Hitler, parachuted into Scotland to see
the Duke of Hamilton on what he claimed was a peace mission. Hess
ended up serving a life sentence at Spandau prison until 1987, when
he apparently committed suicide.
   (AP, 5/10/97)(ON, 4/02, p.7)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, London’s
Bridgewater House was bombed. A major work by French painter Paul
Delaroche, "Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers" (1837)
depicting the British monarch shortly before his execution in 1649,
was thought to have been virtually destroyed. In 2009 it was
unrolled and found to be in good condition.
   (Reuters, 11/24/09)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, The 1st
Messerschmidt 109F was shot down above England.
   (MC, 5/11/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 12, Anthony Newman,
harpsichordist, organist (Bhajeb), was born in LA, Calif.
   (MC, 5/12/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, Ritchie Valens,
singer (Donna, La Bamba), was born.
   (MC, 5/13/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, Martin Bormann was
named head of Nazi Party Chancellery in Germany.
   (MC, 5/13/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, French Admiral
Francois Darlan, leader of the armed forces of Vichy France,
broadcast to the citizens that only within the confines of the Third
Reich can France thrive.
   (HN, 5/14/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, Some 3,600
Parisian Jews were arrested.
   (MC, 5/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, Lainie Kazan,
singer, actress (Lust in the Dust, Beaches), was born in Brooklyn.
   (MC, 5/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, Joe DiMaggio
started his 56-game hitting streak. The Yanks lost 13-1. In 2011
Kostya Kennedy authored “56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number
in Sports.”
  Â
(www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats3.shtml)(http://www.kostyakennedy.com/)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, 1st British
turbojet flew.
   (MC, 5/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, All preparations
for the German attack against Russia in Operation Barbarossa were to
be finalized.
   (SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, Nazi occupiers in
Netherlands forbade Jewish music.
   (MC, 5/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, The last great
German air attack on Great Britain was at Birmingham.
   (MC, 5/16/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, An Egyptian
steamer sank.
   (SC, 5/18/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, Italian army under
General Aosta surrendered to Britain in Ethiopia.
   (SC, 5/18/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, Jane Brody, food
and health writer, was born.
   (HN, 5/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, Nora Ephron,
screenwriter and director, was born.
   (HN, 5/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, German occupiers
in Holland forbade bicycle taxis.
   (MC, 5/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, The new 823.5-foot
Nazi battleship Bismarck left Gdynia, Poland, under the command of
Commander Gunther Lutjens.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck)(ON, 10/09,
p.1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, Germany invaded
Crete by air.
   (HN, 5/20/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, The first U.S.
ship, the SS Robin Moor, was sunk by a U-boat.
   (HN, 5/21/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, British troops
attacked Baghdad.
   (MC, 5/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, Bob Dylan (Robert
Allen Zimmerman), singer and songwriter, was born in Minnesota. He
is famous for his songs "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," and "Blowin' in
the Wind."
   (SFC, 8/26/97, p.E3)(HN, 5/24/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, The German
battleship Bismarck sank the British dreadnought HMS Hood in the
North Atlantic. 1416 died with only three survivors.
   (AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/99)(ON, 10/09, p.2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Some 5,000 drowned
in a storm at Ganges Delta region in India.
   (SC, 5/25/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, American Flag
House, the Betsy Ross Home, was given to the city of Phila.
   (MC, 5/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, Ark Royal airplane
sighted the German battleship Bismarck.
   (MC, 5/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, German occupiers
began youth labor.
   (MC, 5/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 27, Amid rising world
tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national
emergency."
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(AP, 5/27/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 27, The German
battleship Bismarck was sunk off France by British naval and air
forces with a loss of more than 2,100 lives. British ships rescued 4
officers and 106 of the crew. A German fishing vessel was reported
to have rescued another 100 men.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck)(AP,
5/27/07)(ON, 10/09, p.5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, Roy Crewsdon,
rocker (Freddie & The Dreamers), was born in Manchester.
   (SC, 5/29/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 30, Serbia enacted
anti-Semitic measures.
   (MC, 5/30/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 30, Rama VII,
Thailand’s King Prajadhipok (b.1893), died. Prajadhipok was Siam's
last absolute monarch and its first constitutional monarch after the
Siamese Revolution of 1932. Educated at Eton, he succeeded his
brother in 1926. Six years later a group of military officers and
civil servants initiated a near bloodless coup. Prajadhipok
abdicated in 1935 and spent the rest of his life with his wife in
England. The couple had no children.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajadhipok)(Reuters, 5/2/19)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May, Congresswoman Edith
Nourse Rogers introduced a house resolution, H.R. 4906, to establish
a civilian organization known as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
(WAAC), but the legislation sat undiscussed until after Pearl
Harbor. Several women’s groups were organized after America entered
the war and in July 1943, the WASPs came into being.
   (HNQ, 3/16/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May, Germany dropped 1,500
paratroopers on Crete in the first successful airborne invasion in
military history.
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941 Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, British troops
occupied Baghdad, Iraq.
   (DT, 6/1/97)
1941 Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, Germany banned all
Catholic publications.
   (DT, 6/1/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, The German Army
completed the capture of Crete as the Allied evacuation ended.
   (HN, 6/1/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, William Guest,
singer (Gladys Knight Show), was born in Atlanta, Ga.
   (SC, 6/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Stacy Keach, actor
(Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer), was born in Savannah, Ga.
   (SC, 6/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Charlie Watts,
drummer (Rolling Stones-Brown Sugar), was born.
   (SC, 6/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Baseball’s "Iron
Horse," Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 37. The best book on Gehrig is
"Iron Horse" by Ray Robinson. In 2005 Jonathan Eig authored
“Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.”
   (AP, 6/2/97)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.79)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 3, German occupiers
stamped "J" on Jewish passports.
   (MC, 6/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 4, Republic of Croatia
ordered all Jews to wear a star with the letter Z.
   (MC, 6/4/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 4, Wilhelm II von
Hohenzollern (b.1859), the last German emperor (1888-1918), died in
the Netherlands.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II,_German_Emperor)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 5, In China some 1,500
civilians died from suffocation in a single air raid shelter in
Chongqing, the provisional capital until the end of the war with
Japan.
   (Econ, 8/15/15, p.36)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 6, The U.S. government
authorized the seizure of foreign ships in U.S. ports.
   (HN, 6/6/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, Jaime Laredo,
violinist (Queen Elisabeth of Belgium prize 1959), was born in
Bolivia.
   (SC, 6/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, Whirlaway won the
Belmont Stakes & the triple crown.
   (SC, 6/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, Production began on
“The Maltese Falcon," starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Sam
Spade. The film was directed by John Huston (34).
   (SFCM, 2/6/05, p.10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 13, Thousands of
Jewish community leaders were deported to Siberia as part of the
general purge. The Soviet Union, which had occupied the former
Romanian province a year earlier, loaded 22,600 Moldovans on cargo
trains bound for Siberia, where the deportees were used for forced
labor.
   (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)(AP, 6/13/06)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 14, In Latvia some
15,000 people were rounded up in one night and sent to Siberia.
   (BN, 10/96, p.2)(BN, 10/97, p.1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 14, In Lithuania the
Russian secret police gathered up some 40,000 men, women and
children and exiled them to Siberia in cattle cars. This was the
first of many shipments. Arrests and deportations totaled some
34,260 people.
   (WP, 6/29/96, p.A16)(Dr, 7/96, V1#1, p.3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 16, The new Washington
National Airport opened southwest of DC. In 1945, Congress passed a
law that established the airport was legally within Virginia but
under the jurisdiction of the federal government. In 1998 it was
renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Washington_National_Airport)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 18, Joe Louis KO’d
Billy Conn in 13 for the heavyweight boxing title.
   (MC, 6/18/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 18, Turkey signed a
peace treaty with Nazi Germany.
   (MC, 6/18/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, US president
Roosevelt signed Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act.
   (DT, 6/19/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, Cheerios Cereal
was invented, O-shaped cereal 1/2-inch diameter, .0025 ounce, 400=1
serving; first called Cheerie Oats.
   (DT, 6/19/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, Romania ordered
Jews to evacuate Darabani.
   (MC, 6/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 20, U.S. Army Air
Forces was established, replacing the Army Air Corps.
   (HN, 6/20/98)(WSJ, 8/17/99, p.A1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, Ed Bradley, CBS
news correspondent and one of the hosts of "Sixty Minutes," was
born.
   (HN, 6/22/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, Estonians started
armed resistance against Soviet occupation.
   (MC, 6/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, Finland invaded
Karelia. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in summer 1941,
Finland joined in and began re-taking the lost territory.
   (www.publiscan.fi/cu13e-9.htm)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, German troops
invaded Russia and thereby violated the 1939 Russo-German
non-aggression pact. Under the codename Barbarossa, Germany invaded
the Soviet Union, the largest invasion of another country in
history. In 2005 Constantine Pleshakov authored “Stalin’s Folly,”
and David E. Murphy authored ”What Stalin Knew.” Both provide
accounts of the invasion and Stalin’s refusal to acknowledge warning
signs.
   (AP, 6/22/97)(HN, 6/22/98)(WSJ, 6/22/05, p.D12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, Germany attacked
the Soviet Union, its former ally. When the German forces entered
the Polish city of Lviv (Lwov), they and their Ukrainian
collaborators massacred Jews in the city and countryside. While
occupying the area, Germans murdered Jews in the ghetto, the Belzec
death camp and a forced labor camp, Janowska, with the final
annihilation occurring in 1943.
   (AP, 9/2/18)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, Germany occupied
the Baltic states.
   (MC, 6/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 23, The German army
entered Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 23, Juozas
Ambrzevicius (Juozas Brazaitis), one of the leaders of the
Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), began serving as the acting PM of
the Provisional Government of Lithuania and continued to August 5,
1941. He died in exile in 1974. He published memoirs “All Alone”
(Lithuanian: Vienų vieni) in 1964 under the name of N. E. Sudūvis.
   (Econ, 2/12/11,
p.60)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juozas_Ambrazevi%C4%8Dius)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 24, President Franklin
Roosevelt pledged all possible support to the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 6/24/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 24, The entire Jewish
male population of Gorzhdy, Lithuania, was exterminated.
   (MC, 6/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 24, Germans advanced
into Russia and took Vilnius, Brest-Litovsk & Kaunas.
   (MC, 6/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, Joe DiMaggio ran
his hitting streak to 45 straight games.
   (MC, 6/25/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, Germans invaded
Dubno, Poland, and encouraged the Ukrainians to do whatever they
want to 12,000 Jews living there.
   (MC, 6/25/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, Finland declared
war on the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 6/25/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25-26, Russians
counter attacked at Rovno, Poland.
   (MC, 6/25/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, In Belarus Soviet
NKVD mass-executed prisoners from Minsk in the nearby Tsagelnya
forest. The wooden statue Mourning Ange, by sculptor Gennady
Matusevich, was later erected at the location. Commemorative events
are held every year in June. In 1942 Jonas Petruitis authored “Kaip
jie mus sušaudÄ—” (How They Shot Us Down).
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chervyen%E2%80%99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, Finland entered WW
II against Russia.
   (MC, 6/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, Lithuanian
fascists massacred 2,300 Jews in Kovno.
   (MC, 6/26/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, In Norway an
adviser to collaborationist leader Vidkun Quisling suggested in a
letter, four days after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, that
northern Russia would be better used by Germanic peoples because
Slavic peoples "don't know how to make use of the land." The
document was not made public until 2010.
   (AP, 4/9/10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 28, German and
Romanian soldiers kill 11,000 Jews in Kishinev.
   (MC, 6/28/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 28, German troops
occupied Galicia, Poland.
   (MC, 6/28/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 29, Stokely Carmichael
(later Kwame Ture), African-American civil rights leader, was born
in Port-of-Spain and spent his first 11 years there.
   (SFC, 11/16/98, p.A7)(HN, 6/29/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 29, Nazi divisions in
a surprise assault made sweeping advances toward Leningrad, Moscow,
and Kiev. Joseph Stalin had ignored warnings that Hitler would
betray the 1939 Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact. Over 500,000 square
miles of Russian territory were taken in the first two months of the
invasion.
   (MC, 6/29/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 29, Polish statesman,
pianist and composer Ignace Jan Paderewski died in New York at age
80.
   (AP, 6/29/97)(SFC, 1/28/99, p.E3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, Charles E. Hughes
(1862-1948), Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, retired. He
expanded freedom of the press and ruled against some of FDR’s New
Deal Legislation. Hughes served 2 terms on the court, 1910-1916 and
1930-1941.
   (www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/62/)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt froze German and Italian assets in the United States.
   (HN, 10/23/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, Former
Lithuanian Pres. Aleksandras Stulginskis and his wife were arrested
by the Soviet NKVD and deported to a gulag in the Krasnoyarsk
region. His wife was deported to the Komi area. After World War II
in 1952 he was officially sentenced by the Soviet authorities to 25
years in prison for his anti-socialist and clerical policies in
pre-war Lithuania. Released after Joseph Stalin's death in 1956, he
was allowed to emigrate, yet he refused and returned to Lithuanian
SSR.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandras_Stulginskis)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, In the northeastern
city of Iasi, Romania, up to 12,000 people are believed to have died
as Romanian and German soldiers swept from house to house to killing
Jews. Those who did not die were systematically beaten, put in
cattle wagons in stifling heat and taken to a small town, where what
happened to them would be concealed. Of the 120 people on the train,
just 24 survived. In 2010 a mass grave was found containing the
bodies of an estimated 100 Jews killed by Romanian troops in a
forest near the town of Popricani, about 350 km northeast of
Bucharest. It contained the bodies of men, women and children who
were shot in 1941.
   (AP, 6/14/03)(AP, 11/5/10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, Commercial black
and white television broadcasting began in the US under approval by
the FCC. NBC’s New York station was the 1st to transition from radio
to TV. “Truth or Consequences” with host Ralph Edwards became the
1st commercial TV show for NBC. WW II disrupted TV’s progress.
“Truth or Consequences” prospered on radio and returned to TV in
1950. Â
  Â
(http://www.tvhistory.tv/History%20of%20TV.htm)(SFC, 11/17/05, p.B5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, Harlan Fiske Stone
(1872-1946) was sworn in as Chief Justice on the US Supreme Court.
   (www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/73/)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, German soldiers
arrive in Kolomiya, (later part of Ukraine) which belonged to Poland
at this time, and tacked up posters the declared in three languages
"Death to All Jews." Blanca Rosenberg (d.1998) wrote a memoir in
1993, "To Tell at Last," that described how she survived the
Holocaust.
   (SFC, 9/29/98, p.C2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Howard Florey &
Norman Heatley meet for 1st time, 11 days later they successfully
recreated penicillin.
   (MC, 7/4/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Latvia partisans
shot 416 Jews dead.
   (Maggio)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Politburo of
Yugoslav communist party reorganized.
   (Maggio)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, German troops
reached the Dnieper River in the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 7/5/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 6, German planes
attacked the SS Devon off the east coast of England. Reginald
Earnshaw (14) died in the attack after serving for several months.
In 2010 he was hailed as the youngest known British service casualty
in World War II.
   (AP, 2/5/10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, Although a neutral
country, the United States sent troops to occupy Iceland to keep it
out of Germany’s hands.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 7/7/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, Nazis executed
5,000 Jews in Kovno, Lithuania.
   (MC, 7/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, Twenty B-17s flew
in their first mission with the Royal Air Force over Wilhelmshaven,
Germany.
   (HN, 7/8/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, All Jews living in
Baltic States were obligated to wear Star of David.
   (MC, 7/8/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, Jelly Roll Morton
(b.1885 as Ferdinand Joseph Le Menthe), jazz musician, died in Los
Angeles, Ca. He was a virtuoso pianist, bandleader and composer who
some call the first true composer of jazz music. Morton was a
colorful character who liked to generate publicity for himself by
bragging. His business card referred to him as the "Creator of Jazz
and Swing."Â He was born September 20, 1890 in the Creole of
Color community in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of downtown New
Orleans, Louisiana. He took the name "Morton" by Anglicizing the
name of his step-father, Mouton. In 2003 Howard Reich and William
Gaines authored "Jelly's Blues: The Life, Music and Redemption of
Jelly Roll Morton." In 2005 Rounder Records released an 8-CD set
titled “Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress
Recordings by Alan Lomax.”
   (SFC, 5/24/03,
p.D3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_Morton)(WSJ, 11/23/05,
p.D12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, In Jedwabne,
Poland, some 300-400 Jews were herded into a barn by the local
villagers and burned to death. In 1949 a communist-era court
convicted 12 Poles in the massacre, saying they assisted German
forces in the killings. In 2001 Jan Tomasz authored "Neighbors: The
Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne." According to
Gross, some 1,600 Jews were killed in Jedwabne.
   (SFC, 3/16/01, p.A16)(SFC, 3/31/01, p.A12)(AP,
7/10/11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 11(Jun 11), The 2nd
great roundup of Jews of Amsterdam took place.
   (MC, 7/11/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 11(Jun 11),
Vichy-French planes bombed Tel Aviv and killed 20 Jews.
   (MC, 7/11/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 12, Moscow was bombed
by the German Luftwaffe for the first time.
   (HN, 7/12/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 13, Britain and the
Soviet Union signed a mutual aid pact, providing the means for
Britain to send war materiel to the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 7/13/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 14, Vichy French
Foreign Legionaries signed an armistice in Damascus, allowing them
to join the Free French Foreign Legion.
   (HN, 7/14/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 14, 6,000 Lithuanian
Jews were exterminated at Viszalsyan Camp.
   (MC, 7/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 15, Florey and Heatley
presented freeze dried mold cultures (Penicillin).
   (MC, 7/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, Dag Solstad,
Norwegian novelist and playwright, was born.
   (HN, 7/16/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 17, The longest
hitting streak in baseball history ended when the Cleveland Indians
pitchers Al Smith and Jim Bagby Jr. held NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio, the
Yankee Clipper, hitless for the first time in 57 games. His hitting
streak ended with 56 games.
  Â
(www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats3.shtml)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 17, Brigadier-General
Brehon Somervell gathered a small group of officer’s from the army’s
construction division and told them they were to build a single
headquarters to house the entire war department, then scattered over
sites, in Virginia.
   (Econ, 6/30/07, p.93)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 18, SS troops drowned
40 Jews in Dvina River in Belorussia.
   (MC, 7/18/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 19, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in
Europe. The BBC World Service began regular broadcasting
throughout Europe with the opening four notes of Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony, which in Morse Code spell V for "Victory."
   (AP, 7/19/97)(MC, 7/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 21, France accepted
Japan’s demand for military control of Indochina.
   (HN, 7/21/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 21, Himmler ordered
the building of the Majdanek concentration camp. The camp was built
in eastern Poland as a principal site to exterminate Jews. It
contained 7 gas chambers.
   (SFC, 3/5/98, p.A14)(MC, 7/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 21, 200 Jewish Torahs
were burned in Ukraine.
   (MC, 7/21/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 22, George Clinton,
American musician and the principal architect of P-Funk was born in
North Carolina. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and
Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s.
   (www.last.fm/music/George+Clinton)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 23, Douglas Bader
(1910-1982), legless British RAF pilot, was shot down over France
and captured by the Germans. He was liberated when the US First Army
arrived on April 16, 1945. The 1956 film “Reach for the Sky” was
based on the 1954 book by Paul Brickhill: “Reach for the Sky: The
Story of Douglas Bader, Hero of the Battle of Britain.”
   (ON, 9/05, p.9)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 23, German and
Romanian troops reoccupied Moldova as part of Operation Barbarossa.
   (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 24, The U.S.
government denounced Japanese actions in Indochina.
   (HN, 7/24/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 24, Nazis massacred
the entire Jewish population of Grodz, Lithuania.
   (MC, 7/24/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 25, The U.S.
government froze Japanese and Chinese assets.
   (HN, 7/25/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 26, Benjamin Lee Whorf
(1897), American linguist, died. He had argued that different
languages condition or restrain the mind’s habits of thought.
   (Econ, 12/19/09,
p.137)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lee_Whorf)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, The German army
entered Ukraine.
   (MC, 7/27/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, Japanese forces
landed in Indo-China.
   (MC, 7/27/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 28, Riccardo Muti,
conductor (Philadelphia Orch), was born in Napoli, Italy.
   (SC, 7/28/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 28, A Japanese army
landed in Cochin, China (modern day Vietnam).
   (HN, 7/28/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 29, David Warner,
actor (Star Trek VI, Time Bandits), was born in Manchester, NH.
   (MC, 7/29/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, Paul Anka, singer
and song-writer, was born in Ottawa. He later composed the song "My
Way."
   (G&M, 7/30/97, p.A24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 31, The U.S. Army
established the Military Police Corps.
   (HN, 7/31/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, Artist Marc Chagall
and his wife Bella Rosenfeld departed France for America. On the
same day that he left Vichy police deported some 1,200 other Jewish
refugees to forced labor in north Africa.
   (Econ, 9/20/08, p.102)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, In northwestern
Lithuania some 9,000 Jews were killed by Lithuanian police.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, The 16,000 sq. mile
area of the Ukraine named Transnistria was granted by Hitler to the
Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu for Romania’s participation in the
war against the soviet Union. Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and
Moldova were transferred here and many thousands were murdered from
1941-1944 by the Romanian Gendarmeric, the Einsatrzgruppe D,
Ukrainian police and Sonderkommando R.
   (WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A15)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 1, The Grumman TBF
Avenger torpedo plane made its first flight.
   (HN, 8/1/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 1, Luftwaffe bombed
the German 23rd division.
   (MC, 8/1/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, The summary of an
FBI probe of GM senior executives with links to Adolph Hitler found
collusion Germany by James D. Mooney, president of GM Overseas
Corp., but no evidence of any disloyalty to America.
   (SSFC, 1/7/07, p.E6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, Buffy Sainte-Marie,
folksinger and songwriter, was born in Saskatchewan, Canada.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_Sainte-Marie)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, German 11th Army
surrounded 20 Russian divisions at Uman.
   (MC, 8/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, Jews were expelled
from Hungarian Ruthenia.
   (MC, 8/2/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 3, Beverly Lee, singer
(Shirelles-Soldier Boy), was born in Passaic, NJ.
   (SC, 8/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 3, Martha Stewart,
cookbook author, actress (Those Two), was born.
   (SC, 8/3/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, The German army
completed taking 410,000 Russian prisoners in Uman and Smolensk
pockets in the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 8/5/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, Rabindranath Tagore
(b.1861), a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and
music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, died in Calcutta.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, In Romania 551 Jews
were shot in the Kishinev ghetto.
   (MC, 8/7/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, US President
Franklin Roosevelt and PM Winston Churchill met at Placentia Bay,
Newfoundland. Their meeting produced the August 14 Atlantic Charter,
an agreement between the two countries on war aims, even though the
US was still a neutral country.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 10, Great Britain and
the Soviet Union promised aid to Turkey if it was attacked by the
Axis.
   (HN, 8/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 11, Elizabeth
Holtzman, DA (D-Rep-NY, Watergate Committee), was born in Brooklyn.
   (MC, 8/11/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 11, Soviet bombers
raided Berlin but caused little damage.
   (HN, 8/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 12, Deborah Walley,
actress (Mothers-in-Law), was born in Bridgeport, Ct.
   (SC, 8/12/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 12, Jennifer Warren,
actress (Slap Shot, Fatal Beauty, Mutant), was born in NYC.
   (SC, 8/12/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 12, French Marshal
Henri Philippe Petain announced full French collaboration with Nazi
Germany.
   (HN, 8/12/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 13, A prototype of the
GEE or AMES Type 7000 British radio navigation system was lost on a
raid over Hanover, Germany. GEE was devised by Robert Dippy and
developed at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) at
Swanage. Dippy later went to the United States where he worked on
the development of the LORAN system. Loran, long-range navigation,
later fell out of favor with the development of satellite-based
navigation systems.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEE_%28navigation%29)(Econ, 3/12/11,
TQ p.21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 13, Red army evacuated
Smolensk.
   (MC, 8/13/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, The Atlantic
Charter was created in 1941. It was a joint declaration of peace
aims and a statement of principles by US Pres. Roosevelt and British
Prime Minister Churchill that renounced aggression.
   (HFA, '96, p.36)(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(AP, 8/14/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, Josef Jakobs,
German spy, was executed in Tower of London.
   (MC, 8/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, Lithuanian Jews in
Kaunas were herded into the Slobodka ghetto.
   (MC, 8/15/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, The concentration
camp at Amersfoort, Netherlands, opened.
   (MC, 8/18/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, The final German
assault on Tallinn began.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_evacuation_of_Tallinn)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Slobodan
Milosevic, premier of Serbia, was born.
   (MC, 8/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Police raided the
11th district of Paris and took over 4,000 Jewish males.
   (MC, 8/20/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Adolf Hitler
authorized the development of the V-2 missile.
   (HN, 8/20/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 21-Sep 26, The Soviet
Union’s greatest defeat in WWII occurred during the encirclement of
the Ukrainian city of Kiev. The Germans took some 665,000 Soviet
prisoners.
   (HNQ, 8/12/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 22, Nazi troops
reached Leningrad.
   (MC, 8/22/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, British and Soviet
forces entered Iran, opening up a route to supply the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 8/25/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, German troops
conquered Novgorod, Leningrad.
   (MC, 8/25/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, The Soviet armada
began to move out of Tallinn. By the next day 5 ships were sunk by
German bombers and Soviet ships began to encounter minefields set by
the Kriegsmarine and Finnish Navy. The Soviets succeeded in
evacuating 165 ships, 28,000 passengers and 66,000 tons of equipment
from Tallinn.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_evacuation_of_Tallinn)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, The Shah of Iran
abdicated the throne to his son Reza Pahlavi. Britain forced Reza
Shah to abdicate and installed his son Mohammed.
   (www.indiana.edu/~league/1941.htm)(WSJ, 4/2/07,
p.A6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, The Prime Minister
of Japan, Fumimaro Konoye, issued an invitation for a meeting with
President Roosevelt.
   (HN, 8/27/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 28, Paul Peter
Plishka, bass (Met Opera), was born in Old Forge, Penn.
   (MC, 8/28/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 28, The German U-boat
U-570 was captured by the British and renamed Graph.
   (HN, 8/28/98)
1941      Aug 29, Robin Leach
(d.2018), host for the American TV series "Lifestyles of the Rich
and Famous," was born in London.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Leach)
1941      Aug 29, Henri Louis
(40), French officer, resistance fighter, was executed.
   (MC, 8/29/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 29, The German
Einsatzkommando in Russia killed 1,469 Jewish children.
   (MC, 8/29/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 30, The World War II
siege of Leningrad began as Nazi forces took Mga.
   (AP, 8/30/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 31, The radio program
"The Great Gildersleeve," a spin-off of Fibber McGee & Molly,
made its debut on NBC.
   (AP, 8/31/97)(MC, 8/31/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 31, Alan Lomax,
musicologist for the US Library of Vongress, traveled to
Mississippi, introduced himself to McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy
Waters, and began recording his Delta Blues songs.
   (ON, 8/20/11, p.4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 31, Marina Tsvetaeva
(b.1892), Russian poet and writer, died. She wrote six plays in
verse and narrative poems, including The Tsar Maiden (1920), and her
epic about the Civil War, The Swans' Encampment, which glorified
those who fought against the communists.
   (Econ, 3/6/10,
p.103)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Tsvetaeva)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug, The US placed an
embargo on oil shipments to Japan in response to Japan’s occupation
of French Indochina (later Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam).
   (Econ, 12/6/14, p.24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug, In Germany public
protests curtailed the Nazi euthanasia program that had already
gassed some 70,000 mentally handicapped German adults and children.
   (WSJ, 3/23/04, p.D8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug, 23 German U-boats
were sunk this month (80,000 ton).
   (MC, 8/31/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 1, Jews living in
Germany were required to wear a yellow Star of David.
   (MC, 9/1/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, Nazis made the 1st
use of Zyclon-B gas in Auschwitz on Russian prisoners of war.
   (MC, 9/3/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, German submarine
U-652 fired at the U.S. destroyer Greer off Iceland, beginning an
undeclared shooting war.
   (HN, 9/4/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Jews over the age
of 6 in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of
David.
   (AP, 9/6/97)(HN, 9/6/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Emperor Hirohito of
Japan gave his sanction "with misgivings" to simultaneous efforts to
negotiate peace with the US and to prepare for an attack if the
efforts failed.
   (SFC, 10/3/00, p.A10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Jews of Vilna,
Poland (Lithuania), were confined to their ghetto.
   (MC, 9/6/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 8, The 900-day Siege
of Leningrad by German forces began during World War II. The Siege
of Leningrad, 400 miles northwest of Moscow, took place with Germany
spread along a 2,000 mile front. It led to the death of at least one
million Russians from starvation and disease. Leningrad has since
been renamed to St. Petersburg. In 2011 Anna Reid authored
“Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II.”
   (WSJ, 2/21/96, p.A-15)(AP, 9/8/06)(Econ, 8/27/11,
p.73)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 8, The entire Jewish
community of Meretsch, Lithuania was exterminated.
   (MC, 9/8/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 9, Otis Redding, rock
bassist (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay), was born in Dawson, Ga.
   (MC, 9/9/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 10, Stephen Jay Gould
(d.2002), biologist, paleontologist and writer, was born in NYC. His
books included “Time’s Cycle” and “The Panda’s Thumb.”
   (HN, 9/10/00)(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, FDR ordered any
Axis ship found in American waters be sunk on sight, in response to
submarine attacks on US vessels.
   (MC, 9/11/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, Ground breaking
ceremonies were held for the Pentagon. The 38-acre Pentagon was
built in Arlington, Va., over the next 2 years. Construction was
ordered by Brig. Gen. Brehon B. Sommervell to consolidate the 17 War
Dept. buildings. It cost $83 million and was located on a plot known
as Arlington Farms, that was bordered by 5 roads. In 2006 James
Carroll authored “House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise
of American Power.”
   (SFC, 9/12/01, p.A6)(Econ, 5/27/06, p.81)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, Charles A.
Lindbergh sparked charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in Des
Moines, Iowa, in which he blamed "the British, the Jewish and the
Roosevelt administration" for trying to draw the United States into
World War II. Lindbergh had joined the America First Committee which
opposed US entry into the war.
   (SFEC, 11/15/98, Par p.29)(USAW, 5/19/02,
p.26)(AP, 9/11/08)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, The US ship Busko
captured the 1st German ship in WW II.
   (MC, 9/12/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, David
Clayton-Thomas (singer: group: Blood Sweat and Tears: You Made Me So
Very Happy, Spinning Wheel), was born.
   (MC, 9/13/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 15, Nazis killed 800
Jewish women at Shkudvil, Lithuania.
  Â
(http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/shkudvil/shkudvil.html)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, "Mama" Cass
Elliot, singer for the Mamas & Papas, was born as Ellen Naomi
Cohen.
   (www.casselliot.com)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, German army
conquered Kiev.
   (MC, 9/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, Nazi's force all
German Jews from the age of 6 to wear Stars of David.
   (MC, 9/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, 1st meeting of
partisans Tito and Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia.
   (MC, 9/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 21, The US launched
its 1st Liberty-ship, "Patrick Henry."
   (MC, 9/21/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 21, The German Army
cut off the Crimean Peninsula from the rest of the Soviet Union.
   (HN, 9/21/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 23, Germans staged an
air raid on the Russian naval base at Kronstadt. The battleship
Marat sank.
   (MC, 9/23/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, There was a bomb
explosion in German headquarters in Hotel Continental in Kiev.
   (MC, 9/24/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, Bechtel launched
its first ship from the Marin shipyard in California. A total of 18
Liberty ships were built by Bechtel. The engines were made at the
Joshua Hendy Iron Works in Sunnyvale and shipped in by rail.
   (SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, In Ukraine some
33,711 Jews of Kiev were killed over 3 days before Yom Kippur in the
ravine at Babi Yar by the Nazis. Over the next 2 years some 100-200
thousand more people, mostly Jews, were killed at the site.
   (SFC, 10/29/96, p.A6)(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A8)(SFC,
6/26/01, p.A8)(AP, 11/16/07)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 28, Ted Williams ended
the baseball season with .406 batting avg.
   (MC, 9/28/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, In Ukraine some
33,711 Jews of Kiev were killed over 2 days before Yom Kippur in the
ravine at Babi Yar by the Nazis. Henrich Himmler had sent four
strike squads to exterminate Soviet Jewish civilians and other
"undesirables." Over the next 2 years some 100-200 thousand more
people, mostly Jews, were killed at the site.
   (SFC, 10/29/96, p.A6)(HN, 9/29/00)(SFC, 6/25/01,
p.A8)(SFC, 6/26/01, p.A8)(AP, 11/16/07)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 30, In Ukraine 33,771
Jews were killed in a two-day Nazi operation at Babi Yar ravine near
Kiev [see Sep 29]. Einsatzgruppe C was responsible for the shooting
of nearly 34,000 at Babi Yar.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar)(AP,
9/28/17)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 30, 53 U-boats sunk
this month.
   (MC, 9/30/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, Jean "Max" Moulin was
smuggled to London to meet Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French
Resistance, and the other exiled French leaders. In January 1942 the
SOE parachuted him back into France, to set up an organized
Resistance movement.
  Â
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/moulin_jean.shtml)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 2, Gilbert Gable,
mayor of Port Orford, Ore., announced with some pals that they were
fed up of being neglected by legislators in Salem and Sacramento and
began promoting a 51st state named Jefferson with Yreka as the
capital.
   (SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A26)(AH, 2/05, p.20)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 2, Operation Typhoon,
a German all-out drive against Moscow, began in earnest. In 2006
Rodric Braithwaite authored “Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at
War.”
   (AP,
10/2/97)(http://www.bartcop.com/arc4110.htm)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.95)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 2, 6 Paris synagogues
were bombed by Gestapo.
   (MC, 10/2/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, The film "Maltese
Falcon," starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Sam Spade, opened. It
was directed by John Huston (34).
   (HN, 10/3/00)(SFCM, 2/6/05, p.10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, Adolf Hitler
declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia is "broken" and would
"never rise again."
   (AP, 10/3/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, Nazi's blew up 6
synagogues in Paris.
   (MC, 10/3/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, All elderly Jewish
men of Kerenchug Ukraine, were killed by SS.
   (MC, 10/3/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 4, Jackie Collins,
actress, author, was born in London, England. Her books included
"The world Is Full of Married Men (1968), "Stud" (1969), "Bitch"
(1979) and "Deadly Embrace" (2002).
   (MC, 10/4/01)(SSFC, 8/4/02, Par p.14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 4, Anne Rice,
novelist, was born in New Orleans, La. Her books included "Interview
with a Vampire."
   (HN, 10/4/00)(MC, 10/4/01)Â
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 5, Former US Supreme
Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (b.1856), the first Jewish member of
the nation's highest court (1916-39), died in Washington at age 84.
In 2009 Melvin Urofsky authored “Louis D. Brandeis: A Life.” In 2016
Jeffrey Rosen authored “Louis D. Brandeis: American Prophet.”
   (AP, 10/5/99)(Econ, 9/26/09, p.97)(Econ, 5/14/16,
p.24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 6, German troops
renewed their offensive against Moscow.
   (HN, 10/6/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 7-1941 Oct 8, There
was a massacre of over 3,700 Jews over a 2-day period near
Svencionys, Lithuania. Vincas Valkavickas, a prison guard during the
massacre, emigrated to the US in 1950 and was forced to leave in
1999 for concealing his wartime service.
  Â
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pjus/is_199904/ai_1291869401)(SFC,
6/15/99, p.A3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, Jesse Jackson,
civil rights leader, was born in Greenville, SC.
   (HN, 10/8/98)(MC, 10/8/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, Construction began
on the 430-acre Birkenau extermination camp, 1.5 miles away from
Auschwitz.
   (MC, 10/8/01)(WSJ, 8/14/02, p.A8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, The Germans arrived
in Mariupol, Ukraine, and immediately instituted anti-Jewish
measures.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt requested congressional approval for arming U.S.
merchant ships.
   (HN, 10/9/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 10, German U-boat
torpedoes hit the US destroyer Kearney.
   (MC, 10/10/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 10, Soviet troops
halted the German advance on Moscow.
   (HN, 10/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 12, Russian government
moved from Moscow to Volga as Nazis closed in on Moscow.
   (MC, 10/12/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 12, Thousands of Jews
were killed in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine, by men of the Security
Police (Sicherheitspolizei; SiPo), assisted by members of the German
Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) and the railroad police.
   (Econ, 1/23/10,
p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivano-Frankivsk)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, Paul Simon,
songwriter, singer, musician, was born. He played guitar and
recorded with Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Mrs. Robinson,
Scarborough Fair, The Sounds of Silence; solo: Me and Julio,
Kodachrome, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Rock and Roll Hall of
Famer.
   (MC, 10/13/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, Nazis killed
11,000 Jewish children and old people.
   (MC, 10/13/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 14, The 1st mass
deportations took place at Kovno, Lodz, Minsk & Riga.
   (MC, 10/14/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 15, The 1st mass
deportation of German Jews to Eastern Europe.
   (MC, 10/15/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 15, The Japanese Tojo
regime was formed. [see Oct 17]
   (MC, 10/15/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 15, Odessa, a Russian
port on the Black Sea which had been surrounded by German troops for
several weeks, was evacuated by Russian troops.
   (HN, 10/15/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, Germany advanced
within 60 miles of Moscow.
   (MC, 10/16/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, Antanas Gustaitis
(b.1898), Lithuanian aviation engineer, was shot to death in Moscow.
He had designed 9 ANBO airplanes.
   (LHC, 3/26/03)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 17, The U.S. destroyer
Kearney was damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11
people were killed.
   (AP, 10/17/08)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 17, Gen’l. Hideki Toho
(1885-1948) became Premier and Minister of War in Japan. When the
bellicose war minister and most powerful man in Japan, Army General
Hideki Tojo, became prime minister, there no longer was a chance of
avoiding war with Britain and the United States.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 2/21/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 18, Spy Richard Sorge
was arrested in Tokyo.
   (MC, 10/18/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 18, The Germans forces
in Mariupol, Ukraine, murdered some 9,000 local Jews.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 20, Nazi occupiers
murdered 500 inhabitants of Kragujevac, Serbia.
   (MC, 10/20/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, Charles Minot Dole
was informed by US Army Chief of Staff George C. Mitchell and Sec.
of War Henry Stimson that the 87th Mountain Infantry Division would
soon be constituted at Fort Lewis, Washington. Some 3,500 volunteers
from the National Ski Patrol were soon recruited for the division.
   (ON, 4/2011, p.6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, Guy Moquet (17)
was executed by a German firing squad, one of dozens of communists
condemned by an official in France's collaborationist Vichy regime
in reprisal for the murder of a German officer.
   (AP,
10/23/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_M%C3%B4quet)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22-23, Some 39,000
[20,000] Jews were killed by Romanian troops over 2 days in Odessa.
Many of them were burned to death in a public square or in
warehouses that were locked shut. Altogether some 90,000 Jews were
killed in Odessa.
   (SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)(WSJ, 3/23/04, p.D8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 23, Walt Disney's
cartoon film, "Dumbo," was released.
   (MC, 10/23/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 24, Adolph Hitler met
with Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, and Reinhard Heydrich, the
man in charge of the forthcoming genocide program, and pronounced:
"It’s not a bad idea, by the way, that public rumor attributes to us
a plan to exterminate the Jews."
   (WSJ, 4/12/00, p.A26)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 25, Anne Tyler,
novelist, was born. Her work included "The Accidental Tourist"
and "Ladder of Years."
   (HN, 10/25/00)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 25, Germany attacked
Moscow.
   (MC, 10/25/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 25, 16,000 Jews were
massacred in Odessa, Ukraine. [see Oct 22-23]
   (MC, 10/25/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, US savings bonds
went on sale.
   (MC, 10/26/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, In a broadcast to
the nation on Navy Day, President Franklin Roosevelt declared:
"America has been attacked, the shooting has started." He did not
ask for full-scale war yet, realizing that many Americans were not
yet ready for such a step.
   (HN, 10/27/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, The Chicago Daily
Tribune dismissed the possibility of war with Japan, editorializing,
"She cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our
base at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet."
   (AP, 10/27/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, Nazis directed the
evacuation of the gypsy ghetto in Belgrade.
   (MC, 10/27/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 31, The Mt. Rushmore
sculpture was completed after 14 years of work. [see 1927]
   (HFA, '96, p.40)(HN, 10/31/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 31, The US Navy
destroyer "Reuben James" was torpedoed by a German U-boat off
Iceland, killing 115, even though the United States had not yet
entered World War II.
  Â
(www.archives.gov/exhibits/a_people_at_war/prelude_to_war/uss_reuben_james.html)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 31, 13 U boats were
sunk this month (62,000 ton).
   (MC, 10/31/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, The US Army
established the Umatilla Munitions Depot on 20,000 acres of desert
and sagebrush in Oregon just 6 weeks before the bombing of Pearl
Harbor.
   (SFEC, 4/27/97,
p.A18)(www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/umatilla.htm)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, British, USSR and
other allied forces invaded Iran to break up the Iran-Nazi alliance.
Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, left the country
under disguise with the Italian delegation and relocated to Germany.
   (SSFC, 1/8/06, p.D8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, In Czechoslovakia PM
Alois Elias was sentenced to death for high treason and espionage.
He was executed on June 19, 1942.
   (AP, 5/7/06)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, Josip Broz Tito,
Yugoslav communist leader, directed the organizing of Albanian
communists.
   (www, Albania, 1998)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct-1941 Nov, Nazi doctor
Aribert Heim, dubbed "Dr. Death," worked at the Mauthausen
concentration camp near Linz, Austria, as camp doctor. Heim fled
Germany in 1962.
   (AP, 8/24/08)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 1, Japanese marine
staff officers Suzuki and Maejima arrived in Pearl Harbor.
   (MC, 11/1/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 1, Chetniks attacked
Tito's partisans in Uzice, Yugoslavia.
   (MC, 11/1/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 2, German troops
occupied Rostov.
   (MC, 11/2/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 3, Hirohito's accord
on Yamamoto's attack plan on Pearl Harbor failed.
   (MC, 11/3/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, Japanese marine
staff officers Suzuki and Maejima left Pearl Harbor.
   (MC, 11/5/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 6, USA lent Soviet
Union $1 million.
   (MC, 11/6/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 6, Einsatz death
groups killed 15,000 Jews of Rovno, Ukraine.
   (MC, 11/6/01)
1941      Nov 7,  Â
British air attacks hit Berlin, Mannheim and Ruhrgebied.
   (MC, 11/7/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 7, Russians paraded
across Red Square commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and
afterward went directly to the front to defend Moscow from the
approaching Nazi forces.
   (AP, 11/7/10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 10, Freedom House was
founded by a group of prominent individuals, including Eleanor
Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie. It emerged from an amalgamation of
two groups that had been formed, with the quiet encouragement of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to encourage popular support for
American involvement in World War II at a time when isolationist
sentiments were running high in the United States.
   (www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=249)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 10, Churchill promised
to join the U.S. "within the hour" in the event of war with Japan.
   (HN, 11/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 12, Madame Lillian
Evanti and Mary Cardwell Dawson established the National Negro Opera
Company.
   (HN, 11/12/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 12, Germany's drive to
take Moscow halted.
   (MC, 11/12/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, A German U-boat,
the U-81 torpedoed Great Britain's premier aircraft carrier, the HMS
Ark Royal. The ship sank the next day.
   (HN, 11/13/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, Cow Palace opened
in Daly City, Ca. Construction labor was largely supplied by the
WPA.
   (GTP, 1973, p.113)(SFC, 2/28/08, p.A11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, The German siege
of Sevastopol began.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, The German final
attack on Moscow began. They advanced to within 25 miles of the
center of Moscow.
   (SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 17, German Luftwaffe
general and World War I fighter-ace Ernst Udet committed suicide.
The Nazi government told the public that he died in a flying
accident.
   (HN, 11/17/00)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, British troops
opened an attack on Tobruk, North Africa.
   (MC, 11/18/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, Mussolini's forces
left Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
   (MC, 11/18/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, The ship HMAS
Sydney was sunk off the west coast of Australia in a battle with the
German raider Kormoran, with the loss of all 645 on board. The
Kormoran also sank, but 318 of the German vessel's crew of 397 were
rescued. The 9,500 ton Kormoran had been disguised as a Dutch
merchant ship when it opened fire on the Sydney. The government
banned all media from reporting the news for 12 days as it scrambled
to explain what happened. In March, 2008, the wrecks of the Kormoran
and the Sydney were found. In 2009 a military inquiry said Navy
Capt. Joseph Burnett made "errors of judgment" in the tragedy.
   (AFP, 8/10/07)(AP, 3/16/08)(Reuters, 4/8/08)(AP,
11/19/08)(AP, 8/12/09)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 20, Ambassadors Nomura
and Kurusu handed over Japan’s last diplomatic note.
   (MC, 11/20/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 21, In the SF Bay Area
Mrs. Ethel Leta Juanita Spinelli, aka The Duchess, was executed at
San Quentin for the killing of gang member Robert Sherrard (19). Her
gang had killed Leland Chase 19 months earlier during a robbery and
then killed Sherrard fearing that he would talk. Squeeler Albert
Ives was now in an insane asylum and two other gang members were
scheduled to be executed later this week.
   (SSFC, 11/20/16, DB p.54)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 21, Juliet Mills,
actress (Nanny & the Professor, QB VII), was born in London
England.
   (MC, 11/21/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 22, Tom Conti, actor
(Reuben Reuben, American Dreamer), was born in Paisley, Scotland.
   (MC, 11/22/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 22, British cruiser
Devonshire sank the German sub Atlantis.
   (MC, 11/22/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 23, U.S. troops moved
into Dutch Guiana [Surinam] to guard the bauxite mines.
   (HN, 11/23/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 23, German troops
conquered Klin, NW of Moscow.
   (MC, 11/23/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 24, "Life
Certificates" were issued to some Jews of Vilna. The rest were
exterminated.
   (MC, 11/24/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 24, Indian infantry
attacked German tanks at Sidi Omar.
   (MC, 11/24/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, German Jews in
Netherlands were declared stateless.
   (MC, 11/25/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, The US issued an
edict that "the government of Japan will withdraw all military,
naval, air and police forces from China and Indochina."
   (SFC, 1/19/02, p.A19)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, Congress adopted a
joint resolution, permanently setting the date of Thanksgiving on
the fourth Thursday of November. President Franklin Roosevelt signed
a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national
Thanksgiving holiday.
   (HN, 11/26/98)(HNPD, 11/26/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, The Japanese fleet
departed from the Kurile Islands en route for its attack on Pearl
Harbor.
   (HN, 11/26/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, Free French
General Georges Catroux was placed in control of Syria and Lebanon.
Shortly after taking up this post, Catroux recognized the
independence of Syria and Lebanon in the name of the Free French
movement.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria-Lebanon_campaign)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, In Shanghai the US
ship President Madison weighed anchor as Japan warned of little room
for prolonging Washington conversations.
   (SSFC, 11/27/16, DB p.50)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, Jefferson seceded
from Oregon and California. Jefferson was the winning name for a new
state made of California’s northern Siskiyou, Del Norte and Trinity
counties along with Oregon’s southern Curray County. California’s
Gov. Culbert L. Olson was soon informed that until roads were
repaired, Jefferson would be forced to rebel every Thursday. In 2008
calls for a Jefferson state gained steam and included an additional
5 counties in southern Oregon and 2 more in northern California.
   (AH, 2/05, p.21)(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, British 13th Army
corp. reached Tobruk, North Africa.
   (MC, 11/27/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, USSR began a
counter offensive, causing Germans to retreat.
   (MC, 11/27/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 28, Eddy Arnold and
Sally Katherine wed.
   (DT, 11/28/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 28, The aircraft
carrier USS Enterprise departed Pearl Harbor to deliver F4F Wildcat
fighters to Wake Island. This mission saved the carrier from
destruction when the Japanese attacked.
   (HN, 11/28/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 28, German troops
vacated Rostov.
   (MC, 11/28/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 28, In Germany Amin
al-Husseini (1897-1974), the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, met with
Adolf Hitler and asked Hitler to support the elimination of a
national Jewish homeland.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amin_al-Husseini)(SFC, 10/22/15,
p.A2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 29, The passenger ship
Lurline sent a radio signal of sighting Japanese war fleet steaming
east across the northern Pacific.
   (MC, 11/29/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 29, In Riga, Latvia,
the Nazis separated the men over 16 from their families. That night
half the ghetto population were massacred.
   (SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A15)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 30, The 101 year old
Nyack-Tarrytown (NY) ferry made its last run.
  Â
(www.nyacknewsandviews.com/2010/11/no-ferry-tomorrow-or-any-day-since-41/)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 30, Japanese Emperor
Hirohito consulted with admirals Shimada and Nagano.
   (MC, 11/30/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, The Albanian
Communist Party was founded; Enver Hoxha became the first secretary.
   (www, Albania, 1998)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, The first British SAS
operation, planned to see troops parachute deep behind enemy lines
and destroy German and Italian aircraft at two airfields in Libya,
took place. Strong winds and driving rain caused chaotic conditions,
with several soldiers becoming injured as they attempted to
parachute and one plane shot down, killing 15 troops and the crew.
In 2011 a 600-page book, called "The SAS War Diary," detailed the
regiment's role in the invasions of Sicily and Italy and famed D-Day
landings in France.
   (AP, 9/23/11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, Some 4,000 who
remained in Gomel, Belarus, were shot by the Nazis. Most of the
40,000 who had lived there had managed to escape before the Nazis
arrived.
   (AP, 4/12/08)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, Nazis in the Ukraine
set up a concentration camp near the village of Gvozdavka-1, near
Odessa, and killed about 5,000 Jews. Their mass grave was found in
2007.
   (AP, 6/5/07)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, The first Civil Air
Patrol in the U.S. was organized.
   (HN, 12/1/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, British declared a
state of emergency in Malaya following reports of Japanese attacks.
   (HN, 12/1/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, British cruiser
Devonshire sank the German sub Python.
   (MC, 12/1/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, Japanese emperor
Hirohito signed a declaration of war. Japan’s Tojo rejected U.S.
proposals for a Pacific settlement as fantastic and unrealistic.
   (HN, 12/1/98)(MC, 12/1/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, Naval Intelligence
ended the bugging of the Japanese consul.
   (MC, 12/2/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, Yamamoto ordered
his fleet to Pearl Harbor.
   (MC, 12/2/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1-7, In Latvia during
the first week of the month some 20-30,000 Jews were taken by the
Nazis from the Riga ghetto to nearby Rumbuli forest, shot and buried
in mass graves.
   (SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, The Chicago Tribune
and the Washington Herald published FDR's top secret plan to invade
Europe in 1943.
   (SFC, 12/29/99, p.E1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, In Yreka, Ca., the
new state of Jefferson elected John C. Childs (71) as its 1st
governor.
   (AH, 2/05, p.22)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, Nazi ordinances
placed the Jews of Poland outside protection of courts.
   (MC, 12/4/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, Operation Taifun
(Typhoon), which was launched by the German armies on October 2,
1941 as a prelude to taking Moscow, was halted because of freezing
temperatures and lack of serviceable aircraft. Temperatures near
Moscow fell to 40 degrees below zero the breech-blocks of German
rifles froze solid. The engines of their vehicles would not start.
The Soviets began a counter-attack with 17 armies and their T-34
tanks that included 25 Siberian divisions and the Nazis were forced
to retreat in panic.
   (SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)(HN, 12/4/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, President Roosevelt
sent a message to Japanese Emperor Hirohito expressing hope that
gathering war clouds would be dispelled. Hirohito smiled
enigmatically, knowing that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor the next
day.
   (MC, 12/5/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, US aircraft carrier
Lexington and 5 heavy cruisers steamed out of Pearl Harbor.
   (MC, 12/5/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, Sister Elizabeth
Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis, polio, was approved.
   (MC, 12/5/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, Russian offensive
in Moscow drove out the Nazi army.
   (MC, 12/5/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, John Nelson,
conductor (Les Troyens of Berlioz), was born in San Jose, Costa
Rica.
   (MC, 12/6/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, Richard Speck, mass
murderer (killed 8 student nurses in 1966), was born.
   (MC, 12/6/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt issued a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito to use his
influence to avoid war.
   (HN, 12/6/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, NYC Council agreed
to build Idlewild (Kennedy) Airport in Queens.
   (MC, 12/6/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, Dutch and British
pilots saw Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore.
   (MC, 12/6/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, At 7:50 a.m. [7:55
a.m.] Japan launched an aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at
Pearl Harbor, the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet, and forced US
entry into the war. They also attacked the Philippines, the Int’l.
Settlement at Shanghai, Thailand and Hong Kong. Relations between
Japan and the United States had been strained for a decade as both
nations sought to dominate the Pacific. Long aware that a Japanese
surprise attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor could precede war,
U.S. authorities were still woefully unprepared when 363 Japanese
fighters, dive-bombers and torpedo planes sunk or damaged eight
battleships and three light cruisers, destroyed 188 planes and
killed 2,400 men in just over two hours. The Battleship Arizona lost
1,177 men. An estimated 900 were entombed in the sunken ship. 429
people aboard the battleship Oklahoma were killed as the ship
capsized. The US lost [18] 19 ships, 140 aircraft and 2,300 [2,338]
lives. In all 2,403 people were killed and 1,178 were wounded; 187
planes were destroyed and 159 damaged. The Japanese lost 29 planes
and 5 midget submarines. The next day, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt denounced December 7, 1941, as a "date which will live in
infamy" as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
   (TL,1988,p.112)(SFC,12/7/96,p.A3)(SFC12/6/96,
p.A5)(SFC,12/5/97, p.A29)(AP, 12/7/97)(HNPD, 12/7/98)(SFC, 3/23/19,
p.A5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, At 2:20 p.m. the
"Final Memorandum" document was delivered to Sec. of State Cordell
Hull in Washington DC. In it Japan notified the US that it was
"impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations."
   (SFC, 12/9/99, p.C2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, Evidence arose in
1999 that one of five Japanese mini submarines penetrated Pearl
Harbor and hit at least one ship with torpedoes. In 1999 Robert B.
Stinnett published "Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl
Harbor." Edward Latimer "Ned" Beach (1918-2002), former Navy captain
authored "Scapegoats! A Defense of Kimmel and Short at Pearl
Harbor."
   (SFC, 12/7/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/7/99, p.A24)(SFC,
12/2/02, p.A19)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, Australian bombers
landed on Timor and Ambon.
   (MC, 12/7/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, The 8 month German
siege of Tobruk, Libya, ended.
   (MC, 12/7/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, The 1st Japanese
submarine was sunk by a US ship, the USS Ward.
   (MC, 12/7/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, The United States
entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan, a day
after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP,
12/8/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, A US tanker was
shelled by a Japanese submarine off Cape Mendocino.
   (Ind, 1/27/00, 5A)(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, The Japanese
armoured cruiser Izumo shelled Chinese positions from the middle of
the Huangpu River in Shanghai, assisted in sinking the HMS Peterel,
the last British gunboat, and captured the USS Wake, the last
American gunboat. The Izumo and sister ship Iwate sank during the
American aerial attack on Kure in July 1945.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-class_cruiser)(Econ, 1/7/17,
p.13)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Japanese bombers
attacked Malaya.
   (AFP, 2/6/12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Japan attacked the
Philippines.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP,
12/8/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Japanese troops
occupied Hong Kong.
   (SFEC, 6/22/97, p.A14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Japanese General
Yamashita began his attack against the British army at Singapore.
General Tomoyuki Yamashita earned the name "Tiger of Malaya" for his
masterful capture of Singapore and the whole Malay Peninsula from
the British, who had a superior number of troops. Yamashita’s
forces landed on the northern Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand
on December 8, 1941, and moved rapidly southward toward Singapore,
which surrendered on February 15, 1942. The peninsula and Singapore
remained under Japanese control throughout the war. Later in the
war, while defending the Philippines from Gen. MacArthur‘s return,
Yamashita's troops wantonly slaughtered more than 100,000 Filipinos
in Manila. He was later tried and executed for war crimes.
   (HN, 12/8/98)(HNQ, 4/5/00)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, The Nazi Chelmno
extermination camp opened in Poland.
   (WUD, 1994 p.252)(MC, 12/8/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Russians took
Krijukovo back from Germany.
   (d.com, 12/8/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8-9, In Latvia a final
sweep of the Jewish ghetto in Riga resulted in over 800 bodies
burned and thrown into a mass grave at a cemetery next to the
ghetto. These events were later recalled in the book "Endless
Miracles," by survivor Jack Ratz, who was 14 at the time, but went
with the men on Nov 29.
   (SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A15)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, Franklin D.
Roosevelt told Americans to plan for a long war.
   (HN, 12/9/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, 1st US WW II
bombing mission in Far East took place over Luzon, Philippines.
   (MC, 12/9/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, China declared war
on Japan, Germany and Italy.
   (AP, 12/9/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, Hitler ordered US
ships torpedoed.
   (MC, 12/9/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 10, The US submarine
Sealion was sunk in an air attack at Manila Bay. 10 crewman were
captured by the Japanese and shipped to work in a Mitsubishi copper
mine in northern Japan.
   (SSFC, 6/17/01, Par p.5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 10, British battleship
Prince of Wales sank off Singapore.
   (MC, 12/10/01)  Â
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 10, Japanese troops
invaded the Filipino island of Luzon and overran Guam.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 12/10/98)(MC, 12/10/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 10, The siege of
Tobruk in North Africa, was raised.
   (HN, 12/10/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, The US declared
war on Germany and Italy. Germany and Italy declared war on the
United States; the U.S. responded in kind.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(TL, 1988, p.112)(AP,
12/11/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, A Japanese
invasion fleet attacked Wake Island, which was defended by 439 US
marines, 75 sailors and 6 soldiers. The defenders sank 4 Japanese
ships, damaged 8 and destroyed a submarine.
   (SFC, 12/12/01, p.A2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, Guam was occupied
by Japanese troops.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 12, Buzz Wagner, the
first official American ace of World War II, took off on a lone
reconnaissance mission over Aparri, Philippines. Because of
devastating losses by the U.S. fighter force two days earlier,
orders had come down restricting confrontation with enemy fighters
if at all possible. His reconnaissance mission turned into a combat
mission when he descended from a patch of clouds and found himself
practically on top of two Japanese destroyers. Spotted and chased by
a pair of Japanese fighters, Wagner eluded the enemy and took out
five of 12 enemy planes. Four days later, Wagner and two associates
went into combat over Vigan and left behind 17 enemy planes
destroyed or burning, with an unknown number of Japanese dead lying
on the runway. The mission garnered the most devastating results of
the air war to date.
   (HNQ, 5/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 12, German occupying
army searched house to house in Paris looking for Jews.
   (MC, 12/12/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 13, U-81 torpedoed the
British aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
   (MC, 12/13/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 14, US Treasury Sec.
Henry Morgenthau asked his assistant Harry Dexter White to prepare a
paper outlining the possibilities for coordinated monetary
arrangements between the US and its allies. White’s proposal said
the primary goal should be to stabilize the exchange rates of the
Allied countries to encourage the flow of capital. The later led to
the establishment of the gold standard at Bretton Woods, N.H., in
1944.
   (WSJ, 10/15/98, p.A22)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 14, U.S. Marines made
a stand in battle for Wake Island.
   (AP, 12/14/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 14, German Field
Marshal Wilhelm Keitel ordered the construction of defensive
positions along the European coastline.
   (HN, 12/14/99)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 15-1941 Dec 23,
Catholic Sisters Jula Ivanisevic, Berchmana Leidenix, Krizina
Bojanc, Antonija Fabjan and Bernadeta Banja, who helped the poor
regardless of religion in the majority Serb village of Pale, Bosnia,
were killed in Gorazde and thrown into the River Drina. The sisters
were beatified in 2011.
   (AP,
9/24/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drina_Martyrs)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 17, German troops led
by Rommel began to retreat in North Africa.
   (MC, 12/17/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, The US Navy
purchased the dry dock and shipyard at Hunters Point, SF, from
Bethlehem Steel Co., eleven days after Japan’s attack on Pearl
harbor.
   (SFC, 6/9/15, p.A8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, Defended by 610
fighting men, the American-held island of Guam fell to more than
5,000 Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle.
   (HN, 12/18/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, German submarine
U-434 sank.
   (MC, 12/18/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, Japanese troops
landed on Hong Kong. [see Dec 8,19]
   (MC, 12/18/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18 - 1941 Dec 24,
Japanese submarines attacked eight US merchant ships off the West
Coast sinking two and damaging two others. Seven of the attacks were
inside California coastal waters.
   (Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)(SFC, 12/7/13, p.C4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, US Attorney
General Francis Biddle issued Circular No. 3591 to all federal
prosecutors to drop references to peonage and label such files as
“Involuntary Servitude and Slavery.” This was in response to Pres.
Roosevelt’s fear that mistreatment of blacks would be used in
propaganda by Japan and Germany.
   (WSJ, 3/29/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, US Office of
Censorship was created to control info about WW II.
   (MC, 12/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, Hitler took
complete command of German Army.
   (MC, 12/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, Japanese landed on
Hong Kong and clashed with British troops.
   (HN, 12/19/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 20, The Flying Tigers,
American pilots in China, entered combat against the Japanese over
Kunming. Claire Chennault commanded the 1st American Volunteer Group
(nicknamed Flying Tigers). He headed both the volunteer group and
the uniformed US Army Air Forces units that replaced it in 1942. He
feuded constantly with General Joseph Stilwell, the US Army
commander in China, and helped China's leader Chiang Kai-shek to
convince President Roosevelt to remove Stilwell in 1944.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Lee_Chennault)(HN, 12/20/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 20, Japanese troops
landed on Mindanao.
   (MC, 12/20/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, The cartoon
character Archie Andrews, drawn by Montana and written by Vic Bloom,
first appeared in Pep Comics #22. In 2014 Archie Comics said the
Archie character will be heroically sacrifice himself in Life with
Archie #36.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Comics)(SFC,
4/10/14, p.A8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime
conference with President Roosevelt.
   (AP, 12/22/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 23, US Marines and
Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulated to a second Japanese
invasion. In 1995 Brig. Gen. John F. Kinney co-wrote “Wake Island
Pilot: A World War II Memoir.”
   (AP, 12/23/97)(HN, 12/23/00)(SFC, 7/11/06, p.B5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 23, The Japanese
occupied Hong Kong.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 23, The 440-foot
tanker Montebello was sunk off the California coast near Cambria by
Japanese submarine I-21. The crew of 38 survived. In 1996 it was
found that the 4.1 million gallon cargo of crude oil appeared
intact.
   (SFC, 11/30/96, p.A19)(SFC, 8/27/10, p.A12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 24, The 1st ships of
Admiral Nagumo's (Pearl Harbor) fleet returned to Japan.
   (MC, 12/24/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 25, The USS President
Coolidge, a luxury liner repurposed for medical transport, arrived
in San Francisco with 125 men wounded in the Dec 7 attack at Pearl
Parbor, Hawaii.
   (SFC, 12/7/13, p.C4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 25, Free French
occupied the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the
Canadian coast.
   (HN, 12/25/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 25, Japan announced
the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong. Major
John Crawford (d.1997) and some 1,975 Canadian soldiers were
captured and incarcerated at the Sham Shui Po prison camp at Kowloon
for 44 months.
   (G&M, 7/30/97, p.A24)(HN, 12/25/02)(AP,
12/25/07)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 25, In northwestern
Lithuania some 400 young Jewish women were killed by Lithuanian
police.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 26, Winston Churchill
became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting
of the U.S. Congress.
   (AP, 12/26/97)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 26, General Douglas
MacArthur declared Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing
Japanese Army.
   (HN, 12/26/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 27, Japanese bombers
attacked Manila, despite its claim as an open city.
   (HN, 12/27/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 31, General MacArthur
reported that U.S. lines in Manila had been pushed back by the
Japanese.
   (HN, 12/31/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, Wonder Woman, a comic
book character created by William Moulton Marston (1893-1947) made
her debut in All Star Comics #8.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moulton_Marston)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, Cecil Green (d.2003
at 102), Eugene McDermott, J. Eric Jonsson and H. Bates Peacock
purchased Geophysical Service Inc. in Dallas, Texas. In 1951 the
name was changed to Texas Instruments.
   (SFC, 4/17/03, p.A22)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, US federal
authorities issued directives late this month for San Francisco
residents of Japanese ancestry to surrender their cameras and
shortwave radios to the nearest police station following the attack
on Pearl Harbor.
   (SFC, 2/25/17, p.D1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, For a week in
December 1941, Japanese submarines prowled the U.S. Pacific
coastline, searching for merchant ships to sink.
   (HN, 6/22/98)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, A US tanker was
shelled by a Japanese submarine off Cape Mendocino.
   (Ind, 1/27/00, 5A)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, David Ben-Gurion
(1886-1973), Israeli leader, traveled to Washington to speak with
Pres. F.D. Roosevelt regarding a Jewish state. He waited for 10
weeks at the Ambassador Hotel but was refused a meeting.
   (http://tinyurl.com/kkvdh)(Econ, 8/5/06, p.28)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, Claude Albert Buss
(d.1998 at 94) was the senior American political figure on Manila
when it was occupied by the Japanese. He surrendered Manila and was
taken to Tokyo where he spent 2 years in solitary confinement.
   (SFC, 11/23/98, p.A21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, In Romania
authorities ordered the dissolution of all Jewish organizations.
Chief Rabbi Alexander Safran (1910-2006) helped set up the Jewish
Council, an underground organization comprising all sectors of the
Jewish population. The council used its links with Romanian church
officials, the Vatican and the royal family in a bid to prevent the
mass deportation of Romania's Jews to the Nazi extermination camps.
   (AP, 7/28/06)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec-1942 Jan, A massacre
of Jews began when Romanian and Ukrainian troops nailed shut one of
the pigsties' doors and windows in Bogdanovka, then torched it,
burning all inside alive. The killing went on for three weeks in
late December 1941 and early January 1942. An estimated 48,000
people were killed.
   (AP, 9/9/07)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Mahmoud Darwish,
Palestinian poet, was born in a village that later became part of
Israel. His later work included the poem "State of Siege." In 2003
"Unfortunately It Was Paradise," a translation of his work into
English, was published
   (SSFC, 11/3/02, p.D6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Rev. Jesse Jackson was
born.
   (SFC, 8/24/96, p.E3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Don Glen Viet, later known
as Captain Beefheart, was born. He was a friend of Frank Zappa and
became known for his blues singing and painting. In 2002 Mike Barnes
authored "Captain Beefheart: The Biography."
   (SSFC, 3/17/02, p.M3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Georges Braque, master of
color, painted "Mandolin and Score."
   (WSJ, 3/3/97, p.A16)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Juan Miro created his
painting “Ciphers and Constellations in Love With a Woman.”
   (SSFC, 12/19/04, p.E1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Piet Mondrian moved to the
US and painted "New York City I" in rhythmic and cheerful color and
lines.
   (WSJ, 6/6/95, p.A-14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Pablo Picasso painted
"Woman Seated in an Armchair," "Head of a Woman" and "Still Life
with Blood Sausage."
   (SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.39)(SFC, 10/10/98, p.E8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â James Agee wrote "Let Us
Now Praise Famous Men," an account of poverty in Appalachia. 61
photographs by Walker Evans were included.
   (WSJ, 7/27/99, p.A21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Vera Brittain authored
"England’s Hour," an account of life under the Blitzkrieg.
   (WSJ, 1/21/02, p.A1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â James Burnham authored
“The Managerial Revolution.”
   (Econ, 12/3/16, p.72)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Claude Albert Buss,
scholar and diplomat, published "War and Diplomacy in East Asia."
   (SFC, 11/23/98, p.A21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â James M. Cain published
"Mildred Pierce."
   (iUniv. 7/1/00)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Eugene O’Neill wrote his
one-act play "Hughie."
   (WSJ, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Noel Coward’s play "Blithe
Spirit" was recognized as elegant high comedy.
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â John L. Goldwater (d.1999
at 83) created the Archie comic book character. Betty, Veronica and
Jugghead were added later. The character was put on TV in the late
60s in "Archie: To Riverdale and Back." A TV movie based on Archie
was broadcast in 1990. Bob Montana (d.1975) created the Archie
character for Pep Comics.
   (SFC, 3/1/99, p.A19)(SFC, 12/24/01, p.A18)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Plastic Man debuted in US
comic books. After an accident at a chemical plant gives Eel O'Brian
the ability to stretch and alter his shape, he renounces his
criminal past and becomes the longest arm of the law. Green Arrow
also appeared in US comic books. The Emerald Archer learns his
skills while trapped on a desert island. He later escapes to become
a modern Robin Hood.
   (AP, 7/20/06)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Siegfried Giedion, a Swiss
art historian, published his influential book: "Space, Time and
Architecture."
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Northern California
William Randolph Hearst wrote his poem "The Song of the River" at
his Winton estate on the McCloud River in the foothills of Mount
Shasta.
   (SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A19)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â James Hilton authored
“Random Harvest.” It was turned into a 1942 film starring Ronald
Colman and Greer Garson and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_LeRoy)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â "Paddle-to-the-Sea" by
Holling Clancy Holling was published.
   (SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Arthur Koestler
(1905-1983), Hungarian novelist and essayist, authored “Darkness at
Noon,” a story of life in Stalin’s Russia.
   (HN, 9/5/98)(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 8/26/06,
p.P8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Gypsy Rose Lee, strip
tease queen, authored “The G-String Murders.”
  Â
(www.feministpress.org/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=55861100305440)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Wassily Leontief
(1906-1999), Russian-born economist, published his book “The
Structure of American Economy.” It included a large table showing
the flow of commodities and services among American households. In
1973 he won the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences.
   (Econ, 7/15/06, p.67)(http://tinyurl.com/qfkgw)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Janet Lewis (1899-1998)
published "The Wife of Martin Guerre," a historical novel on about
16th century France. The story was turned into an opera in 1961 with
music by William Bergsma. In 1984 a French film version was released
"The Return of Martin Guere." An American version, "Somersby," was
made in 1993 set during the Civil War.
   (SFC, 12/5/98,
p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Guerre)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Daphne du Maurier authored
the novel "Frenchman's Creek."
   (SFEC, 2/20/00, p.T12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Frances Macgregor (d.2002
at 95), sociologist and photographer, published ""Twentieth Century
Indians." The collection of photos helped prompt Congress to devote
more money to Indian reservations.
   (SFC, 2/8/02, p.A25)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Robert McCloskey (d.2003),
author and illustrator, wrote "Make Way for Ducklings." It was set
in Boston and became a children's classic.
   (WSJ, 7/2/03, p.D8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
published the 2nd volume of his “Days” trilogy, “Newspaper Days.”
The first volume was “Happy Days” and the 3rd was “Heathen Days.”
   (WSJ, 9/29/07, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Phyllis Moir wrote "I Was
Winston Churchill’s Private Secretary."
   (SFEM, 12/15/96, p.16)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Paul Nash completed his
masterpiece of war wreckage "Totes Meer" (Dead Sea).
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Alberto Moravia in his
novel "The Fancy Dress Party" presented a satirical portrait of
Mussolini.
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Margret E. Rey (1906-1996)
and her husband Hans A. Rey (d.1977) published their first "Curious
George" book with Houghton Miflin. Six more came out over 25 years.
The Reys were German Jews and had escaped with the original
manuscript out of Germany in 1940. A film version was produced in
2006.
   (SFC, 12/23/96, p.A16)(SSFC, 11/11/01, Par
p.25)(WSJ, 2/2/06, p.D8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Leo Rosten (1908-1997)
wrote Hollywood: "The Movie Colony, The Movie Makers." It was one of
the first sociological examinations of the film industry.
   (SFC, 2/21/97, p.A25)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Budd Schulberg authored
the novel “What Makes Sammy Run,” a classic satire on a young man’s
climb in Hollywood.
   (WSJ, 12/16/06, p.P10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Bertram Smythies (d.1999
at 86), British naturalist, published "The Birds of Burma." Most of
the original copies were lost but a 2nd edition in 1953 was
published.
   (SFC, 8/3/99, p.A20)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â George R. Stewart,
novelist, wrote "Storm." A fictional character in the book called a
hurricane "Maria." The idea of naming hurricanes with female names
was taken up by military meteorologists in WW II.
   (SFEC, 2/15/98, Z1 p.8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â George E. Taylor (d.2000
at 94), historian and political scientist, authored "America in the
New Pacific."
   (SFC, 4/21/00, p.D4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Eudora Welty sold a
collection of short stories to Doubleday. The book was titled "A
Curtain of Green." Welty had preferred "The Key and Other Stories"
as the title.
   (SFEC, 12/6/98, BR p.12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â British writer Rebecca
West, pen name for Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892-1983), authored
“Black Lamb and Grey Falcon,” on the history and culture of
Yugoslavia.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_West)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Ira Gershwin (d.1983),
Kurt Weill and Moss Hart (d1961) collaborated in the production of
"Lady in the Dark."
   (SFC, 5/10/97, p.E4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â "The Hut Sut Song,"
written by attorney Leo V. Killion, became a hit. It was a spoof on
Swedish folk songs and was used in the 1953 film "From Here to
Eternity."
   (SFC, 10/31/00, p.A25)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The 1942 film Casablanca
was set in 1941 in Morocco. In 1998 Richard E. Osborne published his
book "The Casablanca Companion: The Movie Classic and Its Place in
History," in which the events of the movie are tied to the actual
events of history.
   (SFEC, 1/25/98, Par p.6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Wystan Hugh Auden
(d.1973), English born American poet, critic and playwright, wrote
the libretto for Benjamin Britten’s first music drama, "Paul
Bunyan."
   (WSJ, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Alex Kramer (d.1998 at 94)
and his wife, Joan Whitney, wrote the song "High On a Windy Hill,"
which began a No. 1 hit for Jimmy Dorsey. The Canadian-born
songwriter wrote most of his 125 songs with his wife.
   (SFC, 2/17/98, p.B8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Bluesman Muddy Waters
recorded "Plantation Recordings" (Columbia). His songs included
"Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I Got My Mojo Workin."
   (NH, 9/96, p.62)(SFEC, 10/27/96, DB p.9)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jay McShann recorded
"Swingmatism."
   (SFC, 8/22/96, F4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Gene Kruppa, jazz drummer,
hired Anita O'Day (1919-2006) as his vocalist.
   (WSJ, 7/28/99, p.A21)(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Shostakovich, a local fire
warden, composed his Seventh Symphony, the "Leningrad," during the
German siege of his native city.
   (SFC, 10/18/96, C9)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Tipett, English
composer, completed his oratorio "A Child of Our Time."
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Air Force Band was
formed as part of the US Army Air Corp.
   (SFC, 10/12/97, DB p.11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Roman Cycowski, former
singer in the popular European group, Comedian Harmonists, took up a
job as cantor of the Beth Israel Temple in SF and served for 25
years.
   (WSJ, 2/5/98, p.A20)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In San Francisco a
building opened on western Taraval near Ocean Beach. It was
initially a bait shop that connected to a bar called the Oar House,
surrounded by empty streets and sand dunes. It later became known as
the Riptide neighborhood bar.
   (SSFC, 12/7/08, p.A2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In San Francisco the
Lakeside Medical Center at 2501 Ocean Ave., designed in Art Moderne
style by Harold Stoner, was completed.
   (SSFC, 4/25/10, p.C2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In San Francisco
construction began on the Union Square Garage, the 1st US
underground parking facility and air-raid shelter. It was completed
in the summer of 1942. Sand from the site was used to make the beach
at Aquatic Park.
   (SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F2)(SFC, 1/9/16, p.C4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Audley Cole became the
first black operator hired by San Francisco Muni. One of his
co-workers was beaten for trying to train him.
   (SFC, 10/6/99, p.A4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â San Francisco parks
employee Fred Levy took over a tiny lab at the former Ethan Allen
School at Seventh and Bryant streets and named it the San Francisco
Photography Center. In the 1950s it moved to Scott Street and Duboce
Avenue.
   (SFC, 6/16/12, p.E1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In SF Sam Mooshei opened
the Persian Aub Zam Zam bar on Haight St.
   (SSFC, 12/3/00, p.A24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Lulu Merle Johnson
(d.1995) became the first Black women in Iowa to earn a doctorate
and the first Black woman in the US to earn a doctorate in history.
In 2021 the Board of Supervisors of Iowa's Johnson County voted to
have her as its official eponym replacing Richard Mentor Johnson,
the 9th US vice-president from Kentucky.
   (SSFC, 7/4/21, p.A12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Nevada the El Rancho
Vegas opened with 63 rooms. It was the first major resort built on
the Las Vegas strip. It was destroyed by fire in 1960.
   (SFEC, 5/10/98, DB p.64)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The United Council of
Church Women, a major ecumenical group, was founded.
   (SFC, 3/30/97, Z1. p.7)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Charles A. Federer Jr.
(d.1999 ) founded Sky and Telescope Magazine for amateur
astronomers.
   (SFC, 10/5/99, p.A26)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Gerald Ford (1908-2006),
41st vice-president and 38th president of the United States,
graduated from Yale University law school.
   (SFC, 12/27/06, p.A11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Henry Luce, the founder of
Time and Life, tagged this era "The American Century."
   (SFEC, 6/13/99, p.D7)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Diana Trilling (1905-1996)
began her ten year stint as literary editor of The Nation.
   (SFC, 10/25/96, p.A24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Cheerios, the breakfast
cereal, began to be produced.
   (SFC, 8/24/96, p.E3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Berelson Co. under
William E. Berelson (d.1997 at 90) initiated the commercial freezing
of strawberries in Cal.
   (SFC, 5/15/97, p.A26)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Batting helmets were worn
for the first time in baseball.
   (WSJ, 10/15/98, p.B8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Pres. Roosevelt issued a
top-secret order to equip a civilian schooner as a warship and send
it south of the Philippines where the Japanese fleet was believed to
be patrolling. The Japanese attacked Pearl harbor before the Lanikai
wooden schooner set sail.
   (SFC, 11/3/00, p.D5)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Pres. Franklin Roosevelt
invoked the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 to authorize the Fed
to restrict consumer installment loans in order to suppress
consumption and free resources for the war effort.
   (Econ, 6/1/13, p.75)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Pres. Franklin D.
Roosevelt appointed Rexford Guy Tugwell as governor of Puerto Rico.
Under his direction the island became an experiment in central
planning.
   (Econ, 7/11/15, p.34)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In the US rubber was
rationed.
   (TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Federal Communications
Commission adopted a US television standard of 525 lines per
picture.
   (SFC, 12/29/99, p.E3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Voice of America (VOA) was
created shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 2003 Alan L.
Heil, Jr. authored "Voice of America: A History."
   (Econ, 7/26/03, p.78)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Iroquois, the Sioux
and the Ojibwe (Chippewa) tribes declared war on Germany. The
Iroquois Confederacy, having declared war on Germany in 1917, had
never made peace and so automatically became party to World War II.
   (Econ, 4/7/12,
p.35)(www.history.army.mil/html/topics/natam/natam-wwii.html)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Army asked Prof.
Ancel Keys (1904-2004) of the Univ. of Minnesota to help develop an
army ration that soldiers could carry in combat. His package was
called the K ration.
   (SFC, 11/24/04, p.B6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Alaskan Kenai National
Moose Range was established over a site of 1.7 million acres.
   (AAM, 3/96, p.84)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Russ Solomon (1925-2018)
founded Tower Records inside his father’s Sacramento drugstore and
built it into a worldwide chain of 170 stores. It folded in 2006 in
the wake of the Internet and music streaming.
   (SFC, 3/7/18, p.D2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The California Institution
for Men opened in Chino, San Bernadino County.
   (SFC, 1/14/18, p.A6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Carl Karcher (1917-2008),
an Ohio-born farm boy, bought a hot-dog stand in southern California
and soon expanded to 3 stands and then a drive-in barbecue joint
called Carl’s. In 1956 he opened his first two Carl’s Jr. fast-food
burger outlets, which were among the first to later offer salad bars
and grilled-chicken sandwiches. By 2008 there were 1,121 Carl’s Jr.
restaurants in the US and 3,036 franchised or company-operated
restaurants world-wide.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Tower Records was founded
in Sacramento, Ca., by Russ Solomon in his father’s Tower Cut-Rate
Drugs store. In 1987 the company went bankrupt and closed after 46
years of operation.
   (SFC, 8/3/13, p.E1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Los Angeles began
diverting water from 4 of the 5 streams that feed Mono Lake.
   (NH, 9/96, p.62)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Matt Cvetic (d.1962 at 53)
infiltrated the Communist party in Pittsburgh. The 1951 film "I Was
a Communist for the FBI" was based on his true story. In 2001 Daniel
J. Leab authored "I Was a Communist for the FBI."
   (WSJ, 2/12/00, p.A25)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Economists Wolfgang
Stolper (1912-2002) and Paul Samuelson authored a paper on the
relationship between tariffs and wages. The Stolper–Samuelson
theorem, a basic theorem in Heckscher–Ohlin trade theory, was
derived from this work.
   (http://tinyurl.com/jrafxr9)(Econ, 8/6/16, p.55)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â US scientists began work
on the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb.
   (TL, 1988, p.112)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Walter H. Zinn (d.2000 at
93), nuclear physicist, oversaw the construction of the world's
first nuclear reactor in Chicago. Zinn directed the Argonne center
to develop nuclear power for peaceful use from 1946-1956.
   (SFC, 2/26/00, p.A19)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The first urban freeway
was constructed in Michigan.
   (WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A16)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Barney Kilgore (32) was
named managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. He developed the
modern WSJ.
   (WSJ, 5/2/07, p.C1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Henry Ford threatened to
close down in union disputes but finally signed a union contract
just months before Pearl Harbor.
   (WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â A strike at Disney led to
the departure of a group of animators who formed United Pictures of
America.
   (WSJ, 7/31/97, p.A1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Liebmann Brewery, maker of
Rheingold Beer, began promoting the beer with pictures of model Jinx
Falkenburg (d.2003 at 84), a Chilean-born actress and tennis player.
   (SFC, 7/4/03, p.A25)(SFC, 8/29/03, p.A28)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Thompson Products
pioneered heat-dissipating sodium-filled valves.
   (F, 10/7/96, p.70)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Willy’s Motors began
delivery of a reconnaissance vehicle that came to be known as the
"Jeep."
   (F, 10/7/96, p.69)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â West Bend Aluminum Co. of
West Bend, Wisc., began producing its penguin aluminum ice bucket.
   (SFC, 1/21/98, Z1 p.3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â A monograph by M.K.
Bennett on Wheat in National Diets in an issue of Wheat Studies and
related comparative studies of the consumption of staple foods led
to what has come to be known as "Bennett's Law." As people become
wealthier, they switch from simple starchy plant-dominated diets to
a more varied food input that includes a range of vegetables, fruit,
dairy products, and especially meat. In 1954 M.K. Bennet authored
“The World’s Food: A Study of the Interrelations of World
Populations, National Diets and Food Potentials.”
  Â
(http://tinyurl.com/vxmvvdx)(http://www.pnas.org/content/108/50/19845.full)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Penicillin was discovered
by Dr. Alexander Fleming. [see 1928,1929]Â Â Â
   (TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Prof. William Reeves
(1916-2004) and William M. Hammon isolated the 2 viruses that caused
western equine and St. Louis encephalitis and proved that they were
carried by a mosquito named Culex tarsalis.
   (SFC, 9/21/04, p.B7)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â George Beadle, geneticist,
and Edward Tatum, chemist, identified genetic mutations that
disabled specific steps in the synthesis of a complex molecule. They
thus showed that a gene was a thing on a chromosome that specified
an enzyme.
   (NH, 6/01, p.33)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Narragansett Bay Plum
Beach Lighthouse at North Kingston, R.I., closed. A restoration in
2003 removed 60 tons of pigeon guano.
   (SFC, 12/2/03, p.A2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â John Roebling sold his
1,050 acres of the Lake Wales Ridge in Florida to his friend Richard
Archibald for one dollar. In 1974 Archibald purchased 3,000 more
acres of the Ridge to add to his Archibald Biological Station. [see
1920s]
   (PacDisc, Spring ‘96, p.6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The US annual median
income was $1,070, or about $20 per day.
   (SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Property taxes in America
peaked at 71%.
   (Econ, 3/4/17, p.67)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Natalio Botana, Argentine
newspaper magnate, died.
   (SFC, 2/13/99, p.A24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Frederic J. Fisher
(1878-1941) died. He and his brother Charles T. Fisher (1880-1963)
established the Fisher Body Co. in 1908. They sold their operations
to GM in 1926.
   (WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Howard Heinz (b.1877), son
of food founder Henry Heinz, died. He had taken over company
operations in 1919 following the death of his father.
   (www.hfp.heinz.org/aboutus/heinzhistory.html)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Jorge Amado (1912-2001),
Brazilian Communist novelist, was exiled to Argentina.
   (SFC, 8/9/01, p.D2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Brazilian government
founded the steelmaker CSN. It was privatized in the early 1990s.
   (Econ, 11/14/09, SR p.10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â British artists Duncan
Grant and Vanessa Bell, sister of novelist Virginia Woolf, stirred
local passions with a commission to decorate an English village
church in Berwick, East Sussex.
   (Reuters, 2/15/21)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The British seized Eritrea
from the Italians.
   (WSJ, 5/26/00, p.A22)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain created its
Special Air Service (SAS) to create havoc behind German lines.
   (Econ, 10/22/05, p.60)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Britain the first test
flight of Frank Whittle’s jet engine was made. Plans for the engine
were then secretly taken to the US where General electric worked on
an American version.
   (TL, 1988, p.112)(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A20)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Pelham Graham (PG)
Wodehouse (1881-1975), English-US writer, made 5 radio broadcasts
from Nazi Germany. This kept him out of England for the last 34
years of his life.
   (Econ, 11/20/04, p.87)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â British Economist John
Maynard Keynes proposed "bancor," a global currency.
   (Econ, 4/11/20, p.59)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Burma Aung San founded
the Burmese Army. He is considered the father of the nation.
   (SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.4)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Eritrea was the focal
point of American participation in the early part of the war. The
first American military advisors and contract civilians arrived in
Asmara.
  Â
(www.kagnewstation.com/history/chapter4/index.html)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The French colonialists
chose Norodom Sihanouk (19) from the ranks of royalty to serve as
king of Cambodia.
   (WSJ, 5/15/03, p.A8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Physicist Neils Bohr met
with Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen. In 2000 the meeting was
portrayed in a play by Michael Frayn: "Copenhagen.’
   (WSJ, 4/12/00, p.A24)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Henri Bergson (1859-1941),
French philosopher, died. He is said to have taught that man acts
first and thinks later as opposed to Descartes who said man thinks
before he acts.
   (AHD, 1971, p.125)(WSJ, 11/21/95, p.A-12)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Germany invaded Yugoslavia
and Ante Pavelic led a pro-Nazi dictatorship that controlled
newly-independent Croatia. Alojzije Stepinac, archbishop of Zagreb,
initially embraced the Pavelic government.
   (SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A22)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Germans seized Latvia
and many Latvians joined the Nazi ranks. The Latvian Legion was
formed under the German Waffen SS and its 2 divisions helped prolong
the war by defeating the Soviet Army in several battles. Viktors
Arajs headed the feared Kommando unit that was responsible for war
crimes against Jews.
   (SFC, 4/798, p.A14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Hitler completed his
seizure of the Balkans and began his blitz of London and then sent
148 divisions against his former ally, Russia.
   (TMC, 1994, p.1941)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The amber room in St.
Petersburg was dismantled by German officers and shipped to
Konigsberg for safekeeping. The Allied bombing in 1945 was thought
to have destroyed the work.
   (SFC, 3/22/97, p.A16)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Japan invaded Indonesia
and ended the Dutch era of colonial power. East Timor, under
Portuguese for some 400 years, was also invaded.
   (SFC, 10/12/96, p.A13)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese forces land in
Thailand. After negotiations Thailand allows Japanese to advance
towards British-controlled Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Burma.
  Â
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1243059.stm)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Japan’s Tokai Bank was
founded. In 2001 it joined with Sanwa Bank and Tokyo Trust Bank to
form UFJ Holdings. In 2005 it became part of the Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group.
   (WSJ, 9/23/08, p.C1)
1941 Â Â Â Â Â Â Melanija Vanaga
(1905-1997) was exiled to Siberia after being snatched from her home
in Latvia. Her story: “Suddenly, a Criminal: Sixteen Years in
Siberia” became available in English in 2015.
  Â
(http://upnorth.eu/classic-work-of-the-gulag-now-in-english/)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Lithuania arrests and
deportations totaled some 34,260 people.
   (Dr, 7/96, V1#1, p.3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Lithuania Alexandras
Lileikis (d.2000 at 93) was chief of the Saugumas secret police
force of Vilnius. He ordered the arrests of Jewish men, women, and
children, who were turned over to the occupying Germans and
subsequently executed. Lileikis was indicted in 1998, but maintained
his innocence until he died.
   (SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)(SFC, 9/29/00, p.D6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The German minority in
Lithuania was repatriated in accord with German and Russian
negotiations.
   (DrEE, 9/28/96, p.3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â At the Rainis Forest in
the Telsiai region 74 Lithuanians were killed by Soviet NKVD and KGB
troops.
   (Voruta #27-28, 7/1996, p.2)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Lithuania German forces
slaughtered some 12,000 Jews in Stoklishki (Alytus).
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Mexico Rev. Marcial
Maciel founded the Legion of Christ, a conservative Roman Catholic
order to minister to the wealthy and multiply its beneficial impact
on society. In 1946 Pope Pius XII ordered Father Maciel to recruit
Latin American leaders. In 1997 8 men went public with allegations
of sexual abuse by Father Maciel dating to the 1940s and 1950s.
   (WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A13)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Mexico Fidel Velasquez
Sanchez (1900-1997) was first elected head of the Confederation of
Mexican Workers.
   (SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D8)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Peru and Ecuador went to
war over a border conflict.
   (WSJ, 1/20/98, p.A1)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â At Auschwitz 152 Polish
Catholics were killed by the Nazis.
   (SFC, 5/29/99, p.A14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Polish Franciscan friar
Maximilian Kolbe was sent to Auschwitz after Nazi officials
discovered he had been hiding Jews. He was canonized by Polish-born
Pope John Paul II in 1982. He was hailed as a martyr for
volunteering to die in the place of another man.
   (AP, 8/14/11)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Nazi documents from this
year showed that the Einsatzgruppe, a Nazi-run Serbian police unit,
executed 11,164 people, mostly Serbian Jewish men, suspected
communists and Gypsies [see 1942]. The unit was allegedly run by
Peter Egner, who emigrated to the US in 1960, and received
citizenship in 1966. In 2009 Serbian authorities sought his
extradition. In 2010 Serbia issued an international warrant for the
arrest of Egner (88), who has denied the accusations.
   (AP, 4/14/09)(AP, 4/2/10)(AP, 11/26/10)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â According to later day
Holocaust researchers a force in Ukraine under the command of Roman
Shukhevych took part in pogroms in which 4,000 Jews were killed. In
2007 Shukhevych was posthumously named a Hero of Ukraine.
   (AP, 11/16/07)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Ukraine nationalist leader
Stepan Bandera (1912-1959) fell out with the Nazis, after the
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists declared Ukraine's
independence, and he was sent to a concentration camp. He won back
Germany's support in 1944 and was released. His group was involved
in the ethnic cleansing that killed tens of thousands of Poles
across the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1942 and 1944.
   (AP, 1/1/14)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â In Venezuela Romulo
Betancourt founded Accion Democratica, a centrist political party.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accion_Democratica)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The Viet Minh, a
nationalist movement led by Communists, was founded in Vietnam. Pham
Van Dong was a founding member.
   (SFC, 5/3/00, p.A24)
1941-1942Â Â Â The Baroness Hilla Rebay, onetime
mistress of Solomon Guggenheim and the first director of his museum,
painted her "Animato," what may well be the first abstract image of
a female orgasm.
   (WSJ, 2/14/96, p.A-12)
1941-1942Â Â Â Taylor’s "Practical Encyclopedia of
Gardening" was published.
   (WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A16)
1941-1942Â Â Â Varian Fry (d.1967) helped some 2,000
refugees escape from Nazi-occupied France.
   (SFC, 3/9/98, p.C2)
1941-1942Â Â Â The Asiatic fleet composed of US,
Australian, Dutch and British allies struggled to slow down the
Japanese advance while outnumbered 10:1. In the 1st three months the
Americans lost 22 ships, 1,826 men, and 519 men taken prisoner.
   (SFC, 8/23/97, p.A4)
1941-1942Â Â Â About 80,000 Czech Jews were rounded up
and sent to Terezin, a holding camp, prior to being sent to
Auschwitz. The survival rate was 10%.
   (SFC, 2/4/97, p.A2)
1941-1942Â Â Â In Greece an estimated 300,000 people
died from a winter famine.
   (AP, 3/22/15)
1941-1942Â Â Â Nearly 80,000 Jews, or 90% of Latvia's
prewar Jewish population, were killed during this period.
   (AP, 3/16/11)
1941-1942Â Â Â In Lithuania at the beginning of the war
there were about 60,000 Jews in Vilnius. A year later, only 18,000
remained. In 1998 Schoschana Rabinovici published her non-fiction
account: "Thanks To My Mother" a description of the murder of Polish
Jews in Vilnius through the eyes of a child.
   (SFEC, 4/26/98, BR p.8)
1941-1942Â Â Â The German siege of Sevastopol lasted
from Nov 15 to Jul 2.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941-1942Â Â Â Some 97% of the Gottscheers were moved
north within Slovenia from the area of Kocevje to Rann (later
Brezice). Their peak population numbered some 25,000. They were
driven out of their new homes by Yugoslav partisans after which they
wound up in Austria and then dispersed around the world.
   (SFC, 6/16/99, p.A12)
1941-1943Â Â Â In the US the government classified some
600,000 residents of Italian descent as enemy aliens. In Pittsburg,
California, some 2,000 of 7,000 residents were forced to move.
   (SFEC, 12/26/99, p.C13)
1941-1943Â Â Â In 2019 an independent 248-page
investigative report in English, commissioned by the Finnish
government, was released. It said 1,408 Finnish volunteers served
within the SS Panzer Division Wiking during 1941-43, most of them
aged between 17 and 20 years old. The report concluded that the
country's volunteer battalion, which served with Nazi Germany's
Waffen-SS, took part in atrocities during World War II, including
participating in the mass murder of Jews.
   (AP, 2/10/19)
1941-1943Â Â Â The three Jewish Bielski brothers,
escaped Nazi-occupied Poland and established a refuge in the forests
of Belarus. By the end of WWII they succeeded in saving some 1,200
men, women and children. In 2003 Peter Duffy authored "The Bielski
Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved
1,200 Jews and Built a Village in the Forest." Their story was
depicted in the 2009 film “Defiance,” directed by Edward Zwick.
   (SSFC, 7/13/03, p.M4)(WSJ, 1/2/08, p.W1)
1941-1944Â Â Â Germany occupied the Crimean peninsula.
   (SFC, 1/4/99, p.A8)
1941-1944Â Â Â Necdet Kent (d.2002), Turkish diplomat,
was posted to Marseilles, France, and gave Turkish citizenship to
dozens of Turkish Jews living in France who did not have proper
identity papers to save them from deportation to the Nazi gas
chambers.
   (AP, 9/20/02)
1941-1944Â Â Â In Latvia Herbert Cukurs (b.1900) served
as a deputy to the leader of the Arajs Commando, an auxiliary police
unit formed after German forces captured Latvia. The unit played a
central role in the near annihilation of Latvia's Jewish community.
After the war Cukurs fled to South America where Mossad agents
assassinated him in Uruguay in 1965.
   (AP, 10/30/14)
1941-1944Â Â Â About 250,000 Latvians fought alongside
either the Germans or the Soviets during this period. Some 150,000
Latvians died in the fighting.
   (AP, 3/16/11)
1941-1944Â Â Â Alexandras Lileikis was chief of the
Saugumas secret police force of Vilnius, Lithuania. He ordered the
arrests of Jewish men, women, and children, who were turned over to
the occupying Germans and subsequently executed.
   (SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)
1941-1944Â Â Â The Lithuanian Security Police, also
referred to as Saugumas, was a Lithuanian Nazi
collaborationist police force that operated during this period. It
had a staff of approximately 400 people, 250 of them in KaunasÂ
and around another 130 in Vilnius. Kazys Gimžauskas, a deputy in the
Vilnius branch under Aleksandras Lileikis, returned to Lithuania
after US authorities began to investigate him in 1996. Gimzauskas
was convicted in 2001 of participation in genocide.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Security_Police)(SSFC,
4/4/10, Par. p.5)
1941-1944Â Â Â Some 40,000 Jews are believed to have
been slaughtered in Vilnius, Lithuania. An estimated 60,000 Jews
lived there when the Nazis moved in and fewer than 5,000 remained
when the Soviets recaptured the country. The Nazis killed some
240,000 Jews in Lithuania.
   (SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A15)
1941-1944Â Â Â Jonas Stelmokas served as a unit
commander in 2 voluntary Nazi-sponsored detachments that helped the
Nazis kill thousands of Jews and partisans. In 1997 he was to be
deported from Lansdowne, Pa., in the US after he was accused of
being a former member of the Lithuanian police force that helped
Nazis kill Jews. In 1998 Stelmokas (82) was ordered to be deported
but appealed.
   (SFEC,11/10/97, p.A4)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A3)
1941-1944Â Â Â The Siege of Leningrad, 400 miles
northwest of Moscow, took place and led to the death of at least one
million Russians from starvation and disease. Leningrad has since
been renamed to St. Petersburg. It broke in Jan, 1944.
   (WSJ, 2/21/96, p.A-15)
1941-1945Â Â Â The 1985 book "Eagle Against the Sun" by
Ronald H. Spector is one of the best single volume histories of WW
II.
   (WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)
1941-1945Â Â Â In 2006 Evan Thomas authored “Sea of
Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign
1941-1945,” a study of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.
   (WSJ, 12/16/06, p.P11)
1941-1945Â Â Â American industry delivered more than
276,000 military aircraft. That was not only for US Army, Navy
and Marine Corps, but also for allies as diverse as Britain ,
Australia , China and Russia.
   (http://tinyurl.com/lo5eu8x)
1941-1945Â Â Â During WW II some 368 underwater mines
were placed to guard the entrance to the SF Golden Gate.
   (G, Winter, p.2)
1941-1945Â Â Â Ralph K. Davies spent the war years as
petroleum administrator for Interior Secretary Harold Ickes.
   (SFC, 6/23/98, p.A11)
1941-1945Â Â Â Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, who
helped build the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, established bay area
ship yards that were able to launch a "Liberty Ship" every 24 hours.
He expanded a health plan begun on his earlier dam projects that
grew to become Kaiser Permanente, the world’s largest health
maintenance organization. The Kaiser Richmond yard built 747 ships.
   (SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W31)(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941-1945Â Â Â Croatia was occupied by Nazi forces and
with its Moslem allies some 700,000 Serbs and 75,000 Jews and
Gypsies were killed. [This was a letter with reference to the
Encyclopedia Britannica as source material] The Independent State of
Croatia was set up after the German and Italian invasions and run by
the fascist Ustashe regime as a puppet state. The central Ustashe
aim was to cleanse Croatia of "foreign" elements and to turn Croatia
into a "100% Roman Catholic state." Jasenovac is the site of the
largest Ustashe death camp, and some estimates claim as many as
several hundred thousand dead. Ante Pavelic was the leader of the
Ustashe regime.
   (WSJ, 10/11/95, p. A-1)(WSJ, 4/3/96, p.A-22)(WSJ,
5/20/99, p.A21)
1941-1945Â Â Â The Herzegovina region of Bosnia became
a stronghold of the Croatian Ustashe movement allied to the Nazis.
Local clergy was seen condoning and supporting Ustashe mass slayings
of ethnic Serbs.
   (SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1941-1945Â Â Â Some 148,000 Bessarabian Jews were
killed in Rybnitsa and other ghettos and concentration camps on the
East bank of the Dniester during the Nazi occupation.
   (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941-1945Â Â Â In Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, the
German SS ran Jewish ghetto as a holding station for Jews on their
way to death camps.
   (SFC,10/24/97, p.A11)
1941-1945Â Â Â Gen’l. Hideki Toho served as Premier and
Minister of War in Japan.
   (WUD, 1944, p.1683)
1941-1945Â Â Â Some 1600-2000 German soldiers were
killed in Montenegro in clashes with Yugoslav communist partisans
during WWII.
   (AP, 8/10/11)
1941-1945Â Â Â James Rives Childs served as the US
Chargé d'Affaires of Morocco. During this time he helped 1,200
Hungarian Jews obtain visas to Spanish Morocco.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Rives_Childs)(AP, 6/15/18)
1941-1953Â Â Â Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), (Josif
Vissarionovitch Dzhugashvili), Communist party leader. He was Sec.
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922-1953, and
Premier from 1941-1953.
   (AHD, 1971, p.1255)(AHD, p.1255)
1941-1945Â Â Â In 2005 Catherine Merridale authored
“Ivan’s War: The Red Army 1941-1945.
   (Econ, 10/22/05, p.86)
1941-1945Â Â Â Sweden maintained neutrality during the
war but allowed German troops to cross its territory to invade the
Soviet Union. It also allowed 250,000 German troops to use the
railroad system to travel between occupied Norway and Germany. The
Swedish navy provided escort service for German military supply
ships and Swedish industry helped make up for German losses in the
ball-bearing industry due to Allied bombing raids.
   (SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A13)
1941-1971Â Â Â Jean Lipman (d.1998 at 88) edited Art in
America. She grew the magazine up from a scholarly journal into an
influential art publication.
   (SFC, 6/26/98, p.D4)
1941-1983Â Â Â Wagon Wheel dinner sets were
manufactured of cream-colored clay from Ada, Okla. After 1956 they
were made of red clay from Sapulpa, Okla.
   (SFC, 7/29/98, Z1 p.23)
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