On July 3 , 1941 , a little more than a hebdomad after theNazi Germaninvasion of the Soviet Union during World War II , Joseph Stalinspoke for the first meter to the Soviet citizenry about the progress of the war . He called the citizen of his Carry Nation " brothers and sisters , " a term he had never used before .
It was an intimacy born of the atrocious crisis they partake . Stalin let in that the enemy had succeeded in reveal through , and he urged his compatriots to annihilate the intruder with every means possible .
Many Soviet memoir testify to the power of his words , which pass out to millions of citizens bundle around archaic receiving set or streetside loudspeakers . The Soviet people were urged to rouse themselves for what was to become the large military contest of all time .
The Axis ravishment on June 22 , 1941 , had caught Soviet force almost altogether unprepared . Finnish United States Army in the north , Romanian armies in the south , and a 3 - million strong Nazi German force between them drive forward at a relentless pace , encircling whole Soviet armies .
On June 28 , 1941 , Nazi German forces hit the Belorussian capital of Minsk . Riga was charm three day later , and by the first hebdomad of July Nazi German United States Army were come near the Ukrainian majuscule of Kiev .
By previous July , national socialist German Cuban sandwich come within range of Moscow . By August 19 , Leningrad — the Soviet Union ’s second largest city — was reduce off by national socialist German and Finnish force , though it could not be captured outright.
Soviet officers advertize their soldier to make suicidal attacks on Nazi German positions , as Stalin importune that death was good than cede . nevertheless , by September , Axis troop had rounded up more than 2 million Soviet prisoners and destroyed much of the Red Army ’s tank and aircraft strong point .
By October 3 , when Adolf Hitler flew back to Berlin to address the German hoi polloi , he was confident that the Soviet dragon was kill " and would never arise again . " Nazi German production plans for weapons were changed : Large phone number ofaircraftand extra naval power were added for the coming confrontation with Britain and the United States . New models of tanks had , however , been order , as the Nazi Germans hear that Soviet tankful were higher-ranking to their own .
Hitler ’s changing strategical vision was a reaction to the increasing collaboration between the two Anglo - Saxon powers . Though U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt was constrained by a public opinion that was not yet prepared for full - graduated table belligerence , the United States had begun to give the British Empire extensive help .
In December 1940 , Roosevelt had insert a program of assist for Britain . It was called Lend - Lease to give the notion that something eventually would be given back . In March 1941 , the programme pass through Congress . So relieved was U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he report Lend - Lease as " tantamount to a declaration of war . "
At the same time , the U.S. Navy entered the great naval conflict in the Atlantic , where national socialist German submarines threaten the life-sustaining craft life line from North America to Britain . This fight cost the Allies 5.6 million heaps of transport from September 1939 to March 1941 .
In April 1941 , theU.S. Navybegan to wrap up part of the western Atlantic Ocean , and in July 1941 , it begin anti - undersea gentle wind patrols from Newfoundland . Consequently , convoy shipping across the Atlantic became more successful .
The Anglo - American relationship was sealed in August 1941 when Churchill and FDR met aboard the American cruiser Augusta at Placentia Bay off the seacoast of Newfoundland . There , Churchill sketched out a text file , which would become known as the Atlantic Charter , for the two statesmen to sign .
It was not an alliance , as Roosevelt neither need nor could make a formal dedication to American belligerency . or else , it was a statement of coarse political intent made in the name of liberal republic for the restoration of a world based on political freedoms , capable trade , and the self - finding of the great unwashed .
In private , the two men also agreed to give all potential help to the Soviet Union , to warn Japan against further encroachments in the Far East , and to involve American forces more fully in the Atlantic battle .
The summertime of 1941 marked the root of the aggregative murder of Europe ’s Jews . Between the outbreak of warfare and June 1941 , Jewish populations under national socialist German dominance in Eastern Europe had been herd into ghettos , their valuables seize and their livelihoods destroyed .
In concern Western Europe , Jews were oblige to assume the typical yellow star , and their holding was seized or handed over on unfavourable terms .
But only with the invasion of the Soviet Union were Jews systematically murdered . Pre-1941 pedagogy to national socialist German security units , theEinsatzgruppen — and to unit of the even police — made it clear that they should kill all Jews .
On the Assumption of Mary that most partisan activity was Judaic - inspire , whole villages were destroy and their dweller slay by the Nazi German army as well as by the constabulary and security unit .
From June 1941 , Nazi surety force in Russia did not spare Judaic women and children . At Babi Yar outside Kiev , more than 34,000 Jews were slaughter . In Serbia and in western Poland , Jews were belt down systematically .
Hitler at last approved deportation for German Jews as well , and the first trainload arrived in the East in October 1941 . At some point , a decision was made to augment the continuing murder by police and surety men with mass murder at liquidation camps in take Poland .
The precise import of this conclusion is unclear , but the cantonment were under expression set out in autumn 1941 and the first gassing began at Chelmno in January 1942 . In December 1941 , Hitler severalise an assemblage of party leaders in a closed session that globular warfare signaled a last war to the death against the Judaic enemy .
The tidy sum killing that began in 1941 end in 1945 with the reckon death of approximately 6 million European Jews . They were killed not only by Nazi German certificate forces , but by theWehrmacht , locally recruited anti - Semitic reserves , and the troops of Nazi Germany ’s allies .
Only some of this subspecies war was evident to the West in 1941 . The United States was much more concerned with the threat to security present in East Asia and the west Pacific by the cover belligerence of Japan . This was a crisis bring on by the German victories in Europe .
Japan had used the opportunity presented by the licking of France and the Netherlands , and the national socialist German threat to Britain , to pressure western colonial possessions in Southeast Asia . Japan coveted this area because it turn back declamatory reserves of full of life raw materials — oil , pencil eraser , and tin in particular — which were all important for the Japanese warfare elbow grease .
The American reaction to continued Japanese aggression in China had been to impose a fond trade trade stoppage in September 1940 , but that only heightened Japanese conclusion to seize further economic resource . Japanese leaders began to debate that war with the United States was almost inevitable .
The drive force behind Japan ’s strategy of southbound expansion was its vast navy , which relied heavily on oil . To plug the northern perimeter of the Japanese empire , Japan sign a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union in April 1941 .
In July , Japanese effect move into southern Indochina . When the United States responded to this threat by tightening the embargo , the Japanese United States Army and navy agreed that unless diplomatic atmospheric pressure could undo the economical chokehold that Tokyo had predict , they would attack the United States , the Dutch , and the British Empire .
The Japanese war was not inevitable . However , once Nazi Germany had invaded the Soviet Union and ostensibly removed the threat from Japan ’s northern frontier , the southward cash advance became an attractive option for the Nipponese leading .
During all of 1941 , the Germans viewed the thought that Japan would occupy the United States in the Pacific as a strategic fillip . The Germans , in fact , pep up Japan to do so , call the Japanese that they would join in warfare against the United States .
In September 1941 , the Nipponese armed forces presentedEmperor Hirohitowith a plan for warfare if the United States did not terminate the embargo through diplomatical arrangement . The emperor favored a solution short of warfare , and for two more calendar month negotiations continued between Nipponese and American official to find a chemical formula for repose .
American intelligence could read the Japanese diplomatic ( but not naval ) codes and knew that warfare was a very strong possibility . When General Tojo Hideki became Japan ’s prime rector in October , he place a deadline of November 30 for negotiations . This deadline was intercepted and decrypt by the Americans .
Meanwhile , the Japanese navy get elaborate operational plans to secure a Pacific margin to protect seizure of Malaya , the Philippines , and the Dutch East Indies .
On November 26 , U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull place a set of proposals to the Nipponese negotiators that included the onanism of all Japanese forces from China and Indochina . Subsequently , it was suggested that if the Japanese would withdraw from southern French Indochina , they could buy all the oil they require , but Japan insisted on war .
A project force of six fleet aircraft carrier and accompanying combat ship approached the Hawaiian Islands . Undetected on the other morning of December 7 , 1942 , Japanese planes attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor , destroying or damaging more than 300 carpenter’s plane and eight battleships and killing more than 2,000 men . President Roosevelt summoned Congress , which voted to declare war that same day .
The opening of a second major theater of war intend that even more of the populace was engulfed in the conflict . Japan defend to reach an Asian and peaceable unexampled society , as Nazi Germany and Italy fought for domination in Europe and the Mediterranean .
On December 11 , Hitler declare warfare on the United States . Having planned for war with the U.S. since the 1920s , but not yet having build the warships for that conflict , he now had a navy on his side .
warfare mean that German submarines could round U.S. shipping without restriction . It also meant that Germany — now aid by a powerfully armed Japan — could begin the contest for a world in which , in Hitler ’s warped mind , only Nazi German or Jew would prevail .
Hitler ’s ongoing state of war with the Soviet Union , however , was no sure matter . In December , Red Army divisions began a major offence around Moscow to force back national socialist German armies that had been preclude from capturing the capital .
Against German soldier who were at the end of tired provision line in cold atmospheric condition — for which the Germans had not prepared — the Soviets made substantial progression . The German army had already been tug back at the southerly conclusion of the front in late November . Soon after the German frustration before Moscow , they also suffered a licking at the northern part of the front .
This intelligence thrilled Churchill , as did America ’s entry into the war . After Pearl Harbor , he telephoned Franklin Roosevelt , who tell apart Churchill that Britain and America were " in the same boat now . "
His words were hauntingly ironic . A few days after , the British battleship Prince of Wales — which had transported Churchill to negotiate the Atlantic Charter — was sunk by Japanese naval hoagy in the South China Sea .
The next page highlights the major events of World War II during the early part of July 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 20 April 2025-7 February 2025
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in July 1941 . Learn about what went on during those first several days in the timeline below .
World War II Timeline: July 1-July 9
July 1 : Riga , the uppercase of Latvia , is overwhelmed by a national socialist German occupation power .
July 2 : The first member of the British Royal Air Force ’s ( RAF ) American Eagle Squadron to be defeat in action dies in a midair collision over France .
The Japanese military bolster up its strength with a million - man draft .
July 2 - 3 : Nazi GermanEinsatzgruppen(Special Action Groups ) , charged with the execution of instrument of Adolf Hitler ’s design to eradicate Jews , murder 7,000 Jews in the Polish city of Lvov .
July 3 : Joseph Stalin call up for a " scorched earth " defence , in which both the Red Army and ordinary Russian citizen would lay waste material to the land as they back away from the make headway Germans , leaving nothing to corroborate the foe troops .
July 5 : Josip Broz Tito , Yugoslavia ’s Communist Party drawing card , calls for armed resistance against the Nazi German job .
July 6 : Winston Churchill sends a message to Joseph Stalin expressing the promise that the groovy powers can link strength to fight the German threat .
The occupy Nazis order the murder of 2,500 Jews in Kovno , Lithuania .
July 7 : In easing of British troops , U.S. forces make it in Iceland to oppose the strategically located island .
July 7 - 8 : More than 100 RAF Vickers Wellingtonbombersattack Cologne , Germany , cause widespread damage .
July 8 : The RAF raids the Nazi German naval base of Wilhelmshaven .
The occupying Nazis decree that all Baltic Jews must wear key out yellow Stars of David .
July 9 : George Johnson Armstrong , a British naval engineer who offer up his divine service as aspyto the Nazis while station in the United States , is executed for treason .
World War II Headlines
Read on for more info about the early days of the Nazi German intrusion of the Soviet Union .
Massacres in Lvov , Poland : Before the Nazi Germans strive Lvov , Poland , on June 30 , 1941 , the NKVD ( Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del ; Soviet Secret Police ) bump off 5,000 Ukrainian and Polish nationalists , Jews , and political prisoners in the city ’s gaol . Subsequently , the Germans capitalize on the inhumanity by blaming it on Lvov ’s Jews .
A three - twenty-four hours killing spree resulted that was conducted by Nazi German troop and an SSEinsatzgruppe , together with local Ukrainians and Poles . Some 4,000 Jews were killed , and an additional 7,000 Jews and captured NKVD men were executed by the SS before the remainder of the twelvemonth . By November 1943 , well-nigh all 150,000 of Lvov ’s Jews would be dead .
Operation Barbarossa : At dawn on June 22 , 1941 , more than four million Axis soldiers ( of whom at least three million were German ) , 3,360 tank , and 7,000 artillery pieces – digest by 2,000aircraft– ramp across the German - Soviet border . What Russia called the Great Patriotic War had begin .
ab initio , three Nazi German ground forces chemical group – constitute of some 120 division – swiftly overpower the Red Army ’s front - line defenses and struck late into Soviet district . However , despite theWehrmacht ’s early succeeder , Operation Barbarossa eventually proved to be Adolf Hitler ’s corking strategic mistake , for he had ill underestimate the Soviet Union ’s military - industrial capableness , its geography , and its environment .
Slavery , starvation , and death for Soviet POW : The Belorussian metropolis of Minsk fell to the gird advances of the Second and Third Panzer Groups on June 28 , 1941 , just six Clarence Shepard Day Jr. after the start of Operation Barbarossa . During that week , panzer units appropriate more than 200,000 Soviets .
Large turn of those prisoners were transported in railway ember trucks from Minsk to Poland , where they would be intern or perhaps moved on to camps further west . Thereafter , they probably would be used as slave Labor Department while routinely get deliberate maltreatment and appalling living conditions . Two - tierce of all Soviet POWs would be play , starve , or shot to death .
Nazi Germans defend in the Ukraine : In the Ukraine during the summertime of 1941 , Field Marshal Rundstedt ’s Army Group South had more trouble than in the middle and Second Earl of Guilford . The panzer group fought their room across the sun - baked and seemingly endless Russian steppe . Soviet resistance held up the national socialist German advance . The Nazis then struck behind the Red Army defending Kiev and surrounded them , capture Brobdingnagian phone number of prisoners and equipment .
Close - quarter fighting was typically carry out by the national socialist German infantry divisions . violation engine driver units that follow some daytime behind dealt with the many pockets of electric resistance that had been bypassed by the armoured forces . national socialist German soldiers used flamethrower ( including this Flammenwerfer 35 ) extensively , especially on bunkers and deep scheme .
The Soviet T-34 is the war ’s top cooler : Arguably , the Soviet T-34 was the best armored combat vehicle produced by any side during the warfare . T-34s first look on the field of honor in other July 1941 , when their splendid cross - country functioning , 33 - mph top speed , and powerful 76.2 mm guns entirely outclassed the Nazi German panzers . Their well - sloped armor also prove imperviable to anti - tank fire .
The timeline of the Nazi German invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 continues on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
World War II Timeline: 7 December 2024-30 March 2025
In July 1941 , Hermann Göring called for the complete annihilation for Europe ’s Jewish population . record about this and the other major events during this menses in the World War II timeline below .
The Nazi administration post meg of ' undesirables ' to yard of slave - labor cantonment by convincing mass they would be resettled , rather than murdered . Learn more about the Nazi party , concentration ingroup , and World War II in this video from United Streaming .
World War II Timeline: July 10-August 2
July 10 : In a shadowy case of " ethnic ego - cleansing , " some 1,600 Judaic villagers are torture and murdered in Jedwabne , Poland . ( The atrocity was charge on the Nazis , but late inquiry indicates that Polish infidel are to blame . )
Joseph Stalin bump Marshal Timoshenko , the Red Army commander - in - chief , and take over the position himself .
July 12 : Representatives from Britain and the Soviet Union meet in Moscow to contract a common care accord .
July 16 : About 600,000 Russians are trapped when the Nazi German army encircle the Soviet city of Smolensk .
July 21 : TheLuftwaffesuffers heavy losses in abombingraid on Moscow .
July 22 : With their supplying lines stretched to the break point , Nazi German troops are force to stop their progression through Russia for the first clip in the campaign .
July 24 : about 4,500 Jews are murdered by NaziEinsatzgruppenin the town of Lachowicze , Poland .
The Vichy Gallic political science hands southern Indochina over to the Japanese .
July 26 : The British and American governments freeze hundreds of millions of clam in Japanese assets in their various nations . The Japanese will employ the same maneuver in two years .
General Douglas MacArthur is called out of retirement by President Franklin Roosevelt to take up command of United States forces in the Far East .
July 31 : In a memorandum to SS tribal chief Reinhard Heydrich , Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring authorizes the " Final Solution " ( stark obliteration ) for Europe ’s Jews .
August 2 : President Franklin Roosevelt extends the Lend - Lease Act to permit for help to the Soviet Union .
The undermentioned newspaper headline detail some of the other major events of World War II during 1941 .
U.S. deprives Japan of oil : Oil drum remain piled on the dock after President Franklin Roosevelt ’s declaration of an rock oil trade embargo on Japan in July 1941 . The embargo , which followed exchangeable restrictions on sales event of iron and brand , was think to persuade the Japanese to retire from Indochina , disavow the Tripartite Pact , and abandon the war in China . or else , it only pushed energy - poor Japan , which depended on the United States for at least 65 percent of its petroleum products , close to war with the West .
Unwilling to forsake its ambition in China and the Pacific , and with only 18 month of reticence fund for the war machine , the Nipponese armed service work on their programme to sequester the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies , even though that action take chances war with the United States .
Philip Joubert takes charge of Coastal Command : British breeze marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté was one of the warfare ’s most influential airmen . As assistant boss of air staff in September 1939 , he contributed significantly to the lotion of radar in the British Royal Air Force ( RAF ) .
In June 1941 , he became commander - in - tribal chief of Coastal Command , which had lacked resource and had destroyed just twoU - boats . It subside a further 27 during the undermentioned 20 calendar month . Joubert centralise Coastal Command and narrowed the dangerous Atlantic Gap . He was appointed examiner - general of the RAF in 1943 , and by and by that year fall in Lord Mountbatten ’s South East Asia Command .
Long - distance relationships between British parent and children:“And here in Ottawa we have little Polly and Geoffrey Carton , aged 8 and 5 . Now . . . fare in Mrs. Carton and say hello . . . . " " Hello , Polly . " " Hello , Mummy . " " This is the nicest thing that ’s happened to me since you work by . " This telephone exchange took place on July 27 , 1941 , between the Cartons in Britain and their two shaver in Canada using a wireless link - up standardized to this .
In summertime 1940 , it was expected that the Germans would presently obtrude upon England , so many parent sent their kid oversees to family and friends in Canada , the United States , or any other safe haven . About 13,000 children were embark to safety .
Wrens ( Women ’s Royal Naval Service ) aid the Royal Navy:“Wrens , " phallus of the Women ’s Royal Naval Service ( WRNS ) , move a Italian sandwich for loading into a submarine at Portsmouth , England . reactivate in 1939 , the WRNS assume over shore - based job , thereby unblock men for service at sea .
Working at most naval shore establishments in Britain , the Wrens grew to number 74,620 in 1944 . Many serve on oversea base of operations in the Middle East and Far East . The Wrens did not serve on ships , but they crewed seaport launches and worked on task as diverse as signaling , drive , and welding .
British put POWs to work for England : Many Axis prisoners of war at this time are almost surely Italians , as very few Germans had been captured in 1940 - 1941 . It was not until July 1941 that POWs were used to support the Ministry of Agriculture ’s solid food - grow plan , when about 2,000 Italian POWs were transferred from North Africa specifically for that purpose . Despite some former enmity , the Italians often revel unusually amicable relation with the local British residential area .
take about the major World War II events that pass during August 1941 on the next page .
World War II Timeline: 29 January 2025-18 February 2025
The Atlantic Charter between the United States and England was draft on August 12 , 1941 . The World War II timeline below summarizes this and some other important events that occurred during the calendar month of August 1941 .
World War II Timeline: August 5-August 24
August 5 : Nazi German forces destroy Russia ’s sixteenth and 20th Army in the " Smolensk pocket . " High German capture more than 300,000 soldiers .
Romania kicks off the 73 - day Siege of Odessa , which will terminate in October with the Rumanian job of the Ukrainian city.
August 8 : The Soviets suffer a crushing licking at Roslavl , near Smolensk , as the Nazi Germans get some 38,000 Russian prisoners of war .
August 10 : Both Britain and the Soviet Union promise military aid to Turkey in the outcome that Germany engage a policy of hostility against the Eurasiatic nation .
August 12 : President Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill foretell the Atlantic Charter .
The Nazi business force in Romania require all Jews to make themselves available for ram labour assignments .
August 13 : Chungking , China , is largely in ruins after a hebdomad ofbombingat the hands of the Nipponese air force .
August 14 : Josef Jakobs , a German spy , becomes the last person executed in Britain ’s legendary Tower of London .
August 16 : Joseph Stalin swallow a joint marriage offer by the United States and Britain to cope with in Moscow and originate a comprehensive architectural plan on the tending that Britain and the U.S. will seek to deliver to the Soviet Union .
August 17 : Syracuse , Sicily , suffers an RAF bombardment raid .
August 18 : Adolf Hitler order the stay on 76,000 Berlin Jews ( out of an original 110,000 ) deport to Poland ’s ghettos .
August 24 : In the Ukraine , Soviet forces mount an intense defense lawyers against German invaders .
Below are detailed images and headlines delineate some of the other major World War II events that convey property during 1941 .
America ’s Atlantic defense let in Coast Guard and more : President Franklin Roosevelt considered Germany ’s naval threat to Atlantic transport so serious that on May 27 , 1941 , he declared an Unlimited National Emergency . Responsibility for East Coast defense fell to a farm number of authority , include theCoast Guard , Inshore Patrol , Ship Lane Patrol , and Coastal Picket Patrol .
Nazi Germans encircle Smolensk , Soviet Union : On July 15 , 1941 , a double breakthrough by Army Group Center ’s panzers tailor off thousands of Soviet military personnel to the west of Smolensk and enabled the metropolis ’s encirclement . Smolensk fell to an onset on July 16 . secure Soviet underground continued in the sack until August 5 , by which time the Germans had capture some 310,000 captive , 3,205 tanks , and 3,120guns .
The Atlantic Charter emphasizes collective surety : President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill assemble aboard the ill - fated HMSPrince of Walesin Placentia Bay , off Newfoundland . Roosevelt had invited Churchill to the meeting , which lasted from August 10 to 15 , 1941 . Among many issues discussed were Japanese aggressiveness , help for the Soviet Union , and strategy ( even though the U.S. was still officially inert ) .
At Roosevelt ’s suggestion , Churchill drafted a communiqué posit their common aim . In the eight points of this Atlantic Charter , the leaders emphasized that they made no territorial claims and favored self - determination , reduced restrictions on trade , collective security , and forswearing of force out . The charter was certify by signatories of the Declaration of the United Nations on January 1 , 1942 .
Wehrmachtloses its momentum : By August 1941 , theWehrmacht ’s startling advance into Soviet territory had finally slowed . overextend provision lines and the army ’s high dependency on mobility – take fuel , ammo , intellectual nourishment , vehicle spare , and railroad track approach – necessitated a period of regroup and refilling . But this pause also furnish an opportunity for the badly battered Soviets to regroup .
Now , some 30 Soviet Far Eastern divisions – men habituate to the rigors of winter warfare – began to be deploy west from Siberia . The Red high control planned a major offence , in the Moscow region , for early December .
Moscow spared from heavy bombing : At the beginning ofOperation Barbarossa , Moscow was one of the more important Nazi German strategical objectives . Not only was it the nation ’s capital , but it was the center of the western Soviet Union ’s rail meshwork and home to much of its industry .
However , theLuftwaffe ’s high precedence was to destroy the Soviet ground forces . therefore , relatively few bombing foray ( such as this one ) struck the capital . Although belike overstated , a Soviet report stated that only 229 German aircraft appeared over Moscow from June to December 1941 .
For a look at what happened during the rest period of August 1941 , see the next section .
World War II Timeline: 8 April 2025-September 1941
On August 30 , 1941 , Nazi German troops blockade the last rail supplying route to Leningrad . The World War II timeline below summarizes this and other significant World War II result that occur during the end of August 1941 .
World War II Timeline: August 24-September 1941
August 24 : In response to domesticated discontent , Adolf Hitler orders a stop to his insurance policy of exterminating the mentally sick . Since the beginning of the war , more than 70,000 such multitude have died at the hands of the Nazis . The policy will be stay on in a decentralized manner , with another 100,000 dying by May 1945 . 1000 also will be kill in Nazi German - occupied areas .
August 25 : Spitsbergen , a outback Norwegian island well lie with as a historical whaling center , becomes a strategic warfare base with the reaching of British commandos .
The Allies occupy Iran on two straw man , with the British marching in from the south and the Red Army from the compass north .
August 26 : In a stunning execution of the " scorched earth " war strategy , the Soviets will mishandle up their Dnieper Dam , the turgid in the world .
The U.S. unveils contrive to send a relegating to meet with Chiang Kai - shek ’s nationalistic Taiwanese government to determine what assistance they need to battle Nipponese imperialism .
August 27 : Nazi GermansubmarineU-570 is improbably captured by an RAF Hudsonplanethat send away four depth charges , which remind the submarine ’s crew to deliver .
August 28 : Vichy France ’s antiterrorist laws lead to the execution by guillotine of three members of the French Resistance .
The Nipponese government sends a memo to President Franklin Roosevelt offering disingenuous assurances that Japan has no imperialistic design on any foreign country .
August 30 : The last rail supply route to Leningrad is stop when Nazi German troops concern Mga , Russia .
September:“Potato Pete , " a British food ministry origination , launch a campaign that urges citizen to eat plenty of unrationed potatoes .
France is divide and Nazi Germans seize Kiev – these are just two of the important events that take place at the end of August 1941 . Read the following headline for other major upshot of World War II .
The partition of France : After France capitulated to the Nazi Germans on June 22 , 1940 , France was divided . The elderly Marshal Philippe Pétain headed an authoritarian , nationalistic , anti - Semitic , and non - Republican Vichy regime that over time join forces extensively with the Germans . The remaining Gallic armed military group were divide between Vichy and Charles de Gaulle ’s Free French , with the latter exiled and commanded from England . Eventually , on November 11 , 1942 , the Nazi Germans and Italians violated the term of the 1940 armistice by occupying the whole of France .
deadly petrol vans bolt down thousands : In September 1941 , SSBrigadeführerArtur Nebe , commander ofEinsatzgruppe B(a mobile killing squad ) , experimented with alternatives to shoot prisoners . He think of a gas van , which could include a hermetically sealed cabin in which victim would be defeat by carbon monoxide exhaust fumes .
Reinhard Heydrich took up the approximation , and by mid-1942 about 30 custom - build vans were made useable . They were used from December 1941 , specially byEinsatzgruppenand at the Chelmno death camp . rafts of victims could be gassed at once . Altogether , many thousands of people were killed in the van .
Walther von Brauchitsch gets replaced : Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch was commander - in - chief of the German U. S. Army during itsBlitzkriegcampaigns in Poland , the Low Countries , France , Yugoslavia , and the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941 . Increasingly , he fell under theFührer ’s thraldom , agreeing to Adolf Hitler ’s scheme and policies . Meanwhile , Brauchitsch jib many attempt to involve himself in the military conspiracy against Adolf Hitler . In December 1941 , Adolf Hitler himself became commander of the German army , replacing Brauchitsch .
Arno Breker , Adolf Hitler ’s favorite sculptor : Arno Breker was a gifted German carver who school in Düsseldorf , Paris , and ( in 1933 ) Rome . Although primitively an abstract sculptor , his 1930s design and yield were in particular influenced by a deep appreciation of Roman " heroic carving . " This formative influence coincided with the wage increase of Nazism , with its ideological and propaganda emphasis upon similar imagery to advance an idealized Germanic , Aryan , and Teutonic heritage . accordingly , Breker presently became Hitler ’s favored sculptor . He have numerous nation commissions , and was provided with huge studio and prisoner of war labor to help him .
The Jew and France , an anti - Semitic exhibition : In September 1941 , at the Palais Berlitz in Paris , French collaborator staged a viciously anti - Semitic exposition calledLe Juif et la France(The Jew and France ) . Its advertising poster showed a monstrous Jewish man coiled around a orb , his black claws gain toward France .
graphics displayed massive images of stereotypical Jewish features . The exhibition pamphlet assured viewers that they would be " shed light on " concerning the Jews ' " penetration into our state and the harm they have done here ; you will therefore empathise why so many Frenchmen are dead . " About 200,000 Gallic mass devote to look the expo .
Poet Ezra Pound trumpets fascism : In the 1930s , expatriate American poet Ezra Pound became more and more concerned in sociopolitical issues . disenchant with Britain , he become enamored with Mussolini ’s ideals . During the warfare , Pound made hundreds of anti - American receiving set broadcasts . He openly criticized the U.S. state of war effort and espoused anti - Semite confederacy theory . Arrested by American scout troop in 1945 , he was imprisoned in Italy and , on proceeds to the U.S. , was sound out mentally unfit to abide trial for treason .
national socialist German military group seize Kiev , Russia : Prepared to defend Kiev on a street - by - street basis , the Soviets construct an extended system of trenches , bunker , and roadblocks . However , when the panzer of Army Group South reached Kiev on July 11 , they bypassed it to the south to avoid becoming embroiled in street fighting .
On September 16 , they fall in with the southerly arm of Army Group Center 120 miles east of Kiev – thereby encircling the city and Soviet worldwide Mikhail Kirponos ’s armies . Joseph Stalin forbade Kirponos to burst out , so his 665,000 man and much equipment fell into national socialist German hands . Meanwhile , Kiev ’s defence were break up .
William Shirer report from Berlin , Germany : From 1925 to 1932 , William Shirer was the European correspondent for theChicago Tribune . While foreman of the Universal News Service ’s Berlin federal agency from 1934 , he worked for CBS radio and write a daybook that would become a book , Berlin Diary(1941 ) . Shirer ’s most far-famed CBS broadcast name the surrender of France to Adolf Hitler at Compiègne on June 21 , 1940 .
Although eventually push to leave Germany , Shirer later on retort to Europe on various reporting assignment , let in the Nuremberg Trials . He is best known for his bookThe Rise and tumble of the Third Reich(1960 ) .
Sabotage and reprisals in Kiev , Russia : After barrage Kiev ’s defenses for six weeks , units of Army Group South entered the city on September 19 . Five Clarence Day later , monumental plosion destroyed the Nazi German headquarters in the Hotel Continental , together with many other national socialist German - occupied buildings . Extensive fires were started and a heavy bit of soldiers killed .
The Nazi German military dictation blamed the Jewish universe for this act of sabotage , and about 34,000 of Kiev ’s Jews were summarily execute in a reprisal action that became know as the Babi Yar carnage . In fact , the original explosions had almost surely been triggered by the Red Army ’s detonation of some 50 acres mine .
Cordell Hull ’s important use during the war : Cordell Hull , President Franklin Roosevelt ’s secretary of state from 1933 to 1944 , played a major use in crowd Roosevelt ’s policy of lowering tariff barrier . When war set about in Europe , he was subservient in secure the disinterest of the Americas , and he also advanced FDR ’s interventionist policies regarding the Allies .
Cordell Hull played a magnanimous part in Roosevelt ’s endeavor to keep the Japanese talking until they could see for themselves that the Axis might well turn a loss the warfare . In 1945 Hull was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign in creating the United Nations .
The national socialist German - occupied Channel Islands : The only part of the United Kingdom engross by the Germans during the war was the Channel Islands – Jersey , Guernsey , Alderney , and Sark – some 20 mi west of the Cherbourg Peninsula . Many of the island ' executive collaborated with the Germans and resistance was officially discouraged , although some brush off this directive .
Meanwhile , liveliness was harsh for the 60,000 ordinary people who had not been evacuate . Reprisals , internments , deportations , and heavy fines characterized the job , while near - starving was permeating . ratting , quislingism , and the smuggled market expand , and many women willingly harmonise with German troops .
read about the major World War II event of early September 1941 on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
World War II Timeline: 12 January 2025-4 January 2025
In early September 1941 , Berlin face the expectant atmosphere raid to engagement thanks to 200 British Royal Air Force ( RAF)planes . Learn about this and other significant World War II events in the timeline below .
World War II Timeline: September 1-September 9
September 1 : TheU.S. Navy ’s Atlantic Fleet assume convoy tribute in the North Atlantic from Iceland to Newfoundland .
Tokyo spars with Moscow over the accidental minelaying of a Nipponese fishing boat off the coast of Vladivostok . The Japanese are enraged when Russia refuses to pay for the boat , insist it would not have befall had the gravy boat not been intolerably close to Russia ’s shore .
September 3 : Russian prisoners of war and Jews become the first victims of thepoison gasZyklon B , the newly preferred Nazi implementation method , at Auschwitz .
September 5 : The Soviet Union evacuate all tiddler under age 12 from the capital of Moscow as national socialist German troops move toward the urban center .
September 7 : Gallic Resistance fighter Pierre Roche is executed by the Nazi military control force .
September 7 - 8 : Some 200 RAF planes mount the biggest atmosphere maraud to date on Germany ’s working capital of Berlin . The British willbombthe city for four unanimous time of day overnight .
September 8 : The Nazi German army places Leningrad in a DoS of siege . A desperate Joseph Stalin will ask Winston Churchill for immediate military aid . The siege will last for 900 days .
Concerned that Russia may be harbor a homegrown population of Nazi well-wisher , Joseph Stalin expatriate 600,000 Volga - orbit ethnic Germans to Siberia .
September 9 : Iran give up to the Allies , agreeing , among other things , to carry Axis undercover agent posing as diplomatic and holidaymaker staff . Iran will order the " diplomats " and others out on the 13th .
study on for details and images that outline some of the key World War II event that occurred during 1941 .
Enigma machine used in Nazi German headquarters : involve by the Nazi Germans as being wholly secure , the Enigma encoding and decrypt machine were used in the major headquarters of all three services of theWehrmacht , as well as by the SS , theAbwehr , and theReichsbahn(the German land railways ) .
Robust , portable , and relatively simple to go even on the battlefield , these machine were also find in many operational HQ and advancing - command centers – including in the command vehicles of the panzer groups . In the photo above , General Heinz Guderian , in his armored dictation fomite , stand beside an former three - rotor Enigma machine .
Soviet zealot make main encroachment through foray and sabotage : Soviet partizan groups were ab initio outgrowth of the many Red Army social unit cut off by the national socialist German progression in 1941 . However , being untrained in guerilla warfare , they were very vulnerable . Moreover , their unrelenting suppression – often led by special SS counter - partisan social unit – was invariably bestial , usually culminating in collective reprisal and sum-up executions . However , such excesses actually boosted partisan enlisting .
Beginning in 1942 , the Soviet in high spirits command maintain better - coordinated political and military ascendancy over the partisans , whose operational significance increased from 1943 . Although totaling as many as 700,000 and causing some 35,000 Axis casualty , their main impact was in the rear areas , where they disrupted communication , carried out raid and sabotage , gathered intelligence , and told the local population that the Soviet regime was coming back .
Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov leads Soviet offense : In 1941 Joseph Stalin appoint Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov chief of the general faculty . In September , Zhukov assumed statement of the Leningrad Front – just as the national socialist German rise halted . Then , as commander of the Western Front defend Moscow , he won a less ambiguous triumph against Army Group Center , forcing a national socialist German withdrawal . He preserve his offence through the winter .
afterwards , as deputy supreme commandant to Stalin , Zhukov helped to oversee the Soviet conflict for Stalingrad ( 1942 - 1943 ) , seized the strategic enterprisingness at Kursk ( 1943 ) , and directed part of the 1944 - 1945 offense into Poland and Germany – including the hard - press capture of Berlin .
Adolf Hitler insists on autumn offence : On September 30 , 1941 , Field Marshal Rundstedt ’s Army Group South advanced to seize Kharkov , cross the depleted Don , and achieve the Caucasus fossil oil fields . In agreement with army top dog of staff general Franz Halder , Adolf Hitler order Army Group Center and Army Group North to launch ordinate thrusts against Moscow and Leningrad .
Although the German offensive in the South initially made some onward motion , it was drive back at the end of November . In December , due to a dissonance with Hitler about the retreat in the South , Rundstedt was relieve of command .
See the next plane section for a timeline and the major headlines of mid - September 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 18 January 2025-3 February 2025
Kiev finally succumb to Nazi German pressure on September 16 , 1941 . See the timeline below for details on this and the other major events during mid - September 1941 .
World War II Timeline: September 11-September 22
September 11 : A shoot - on - sight lodge is handed down toU.S. Navyships running convoy protective cover operations on the seas .
Aviator and isolationist Charles Lindbergh delivers a talking to in Des Moines , Iowa , in which he pick the deepening U.S. involution in the European warfare on Britain , Franklin Roosevelt , and Jews .
September 16 : The Soviet Union front at Kiev collapse in the side of intense Nazi German pressure , and some 500,000 Soviets surrender . Kiev will officially decrease to the Nazi Germans in two days .
Mohammed Reza Pahlevi takes the Shah ’s throne of British - occupied Iran when his father , Reza Khan , abdicates .
In an effort to squelch partisan fury in the Soviet Union , Nazi German field marshal Wilhelm Keitel orders his flock to randomly put to death 100 Russian civilians every time a civilian kills a Nazi German soldier .
September 17 : At least one daytime too deep , the Red Army high command order its gentleman’s gentleman to retreat from the city of Kiev .
September 18 : Already suffering high casualties , the captured Soviet troops in the surrounded realm of Kiev begin to be summarily executed by the Germans . The Soviet death toll in defense reaction of Kiev will top 350,000 .
Nipponese military loss leader are instructed to educate their scout troop for operations in the Pacific .
September 20 : The Soviet Union receives advance notice of a national socialist German onslaught on Moscow , thanks to Britain ’s success in catch and decode Enigma encryptions .
September 22 : A Ukrainian reserves squad does the Nazis ' sordid work , murdering 28,000 Soviet Jews near the townsfolk of Vinnitsa .
find out about some of the other major World War II event that took place during 1941 in the newspaper headline below .
atomic number 92 - boat torpedoes the USSKearnyin the North Atlantic : On October 17 , 1941 , aU - boattorpedoed this destroyer , the USSKearny , in the North Atlantic . TheKearnyhad go bad to aid a slow convoy under wolf plurality blast , but it became a target itself when it was silhouette at night by the light of a torpedo merchant ship and halted by pass traffic . Thetorpedothat hit its starboard side make many casualties , admit 11 deaths .
A Navy Catalina ( flying boat ) dropped plasma to the ship by parachute . TheKearnyreturned to Iceland under its own steam , escorted by the USSGreer . The latter ’s inconclusive battle with U-652 on September 4 , 1941 , had led to President Franklin Roosevelt ’s " shoot on sight " policy against vessels interfere with American shipping .
British aircraft and warship dominate in Mediterranean : Upon becoming Britain ’s prime minister in 1940 , Winston Churchill hold his admiral and exert his considerable naval expertise against the Axis big businessman in the eastern Mediterranean . Under his leading , British aircraft destroyed Axis uranium - boats as they surfaced to recharge their batteries . British warship , such as the bantam corvette HMSDaisy , were also remarkably successful at destroy hero . commission in October 1941 , theDaisy ’s service was distinguished but short . The ship cave in on January 2 , 1942 , while en route from Alexandra to Tobruk .
Americans relieve British effect in Iceland : American soldiers station in Iceland require heavy protective vesture against the freezing atmospheric condition . In July 1941 – months before the U.S. would formally enter the war – President Franklin Roosevelt sent scout group to relieve British forcefulness in Iceland . Soon after the Nazi occupation of Denmark in 1940 , the British had moved into Iceland so as to keep northern ocean lanes undetermined . When British force were badly needed elsewhere , U.S. troop took over the defense of the minuscule country .
U.S. lose its first naval vessel , the USSReuben James : The USSReuben James , a Clemson Class ruiner , was the first American naval vessel lose in World War II . It was one of five destroyers escorting a dissolute convoy when , about 600 miles west of Ireland on October 31 , 1941 , a torpedo from U-552 struck it . The front end of the ship was blown off as far back as the fourth of its characteristic four stacks . Only 45 of its crew of about 160 survived . Among the dead were all of the ship ’s officers , let in the command officeholder , LCDR H. L. Edwards . This catastrophe prompted further amendments to the Neutrality Act .
The many purpose of the American M3 tank car : The M3 was the most authoritative American light armoured combat vehicle of the warfare , with more than 13,000 grow . First built in March 1941 , it underwent numerous improvements . For example , the first model was focus and the concluding was entirely weld . A gyrostabiliser was incorporated in 1941 to enable it to burn down accurately while moving .
The M3 was fast and mechanically reliable but lightly armored and armed . Allied armies employ it – thanks toLend - Lease– in status wander from the North African desert to Soviet snow and Pacific jungles . The tank was called the M3 or , unofficially , the Honey . Mine - exploder and flame - ceramist versions were also made .
Allied troops are the " Rats of Tobruk”:In 1941 , during the longest siege in British chronicle , predominantly Australian troops maintain the strategic Libyan seaport of Tobruk from military group led by German commander Erwin Rommel . William ( " Lord Haw - hawthorn " ) Joyce , the British radio announcer who broadcast Nazi propaganda from Berlin , derisively draw Tobruk ’s defenders as git . Desperate but valiant Allied flock embraced the name , yell themselves the " Rats of Tobruk " as they tunnel to head for the hills Axis bombing , set in motion daring and unpitying raids , and hijack opposition munition .
The major World War II issue of late September and early October are detailed on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
World War II Timeline: 7 April 2025-2 April 2025
On October 3 , 1941 , Adolf Hitler claimed that the Soviet Union is " broken and will never rise again . " see about this and other major World War II events in the timeline below .
World War II Timeline: September 23-October 3
September 23 : Nazis murder the occupant of the village of Krasnaya Gora in retaliation for the putting to death of three national socialist German soldier by Soviet electric resistance fighters .
September 24 : Nazi GermanU - boatsenter the Mediterranean for the first time , via the Strait of Gibraltar .
September 27 : The United States launch thePatrick Henry , the first of more than 2,700 so - called Liberty ship . These are relatively cheap , cursorily constructed merchant ships used to ferry war fabric from the United States to Europe .
About 100,000 Japanese troops are trapped when 11 Taiwanese divisions cut their leakage route , turning the lunar time period in the battle for Changsha , China .
September 28 - 30 : In the largest national socialist German mass execution of the state of war , 34,000 Russian Jews are ordered to the outskirts of Kiev by a relocation order , corral , marched to the edge of the Babi Yar ravine , and shot .
September 29 : Adolf Hitler bring out a directive ordering Leningrad razed to the ground . He claims that the upbeat of the urban center ’s three million residents is a problem that can not be work .
October 1 : More than 3,000 Jewish residents of Vilna , Lithuania , are murdered by Nazi moving in forces .
October 2 : Adolf Hitler launches Operation Typhoon , a program to send theWehrmachtinto the Soviet Das Kapital of Moscow .
With most of the Jews of Paris either dead or carry , the Nazi Gestapo turns its eye toward the destruction of temple .
October 3 : In a brash and , it will before long become apparent , premature speech deliver at the Berlin Sportpalast , Adolf Hitler claims that the Soviet Union is " broken in and will never go up again . "
The headlines below provide details of some of other major events of World War II that take place in 1941 .
Ernst Udet blamed forLuftwaffe ’s failings : Ernst Udet was a talented pilot , talentedaircraftdesigner , and World War I flying wiz for Germany ( blackleg second only to Baron Manfred von Richthofen ) . In 1936 he became principal of the Technical Office of the Air Ministry and inspector - superior general of aircraft design , yield , and inspection .
However , his preoccupation with developingfighters , honkytonk - bombers , and light bombers reduce theLuftwaffe ’s in force heavy bomber capability . Both Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring fault Udet for the Luftwaffe ’s licking in the Battle of Britain , and its late inability to combine effective defense against RAF bombers with full musical accompaniment for the national socialist German forces on the Eastern Front and in North Africa . therefore , in a scene of depression , Udet committed suicide in November 1941 .
Soviet citizen and industry relocate into the hinterland : Operation Barbarossagave the Nazi Germans control of 60 pct of the existing Soviet armament manufacture and up to 74 percent of its strategical resources and energy output . The Soviets needed to relocate much of their population and industriousness into the boondocks . More than 10 million people were evacuate or fly as refugees . In add-on , 2,000 - plus industrial plant were finally reinstate in the Urals , Siberia , Kazakhstan , and other portions of Central Asia . By previous 1944 , Soviet arming production had more than doubled .
Nazi Hans Frank ’s rule of panic in Poland : A Nazi Party penis from the outset – he took part in the 1923 Munich Beer Hall Putsch as a Stormtrooper – Hans Frank rose to become leader of the NSDAP effectual division . He later became Bavarian curate of justice and also held other important ministerial Post .
As governor - superior general of occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945 , he sought to destroy that res publica ’s internal identity while using its natural resourcefulness , Agriculture Department , industry , and manpower for the undivided welfare of Germany . Frank ’s rule of Poland was characterized by threat , coercion , and the extermination of Poland ’s Jews . He was tried and hang at Nuremberg in 1946 .
Misery and death in Poland ’s Warsaw Ghetto : In Poland ’s Warsaw Ghetto , starve children were often reduced to begging and sometimes abandon to die on the streets . The Nazis set aside very meager food ration and no medical supplies to the Jews whom they imprisoned inside the ghetto wall . In some cases , little , emaciated children compress through drain sewer at night to schnorr in nearby neighborhoods for food and medicines . At the risk of their own lives , some non - Judaic Poles serve supply them . By July 1942 , more than 100,000 Warsaw Ghetto Jews had died from hungriness and epidemic diseases .
Standby of Nazi German foot : In 1939 the Mauser 7.92 mm Kar98 K was the standard rifle of the Nazi German armed effect . full-bodied , accurate , and reliable , it was used extensively throughout the war . In 1941 the updated Mauser Gewehr 98/40 ( pictured above with a sniper scope ) enter divine service , and continue the German infantryman ’s standard arm until the remnant of the state of war . A shorter , folding - stock carbine version , the Gewehr 33/40 , was produced for parachute troops .
All of the Type 98s were bolt - operated and had a five - daily round box powder magazine . A bayonet or grenade rocket launcher could be jibe when require . Maximum effective kitchen stove of the Gewehr , for most practical purposes , was 600 to 800 yards .
Soviet civilians seen as subhuman subspecies : Nazi German soldiers had been indoctrinated by the Nazi ideologues to believe that the Soviets were an ethnically subhuman race , whose Bolshevik / Communist ideology present a potentially cataclysmic danger to the cultivated Western world – and to Nazi Germany in picky . Therefore , Soviets were of absolutely no import . Accordingly , they were mistreated , used as force labor , or killed .
The next discussion section detail the major upshot of the state of war during early to mid - October 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 18 March 2025-27 April 2025
On October 16 , the prime parson of Japan resign , to be replace by General Tojo Hideki the following twenty-four hour period . pick up about this and the other major upshot that took space in October 1941 below .
World War II Timeline: October 3-October 16
October 3 : Amerindic spiritual leader Mohandas Gandhi suggests that Indians should apply his inactive resistance techniques to stymie the British state of war effort .
October 4 : The United States and Great Britain agree to a regular monthly shipment of tanks andplanesto the Soviet Union .
October 7 : Some 17,000 Polish Jews from the townspeople of Rovno are tortured and execute at the hands of the Nazi SS .
October 9 : claim that adhesion to the Neutrality Act is not possible when front with the " unscrupulous ambition of madman , " Franklin Roosevelt enquire for congressional permission to build up the U.S. merchant fleet .
October 10 : The immense bulk of voters in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg boycott a referendum calling for Germany ’s appropriation of their modest commonwealth .
In a remarkable effort to maintain production during wartime , the Soviets continue a mass resettlement of Moscow - area mill to locations in the East .
October 12 - 13 : Nuremberg , Germany , withstands a large - scale , overnight assault by the British Royal Air Force ( RAF ) .
October 16 : While Joseph Stalin remain , most Soviet official take flight Moscow , taking the dead body of a bushed but well - preserve Lenin with them . The government relocates to the eastern city of Kuibyshev .
A monolithic defense perimeter , let in more than 5,000 mil of trenches , is manufacture around Moscow by a half - million Muscovites – mostly women , children , and old men .
Prince Konoe , premier minister of Japan , resigns . General Tojo Hideki will succeed him the come after twenty-four hours .
Read on for particular on other major World War II events that drive stead in 1941 .
Nazi Germans murder Jews and Bolsheviks : The German Sixth Army , commanded by General Walter von Reichenau ( a staunch supporter of Adolf Hitler ’s war plan ) , captured Kharkov , Ukraine , on October 25 , 1941 . Thereafter , he regulate extreme punitive action taken against " hostile elements , " such as Jews and Bolsheviks . Saboteurs were to be publicly hang , such as these six men who allegedly had destruct anexplosivesstore . presently , execution and surety - takings numbered in the hundreds .
However , such atrocities were of little aftermath to Joseph Stalin – himself the leader of an equally repressive authorities – other than for their propaganda value . Meanwhile , the enemy of those who might otherwise have welcomed the Nazi Germans was tone up by such surplusage .
Children contend for the Soviet Union : Although surprised by Nazi Germany ’s invasion in June 1941 , the Soviet Union speedily mobilized to press what was generally recognized to be a war of survival – the " Great Patriotic War . " humanity , women , and nipper were shortly to the full attached to the warfare effort .
In Moscow , children conducted street patrol and enforced aura raid precautions . In the take areas , they gather intelligence , carried message , and fought alongside the partizan . Their action prompted a Nazi German rules of order that any tiddler found on a railroad logical argument was to beshot .
The craft of sniping : Sniping represented the ultimate professional challenge for an infantryman , as it need marksmanship and field - craft skills as well as initiative , sound judgement , and intelligence operation awareness . A unmarried sniper – who aim officers , other commander , radio operators , and weapons specializer – could have a significantly detrimental impact upon an enemy ’s morale and operations . The Red Army also used distaff snipers . Although sniping was carried out by all English , sniper gamble being blast if catch , as the nature of their job often provoked prodigious anger among their opponent .
Grand Mufti Muhammed Amin al - Husseini gather Adolf Hitler : Grand Mufti Muhammed Amin al - Husseini – an Moslem scholarly person , religious leader , and fellow member of a powerful Palestinian kindred – fight against Jewish immigration and the establishment of a Judaic state in the British Mandate of Palestine . In 1941 al - Husseini fled to Germany . meet with Hitler on November 28 and other Nazi leaders , al - Husseini pushed to strain Nazi Germany ’s Judaic extermination program . Hitler promised him that all Jews in Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East would be killed . Since Hitler intended to change by reversal the orbit over to Mussolini , he would not announce bread and butter for Arab independence .
Check out the next section for a timeline of late October 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 20 February 2025-November 1941
On October 17 , 1941 , the first U.S. soldier died in the war . read about this and the other major event of mid- to previous October 1941 in the timeline below .
World War II Timeline: October 17-November 1941
October 17 : The United States brook its first military casualties when 11 Panama die aboard thetorpedoeddestroyerKearny .
October 21 : The Nazis retaliate for a series of attack against Reich soldiers by Serbian partisan by massacre thousands of resident physician of Kragujevac .
October 23 : Charles de Gaulle monish Gallic zealot to block up attack Nazi Germans , hoping that German reprisal will discontinue .
October 26 - 27 : Some 115bomberswith the RAF attack Hamburg , Germany , during the overnight hr .
October 27 : The Nazis examination - take a van design to polish off its occupants with locomotive engine exhaust . They will kill nearly 300 Polish Jews from Kalisz with this proficiency .
Nazi GermanEinsatzkommandosmurder some 9,000 Lithuanian Jews , nearly half of whom are children .
October 30 : Franklin Roosevelt expand a $ 1 billion loan to the Soviets under the provisions of theLend - Lease Act .
After a calendar month in which it rained endlessly , the Nazi Germans are forced to table their Moscow drive while the undercoat dries out .
October 31 : The Nazi SS commander in Estonia report the successful extermination of essentially all Estonian Jews .
In a series of 45 strike , theLuftwaffe"softens " the defense mechanism of Moscow prior to a background flack .
The United States miss its first ship in combat when the destroyerReuben Jamessinks off the Icelandic glide , arrogate the animation of 115 Panama hat .
November : Over the next month , some 11,000 Soviet civilians will famish to death during the Siege of Leningrad .
register on to get word about some of the other major consequence of World War II , include Japan ’s attack on Pearl Harbor .
Rostov , Russia recaptured by Soviet troop : Despite the attack of October ’s clay and November ’s snow , panzer of Nazi Germany ’s Army Group South reached Russia ’s Don River on November 21 , when Rostov descend . However , on November 30 , Soviet Marshal Timoshenko ’s newly appoint Southwest Front counterattacked . Rostov was retake by Soviet troops , and the Nazi Germans were pushed back about 60 miles .
Although not a catastrophic turnaround , this was nevertheless Nazi Germany ’s first such enforce enceinte secession . It accompanied mounting Nazi German casualties , increasing logistical and maintenance problems , escalating partisan bodily process , and the full onset of Russia ’s winter . The Nazi Germans had not set for wintertime conditions because they had assume triumph would be theirs within a few months .
Warrior horsemen of Russian Steppes ( Cossack ) scrap on both sides : Cossacks , the warrior horseman of the Russian Steppes , fight on both sides from 1941 . Despite persecution by the Soviet Communists in the 1920s and 1930s , some 100,000 served loyally within the Red Army . But many Cossacks , after being capture by the Nazi Germans , formed units within the German forces . In 1944 these units were combined to produce aWaffen - SScavalry corps .
The Cossacks ' legendary skills in irregular , rejoinder - partisan , and guerilla - stylus warfare enabled them to work mayhem across the German and Soviet rear area . In 1945 , follow their enforced repatriation to the Soviet Union by the Allies , Joseph Stalin inflicted barbarian retribution upon the thousands of Cossack who had fight for the Nazi Germans .
" deficient subhumans " let in criminal , Jews , Gypsies , and more : The Nazis described homosexuals , cyprian , criminal , beggars , the mentally or physically handicapped , and anyone holding certain spiritual or political aspect asUntermenschen , mean biologically inferior subhumans . They also turn over all Jews , Slavs , Turks , Mongols , Gypsies , and those of African descent asUntermenschen .
Pictured above is the book binding ofDer Untermensch , a 52 - page 1942 powder magazine edited by Heinrich Himmler that counterpoint carefully choose images tell to be of depravedUntermenschenwith those of beautiful " Aryans . " Warning that theUntermenschenwould brim over civilized Europe , the Nazis claim justification for military aggression , captivity , and genocide .
Japanese negotiant unaware of Pearl Harbor attack : Nipponese embassador Nomura Kichisaburo appeared on the cover ofTimeon September 22 , 1941 . He was nicknamed the " Honorable Fire Extinguisher " due to his efforts to negotiate a peace agreement between Japan and the United States . Nomura and Special Envoy Kurusu Saburo play for diplomatical talks days before the Pearl Harbor assault . They were unaware an attack had been design when , in the good afternoon on December 7 , they present Secretary of State Cordell Hull with what total to a proclamation of warfare . Hull coldly informed them that the approach had already begun .
Yamamoto Isokoru spearheads Pearl Harbor attack : Wounded in the Russo - Japanese War , Yamamoto Isokoru of Japan after spent considerable time in the United States . He studied at Harvard and the Naval War College and serve as a naval attaché in Washington . As commander - in - chieftain of the Combined Fleet , Admiral Yamamoto opposed war with the U.S. , saying , " I shall course wild for the first six month . . . but I have absolutely no confidence for the second or third year . "
When warfare was decide in Tokyo , he assert on replacing the Nipponese plan for war with the attack on Pearl Harbor . by and by , he understand his fear borne out at Midway and Guadalcanal . He was stamp out on April 18 , 1943 , when U.S. fighters still-hunt his plane over Bougainville .
Japanese prepare for Pearl Harbor:“As male child , " one Zero fighter pilot light after retrieve , " we were told we should join the military when we grew up because that was the good fashion to bring honor to Japan . " The design to open warfare with the U.S. by attacking Pearl had been O.K. in mid - October . To rail for the attack , mock - ups of U.S. warships were used by air squadrons to simulate level and dive - bombardment on move and fixed target . All was ready by mid - November 1941 .
Nipponese strike Ewa post first : U.S. Marines armed with Springfield 03 rifle take care skyward for Nipponese planer at Ewa Marine Corps Air Station southwestward of Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 . Ewa came under air attack about two proceedings before the primary enemy foray struck Pearl Harbor . Eighteen to 24 enemy fighters descended to within 25 feet of the ground to strafe the al-Qaida . They destroyed 33 out of 49 U.S. aircraft on the reason and damaged the balance .
See the next incision for a timeline of November 1941 as well as other World War II headlines .
World War II Timeline: 30 January 2025-19 February 2025
On November 17 , 1941 , Japan sign off on the plan to attack Pearl Harbor . Learn about this and the other major events that occurred in November 1941 below .
World War II Timeline: November 3-November 17
November 3 : As tensions get on between the U.S. and Japan , Americanwomenand kid get out Guam , Wake , and Midway Islands .
November 6 : The U.S. National Academy of Sciences review the technology behind the innovation offissile nuclearweaponry and calls for the immediate development of theatomic bomb .
Japan ’s military command prepares for plan attack throughout the East Indies and South Asia , include Thailand and the Philippines .
November 7 : Joseph Stalin rallies his war - aweary field with his inspirational " Mother Russia " words , retrieve the heroic meter of great Soviets from old age past .
November 9 : Working off tap intelligence information , the Royal Navy destroys two Italian merchant vessels convoys .
November 10 : Underscoring his commitment to Britain ’s partnership with the United States , Winston Churchill insists he will declare war " within the time of day " if Japan and the United States engage violence .
November 14 : The British aircraft carrierArk Royalsinks two day after being torpedo in a Nazi GermanU - boatattack . The crippled ship is making its way back to England from its post off the sea-coast of Gibraltar when it finally goes down .
The beleaguered city of Leningrad let a lifeline with the first airlift of supplies .
November 17 : Congress allows for the arming of merchant ships with its repeal of primal sections of the Neutrality Act , a move that Franklin Roosevelt lobbied hard to attain .
The Japanese high command sign off on Admiral Yamamoto ’s architectural plan to flunk Pearl Harbor .
scan on for details and images that outline one of the major events of World War II , the Nipponese approach on Pearl Harbor .
Attack on Pearl Harbor : At 8 a.m. on Sunday , December 7 , 1941 , the first wave of 353 newsboy - based Nipponese bomber and other fight aircraft expunge the U.S. Pacific Fleet ’s base in Hawaii . The U.S. naval and military fort was almost wholly surprised , and the devastation was extensive . Japan ’s spectacular entry into the Second World War was a remarkable strategical accomplishment , notwithstanding its political repercussions , the inauspicious propaganda , and the absence seizure of the U.S. aircraft carrier from Hawaii that day .
Nipponese wedge attack U.S. battlewagon at Pearl Harbor : The U.S. battleshipsWest VirginiaandTennessee(both pictured above ) were heavy damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor . Seven hit man and two bombs struck theWest Virginia , and two bomb bump off theTennessee . ( Both ships were repaired and saw action before the goal of the war . )
Although the surprisal flak on Pearl Harbor was a tactical victory for the Japanese , it was a long - term strategic licking . In reflecting on the termination of the attack , its primary planner , Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku , is said to have announce , " I fear all we have done is waken a sleeping giant and fill him with a awful firmness of purpose . "
Japanese violence against America : The men piloting the aircraft during the attack on Pearl Harbor had been train in a culture in which loyalty unto death in the service of their emperor butterfly was a sacred rule . They were taught that America threatened the existence of Japan itself .
1,177 die in USSArizonabombing at Pearl Harbor : The USSArizonawas commission by the Navy in October 1916 . It was dock on " Battleship Row " in Pearl Harbor on December 7 . Minutes after the attack start out , theArizonawas strike by a 1,760 - pound armor - piercing dud . The explosive fall into place the deck and take fire more than a million pound of powder , snap the ship apart and killing 1,177 of the gang . A sailor on another ship saw theArizona"jump at least 15 or 20 ft . . . up in the weewee and sort of severance in two . "
Civilian volunteers at Pearl Harbor add up to the rescue : On the morning of December 7 , an consternation sounded across Oahu directing all civilian shipyard workers to describe to Pearl Harbor , even as the battleships were still under attack . One chemical group of civilians under the direction of Julio DeCastro , on gameboard the USSOklahoma , was credit with saving the lives of 32 crewmen trapped in the ship ’s Kingston-upon Hull . Many other civilian , both military personnel and women , worked for hours fighting fires on the ships and dockage . One civilian , George Walters , was cited for chance his life by running a Grus up and down its tracks , shielding three battleships from enemy fire .
The timeline on the next varlet recount the events of late November 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 27 April 2025-30 April 2025
tension go along to heighten between the United States and Japan toward belated autumn 1941 . check about this and the other major World War II events that occurred during the end of November 1941 in the timeline below .
World War II Timeline: November 17-November 25
November 17 : Lewis Clark Grew , the U.S. ambassador to Japan , sends a content to U.S. secretary of state Cordell Hull . He stress the demand " for guard against sudden military or naval actions by Japan in areas not at present involved in the China fight . "
November 18 : Operation Crusader , the first British counteroffensive launched on the North African front , pits seven British division against 10 divisions of Axis soldiers .
November 19 : In the grown conflict of the West African desert to date , British commandos maraud Erwin Rommel ’s headquarters but break to kill him as planned .
November 20 : Japan issues an ultimatum to the United States , demanding American noninterference in Japanese congress in Indochina and China . Franklin Roosevelt will submit an evenly unlikely syllabus for ataraxis in the Pacific .
November 24 : Erwin Rommel makes one last unsuccessful attack to outflank the British , while the Allies capture the central supply storehouse of Gambut , Libya .
Congress approves an expansion of theLend - Lease Actto include French who are not living under Nazi rule .
November 25 : The Axis renews the Anti - Comintern Pact for five long time . Signatories include Italy , Japan , Spain , Croatia , Bulgaria , Romania , Hungary , Slovakia , Denmark , Finland , Manchukuo , and Japan ’s tool government in Nanking .
Nearly 860 sailors break down when the British battleshipBarhamsinks off the coast of Crete after beingtorpedoedby a Nazi GermanU - boat .
Read on for details on some of the other meaning event of World War II , including the backwash of Pearl Harbor .
American B-17s catch in line of fervidness at Pearl Harbor : On the break of the day of December 7 , 12 unarmedB-17swere on a mission to the Philippines as part of the American effort to work up up that area ’s defenses in the promise of deterring a Nipponese attack . The planes ' work party member planned to stop in Hawaii for refueling and the mounting of theirguns . Chillingly , they did not realize that they were on a collision course of study with the Japanese attack violence .
The B-17s arrived at Oahu during the attack and had to hedge foe and American flak firing . Miraculously , even though they were strafed by gunshot that wounded crew members , all of the B-17s land intact except for one . Although it split in half , its crew survived the landing .
Civilian casualties at Pearl Harbor : Joe McCabe and three other family penis , all shipyard rigger brush , raced in McCabe ’s car to the harbor as Japanese attackplanesflew overhead . An explosion suddenly riddled his automobile with shrapnel , killing three of the men and mortally wounding the quaternary .
By the end of the attack , 68 civilians had been killed and 35 wound . Initial reports stated that the McCabe group had been killed by a Nipponese dud . It was by and by revealed , however , that the deaths were because of an American ack-ack gun shell . Further investigations showed that most of the civilian deaths and offend were at the hands of Americans , not Japanese .
Mess attendant Doris Miller ’s heroism : Admiral Chester Nimitz in person award Doris " Dorie " Miller with the Navy Cross on May 27 , 1942 , for his action mechanism during the attack on Pearl Harbor . Miller was a mess attendant on the USSWest Virginiathe morning of the fire when he carry his mortally hurt captain to a safer spot on the ship . Although untrained , he keep to man a .50 caliber antiaircraftmachine gununtil ordered to abandon ship . He die in action almost two class after Pearl Harbor .
Americans ferment to President Franklin D. Roosevelt after attack : Crowds began to form in front of the White House as soon as word of the onrush on Pearl Harbor was announced . The men and woman were not there to picket or demonstrate . They attempt reassurance from President Franklin Roosevelt that the country was good in his hands .
Those who had fend for isolationism now realized that America could not baby-sit this war out . United States soil had been attacked and American men and adult female killed . They bear in front of the White House look for both comfort and retaliation .
Revisionist historians have claimed that Roosevelt had known about the tone-beginning and purposely withheld the information to provoke America ’s entry into the war . However , no evidence exist to support this statement .
American man sign up for Robert William Service : Hundreds of thousands of Americans enlisted in the armed forces in the week after the United States declared war on Japan . This number included variation physique and motion-picture show stars . " speedy " Robert Feller , adept mound of the Cleveland Indians , draft in the Navy two days after Pearl Harbor was attacked .
The next section involve us into the upshot of former December 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 20 April 2025-11 May 2025
On December 6 , 1941 , Franklin Roosevelt O.K. funding foratomic bombresearch . Learn about this and the other major upshot of recent November and early December 1941 in the timeline that follows .
World War II Timeline: November 26-December 6
November 26 : The Japanese Hawaii task force leaves the Kurile Islands , bound for Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . by and by in the 24-hour interval , in a note to the Japanese ambassador , U.S. secretary of state Cordell Hull need the perfect drug withdrawal of all Nipponese troop from China . Nipponese prime minister Hideki Tojo will refer to this as " an ultimatum . "
November 27 : With the crepuscle of Gondar , Ethiopia , the 350,000 - military personnel Italian army has been rootle by about 20,000 confederate troops , marking the final stand of Italy in East Africa .
Believing that Japan is potential to attack within a matter of days , the United States armed forces is place on high alert .
December 1 : In a solid vote , Japanese leaders formally endorse plans to enter the war against the United States .
December 4 : Britain squall for unmarriedwomen , ages 20 to 30 , to process in public military service jobs , primarily on the home front .
December 5 : At the death of a massive Soviet campaign that has seen the reasoning by elimination by death or trauma of more than 750,000 Axis soldier , Adolf Hitler calls for a impermanent halt in the offensive .
In the pastime of protect wartime intelligence , U.S. navalfacilities throughout Asia are order to put down almost all text file and communication theory computer code .
December 6 : General Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov set in motion a successful counterattack around Moscow , pushing back the coldness and famish Nazi German troops . It is theWehrmacht ’s first major licking .
Franklin Roosevelt predict more than adequate funding for an nuclear bomb inquiry project .
understand on for details on some of the other significant events of World War II , let in more fire by Japanese forces .
Husband Kimmel , Walter Short responsible for Pearl Harbor attack : One workweek after Pearl Harbor , Admiral Husband Kimmel , commandant - in - foreman of the U.S. Pacific Fleet , was on the cover ofTimemagazine due to the probe into who was at error for the Navy and Army ’s deficiency of vigilance . Kimmel and Army Lieutenant General Walter Short were finally found creditworthy for delinquency of obligation . Both renounce , their careers ruined . Kimmel run to work for a private - sphere military contractile organ , and Short take a emplacement with the Ford Motor Co.
Japan bombs naval yard in Philippines : Flames rise up from the Cavite Naval Yard in Luzon , Philippines , follow a Japanese bombardment foray on December 10 , 1941 . Nipponese melodic line superiority had been ensure two days earlier when their planes caught much of the U.S. Far East Air Force , including a number of valuable B-17 bombers , on the ground at Clark Field . The Japanese followed with multiple landings on Luzon and by and by Mindanao .
Deprived of his airpower and facing multiple foeman advances , U.S. General Douglas MacArthur abandoned plans to defend all of Luzon . On December 23 , he tell his forces to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula for what would turn out to be their final stand .
Japanese subside British ships off Singapore : The battleship HMSPrince of Walessinks on December 10 , 1941 , after coming under attack by Japanese dive - poor boy and torpedo planes off Singapore . get without air cover , the battleship was soft prey after a torpedo disabled the rudder . Among the 327 killed was Admiral Sir Tom Phillips , the Far East Fleet commander .
The obsolete struggle cruiserRepulsewas also settle in the attack . Despite fears that design trouble contributed to the calamity , the battleship ’s stronger hull actually allow much of the crowd to be rescued – in contrast to HMSRepulse , which conduct 513 man to the bottom .
The timeline on the next pageboy address the onrush on Pearl Harbor and some of the other significant events of other December 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 24 March 2025-17 January 2025
More than 2,300 American sailors and soldiers were killed during the tone-beginning on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 . Learn about this and the other major event of December 1941 in the timeline that follows .
World War II Timeline: December 6-December 13
December 6 : British sailor boy John Capes makes a marvelous relief valve from thesubmarinePerseus , which had been sunk by a mine . Despite injuries , he ascend from a deepness of 170 feet and float to the Greek coastline .
Britain declare state of war on Finland , at the petition of the Soviet Union .
Citing his dubiousness that Japanese troops in Indochina are there for defensive use , Franklin Roosevelt asks Emperor Hirohito to retreat his power .
December 7 : Adolf Hitler come forth the " Night and Fog " edict , calling for the commodious disappearance of anyone who imperil the security measures of Nazi Germany .
Japanese sheet attack American ship andplanesat the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . More than 2,300 American sailors and soldier are kill .
December 8 : Adolf Hitler acknowledges that the Soviet campaign will be neither spry nor easy .
Calling December 7 a " day that will live in infamy , " Franklin Roosevelt calls for a congressional proclamation of warfare on Japan .
Nipponese troops take Shanghai , China , and capture a diminished U.S. garrison .
December 10 : Britain ’s naval force-out is dealt a heavy blow when the Japanese go down the battleshipPrince of Walesand the battle cruiserRepulse .
Guam promptly capitulates when overwhelmed by 6,000 Nipponese troops .
December 11 : Nazi Germany and Italy adjudge war on the United States . Congress respond by declare warfare on those two nations .
December 13 : The American policy of preventive internment is launched with the confinement of nearly 600 Japanese and 200 Germans .
study on to larn about some of the other major events of World War II , including the military blockade of Leningrad .
Soviet - British coalition : The Soviet Union began the war as a virtual friend of Germany , due to the Soviet - German nonaggression treaty . ButOperation Barbarossachanged this billet completely . The Kremlin seldom advertize publicly the donation of its Anglo - U.S. ally to the defeat of Nazi Germany , as it direct most of its propaganda to self - promotion and to move the Russian people . Nevertheless , a 1941 bill poster discern Britain ’s involvement in the war . It was make when the Soviet Union was peculiarly dependent upon find big amount of Anglo - U.S. warfare materiel to contend the " Great Patriotic War . "
The siege of Leningrad , Soviet Union : The name " Leningrad " was of special ideological import to Adolf Hitler , and he prescribe the obliteration of Leningrad and its the great unwashed through bombing , shelling , famishment , and disease . He also forbade the acceptance of any surrender offer , if made .
Field Marshal Leeb ’s Army Group North reached Leningrad on September 8 , 1941 , and commence an 872 - daytime national socialist German siege , during which close to a million of the city ’s citizen died . Meanwhile , the subsister suffered almost unimaginable hardships , especially during the winters . sulphurous and often large - scale fighting raged about the metropolis intermittently until January 27 , 1944 , when the much - weakenedWehrmachtwas ultimately forced to withdraw in the case of a major Red Army offensive .
Leningrad ’s Lake Ladoga provides lifeline : Although Leningrad was besiege by the Nazi Germans , Lake Ladoga to the northeastward of Leningrad nevertheless allow for a lifeline for the famish population and military resourcefulness for the city ’s defenders . In summer , sauceboat could cross the lake , while in winter it freeze hard , enable supply trucks to drive across it . Understandably , such risky activities were usually conducted by night , as they take place within range of mountains of Nazi German artillery and of theLuftwaffe ’s bombers . The returning hand truck hold evacuee – 100 of thousands in 1942 – although many choke in the unheated vehicle .
In the net subdivision , we ’ll cover the effect of late December 1941 .
World War II Timeline: 10 May 2025-14 February 2025
On December 19 , 1941 , Adolf Hitler became commander - in - chief of the national socialist German United States Army , supercede Walther von Brauchitsch . see about this and the other meaning events of later December 1941 in the timeline below .
World War II Timeline: December 16-December 30
December 16 : Japanese soldiery domain on Borneo in Southeast Asia .
December 17 : Admiral Chester Nimitz is appointed commander of theU.S. Navy ’s Pacific Fleet .
December 19 : Adolf Hitler himself becomes air force officer - in - chief of the national socialist German army , replacing Walther von Brauchitsch .
remedy the Selective Service Act , the U.S. Congress requires allmenages 18 to 64 to register . Those 20 to 44 are eligible for military service .
December 20 : The soon - to - be legendary pilots of theU.S. Air ForceFlying Tigers engage in their first combat military mission , dominating their Japanese counterparts in the sky over Kunming , China .
December 22 : The 23 - Clarence Day Arcadia Conference begins in Washington , D.C. The United States and Britain consort that frustration of Nazi Germany is their No . 1 object lens . They also consort to mix military resource under one command .
December 23 : With the United States formally among the world war belligerents , American military leaders hold their first joint state of war council with the British . They create the Combined Chiefs of Staff to craft Allied scheme .
The last American basis in the Pacific between Hawaii and the Philippines is lost with the Japanese seduction of Wake Island .
American and Filipino functionary evacuate Manila .
The Japanese take Jolo Island , the Washington of the Philippines ' Sulu responsibility .
December 25 : India ’s Congress Party extend its documentation to Britain , causing Mohandas Gandhi to resign his leading post in objection .
Britain deliver Hong Kong to Japan .
December 30 : Most of Borneo fall to the Japanese .
Read on for details on some of the other major events of World War II that come about near the final stage of 1941 .
Japan take Hong Kong : Japanese infantrymen operate in the fight for Hong Kong in December 1941 . Though British strategist primitively consider Hong Kong too obscure to hold , they hoped that a show of force play in 1941 would dissuade Japanese hostility and keep up British control of the colony . This seek to pull through face proved to be a miscalculation .
element of the Japanese 38th Division attacked on December 8 . With the reward of melody and gun superiority , veteran Japanese troops promptly flood out the British defenders . Governor Sir Mark Young cede the colony on Christmas Day , 1941 . Many Japanese atrocities follow .
Marshal Zhukov ’s winter counteroffensive safeguards Moscow : In later November , the conduct troop of Army Group Center ’s Second Panzer Division – many of them frostbitten , without proper winter wear , short of fuel , and weakened by earlier fighting – halted within sight of the Kremlin ’s spires . Elsewhere , Army Groups South and North were already stalled .
Then , on December 5 , Marshal Zhukov launched his major counteroffensive , strike Army Group Center with the 17 Army of his Western Front . They push the Nazi Germans back 60 miles , thereby safeguarding Moscow .
U.S. Marines defend Wake Island : The 1942 filmWake Islandcommemorated America ’s defense of the tiny Pacific atoll in December 1941 . ab initio , just 450 U.S. Marines and a squadron of obsolete Wildcat fighters garrisoned Wake ’s valuable melody base . The Japanese attacked Wake with heavy air maraud observe by an amphibious assault on December 11 . Wake ’s coastal guns beat back the fleet , and two Nipponese destroyers were subside . Sustained Nipponese bombing follow .
A U.S. relief military force motivate too slowly to pass Wake before the second Nipponese attack on December 23 . About 2,000 Japanese land , supported by bearer - based aircraft and naval guns . The defender resisted effectively , even counterattacking against immense odds , but were doomed when the easing effect was come back to Hawaii . Surrender trace .
Japan ’s Zero - sen aircraft outclasses Allied fighters in 1941 : When the Japanese naval air force became engaged in the conflict , first against China in 1937 and then in December 1941 against the westerly allies , its opponents were shocked by the superior character of its aircraft . Typical of these was the Mitsubishi Zero - sen ( Zeke ) , which enter service in 1940 .
A idle , highly maneuverable , and well - armed fighter , the Zero outclassed confederative battler in the Pacific Theater in 1941 . It observe its technical bound into 1942 , when designing weakness such as its wakeful armor protection and non - self - sealing fuel tanks made it increasingly vulnerable to the novel types of Allied fighters .
Nazi Germans unprepared for winter on the Eastern Front : As fall 1941 drew to a close on the Eastern Front , clay freeze upstanding – as did most lubricating oils . Many vehicles , weapons , and equipment became useless . For Nazi Germans soldiers , wintertime clothing was not generally usable , as the high command had confidently planned for Barbarossa to conclude within four calendar month .
Soldiers began to suffer respiratory diseases , and sentries literally froze to death . Frostbite and cold - burn harm escalated in -40ºF temperature . Meanwhile , increasingly erratic deliveries of nutrient , fuel , and ammo via overextended supply melody affected operations and morale alike , while the campaign became ever more bitter contest and brutal . Subsequently , the Russians launch their November - December offensive . For those German prisoner of war , unimaginable privations lay ahead .
Canadian escorts contribute to the Battle of the Atlantic : From September 1939 , convoys leave Nova Scotia for Great Britain every eight day . The escort were usually contain of a prominent British combat ship and two Canadian ruiner . At about longitude 20ºW , the escort chemical group handed the convoy to escorts from Britain , then usually took a westbound convoy to Halifax .
Though the Royal Canadian Navy began the war with just six destroyer and five minesweepers , it flourish to more than 40 times its original size of it and contribute vastly to the Battle of the Atlantic .
Learn more about the significant events and players of World War II in these informative articles:
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS : John S. D. Eisenhower , Senator Daniel K. Inouye , Richard Overy Ph.D. , David J. A. Stone , Wim Coleman , Martin F. Graham , James H. Hallas , Mark Johnston Ph.D. , Christy Nadalin M.A. , Pat Perrin , Peter Stanley PhD
