|
1941 |
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January |
Rationing of
clothes introduced in Britain |
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January 3rd |
Italy launched a counter-offensive in
Albania against the Greeks. This was the first of 46 Italian attacks - all
repulsed by the Greeks. |
|
January 22nd |
British and Australian forces captured
Tobruk in North Africa. |
|
January 29th |
South African forces entered Italian
Somaliland. |
|
February 4th |
The British started a mechanised movement
which encircled the Italians to the south of Benghazi. |
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February 6th |
British and Australian forces entered
Benghazi.
Rommel
was appointed commander of the German Afrika Corps. |
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February 10th |
Mussolini accepted Hitler's offer of a
German armoured division to support Italian forces in North Africa. |
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February 12th |
Rommel
arrived in Tripoli. |
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February 14th |
First German units arrived in Tripoli. |
|
February 22nd |
Anthony Eden went to Athens to discuss the
possibility of a German attack on Greece. |
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February 24th |
German and British forces clashed for the
first time in the Western Desert. |
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March 2nd |
German troops enter Bulgaria |
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March 6th |
British forces invaded Ethiopia. The start
of a three week blockage of the Suez Canal by the Germans placing magnetic
and acoustic mines there. |
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March 9th |
Italy launched a major attack on the Greeks
but to no avail. |
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April 4th |
The Germans capture Benghazi. |
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April 6th |
Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece.
British forces occupy Addis Ababa in
Ethiopia.
|
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April 10th |
The start of the siege of Tobruk after the
Germans failed to capture it.
The Germans captured Zagreb.
|
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April 12th |
Germany accepted the surrender of Belgrade. |
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April 17th |
The Yugoslavian Army surrenders |
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May 10th |
Last of the heavy air raids on Britain.
The Blitz ended. |
|
May 24th |
HMS Hood sunk by
the Bismarck with the loss of 1,416 men out of
a crew of 1,419. |
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May 27th |
The Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy.
Out of a crew of 2,200, just over 100 survived. |
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June 22nd |
The German invasion of Russia
– Operation Barbarossa began. |
|
September 1st |
The first German shell landed in Leningrad
- the start of the 900 day siege. |
|
September 27th |
Italian forces surrendered at the Wolchefit
Pass, Ethiopia. |
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September 28th |
The first Allied convoy to
Russia took place. |
|
October 2nd |
The final phase of the German attack on Russia
started - the attack on Moscow. |
|
October 6th |
Churchill
promised Stalin that a convoy would sail
to Russia every 10 days. |
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November 28th |
Italian forces surrender at Gondar ending
Mussolini's East African venture. |
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December 5th |
The Russian counter-attack in Moscow
started. |
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December 7th |
The Japanese attacked the American
Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. |
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December 8th |
Britain and America declared war on Japan. |
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December 11th |
Germany declared war on America. |
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December 31st |
By this date, a total of 53 merchant ships
had reached Russia and delivered 750 tanks, 800 fighter planes, 1,400
vehicles and 100,000 tons of general stores. |
