World War Two 1941
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1941 |
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January |
Rationing of clothes introduced in Britain |
| 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. |
| February 6th |
British and Australian forces entered
Benghazi.
Rommel was appointed commander of the German Afrika Corps. |
| February 10th | Mussolini accepted Hitler's offer of a German armoured division to support Italian forces in North Africa. |
| February 12th | Rommel arrived in Tripoli. |
| 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. |
| February 24th | German and British forces clashed for the first time in the Western Desert. |
| March 2nd | German troops enter Bulgaria |
| 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. |
| March 9th | Italy launched a major attack on the Greeks but to no avail. |
| April 4th | The Germans capture Benghazi. |
| April 6th |
Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece.
British forces occupy Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. |
| April 10th |
The start of the siege of Tobruk after the
Germans failed to capture it.
The Germans captured Zagreb. |
| April 12th | Germany accepted the surrender of Belgrade. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| November 28th | Italian forces surrender at Gondar ending Mussolini's East African venture. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
