2nd January » World War II: Strategic bombing during World War II named German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff named Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
6th January » United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
9th January » World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
9th January » World War II: The Greek 'Triton' (Y-5) sinks the Italian submarine 'Neghelli' in Otranto.
10th January » World War II: The Greece Greek army Capture of Klisura Pass captures Këlcyrë Kleisoura.
17th January » Franco-Thai War: Vichy France called French forces Battle of Ko Chang known as inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
22nd January » World War II: British Empire British and Commonwealth of Nations Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Regio Esercito Italian forces during Operation Compass Tobruk Operation Compass.
23rd January » Charles Lindbergh testifies before the Congress of the United States e.g U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
25th January » Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
28th January » Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
29th January » Alexandros Koryzis becomes List of Prime Ministers of Greece called Prime Minister of Greece upon the sudden death of his predecessor, dictator Ioannis Metaxas.
4th February » The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
5th February » World War II: Allies of World War II e.g Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
23rd February » Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
25th February » February Strike: In History of the Netherlands (1939-1945) German occupation known as occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis.
1st March » World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, allying itself with the Axis powers.
1st March » W47NV (now known as WSM-FM) begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee becoming the first FM radio station in the United States called U.S..
2nd March » World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria Military history of Bulgaria during World War II known as after it joins the Axis Pact.
4th March » World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commandos or British Commando raid.
11th March » World War II: President of the United States known as President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies of World War II called Allies on loan.
15th March » Philippine Airlines, the flag carrier of the Philippines takes its first flight between Manila (from Nielson Field) to Baguio or Baguio City with a Beechcraft Model 18 making the airline the first and oldest commercial airline in Asia operating under its
17th March » In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
19th March » World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the United States Army Air Corps called US Army Air Corps, is activated.
25th March » The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers with the signing of the Tripartite Pact.
27th March » World War II: Yugoslavian Air Force officers topple the Axis powers or pro-Axis government in a Yugoslavian military coup of March 27, 1941 e.g bloodless coup.
28th March » World War II: Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean Sea, United Kingdom named British Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham leads the Royal Navy in the destruction of three major Italy named Italian heavy cruisers and two destroyers.
29th March » The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time.
29th March » World War II: Armed Forces of the United Kingdom e.g British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian 'Regia Marina' off the Peloponnesus e.g Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
1st April » Fântâna Albă massacre: between 200 and 2,000 Romanians or Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Guards.
1st April » The Blockade Runner Badge for the Germany called German navy is instituted.
6th April » World War II: Nazi Germany launches Invasion of Yugoslavia called Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
13th April » A Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact e.g Pact of neutrality between the Soviet Union called USSR and Japan is signed.
14th April » World War II: German general Erwin Rommel attacks Siege of Tobruk called Tobruk.
15th April » In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom killing one thousand people.
16th April » World War II: The Italian convoy 'Duisburg', directed to Tunisia, is attacked and destroyed by United Kingdom e.g British ships.
16th April » World War II: The Ustaše, a Croatian far-right organization is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers after the Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia named Operation 25 invasion.
16th April » Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians throws the only Opening Day no-hitter in the history of Major League Baseball, beating the Chicago White Sox 1–0.
17th April » World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Nazi Germany known as Germany.
21st April » Emmanouil Tsouderos becomes the 132nd Prime Minister of Greece.
23rd April » World War II: The Greek government and George II of Greece known as King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
27th April » World War II: Germany called German troops Axis occupation of Greece e.g enter Athens.
27th April » World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as "National Democrats") and a group of progressive intellectuals establish the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People.
1st May » World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.
6th May » The first flight of the Republic Aviation known as Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
8th May » The German Luftwaffe launches a Nottingham Blitz named bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
9th May » World War II: The German submarine German submarine U-110 (1940) named 'U-110' is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allies of World War II or Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages
10th May » World War II: The British House of Commons e.g House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an airstrike called air raid.
10th May » World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
13th May » World War II: Kingdom of Yugoslavia called Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
15th May » First flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft.
19th May » Viet Minh, a communist coalition, formed at Cao Bằng Province, Vietnam.
20th May » World War II: Battle of Crete Nazi Germany called German Fallschirmjäger (World War II) or paratroops invade Crete.
24th May » World War II: In the Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945) Battle of the Atlantic, the German battleship Bismarck German Battleship 'Bismarck' sinks then-pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood 51 6, killing all but three crewmen.
27th May » World War II: The President of the United States named U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
27th May » World War II: The German battleship 'German battleship Bismarck or Bismarck' is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.
30th May » World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the Nazi swastika.
31st May » A Bombing of Dublin in World War II named Luftwaffe air raid on Dublin, Ireland, claims 38 lives.
1st June » World War II: the Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.
1st June » The Farhud, a pogrom of Iraqi Jews, takes place in Baghdad.
2nd June » World War II: German Fallschirmjäger (Nazi Germany) paratoopers murder Greece Greek civilians in the village of Massacre of Kondomari Kondomari.
3rd June » World War II: The Wehrmacht Razing of Kandanos known as razes the Greece named Greek village of Kandanos to the ground, killing 180 of its inhabitants.
5th June » World War II: Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxia known as asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.
8th June » World War II: Allies of World War II known as Allies Syria-Lebanon Campaign known as invade Syria and Lebanon.
14th June » June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, begins.
22nd June » Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
22nd June » The June Uprising in Lithuania begins.
23rd June » The Lithuanian Activist Front declares June Uprising in Lithuania e.g independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany known as Nazis will occupy Lit
26th June » World War II: Soviet planes Košice attack known as bomb Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia), giving Hungary the impetus to declare war the next day.
27th June » Romanian governmental forces, allies of Nazi Germany, launch Iaşi pogrom named one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iaşi, (Romania), resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews.
27th June » German troops capture the city of Białystok during Operation Barbarossa.
4th July » Nazi Germany Nazi troops Massacre of Lwów professors massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ukrainian city of Lviv.
4th July » World War II, the Burning of the Riga synagogues: the Great Choral Synagogue in German occupied Riga was burned with 300 Jews locked in the basement.
5th July » World War II: Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany named German troops reach the Dnieper River.
6th July » Nazi Germany launches its Battle of Smolensk (1941) known as offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.
7th July » World War II: U.S. forces land in Iceland, taking over from an earlier British occupation.
7th July » World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free French Forces called Free France and British troops.
10th July » Jedwabne Pogrom: The Wiktionary:massacre e.g massacre of Jewish people living in and near the village of Jedwabne in Poland.
13th July » World War II: Montenegro named Montenegrins begin a popular Uprising in Montenegro known as uprising against the Axis powers ('Trinaestojulski ustanak').
16th July » Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as a Major League Baseball or MLB record.
20th July » Soviet Union or Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria known as Lavrenti Beria its chief.
26th July » World War II: in response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, President of the United States or US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
27th July » Japanese troops occupy French Indochina.
31st July » The Holocaust: under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazism Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders Schutzstaffel SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary
5th August » World War II: The Battle of Smolensk (1941) called Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.
14th August » World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
15th August » Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.
22nd August » World War II: German troops reach Saint Petersburg known as Leningrad, leading to the siege of Leningrad.
29th August » Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany following an occupation by the Soviet Union.
31st August » World War II: Chetniks named Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica (1941) called Battle of Loznica.
3rd September » The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs.
4th September » World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack against a United States ship, the USS Greer DD-145 6.
5th September » Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
11th September » Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
16th September » World War II: Concerned that Rezā Shāh called Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, was about to ally his petroleum-rich empire with Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran known as invade Iran in late August and
17th September » World War II: A decree of the Soviet Union known as Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, is issued.
17th September » World War II: Soviet forces enter Teheran marking the end of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
22nd September » World War II: On Rosh Hashanah Jewish New Year Day, the Nazi Germany German Schutzstaffel SS murder 6,000 Jews in Vinnytsya, Ukraine. Those are the survivors of the previous killings that took place a few days earlier in which about 24,000 Jews were execu
27th September » The 'SS Patrick Henry' is launched becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
28th September » The Drama Uprising against the Bulgarian Axis occupation of Greece or occupation in northern Greece begins.
29th September » World War II: The Holocaust known as Holocaust in Kiev, Soviet Union: German Einsatzgruppe C begins the Babyn Yar known as Babi Yar massacre, according to the Einsatzgruppen operational situation report.
30th September » World War II: The Holocaust called Holocaust in Kiev, Ukraine: German Einsatzgruppe C complete Babi Yar massacre.
2nd October » World War II: In Operation Typhoon, Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow.
8th October » World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
9th October » A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president.
11th October » Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
17th October » For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
17th October » German troops War crimes of the Wehrmacht Reprisal actions named execute the male population of the villages Kerdyllia in Serres, Greece.
21st October » World War II: In Kragujevac, Serbia, German Wehrmacht soldiers Kragujevac massacre known as butcher about 7,000 citizens, including schoolchildren and professors.
22nd October » World War II: French resistance member Guy Môquet and 29 other hostages are executed by the Germans in retaliation for the death of a German officer.
23rd October » World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations to prevent the further advance into Soviet Union called Russia of Nazi Germany called German forces and to prevent the Wehrmacht from capturing Moscow.
29th October » The Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto over 10,000 Jews are shot by Nazi Germany called German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".
30th October » World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allies of World War II or Allied nations.
30th October » 1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) are sent by Nazis to Belzec extermination camp.
31st October » After 14 years of work, Mount Rushmore is completed.
31st October » World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James DD-245 6 is torpedoed by a Nazi Germany German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy U.S. Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.
1st November » American photographer Ansel Adams takes a Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico named picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico e.g Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography.
6th November » World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his 27-year rule. He falsely states that even though 350,000 troops were killed in Nazi Germany or German attacks so far, the Germans had lost 4.5 million
7th November » World War II: Soviet hospital ship 'Armenia (ship) e.g Armenia' is sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people died in the sinking.
12th November » World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
12th November » World War II: The Soviet cruiser 'Chervona Ukraina' is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
13th November » World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal 91 6 is torpedoed by GS U-81 1941 2, sinking the November 14 following day.
14th November » World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal 91 6 sinks due to torpedo damage from the GS U-81 1941 6 sustained on November 13.
14th November » World War II: In Slonim, German forces engaged in Operation Barbarossa murder 9,000 Jews in a single day.
19th November » World War II: Battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran e.g Battle between HMAS 'Sydney' and HSK 'Kormoran'. The two ships sink each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 Nazi Germany called German seame
24th November » World War II: The United States grants Lend-Lease to the Free French Forces.
25th November » HMS Barham (04) was sunk by a German torpedo during World War II.
1st December » World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives the final approval to initiate war against the United States.
1st December » World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs s:Administrative Order 9 known as Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
5th December » World War II: In the Battle of Moscow, Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre.
5th December » World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
6th December » World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada declare war on Finland in support of the Soviet Union during the Continuation War.
8th December » World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "Infamy Speech known as a date which will live in infamy", after which United States declaration of war upon Japan named the U.S. declares war on Japan.
8th December » World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Japanese invasion of Malaya Malaya, Japanese invasion of Thailand Thailand, Battle of Hong Kong Hong Kong, Philippines Campaign (1941–42) the Philippines, and Dutch East Indies campaign the Dutch East In
9th December » World War II: The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, and Commonwealth of the Philippines the Philippine Commonwealth, declare war on Nazi Germany Germany and Imperial Japan Japan.
9th December » World War II: The American 19th Operations Group called 19th Bombardment Group attacks Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon.
10th December » World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales 53 6 and HMS Repulse 1916 6 Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near British Malaya Malaya.
10th December » World War II: Battle of the Philippines (1941-42) called Battle of the Philippines Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
11th December » World War II: Second Polish Republic named Poland declares war on the Empire of Japan.
12th December » World War II: Fifty-four Empire of Japan called Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Philippine called Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.
12th December » World War II: United States Marine Corps known as USMC F4F Wildcat called F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
12th December » World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.
12th December » Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a Reich Chancellery meeting of 12 December 1941 named meeting in the Reich Chancellery
13th December » World War II: The Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Romania declare war on the United States.
14th December » World War II: Japan signs a treaty of alliance with Thailand.
15th December » The Holocaust: Nazi Germany known as German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Soviet Union.
17th December » World War II: Imperial Japanese Army or Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
19th December » World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-chief of the German Army (1935–1945) or German Army.
19th December » World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian Navy Italian divers heavily damage the HMS Valiant 1914 6 and HMS Queen Elizabeth 1913 6 in Raid on Alexandria (1941) Alexandria harbour.
20th December » World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
21st December » World War II: A formal treaty of alliance between Thailand and Japan is signed in the presence of the Emerald Buddha in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.
23rd December » World War II: After Battle of Wake Island named 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.
24th December » World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
25th December » Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the United States Pacific Fleet or U.S. Pacific Fleet
25th December » World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
25th December » Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
26th December » President of the United States known as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving (United States) known as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
28th December » World War II: Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate high-ranking Nazism called Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, commences.