World War Two 1941

Two fo the biggest turning points of World War Two took place in the year 1941: the Germans turned their attention towards the Soviet Union, opening its 'Second Front', and Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. The lack of firepower and manpower meant the real impact of these events wasn't truly felt until 1943, but they still spurred on two very patriotic nations that had previously avoided using their full military force against the Axis.

During 1941, however, there were huge successes in the firm of codebreaking. Throughout the year, Allied codebreakers managed to intercept a huge number of coded messages, including a number concerning Greece. This provided the Allied forces with enough time to prepare their defenses. Although the forces could not prevent Greece falling under German rule, codebreaking was a strategy that would eventually prove critical to the Allied nations. This was also aided by the recovery of the first Enigma code machine in May, after which British codebreakers set about trying to crack the Enigma code.

See also:

World War Two 1944

1941	Event
January	The UK introduced clothes rationing was introduced in the UK.
3 January	Italy launched their first of 46 counter-offensives in Albania against Greece, but they repulsed all of them.
22 January	British and Australian forces captured Tobruk in North Africa.
29 January	South African forces entered Italian Somaliland.
4 February	The British encircled the Italians to the south of Benghazi.
6 February	British and Australian forces ventured into Benghazi. Rommel was made commander of the German Afrika Corps.
10 February	Mussolini agreed to Hitler's offer of supplying a German armoured division to Italian forces in North Africa.
12 February	Erwin Rommel arrived in Tripoli.
14 February	The first German units arrived in Tripoli.
22 February	Anthony Eden travelled to Athens to discuss the possibility of a German attack on Greece.
24 February	German and British forces clashed for the first time in the Western Desert.
2 March	German troops entered Bulgaria.
6 March	Ethiopia was invaded by British forces. The Germans placed magnetic and acoustic mines in the Suez Canal, leading to a three week blockage.
9 March	Italy launched a huge yet unsuccessful attack on the Greeks.
4 April	The Germans captured Benghazi.
6 April	Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece. British forces occupied Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
10 April	The Germans failed to capture Tobruk; leading to the city siege. Zagreb was taken by Germany.
12 April	Germany accepted the surrender of Belgrade.
17 April	The Yugoslavian Army surrendered.
10 May	Britain experienced the remainder of Germany’s heavy air raids, meaning the Blitz reached an end.
24 May	HMS Hood lost 1,416 men out of a crew of 1,419 when it was sunk by the Bismarck.
27 May	The Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy. Only a little more than 100 survived out of a crew of 2,200.
22 June	Operation Barbarossa was first launched - also known as Nazi Germany’s invasion of the USSR.
1 September	The first German shell landed in Leningrad, beginning a 900 day siege.
27 September	Italian forces surrendered at the Wolchefit Pass, Ethiopia.
28 September	The first Allied convoy to the USSR took place.
2 October	The attack on Moscow took place - Nazi Germany’s final phase of its USSR invasion.
6 October	Stalin received a promise from Churchill that a convoy would sail to Russia every 10 days.
28 November	Mussolini’s East African venture was finished by Italian forces surrendering at Gondar.
5 December	The Russian counter-attack in Moscow began.
7 December	The American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour got attacked by Japan.
8 December	Britain and America declared war on Japan.
11 December	Germany declared war on America.
31 December	By this time, 53 merchant ships arrived in Russia and delivered 750 tanks, 800 fighter planes, 1,400 vehicles and 100,000 tons of general stores.

World War Two 1941

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