August 1941
The following events occurred in August 1941:
- U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced an embargo on the export of oil and aviation fuel to anywhere outside the Western Hemisphere with the exception of the British Empire. This action was aimed at Japan.[1]
- The second wave of Alikianos executions were carried out on Crete.
- German submarine U-154 was commissioned.
August 2, 1941 (Saturday)
- The United States extended Lend-Lease to apply to the Soviet Union.[2]
- Britain called on the governments of Iran and Afghanistan to expel all Germans immediately.[3]
- All civilian radios in Norway were confiscated by the Nazi occupation authorities.[4]
- Born: Ede Staal, singer-songwriter, in Warffum, Netherlands (d. 1986)
August 6, 1941 (Wednesday)
- In the British House of Commons, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden warned Japan that any action threatening the independence and integrity of Thailand would be "of immediate concern" to the British government.[11] U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull mirrored those statements that same day when he said at a press conference that any move by Japan into Thailand would be a matter of concern to the United States.[12]
- The Ustaše regime in the Independent State of Croatia perpetrated the Prebilovci massacre, throwing some 600 women and children alive into a deep pit near Šurmanci.
- German submarine U-404 was commissioned.
- Born: Lyle Berman, professional poker player and business executive, in Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 7, 1941 (Thursday)
August 9, 1941 (Saturday)
- Winston Churchill arrived at Placentia Bay aboard the battleship Prince of Wales and ferried over to Roosevelt's ship for their first meeting.[19]
- British fighter ace Douglas Bader was forced to bail out of his damaged Spitfire Mk VA over northern France in controversial circumstances and was captured. Some accounts have his plane being involved in a mid-air collision with a Bf 109, but it is also possible he was shot down or was a victim of friendly fire.[20]
- Charles Lindbergh made a speech in Cleveland in which he accused American interventionists of plotting to create "incidents and situations" that would plunge the United States into war "under the guise of defending America."[21]
- The Germans killed 534 Jews in Kaunas.[10]
- Born: Shirlee Busbee, romance novelist, in San Jose, California
- The German submarine U-144 was sunk in the Gulf of Finland by the Soviet submarine ShCh-307.
- The Soviet patrol boat Tuman was shelled and sunk off the Kola Peninsula by German destroyers.
- President Roosevelt and his representatives came aboard the Prince of Wales for a Sunday prayer service with Churchill, who later recalled the event as "a deeply moving expression of the unity of faith of our two peoples." Churchill selected the hymns himself, ending with "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past".[22]
- Died: Arthur Mülverstedt, 47, German SS General (killed in action near Luga)
- Vichy French Vice-Premier François Darlan was made the Minister of Defence.[24] President Philippe Pétain made an address announcing the appointment in which he also announced a series of harsh new measures including the dissolution all political parties, the creation of a Council of Justice to judge "those responsible for our disaster," and the new requirement that all ministers and high officials swear an oath of loyalty directly to him. "In 1917 I put an end to mutiny," Pétain said. "In 1940 I put an end to rout. Today I wish to save you from yourselves."[25]
- The Placentia Bay meetings between Roosevelt and Churchill concluded. The Atlantic Charter was signed but not made public until two days later.[19]
- The Royal Air Force conducted the heaviest daylight bombing raid against Germany since the war began.[26] The Germans could not offer as much opposition as they once did because many of their planes had been diverted to the Eastern Front.[2]
- By the margin of a single vote, the United States House of Representatives approved an 18-month extension of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.[27]
- The British corvette Picotee was sunk in the North Atlantic by the German submarine U-568.
- The USSR issued the Amnesty for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union.
- The Canadian government ordered all Japanese Canadians to carry a registration card.[28]
- Born: Deborah Walley, actress, in Bridgeport, Connecticut (d. 2001)
- Died: Bobby Peel, 84, English cricketer
- The Roosevelt Administration issued an executive order suspending the eight-hour day for mechanics and laborers employed by the War Department on public works projects such as airfields, troop housing units and fortifications so as to hasten their construction.[29]
- Ostland Reichkommissar Hinrich Lohse ordered that all property belonging to Jews was to be confiscated and registered, and all money and valuables in their possession handed over immediately.[30]
- The Canadian government authorized the creation of the Canadian Women's Army Corps (CWAC).[31]
- The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was raised.
- The soybean car, an automobile made with a plastic body at the behest of Henry Ford, was introduced to the public at a community festival in Dearborn, Michigan.[32]
- Died: J. Stuart Blackton, 66, English-born American film producer
- Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill jointly issued the Atlantic Charter, stating the Allied goals for the post-war world.
- German forces captured Krivoy Rog.[33]
- British bombers conducted an overnight raid on the railway yards at Hanover.[4]
- German submarine U-583 was commissioned.
- Born: David Crosby, musician, in Los Angeles, California; Connie Smith, country musician, in Elkhart, Indiana
- Died: Maximilian Kolbe, 47, Polish friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Auschwitz concentration camp; Paul Sabatier, 86, French chemist
- The Philippine Army Air Corps was officially inducted into the United States Army Forces in the Far East.[34]
- Roosevelt and Churchill sent a joint message of assistance to the Soviet Union. "We realize fully how vitally important to the defeat of Hitlerism is the brave and steadfast resistance of the Soviet Union and we feel therefore that we must not in any circumstances fail to act quickly and immediately in this matter on planning the program for the future allocation of our joint resources," the statement concluded.[35]
- Born: Don Rich, country musician, in Olympia, Washington (d. 1974)
- Died: Josef Jakobs, 43, German spy (executed at the Tower of London by firing squad)
- German forces captured Novgorod.[10]
- The Germans captured the Estonian city of Narva.[4]
- The Spanish freighter Navemar departed from Lisbon with 1,180 refugees, mostly Jewish, bound for Cuba and New York. The ship was horribly overcrowded as it was only built to accommodate 15 people, and it soon acquired the nickname "the floating concentration camp".[36][37][38]
- Born: Ibrahim Babangida, President of Nigeria, in Minna, Colonial Nigeria; Lothar Bisky, politician, in Zollbrück, Germany (d. 2013); Boog Powell, baseball player, in Lakeland, Florida; Fritz Wepper, actor, in Munich, Germany
- The Germans reached the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia. The Red Army dynamited the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station to delay the enemy from getting across the Dnieper, resulting in many civilian and military deaths.[39]
- The British submarine HMS P32 struck a naval mine and sank north of Tripoli.
- The British submarine HMS P33 was lost to enemy action in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The Nazis arrested over 300 Swing Kids in Hamburg. Most were sent home and some had their long hair cut as punishment, but the suspected leaders of the swing youth were imprisoned in concentration camps or sent to the front lines.[40][41]
- Radio Belgrade played an obscure two-year old German song called "Lili Marleen" sung by Lale Andersen. The song was an instant hit and became one of the most popular songs of the war among Axis and Allied troops alike fighting in North Africa.[4]
- The First Battle of Kiev began.
- Heinz Guderian met with Hitler at the Wolf's Lair with a large number of other officers present. Guderian was allowed to present his reasons for continuing to advance on Moscow, but after he finished Hitler gave his own reasons for concentrating on the south until Kiev was in German hands. The other officers nodded in agreement which each of Hitler's points, and it became obvious to Guderian that the decision had already been made.[48]
- The Finnish reconquest of Ladoga Karelia was completed.
- Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King made a speech to 10,000 Canadian troops in Aldershot, England. Some of the soldiers, tired of endless training exercises and anxious to see some action, booed and heckled the Prime Minister.[49][50]
- The British corvette HMS Zinnia of convoy OG 71 was sunk by German submarine U-564.
- Marshal Pétain established Vichy military courts with the authority to impose the death penalty for acts of terrorism and sabotage.[51]
- German submarine U-155 was commissioned.
- Born: Bunny Lee, reggae record producer, in Kingston, Jamaica
- The German 6th Army reached Desna.[5]
- Hitler ordered the cancellation of Aktion T4 due to public backlash.[10]
- Winston Churchill broadcast a message to the world about his recent meeting with President Roosevelt and the signing of the Atlantic Charter. Churchill explained that the Charter differed from the attitude adopted by the Allies in the latter part of World War I because it did not assume that there would never be any war again, and "that instead of trying to ruin German trade by all kinds of additional trade barriers and hindrances, as was the mood of 1917, we have definitely adopted the view that it is not in the interests of the world and of our two countries that any large nation should be unprosperous or shut out from the means of making a decent living for itself and its people by its industry and enterprise."[52]
- Soviet cargo ship VT-532 was bombed by the Luftwaffe during the evacuation of Tallinn and was grounded near Prangli Island. 44 passengers and crew were killed in the bombardment.
- Died: Theodore Mavrogordato, 58, British tennis player
- The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran began.
- Tykocin pogrom: About 1,400 to 1,700 Jewish residents of Tykocin in occupied Poland were taken to nearby Łopuchowo forest and massacred by the SS.
- The Allies launched Operation Gauntlet, a raid on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.
- Pierre Laval narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a student as he was seeing off French volunteers going to fight alongside the Germans in Russia. One of the four bullets that struck him missed his heart by about an inch.[4]
- Benito Mussolini visited the Wolf's Lair for the first time.[53] Mussolini would stay in the area until August 29 - his longest visit of the war - touring battle sites, reviewing troops and meeting with German officials.[54]
- German submarine U-452 was depth charged and sunk in the North Atlantic by British aircraft and the anti-submarine trawler HMS Vascama.
- German submarine U-333 was commissioned.
- Died: Hermann-Friedrich Joppien, 29, German fighter ace (killed in action on the Eastern Front)
- German XLII Corps captured Tallinn.[5]
- The Izyaslav-class destroyer Kalinin, Soobrazitelnyy-class destroyer Skoryi, Orfey-class destroyer Volodarski and Novik-class destroyer Yakov Sverdlov were all among the Soviet ships that struck naval mines and sank in the Baltic Sea during the evacuation of Tallinn.
- Stalin decreed the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic abolished.
- The Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre ended with a total of 23,600 Jews killed.
- During a flight from Uman to Lvov carrying Hitler, Mussolini, Himmler, Ribbentrop and others, Mussolini asked to pilot the aircraft himself. Hitler was so surprised that he said nothing and managed only an awkward smile. Since no one was willing to voice an objection, Mussolini took the controls and flew the plane himself for over an hour while everyone else on board was made extremely nervous.[55][56]
- The German submarine U-570 was beached and captured at Þorlákshöfn, Iceland after being forced to the surface by depth charges from a Lockheed Hudson of 269 Squadron the day before. The British would put the submarine back into service as HMS Graph.
- German submarines U-352, U-585 and U-754 were commissioned.
- The Office of Price Administration was created in the United States.
- Born: Syed Mahmood Naqvi, Earth scientist, in Amroha, British India (d. 2009)
- Finnish forces retook Viipuri.[4]
- Arthur Fadden became 13th Prime Minister of Australia.
- The Government of National Salvation succeeded the Commissioner Government as the puppet government in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia.
- Charles Lindbergh said at an America First Committee rally in Oklahoma City that Britain might turn against the United States "as she has turned against France and Finland." Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler spoke next and said, "If our interventionists want to free a country from the dominion of another country, we ought to declare war on Great Britain to free India. I have never seen such slavery as I saw in India a few years ago."[57] Many Americans started turning against Lindbergh at this time, as Gallup polling showed that the public favored the president's specific interventionist moves.[58][59]
- Born: Ellen Geer, actress, director and professor, in New York City; Robin Leach, entertainment reporter and writer, in Perivale, London, England
References
- ↑ "Events occurring on Friday, August 1, 1941". WW2 Timelines. 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Davidson, Edward; Manning, Dale (1999). Chronology of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-304-35309-4.
- ↑ "Was war am 02. August 1941". chroniknet. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "1941". World War II Database. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kirchubel, Robert (2013). Operation Barbarossa: The German Invasion of Soviet Russia. Botley, Oxfordshire: Osprey Publishing. pp. 9–10. ISBN 9781782004080.
- ↑ Theodore S. Hamerow; On the Road to the Wolf's Lair - German Resistance to Hitler; Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 1997; ISBN 0-674-63680-5; p. 289-290.
- ↑ Winfried Süß: Bischof von Galen und die nationalsozialistische „Euthanasie“. In: zur debatte 2005, S. 18 f. Onlineausgabe
- 1 2 Arad, Yitzhak (2009). The Holocaust in the Soviet Union. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 176–178. ISBN 9780803222700.
- ↑ Glantz, David M. (2015). The Initial Period of War on the Eastern Front, 22 June - August 1941. Routledge. p. 71. ISBN 9781136289620.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "1941". MusicAndHistory. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "War Situation". Hansard. August 6, 1941. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Stress 'Concern' Over Threatened Thailand Conquest". Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn). August 6, 1941. p. 1.
- ↑ "Events occurring on Thursday, August 7, 1941". WW2 Timelines. 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Mercer, Derrik, ed. (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 554. ISBN 9-780582-039193.
- ↑ Chronology and Index of the Second World War, 1938-1945. Research Publications. 1990. p. 71. ISBN 9780887365683.
- 1 2 Guttman, Jon (September 23, 1998). "Red Stars Over Berlin". HistoryNet. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "The Broadway Parade". Film Daily (New York: Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc.): 2. August 4, 1941.
- ↑ "Hold That Ghost". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- 1 2 "Churchill, Roosevelt and the Atlantic Charter: a moment for the ages". The Telegram. August 12, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Mackenzie, S. P. Bader's War. London: Spellmount Publishers, 2008. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7524-5534-1.
- ↑ "Lindbergh Sees U. S. Forced into War". Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn). August 10, 1941. p. 1.
- ↑ "Churchill and Roosevelt Pray Together". World War II Today. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Chambers, Rachel (August 11, 2010). "The Picture That Set the Standard for Pinup Style". On This Day in Fashion. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Darlan, Foe of Britain, Wins Napoleonic Rule of France". Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn). August 12, 1941. p. 1.
- ↑ "Marshal Petain's Address to the French People". ibiblio. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Intense RAF Daylight Bombing Raids on Germany". World War II Today. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Strand, William (August 13, 1941). "2 ½ Year Draft by One Vote!". Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago: Chicago Daily Tribune). p. 1.
- ↑ "Today in Canadian History". Canada Channel. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "8-Hr. Day Void on All Army's Building Jobs". Brooklyn Eagle (Brooklyn). August 13, 1941. p. 1.
- ↑ Arad, Yitzhak (2009). The Holocaust in the Soviet Union. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 400. ISBN 9780803222700.
- ↑ Dundas, Barbara; Durflinger, Serge. "The Canadian Women's Army Corps, 1941-1946". Canadian War Museum. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Woodyard, Chris (June 29, 2010). "Mystery Car 40: Henry Ford's soybean car". USA Today. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Krivoy Rog". Yad Vashem. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "The Early Philippine Military Aviation (1917-1945)". Philippine Air Force. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Joint Message of Assistance to the Soviet Union from President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill". ibiblio. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Refugee Ship Navemar Sails from Lisbon En Route to Cuba and New York". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. August 18, 1941. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Refugee Ship Navemar Disembarks 360 Refufees at Havana". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. September 7, 1941. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Refugees End "horror Voyage" on Ship Called "floating Concentration Camp"". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. September 14, 1941. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "History Zaporozhye (in Russian)". Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Swingjugend: The Real Swing Kids". Swungover. July 26, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Altman, Linda Jacobs (2010). Courageous Teen Resisters: Primary Sources from the Holocaust. Enslow Publishers. p. 101. ISBN 9780766032699.
- ↑ Klarsfeld, Serge (1996). French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial. New York University Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780814726624.
- ↑ Wettstein, Adrian E. "Urban Warfare Doctrine on the Eastern Front." Nazi Policy on the Eastern Front, 1941: Total War, Genocide, and Radicalization. Eds. Alex J. Kay, Jeff Rutherford, and David Stahel. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2012. p. 61. ISBN 9781580464079.
- ↑ Hansen, Randall (2014). Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Valkyrie. Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780199927920.
- ↑ "Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 6". Avalon Project. Yale Law School. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Delarue, Jacques (2008). The Gestapo: A History of Horror. Barnsley: Frontline Books. p. 215. ISBN 9781848325029.
- ↑ Hellbeck, Jochen (2015). Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich. New York: PublicAffairs. p. 59. ISBN 9781610394970.
- ↑ Tague, James E. (2011). The Last Field Marshal. Xlibris. pp. 182–183. ISBN 9781465314819.
- ↑ "On This Date: August 2013". Legion Magazine. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Neillands, Robin (2005). The Dieppe Raid: The Story of the Disastrous 1942 Expedition. Indiana University Press. p. 60. ISBN 9780253347817.
- ↑ Yust, Walter, ed. (1942). 1942 Britannica Book of the Year. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. p. 9.
- ↑ "Prime Minister Winston Churchill's Broadcast to the World About the Meeting with President Roosevelt". ibiblio. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Was war am 25. August 1941". chroniknet. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Corvaja, Santi (2008). Hitler & Mussolini: The Secret Meetings. New York: Enigma Books. pp. 188–190. ISBN 9781929631421.
- ↑ Corveja, p. 193-194.
- ↑ Ridley, Jasper (2013). Mussolini: A Biography. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 327. ISBN 9781461741794.
- ↑ "British May Turn on Us, Warning of Lindbergh". Milwaukee Journal (Milwaukee): 3. August 30, 1941.
- ↑ Peyser, Marc; Dwyer, Timothy (2015). Hissing Cousins: The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385536028.
- ↑ Doenecke, Justus D. (1990). In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 as Revealed in the Papers of the America First Committee. Stanford University Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780817988418.