In his New Years address to the Wehrmacht, Hitler declares 'The year 1941 will bring about the completion of the greatest victory in our history.'
The BBC premieres radio show 'Any Questions?', later named 'Brains Trust', where listeners would send in a variety of questions that would then be answered by a panel of experts. The show became a remarkable success and survived for several years.
British and Australian forces advance out of Egypt into Libya with intention to capture the port Tobruk, Libya, an important strategic location to control.
On 22 June 1941 Germany begins Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. This would drastically change the course of the war for the Allies; the Soviet Union was now the enemy of Nazi Germany as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact (aka German–Soviet Non-aggression Pact) was broken.
On 5 June Japanese Hospital Ship HIKAWA MARU departs Yokohama for Vancouver, Canada, carrying Jewish refugees. This was not the first time and it was not the last.
On the night of 10 July 1941 during an attack on 'Greenhill', north of Djezzine, James Heather Gordon of the 2/31st Battalion, part of the 7th Australian Division, and his company, come under intense machine-gun fire by the Vichy French forces; his division halted, Private Gordon, on his own, crept over an area under machine gun and grenade fire: once he was close to the post, he charged the front, killing the four machine gunners with a bayonet, allowing takeover of the post. His bravery won him the Victoria Cross.
On 1 August the United States of America, which had yet to enter the war, declared an oil embargo on all aggressor states.
Also on the first, Germany creates the District of Galicia as the fifth district of the Generalgouvernement (General Government) which hitherto was occupied by the Soviet Union. This proved disastrous for Jews who belonged to independent professions as the very next day SS-Hauptsturmführer (Head Storm Leader) Hans Krüger ordered them to come to the Gestapo headquarters on Bilinski Street; they were tortured and most were killed.
On 2 August Germany occupation of Norway confiscates all civilian radios.
On the 4th the USS Greer becomes the first United States warship to be fired on by a German U-Boat despite the US (dubious) neutrality. This would increase tension and the US now commits to convoy duty between the west and Europe.
On the 5th Germany occupies Estonia.
On the 8th the Seize of Leningrad begins.
On the 10th the German army have Kiev completely surrounded.
On the 11th President of the United States of America Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the US Navy to fire on sight if any ship or convoy is threatened.
On 2 October German U-94 chases and attacks British tanker San Florentino 600 miles west of Ireland for six hours, sinking her at 0552 hours; 23 were killed, 35 survived. East of Iceland by 250 miles at 0652 hours, German U-562 sinks British catapult armed merchant ship Empire Wave; there were 29 deaths and 31 survivors. West of Ireland, at 0709 hours, German U-575 sinks Dutch merchant ship Tuva; there was one death and 34 survivors.
On the 9th Hitler boldly states publicly that Operation Barbarossa is all but successful. History, of course, says otherwise.
On the 16th, British Royal Air Force pilot Officer A. J. Heyworth returns home to Britain despite his Wellington bomber suffering serious damage while bombing Mannheim, Germany. Most of the flight was on one engine while the other was on fire.
On 1 November Japan's Combined Fleet Order No. 1 requests additional radio communications to be generated, essentially as noise to make US cryptanalytic efforts more difficult; Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team of the US Navy in Pearl Harbor reports all Japanese Navy call signs had changed. This would be one of the signs of the imminent conflict.
On 7 December 1941 at 0755 local time Japan begins an attack on Pearl Harbor resulting in five battleships sinking, sunk, disabled or heavily damaged; 21 ships were sunk, 188 aircraft destroyed and 159 damaged. Over 2,400 were killed including 68 civilians killed by US anti-aircraft shells landing in the city of Honolulu. Japan lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines. This would be the pivotal moment when the United States of America finally enters the war. Japan had tried to declare war 30 minutes prior to the attack but could not due to decryption problems resulting in the declaration happening after the attack began. Roosevelt would make use of this to rile up the people for war. Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter Short were blamed for the attack, found guilty of dereliction of duty; they were exonerated in 1999.