Axis Offensive 1941,
webhosting

American Involvement,

Animated tank

January 1941,
Field Marshall Sir Harold Alexander is appointed Commander of the British I Corps, Burma.

Churchill IV Tank

Like the Churchill-I, the IV had the ability to cross very wide trenches and shell craters. It had also a redesigned turret of cast armor combined with welded armor plate. This tank carried the 61b anti-tank gun and good enough to deal with Pz III-series used by the Germans.

10 January 1941,
The Lend-Lease bill is introduced in the U.S. Congress.
Heavy German attacks by dive-bombers on British convoys to Malta (in Sicilian channel) results in loss of 'Southampton' and damage to 'Illustrious'.

20 January 1941,
(till 18 May). After successfull fight in North-Africa, British troops were sent to East-Africa with Indian and South Afican (from Kenya) forces invade Abessinie, Eritrea and Somaliland and dislodge the Italians.

Bodies in the desert

20 January,
(18 till 23 Januari). Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini hold a conference at Berghof.

7 February 1941,
Battle of Beda Fomm
The Battle of Beda Fomm was a catastrophic Italian defeat at the hands of the British during the North African Campaign. The battle took place near Beda Fomm, 190 km south of Benghazi on the Libyan coast road. Elements of the British 7th Armoured Division had cut across the desert and set up a road block in which the retreating 10th Italian Army was ambushed. Over 25.000 prisoners, 100 tanks, 216 guns, and 1.500 other vehicles were captured. Although the Allied force now lacks serviceable vehicles and has suffered 555 dead and 1.400 wounded, its modest numbers have decimated an Italian group 5 times larger.

10 February 1941,
England breaks-off diplomatic relations with Romania.
Successive victories for Allies with 130.000 Italians captured in two month offensive.

12 February 1941,
Erwin Rommel arrives in North Africa to command the Afrika Corps. The German Africa Corps (Rommel) to Tripoli, Libye (N.Afica) and Tobruk, called "Operation Sonneblume".

16 February 1941,
Bulgaria and Turkey sign a non-aggression pact.
10.000 Jews in Vienna deport to Polen.

22 February 1941,
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau get among a dispersed convoy and sink 5 ships. The German ships refuel at sea and move south-east to the coast of West Africa.

1 March 1941,
Nazi extermination camps begin full operation. These include Auschwitz, Bamberg, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, Jena, Sobibor and Treblinka. Over 2.600.000 Polish Jews are among those killed during the course of the war. Over 12.000 people would be killed daily at Auschwitz alone. By 1945 nearly 6 million Jews and more than 3 million Communists, gypsies, socialists and other dissidents will be exterminated.

Auschwitz/Birkenau- Auschwitz II

Concentration Camps
Concentration camps fell into varous categories. There were death or extermination camps, where the inmates were slaughtered on arrival or soon afterwards. There were labour camps, where they were fed the minimum and worked to death; and experimental camps where 'scientific' and 'medical' experiments were carried out on the hapless prisoners. There were sick camps for those who were to die when the guards decided and not before, and training camps where the SS passed on the techniques of brutality and mass murder. There were even recuperation camps, where Jews were kept in case they were needed as hostages or for exchange or sale.

1 March 1941,
Bulgaria joins the Axis Tripartite Pact.

7 March 1941,
The German U-Boat U47, which sank the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak, is sunk by allied destroyers, with its entire crew aboard.

9 March 1941,
New Italian offensive against Greece and run aground at 16 March.

11 March 1941,
The Lend-Lease Act becomes law. Three months after the invasion, the United States extended assistance to the Soviet Union through this Lend-Lease Act.

The meaning of the Lend-Lease Act for British Commenwealth
in comparison with the total United States production
in percentage.
(first 1/2 year)
1942 1943 1944 1945
Planes and outfit 12,4 11,9 13,5 11,8
Ships, outfit and spare 5,5 11,8 6,7 5,4
Artillery and munitions 10,4 10,0 8,8 4,6
Crafts and outfit 9,8 26,7 29,4 12,1
Others munitions 1,4 3,4 9,9 5,5
Provisions 4,3 4,4 5,4 3,9
Agricultural products 4,3 5,6 4,4 5,0
Metals 3,9 4,2 3,4 3,5
Machines 2,6 5,7 7,1 4,2
Other products 0,7 0,6 1,1 0,7

25 March 1941,
Yugoslavia joins the Axis Tripartite Pact.
The Ultra codebreakers at Bletchley Park have deciphered details of a planned Italian naval operation in the northern Mediterranean. Ultra British intelligence operation that cracked the German secret code during World War II. The collection phase of Ultra consisted of intercepting German radio messages (which had been encrypted by their Enigma machines) and passing them through a secret computerlike device that rendered them into clear German. The intelligence gathered was passed on to Allied officials for utilization on the battlefield. The human cost of keeping the Ultra decoding secret was more than 500 dead and 865 injured.

27 March 1941,
A military coup in Yugoslavia over throws Paul, Regent of Yugoslavia and replaces him with King Peter II.

28 March 1941,
Italian Navy ships attacks British convoys to Greece.
British Royal Navy ships defeat the Italian Navy at Cape Matapan, the Mediterranean.

30 March 1941,
(till 30 may) The German Africa Corps (Rommel) launches a counteroffensive at El-Agheila in the Cyrenaica (Libya) against British forces in Egypt.
All German and Italian merchantman-ships seized in the USA.

Relative strenght in North-Afica, 31 March 1940
Germans/Italians British
Inf. div. 2 1
Motor. div -- 0,6
Tanks div. 1 1,6
Planes:
Bombers 50 --
Fighters 20 --

31 March 1941,
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau bombed at Brest.

4 April 1941,
Addis Abeda (Ethiopia) capture by the British, a month later Emperor Haile Selassi returnes to his city.
Coup d'état in Irak: man in Power is General Rasch Ali Gailani; anti-British, pro-As.

6 April 1941,
"Operation Marita" the Balkan States campaign: Germany invades Yugoslavia (till 17 April) and Greece (till 30 April).
Italian troops to from Albania.
Molotov Cocktail: A simple petrol bomb reputedly used by partisans against German forces in Russia and the Balkans, named after Vyacheslav Molotov.


German troops making their way through Yugoslavia after the German invasion.
Relative strenght at the begin of the Balkan states campaign (Yugoslavia and Greece).
Germans 12th and 2th Army against:
Yugoslavia Greece Yugoslavia Greece Br.exp.-corps
Inf. div. 7 6 29 5 2
Motor div. 4 3 3
cav. div.
1 --
Tanks div. 4 2 6
brigades
15
against
Italian in Albania
1
brigade
|---------------------|
Tanks
1200
-- -- --
Planes:
Fighters/ scout planes
380
700
old fighters
80
fighters
Bombers
400
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hungaria: 10 Brigades
Italian: 28 Divisions and 320 planes (total)

6 April 1941,
(till 9 April). No co-operation by Yugoslavia, Hitler's reprimand: 3 days heavily bombardment of Belgrado (17.000 people died).

10 April 1941,
Greenland is placed under U.S. control.
Tobruk surrounds by German troops.

13 April 1941,
German troops capture Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Japan and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact.

16 April 1941,
(till 17 April). 460 German bombers attack London.
Begin Japanese treat with the United States.

18 April 1941,
The Yugoslav Army surrenders to German forces in Belgrado. King Peter II flees.

24 April 1941,
King George of Greece flees the country. Operation "Demon": Nearly 50,000 men rescued from little beaches and harbors of South-Greece, these action took part till 29 April.

27 April 1941,
German forces capture Athens, Greece.

On the road to victory

30 April 1941,
Germany occupation of Greece (in Saloniki) a fact: 223.000 Greece and 21.900 British prisoners of war. German losses; 2.559 dead, 5.820 wounded and 3.169 missing.

1 May 1941,
The British force in Iraq comes under attack by Iraqis.

7 May 1941,
Joseph Stalin becomes the Premier of the Soviet Union.

8 May 1941,
(till 9 May). The greatest RAF Air attacks on Germany: total 359 bombers, of which 317 to Hamburg and Bremen.
The career of the most successful German raider Pinguin comes to an end near the Seychelles when she is sunk by fire from the heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall. The raider has sunk or captured 32 ships.
The Mediterranean convoys come under air attack and engage the Italian aîrcraft.

9 May 1941,
(till 30 May). Great Britain takes control of Iraq and are reinforced by the arrival of 21st Indian Division at Basra.

10 May 1941,
General Draja Mihailowitsj, leader of the Chetniks, begin his organized resistance against the Germans in Rawna Gora.
Rudolf Hess parachutes from a Messerschmit-110, after 1200 km into Scotland on a "peace mission".
Rudolf Hess, deputy leader of the Nazi Party and long-standing confidant of Adolf Hitler, undertakes an extraordinary flight to Scotland in an attempt to make contact with the Duke of Hamilton, a friend from a meeting at the pre-war Olympics. Hess appears to believe that there exists an anti-Churchill, anti-Communist caucus in Great Britain which would work with Germany. The mission is quickly disowned by the German hierarchy.

10 May 1941,
German bombers assault London in what tums out to be the final heavy mission of the Battle of Britain. More than 500 aircraft drop high­explosive and incendiary bombs which result in many fires and cause more than 3,000 casualties induding many dead. Some 27 German aircraft are lost. In the preceding ten months approximately 50.000 metric tons of bombs have been dropped on the UK, but the Battle of Britain has heen lost, and with it has gone Germany's chance of winning the war. Partly because of their lack of long-range fighters and heavy bombers, but also because of the eventual mastery of the RAF fighter squadrons and their tactics, the Germans will regard this as first significant turning­point in World War Two.

15 May 1941,
British planned some attacks in the desert (N-Africa) against the Africa Corps (Rommel), but failed it was a great loss of material and soldiers: Operations "Tiger","Brevity", "Battle-Axe" and "Crusader".

16 May 1941,
Duke Amadeo of Aosta, Governor of Italian East Africa, Commander in Chief of the Italian Armies in Eritea and Ethiopia surrenders forces under his command to the British Army at Amba Alagi, Ethiopia.

18 May 1941,
Admiral Lutjens sails the battleship Bismarck from Gdynia in consort with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Two supply ships and 5 tankers are stationed in Atlantic, and scouting ships are sent out in advance of the main vessels to search for suitable prey.
The Kingdom of Croatia is created under Italian Prince from part of Yugoslavia.

20 May 1941,
"Operation Merkur": German troops invade the British-held island of Crete.
The full German assault on Crete commences with air attacks followed by paratroops dropped on the four airfields. They suffer heavy losses. Some 23.000 troops and 600 aircraft are deployed. The British and Greek forces are short of equipment and firepower but know the Germans are coming; they will outnumber them considerably. The Mediterranean fleet is offshore preventing any German arrivals by sea. The German side of the mission begins well but is then hit by delays in the flights of the aircraft bringing more troops, by heavy ground fire against those who do land and loss of communication between many of the constituent parts of the invasion. Towards the end of the day, the withdrawal of New Zealand units from Maleme airfield gives the Germans an unexpected foothold.

20 May 1941,
Walter Schellenberg of the RSHA tells the German military commander in France that further Jewish emigration should be prevented in view of transportation problems and the fact that a "Final Solution [Endloesung] of the Jewish question" is foreseeable.

21 May 1941,
In Crete the Germans develop their position at Maleme, enabling troops to be flown in.

24 May 1941,
The German battleship Bismarck sunk the British Royal Navy battle cruiser HMS Hood.

Battle-cruiser 'Hood'

26 May 1941,
(till 10 July). Africa Corps (Erwin Rommel) march Tobruk to El-Alamein.

27 May ,
A flying-boat locates Battleship 'Bismarck' on his way to Brest. Force-H and the aircraft from Ark Royal, have the best chance of preventing the Bismarck from reaching that port. However in bad weather these aircraft first attack the cruiser HMS Sheffield in error, but later a flight of Swordfish score 2 hits on the 'Bismarck', which affect her steering gear and bring her almost to a stop. Further attacks that night by torpedo and from the British battleships finished the job.


The carrier HMS Ark Royal and some of her Swordfish torpedo planes....

Battle ship Bismarck

1 June 1941,
British forces surrender the island of Crete. About 18.000 Allied troops have been taken off the beaches, but 17.000 men were taken prisoner; the Germans record 7,000 casualties including many dead. The cruiser HMS Calcutta is sunk while assisting the Crete evacuation. It has proved a hollow victory; its significance in the overall war plan is minimal and it turns Hitler against large-scale airborne actions which could have helped his cause in other theatres.
In Irac, the British enter Baghdad.

4 June 1941,
Kaiser William II dies in exile at Doorn, The Netherlands.

8 June 1941,
(till 12 July). British and Free-French troops invade Libanon and Syria (both from Vichy, government Petain), leaders are General Maitland, Wilson and Catroux.

14 June 1941,
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt order all German assets frozen. The Department of States also closes all German consul and propaganda offices in the United States.

15 June 1941,
Operation Battleaxe fails to relieve Tobruk.

21 June 1941,
Damascus, Syria is captured by British and Free-French troops.
Hitler convinces Mussolini to allow Rommel to invade Egypt and set aside the invasion of Malta, named "Operation Hercules". Mussolini accepts the proposal after heavy consideration.
Malta was a strategic point for British convoys which supplied Commonwealth forces in Africa. The invasion of Malta would take form in the landing of three Italian parachute battalions and one German parachute division and bombarded by both Italian and German aircraft. After the capture of Malta, Rommel would drive the Axis forces into Egypt.

22 June 1941,
Operation "Barbarossa": Germany declares war on and begins (3.15u) an invasion of the Soviet Union. The Eastern Front quickly becomes 2.000-miles wide. Italy (60.000 men to Ukraine), Finland, and Romania also joined the German battle against the Soviet Union and declare war.

Russian Flag

German preperations for Operation 'Barbarossa'
The German troops at the German-Russian border:
20 july 1940 23 divisies
7 oktober 1940 30 divisies
12 december 1940 34 divisies
februari/april 1941 103 dsivisies
20 may 1941 120 divisies
2 juni 1941 129 divisies
23 juni 1941 153 divisies
Elsewhere encamped:
Norway 8 divisions
Western front 38 divisions
ZO-Europe 7 divisions
N-Africa 2 divisions
Germany 1 division
Total 209 divisions

Relative strenght at the begin of the German campaign against Russia.
Germany Sowjet-Union (estimate) German Allied Powers
Inf.+ cav. div. 119 inf. div. 138 Roemenië
Motor. div. 15
Armor div. 19
Armor+ mot. brig. 40 inf. div. 12
cav. brig. 4
Armor brig. 1
Mountain fighters brig. 3
Soldiers 3.050.000
(Wehrmacht 7.240.000)
Soldiers 4.700.000
Motor. vehicles 600.000 Hongaria
Tanks 3.580 Tanks 1.500 Motor 2+ cav. brig. 1
Artillery 7.184 Artillery ? Slowakia
Combat planes 1.160 Combat planes 1800inf. div. 2+ motor. div. 1
Fighters 720 Fighters 2000 Italia
Scouting planes 120 Scouting planes 800 Motor. div. 3
Finland
Divisions 18

The invasion of Russia by the German army
The invasion of Russia by the German army.

26 June 1941,
Finland and Hungaria declare war to Russia.

7 July 1941,
American troops join British troops in the occupation of Iceland.

13 July ,
Syria is completely captured by Allied troops (Russian and British).

July 1941,
At a meeting in Berlin, Himmer reveals the plan for the Final Solution to his subordinate, Höss, and puts him in charge of developing a large-scale killing center at Auschwitz.

21 July 1941,
First Air attack (200 bombers) by the Luftwaffe on Moskow.

24 July,
The Japanese occupy French Indo-China with the consent of the Vichy French Government.

26 July 1941,
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders all Japanese assets frozen. He also orders the suspension of all trade with Japan and lay an embargo on oil, give rise to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

31 July 1941,
Göring's orders Heydrich to "evacuate" all European jews; The formal order for the planning of a coordinated Final Solution of the Jewish problem throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, already drafted by Eichmann, is signed by Goering.
Eichmann, Adolf (1906-1962)
Eichman joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and served as a guard in the Dachau concentration camp for two years. With the union of Germany and Austria in 1938 and the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Eichmann was in charge of Jewish emigration. In 1941 he became head of the Gestapo Department and was responsible for 'the final solution'. He was interned by US troops in 1945 pending trial as a war criminal, but escaped to South America. Israeli agents located him in Argentina in the 1960s and he was tried in Jerusalem and hanged in May 1962.

Mass grave at Ravensbruck
SS-Aufseherinnen forced to put dead bodies in mass graves at Ravensbrück.

1 August 1941,
USA puts complete oil embargo on Japan.

2 August 1941,
The American agreed the Lend-Lease plan to the Soviet Union.

3 August 1941,
The British CAM ships claim their first success when a Hurricane from HMS Maplin shot down an Fw 200 Kondor in the North Atlantic. Such aircraft would normally try to make for land after a flight, but could go alongside the mother vessel and be hoisted aboard.
A CAM ship
A CAM ship was a WW II-era British merchant ship used in convoys as a cheap solution to the shortage of escort-carriers. "CAM" was an acronym for "catapult aircraft merchantman" and a CAM ship was equipped with a single, catapult-launched Hawker Sea Hurricane, named a "Hurricat". The ship, however, was not fitted for landings so the pilot would ditch in the sea at the end of the flight and the plane would be lost. The main purpose of CAM ships was to counter the long range reconnaissance flights mounted by the Germans to shadow the convoys.

6 August 1941,
American and British governments warn Japan not to invade Siam (Thailand).

9 August 1941,
(till 13 August). U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at Placentia Bay, off the coast of Newfoundland, and sign the Atlantic Charter, a document outlining the Allied war aims.The Origin of the "United Nations" come into.

25 August 1941,
British and Soviet troops invade Persia (Iran), to save the oilfields of Abadan and the important railways and ways to Russia for the supply of war material for Russia.

26 August 1941,
Retreating Soviet troops destroy the great dam on the Dnieper River.

3 September 1941,
The efficacy of Zyklon B (prussic acid) is tested on 600 Russian POWs and 298 sick prisoners at Auschwitz. General deportation of German Jews begins.

7 September 1941,
(and 8 September).The first British raid on Berlin, 1700 km.
In the early years of the war, bombing Germany was the only means of striking directly at the enemy's homeland and war production. Plans for a major bombing offensive, known as the strategic air offensive, were ambitious, but limited by technical difficulties in the early stages.

8 September 1941,
German forces encircle Leningrad, the Soviet Union and take the 90-day offensive against the city.

Relative strength of German and Russian Airforce on 8 September.
Germany Sowjet-Union
North:
Fighters 202 115
Combat fighters 604 15
Scouting planes 80 3
Transport planes -- (10)
Middle:
Fighters 151 373
Combat fighters 281 151
Scouting planes 25 18
Transport planes -- (136)
South:
Fighters 213 403
Combat fighters 324 70
Scouting planes 36 20
Transport planes -- (263)
Total 1916 1175

11 September 1941,
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a shoot-on-sight order against all German and Italian shipping.

16 September 1941,
Riza Khan is forced to abdicate the Persian throne. British and Soviet forces jointly occupy the country.

18 September 1941,
Japanese Commander order for preperation of actions in the Pacific.

19 September 1941,
German forces capture Kiev, after six weeks of fighting, the capital of the Soviet Ukraine. German High Command releases 650.000 russian soldiers prisoners of war have been taken, 884 tanks and 3.718 guns. Soviet loss of life reached half a million, Germany lost 100.000 men.
"Grossaktion" in Kiev: Wehrmacht kills 52.000 men and women, 34.000 are jews.
"Einsatzgruppen" im Osten kills ca. 1.000.000 people (September, October and November).

28 September 1941,
Conference at Moskow; Stalin, Harriman (United States) and Beaverbrook (United Kingdom).
The United States extended assistance to the Soviet Union through its Lend-Lease Act of March 1941.

2 October 1941,
Begin of Operation "Typhoon": attack on Moskow (Von Bock).

14 October 1941,
German forces are within 60 miles of Moscow.

16 October 1941,
The Soviets set-up a temporary capital at Kuibyshev.
Begin of systematic deportation of jews to Polen and East-Europe.

17 October 1941,
General Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan, gone is Konoye. Formation of Cabinet Todjo.

20 October 1941,
(till 5 December) German offensive for Moskow, "Unternehmen Taifun".

31 October 1941,
A German U-boat, U-552 (Type VIIC, the "Red Devil" boat) commanded by Erich Topp, accidently sank the first WW II U.S. warship to be lost in war, the Navy destroyer Reuben James. Over 100 U.S. sailors were killed.

2 November 1941,
Begin of the furious battle between the "Chetniks" of Mihailowitsj and the partisans of Tito. Tito was the Communist partisan leader of Yugoslavia and later the President.

7 November 1941,
The greatest combine British Air-Operation, during WW II, 387 Bombers on there way to different targets at the other side of the North Sea, also to Berlin ( 1700 km): Whitleys, Wellingtons, Stirlings, Halifaxs.

12 November 1941,
The Germans have a numerical superiority, in respect of tank strength, over the Allies in North Africa. After a day of heavy fighting around Sidi Rezegh, the 4th, 7th and 22nd Armoured Brigades coming out of the confrontations badly. New Zealand troops have joined the Allies in the area, as part of XIII Corps.

14 November 1941,
U-boat 81 sunk Britisch carier "Ark Royal" near Gibraltar.
U.S. and Japanese (Koeroesoe and Nomoera) representative begin talks in Washington, D.C., to try to ease tensions between the two countries.

18 November 1941,
(till 30 December 1941). British troops (Claude Auchinleck) launch an offensive (Operation Crusader relieves Tobruk) in Libya, Africa (Bardia-El-Agheila).
Operation Crusader
Code name for British offensive in North Africa that pushed German General Erwin Rommel back to El Agheila in Libya, where he had begun his African offensive a year earlier. Operation `Crusader', a new British strategy in North Africa, is begun in heavy rain with a move by XXX Corps from Egypt into Libya. The Allied forces, now commanded by General Cunningham and designated Eighth Army, have nearly 600 cruiser and light tanks plus those held within Tobruk. At this time the Germans are believed to have some 400 tanks though the majority are of Italian or older German design. The Allies can claim three times the number of German aircraft in he region. The Allies are aware of an imminent German attack, Rommel is planning for 21 November even though convoys of German supplies have not got through for some weeks, and their early move catches the Desert Fox by surprise; he is on the way back from a meeting in Rome. Haste means that the Allied plan is not as well thought through as it could have been, but this first day sees them advance unchallenged to Gabr Saleh.

Comparative strenght of German and Russian Airforce at 1 Decembre.
Germany Sowjet Union
North:
Fighters 100 105
Combat Fighters 150 80
Middle:
Fighters 160 88
Combat Fighters 330 67
South:
Fighters 100 252
Combat Fighters 210 192
Total 1050 784

18 November 1941,
The Japanese submarine fleet becomes active, a force of eleven boats moving into the Hawaii and other Pacific areas.

22 November 1941,
The successful German raider Atlantis is sunk by the cruiser German raider HMS Devonshire off the coast of West Africa. The Royal Navy is increasingly effective in its pursuit of German shipping because of improved code-breaking techniques.

5 December 1941,
Faced with the imbalance of convoy performance in the Mediterranean, Hitler orders Kesselring's Luftflotte 2 from the Eastern Front to that region. He has also agreed that the drive on Moscow be halted and that the forces there regroup and await reinforcements of men and equipment.

6 December 1941,
(till 31 January). Soviet troops counter-attack at the whole front. Radio Moskow: Moskow would be defend till the last man died. Along the full length of the Moscow sector the Soviets mount significant counter-attacks against the stalled German formations. These plans are led by their creator, Marshal Zhukov, who believes that he can cut through and isolate many of the German divisions. The Soviets have troops fresh to the battlefield and can boast some new tanks; the Germans are tired, frozen, ill-equipped and poorly fed. Furthermore, their once superior air power has evaporated, the winter weather having removed many aircraft from active service.

The Japanese fleet
The lead ship is a Independence class CVL followed by a Essex Class CV with some US Battleships behind it.

7 December 1941,
Japanese aircraft launch a surprise attack on American naval forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Imperial Government of Japan declares war to Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States. Losses United States: 8 American battleships, 3 Cruisers and 3 Destroyers destroyed; 2344 killed, 876 wounded, 966 missing. 1 O'clock: Koeroesoe and Nomoera ask for a conversation with Cordell Hull.

Comparative strength in the Pacific at the begin of the War.
Japan Britain/Netherlands/
United States
Battleships 10 16
Carriers 11 6
Cruisers 41 37
Destroyers 129 93
Sub-marine 67 70
Planes ca.4300 ca.100
Army units 51 inf.div.,
1 cav.br.
ca.12-14 div.

The D3A Val

The D3A Val was Japanese main dive bomber of the war. The carrier-based aircraft had a major role in the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1941 and in the subsequent Japanese carrier operations in the Pacific and the Indian ocean. The Val was the latest in a long line of Aichi dive bombers based a the German Heinkel (He.111) designs. Up to 8821bs of bombs could be carried externally and the Val had two forward-firing 7.7mm machine guns.

8 December 1941, USA flag
The United States declares war on Japan, US finds itself at war with both Japan and Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill informs the British parliament that Britain is at war with Japan.

Destroyed battleships at Pearl Harbor

The development of the United States Armed Forces of 1941-1945
______________________________________________________________
Years Officers Men Total
______________________________________________________________
1941 99.536 1.341.482 1.460.998
1942 206.422 2.867.762 3.074.184
1943 579.576 6.413.526 6.993.102
1944 776.980 7.215.888 7.992.868
1945 991.663 7.374.710 8.266.373

8 December 1941,
Gassing of Jews begins at Chelmno (Kulmhof). Other death camps come "on line" later: Belzec (March 1942); Sobibor (April-May 1942); Treblinka (July 1942).

8 December 1941,
Japanese troops invade The Philippines and Malaya, attack Hongkong, bomb Guam.

Bombed Clark Field, south of Manilla, The Philippines
Japanese destroyed half of the aircrafts of Clark Field Navy Base, south of Manila on the Philippines, 25 B17's-bombers and their fighters were destroyed. A substantial part of the defending American air force on the ground was destroyed.
10 December 1941,
Japanese aircraft sink the British Royal Navy ships Prince of Wales and Repulse off the coast of Malaya. Japanese troops landed at Luzon (The Philippines).

Battleship 'Prince of Wales' WIDTH=

11 December 1941,
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States and sign new military alliance with Japan.

13 December 1941,
Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.

14 December 1941,
Convoy HG-76 sails from Gibraltar to the UK, covered by the carrier HMS Audacity and twelve other escorts. The group will be attacked by 12 U-boats but will sink 5 and bring down 2 German bombers; the carrier, a destroyer and 2 of the merchantmen will be lost.

19 December 1941,
Hitler take up Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, Von Brauchitsch retire.

"Im Heldenkampf verloren"; 22 June till 1 Decembre.
Dead Wounded Missing
Army 158.772 573.082 31.191
Luftwaffe 3.231 8.453 2.028
Navy 310 232 115
Total 162.313 581.767 33.334
The number of Russian warprisoners are regarding this message till now 3.806.860.

19 December 1941,
(till 4 June 1942).In this period Chennault destroys with his "Flying Tigers" 247 Japanese planes, 300 damage and 1500 Japanese killed.

22 December 1941,
(till 14 january 1942).Conference of Washington (Arcade), U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet in Washington, D.C.
Japanese troops land on Mindano and Wake island. Wake island is bombed from the air, a invasion mounted. About 200 men get ashore and after heavy fight with the garrison, they secure a surrender.

24 December 1941,
Japanese troops land in the Philippines near Luzon with about 7.000 men. MacArthur formed his troops in defensive lines to the north, but knew reinforcements will not arrive in time.

25 December 1941,
British forces surrender Hong Kong to the Japanese.

Tank line

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