February 1941

February 1, 1941 (Saturday)

• On the east African front, the 4th Indian Division captured Agordat while the 5th Indian Division took Metemma.
• The Japanese government announced rice rationing.
• Georgy Zhukov was appointed chief of the Red Army's General Staff.
• General Order 143 split the United States Fleet into separate Atlantic, Pacific and Asiatic Fleets.
• Admiral Husband E. Kimmel became Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet.
• German submarine U-68 was commissioned.
• Born: Karl Dall, comedian, singer and television presenter, in Emden, Germany ; Jerry Spinelli, children's novelist, in Norristown, Pennsylvania
• Died: William Gibbs McAdoo, 77, American lawyer and statesman

  February 2, 1941 (Sunday)

• The Indian 5th Division captured Barentu, Eritrea.
• Benito Mussolini declared the southern portion of Italy to be a war zone and put it under martial law.
• The British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable replaced the damaged Illustrious in the Mediterranean. The Illustrious was sent to the United States for repairs.
• Died: Harris Laning, 67, American admiral; Yanko Sakazov, 80, Bulgarian socialist politician

  February 3, 1941 (Monday)

• Erwin Rommel became head of the German military unit soon to be known as the Afrika Korps.
• Cuban President Fulgencio Batista suspended civil liberties and took over personal command of the country's armed forces.
• The refrigerated cargo liner Empire Citizen was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic by the German submarine U-107.
• The People's Commissariat for State Security was created in the Soviet Union.
• The U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Darby Lumber Co.
• Born: Dory Funk, Jr., professional wrestler, in Hammond, Indiana; Howard Phillips, politician, in Boston, Massachusetts

  February 4, 1941 (Tuesday)

• The British took Msus, Libya.
• The United Service Organizations was founded in the United States.
• The refrigerated cargo ship Empire Engineer was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic by the German submarine U-123.
• Born: Gabrielle Roth, dancer and musician, in San Francisco, California
• Born: Edina Pop, singer and Dschinghis Khan member since 1979, in Munich, Germany

  February 5, 1941 (Wednesday)

• In the East African Campaign, the Battle of Keren began.
• The Royal Air Force bombed Düsseldorf, killing 35.
• The Luxembourgish and Belgian francs were withdrawn from circulation and replaced with the Reichsmark.
• Wendell Willkie ended his visit to England with a statement intended for the German people: "I am proud of my German blood, but I hate aggression and tyranny, and I now tell the German people that my convictions are fully shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans of German descent. They, too, believe in freedom and human rights. We German-Americans reject and hate aggression and the lust for power of the present German government."
• The British Air Training Corps was officially established.
• Born: Stephen J. Cannell, television director and producer, in Los Angeles, California ; David Selby, actor, in Morgantown, West Virginia; Kaspar Villiger, businessman and politician, in Pfeffikon, Switzerland

  February 6, 1941 (Thursday)

• Combeforce captured Benghazi.
• The Battle of Beda Fomm began in Libya.
• The Germans launched Operation Sonnenblume, the dispatch of German troops to North Africa.
• Adolf Hitler wrote to Francisco Franco again urging Spain to enter the war on the side of the Axis.
• Hitler issued Directive No. 23, Directions for Operations against the English War Economy.
• Charles Lindbergh testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to once again oppose the Lend-Lease bill, saying that such aid would only deplete American defenses and prolong the war without materially affecting its course.
• German submarine U-556 was commissioned.
• Died: Maximilien Luce, 82, French artist; Banjo Paterson, 76, Australian bush poet, journalist and author

  February 7, 1941 (Friday)

• The Battle of Beda Fomm ended in British victory.
• Died: Aimée Crocker, 78, American socialite and adventurer; Giuseppe Tellera, 58, Italian general

  February 8, 1941 (Saturday)

• The U.S. House of Representatives voted 265–165 in favor of the Lend-Lease bill.
• Bulgaria agreed to allow German troops to pass within its borders.
• German troops began departing Naples for North Africa.
• German submarine U-83 was commissioned.
• Born: Nick Nolte, actor, in Omaha, Nebraska
• Died: Willis Van Devanter, 81, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1911 to 1937

  February 9, 1941 (Sunday)

• British forces captured El Agheila. Winston Churchill halted the British advance in North Africa and began withdrawing troops to assist in the defense of Greece.
• Force H of the Royal Navy bombarded Genoa, La Spezia and Livorno, inflicting heavy damage on Italian shore installations.
• Churchill gave an international radio address that concluded with a direct appeal to the United States: "Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence all will be well. We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job."
• François Darlan became vice-president of the Council of Vichy France.
• Died: Reed Smoot, 79, American senator and leader of the LDS Church

  February 10, 1941 (Monday)

• Operation Colossus: A British paratrooper raid destroyed an aqueduct in Calitri, Italy. The operation had negligible impact on the war and 35 paratroopers were captured, but lessons learned from it helped to improve the effectiveness of later airborne operations.
• The Luftwaffe bombed British-held Iceland.
• Britain severed diplomatic relations with Romania due to the presence of 500,000 German troops in the country.
• The U.S. Senate took up H.R. 1776, the Lend-Lease Act which the House of Representatives had passed a month earlier.. Also on Feb. 10, Merwin K. Hart told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Lend-Lease bill would probably lead the country into the war and eventually result in the establishment of a fascist or communist dictatorship in the United States. Lend-Lease passed the Senate on March 8, and was signed into law 3 days. later. It ended US neutrality, led to the US sending $50 billion in aid, and was credited with hastening the Allied victory in WWII.
• Born: Michael Apted, film and television director, in Aylesbury, England

  February 11, 1941 (Tuesday)

• The British submarine HMS Snapper was lost in the Bay of Biscay to either a naval mine or a depth charge attack.
• Wendell Willkie, having returned from England, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and urged that the United States provide Britain with five to ten destroyers a month.
• Jews fought Germans and Dutch fascists in Amsterdam's Waterlooplein.
• The new Japanese ambassador to the United States, Kichisaburō Nomura, arrived in Washington.
• The German submarine U-80 was commissioned.
• Born: Sergio Mendes, Brazilian jazz musician, in Niteroi

  February 12, 1941 (Wednesday)

• Mussolini met Franco for a two-day conference at Bordighera in another attempt to persuade Spain to join the Axis and enter the war. Franco once again insisted that his country was simply not in a position to do so.
• German cruiser Admiral Hipper attacked the unescorted convoy SLS 64 west of Gibraltar and sank six steamers.
• Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya on a Junkers Ju 52.
• Germans closed off the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam with barbed wire.
• Former King of Spain Alfonso XIII, living in exile in Rome, renounced the throne in favour of his third son Juan.
• Santiago, Chile celebrated the 400th anniversary of its founding.
• German submarine U-651 was commissioned.
• Born: Naomi Uemura, explorer, in Hidaka, Japan
• Died: Richhpal Ram, 41, Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross

  February 13, 1941 (Thursday)

• German authorities ordered all gentiles to leave Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter.
• The British minister to Sofia said in a statement that "If the Germans occupy Bulgaria and make it a base against our ally, obviously we shall have to break off relations with Bulgaria and take whatever measures the situation requires."
• German submarine U-557 was commissioned.
• Born: David Jeremiah, televangelist, in Toledo, Ohio; Sigmar Polke, painter and photographer, in Oels, Poland
• Died: Blind Boy Fuller, 33, American blues musician

  February 14, 1941 (Friday)

• British and South African forces captured Kismayo.
• Norwegian war hero Max Manus, flew by jumping out a window, the only time he was ever captured by the Germans.
• The first units of the Afrika Korps arrived in Tripoli.
• Hitler met with the Yugoslavian Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković at the Berghof, but was unable to convince Cvetković to sign on to the Tripartite Pact.
• Kichisaburō Nomura came to the White House to present his credentials to President Roosevelt. The president told the ambassador that "there are developments in the relations between the United States and Japan which cause concern," and Nomura replied that he would do all he could to establish better understandings between the two nations.
• Britain announced that beginning the next day it would consider Romania to be "territory under enemy occupation" and would regard the country as an "enemy destination for contraband purposes."

  February 15, 1941 (Saturday)

• British and German troops engaged each other in North Africa for the first time in a skirmish near Sirte.
• A great fire broke out in the Spanish city of Santander.
• Italy forced the United States to close consulates in Naples and Palermo.
• German submarine U-78 was commissioned.
• Died: Guido Adler, 85, Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer