The United States Senate voted unanimously to establish a special committee to find and correct problems in American war production. This bipartisan committee became known as the Truman Committee, named for its head Harry S. Truman.
The book Germany Must Perish! by Theodore N. Kaufman was published in the United States. Nazi propaganda would use this book to support the claim that Jews were plotting against Germany.
Turkey canceled its non-aggression pact with Bulgaria after only two weeks.[1]
An earthquake in the Greek city of Larissa left 10,000 homeless.[5]
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an order freezing all Bulgarian assets in the United States.[6]
A famous image of a weeping Frenchman (Jérôme Barzotti [fr]) was published in this week's issue of Life magazine. The photograph is a still from film footage shot in Marseilles during a procession of French regimental flags on their way to Africa to preserve them from surrender.[7][8]
Operation Claymore: British Commandos conducted a raid on the Nazi-occupied Lofoten Islands in Norway. They achieved their objective of destroying fish oil factories and some 3,600 tons of oil and glycerine, and also captured German code information.
Regent Prince Paul of Yugoslavia met with Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden. Paul set his conditions for Yugoslavia to join the Axis, including that Salonika be ceded to Yugoslavia after the war. Hitler agreed to all conditions except that the terms of the agreement be published.[9]
The Boston Bruins took 83 shots on goal during a 3–2 win over the Chicago Black Hawks. Two NHL single-game records were set that still stand: number of shots on goal by one team, and number of saves by a goaltender (Sam LoPresti with 80).[10]
German aircraft bombed London and damaged Buckingham Palace. The Café de Paris nightclub was also heavily damaged and did not re-open until after the war.[16]
A nighttime German bombing raid on Portsmouth sank a minesweeping trawler and damaged three destroyers, a training ship and four other minesweeping trawlers.[16]
At the White House Correspondents' Dinner, President Roosevelt made a speech promising aid to the British and their allies "until total victory has been won."[23]
The Allies began Operation Savanna, with the goal of landing Free French paratroops into German-occupied France to ambush and kill as many pilots of the Kampfgeschwader 100 as possible.
A fire broke out on the docked German ocean liner SS Bremen, causing such extensive damage that the ship would be scrapped.[24] Initially thought to be the work of raiders, the arsonist was later said to have been a cabin boy avenging a punishment.[25]
Hitler gave a Heldengedenktag speech at the Berlin Zeughaus, reviewing Germany's battlefield performance over the past twelve months and declaring that England would be defeated.[26][27]
German submarine U-100 was depth charged and sunk by British warships when it attacked the convoy HX 112.
German submarine U-99 was scuttled southeast of Iceland after being severely damaged by the British destroyers Walker and Vanoc. This was the first successful use of radar by surface units against U-boats,[25] a factor in the ending of Germany's First Happy Time.
Ion Antonescu signed an anti-Jewish law providing for the segregation of Romania's Jews and expropriation of their urban property.[36]
Aboard the presidential yacht USS Potomac, President Roosevelt signed the $7 billion wartime appropriation bill.[37]
German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop met his Japanese counterpart Yōsuke Matsuoka in Berlin.[38]
Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrived in Pearl Harbor. Yoshikawa noticed that battleships were berthed in pairs and that the in-shore ship was protected from torpedo attacks by the outboard one.[39]
17-year old Peter II of Yugoslavia, considered by the new government to be of age to take the throne, took the oath of King of Yugoslavia in Belgrade as crowds cheered.[1]
Hitler awarded Hanna Reitsch the Iron Cross Second Class, making her the first woman of the war to receive the medal.[40]
Hitler held a conference with his generals in which he said that the upcoming war with Russia would be a race war in which communist commissars and Jews would be exterminated by SS Einsatzgruppen following behind the advancing armies. Hitler expected the Soviet Union to be defeated in a matter of weeks and declared, "We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down."[42]
^"Senate Passes British Aid Bill by 60 to 31; Boro Trolleys Crash, Hurt 26; More Snow Due". Brooklyn Eagle. Brooklyn. March 9, 1941. p. 1.
^Aaron, Marc Z.; Nowlin, Bill, eds. (2015). Who's on First: Replacement Players in World War II. Phoenix, AZ: Society for American Baseball Research, Inc. p. 16. ISBN978-1-933599-90-8.
^ abcdefgh"1941". World War II Database. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
^Veranneman de Watervliet, Jean-Michel (2014). Belgium in the Second World War. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 85. ISBN978-1-78337-607-0.
^Tucker, Spencer C., ed. (2015). Pearl Harbor: The Essential Reference Guide. ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 241. ISBN978-1-4408-3719-7.
^Cymet, David (2010). History vs. Apologetics: The Holocaust, the Third Reich, and the Catholic Church. Plymouth: Lexington Books. p. 200. ISBN978-0-7391-3295-1.
^Evans, A. A.; Gibbons, David (2012). The Illustrated Timeline of World War II. Rosen Publishing. p. 63. ISBN978-1-4488-4795-2.
^Askey, Nigel (2014). Operation Barbarossa: the Complete Organisational and Statistical Analysis, and Military Simulation Volume IIB. Lulu Publishing. p. 240. ISBN978-1-312-41326-9.