Timeline February 1941

Events in February 1941 12

• 1866 – 1941 Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941) Died 9 February 1941, aged 74 Elizabeth von Arnim was an Australian-born British novelist known for Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Enchanted April. She died in Charleston, South Carolina.
• 1886 – 1941 Alfonso XIII (1886-1941) Died 28 February 1941, aged 54 Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from his birth until he went into exile when the Second Republic was proclaimed in 1931. He died in Rome.
• 1891 – 1941 Frederick Banting (1891-1941) Died 21 February 1941, aged 49 Frederick Banting was a Canadian physician who co-discovered insulin and shared the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was killed when his plane crashed in Newfoundland.
• 1941 Roald Dahl is passed fit to fly again Discharged from the naval hospital in Alexandria He rejoined 80 Squadron, by then flying Hurricanes in the Greek campaign.
• 1941 Battle of Beda Fomm Italian Tenth Army destroyed in Libya A British force cut off the retreating Italian Tenth Army south of Benghazi and forced its surrender, ending Operation Compass. About 25,000 Italians were captured.
• 1941 Battle of Keren The decisive battle of the East African campaign British and Indian troops fought for eight weeks to take the mountain stronghold of Keren in Eritrea from Italian forces. Its fall opened the way to Asmara and Massawa.
• 1941 7th Elfstedentocht Winner: Auke Adema — 9h 19m Held on 6 February 1941 under German occupation. Auke Adema, who had shared the 1940 victory, won convincingly on his own in 9 hours and 19 minutes. An enormous crowd watched despite wartime conditions. Adema later stopped for a sausage in Workum but still won by three minutes.
• 1941 First patient treated with penicillin Oxford team tests the antibiotic in a human Howard Florey's team in Oxford gave penicillin to police constable Albert Alexander, who had a severe infection. He improved dramatically, but the supply ran out and he died, which showed both the drug's power and the need for mass production.
• 1941 Rommel arrives in Libya The Afrika Korps enters the desert war General Erwin Rommel arrived in Tripoli to command German forces sent to prop up Italy in North Africa. Within weeks he had launched an offensive that drove the British back to the Egyptian border.
• 1941 Duke Ellington records Take the A Train Signature tune Billy Strayhorn's song becomes the orchestra's theme.
• 1941 – 2011 Kim Jong-il (1941-2011) Died 17 December 2011, aged 70 The North Korean leader ruled the isolated, nuclear-armed state for 17 years, continuing the personality cult and militarized "Songun" policy established by his father, Kim Il-sung. His death was announced two days later and led to the succession of his son, Kim Jong-un. State media broadcast displays of mass public mourning across the country.
• 1941 Plutonium first identified Seaborg's team isolates element 94 Glenn Seaborg, Arthur Wahl, Joseph Kennedy and Edwin McMillan chemically identified plutonium at the University of California, Berkeley. The element became the fissile core of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.