1941 in the Soviet Union

Incumbents

• General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union – Joseph Stalin
• Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Kalinin
• Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union – Vyacheslav Molotov, Joseph Stalin

  Events

• January 1: Soviet Armed Forces reach 4,207,000
• February 15–20: 18th Conference of All-Union Communist Party
• February 24: Kramatorsk Heavy Machinery Construction Plant was commissioned
• March 20: Head of Intelligence Filipp Golikov presented the report, which indicated the possible directions of German invasion to the Soviet Union
• May 6: Joseph Stalin replaces Vyacheslav Molotov as Prime Minister
• May 13: Head of the Red Army's General Staff issued directives on advancing the 25th Soviet Rifle Corps and the 19th, 21st and 22nd Armies to the line of Western Dvina and Dnepr
• May 14: Narkom of Defence Semyon Timoshenko gave an order on pre-term graduation of cadets, commissioning them to the troops
• May 16: Diplomatic relations with Iraq were established
• June 12: Timoshenko ordered the military councils of boundary districts to start the advancing of troops from rear closer to the state frontier
• June 13: Joseph Stalin suspended Timoshenko's request to bring the frontier troops into alertness
• June 14: TASS issued a report, labelling groundless the statements about the forthcoming war with Germany, spread by foreign and particularly British press
• June 21: Georgy Zhukov imparted via HF of waiting for important document to the staff heads of the military districts
• June 22: The Communist Party Central Committee issues the decree "On the Organization of Struggle in the Rear of German troops"; diplomatic relations with Germany ceased, relations with Italy, Romania and Denmark were interrupted
• *Commander-in-Chief of the Black Sea Fleet Filipp Oktyabrsky reported Zhukov on approaching of the large amount of unknown aircraft at 03:07
• *Head of Staff of the Western Military District General Vladimir Klimovskikh reported on German air raids on Byelorussian towns at 03:30
• *Western and Baltic Military Districts reported on the onset of German ground hostilities at 04:10
• *Brest Fortress was shelled at 04:15
• *Timoshenko's directive N2 was delivered to military districts at 07:15
• *sixteen German aircraft bombed Grodno at 07:15 from the altitude of 1 km
• *Government's public radio report on the declaration of war at 12:00
• June 23: High Command Headquarters was formed; mobilization plan on ammunition production was introduced; Soviets leave Grodno
• June 25–28: Kaunas pogrom
• June 26: Daugavpils surrendered
• June 27: Slutsk surrendered
• June 28: Minsk surrendered
• June 29: Operation Silver Fox begins
• June 30: State Defence Committee was formed; diplomatic relations with France were interrupted
• July 3: Stalin gave a broadcast talk
• July 4: directive on economical policy during the forced evacuation of production facilities was issued; State Defence Committee adopted decree "On voluntary mobilization of Moscow and the Moscow Oblast working-people to the divisions of people's militia"
• July 10: Battle of Smolensk breaks out
• July 11-September 26: Battle of Kiev
• July 15: Battle of Uman begins
• July 16: Presidium of the Supreme Soviet establishes the office of military commissar
• July 18: diplomatic relations with Czechoslovakia were resumed
• July 19: Joseph Stalin replaces Semyon Timoshenko as Defense Minister
• July 25: Petliura Days
• July 30: Reserve Front was formed; diplomatic relations with Polish government-in-exile were established, while relations with Greece were resumed
• August 1: Boris Shaposhnikov succeeded Zhukov as the Head of the General Staff
• August 5-October 16: Siege of Odessa
• August 5: diplomatic relations with Norway were resumed
• August 7: diplomatic relations with Belgium were resumed
• August 8: Stalin appoints himself Coimmander-in-Chief of the army
• August 21: Germans took Chudovo
• August 25: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran begins; Germans took Dnepropetrovsk
• August 30: Yelnya Offensive begins
• September 4: shelling of Leningrad began
• September 8: Encirclement of Leningrad was completed; the city's Badayev Depots and "The Red Star" creamery were ruined by German aviation
• September 9: Operation Wotan was started
• September 11: 157 political prisoners incarcerated at Oryol Prison were executed in Medvedev Forest, near Oryol. Among the victims were Christian Rakovsky, Sergei Efron, Olga Kameneva, and Maria Spiridonova.
• September 12: 1st Battle of Rostov begins
• September 18: the 100th, 127th, 153rd and 161st Soviet Rifle Divisions were converted into the Guards Divisions
• September 19: Soviets left Kiev
• September 30: early stage of the Battle of Moscow takes place
• October 1: Vsevobuch was re-introduced
• October 4: Germans captured Spas-Demensk
• October 5: Germans captured Yukhnov
• October 6: Bryansk was captured
• October 12: State Defence Committee decides on building the defensive lines near Moscow
• October 13: Battle at Borodino Field takes place; fall of Kaluga
• October 14: Germans took Kalinin
• October 15: the State Defense Committee issued an order on immediate evacuation of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the government and foreign diplomatic missions from Moscow.
• October 16: fall of Borovsk
• October 18: fall of Mozhaysk and Maloyaroslavets
• October 19: State Defence Committee introduced the state of siege in Moscow and adjacent areas
• October 30: Germans imposed siege on Sevastopol
• November: Three deer transportation units were formed in the 14th Soviet Army, with 1,000 deer and 140–150 herdsmen and soldiers in each unit.
• December 5: Germans entered Yelets
• December 9: Soviets liberated Rogachyovo, Venyov and Yelets from Germans
• December 11: Solnechnogorsk was liberated from Germans
• December 15: Soviets liberated Klin at 02:00 from Germans
• December 16: Kalinin was liberated from Germans
• December 20: Volokolamsk was liberated from Germans
• December 26: Naro-Fominsk was liberated from Germans

  Births

• January 5 – Viktor Anichkin, football player.
• April 29 – Viktor Ageyev, water polo player.
• May 16 – Gennadiy Prashkevich, science fiction writer.
• May 25 – Oleg Dahl, actor.
• June 1 – Alexander Zakharov, physicist and astronomer.
• June 10 – Aida Vedishcheva, singer.
• June 20 – Albert Shesternyov, soccer player and coach.
• June 21 – Valeri Zolotukhin, actor.
• August 16 – Andrei Mironov, actor.
• August 21 – Yuri Malyshev, cosmonaut.
• September 3 – Sergei Dovlatov, journalist and writer.
• December 12 – Vitaly Solomin,.
• October 1 – Vyacheslav Vedenin, cross county skier.

  Deaths

• Maria Spiridonova, politician
• Stepan Suprun, twice Hero of the Soviet Union
• Marina Tsvetayeva, poet