March 24, 1941. Reversal of fortunes in North Africa.

Panzerkampfwagen III, the backbone of German armor in North Africa.

On this day in 1941, the Germans went into their first major offensive in North Africa, taking El Agheila, Libya.  Rommel's attack involved some clever elements of deception.

More on that here:

Day 571 March 24, 1941

Today in World War II History—March 24, 1941

The introduction of the Africa Korps into combat initiated a new phase in the desert war and was more than a little bit of a set back for the British there.  At the point at which it occurred a complete Italian defeat was within reach and the Allies had good reason to believe that the German presence would be too little, too late.  Instead, it signaled a real danger that the Germans would reverse the tide towards an Allied victory in Africa and in fact it set the Allies back years.  On this day the British began withdrawing naval support from the campaign off of the Arabian Gulf for this reason, appreciating the new danger.

At this point the Germans, while it would have been premature, would have been justified in hoping for an Axis victory in North Africa, maybe, although it was far from achieved.  They still didn't have one against Greece, which meant that at this point in time, contrary to the way we often imagine it, the Allies were still fighting to the northeast of Libya and the Mediterranean was effectively contested ground by both sides.  The Axis was still creating havoc on the North Atlantic as well, although at this point the Happy Time was ending.  Still, what we've been noting here, that the Axis was not doing that well post fall of France was now beginning to change.

Having said that, it hadn't changed so much that a rational strategist would have thought twice before launching a war against the Soviet Union. 

Be that as it may, Hitler, in his private musings, predicated war with the United States, a remarkable prediction for a leader of a nation that hadn't defeated the British, had an unreliable ally, and was bizarrely planning on attacking the Soviet Union.

Hitler ‘there will be war with the United States’

Senator Harry Truman of Missouri gave a nationally broadcast speech on a Senate Committee investigating national defense.

Steel workers went on strike in Bethlehem, PA.

Donald Duck, the cartoon character, was drafted.  Or so a cartoon maintained.

The last of New York's "Wild West Cowboys", mounted men who rode in front of the city's urban freight trains in Manhattan to clear pedestrians, made his last ride. After this date, the mounted riders were retired from that service, there being at that time only one left.