Complete Timeline

Timeline of Events

1939

March 28, 1939 - Spanish Civil war ends.

May 22, 1939 - Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy.

Aug 23, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets sign Pact.

Aug 25, 1939 - Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty.

Sept 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland.

Sept 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.

Sept 4, 1939 - British Royal Air Force attacks the German Navy.

Sept 10, 1939 - Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins.

Sept 17, 1939 - Soviets invade Poland. Warsaw falls on September 27.

Sept 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland.

Oct - Nazis begin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany.

Nov 8, 1939 - Assassination attempt on Hitler fails.

Nov 30, 1939 - Soviets attack Finland.

Dec 14, 1939 - Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations.

1940 (back to top)

Jan 8, 1940 - Rationing begins in Britain.

March 12, 1940 - Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.

March 16, 1940 - Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.

April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.

May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.

May 15, 1940 - Holland surrenders to the Nazis.

May 26, 1940 - Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins.

May 28, 1940 - Belgium surrenders to the Nazis.

June 3, 1940 - Germans bomb Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ends.

June 10, 1940 - Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France.

June 14, 1940 - Germans enter Paris.

June 16, 1940 - Marshal Pétain becomes French Prime Minister.

June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with the Nazis.

June 23, 1940 - Hitler tours Paris.

June 28, 1940 - Britain recognizes Gen. Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.

July 5, 1940 - French Vichy government breaks off relations with Britain.

July 10, 1940 - Battle of Britain begins.

Aug 3-19 - Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.

Aug 13, 1940 - German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England.

Aug 15, 1940 - Air battles and daylight raids over Britain.

Aug 17, 1940 - Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles.

Aug 23/24 - First German air raids on Central London.

Aug 25/26 - First British air raid on Berlin.

Sept 3, 1940 - Hitler plans Operation Sealion (the invasion of Britain).

Sept 7, 1940 - German Blitz against England begins.

Sept 13, 1940 - Italians invade Egypt.

Sept 15, 1940 - Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.

Sept 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.

Oct 12, 1940 - Germans postpone Operation Sealion until Spring of 1941.

Oct 28, 1940 - Italy invades Greece.

Nov 10/11 - A torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.

Nov 14/15 - Germans bomb Coventry, England.

Nov 20, 1940 - Hungary joins the Axis Powers.

Nov 22, 1940 - Greeks defeat the Italian 9th Army.

Nov 23, 1940 - Romania joins the Axis Powers.

Dec 9/10 - British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.

1941 (back to top)

Jan 22, 1941 - Tobruk in North Africa falls to the British and Australians.

Feb 11, 1941 - British forces advance into Italian Somaliland in East Africa.

Feb 12, 1941 - German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, North Africa.

Feb 14, 1941 - First units of German 'Afrika Korps' arrive in North Africa.

March 7, 1941 - British forces arrive in Greece.

March 11, 1941 - President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act.

March 27, 1941 - A coup in Yugoslavia overthrows the pro-Axis government.

April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Greece and Yugoslavia.

April 14, 1941 - Rommel attacks Tobruk.

April 17, 1941 - Yugoslavia surrenders to the Nazis.

April 27, 1941 - Greece surrenders to the Nazis.

May 1, 1941 - German attack on Tobruk is repulsed.

May 10/11 - Heavy German bombing of London; British bomb Hamburg.

May 24, 1941 - Sinking of the British ship Hood by the Bismarck.

May 27, 1941 - Sinking of the Bismarck by the British Navy.

June 8, 1941 - Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.

June 22, 1941 - Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins.

In June - Nazi SS Einsatzgruppen begin mass murder.

June 28, 1941 - Germans capture Minsk.

July 3, 1941 - Stalin calls for a scorched earth policy.

July 10, 1941 - Germans cross the Dnieper River in the Ukraine.

July 12, 1941 - Mutual Assistance agreement between British and Soviets.

July 14, 1941 - British occupy Syria.

July 31, 1941 - Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.

Aug 1, 1941 - United States announces an oil embargo against aggressor states.

Aug 14, 1941 - Roosevelt and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter.

Aug 20, 1941 - Nazi siege of Leningrad begins.

Sept 1, 1941 - Nazis order Jews to wear yellow stars for identification purposes.

Sept 3, 1941 - First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Sept 19, 1941 - Nazis take Kiev, Ukraine.

Sept 29, 1941 - Nazis murder 33,771 Jews at Kiev.

Oct 2, 1941 - German advance on Moscow begins.

Oct 16, 1941 - Germans take Odessa.

Oct 24, 1941 - Germans take Kharkov.

Oct 30, 1941 - Germans reach Sevastopol.

Nov 13, 1941 - British aircraft carrier Ark Royal is sunk off Gibraltar by a U-boat.

Nov 20, 1941 - Germans take Rostov.

Nov 27, 1941 - Soviet troops retake Rostov.

Dec 5, 1941 - German attack on Moscow is abandoned.

Dec 6, 1941 - Soviet Army launches a major counter-offensive around Moscow.

Dec 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor;

Dec 8, 1941 - United States and Britain declare war on Japan.

Dec 11, 1941 - Germany declares war on the United States.

Dec 16, 1941 - Rommel begins a retreat to El Agheila in North Africa.

Dec 19, 1941 - Hitler takes complete command of the German Army.

1942 (back to top)

Jan 1, 1942 - Declaration of the United Nations signed by 26 Allied nations.

Jan 13, 1942 - Germans begin a U-boat offensive along east coast of USA.

Jan 21, 1942 - Rommel's counter-offensive from El Agheila begins.

Jan 26, 1942 - First American forces arrive in Great Britain.

April 23, 1942 - German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain.

May 8, 1942 - German summer offensive begins in the Crimea.

May 26, 1942 - Rommel begins an offensive against the Gazala Line.

May 27, 1942 - SS Leader Heydrich attacked in Prague.

June 1942 - Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz.

June 4, 1942 - Heydrich dies of wounds.

June 5, 1942 - Germans besiege Sevastopol.

June 10, 1942 - Nazis liquidate Lidice in reprisal for Heydrich's assassination.

June 21, 1942 - Rommel captures Tobruk.

June 30, 1942 - Rommel reaches El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt.

July 1-30 - First Battle of El Alamein.

July 3, 1942 - Germans take Sevastopol.

July 5, 1942 - Soviet resistance in the Crimea ends.

July 9, 1942 - Germans begin a drive toward Stalingrad in the USSR.

July 22, 1942 - Treblinka extermination camp opened.

Aug 7, 1942 - British General Bernard Montgomery takes command of Eighth Army in North Africa.

Aug 12, 1942 - Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow.

Aug 23, 1942 - Massive German air raid on Stalingrad.

Sept 2, 1942 - Rommel driven back by Montgomery in the Battle of Alam Halfa.

Sept 13, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins.

Oct 5, 1942 - A German eyewitness observes SS mass murder.

Oct 18, 1942 - Hitler orders the execution of all captured British commandos.

Nov 1, 1942 - Allies break Axis lines at El Alamein.

Nov 11, 1942 - Germans and Italians invade unoccupied Vichy France.

Nov 19, 1942 - Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins.

Dec 2, 1942 - Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago. Beginning of Manhattan Project.

Dec 13, 1942 - Rommel withdraws from El Agheila.

Dec 16, 1942 - Soviets defeat Italian troops on the River Don in the USSR.

Dec 17, 1942 - British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis

Dec 31, 1942 - Battle of the Barents Sea between German and British ships.

1943 (back to top)

Jan 2/3 - Germans begin a withdrawal from the Caucasus.

Jan 10, 1943 - Soviets begin an offensive against the Germans in Stalingrad.

Jan 14-24 - Casablanca conference between Churchill and Roosevelt.

Jan 23, 1943 - Montgomery's Eighth Army takes Tripoli.

Feb 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.

Feb 8, 1943 - Soviet troops take Kursk.

Feb 16, 1943 - Soviets re-take Kharkov.

Feb 18, 1943 - Nazis arrest White Rose resistance leaders in Munich.

March 2, 1943 - Germans begin a withdrawal from Tunisia, Africa.

March 15, 1943 - Germans re-capture Kharkov.

March 16-20 - Battle of Atlantic climaxes with 27 merchant ships sunk by German U-boats.

March 20-28 - Montgomery's Eighth Army breaks through the Mareth Line in Tunisia.

April 6/7 - Axis forces in Tunisia begin a withdrawal toward Enfidaville as American and British forces link.

May 7, 1943 - Allies take Tunisia.

May 13, 1943 - German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa.

May 16, 1943 - Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto ends.

May 16/17 - British air raid on the Ruhr.

July 5, 1943 - Germans begin their last offensive against Kursk.

July 9/10 - Allies land in Sicily.

July 19, 1943 - Allies bomb Rome.

July 22, 1943 - Americans capture Palermo, Sicily.

July 24, 1943 - British bombing raid on Hamburg.

July 25/26 - Mussolini arrested, Italian Fascist government falls

July 27/28 - Allied air raid causes a firestorm in Hamburg.

Aug 12-17 - Germans evacuate Sicily.

Aug 17, 1943 - Allies reach Messina, Sicily.

Aug 23, 1943 - Soviet troops recapture Kharkov.

Sept 8, 1943 - Italian surrender is announced.

Sept 9, 1943 - Allied landings at Salerno and Taranto.

Sept 11, 1943 - Germans occupy Rome.

Sept 12, 1943 - Germans rescue Mussolini.

Sept 23, 1943 - Mussolini re-establishes a Fascist government.

Oct 1, 1943 - Allies enter Naples, Italy.

Oct 13, 1943 - Italy declares war on Germany.

Nov 6, 1943 - Russians recapture Kiev in the Ukraine.

Nov 18, 1943 - Large British air raid on Berlin.

Nov 28, 1943 - Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Teheran.

Dec 24-26 - Soviets launch offensives on the Ukrainian front.

1944 (back to top)

Jan 6, 1944 - Soviet troops advance into Poland.

Jan 17, 1944 - First attack toward Cassino, Italy.

Jan 22, 1944 - Allies land at Anzio.

Jan 27, 1944 - Leningrad relieved after a 900-day siege.

Feb 15-18 - Allies bomb the monastery at Monte Cassino.

Feb 16, 1944 - Germans counter-attack against the Anzio beachhead.

March 4, 1944 - Soviet troops begin an offensive on the Belorussian front; First major daylight bombing raid on Berlin by the Allies.

March 15, 1944 - Second Allied attempt to capture Monte Cassino begins.

March 18, 1944 - British drop 3000 tons of bombs during an air raid on Hamburg, Germany.

April 8, 1944 - Soviet troops begin an offensive to liberate Crimea.

May 9, 1944 - Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol.

May 11, 1944 - Allies attack the Gustav Line south of Rome.

May 15, 1944 - Germans withdraw to the Adolf Hitler Line.

May 25, 1944 - Germans retreat from Anzio.

June 5, 1944 - Allies enter Rome.

June 6, 1944 - D-Day landings. Largest invading force recorded for such an operation.

June 9, 1944 - Soviet offensive against the Finnish front begins.

June 10, 1944 - Nazis liquidate the town of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

June 13, 1944 - First German V-1 rocket attack on Britain.

June 22, 1944 - Operation Bagration begins (the Soviet summer offensive).

July 3, 1944 - 'Battle of the Hedgerows' in Normandy; Soviets capture Minsk.

July 9, 1944 - British and Canadian troops capture Caen.

July 20, 1944 - German assassination attempt on Hitler fails.

July 24, 1944 - Soviet troops liberate first concentration camp at Majdanek.

July 28, 1944 - Soviet troops take Brest-Litovsk.

Aug 1, 1944 - Polish Home Army uprising against Nazis in Warsaw begins.

Aug 15, 1944 - Operation Dragoon begins (the Allied invasion of Southern France).

Aug 19, 1944 - Resistance uprising in Paris.

Aug 19/20 - Soviet offensive in the Balkans begins with an attack on Romania.

Aug 20, 1944 - Allies encircle Germans in the Falaise Pocket.

Aug 25, 1944 - Liberation of Paris. End of Vichy government

Sept 1-4 - Verdun, Dieppe, Artois, Rouen, Abbeville, Antwerp and Brussels liberated by Allies.

Sept 4, 1944 - Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a cease-fire.

Sept 17, 1944 - Operation Market Garden (Allied airborne assault on Holland) begins.

Oct 2, 1944 - Warsaw Uprising ends as the Polish Home Army surrenders to the Germans.

Oct 10-29 - Soviet troops capture Riga.

Oct 14, 1944 - Allies liberate Athens; Rommel commits suicide.

Oct 21, 1944 - Massive German surrender at Aachen.

Oct 30, 1944 - Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Nov 20, 1944 - French troops drive through the 'Beffort Gap' to reach the Rhine.

Nov 24, 1944 - French capture Strasbourg.

Dec 16-27 - Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.

Dec 27, 1944 - Soviet troops besiege Budapest.

1945 (back to top)

Jan 1-17 - Germans withdraw from the Ardennes.

Jan 17, 1945 - Soviet troops capture Warsaw.

Jan 26, 1945 - Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz.

Feb 4-11 – Yalta Conference between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill

Feb 13/14 - Dresden is destroyed after Allied bombing raids.

March 6, 1945 - Last German offensive of the war begins to defend oil fields in Hungary.

March 7, 1945 - Allies take Cologne and establish a bridge across the Rhine at Remagen.

March 30, 1945 - Soviet troops capture Danzig.

In April - Allies discover stolen Nazi art and wealth hidden in salt mines.

April 1, 1945 - Allied offensive in North Italy.

April 12, 1945 - Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps.

April 16, 1945 - Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin

April 21, 1945 - Soviets reach Berlin. Communist flag is raised over Berlin

April 28, 1945 - Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italians; Allies take Venice.

April 29, 1945 - U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau.

April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide.

May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.

May 8, 1945 - V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

June 5, 1945 - Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take over the government.

June 26, 1945 - United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.

July 1, 1945 - U.S., British, and French troops move into Berlin.

July 16, 1945 - First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.

July 26, 1945 - Atlee succeeds Churchill as British Prime Minister.

Aug 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.

Aug 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.

Aug 14, 1945 - Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.

Sept 2, 1945 - Japanese sign the surrender agreement; V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.

Oct 24, 1945 - United Nations is officially born.

Nov 20, 1945 - Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.