1939 January 30, 1939 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.
March 15/16 - Nazis take Czechoslovakia. March 28, 1939 - Spanish Civil war ends. May 22, 1939 - Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy. August 23, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets sign Pact. August 25, 1939 - Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty. August 31, 1939 - British fleet mobilizes; Civilian evacuations begin from London. September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland. September 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany. September 4, 1939 - British Royal Air Force attacks the German Navy. September 5, 1939 - United States proclaims its neutrality; German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland. September 10, 1939 - Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins. September 17, 1939 - Soviets invade Poland. September 27, 1939 - Warsaw surrenders to Nazis; Reinhard Heydrich becomes the leader of new Reich Main Security Office (RSHA). See also: The History Place - Biography of Reinhard Heydrich. September 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland. In October - Nazis begin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany. November 8, 1939 - Assassination attempt on Hitler fails. November 30, 1939 - Soviets attack Finland. December 14, 1939 - Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations. 1940 January 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 18, 1940 - Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich; Soviets begin occupation of the Baltic States. June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany. June 23, 1940 - Hitler tours Paris. June 28, 1940 - Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader. July 1, 1940 - German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic. July 5, 1940 - French Vichy government breaks off relations with Britain. July 10, 1940 - Battle of Britain begins. July 23, 1940 - Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. August 3-19 - Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa. August 13, 1940 - German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England. August 15, 1940 - Air battles and daylight raids over Britain. August 17, 1940 - Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles. August 23/24 - First German air raids on Central London. August 25/26 - First British air raid on Berlin. September 3, 1940 - Hitler plans Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Britain). September 7, 1940 - German Blitz against Britain begins. September 13, 1940 - Italians invade Egypt. September 15, 1940 - Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester. September 16, 1940 - United States military conscription bill passed. September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan. October 7, 1940 - German troops enter Romania. October 12, 1940 - Germans postpone Operation Sea Lion until Spring of 1941. October 28, 1940 - Italy invades Greece. November 5, 1940 - Roosevelt re-elected as U.S. president. November 10/11 - Torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy. November 14/15 - Germans bomb Coventry, England. November 20, 1940 - Hungary joins the Axis Powers. November 22, 1940 - Greeks defeat the Italian 9th Army. November 23, 1940 - Romania joins the Axis Powers. December 9/10 - British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians. December 29/30 - Massive German air raid on London. 1941 January 22, 1941 - Tobruk in North Africa falls to the British and Australians. February 11, 1941 - British forces advance into Italian Somaliland in East Africa. February 12, 1941 - German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, North Africa. February 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 3, 1941 - Pro-Axis regime set up in Iraq. 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, 1941 - Deputy Führer Rudolph Hess flies to Scotland. See also: The History Place - Biography of Rudolph Hess May 10/11 - Heavy German bombing of London; British bomb Hamburg. May 15, 1941 - Operation Brevity begins (the British counter-attack in Egypt). May 24, 1941 - Sinking of the British ship Hood by the Bismarck. May 27, 1941 - Sinking of the Bismarck by the British Navy. June 4, 1941 - Pro-Allied government installed in Iraq. June 8, 1941 - Allies invade Syria and Lebanon. June 14, 1941 - United States freezes German and Italian assets in America. 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 River Dnieper in the Ukraine. July 12, 1941 - Mutual Assistance agreement between British and Soviets. July 14, 1941 - British occupy Syria. July 26, 1941 - Roosevelt freezes Japanese assets in United States and suspends relations. July 31, 1941 - Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution. August 1, 1941 - United States announces an oil embargo against aggressor states. August 14, 1941 - Roosevelt and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter. August 20, 1941 - Nazi siege of Leningrad begins. September 1, 1941 - Nazis order Jews to wear yellow stars. September 3, 1941 - First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz. September 19, 1941 - Nazis take Kiev. September 29, 1941 - Nazis murder 33,771 Jews at Kiev. October 2, 1941 - Operation Typhoon begins (German advance on Moscow). October 16, 1941 - Germans take Odessa. October 24, 1941 - Germans take Kharkov. October 30, 1941 - Germans reach Sevastopol. November 13, 1941 - British aircraft carrier Ark Royal is sunk off Gibraltar by a U-boat. November 20, 1941 - Germans take Rostov. November 27, 1941 - Soviet troops retake Rostov. December 5, 1941 - German attack on Moscow is abandoned. December 6, 1941 - Soviet Army launches a major counter-offensive around Moscow. December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor; Hitler issues the Night and Fog decree. December 8, 1941 - United States and Britain declare war on Japan. December 11, 1941 - Hitler declares war on the United States. December 16, 1941 - Rommel begins a retreat to El Agheila in North Africa. December 19, 1941 - Hitler takes complete control of the German Army. 1942 January 1, 1942 - Declaration of the United Nations signed by 26 Allied nations. January 13, 1942 - Germans begin a U-boat offensive along east coast of USA. January 20, 1942 - SS Leader Heydrich holds the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." January 21, 1942 - Rommel's counter-offensive from El Agheila begins. January 26, 1942 - First American forces arrive in Great Britain. In April - Japanese-Americans sent to relocation centers. 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. May 30, 1942 - First thousand-bomber British air raid (against Cologne). In June - 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 25, 1942 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrives in London. 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 - First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps; Treblinka extermination camp opened. August 7, 1942 - British General Bernard Montgomery takes command of Eighth Army in North Africa. August 12, 1942 - Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow. August 17, 1942 - First all-American air attack in Europe. August 23, 1942 - Massive German air raid on Stalingrad. September 2, 1942 - Rommel driven back by Montgomery in the Battle of Alam Halfa. September 13, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins. October 5, 1942 - A German eyewitness observes SS mass murder. October 18, 1942 - Hitler orders the execution of all captured British commandos. November 1, 1942 - Operation Supercharge (Allies break Axis lines at El Alamein). November 8, 1942 - Operation Torch begins (U.S. invasion of North Africa). November 11, 1942 - Germans and Italians invade unoccupied Vichy France. November 19, 1942 - Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins. December 2, 1942 - Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago. December 13, 1942 - Rommel withdraws from El Agheila. December 16, 1942 - Soviets defeat Italian troops on the River Don in the USSR. December 17, 1942 - British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis; U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged. December 31, 1942 - Battle of the Barents Sea between German and British ships. 1943 January 2/3 - Germans begin a withdrawal from the Caucasus. January 10, 1943 - Soviets begin an offensive against the Germans in Stalingrad. January 14-24 - Casablanca conference between Churchill and Roosevelt. During the conference, Roosevelt announces the war can end only with "unconditional German surrender." January 23, 1943 - Montgomery's Eighth Army takes Tripoli. January 27, 1943 - First bombing raid by Americans on Germany (at Wilhelmshaven). February 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies. February 8, 1943 - Soviet troops take Kursk. February 14-25 - Battle of Kasserine Pass between the U.S. 1st Armored Division and German Panzers in North Africa. February 16, 1943 - Soviets re-take Kharkov. February 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. April 19, 1943 - Waffen-SS attacks Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto. 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. May 22, 1943 - Dönitz suspends U-boat operations in the North Atlantic. June 10, 1943 - 'Pointblank' directive to improve Allied bombing strategy issued. June 11, 1943 - Himmler orders the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland. 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 and the Italian Fascist government falls; Marshal Pietro Badoglio takes over and negotiates with Allies. July 27/28 - Allied air raid causes a firestorm in Hamburg. August 12-17 - Germans evacuate Sicily. August 17, 1943 - American daylight air raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt in Germany; Allies reach Messina, Sicily. August 23, 1943 - Soviet troops recapture Kharkov. September 8, 1943 - Italian surrender to Allies is announced. September 9, 1943 - Allied landings at Salerno and Taranto. September 11, 1943 - Germans occupy Rome. September 12, 1943 - Germans rescue Mussolini. September 23, 1943 - Mussolini re-establishes a Fascist government. October 1, 1943 - Allies enter Naples, Italy. October 4, 1943 - SS-Reichsführer Himmler gives speech at Posen. October 13, 1943 - Italy declares war on Germany; Second American air raid on Schweinfurt. November 6, 1943 - Russians recapture Kiev in the Ukraine. November 18, 1943 - Large British air raid on Berlin. November 28, 1943 - Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Teheran. December 24-26 - Soviets launch offensives on the Ukrainian front. 1944 January 6, 1944 - Soviet troops advance into Poland. January 17, 1944 - First attack toward Cassino, Italy. January 22, 1944 - Allies land at Anzio in Italy. January 27, 1944 - Leningrad relieved after a 900-day siege. February 15-18 - Allies bomb the monastery at Monte Cassino. February 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 12, 1944 - Germans surrender in the Crimea. 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 on the northern coast of France. 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). June 27, 1944 - U.S. troops liberate Cherbourg, France. July 3, 1944 - 'Battle of the Hedgerows' in Normandy; Soviets capture Minsk. July 9, 1944 - British and Canadian troops capture Caen, France. July 18, 1944 - U.S. troops reach St. Lô, France. July 20, 1944 - Assassination attempt by German Army officers against Hitler fails. July 24, 1944 - Soviet troops liberate first concentration camp at Majdanek. July 25-30 - Operation Cobra (U.S. troops break out west of St. Lô). July 28, 1944 - Soviet troops take Brest-Litovsk. U.S. troops take Coutances. August 1, 1944 - Polish Home Army uprising against Nazis in Warsaw begins; U.S. troops reach Avranches. August 4, 1944 - Anne Frank and family arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam, Holland. August 7, 1944 - Germans begin a major counter-attack toward Avranches. August 15, 1944 - Operation Dragoon begins (the Allied invasion of Southern France). August 19, 1944 - Resistance uprising in Paris. August 19/20 - Soviet offensive in the Balkans begins with an attack on Romania. August 20, 1944 - Allies encircle Germans in the Falaise Pocket. August 25, 1944 - Liberation of Paris. August 29, 1944 - Slovak uprising begins. August 31, 1944 - Soviet troops take Bucharest. September 1-4 - Verdun, Dieppe, Artois, Rouen, Abbeville, Antwerp and Brussels liberated by Allies. September 4, 1944 - Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a cease-fire. September 13, 1944 - U.S. troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany. September 17, 1944 - Operation Market Garden begins (Allied airborne assault on Holland). September 26, 1944 - Soviet troops occupy Estonia. October 2, 1944 - Warsaw Uprising ends as the Polish Home Army surrenders to the Germans. October 10-29 - Soviet troops capture Riga. October 14, 1944 - Allies liberate Athens; Rommel commits suicide. October 21, 1944 - Massive German surrender at Aachen, Germany. October 30, 1944 - Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz. November 20, 1944 - French troops drive through the 'Beffort Gap' to reach the Rhine. November 24, 1944 - French capture Strasbourg. December 4, 1944 - Civil War in Greece; Athens placed under martial law. December 16-27 - Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. December 17, 1944 - Waffen-SS murder 81 U.S. POWs at Malmedy. December 26, 1944 - Patton relieves Bastogne. December 27, 1944 - Soviet troops besiege Budapest. 1945 January 1-17 - Germans withdraw from the Ardennes. January 16, 1945 - U.S. 1st and 3rd Armies link up after a month long separation during the Battle of the Bulge. January 17, 1945 - Soviet troops capture Warsaw, Poland. January 26, 1945 - Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz. February 4-11 - Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Yalta. February 13/14 - Dresden is destroyed by a firestorm 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 German salt mines. April 1, 1945 - U.S. troops encircle Germans in the Ruhr; Allied offensive in northern Italy. April 12, 1945 - Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps; President Roosevelt dies. Harry Truman becomes President. April 16, 1945 - Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin; Americans enter Nuremberg. April 18, 1945 - German forces in the Ruhr surrender. April 21, 1945 - Soviets reach Berlin. April 28, 1945 - Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian partisans; Allies take Venice. April 29, 1945 - U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau. April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide. May 2, 1945 - German troops in Italy surrender. May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies. May 8, 1945 - V-E (Victory in Europe) Day. May 9, 1945 - Hermann Göring is captured by members of the U.S. 7th Army. May 23, 1945 - SS-Reichsführer Himmler commits suicide; German High Command and Provisional Government imprisoned. 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 - American, 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. August 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan. August 8, 1945 - Soviets declares war on Japan and invade Manchuria. August 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan. August 14, 1945 - Japanese agree to unconditional surrender. September 2, 1945 - Japanese sign the surrender agreement; V-J (Victory over Japan) Day. |