TimeLine of WWII

 

1939

August 23-24 The Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact is signed in Moscow.
August 26 Hitler postpones the invasion of Poland at the last second after hearing that Britain and Poland have signed a formal alliance.
September 1 Germany invades Poland without a declaration of war, marking the beginning of World War II.
September 3 Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
September 4 The Royal Air Force (Britain) begins its first attacks on German warships.
September 5 The U.S. announces its neutrality.
September 10 Canada declares war on Germany.
September 29 The Soviet Union and Germany announce their Treaty of Friendship.
November 30 The Russo-Finnish War begins after Soviet threats escalate into an invasion of Finland.

1940

February 11 Germany and the Soviet Union sign a further economic and trade agreement.
March 13 Despite promises by Britain and France to send help, Finland signs the armistice with the Soviet Union.
April 9 Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
May 7 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns after support in the House of Commons declines.
May 10 Germany invades Belgium and the Netherlands. Winston Churchill becomes the new British Prime Minister.
May 26 British forces begin to fall back to Dunkirk (France) and soon begin to evacuate.
June 4 German troops storm Dunkirk, capturing the city and the remaining French soldiers.
June 10 Italy declares war on France and Great Britain.
June 22 France signs an armistice with Germany.
July 10 The Battle of Britain begins.

1941

January 29 - March 27 Secret talks between British and American representatives produce the ABC1 conclusion code stating that in the event of war with Germany and Japan, Germany should be defeated first.
April 6 Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia.
April 13 The USSR and Japan sign a five year Neutrality Agreement.
June 22 Germany invades the Soviet Union.
June 26 Finland declares war on the USSR.
September 8 German troops complete the Leningrad blockade.
December 7 At 0755 hours, the Japanese, led by Admiral Nagumo, begins its attack on Pearl Harbor, the main base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
December 8 The U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. China declares war on Germany, Italy, and Japan. Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Free French, and Yugoslavia declare war on Japan.
December 11 Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
December 19 The Selective Service Act is amended requiring all men ages 18-64 to register and those 20-44 liable for military service.

1942

February 19 General Eisenhower is appointed to Chief of the War Plans Division of the U.S. Army General Staff.
May 8 The Americans notch a strategic victory after forcing the Japanese to abandon their attack on Port Moresby.
June 5-7 The Americans successfully defeat the Japanese in the Battle of Midway.
August 7 U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal.
August 25 Hitler gives orders to capture Stalingrad.
October 7 Britain and the United States announce that a United Nations Commission is to be setup to investigate the Axis war crimes.
October 23 Britain attacks the Axis powers at El Alamein in Egypt.
November 8 Allied troops land in Algeria and Morocco.

1943

February 2 The last Germans surrender at Stalingrad.
February 18 The Sixth Army of America becomes operational and is led by General Walter Krueger.
April 18 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, is killed when his plane is shot down by Lightning fighters.
May 12-25 Churchill meets Roosevelt in Washington for the Trident Conference which discusses the cross-Channel invasion called D-Day.
May 13 Axis forces in northern Africa surrender.
July 4 Germany opens an assault near Kursk (Soviet Union).
July 10 Allied forces invade Sicily.
July 16 Roosevelt and Churchill issue a statement calling for an Italian surrender.
July 25 Mussolini is relieved of his command by the king and is arrested. Marshal Badoglio takes over for Mussolini.
September 3 Italy secretly surrenders to the Allies.
September 9 Allied troops land at Salerno (Italy).
November 20 U.S. forces invade Tarawa.
November 30 General Alexander Vandegrift is appointed commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps as of January 1, 1944.
December 24-29 Announcements in London and Washington reveal that General Dwight Eisenhower is to be the Supreme Allied Commander for the D-Day Invasion. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and Air Marshal Leigh Mallory will lead the air and naval forces.

1944

January 8-11 Mussolini tries and convicts many members of the Fascist Grand Council. Afterwards, he executes those who were convicted.
January 11 Roosevelt asks Congress for a national service law to prevent strikes and fully use the whole of America's workforce in the war effort.
April 1-30 U.S. bombers drop 43,500 tons of bombs on European aircraft factories, meanwhile other Allied Air Forces bomb targets in Belgium, France, Germany, and Belgrade.
April 28 Secretary to the United States Navy, Frank Knox, dies.
May 1-31 The primary efforts for the Allies center around preparations for the Normandy invasion.
June 1 The BBC transmits the first code message warning the French Resistance that the invasion is imminent.
June 5 The second message warning of the invasion is broadcast to the French Resistance.
June 6 D-DAY----> Allied troops land in Normandy to begin the invasion in northern France.
June 19-20 A U.S. naval force defeats the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
July 20 An assassination plot aimed at Hitler fails.
July 18 Japan's Prime Minister Tojo resigns.
October 20 The Allies begin landing in the Philippines.
October 23-26 The Allies defeat Japan's navy in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.
December 16 The Germans strike back at U.S. troops in the Battle of the Bulge.

1945

March 16 U.S. marines capture Iwo Jima.
April 30 Hitler commits suicide in Berlin.
May 7 Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies in Reims, France ending World War II in Europe.
June 21 Allied forces capture Okinawa.
August 6 An atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.
August 8 The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
August 9 An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
August 14 Japan agrees to surrender unconditionally.
September 2 Japan signs surrender terms aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.