Hall of World War II

WW II Chronology

1939

15-March German troops invade Czechoslovakia.

30 France and England pledge to protect Poland’s independence

7-April Italy attacks Albania

23-August Nazi Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact

25 Orders to invade Poland are canceled

1-Sep Nazi Germany invades Poland.

Norway claims neutrality

Portugal claims neutrality
Sweden claims neutrality

3 Great Britain and France declare war on Nazi Germany.

Spain claims neutrality

Ireland claims neutrality

5 United States proclaims neutrality.

8 President of United States declares limited national emergency.

9 Canada declares war

29 Germany and Soviet union agree on the partition of Poland

6-Oct Last remnant of Polish forces surrenders to German Army

4-Nov Congress passes law permitting “cash and carry” sale of munitions to belligerents.

30 USSR attacks Finland.

1940

12-Mar Soviet-Finnish war ends.

8-Apr Nazi Germany occupies Denmark and invades Norway.

14 - 20. British land troops in Norway.

23 Greece concludes armistice with Nazi Germany.

10-May Nazi Germany launches “Sichelschnitt” invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France.

Churchill succeeds Chamberlain as British Prime Minister.

13 Nazi General Erwin Rommel’s 7^th Panzer Division crosses the Meuse River near Dinant while General Heinz Guderian’s 19^th Armored Corps crosses the Meuse River at Sedan.

15 The Dutch surrender to Nazi Germany

23 Boulogne, France, falls to Nazi Germany

24 Allies withdraw from Norway

27 Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany

Allied troops begin to evacuate from Dunkirk, France

3-Jun United States releases war material to Great Britain.

4 Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk is completed. Hitler allows 338,000 troops to escape to England.

Churchill makes his “We shall fight on the beaches...” speech to Parliament

9 Norwegian government falls to Germany

10 Italy declares war on France and Great Britain.

14 Germans march into Paris.

22 France and Nazi Germany conclude armistice.

24 France and Italy conclude armistice

3-Jul British naval forces attack French fleet at Oran.

10 Battle of Britain - Nazi Germany begins air offensive against Great Britain with 65 German airplanes.

16 Hitler issues an invasion of Great Britain directive, Operation Sealion. to the German armed forces.

18 Churchill makes his “This was their finest hour...” speech to Parliament.

19 Hitler in the Reichstag makes a public peace offer to Britain, which is rejected on the 22^nd by Churchill.

31 German high command meets with Hitler and agrees to attack the USSR in May.

27-Aug Congress authorizes call of reserve components for 12 months’ duty.

Hitler approves Franco’s Spanish-German plan to attack Gibraltar

3-Sep United States and Great Britain conclude agreement to exchange destroyers (U.S.) for base rights (British).

Hitler orders that British cities will be bombed every night, in retribution for their bombing of Berlin

13 Italy invades Egypt seeking to gain control of the Suez Canal

16 Draft - Selective Service law enacted by Congress.

18 Hitler postpones Operation Sealion

22 Japanese invade French Indochina.

27 Axis - Nazi Germany, Italy, Japan conclude three-power pact.

October 23 Franco agrees to enter the war

28 Italy attacks Greece

31 Churchill considers the Battle of Britain over

20 Nov. Hungary joined the Axis

Romania joined the Axis

1941

5 Jan. British soldiers invaded Ethiopia
29 British-American Staff Conversations.

1-Mar Bulgaria joined the Axis

11 Congress passes Lend-Lease Act.

6-April Germany invaded Greece and Yugoslavia
13 Japan and Russia signed a non-aggression pact.

27-May President Roosevelt proclaims state of unlimited national emergency.

8 June British and French forces invaded Syria
22 Russia is invaded by Hitler with approximately 3 million troops.

7-Jul United States forces land in Iceland.

26 United States declares oil embargo on Japan.

7-Aug The Atlantic Charter was announced

14 Roosevelt and Churchill announce Atlantic Charter

4-Sep German torpedo attack on USS Greer opens tacit shooting war in Atlantic.

25 Army and Navy Secretaries submit to Roosevelt an estimate of U.S. forces needed to defeat the Axis and Japan.

1-Oct First Soviet Protocol signed by U.S., Great Britain, and USSR at Moscow.

7-8 Dec. Japan delivers simultaneous bombing attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Wake, and Guam, invades Malaya and Thailand, seizes Shanghai, and declares war on the U.S. and Great Britain.

8 German offensive in Russia bogs down
Canada Declares War on Japan

9 China declares war on Japan, Nazi Germany, and Italy.

10 Japanese capture Guam, land on Luzon in Philippines.

11 Nazi Germany and Italy declare war on United States, and United States declares itself at war with them.

18 Japanese they attacked Hong Kong and on Christmas Day the British surrendered.

20 Chennault’s Flying Tigers enter combat against Japanese in China.

23 General Macarthur decides to evacuate Manila and withdraw to Bataan.

Wake Island captured by Japanese.

1942

1-Jan United Nations Declaration signed by twenty-six nations at war with Axis.

2 Japanese occupy Manila.

7 American and Filipino forces complete withdrawal into Bataan.

9 Combined Chiefs of Staff established.

14 -24. Anglo-American Conference (ARCADIA) at Washington.

19 Japanese capture British North Borneo.

23 Japanese capture Rabaul and Kavieng in the Bismarck Archipelago, invade Bougainville in the Solomons.

1-Feb U.S. Navy bombards Gilberts and Marshalls.

2 Singapore surrenders.

27 -28. Allies loose the Battle of Java Sea. Japanese invade Java.

Mar - Nov. Submarine attacks in Atlantic rise to record heights.

7 Japanese occupy Burma.

9 War Department is reorganized.

17 General MacArthur reaches Australia and takes command of Allied forces.

8 -15 April British-American conversations in London result in conditional agreement on BOLERO-ROUNDUP Plan.

9 Surrender of Bataan.

18 First U.S. air bombardment of Tokyo.

2-May Japanese land on Tulagi, adjacent to Guadalcanal, where they soon began to build an airstrip.

6 Surrender of all U.S. forces in Philippines.

8 Allies win Battle of the Coral Sea.

20 Japanese complete conquest of Burma.

27 Rommel opens drive into Egypt.

3-6 June Allies win Battle of Midway.

5 The United States declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.

7 Japanese invade western Aleutians.

21 Axis troops seized Tobruk in North Africa..

1-Jul Germans capture Sevastopol.

2 Rommel’s advance stops at border of Egypt.

4 One of the most devastating submarine attacks on convoy to USSR along the northern route.

7 Second Soviet Protocol signed.

15 British suspend convoys to USSR on northern route.

18-25. British-American conversations in London, resulting in decision to invade North Africa.

21 Japanese landing near Gona, New Guinea, starts Papua Campaign.

7-Aug South Pacific forces invade Guadalcanal, Florida, and Tulagi Islands, in the Solomons.

19 British Commonwealth force raids Dieppe, France that results in a disaster with 3,367 casualties including 1,946 prisoners of war.

23 Churchill accepts Roosevelt’s proposal that the U.S. operate Persian Gulf facilities for aid to USSR.

14-Sep Battle for Stalingrad begins.

23-Oct British open counteroffensive at El Alamein.

8-Nov Allies land at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in French North Africa.

10 Axis troops move into Tunis and Bizerte.

11 British offensive reaches Libya.

French resistance to Allies in North Africa ceases.

Axis troops march into unoccupied France.

13 British recapture Tobruk.

15 Allied offensive in West reaches Tunisia.

19 The Russians counter-attack at Stalingrad.

27 French fleet scuttled in Toulon harbor.

24 December Allied drive on Tunis ends in stalemate.

1943

14 -23 Jan. Allied conference at Casablanca.

22 Campaign for Papua, New Guinea, ends.

27 Eighth Air Force makes its first attack on Nazi Germany, at Wilhelmshaven.

2-Feb Soviet Army destroys remnants of German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.

9 Organized Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ceases.

20 Rommel breaks through Kasserine Pass, Tunisia.

25 Allies retake Kasserine Pass.

2-4 March The Allies defeat the Japanese in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

13 Japanese troops retreated across the Yangtze

16 Final Allied offensive in Tunisia begins.

18 Americans capture E1 Guettar.

20 - 27 Montgomery breaks through the Mareth Line.

11 - 31 May With recapture of Attu by Allies Japanese are driven from the Aleutians.

13 Axis forces in northern Africa surrendered.

12 -25. TRIDENT Conference in Washington.

13 Axis forces in Tunisia surrender.

1-30 June Shipping losses reach new low, signalizing victory over U-boat.

30 Allies begin operation for reduction of Rabaul (CARTWHEEL) with attacks in central Solomons and New Guinea.

4-Jul Germany opened an assault near the Soviet city of Kursk

10 Allies invade Sicily.

25 Mussolini falla from power in Italy

14 - 24 Aug QUADRANT Conference at Quebec.

17 End of Sicily campaign.

23 Germans abandon Kharkov.

25 Allies complete occupation of New Georgia, Solomon Islands.

3-Sep British troops invade Southern Italy.

Italy secretly signed an armistice with the Allies

4-16. Southwest Pacific forces recapture Lae-Salamaua, New Guinea.

8 Italy formally surrenders.

9 Allies under U.S. Fifth Army land on the Salerno beaches; British troops land at Taranto.

Allies failed to pierce German defenses at the Hitler Line south of Rome

11 Italian Fleet is surrendered at Malta.

1-Oct Allies enter Naples and occupy Foggia airfields.

2 Australians seize Finschhafen, New Guinea.

13 Italy declares war on Nazi Germany.

14 Soviets reach Zaporodzhe, industrial center of Ukraine.

19 - 30 Soviet, British, American Foreign Ministers and military representatives confer in Moscow.

1-Nov South Pacific forces invade Bougainville.

5 U.S. Fifth Army attacks German Winter Line in Italy

6 The Russians captured Kiev.

20 Opening of Central Pacific offensive (Makin and Tarawa in Gilberts).

22 - 7 -Dec Allied conferences, Cairo-Tehran (SEXTANT, EUREKA).

14 Soviet armies begin first phase of winter offensive.

26 Southwest Pacific troops invade New Britain at Cape Gloucester.

1944

15-Jan USSR opens offensive to relieve Leningrad.

20 In Italy, beginning of unsuccessful operations to cross the Rapido River and seize Cassino.

22 VI Corps, U.S. Fifth Army, lands at Anzio.

27 The Russians broke the siege of Leningrad

31 Central Pacific forces invade the Marshall Islands.

12-Feb General Eisenhower is formally designated Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, Europe, by Combined Chiefs of Staff.

18 U.S. Naval forces attack Truk in Caroline Islands.

20 Reduction of Rabaul completed with Japanese abandonment of it as an airbase.

24 In Burma, Merrill’s Marauders advance into Hukawng Valley, with the Myitkyina airfield as their goal.

 

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