Мисля че беше крайно време да се направи нещо подобно. Разбира се то е доста кратко но нали все отнякъде трябва да се почне
1939
September 1st Germany invaded Poland. First use of Blitzkrieg. Britain and France gave Germany an ultimatum to get out. Blackout and evacuation plans were put in place in Britain.
September 2nd Chamberlain sent Hitler an ultimatum: withdraw German troops from Poland or war will be declared.
The Luftwaffe gained air superiority over the Polish air force.
September 3rd
Germany ignored the ultimatum and Britain and France declared war on Germany. British troops (the BEF) were sent to France.
The passenger liner "Athenia" was sunk by U-30 off of Ireland. 112 of the passengers were killed.
September 4th The RAF raided German warships based in the Heligoland Bight.
September 6th South Africa declared war on Germany; Egypt broke off relations with Germany,
September 9th The IV Panzer Division reached Warsaw.
September 17th Russia's Red Army attacked Poland from the east
September 24th 1,150 German aircraft bombed Warsaw
September 26th The Luftwaffe attacked the Royal Navy at Scapa Flow.
September 27th Poland surrendered to Germany.
October 6th Last Polish troops ceased fighting. Hitler launched his "Peace Offensive" but this was rejected by Neville Chamberlain
October 14th 'HMS Royal Oak' is torpedoed at Scapa Flow by U-47
November 30th Russia's Red Army invaded Finland
December 13th The Battle of the River Plate was fought
December 14th Russia expelled from the League of Nations
1940
January 5th Hore-Belisha, Britain's Minister of War, was dismissed
January 8th
Food rationing (butter, bacon + sugar) began in Britain.
February 1st Major Russian offensive against Finland started.
February 14th Britain announced that merchant ships in the North Sea would be armed.
February 15th Germany announced that all British merchant ships would be classed as warships.
February 17th Britain made plans to evacuate 400,000 children to rural areas.
March 13th Treaty of Moscow ended Russo-Finnish War
March 20th Daladier's government in France was overthrown in Paris; Reynaud became the new premier.
April 8th The Royal Navy started laying mines in Norwegian waters.
April 9th
Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. The war in the west started and the Phoney War ended.
May 10th
Germany invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg. Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister.
May 11th Churchill gave Bomber Command permission to bomb Berlin.
May 13th
France attacked at Sedan.
May 15th The RAF attacks the Ruhr.
May 14th
The British government made its first call for Local Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard (Dads Army).
The Luftwaffe attacked Rotterdam, inflicting 30,000 civilian casualties.
May 15th Rommel's tanks clash with French tanks at Philippeville in the first major tank-versus-tank battle of the war.
Reinhardt's tanks advanced 37 miles to the west of the Meuse.
Holland surrendered.
May 18th General Kleist's armour captured St Quentin, half-way between the English Channel and Sedan.
Antwerp surrendered.
May 19th General Weygand was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied forces in France.
May 20th General Kleist's tanks reached Abbeville, cutting off Allied forces in the north.
May 21st Allied forces launched a counter-attack at Arras.
May 24th Hitler orders a halt to the advance of German armour.
May 26th
British and French troops were trapped at Dunkirk and a full-scale evacuation begun Operation Dynamo.
May 28th Belgium surrendered.
June 4th
The evacuation from Dunkirk ended.
June 5th Germany launched her major offensive against the French Army at the Somme.
June 7th Rommel's VII Panzer Division advanced to Forges-les-Eaux - 37 miles in two days.
June 8th French troops withdrew from the Somme region.
June 10th Mussolini declared war on France.
June 11th Paris threatened by the speed of the German advance and the city is declared an "open city". Churchill, de Gaulle, Eden and Petain met at Briare to discuss the situation.
June 13th French troops abandoned Paris
June 14th German troops entered Paris.
June 16th Raynaud's cabinet, in Bordeaux, was ousted by Petain.
June 17th Petain broadcast to the French people urging them to stop fighting. He also asked the Germans for the terms of an armistice.
June 18th The RAF attacked Hamburg and Bremen.
June 20th Italy launched an offensive on the Alpine front.
June 21st A delegation from France met Hitler at Rethonde.
June 22nd
France surrendered and was effectively split in two. The north was governed by the Germans and the south became known as Vichy France under the control of Petain.
June 24th France signed an armistice with Italy.
July 16th
Plans for the invasion of Britain Operation Sealion were issued by Hitler - known as 'Directive 16, Preparations for the Landing Operation against England'.
August 1st Hitler ordered the Battle of Britain and ordered that victory should be "as soon as possible".
August 5th
The Battle of Britain began.
August 13th 'Eagle Day' - the German Luftwaffe launched 1,485 sorties against Britain. The Luftwaffe lost 45 planes and the RAF 13.
August 15th Germany launched the most intense attack on Great Britain - 1,790 sorties. The Luftwaffe lost 75 planes and the RAF 34.
The Greek cruiser "Helle" was torpedoed and sunk - the Italians were strongly suspected of doing this.
August 20th Italy announced the total blockade of all Britain's Mediterranean and African territories.
August 24th Central London was attacked for the first time by the Luftwaffe.
August 25th The RAF launched its first attack on Berlin.
September 3rd The Anglo-American Lend-Lease Agreement was signed.
September 7th
The Blitz on London began - 300 German bombers escorted by 600 fighter planes.
September 13th Italy invaded Egypt.
September 15th The RAF claimed to have shot down 183 German planes during the day - an exaggerated claim.
September 17th Hitler announced that Operation Sealion was to be postponed "until further notice".
September 28th
The Battle of Britain ended.
October 3rd Hitler and Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass.
October 12th
Operation Sealion was formally cancelled as Hitler directed his attention towards Russia.
October 28th Italy attacked Greece.
November 7th The RAF attacked the Krupps ammunition factory at Essen.
November 11th The RAF attacked the Italian Navy at Taranto and destroyed three battleships.
November 14th
Coventry bombed.
November 22nd The Italian IX Army was defeated by the Greeks at Koritsa.
December 6th Marshall Badoglio , Italian Supreme Commander, resigned
December 8th Admiral Cavagari, Chief of the Italian Naval Staff, resigned.
December 9th "Operation Compass" - the start of the first British offensive in the Western Desert. An Italian army was cut off at Sidi Barrani.
December 11th The British captured Sidi Barrani.
1941
January
Rationing of clothes introduced in Britain
January 3rd Italy launched a counter-offensive in Albania against the Greeks. This was the first of 46 Italian attacks - all repulsed by the Greeks.
January 22nd British and Australian forces captured Tobruk in North Africa.
January 29th South African forces entered Italian Somaliland.
February 4th The British started a mechanised movement which encircled the Italians to the south of Benghazi.
February 6th British and Australian forces entered Benghazi.
Rommel was appointed commander of the German Afrika Corps.
February 10th Mussolini accepted Hitler's offer of a German armoured division to support Italian forces in North Africa.
February 12th Rommel arrived in Tripoli.
February 14th First German units arrived in Tripoli.
February 22nd Anthony Eden went to Athens to discuss the possibility of a German attack on Greece.
February 24th German and British forces clashed for the first time in the Western Desert.
March 2nd German troops enter Bulgaria
March 6th British forces invaded Ethiopia. The start of a three week blockage of the Suez Canal by the Germans placing magnetic and acoustic mines there.
March 9th Italy launched a major attack on the Greeks but to no avail.
April 4th The Germans capture Benghazi.
April 6th Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece.
British forces occupy Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
April 10th The start of the siege of Tobruk after the Germans failed to capture it.
The Germans captured Zagreb.
April 12th Germany accepted the surrender of Belgrade.
April 17th The Yugoslavian Army surrenders
May 10th
Last of the heavy air raids on Britain. The Blitz ended.
June 22nd
The German invasion of Russia Operation Barbarossa began.
September 27th Italian forces surrendered at the Wolchefit Pass, Ethiopia.
September 28th The first Allied convoy to Russia took place.
October 2nd The final phase of the German attack on Russia started.
October 6th Churchill promised Stalin that a convoy would sail to Russia every 10 days.
November 28th Italian forces surrender at Gondar ending Mussolini's East African venture.
December 5th The Russian counter-attack in Moscow started.
December 7th
The Japanese attacked the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour.
December 8th
Britain and America declared war on Japan.
December 11th
Germany declared war on America.
December 31st By this date, a total of 53 merchant ships had reached Russia and delivered 750 tanks, 800 fighter planes, 1,400 vehicles and 100,000 tons of general stores.
1942
January 9th Japan started her attack on the Philippines
January 10th The Allies in the south-west Pacific set up a combined command ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) under the command of General Sir Archibald Wavell.
January 11th The Japanese begun their campaign in the Dutch East Indies by attacking the islands of Tarakan and Manado.
January 14th The 'Tirpitz' moved into Trondheim, Norway, as Germany built up her strength on the Artic Convoy routes.
February 15th Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on 'Black Sunday'.
February 19th 135 Japanese planes attacked Darwin in northern Australia. 240 people were killed and 10 wounded.
February 27th Battle of Java Sea - an attempt by the Allies to stop the Japanese attacking Java. It failed.
March 6th The 'Tirpitz' sailed to intercept Convoy PQ-12 but was driven off by torpedo-bombers from 'HMS Victorious'.
March 8th Dutch East Indies surrendered unconditionally.
March 12th Douglas MacArthur, under orders from Roosevelt, left the Philippines for Darwin, Australia.
March 17th Three US fighter squadrons arrived in Darwin and Japanese attacks on the city decreased.
March 20th Germany's all-out aerial assault on Malta started.
April 9th The Allied forces at Bataan surrendered and the Philippines fell to Japan. 78,000 prisoners were forced on the 65 mile 'death march'.
April 18th 16 B-25 bombers, launched from aircraft carriers, carried out the first air raid on Japan.
April 20th 47 Spitfires are sent to Malta but almost all are destroyed on landing.
May 6th Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese
May 7th Start of the Battle of Coral Sea
May 8th Battle of Coral Sea ends in US victory
June 4th
America defeated the Japanese attempt to capture Midway Island.
June 7th The Siege of Sebastopol started in the Crimea.
June 10th The massacre of Lidice occurred.
June 21st Tobruk captured by Rommel. Churchill called the defeat a "disgrace".
June 25th General Auchinleck took over command of 8th Army in North Africa.
June 27th Convoy PQ-17 sailed from Iceland for Archangel. The convoy included 33 merchant ships.
June 28th 7,000 prisoners from the 8th Army were captured by Rommel
June 30th Russia started to evacuate Sebastopol.
July 4th Convoy PQ-17 was attacked by torpedo-bombers and dive-bombers. Two merchant ships were sunk and two more damaged. The Admiralty gave the order for the convoy to scatter.
July 5th Germany launched an all-out assault on Convoy PQ-17.
July 10th Only two out of the 33 ships reached Archangel. More get to Archangel in later days. the convoy lost a total of 23 merchant ships that carried 430 tanks, 210 planes, 3,350 vehicles and nearly 100,000 tons of cargo.
August 7th The Americans landed at Guadacanal.
August 17th The start of the Allied attack on Dieppe. There was a day's delay in leaving from British ports due to bad weather.
August 19th The decision was made to evacuate the survivors from Dieppe.
August 19th The Russians started their first attempt to free Leningrad. This attempt ended in failure by September 26th.
The Germans launched their first attempt to take Stalingrad.
August 23rd The German Army reached the backs of the River Volga in Stalingrad.
August 25th Heavy Russian fighting halted the German advance in Stalingrad.
September 13th The Japanese launched heavy attacks against the Americans at Guadacanal but sustained heavy casualties.
September 25th The "final" German attack on Stalingrad started but was halted by the Russians.
October 4th The fourth German attack on Stalingrad started. It led to three weeks of intense fighting.
October 23rd
Britain attack on the German army started at El Alamein in North Africa.
November 4th With Montgomery victorious at El Alamein, Rommel started his retreat in North Africa.
November 8th The start of Operation Torch - the Allied invasion of North Africa. Allied troops landed near Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. With a large Allied army in the west of North Africa and with Montgomery advancing from the east, Rommel was caught between two major forces.
November 19th
The German advance in south Russia was held up at Stalingrad.
November 24th The Russians launched an attack that would encircle the Germans at Stalingrad.
December 12th The Germans launched 'Operation Winter Storm' to relieve the VI Army in Stalingrad. It fails after 11 days, leaving the VI Army trapped in Stalingrad.
December 31st The Japanese planned to withdraw their troops from Guadacanal after suffering heavy losses in a number of battles.
The Russians at Stalingrad had pushed all German troops away from Stalingrad leaving the city open to a major attack.
1943
January 4th Operation Ring approved by STAVKA. It entailed the destruction of the VI Army at Stalingrad unit by unit.
January 8th STAVKA proposed to von Paulus, commander of the VI Army at Stalingrad, that he surrenders. Von Paulus refused the offer.
January 10th Operation Ring began at 08.00 with a massive artillery attack on the VI Army. The German troops in Stalingrad were hunted out unit by unit as laid down in Operation Ring.
January 12th Leningrad gained a rail line to link it to the outside.
January 13th The struggle for Kharkov started again. Two Russian armies attacked the Germans at Kharkov.
January 14th The start of the Casablanca conference.
January 22nd The Germans evacuated Tripoli in North Africa.
January 31st
Von Paulus surrendered the southern group of the German VI Army at Stalingrad. Two days later, the northern group led by Schreck surrendered.
February 2nd The first Allied merchant ship unloaded its cargo in Tripoli, greatly improving Montgomery's supply lines.
February 5th
The Americans drove the Japanese out of Guadacanal. What is left of the XVII Army was taken off by the "Tokyo Express".
February 8th The Russians retook the city of Kursk.
February 9th Guadacanal was taken by American forces.
February 14th Start of the first long-range penetration patrols by Wingate's Chindits.
February 16th The Russians retook Kharkov.
February 20th The Germans, led by Manstein, launched a counter-offensive against the Russians.
March 2nd The Germans destroyed the Russian 3rd Tank Army.
March 3rd Manstein massed four Panzer corps south-west of Kharkov to launch another massive attack on the Russians.
March 15th The Germans re-captured Kharkov
March 31st The weather ( a spring thaw) prevented Manstein from making further gains but in five weeks, Manstein managed to push the Russians back 100 miles on the south-eastern Russian front.
April 13th First news of Katyn Wood massacre was broadcast by the Germans.
April 19th Start of the Warsaw Uprising.
May 5th Start of the Battle of Coral Sea which ended on May 8th.
May 7th
The German army in North Africa surrendered to the British and Americans.
June 4th Battle of Midway.
June 5th The start of Operation Citadel; the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient.
July 10th
Britain and America invaded Sicily.
July 12th The 'greatest' tank battle in history occurred at Kursk.
July 16th The start of the German withdrawal from the Kursk salient.
July 17th Rome received its first major bombing raid of the war.
Mussolini met Hitler at Feltre.
July 24th The fascist Grand Council agreed that military power in Italy should rest with the king, Victor Emmanuel.
July 25th Mussolini was arrested.
July 28th A bombing raid on Hamburg resulted in a firestorm that killed more than 50,000 people.
August 3rd Italy made her first move towards a peace settlement with the Allies.
August 6th German troops poured into Italy to stop any chance of a peace settlement taking Italy out of the war.
August 22nd The Germans began their withdrawal from Kharkov and the Russians entered the city the next day.
August 26th The Russians started their campaign to liberate eastern Ukraine.
September 3rd
Britain and America invaded Italy.
September 8th American/British forces land at Salerno.
September 25th Smolensk was liberated.
October 1st British troops entered Naples.
October 9th The liberation on the northern Caucasus was completed.
November 6th German troops were forced out of Kiev.
November 20th Start of the Battle of Tarawa which resulted in the death of over 1,000 US Marines.
November 23rd
The Japanese were driven out of the Gilbert Islands
November 28th Start of the Tehran conference.
December 26th 'Scharnhorst' was sunk north of Norway.
1944
January 5th The start of a major Russian offensive into the Ukraine
January 20th Novgorod was recaptured by the Russians.
January 29th The Leningrad-Moscow rail line was re-opened effectively ending the siege of Leningrad.
March 7th Japan started 'Operation U-Go' - an attempt to push the Allies back to India by destroying the Allied bases at Imphal and Kohima.
March 15th The Allies dropped 1,250 tons of bombs on Cassino, Italy, at the start of a major offensive.
March 24th Orde Wingate, head of the Chindits, was killed in a plane crash.
March 26th The Russian Army moves onto Rumanian soil for the first time.
April 8th The Russians launched their final attack on German forces in the Crimea.
May 9th The Crimea was cleared of German resistance; Sebastopol was retaken.
May 11th The Allies started their effort to outflank the monastery at Cassino.
May 17th Kesselring ordered the German evacuation of Cassino; Monte Cassino evacuated.
May 23rd The Americans started their break-out from Anzio beach.
May 25th The Americans started their drive to Rome.
June 3rd Hitler ordered Kesselring to withdraw from Rome.
June 4th Allied troops entered Rome.
June 6th D-Day. Allied forces landed in Normandy.
June 13th
First V1 landed in Britain.
June 18th US forces trapped the German garrison at Cherbourg.
June 19th 'The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot' in the Far East.
July 9th Effective end of Japanese resistance on Saipan in the Marianas Islands.
July 17th First Russian units get to Poland.
July 18th Japan ended its attempt to destroy Kohima and Imphal when the Japanese High Command called off the offensive.
'Operation Goodwood' launched by British and Canadian forces to drive towards Caen.
July 20th 'The July Bomb Plot' - the failed attempted to kill Hitler.
July 27th Lvov was liberated by the Russian Army.
August 1st Effective end of Japanese resistance on Tinian, Marianas Islands.
August 10th Japanese resistance in Guam ended.
August 15th The Russians announced that the new Polish Committee of National Liberation is, in the Russians view, the new representative government of Poland.
August 25th
Paris liberated by the Allies.
Rumania declared war on Germany.
September 2nd Russian troops reached the border of Bulgaria.
September 3rd Brussels liberated by the British 2nd Army.
September 4th Antwerp liberated by the British 2nd Army.
September 5th Rundstedt appointed commander-in-chief of the German Army in the west; he was ordered by Hitler to attack the advancing Allies.
Ghent liberated by the Allies.
September 8th
First V2 landed in Britain.
Russian troops crossed into Bulgaria.
September 10th Eisenhower agreed to Montgomery's plan that led to the Arnhem raid.
September 17th Start of 'Operation Market Garden' - the attack on Arnhem.
September 21st British troops at Arnhem bridge were overwhelmed by SS IX and X Divisions.
September 22nd German troops in Boulogne surrendered.
September 30th German troops in Calias surrendered.
September 25th Evacuation of surviving paratroopers from Arnhem began.
November 12th The 'Tirpitz' was sunk by British bombers.
December 16th Start of the Battle of the Bulge.
December 25th Japanese resistance on Leyte ended.
The US 2nd Armoured Division stopped the II Panzer Division reaching the River Meuse.
December 26th Hitler was informed that Antwerp cannot be retaken.
1945
January 8th The end of the Battle of the Bulge - from now the German Army was on the retreat into Germany itself.
February 13th Start of the bombing raid on Dresden.
February 16th Start of the Battle of Iwo Jima - the US Navy began a 3 day bombardment of Iwo Jima.
February 19th US Marines landed on Iwo Jima.
February 23rd US Marines raise the US flag on the summit of Mount Suribachi.
March 7th
British and American troops crossed the Rhine.
March 16th Iwo Jima was declared secure by US forces.
March 22nd US 3rd Army crossed the River Rhine.
March 29th
Last bomb (a V1) fell on Britain.
April 1st
America took Okinawa the last island held by the Japanese.
The Ruhr was encircled by the Allies.
April 12th Death of F D Roosevelt.
April 13th The Russians captured Vienna.
April 18th All resistance in the Ruhr is ended and 370,000 German prisoners were taken.
April 22nd Hitler decided to stay in Berlin 'until the end'.
April 25th
American and British troops met at Torgau, Germany.
April 30th
Hitler committed suicide.
May 2nd Berlin surrendered to the Russian Army.
May 4th The German VII Army surrendered.
May 7th
Germany surrendered unconditionally.
May 8th
Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
May 11th German forces in Czechoslovakia surrendered.
June 22nd Japanese resistance on Okinawa ended.
July 12th
General Election in Britain. Atlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.
August 6th
First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the 'Enola Gay'.
August 9th
Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki by 'Bockspur'.
September 2nd
Japan surrendered. Victory in Japan (VJ) Day celebrated.
1939
September 1st Germany invaded Poland. First use of Blitzkrieg. Britain and France gave Germany an ultimatum to get out. Blackout and evacuation plans were put in place in Britain.
September 2nd Chamberlain sent Hitler an ultimatum: withdraw German troops from Poland or war will be declared.
The Luftwaffe gained air superiority over the Polish air force.
September 3rd
Germany ignored the ultimatum and Britain and France declared war on Germany. British troops (the BEF) were sent to France.
The passenger liner "Athenia" was sunk by U-30 off of Ireland. 112 of the passengers were killed.
September 4th The RAF raided German warships based in the Heligoland Bight.
September 6th South Africa declared war on Germany; Egypt broke off relations with Germany,
September 9th The IV Panzer Division reached Warsaw.
September 17th Russia's Red Army attacked Poland from the east
September 24th 1,150 German aircraft bombed Warsaw
September 26th The Luftwaffe attacked the Royal Navy at Scapa Flow.
September 27th Poland surrendered to Germany.
October 6th Last Polish troops ceased fighting. Hitler launched his "Peace Offensive" but this was rejected by Neville Chamberlain
October 14th 'HMS Royal Oak' is torpedoed at Scapa Flow by U-47
November 30th Russia's Red Army invaded Finland
December 13th The Battle of the River Plate was fought
December 14th Russia expelled from the League of Nations
1940
January 5th Hore-Belisha, Britain's Minister of War, was dismissed
January 8th
Food rationing (butter, bacon + sugar) began in Britain.
February 1st Major Russian offensive against Finland started.
February 14th Britain announced that merchant ships in the North Sea would be armed.
February 15th Germany announced that all British merchant ships would be classed as warships.
February 17th Britain made plans to evacuate 400,000 children to rural areas.
March 13th Treaty of Moscow ended Russo-Finnish War
March 20th Daladier's government in France was overthrown in Paris; Reynaud became the new premier.
April 8th The Royal Navy started laying mines in Norwegian waters.
April 9th
Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. The war in the west started and the Phoney War ended.
May 10th
Germany invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg. Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister.
May 11th Churchill gave Bomber Command permission to bomb Berlin.
May 13th
France attacked at Sedan.
May 15th The RAF attacks the Ruhr.
May 14th
The British government made its first call for Local Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard (Dads Army).
The Luftwaffe attacked Rotterdam, inflicting 30,000 civilian casualties.
May 15th Rommel's tanks clash with French tanks at Philippeville in the first major tank-versus-tank battle of the war.
Reinhardt's tanks advanced 37 miles to the west of the Meuse.
Holland surrendered.
May 18th General Kleist's armour captured St Quentin, half-way between the English Channel and Sedan.
Antwerp surrendered.
May 19th General Weygand was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied forces in France.
May 20th General Kleist's tanks reached Abbeville, cutting off Allied forces in the north.
May 21st Allied forces launched a counter-attack at Arras.
May 24th Hitler orders a halt to the advance of German armour.
May 26th
British and French troops were trapped at Dunkirk and a full-scale evacuation begun Operation Dynamo.
May 28th Belgium surrendered.
June 4th
The evacuation from Dunkirk ended.
June 5th Germany launched her major offensive against the French Army at the Somme.
June 7th Rommel's VII Panzer Division advanced to Forges-les-Eaux - 37 miles in two days.
June 8th French troops withdrew from the Somme region.
June 10th Mussolini declared war on France.
June 11th Paris threatened by the speed of the German advance and the city is declared an "open city". Churchill, de Gaulle, Eden and Petain met at Briare to discuss the situation.
June 13th French troops abandoned Paris
June 14th German troops entered Paris.
June 16th Raynaud's cabinet, in Bordeaux, was ousted by Petain.
June 17th Petain broadcast to the French people urging them to stop fighting. He also asked the Germans for the terms of an armistice.
June 18th The RAF attacked Hamburg and Bremen.
June 20th Italy launched an offensive on the Alpine front.
June 21st A delegation from France met Hitler at Rethonde.
June 22nd
France surrendered and was effectively split in two. The north was governed by the Germans and the south became known as Vichy France under the control of Petain.
June 24th France signed an armistice with Italy.
July 16th
Plans for the invasion of Britain Operation Sealion were issued by Hitler - known as 'Directive 16, Preparations for the Landing Operation against England'.
August 1st Hitler ordered the Battle of Britain and ordered that victory should be "as soon as possible".
August 5th
The Battle of Britain began.
August 13th 'Eagle Day' - the German Luftwaffe launched 1,485 sorties against Britain. The Luftwaffe lost 45 planes and the RAF 13.
August 15th Germany launched the most intense attack on Great Britain - 1,790 sorties. The Luftwaffe lost 75 planes and the RAF 34.
The Greek cruiser "Helle" was torpedoed and sunk - the Italians were strongly suspected of doing this.
August 20th Italy announced the total blockade of all Britain's Mediterranean and African territories.
August 24th Central London was attacked for the first time by the Luftwaffe.
August 25th The RAF launched its first attack on Berlin.
September 3rd The Anglo-American Lend-Lease Agreement was signed.
September 7th
The Blitz on London began - 300 German bombers escorted by 600 fighter planes.
September 13th Italy invaded Egypt.
September 15th The RAF claimed to have shot down 183 German planes during the day - an exaggerated claim.
September 17th Hitler announced that Operation Sealion was to be postponed "until further notice".
September 28th
The Battle of Britain ended.
October 3rd Hitler and Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass.
October 12th
Operation Sealion was formally cancelled as Hitler directed his attention towards Russia.
October 28th Italy attacked Greece.
November 7th The RAF attacked the Krupps ammunition factory at Essen.
November 11th The RAF attacked the Italian Navy at Taranto and destroyed three battleships.
November 14th
Coventry bombed.
November 22nd The Italian IX Army was defeated by the Greeks at Koritsa.
December 6th Marshall Badoglio , Italian Supreme Commander, resigned
December 8th Admiral Cavagari, Chief of the Italian Naval Staff, resigned.
December 9th "Operation Compass" - the start of the first British offensive in the Western Desert. An Italian army was cut off at Sidi Barrani.
December 11th The British captured Sidi Barrani.
1941
January
Rationing of clothes introduced in Britain
January 3rd Italy launched a counter-offensive in Albania against the Greeks. This was the first of 46 Italian attacks - all repulsed by the Greeks.
January 22nd British and Australian forces captured Tobruk in North Africa.
January 29th South African forces entered Italian Somaliland.
February 4th The British started a mechanised movement which encircled the Italians to the south of Benghazi.
February 6th British and Australian forces entered Benghazi.
Rommel was appointed commander of the German Afrika Corps.
February 10th Mussolini accepted Hitler's offer of a German armoured division to support Italian forces in North Africa.
February 12th Rommel arrived in Tripoli.
February 14th First German units arrived in Tripoli.
February 22nd Anthony Eden went to Athens to discuss the possibility of a German attack on Greece.
February 24th German and British forces clashed for the first time in the Western Desert.
March 2nd German troops enter Bulgaria
March 6th British forces invaded Ethiopia. The start of a three week blockage of the Suez Canal by the Germans placing magnetic and acoustic mines there.
March 9th Italy launched a major attack on the Greeks but to no avail.
April 4th The Germans capture Benghazi.
April 6th Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece.
British forces occupy Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
April 10th The start of the siege of Tobruk after the Germans failed to capture it.
The Germans captured Zagreb.
April 12th Germany accepted the surrender of Belgrade.
April 17th The Yugoslavian Army surrenders
May 10th
Last of the heavy air raids on Britain. The Blitz ended.
June 22nd
The German invasion of Russia Operation Barbarossa began.
September 27th Italian forces surrendered at the Wolchefit Pass, Ethiopia.
September 28th The first Allied convoy to Russia took place.
October 2nd The final phase of the German attack on Russia started.
October 6th Churchill promised Stalin that a convoy would sail to Russia every 10 days.
November 28th Italian forces surrender at Gondar ending Mussolini's East African venture.
December 5th The Russian counter-attack in Moscow started.
December 7th
The Japanese attacked the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour.
December 8th
Britain and America declared war on Japan.
December 11th
Germany declared war on America.
December 31st By this date, a total of 53 merchant ships had reached Russia and delivered 750 tanks, 800 fighter planes, 1,400 vehicles and 100,000 tons of general stores.
1942
January 9th Japan started her attack on the Philippines
January 10th The Allies in the south-west Pacific set up a combined command ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) under the command of General Sir Archibald Wavell.
January 11th The Japanese begun their campaign in the Dutch East Indies by attacking the islands of Tarakan and Manado.
January 14th The 'Tirpitz' moved into Trondheim, Norway, as Germany built up her strength on the Artic Convoy routes.
February 15th Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on 'Black Sunday'.
February 19th 135 Japanese planes attacked Darwin in northern Australia. 240 people were killed and 10 wounded.
February 27th Battle of Java Sea - an attempt by the Allies to stop the Japanese attacking Java. It failed.
March 6th The 'Tirpitz' sailed to intercept Convoy PQ-12 but was driven off by torpedo-bombers from 'HMS Victorious'.
March 8th Dutch East Indies surrendered unconditionally.
March 12th Douglas MacArthur, under orders from Roosevelt, left the Philippines for Darwin, Australia.
March 17th Three US fighter squadrons arrived in Darwin and Japanese attacks on the city decreased.
March 20th Germany's all-out aerial assault on Malta started.
April 9th The Allied forces at Bataan surrendered and the Philippines fell to Japan. 78,000 prisoners were forced on the 65 mile 'death march'.
April 18th 16 B-25 bombers, launched from aircraft carriers, carried out the first air raid on Japan.
April 20th 47 Spitfires are sent to Malta but almost all are destroyed on landing.
May 6th Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese
May 7th Start of the Battle of Coral Sea
May 8th Battle of Coral Sea ends in US victory
June 4th
America defeated the Japanese attempt to capture Midway Island.
June 7th The Siege of Sebastopol started in the Crimea.
June 10th The massacre of Lidice occurred.
June 21st Tobruk captured by Rommel. Churchill called the defeat a "disgrace".
June 25th General Auchinleck took over command of 8th Army in North Africa.
June 27th Convoy PQ-17 sailed from Iceland for Archangel. The convoy included 33 merchant ships.
June 28th 7,000 prisoners from the 8th Army were captured by Rommel
June 30th Russia started to evacuate Sebastopol.
July 4th Convoy PQ-17 was attacked by torpedo-bombers and dive-bombers. Two merchant ships were sunk and two more damaged. The Admiralty gave the order for the convoy to scatter.
July 5th Germany launched an all-out assault on Convoy PQ-17.
July 10th Only two out of the 33 ships reached Archangel. More get to Archangel in later days. the convoy lost a total of 23 merchant ships that carried 430 tanks, 210 planes, 3,350 vehicles and nearly 100,000 tons of cargo.
August 7th The Americans landed at Guadacanal.
August 17th The start of the Allied attack on Dieppe. There was a day's delay in leaving from British ports due to bad weather.
August 19th The decision was made to evacuate the survivors from Dieppe.
August 19th The Russians started their first attempt to free Leningrad. This attempt ended in failure by September 26th.
The Germans launched their first attempt to take Stalingrad.
August 23rd The German Army reached the backs of the River Volga in Stalingrad.
August 25th Heavy Russian fighting halted the German advance in Stalingrad.
September 13th The Japanese launched heavy attacks against the Americans at Guadacanal but sustained heavy casualties.
September 25th The "final" German attack on Stalingrad started but was halted by the Russians.
October 4th The fourth German attack on Stalingrad started. It led to three weeks of intense fighting.
October 23rd
Britain attack on the German army started at El Alamein in North Africa.
November 4th With Montgomery victorious at El Alamein, Rommel started his retreat in North Africa.
November 8th The start of Operation Torch - the Allied invasion of North Africa. Allied troops landed near Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. With a large Allied army in the west of North Africa and with Montgomery advancing from the east, Rommel was caught between two major forces.
November 19th
The German advance in south Russia was held up at Stalingrad.
November 24th The Russians launched an attack that would encircle the Germans at Stalingrad.
December 12th The Germans launched 'Operation Winter Storm' to relieve the VI Army in Stalingrad. It fails after 11 days, leaving the VI Army trapped in Stalingrad.
December 31st The Japanese planned to withdraw their troops from Guadacanal after suffering heavy losses in a number of battles.
The Russians at Stalingrad had pushed all German troops away from Stalingrad leaving the city open to a major attack.
1943
January 4th Operation Ring approved by STAVKA. It entailed the destruction of the VI Army at Stalingrad unit by unit.
January 8th STAVKA proposed to von Paulus, commander of the VI Army at Stalingrad, that he surrenders. Von Paulus refused the offer.
January 10th Operation Ring began at 08.00 with a massive artillery attack on the VI Army. The German troops in Stalingrad were hunted out unit by unit as laid down in Operation Ring.
January 12th Leningrad gained a rail line to link it to the outside.
January 13th The struggle for Kharkov started again. Two Russian armies attacked the Germans at Kharkov.
January 14th The start of the Casablanca conference.
January 22nd The Germans evacuated Tripoli in North Africa.
January 31st
Von Paulus surrendered the southern group of the German VI Army at Stalingrad. Two days later, the northern group led by Schreck surrendered.
February 2nd The first Allied merchant ship unloaded its cargo in Tripoli, greatly improving Montgomery's supply lines.
February 5th
The Americans drove the Japanese out of Guadacanal. What is left of the XVII Army was taken off by the "Tokyo Express".
February 8th The Russians retook the city of Kursk.
February 9th Guadacanal was taken by American forces.
February 14th Start of the first long-range penetration patrols by Wingate's Chindits.
February 16th The Russians retook Kharkov.
February 20th The Germans, led by Manstein, launched a counter-offensive against the Russians.
March 2nd The Germans destroyed the Russian 3rd Tank Army.
March 3rd Manstein massed four Panzer corps south-west of Kharkov to launch another massive attack on the Russians.
March 15th The Germans re-captured Kharkov
March 31st The weather ( a spring thaw) prevented Manstein from making further gains but in five weeks, Manstein managed to push the Russians back 100 miles on the south-eastern Russian front.
April 13th First news of Katyn Wood massacre was broadcast by the Germans.
April 19th Start of the Warsaw Uprising.
May 5th Start of the Battle of Coral Sea which ended on May 8th.
May 7th
The German army in North Africa surrendered to the British and Americans.
June 4th Battle of Midway.
June 5th The start of Operation Citadel; the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient.
July 10th
Britain and America invaded Sicily.
July 12th The 'greatest' tank battle in history occurred at Kursk.
July 16th The start of the German withdrawal from the Kursk salient.
July 17th Rome received its first major bombing raid of the war.
Mussolini met Hitler at Feltre.
July 24th The fascist Grand Council agreed that military power in Italy should rest with the king, Victor Emmanuel.
July 25th Mussolini was arrested.
July 28th A bombing raid on Hamburg resulted in a firestorm that killed more than 50,000 people.
August 3rd Italy made her first move towards a peace settlement with the Allies.
August 6th German troops poured into Italy to stop any chance of a peace settlement taking Italy out of the war.
August 22nd The Germans began their withdrawal from Kharkov and the Russians entered the city the next day.
August 26th The Russians started their campaign to liberate eastern Ukraine.
September 3rd
Britain and America invaded Italy.
September 8th American/British forces land at Salerno.
September 25th Smolensk was liberated.
October 1st British troops entered Naples.
October 9th The liberation on the northern Caucasus was completed.
November 6th German troops were forced out of Kiev.
November 20th Start of the Battle of Tarawa which resulted in the death of over 1,000 US Marines.
November 23rd
The Japanese were driven out of the Gilbert Islands
November 28th Start of the Tehran conference.
December 26th 'Scharnhorst' was sunk north of Norway.
1944
January 5th The start of a major Russian offensive into the Ukraine
January 20th Novgorod was recaptured by the Russians.
January 29th The Leningrad-Moscow rail line was re-opened effectively ending the siege of Leningrad.
March 7th Japan started 'Operation U-Go' - an attempt to push the Allies back to India by destroying the Allied bases at Imphal and Kohima.
March 15th The Allies dropped 1,250 tons of bombs on Cassino, Italy, at the start of a major offensive.
March 24th Orde Wingate, head of the Chindits, was killed in a plane crash.
March 26th The Russian Army moves onto Rumanian soil for the first time.
April 8th The Russians launched their final attack on German forces in the Crimea.
May 9th The Crimea was cleared of German resistance; Sebastopol was retaken.
May 11th The Allies started their effort to outflank the monastery at Cassino.
May 17th Kesselring ordered the German evacuation of Cassino; Monte Cassino evacuated.
May 23rd The Americans started their break-out from Anzio beach.
May 25th The Americans started their drive to Rome.
June 3rd Hitler ordered Kesselring to withdraw from Rome.
June 4th Allied troops entered Rome.
June 6th D-Day. Allied forces landed in Normandy.
June 13th
First V1 landed in Britain.
June 18th US forces trapped the German garrison at Cherbourg.
June 19th 'The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot' in the Far East.
July 9th Effective end of Japanese resistance on Saipan in the Marianas Islands.
July 17th First Russian units get to Poland.
July 18th Japan ended its attempt to destroy Kohima and Imphal when the Japanese High Command called off the offensive.
'Operation Goodwood' launched by British and Canadian forces to drive towards Caen.
July 20th 'The July Bomb Plot' - the failed attempted to kill Hitler.
July 27th Lvov was liberated by the Russian Army.
August 1st Effective end of Japanese resistance on Tinian, Marianas Islands.
August 10th Japanese resistance in Guam ended.
August 15th The Russians announced that the new Polish Committee of National Liberation is, in the Russians view, the new representative government of Poland.
August 25th
Paris liberated by the Allies.
Rumania declared war on Germany.
September 2nd Russian troops reached the border of Bulgaria.
September 3rd Brussels liberated by the British 2nd Army.
September 4th Antwerp liberated by the British 2nd Army.
September 5th Rundstedt appointed commander-in-chief of the German Army in the west; he was ordered by Hitler to attack the advancing Allies.
Ghent liberated by the Allies.
September 8th
First V2 landed in Britain.
Russian troops crossed into Bulgaria.
September 10th Eisenhower agreed to Montgomery's plan that led to the Arnhem raid.
September 17th Start of 'Operation Market Garden' - the attack on Arnhem.
September 21st British troops at Arnhem bridge were overwhelmed by SS IX and X Divisions.
September 22nd German troops in Boulogne surrendered.
September 30th German troops in Calias surrendered.
September 25th Evacuation of surviving paratroopers from Arnhem began.
November 12th The 'Tirpitz' was sunk by British bombers.
December 16th Start of the Battle of the Bulge.
December 25th Japanese resistance on Leyte ended.
The US 2nd Armoured Division stopped the II Panzer Division reaching the River Meuse.
December 26th Hitler was informed that Antwerp cannot be retaken.
1945
January 8th The end of the Battle of the Bulge - from now the German Army was on the retreat into Germany itself.
February 13th Start of the bombing raid on Dresden.
February 16th Start of the Battle of Iwo Jima - the US Navy began a 3 day bombardment of Iwo Jima.
February 19th US Marines landed on Iwo Jima.
February 23rd US Marines raise the US flag on the summit of Mount Suribachi.
March 7th
British and American troops crossed the Rhine.
March 16th Iwo Jima was declared secure by US forces.
March 22nd US 3rd Army crossed the River Rhine.
March 29th
Last bomb (a V1) fell on Britain.
April 1st
America took Okinawa the last island held by the Japanese.
The Ruhr was encircled by the Allies.
April 12th Death of F D Roosevelt.
April 13th The Russians captured Vienna.
April 18th All resistance in the Ruhr is ended and 370,000 German prisoners were taken.
April 22nd Hitler decided to stay in Berlin 'until the end'.
April 25th
American and British troops met at Torgau, Germany.
April 30th
Hitler committed suicide.
May 2nd Berlin surrendered to the Russian Army.
May 4th The German VII Army surrendered.
May 7th
Germany surrendered unconditionally.
May 8th
Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
May 11th German forces in Czechoslovakia surrendered.
June 22nd Japanese resistance on Okinawa ended.
July 12th
General Election in Britain. Atlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.
August 6th
First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the 'Enola Gay'.
August 9th
Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki by 'Bockspur'.
September 2nd
Japan surrendered. Victory in Japan (VJ) Day celebrated.
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