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Key dates of the Second World War

270 key events from 1895 to 1945, from the war’s origins to its end, each with its date and one sentence.

The list covers the events marked in the chronicle as turning points. Each title leads to the full article. Print it or save it as a PDF for revision.

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1895

  1. 8 October 1895The assassination of Queen MinAt dawn on 8 October 1895 Japanese assassins broke into a Seoul palace and murdered Queen Min, wife of Gojong and Japan's chief opponent in Korea.

1917

  1. 7 November 1917The October RevolutionOn 7 November 1917 Lenin's Bolsheviks took Petrograd almost unopposed and toppled the Provisional Government. The road to civil war and the USSR began.

1918

  1. 11 November 1918The Armistice of 11 November 1918Early on 11 November 1918, in Foch’s carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, Germany signed an armistice with the Entente. At 11 a.m. the guns fell silent.

1919

  1. 14 February 1919The Polish–Soviet War beginsOn 14 February 1919 Polish troops clashed with the Red Army at Mosty on the Neman and at Bereza Kartuska. A war began that would last until the autumn of 1920.
  2. 28 June 1919The Treaty of VersaillesOn 28 June 1919 Germany signed the peace in the Hall of Mirrors. It lost land and colonies, was disarmed, and Article 231 laid the blame for the war on it.
  3. 12 September 1919Hitler at a German Workers' Party meetingOn 12 September 1919 Gefreiter Adolf Hitler, sent by Reichswehr propagandists, attended a meeting of Munich's tiny DAP. He soon joined it.

1922

  1. 29 October 1922Mussolini becomes prime ministerOn 29 October 1922, after the March on Rome and his own refusal to declare a state of siege, King Victor Emmanuel III summoned Mussolini to form a government.

1923

  1. 8 November 1923The Beer Hall PutschOn 8 November 1923 Hitler proclaimed a “national revolution” in the Bürgerbräukeller. Next day Bavarian police broke up the putschists' march.

1925

  1. 1 December 1925The Locarno TreatiesOn 1 December 1925 the Locarno agreements were signed in London. Germany recognised its borders with France and Belgium, but not with Poland or Czechoslovakia.

1929

  1. 29 October 1929The Wall Street CrashOn 29 October 1929, Black Tuesday, the New York stock market had the worst day of the crash. The Great Depression began, and it helped Hitler come to power.

1930

  1. 14 September 1930The Reichstag election of 1930On 14 September 1930 the NSDAP won 18.3 per cent and 107 seats. Hitler’s party leapt from the fringe to second place, and the republic lost its majority.

1931

  1. 18 September 1931The Mukden incidentOn 18 September 1931 Kwantung Army officers blew up a stretch of railway near Mukden, blamed the Chinese and that same night attacked the Chinese barracks.

1933

  1. 30 January 1933Hitler becomes chancellorOn 30 January 1933 Hindenburg made Hitler Reich Chancellor. Papen's conservatives believed they could “fence him in”. Within months he built a dictatorship.
  2. 23 March 1933The Enabling ActOn 23 March 1933 the Reichstag voted 444 to 94 to let Hitler’s government pass laws bypassing parliament and the constitution. Only the SPD opposed it.

1934

  1. 30 June 1934The Night of the Long KnivesOn 30 June 1934 Hitler had the SA leadership under Röhm murdered, along with old opponents such as Schleicher. At least 85–90 people were killed.

1935

  1. 15 September 1935The Nuremberg LawsOn 15 September 1935 the Reichstag, meeting at the Nazi rally in Nuremberg, passed laws that stripped Jews of civil rights and banned their marriage to Germans.
  2. 3 October 1935Italy attacks EthiopiaOn 3 October 1935 Mussolini's troops crossed into Ethiopia without a declaration of war. The League of Nations imposed sanctions but left out oil.

1936

  1. 7 March 1936The remilitarisation of the RhinelandOn 7 March 1936 the Wehrmacht entered the demilitarised Rhineland, breaking the Versailles and Locarno treaties. France and Britain did not respond with force.
  2. 18 July 1936The outbreak of the Spanish Civil WarOn 17–18 July 1936 generals rose against the Republic. The coup succeeded in Morocco and parts of Spain but failed in Madrid and Barcelona. Spain split in two.
  3. 1 October 1936The Great PurgeOn 1 October 1936 Nikolai Yezhov took over the NKVD. In 1937–1938 his men arrested 1.5 million people and shot about 680,000, including many army commanders.

1937

  1. 7 July 1937The Marco Polo Bridge incidentOn the night of 7–8 July 1937 shots near the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing sparked a Sino-Japanese clash that grew into an eight-year war.
  2. 13 December 1937The Nanjing massacreOn 13 December 1937 the Japanese took Nanjing, China's capital. For weeks they murdered prisoners and civilians, raped women, looted and burned the city.

1938

  1. 13 March 1938The AnschlussOn 13 March 1938 Seyss-Inquart's government and Hitler in Linz proclaimed Austria's union with the Reich. The day before, German troops crossed unopposed.
  2. 30 September 1938The Munich AgreementOn 29–30 September 1938 Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini signed in Munich an agreement giving Germany the Sudetenland. Prague was not consulted.
  3. 9 November 1938KristallnachtOn 9–10 November 1938 the Nazis burned synagogues across the Reich, wrecked thousands of shops, killed hundreds of Jews and sent 30,000 men to camps.

1939

  1. 15 March 1939Germany occupies Bohemia and MoraviaOn 15 March 1939 the Wehrmacht marched into Bohemia and Moravia, and that night Hitler slept at Prague Castle. Breaking the Munich Agreement ended appeasement.
  2. 31 March 1939The British guarantee to PolandOn 31 March 1939 Chamberlain told the Commons that Britain and France would aid Poland if its independence were threatened. Appeasement was over.
  3. 3 April 1939Fall WeissOn 3 April 1939 the OKW chief Wilhelm Keitel issued the Case White directive. The Wehrmacht was to be ready to attack Poland at any time from 1 September.
  4. 23 August 1939The Molotov–Ribbentrop PactOn the night of 23/24 August 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed a non-aggression pact in Moscow. A secret protocol carved up Poland and Eastern Europe.
  5. 25 August 1939The Anglo-Polish allianceOn 25 August 1939 Raczyński and Halifax signed a mutual assistance agreement in London. A secret protocol stated that the “European Power” meant Germany.
  6. 31 August 1939The Gleiwitz incidentOn the evening of 31 August 1939 SS men posing as Polish insurgents raided the Gleiwitz radio station and left behind the body of a murdered Silesian.
  7. 1 September 1939Germany invades PolandAt dawn on 1 September 1939 the Wehrmacht attacked Poland from the north, west and south without declaring war. The Slovak army struck alongside the Germans.
  8. 3 September 1939Britain and France declare war on GermanyOn 3 September 1939 Britain at 11 a.m. and France at 5 p.m. found themselves at war with Germany. Warsaw cheered, but no real help arrived.
  9. 17 September 1939The Soviet invasion of PolandAt dawn on 17 September 1939 the Red Army entered Poland without a declaration of war, carrying out the secret protocol of its pact with Germany.
  10. 27 September 1939Establishment of the Service for Poland's VictoryOn the night of 26-27 September 1939, in besieged Warsaw, Gen. Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz founded the Service for Poland's Victory, seed of the Home Army.
  11. 26 October 1939The annexation of Polish lands and the General GovernmentOn 26 October 1939 Hitler’s decrees took effect. Western Poland was annexed to the Reich and central Poland became Hans Frank’s General Government.
  12. 30 November 1939The Soviet Union invades FinlandOn 30 November 1939 the Red Army attacked Finland without a declaration of war, and Soviet aircraft bombed Helsinki. The Winter War had begun.
  13. 13 December 1939The Battle of the River PlateOn 13 December 1939 three British cruisers attacked the “pocket battleship” Admiral Graf Spee off the River Plate and forced her into Montevideo.

1940

  1. 10 January 1940The Mechelen incidentOn 10 January 1940 a German liaison aircraft force-landed in Belgium near Mechelen. The Belgians seized the charred papers of the plan of attack in the West.
  2. 15 February 1940The Red Army breaks the Mannerheim LineOn 11 February 1940 the Red Army broke the Mannerheim Line at Lähde. On 15 February Mannerheim ordered a retreat and the Russians entered Summa.
  3. 17 February 1940Manstein presents his plan to HitlerOn 17 February 1940 Manstein, removed from planning, put his Ardennes idea to Hitler. On 24 February the OKH shifted the main thrust to Army Group A.
  4. 12 March 1940The Moscow Peace TreatyOn 12 March 1940 Finland signed the peace ending the Winter War in Moscow. It ceded the Karelian Isthmus and Viipuri but kept its independence.
  5. 3 April 1940The Katyn massacreOn 3 April 1940 the first prisoners left Kozelsk for their deaths. By mid-May the NKVD had killed almost 22,000 Polish officers, policemen and prisoners.
  6. 9 April 1940Germany invades NorwayOn 9 April 1940 Germany landed troops in Norwegian ports and took Oslo from the air. The king, government and gold left the capital, and Norway fought on.
  7. 8 May 1940The Norway DebateOn 7–8 May 1940 the Commons called the government to account for Norway. Chamberlain won the vote 281 to 200, but a Tory revolt sealed his fall.
  8. 10 May 1940Germany attacks in the WestOn 10 May 1940 the Wehrmacht struck the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The Allies advanced into Belgium as Kleist's tanks entered the Ardennes.
  9. 10 May 1940Churchill becomes Prime MinisterOn 10 May 1940, the day of the German offensive in the West, Chamberlain resigned and the King asked Churchill to form a coalition government.
  10. 13 May 1940The breakthrough at SedanOn 13 May 1940, after eight hours of bombing, Guderian’s infantry crossed the Meuse at Sedan and Rommel at Dinant. On 15 May they broke into open country.
  11. 14 May 1940The bombing of RotterdamOn 14 May 1940 the Luftwaffe bombed Rotterdam during talks on its surrender. That evening the Netherlands laid down its arms, except Zeeland, which fought on.
  12. 26 May 1940Operation DynamoOn 26 May 1940 the Admiralty began evacuating the troops trapped at Dunkirk. By 4 June warships and little ships had carried over 338,000 men to England.
  13. 10 June 1940Italy declares war on France and BritainOn 10 June 1940 Mussolini declared war on France and Britain as the French army was already collapsing. Roosevelt called it a stab in the back.
  14. 14 June 1940The Germans enter ParisOn 14 June 1940 German troops entered Paris, declared an open city, without a fight. A swastika flag was hoisted over the Eiffel Tower.
  15. 15 June 1940The Soviet occupation of LithuaniaOn 15 June 1940 Lithuania accepted a Soviet ultimatum, President Smetona fled to Germany and the Red Army occupied the country without a Lithuanian shot fired.
  16. 16 June 1940Pétain becomes Prime Minister of FranceOn 16 June 1940 at Bordeaux Reynaud resigned and President Lebrun entrusted the government to Marshal Pétain. That night France asked for an armistice.
  17. 18 June 1940General de Gaulle’s appealOn 18 June 1940 General de Gaulle urged the French on BBC radio to fight on. On 28 June London recognised him as leader of the Free French.
  18. 22 June 1940The Armistice of CompiègneOn 22 June 1940, in Foch’s carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, Huntziger and Keitel signed an armistice. Germany took three-fifths of France.
  19. 1 July 1940The French government moves to VichyOn 1 July 1940 Pétain's government settled in Vichy. On 10 July parliament gave the marshal full powers by 569 votes to 80, ending the Third Republic.
  20. 3 July 1940The attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-KébirOn 3 July 1940 the Royal Navy shelled the French squadron at Mers-el-Kébir near Oran. Nearly 1,300 sailors died, and Vichy broke off relations with London.
  21. 10 July 1940The Battle of Britain beginsOn 10 July 1940 some hundred aircraft clashed over a convoy in the Strait of Dover. The British came to see the day as the start of the Battle of Britain.
  22. 16 July 1940Directive No. 16: Operation Sea LionOn 16 July 1940 Hitler issued Directive No. 16 on preparing a landing in England, Operation Sea Lion. It required the defeat of the RAF and a mined Channel.
  23. 3 August 1940The USSR annexes the Baltic statesOn 1–7 August 1940 the Supreme Soviet incorporated Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as union republics and formed the Moldavian SSR from land taken from Romania.
  24. 13 August 1940AdlertagOn 13 August 1940, “Eagle Day”, the Luftwaffe struck at RAF airfields. Muddled orders and poor intelligence meant Fighter Command was barely touched.
  25. 25 August 1940The first RAF raid on BerlinAfter bombs hit the City of London on the night of 24/25 August 1940, Churchill ordered a strike on Berlin. The raid of 25/26 August did little damage.
  26. 30 August 1940The Second Vienna AwardOn 30 August 1940 Ribbentrop and Ciano announced at the Belvedere in Vienna an award that took northern Transylvania from Romania and gave it to Hungary.
  27. 7 September 1940The Blitz beginsOn 7 September 1940 the Luftwaffe struck London's docks instead of RAF airfields. More than 400 people were dead by morning. So began the Blitz.
  28. 15 September 1940Battle of Britain DayOn 15 September 1940 the RAF beat off two great daylight Luftwaffe raids on London. The day became the symbol of British victory in the Battle of Britain.
  29. 27 September 1940The Tripartite PactOn 27 September 1940 in Berlin, Germany, Italy and Japan concluded a ten-year alliance aimed at the United States. It was meant to deter America from war.
  30. 2 October 1940The creation of the Warsaw GhettoOn 2 October 1940 Governor Ludwig Fischer ordered a “Jewish district” to be set up in Warsaw. By mid-November some 250,000 people had been forced to move.
  31. 24 October 1940The meeting at MontoireOn 24 October 1940 Pétain met Hitler at Montoire station. The handshake and his words on the “path of collaboration” opened Vichy’s co-operation with the Reich.
  32. 28 October 1940Italy attacks GreeceAt 3 a.m. on 28 October 1940 Metaxas rejected the Italian ultimatum. At dawn Mussolini’s troops advanced from Albania into Greece.
  33. 11 November 1940The attack on TarantoOn the night of 11–12 November 1940 twenty-one Swordfish from the carrier Illustrious torpedoed three Italian battleships at Taranto.
  34. 12 November 1940Molotov in BerlinOn 12–14 November 1940 Molotov discussed dividing the world with Hitler and Ribbentrop in Berlin. He pressed on Finland, Bulgaria and the Straits, in vain.
  35. 14 November 1940The Coventry BlitzOn the night of 14–15 November 1940 hundreds of German bombers razed the centre of Coventry and St Michael's Cathedral. Some 568 people were killed.
  36. 9 December 1940Operation Compass beginsOn 9 December 1940 General O’Connor’s British and Indian troops struck the Italian camps around Sidi Barrani. In three days they took over 38,000 prisoners.
  37. 18 December 1940Directive No. 21: Operation BarbarossaOn 18 December 1940 Hitler signed Directive No. 21, Barbarossa: by 15 May 1941 the Wehrmacht was to be ready to crush the USSR in a rapid campaign.
  38. 29 December 1940The Second Great Fire of LondonOn the night of 29/30 December 1940 Luftwaffe incendiaries started some 1,500 fires in the City of London. About 160 people died; St Paul's Cathedral was saved.

1941

  1. 21 January 1941The capture of TobrukOn 21 January 1941 the 6th Australian Division attacked Tobruk. Next day the fortress capitulated and some 25,000 Italians were taken prisoner.
  2. 7 February 1941The Battle of Beda FommOn 5–7 February 1941 the British 7th Armoured Division cut off the 10th Army fleeing Cyrenaica at Beda Fomm. On 7 February its remnants gave up; Tellera died.
  3. 14 February 1941Rommel in TripoliHitler sent General Erwin Rommel to Libya. He flew into Tripoli on 12 February 1941, and on 14 February the first combat units of the Afrika Korps landed there.
  4. 11 March 1941Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease ActOn 11 March 1941 Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act and that day declared the defence of Britain and Greece vital to the US, approving the first deliveries.
  5. 27 March 1941The Yugoslav coup d’étatOn 27 March 1941 air force officers in Belgrade ousted Prince Paul’s regency and the government that signed the pact. Hitler resolved to destroy Yugoslavia.
  6. 28 March 1941The Battle of Cape MatapanOn 28 March 1941 Cunningham’s fleet, forewarned by Bletchley Park, damaged the Vittorio Veneto and that night sank three Italian cruisers and two destroyers.
  7. 6 April 1941Germany attacks YugoslaviaOn 6 April 1941 Germany invaded Yugoslavia without declaring war and the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade. The partly mobilised army quickly fell apart.
  8. 6 April 1941Germany attacks GreeceOn 6 April 1941 the 12th Army struck Greece from Bulgaria. The Metaxas Line forts beat off the first attacks; at night an ammunition ship blast wrecked Piraeus.
  9. 13 April 1941The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality PactOn 13 April 1941 Molotov and Matsuoka signed a five-year neutrality pact in the Kremlin. The USSR secured its east; Japan its rear before the drive south.
  10. 27 April 1941The Germans enter AthensOn 27 April 1941 the Germans entered Athens and raised their flag on the Acropolis. The Greek army had capitulated, but the King fought on from Crete.
  11. 10 May 1941Rudolf Hess’s flight to ScotlandOn 10 May 1941 Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess flew alone to Scotland to make peace with Britain. He bailed out by parachute and was taken prisoner.
  12. 10 May 1941The last night of the BlitzOn the night of 10–11 May 1941 bombs killed 1,436 people in London and destroyed the House of Commons chamber. It was the Blitz's last great raid.
  13. 20 May 1941The airborne invasion of CreteOn 20 May 1941 Germany struck at Crete from the air. Paratroopers suffered huge losses, but at night the New Zealanders gave up the hill above Maleme airfield.
  14. 27 May 1941The sinking of the BismarckOn 27 May 1941 British battleships wrecked the Bismarck in the Atlantic, crippled the day before by a Swordfish torpedo. More than 2,000 Germans died.
  15. 22 June 1941Germany invades the Soviet UnionAt dawn on 22 June 1941 Germany and its allies attacked the USSR. Operation Barbarossa broke the pact of 1939 and opened the Eastern Front.
  16. 4 July 1941The massacre of the Lwów professorsDuring the night of 3–4 July 1941 the German Security Police in Lwów arrested Polish professors and their relatives. At dawn they were shot on the Wulka Hills.
  17. 31 July 1941Göring’s order to HeydrichOn 31 July 1941 Göring authorised Heydrich to prepare a “total solution of the Jewish question” in the German sphere of influence in Europe.
  18. 9 August 1941The Atlantic CharterOn 9–12 August 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill met aboard warships in Placentia Bay. On 14 August they announced eight common principles, the Atlantic Charter.
  19. 25 August 1941The invasion of IranOn 25 August 1941 British and Soviet troops entered neutral Iran without a declaration of war. The Shah’s army stopped fighting after four days.
  20. 8 September 1941The siege of Leningrad beginsOn 8 September 1941 the Germans took Shlisselburg on Lake Ladoga and cut Leningrad off from the country. A blockade of almost two and a half years began.
  21. 28 September 1941Babi YarOn 28 September 1941 the Germans summoned Kiev’s Jews to assemble. On 29–30 September Sonderkommando 4a and German police shot 33,771 people at Babi Yar.
  22. 2 October 1941Operation TyphoonOn 2 October 1941 Army Group Centre advanced on Moscow. Within days Bock’s tanks broke through and were encircling Soviet armies at Vyazma and Bryansk.
  23. 18 October 1941Hideki Tōjō becomes Prime MinisterOn 18 October 1941 General Hideki Tōjō, the War Minister who had refused to withdraw troops from China, became Prime Minister of Japan after Konoe resigned.
  24. 18 November 1941Operation Crusader beginsOn 18 November 1941 the British Eighth Army crossed into Libya to destroy Rommel’s armour and lift the siege of Tobruk. A downpour helped it achieve surprise.
  25. 26 November 1941The Kidō Butai sails for HawaiiOn 26 November 1941 Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo’s six carriers left Hitokappu Bay in the Kurils, sailing under radio silence to strike Pearl Harbor.
  26. 5 December 1941The counter-offensive at MoscowOn 5 December 1941 the Kalinin Front, and on 6 December the Western Front, struck an exhausted Army Group Centre. The Germans fell back along the whole front.
  27. 7 December 1941The attack on Pearl HarborOn 7 December 1941 aircraft from six Japanese carriers struck Pearl Harbor. 2,403 Americans were killed and four battleships of the Pacific Fleet were sunk.
  28. 11 December 1941Germany and Italy declare war on the United StatesOn 11 December 1941 Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States, and Congress responded that same day. The war had become truly global.

1942

  1. 1 January 1942The Declaration by United NationsOn 1 January 1942 the USA, Britain, the USSR and China signed the Declaration by United Nations. A day later 22 more states, Poland among them, joined.
  2. 20 January 1942The Wannsee ConferenceOn 20 January 1942 Heydrich gathered fifteen SS, Party and ministry officials by the Wannsee to co-ordinate the murder of Europe's Jews, already under way.
  3. 14 February 1942The Union of Armed Struggle becomes the Home ArmyOn 14 February 1942 Gen. Sikorski renamed the ZWZ the Home Army. All underground soldiers in Poland came under the AK, commanded by Gen. Rowecki.
  4. 15 February 1942The fall of SingaporeOn 15 February 1942 Percival surrendered Singapore to Yamashita at the Ford factory at Bukit Timah, the largest capitulation in British military history.
  5. 28 March 1942The St Nazaire raidOn 28 March 1942 the explosive-laden destroyer Campbeltown rammed the gate of the Normandie dock at St Nazaire. The dock was wrecked; of 611 men, 169 died.
  6. 9 April 1942The fall of BataanOn 9 April 1942 General Edward King surrendered the forces on Bataan against orders. Some 75,000 men went into captivity; only Corregidor still held out.
  7. 18 April 1942The Doolittle RaidOn 18 April 1942 sixteen B-25 bombers from the carrier Hornet bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The damage was slight; the consequences were immense.
  8. 8 May 1942The carrier clash in the Coral SeaOn 8 May 1942 US and Japanese carriers struck at each other. Lexington sank, Shōkaku was damaged and the landing at Port Moresby was called off.
  9. 27 May 1942The assassination of HeydrichOn 27 May 1942 in Prague the Czechoslovak parachutists Gabčík and Kubiš gravely wounded Reinhard Heydrich. He died on 4 June; the Germans answered with terror.
  10. 30 May 1942The thousand-bomber raid on CologneOn the night of 30/31 May 1942 the RAF sent 1,047 bombers to Cologne. In 90 minutes they started thousands of fires; about 470 died and 45,000 lost their homes.
  11. 4 June 1942The sinking of Nagumo's carriersOn 4 June 1942 at Midway American dive-bombers set Akagi, Kaga and Sōryū ablaze, and Hiryū that evening. The Japanese managed to hit Yorktown first.
  12. 10 June 1942The destruction of LidiceOn 10 June 1942 the Germans shot 173 men of the Czech village of Lidice, sent the women to Ravensbrück and the children to Łódź, and razed the village.
  13. 21 June 1942The fall of TobrukOn 21 June 1942 General Klopper surrendered Tobruk to Rommel after a day’s assault. Some 33,000 soldiers were captured and Rommel was made a field marshal.
  14. 28 June 1942Case Blue beginsOn 28 June 1942 Army Group Weichs struck from Kursk at Voronezh, opening the Wehrmacht’s great summer offensive in the southern USSR, aimed at Caucasus oil.
  15. 1 July 1942The fall of SevastopolOn 1 July 1942 Manstein’s troops entered ruined Sevastopol. The defence commanders were evacuated; tens of thousands of soldiers were left on Cape Khersones.
  16. 16 July 1942The Vel d'Hiv round-upOn 16–17 July 1942 French police arrested 13,152 Jews in Paris, over 4,000 of them children. Families were held for five days at the Vel d'Hiv velodrome.
  17. 22 July 1942The Great Deportation in the Warsaw GhettoOn 22 July 1942 the Germans began deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. By 21 September they had murdered at least 254,000 people there.
  18. 7 August 1942The landing on GuadalcanalOn 7 August 1942 US Marines landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo. The first American land offensive of the Pacific War had begun.
  19. 15 August 1942The Ohio reaches MaltaOn 15 August 1942 the sinking tanker Ohio, last of the five Pedestal ships to arrive, was brought into Valletta. Her fuel saved Malta.
  20. 19 August 1942The Dieppe RaidOn 19 August 1942 over 6,000 troops, mostly Canadians, landed at Dieppe. After the defeat 3,367 Canadians had been killed, wounded or captured.
  21. 23 August 1942The bombing of StalingradOn 23 August 1942 German tanks reached the Volga north of Stalingrad and the Luftwaffe reduced much of the city to ruins. The Battle of Stalingrad had begun.
  22. 3 September 1942The fighting for Stalingrad beginsOn 3 September 1942 the wings of the 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army met outside Stalingrad as Soviet armies fell back to the suburbs. The battle reached the city.
  23. 12 September 1942The sinking of the LaconiaOn 12 September 1942 U-156 sank the troopship Laconia with 1,800 Italian POWs aboard. The rescue that followed ended in Dönitz's Laconia Order.
  24. 3 October 1942The first successful A4 rocket launchOn 3 October 1942 at Peenemünde the fourth A4 prototype flew some 190 km and climbed to 84.5 km. The future V-2 weapon was born.
  25. 23 October 1942The Second Battle of El Alamein beginsAt 9.40 p.m. on 23 October 1942 almost 900 Eighth Army guns opened fire at El Alamein. The infantry of four divisions advanced into the Axis minefields.
  26. 3 November 1942Rommel's retreat from El AlameinOn 3 November 1942 Hitler forbade Rommel to retreat from El Alamein. A day later the front broke and the Axis army fled west, abandoning the Italian infantry.
  27. 8 November 1942The landings in North AfricaOn 8 November 1942 more than 70,000 American and British troops landed in Morocco and Algeria. The Vichy French resisted at Casablanca and Oran.
  28. 19 November 1942Operation Uranus beginsOn 19 November 1942 the Red Army hit the Romanians on the 6th Army's flanks. In three days the front broke and the pincers were closing west of Stalingrad.
  29. 2 December 1942The first controlled chain reactionOn 2 December 1942, beneath the stands of Stagg Field in Chicago, Enrico Fermi's team started up Chicago Pile-1 – the first nuclear reactor.
  30. 17 December 1942The Allied declaration on the extermination of the JewsOn 17 December 1942 Anthony Eden read to the Commons a declaration by 11 governments and the Free French condemning the murder of the Jews. MPs rose in silence.
  31. 24 December 1942The assassination of Admiral DarlanOn 24 December 1942 in Algiers, 20-year-old Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle shot Admiral Darlan. He was executed two days later; Giraud took power.

1943

  1. 14 January 1943The Casablanca ConferenceOn 14 January 1943 at Anfa near Casablanca, Churchill, Roosevelt and their chiefs of staff began talks. They chose Sicily and a stepped-up bombing of Germany.
  2. 18 January 1943The first armed resistance in the Warsaw GhettoOn 18 January 1943 the Germans resumed deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto. ŻOB fighters first resisted with arms; after four days the action was halted.
  3. 18 January 1943The siege of Leningrad brokenOn 18 January 1943 the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts met by Lake Ladoga. Operation Iskra cut a land corridor 8–11 km wide through to Leningrad.
  4. 31 January 1943Paulus surrendersOn 31 January 1943 men of the 64th Army captured Field Marshal Paulus and his staff in a Stalingrad department store basement. The southern pocket fell.
  5. 2 February 1943The end of the Battle of StalingradOn 2 February 1943 General Strecker's northern pocket surrendered and the Battle of Stalingrad ended. A day later the Reich announced the Sixth Army's defeat.
  6. 9 February 1943The end of the fighting on GuadalcanalOn the nights of 1–8 February 1943 Japanese destroyers took some 10,600 soldiers off Guadalcanal. On 9 February the Americans declared the island secured.
  7. 18 February 1943Goebbels’s “total war” speechOn 18 February 1943 Goebbels asked a hand-picked crowd in Berlin’s Sportpalast: “Do you want total war?” The speech became a symbol of Nazi propaganda.
  8. 22 February 1943The execution of Hans and Sophie SchollOn 22 February 1943 Freisler’s People’s Court sentenced Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst of the White Rose to death. They were guillotined that day.
  9. 2 March 1943The Battle of the Bismarck SeaOn 2–4 March 1943 Allied aircraft destroyed a convoy from Rabaul to Lae. Eight transports and four destroyers were sunk and nearly 3,000 Japanese killed.
  10. 13 March 1943The liquidation of the Kraków GhettoOn 13–14 March 1943 the Germans liquidated the ghetto in Kraków's Podgórze. Those fit to work were driven to Płaszów; some 2,000 were killed on the spot.
  11. 17 March 1943The battle for convoys HX 229 and SC 122On 16–20 March 1943 some 40 U-boats attacked convoys HX 229 and SC 122 in the Atlantic air gap and sank 22 ships for the loss of one submarine.
  12. 13 April 1943The Germans announce the Katyn massacreOn 13 April 1943 Berlin radio announced the discovery of Polish officers’ graves near Smolensk. The dispute let Stalin break with the Polish government.
  13. 18 April 1943The death of Admiral YamamotoOn 18 April 1943 American P-38 fighters shot down Admiral Yamamoto’s aircraft over Bougainville. The ambush was made possible by breaking a Japanese code.
  14. 19 April 1943The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising beginsOn 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, ŻOB and ŻZW fighters drove back the Germans entering the Warsaw Ghetto. They soon returned under Jürgen Stroop.
  15. 13 May 1943The Axis surrender in AfricaOn 13 May 1943 Messe's Italian First Army, the last Axis force in Tunisia, surrendered. Some quarter of a million men were captured; the war in Africa was over.
  16. 16 May 1943The end of the Warsaw Ghetto UprisingOn 16 May 1943 Stroop blew up the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie and declared the Warsaw Ghetto at an end. His report listed 56,065 Jews “caught”.
  17. 24 May 1943Black MayIn May 1943 the U-boats lost 41–43 boats for meagre results. On 24 May Dönitz pulled them out of the North Atlantic – the turning point of the Atlantic battle.
  18. 4 July 1943The death of General SikorskiOn 4 July 1943 a Liberator carrying General Władysław Sikorski crashed into the sea just after take-off from Gibraltar. Sixteen died; only the pilot survived.
  19. 5 July 1943The Battle of Kursk beginsOn 5 July 1943 the Germans launched Operation Citadel, attacking the Kursk salient from north and south, and ran into the Red Army’s strongest defences yet.
  20. 10 July 1943The landing in SicilyOn 10 July 1943 the Allies landed in Sicily: Montgomery’s Eighth Army in the south-east, Patton’s Seventh Army in the Gulf of Gela. Operation Husky had begun.
  21. 11 July 1943Bloody Sunday in VolhyniaOn 11 July 1943 UPA units and local peasants attacked nearly 100 Polish villages and settlements in Volhynia – the bloodiest day of the Volhynia massacres.
  22. 24 July 1943Operation GomorrahFrom 24 July to 3 August 1943 Allied bombers struck Hamburg. A firestorm on the night of 27/28 July killed about 18,000 people; in all some 34,000–40,000 died.
  23. 25 July 1943The fall of MussoliniOn 25 July 1943, after a vote in the Grand Council of Fascism, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, had him arrested and handed power to Badoglio.
  24. 1 August 1943Operation Tidal WaveOn 1 August 1943 US Liberators attacked the Ploiești refineries at very low level. Nearly a third of the aircraft were lost; the damage was soon repaired.
  25. 16 August 1943The Białystok Ghetto UprisingOn 16 August 1943 the Germans began liquidating the Białystok ghetto. Several hundred poorly armed fighters resisted; their leaders died in the ghetto.
  26. 17 August 1943Operation HydraOn the night of 17–18 August 1943 nearly 600 RAF bombers attacked the rocket centre at Peenemünde. About 700 people died, most of them forced labourers.
  27. 8 September 1943The Italian surrender announcedOn 8 September 1943 Eisenhower announced Italy's surrender on the radio, and Badoglio had to confirm it. At noon B-17s bombed Kesselring's HQ at Frascati.
  28. 9 September 1943The landing at SalernoOn 9 September 1943 Mark Clark's American-British Fifth Army landed in the Gulf of Salerno. Despite Italy's surrender, the Germans were waiting on the beaches.
  29. 21 September 1943The massacre of the Acqui Division on KefaloniaOn 21 September 1943 the Germans on Kefalonia began shooting surrendering men of the Italian Acqui Division. Thousands died, General Antonio Gandin among them.
  30. 25 September 1943The liberation of SmolenskOn 25 September 1943 the Western Front drove the Germans from ruined Smolensk. Nearby Katyn also fell to the Soviets, and the NKVD began covering its tracks.
  31. 30 September 1943The rescue of the Danish JewsIn late September 1943 Danes began hiding Jews from a round-up and ferrying them by boat to Sweden. More than 7,000 were saved; about 470 were deported.
  32. 13 October 1943Italy declares war on GermanyOn 13 October 1943 Badoglio's government in Brindisi declared war on Germany. The Allies recognised Italy as a co-belligerent, but not as an ally.
  33. 14 October 1943Black Thursday over SchweinfurtOn 14 October 1943, 291 American B-17s again struck the ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt. Sixty bombers failed to return and some 600 airmen were missing.
  34. 14 October 1943The Sobibór uprisingOn 14 October 1943 prisoners of the Sobibór death camp killed a dozen or so SS men and guards. About 300 escaped to the forest; a few dozen survived the war.
  35. 18 October 1943The Moscow Conference of Foreign MinistersOn 18 October 1943 Hull and Eden reached Moscow. Talks with Molotov yielded a pledge of the UN, the European Advisory Commission and a war crimes statement.
  36. 3 November 1943Operation Harvest FestivalOn 3–4 November 1943 the SS and police shot about 42,000 Jews at Majdanek, Trawniki and Poniatowa – the last forced labourers of the Lublin region.
  37. 6 November 1943The liberation of KievOn the morning of 6 November 1943 General Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian Front took the ruined city of Kiev – on the eve of the anniversary of the October Revolution.
  38. 18 November 1943The air Battle of Berlin beginsOn the night of 18–19 November 1943, 444 RAF aircraft attacked Berlin. Cloud scattered the bombs; about 130–150 died. So began the Battle of Berlin.
  39. 20 November 1943The landing on TarawaOn 20 November 1943 Marines landed on Betio in Tarawa atoll and Army infantry on Makin. The reef, low tide and bunkers turned the first day into a slaughter.
  40. 28 November 1943The Tehran ConferenceOn 28 November 1943 Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met in Tehran. They decided to invade France in May 1944 and discussed Poland without its government.
  41. 2 December 1943The air raid on BariOn 2 December 1943 German Ju 88s surprised the crowded port of Bari. More than a dozen ships sank, and mustard gas from the John Harvey poisoned hundreds.
  42. 13 December 1943The Kalavryta massacreOn 13 December 1943 soldiers of the German 117th Jäger Division shot almost all the men of Kalavryta in the Peloponnese and burned the town down.
  43. 24 December 1943Eisenhower to command the invasionOn 24 December 1943 Roosevelt announced on the radio that General Dwight Eisenhower would command the invasion of France. Marshall stayed in Washington.
  44. 26 December 1943The sinking of the ScharnhorstOn 26 December 1943 ships of Admiral Fraser's Home Fleet sank the Scharnhorst in the Barents Sea. Of a crew of almost two thousand, only 36 survived.

1944

  1. 4 January 1944The Red Army crosses the pre-war Polish borderOn the night of 3–4 January 1944 troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the pre-war Polish border near Rokitno in Volhynia.
  2. 17 January 1944The Battle of Monte Cassino beginsOn 17 January 1944 British X Corps crossed the lower Garigliano at the western end of the Gustav Line. The first Battle of Monte Cassino had begun.
  3. 22 January 1944The landing at AnzioOn 22 January 1944 General Lucas's VI Corps landed at Anzio and Nettuno, close to Rome. Surprise was complete, but the Germans soon ringed the beachhead.
  4. 27 January 1944The end of the siege of LeningradOn 27 January 1944 Leningrad marked the end of the siege with a salute from 324 guns. It had lasted 872 days and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
  5. 15 February 1944The destruction of the Abbey of Monte CassinoOn 15 February 1944 Allied bombers destroyed the Benedictine abbey on Monte Cassino. Civilians died, the Germans took over the ruins, and the attack failed.
  6. 18 February 1944Operation Hailstone – the raid on TrukOn 17–18 February 1944 Mitscher's carriers wrecked the Truk base, sinking dozens of ships and destroying over 250 aircraft. Truk was then bypassed.
  7. 26 February 1944Big WeekFrom 20 to 25 February 1944 US and RAF bombers struck the German aircraft industry. The Luftwaffe lost hundreds of fighters and pilots it could not replace.
  8. 29 February 1944The landing on Los NegrosOn 29 February 1944 a thousand US cavalrymen landed on Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands. MacArthur came ashore and ordered the airstrip held at any cost.
  9. 7 March 1944Operation U-Go beginsOn the night of 7–8 March 1944 the Japanese 33rd Division moved on Tiddim. So began Operation U-Go – the Fifteenth Army's thrust on Imphal and Kohima in India.
  10. 19 March 1944The Germans occupy HungaryOn 19 March 1944 the Wehrmacht occupied Hungary in Operation Margarethe. Horthy remained regent, but real power passed to Veesenmayer and the SS.
  11. 24 March 1944The Ardeatine Caves massacreOn 24 March 1944 the Germans shot 335 prisoners and hostages in the quarries on the Via Ardeatina near Rome in reprisal for the Via Rasella attack.
  12. 30 March 1944The raid on NurembergOn the night of 30/31 March 1944 the RAF sent 795 bombers to Nuremberg. German night fighters shot down 95 – Bomber Command's heaviest loss of the war.
  13. 8 April 1944The Crimean offensive beginsOn 8 April 1944 the 4th Ukrainian Front attacked Crimea via Perekop and the Sivash. Simferopol fell on 13 April and the Germans fell back to Sevastopol.
  14. 17 April 1944Operation Ichi-Go beginsOn 17 April 1944 the Japanese crossed the Yellow River in Henan. Operation Ichi-Go began – the largest land offensive ever mounted by the Japanese army.
  15. 22 April 1944The landings at Hollandia and AitapeOn 22 April 1944 US troops landed at Hollandia and Aitape in New Guinea, hundreds of kilometres behind the front, cutting off the Japanese 18th Army at Wewak.
  16. 27 April 1944The Slapton Sands disasterOn 27 April 1944 US troops rehearsed the Normandy landing in Devon. That night German E-boats torpedoed convoy T-4, killing at least 749 soldiers and sailors.
  17. 9 May 1944The liberation of SevastopolOn 9 May 1944 the 4th Ukrainian Front took Sevastopol, two days after storming Sapun Ridge. The remnants of the German 17th Army fell back to the Chersonese.
  18. 11 May 1944The fourth battle of Monte CassinoAt 11 p.m. on 11 May 1944 the Allies struck the Gustav Line, opening Operation Diadem. On 12 May the Polish II Corps assaulted the Monte Cassino massif.
  19. 18 May 1944The capture of Monte CassinoOn 18 May 1944 a patrol of the 12th Podolian Uhlans entered the ruins of the abbey, abandoned by the Germans overnight. The battle of Monte Cassino was over.
  20. 4 June 1944The Allies in RomeOn 4 June 1944 the US Fifth Army entered Rome, which the Germans had left without fighting in the city – the first Axis capital taken by the Allies.
  21. 6 June 1944D-Day: the Normandy landingsOn 6 June 1944 some 156,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy by sea and air. Five beachheads were taken, but Caen remained in German hands.
  22. 13 June 1944The first V-1 flying bombsOn the night of 12/13 June 1944 the Germans fired the first V-1s at England. The flying-bomb offensive killed about 6,000 people in Britain.
  23. 15 June 1944The landing on SaipanOn 15 June 1944 two US Marine divisions landed on Saipan. That evening American submarines sighted the Japanese fleet heading for the Marianas.
  24. 19 June 1944The Battle of the Philippine SeaOn 19–20 June 1944 the US Task Force 58 shattered Ozawa's carrier air groups west of the Marianas. Japan lost three carriers and several hundred aircraft.
  25. 22 June 1944Operation Bagration beginsOn 22 June 1944, the third anniversary of Germany's attack on the USSR, four Soviet fronts opened an offensive in Belarus against Army Group Centre.
  26. 3 July 1944The liberation of MinskOn 3 July 1944 Soviet troops entered ruined Minsk. East of the city some 100,000 soldiers of the German Fourth Army were trapped in a pocket.
  27. 20 July 1944The 20 July plotOn 20 July 1944 Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg set off a bomb at the Wolf's Lair. Hitler survived, and the coup in Berlin collapsed that same night.
  28. 21 July 1944The landing on GuamOn 21 July 1944 US Marines landed on Guam on both sides of the Orote Peninsula. The island had been under Japanese occupation since December 1941.
  29. 24 July 1944Operation CobraOn 24 July 1944 bombs from Operation Cobra's first raid fell on Americans near Saint-Lô. On 25 July First Army attacked; on 28 July it took Coutances.
  30. 24 July 1944The liberation of MajdanekDuring the fighting for Lublin, Soviet soldiers entered the abandoned camp at Majdanek. Its gas chambers and crematorium were left almost intact.
  31. 1 August 1944The Warsaw Uprising beginsAt 5 p.m. on 1 August 1944 Home Army units attacked the Germans in Warsaw to liberate the capital before the Red Army entered it.
  32. 5 August 1944The Wola massacreOn 5 August 1944 Reinefarth's police and SS began murdering the people of Warsaw's Wola. In three days 10,000 to several tens of thousands of civilians died.
  33. 14 August 1944The Falaise pocketOn 14 August 1944 Canadians and Poles advanced on Falaise in Operation Tractable. The pocket was closed on 19–21 August at Chambois and on the Mace.
  34. 15 August 1944Operation DragoonOn 15 August 1944 the US VI Corps landed in Provence between Cavalaire and Saint-Raphaël. Resistance was weak, and losses on the first day were light.
  35. 20 August 1944The Jassy–Kishinev offensive beginsOn 20 August 1944 the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts struck at Iași and Bender. Within days they encircled the German Sixth Army and Romania left the Axis.
  36. 23 August 1944The coup in RomaniaOn 23 August 1944 King Michael I had Marshal Antonescu arrested. The new government stopped fighting the Allies; Germany lost Romanian oil and the Prut front.
  37. 25 August 1944The liberation of ParisOn 25 August 1944 the French 2nd Armoured and US 4th Infantry Divisions entered Paris. Von Choltitz surrendered and de Gaulle spoke at the Hôtel de Ville.
  38. 29 August 1944The Slovak National UprisingOn 29 August 1944, as the Wehrmacht entered Slovakia, Lt Col Ján Golian signalled a rising against the Germans and Tiso. Its centre was Banská Bystrica.
  39. 8 September 1944The first V-2 rocketsOn 8 September 1944 Germany first used V-2 rockets in combat. The first fell near Paris; that evening two struck England, killing three people in Chiswick.
  40. 15 September 1944The landing on PeleliuOn 15 September 1944 the US 1st Marine Division landed on Peleliu in Palau. The fight against defenders hidden in caves lasted two and a half months.
  41. 17 September 1944Operation Market Garden beginsOn 17 September 1944 the Allies dropped three airborne divisions in the Netherlands and XXX Corps set off towards the Rhine. The goal was the bridge at Arnhem.
  42. 2 October 1944The surrender of the Warsaw UprisingOn 2 October 1944 an agreement ending the Warsaw Uprising was signed at Ożarów. The Home Army received combatant rights; the city's people were expelled.
  43. 7 October 1944The Sonderkommando revolt at AuschwitzOn 7 October 1944 Sonderkommando prisoners at Birkenau rose against the SS and set Crematorium IV on fire. About 450 prisoners and three SS men died.
  44. 9 October 1944The Moscow Conference of 1944On 9 October 1944 Churchill flew to Moscow. Talks with Stalin brought the percentages agreement on the Balkans, a clash over Poland and a pledge on Japan.
  45. 15 October 1944The Arrow Cross coup in HungaryOn 15 October 1944 Horthy broadcast a request for an armistice with the USSR. The Germans abducted his son, forced his abdication and installed Szálasi.
  46. 20 October 1944The landing on LeyteOn 20 October 1944 the US Sixth Army landed on Leyte. General MacArthur waded ashore and told the Filipinos by radio: “I have returned”.
  47. 20 October 1944The liberation of BelgradeOn 20 October 1944, after a week of street fighting, the Red Army and Tito's Partisans drove the Germans from Belgrade, free after 3.5 years of occupation.
  48. 21 October 1944The capture of AachenOn 21 October 1944, after three weeks of fighting and shelling, Colonel Gerhard Wilck surrendered Aachen – the first large German city taken by the Allies.
  49. 23 October 1944The Battle of Leyte Gulf beginsThe Battle of Leyte Gulf began on 23–24 October 1944. US submarines sank two of Kurita's heavy cruisers, and Halsey's aircraft sank the battleship Musashi.
  50. 7 November 1944Roosevelt's fourth termOn 7 November 1944 Roosevelt defeated Thomas Dewey, the only US president ever to win a fourth term. He died less than three months after his inauguration.
  51. 12 November 1944The sinking of the TirpitzOn 12 November 1944 RAF Lancasters with Tallboy bombs sank the battleship Tirpitz off Tromsø. Between about 950 and over 1,200 sailors were killed.
  52. 23 November 1944The liberation of StrasbourgOn 23 November 1944 General Leclerc's French 2nd Armoured Division burst into Strasbourg. A flag flew over the cathedral – the Oath of Kufra was fulfilled.
  53. 24 November 1944B-29s over TokyoOn 24 November 1944 111 B-29s took off from Saipan for the first raid on Tokyo since 1942. Only a few bombs hit the Nakajima factory at Musashino.
  54. 26 November 1944The end of the gas chambers at BirkenauIn autumn 1944 the SS stopped gassing at Birkenau. On 26 November, by the accepted date, Himmler ordered the crematoria destroyed to hide the crime.
  55. 3 December 1944The Dekemvriana beginsOn 3 December 1944 police opened fire on an EAM rally in Syntagma Square, Athens. At least 28 people died, and fighting broke out in the city – the Dekemvriana.
  56. 16 December 1944The Ardennes offensive beginsOn 16 December 1944 three German armies struck a thin American line in the Ardennes. Hitler aimed to retake Antwerp and split the Allies.
  57. 26 December 1944The relief of BastogneOn 26 December 1944 tanks of Patton’s 4th Armored Division broke through to encircled Bastogne, opening a narrow corridor to the 101st Airborne Division.
  58. 29 December 1944The siege of Budapest beginsOn 29 December 1944 the Red Army sent envoys with an ultimatum into encircled Budapest. Both were killed, and the Soviets began their assault on Pest.

1945

  1. 9 January 1945Americans in Lingayen GulfOn 9 January 1945 Krueger’s Sixth Army landed almost unopposed in Lingayen Gulf on Luzon. Kamikazes kept attacking the ships of the invasion fleet.
  2. 12 January 1945The Vistula–Oder offensive beginsOn 12 January 1945 Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front struck from the Sandomierz bridgehead, opening an offensive that took the Red Army to the Oder in three weeks.
  3. 17 January 1945The entry into WarsawOn 17 January 1945 units of the Polish 1st Army and the Red Army took the ruins of left-bank Warsaw. A new, communist authority arrived with the troops.
  4. 19 January 1945Dissolution of the Home ArmyOn 19 January 1945 Gen. Okulicki dissolved the Home Army and released its soldiers from their oath. A secret order kept staffs, arms and radio links for "NIE".
  5. 27 January 1945The liberation of AuschwitzOn 27 January 1945 soldiers of the Soviet 60th Army entered Auschwitz. They found some 7,000 prisoners, hundreds of bodies and stores of victims’ belongings.
  6. 3 February 1945The Battle of Manila beginsOn 3 February 1945 US cavalry drove into Manila and freed the internees at Santo Tomás. Japanese sailors held the city for a month, murdering civilians.
  7. 4 February 1945The Yalta ConferenceOn 4–11 February 1945 at Yalta Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed on the occupation of Germany, Poland’s borders and government, UN rules and war on Japan.
  8. 13 February 1945The bombing of DresdenOn the night of 13/14 February 1945 the RAF, and by day the USAAF, bombed Dresden. A firestorm destroyed the old city; up to 25,000 people were killed.
  9. 19 February 1945The landing on Iwo JimaOn 19 February 1945 the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions landed on Iwo Jima. By evening 30,000 Marines were ashore, and losses had reached some 2,400 men.
  10. 7 March 1945The bridge at RemagenOn 7 March 1945 men of the US 9th Armored Division captured the intact Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen and established the first bridgehead across the Rhine.
  11. 9 March 1945The Tokyo raid of 9–10 MarchOn the night of 9–10 March 1945, 279 B-29s firebombed eastern Tokyo. The firestorm killed 80,000–100,000 people – the deadliest air raid in history.
  12. 30 March 1945The capture of DanzigOn 30 March 1945 the 2nd Belorussian Front and Polish tank crews took Gdańsk. The Main Town lay in ruins, much of it burned after the fighting had ended.
  13. 1 April 1945The landing on OkinawaOn 1 April 1945 General Buckner's Tenth Army landed on Okinawa almost unopposed. The Japanese were waiting in fortifications in the south of the island.
  14. 12 April 1945The death of RooseveltOn 12 April 1945 President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral haemorrhage at Warm Springs. That evening Harry Truman took the oath at the White House.
  15. 16 April 1945The Berlin offensive beginsOn 16 April 1945 Soviet and Polish troops struck at Berlin from the Oder and the Neisse. At the Seelow Heights Zhukov's attack stalled for three days.
  16. 25 April 1945The meeting on the ElbeOn 25 April 1945 patrols of the US 69th Infantry Division met Red Army soldiers on the Elbe near Strehla and at Torgau. The Reich was cut in two.
  17. 30 April 1945Hitler's suicideOn 30 April 1945 Hitler and Eva Braun, whom he had married the day before, killed themselves in the bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in encircled Berlin.
  18. 2 May 1945The surrender of BerlinOn 2 May 1945 General Helmuth Weidling surrendered Berlin to General Chuikov and ordered the garrison to lay down arms. Krebs's talks the day before had failed.
  19. 7 May 1945The surrender at ReimsAt 2.41 a.m. on 7 May 1945, at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of all German armed forces.
  20. 8 May 1945Victory in Europe DayOn 8 May 1945 the West celebrated Germany's surrender in London, Paris and New York. The guns fell silent at 11.01 p.m.; in Poland, joy was clouded by doubt.
  21. 8 May 1945The surrender at KarlshorstOn 8 May 1945 in Berlin-Karlshorst, Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpff signed Germany's final act of unconditional surrender before Zhukov and Tedder.
  22. 5 June 1945The Berlin DeclarationOn 5 June 1945 Eisenhower, Zhukov, Montgomery and de Lattre signed in Berlin a declaration by which the four powers assumed supreme authority in Germany.
  23. 22 June 1945The end of the Battle of OkinawaOn 21–22 June 1945 organised resistance by the Japanese 32nd Army on Okinawa ceased and General Ushijima killed himself. Tens of thousands of civilians died.
  24. 26 June 1945The signing of the UN CharterOn 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, representatives of 50 states signed the Charter of the United Nations, the UN's founding act. Poland signed in October.
  25. 16 July 1945The Trinity testAt 5.29 a.m. on 16 July 1945, in the Jornada del Muerto desert in New Mexico, the Americans detonated the “Gadget” – the first nuclear device in history.
  26. 17 July 1945The Potsdam Conference beginsOn 17 July 1945 Truman, Churchill and Stalin opened the last Big Three conference at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, devoted to Germany and Poland.
  27. 26 July 1945The Potsdam DeclarationOn 26 July 1945 the US, Britain and China called on Japan to surrender its armed forces unconditionally under threat of “prompt and utter destruction”.
  28. 2 August 1945The end of the Potsdam ConferenceOn the night of 1–2 August 1945 Truman, Stalin and Attlee signed at Potsdam a protocol and communiqué on Germany, reparations and the Oder–Neisse frontier.
  29. 6 August 1945The atomic bombing of HiroshimaAt 8.15 a.m. on 6 August 1945 the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the uranium bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima – the first nuclear weapon used in war.
  30. 8 August 1945The USSR declares war on JapanOn 8 August 1945 Molotov handed Japan's ambassador a declaration of war. A few hours later, on 9 August local time, the Red Army entered Manchuria.
  31. 9 August 1945The atomic bombing of NagasakiOn 9 August 1945 the B-29 Bockscar dropped the plutonium bomb Fat Man on Nagasaki. Estimates put the deaths by the end of the year at 40,000–74,000.
  32. 15 August 1945Hirohito's broadcastAt noon on 15 August 1945 radio aired Hirohito's recorded address accepting the Potsdam Declaration. The Japanese first heard their Emperor's voice.
  33. 2 September 1945The Japanese surrender on the “Missouri”On 2 September 1945, in Tokyo Bay, Japan signed the instrument of unconditional surrender aboard USS Missouri. The Second World War was over.