Timeline of World War II
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For events preceding September 1, 1939, see the timeline of events preceding World War II.
1939
September
September 1, 1939
- The Polish September Campaign begins as Poland is attacked by Germany at 4:30 AM with Luftwaffe air attacks against several targets. The United Kingdom and France demand immediate withdrawal by Germany. See timeline of the Polish September Campaign for detailed chronology of this campaign.
- The United Kingdom home front is opened as the government declares general mobilisation of the British Army and begins evacuation plans to prepare for German attacks by air. See timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II for more detailed chronology on this aspect.
September 3, 1939
- The politics and diplomacy of World War II begin with the frantic responses of governments to the attack on Poland. The United Kingdom, along with Australia and New Zealand, declare war at 11:15 AM. France joins the war at 5:00 PM. A number of nations have declared their neutrality by this point or will do so in the coming weeks while South Africa and Canada will join the Allies at war in the next few days. See timeline of politics and diplomacy during World War II for a detailed chronology of these events.
- The Second Battle of the Atlantic begins as the German Navy goes into action to begin denial of the United Kingdom's shipping lanes almost immediately after the United Kingdom's declaration of war with Germany. This campaign would last for the duration of the war, and pit Germany's submarine force, surface raiders, and maritime aircraft against the Allies' merchant shipping convoys and their escorts. See timeline of the Second Battle of the Atlantic for a detailed chronology of this campaign.
September 4, 1939
- Allied air operations in Europe begin with raids by the Royal Air Force targets on German naval targets. Early raids are small, but build through the war to become a steady campaign of strategic bombardment against targets throughout Axis-occupied territory in Europe that would only end with the defeat of the Axis in Europe. See timeline of Allied air operations in Europe for a detailed chronology of this campaign.
September 7, 1939
- French patrols enter Germany near Saarbrücken. These continue through September 17, 1939, in anticipation of a larger advance. This larger advance is cancelled in part due to the collapse of Poland, leading a lack of operational activity during the period from then to the Battle of France named the Phony War. Meanwhile, the British Expeditionary Force begins arriving in France and takes up positions along the Belgian frontier. See the timeline of the Battle of France for a detailed chronology of the events of the Phony War and the lead up to the Battle of France.
September 10, 1939
- Canada declares war on Germany. In World War I, Canada had automatically been at war when Britain declared war. However, increased independence gained during the 1920s lead to Canada declaring war on a separate date.
September 17, 1939
- The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east, occupying the territory east of the Curzon line as well as Bialystok and Eastern Galicia.
September 25, 1939
- German home front measures begin with the start of food rationing. Adolf Hitler is not as earnest as many other nations in bringing war-time measures to the citizens of Germany, as he fears it may erode their support for the war effort. See timeline of the German home front during World War II for a detailed chronology of events.
October
- 5: The Soviet Union begins talks with Finland to adjust the border between the two countries.
- 6: Polish resistance in the Polish September Campaign comes to an end. Finland begins mobilizing its army; Hitler speaks before the Reichstag, declaring a desire for a conference with Britain and France to restore peace.
- 9: Hitler issues orders for preparation of invasion of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
- 10: The German navy suggests occupying Norway to Hitler.
- 14: The British battleship HMS Royal Oak is sunk in Scapa Flow harbour by U-47.
- 19: Portions of Poland are formally inducted into Germany; the first Jewish ghetto is established at Lublin.
November
- 4: The Neutrality Acts are enacted in the United States, the "cash and carry" provisions for selling military supplies favour Britain and France.
- 8: An attempt to assassinate Hitler by a bomb while he makes a speech fails; in the Venlo Incident, two British intelligence agents are captured; Germans appoint Hans Frank Governor General of Poland and begin accelerating anti-Jewish programs there.
- 17: The Czechoslovak National Committee is organized in Paris.
- 30: The Soviet Union attacks Finland starting the Winter War.
December
- 7: Italy again declares its neutrality.
- 13: Battle of the River Plate, British naval squadron attacks the Admiral Graf Spee.
- 17: Admiral Graf Spee scuttled in Montevideo harbour.
- 14: The USSR is expelled from the League of Nations.
- 18: The first Canadian troops arrive in Europe.
- 27: The first Indian troops arrive in France.
- 28: Meat rationing program begins in Britain.
1940
January
- 1: Conscription extended in Britain: all men between 20 and 27 now liable.
- 4: Hermann Göring placed in charge of German war industries.
- 5: British cabinet is revised, Oliver Stanley takes over War Office, Lord Reith becomes Minister of Information, and Sir Andrew Duncan takes over Board of Trade.
- 7: General Semyon Timoshenko placed in command of Soviet troops against Finland.
- 8: Bacon, butter, and sugar rationing begins in Britain.
- 10: The Mechelon Incident: two German officers crash-land in Mechelon, Belgium, carrying copies of the planned invasion of France. This incident leads to a postponement and revision of the invasion.
- 11: Meat rationing begins in France.
- 14: Japanese Prime Minister Abe Nobuyuki and his cabinet resign and Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai is named as Prime Minister.
February
- 1: Japanese Diet announces record high budget with over half its expenditures being military.
- 5: Britain and France decide to intervene in Norway to cut off the iron ore trade — in anticipation of an expected German occupation and ostensibly to open a route to assist Finland. The operation is scheduled to start about March 20.
- 9: Erich von Manstein is placed in command on German XXXIII Armor Corps, removing him from planning the French invasion.
- 14: British government calls for volunteers to fight in Finland.
- 15: Soviet army captures Summa in Finland thereby breaking through the Mannerheim Line.
- 16: British destroyer HMS Cossack forcibly removes 299 British POWs from the German transport Altmark in neutral Norwegian territorial waters.
- 17: Manstein presents his plans for invading France via the Ardennes forest to Hitler.
- 21: General Nickolaus von Falkenhorst is placed in command of the upcoming German invasion of Norway; work begins on the construction of Auschwitz.
- 24: The Ardennes plan for invading the west is adopted.
March
- 3: Soviets begin attacks on Viipuri, Finland's second largest city.
- 5: Finland tells the Soviets they will agree to their terms for ending the war.
- 12: Finland signs a peace treaty with the Soviet Union.
- 16: German air raid on Scapa Flow causes first British civilian casualties.
- 18: Mussolini agrees with Hitler that Italy will enter the war 'at an opportune moment".
- 21: Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France following Daladier's resignation the previous day.
- 28: Britain and France make a formal agreement that neither country will seek a separate peace with Germany.
- 30: Japan establishes a puppet regime at Nanking under Wang Jingwei.
April
- 1: Hitler gives the go ahead for the invasion of Norway and Denmark.
- 3: Churchill is appointed chairman of the Ministerial Defense Committee following the resignation of Lord Chatfield.
- 5: Chamberlain makes an ill-timed remark that Hitler has "missed the bus".
- 9: Denmark and Norway invaded by Germany; Denmark surrenders.
- 10: First Battle of Narvik, British destroyers and aircraft successfully make a surprise attack against a larger German naval force. A second attack on April 13 will also be a British success.
- 14: British and French troops begin landing in Norway.
- 30: British and French troops begin evacuating from Norway.
May
- 5: Norwegian government in exile established in London.
- 9: Conscription in Britain extended to age 36.
- 10: Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are invaded by Germany; Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom upon the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.
- 11: Luxembourg occupied.
- 13: Dutch government in exile established in London.
- 14: Rotterdam is carpet bombed by the Luftwaffe.
- 14: The creation of the Local Defence Volunteers (the Home Guard) is announced by Anthony Eden.
- 15: The Netherlands surrender.
- 26: Operation Dynamo, the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk, begins.
- 28: Belgium surrenders; Germans evacuate Narvik
June
- 3: Last day of Operation Dynamo. 224,686 British and 121,445 French and Belgian troops have been evacuated; Germans bomb Paris.
- 10: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom; Norway surrenders.
- 11: French government decamps to Tours.
- 14: Paris occupied by German troops; French government moves again, this time to Bordeaux.
- 16: Philippe Pétain becomes premier of France upon the resignation of Reynaud's government.
- 17: Sinking of liner HMT Lancastria off St Nazaire while being used as a British troopship - Britain's worst maritime disaster.
- 18: General De Gaulle forms the Comité Français de la Libération Nationale, a French government in exile; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are occupied by the Soviet Union.
- 21: Franco-German armistice negotiations begin at Compiegne.
- 22: Franco-German armistice signed.
- 24: France officially surrenders to Germany; Franco-Italian armistice signed.
- 28: General De Gaulle recognised by British as leader of Free French.
- 30: Germany invades the Channel Islands.
July
- 1: Channel Islands completely occupied; French government moves to Vichy.
- 2: Hitler orders preparation of plans for invasion of Britain, code-named Operation Sealion.
- 4: Destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir by the Royal Navy; Vichy French government breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain in protest.
- 5: Romania aligns itself with the Axis.
- 10: Battle of Britain begins.
- 21: Czechoslovak government in exile arrives in London.
- 22: The Special Operations Executive is created.
- 25: All women and children are ordered to evacuate Gibraltar.
August
- 2: General De Gaulle sentenced to death in absentia by a French military court.
- 4: Italian forces invade British Somaliland.
- 17: Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles.
- 19: Italians take Berbera, capital of British Somaliland.
- 25: First British air raid on Berlin.
September
- 3: Operation Sealion set for 21st September.
- 6: King Carol abdicates the Romanian throne in favour of his son Michael while control of the government is taken by Marshal Antonescu.
- 10: Operation Sealion postponed until 24th September.
- 13: Italy invades Egypt.
- 14: Operation Sealion postponed until 27th September, the last day of the month with suitable tides for the invasion.
- 17: Operation Sealion postponed by Hitler until further notice.
- 24: Vichy French aircraft bomb Gibraltar.
October
- 7: Germany invades Romania to restrain the Romanian Army.
- 12: Any German invasion of Britain postponed until Spring 1941 at the earliest.
- 28: Italy issues ultimatum to Greece - Prime Minister Metaxas replies "So it is war" (celebrated as "Okhi!" ("No!") Day in Greece); Italian forces invade Greece.
November
- 11: British naval forces launch attack against Italian navy at Taranto. Swordfish bombers from HMS Illustrious damage three battleships, two cruisers and multiple auxillary craft.
- 20: Hungary signs the Tripartite Pact.
- 23: Romania signs the Tripartite Pact.
- 24: Slovakia signs the Tripartite Pact
December
- 8: Franco rules out Spanish entry into the war.
- 9: British forces being Western Desert offensive against Italian forces in North Africa.
- 11: Greece invades Italian-held Albania.
- 18: Plans for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, are confirmed.
- 28: Italy requests German assistance in Albania against Greek forces.
1941
January
- 12: British and Australian troops capture Tobruk.
February
- 25: Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland captured by British forces.
March
- 4: British commandos carry out attack on oil facilities at Narvik in Norway.
- 11: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend Lease Act allowing Britain, China and other allied nations to purchase military equipment and to defer payment until after the war.
- 25: Yugoslavia signs the Tripartite Pact.
- 27: Crown Prince Peter becomes Peter II of Yugoslavia and takes control of Yugoslavia after an army coup overthrows the pro-German government of the Prince Regent.
- 30: The Afrika Korps begins the German offensive in North Africa.
April
- 6: German, Hungarian and Italian forces invade Yugoslavia and Greece. Italian Army in Ethiopia surrenders.
- 10: Greenland occupied by the United States.
- 12: Belgrade surrenders; Siege of Tobruk begins.
- 13: Japan and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality pact.
- 17: Yugoslavia surrenders - government in exile formed in London.
- 23: Greek government evacuated to Crete.
- 27: Athens occupied by German troops.
May
- 1: British forces in Iraq come under attack by Iraqis.
- 9: United Kingdom takes control of Iraq and are reinforced by the arrival of 21st Indian Division at Basra.
- 10: Rudolf Hess captured in Scotland after bailing out of his plane.
- 20: German paratroopers attack Crete.
- 24: British battle cruiser HMS Hood sunk by German battleship Bismarck; Greek government leaves Crete for Cairo.
- 27: The Bismarck is sunk by torpedoes from HMS Dorsetshire.
- 28: British and Commonwealth forces begin to evacuate Crete.
June
- 1: Allies complete the withdrawal from Crete.
- 4: Iraq invaded by Britain - the pro-Axis government there is overthrown.
- 8: Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon invaded by Australian, British, Free French and Indian forces.
- 22: Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
- 23: Hungary and Slovakia declare war on the Soviet Union.
- 26: Finland declares war on the Soviet Union.
- 28: Albania declares war on the Soviet Union.
July
- 5: Possibility of negotiated peace ruled-out by British government.
- 7: Iceland occupied by the United States.
- 8: Yugoslavia dissolved by the Axis.
- 12: Britain and Soviet Union sign mutual defence agreement, promising not to sign any form of separate peace agreement with Germany.
- 25: Iran occupied by Britain and the Soviet Union.
August
- 6: American and British governments warn Japan not to invade Thailand.
- 25: British and Soviet troops invade Persia (Iran), to save the oilfields of Abadan and the important railways and ways to Russia for the supply of war material.
September
- 5: Germany occupies Estonia.
- 15: Siege of Leningrad begins.
- 19: Nazis take Kiev.
October
- 2: Germany begins the drive towards Moscow.
- 16: Soviet government evacuated to Kuibyshev.
November
- 18: British troops launch an offensive in Libya, North Africa.
- 19: Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran sink each other off the coast of Western Australia.
- 22: Britain issues an ultimatum to Finland to end war with Russia or face war with the Allies.
December
- 5: Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
- 7: Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor brings United States and Japan into the war. Air attacks also on Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Thailand, the Philippines, and Shanghai.
- 8: Japan invades Malaya; United States declares war on Japan.
- 10: British battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales sunk by Japanese air attack.
- 11: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
- 12: Britain declares war on Bulgaria after it had declared war on both Britain and the United States.
- 13: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
- 16: Japan invades Borneo
- 17: Siege of Sevastpol begins.
- 18: Japanese troops land on Hong Kong Island.
- 25: Hong Kong surrenders; British forces retake Benghazi.
1942
January
- 2: Japanese troops occupy Manila.
- 11: Japanese troops capture Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 12: Japan invades Burma.
- 25: Japanese troops invade the Solomon Islands.
February
- 15: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces.
- 19: Darwin, Australia bombed by Japanese air force.
- 27: Battle of the Java Sea begins.
- 28: Japanese land forces invade Java.
March
- 10: Fall of Rangoon.
- 17: US General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia, after abandoning his headquarters in the Philippines.
April
- 15: Malta is awarded the George Cross by King George VI for "heroism and devotion".
- 18: Doolittle Raid on Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama.
- 30: Hitler and Mussolini propose to invade Malta on 10th July.
May
- 4: Battle of the Coral Sea.
- 21: Invasion of Malta postponed indefinitely.
June
- 1: Mexico declares war on Germany, Italy and Japan.
- 4: American victory at Battle of Midway.
- 5: United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
- 18: Manhattan Project started.
- 21: Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk.
- 28: Operation Blue, the German plan to capture Stalingrad and the Russian oil fields in the Caucasus, begins.
July
- 1: First Battle of El Alamein begins.
- 3: Guadalcanal falls to the Japanese.
- 21: Japanese establish beachhead on the north coast of New Guinea, in the Buna-Gona area; small Australian force begins rearguard action on the Kokoda Track.
- 27: First Battle of El Alamein ends.
August
- 7: Operation Watchtower begins the Battle of Guadalcanal as American forces invade Gavutu, Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Tanambogo in the Solomon Islands.
- 13: General Bernard Montgomery appointed commander of British Eighth Army in North Africa.
- 19: Operation Jubilee, a raid by British and Canadian forces on Dieppe in France, ends in disaster.
- 22: Brazil declares war on the Axis countries.
- 26: Battle of Milne Bay begins: Japanese forces launch full scale assault on Australian base near the eastern tip of New Guinea.
- 30: Luxembourg is formally annexed to the German Reich.
September
- 1: Stalingrad is now completely encircled by German forces.
- 3: Australian and US forces defeat Japanese forces at Milne Bay, the first outright defeat for Japanese land forces during the Pacific War.
October
- 4: British Commandos raid Sark, capturing one German soldier.
- 18: Hitler issues Commando Order, ordering all captured commandos to be executed immediately.
- 22: Conscription age in Britain reduced to 18.
- 23: Second Battle of El Alamein begins with massive Allied bombardment of German positions.
November
- 1: Operation Supercharge, the Allied breakout at El Alamein, begins.
- 8: Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria, begins.
- 11: German forces occupy Vichy France.
- 13: Tobruk recaptured by the British Commonwealth Eighth Army.
- 19: Operation Uranus, Soviet counterattack against German forces in Stalingrad, beings.
December
- 7: Commando raid on Bordeaux harbour by British troops.
- 24: French Admiral Darlan, the former Vichy leader who had switched over to the Allies following the Torch landings, assassinated in Algiers.
1943
January
- 14: Casablanca Conference of Allied leaders begins.
- 23: Allies capture Tripoli, Libya.
- 31: Large parts of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, including Field Marshal Paulus, surrender.
February
- 2: The remainder of the 6th Army surrenders.
- 8: Liberation of Guadalcanal completed.
April
- 7: Bolivia declares war on Germany, Japan and Italy.
May
- 7: Tunis captured by British First Army.
- 9: German and Italian forces in Tunisia announce surrender to British.
- 24: Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the majority of U-Boats to withdraw from the Atlantic.
July
- 4: General Wladyslaw Sikorski and several other members of the Polish government in exile are killed in what is ostensibly an air accident in Gibraltar - some suspect that the 'accident' was actually caused on Stalin's orders.
- 5: The Battle of Kursk begins.
- 10: Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily begins.
- 25: Mussolini is sacked as Prime Minister of Italy by the King, replaced with Pietro Badoglio.
August
- 17: Americans take Messina, completing the invasion of Sicily.
- 22: The Battle of Kursk ends with a heavy defeat for the German forces.
September
- 3: Allied invasion of Italy begins.
- 5: Italy surrenders to the Allies;
- 8: The Italian government announces the treaty with the Allies: the Italian army is left without orders to follow and goes into disarray;
- 9: Iran declares war on Germany, under pressure of Allied forces who have occupied the country; Salerno landings in Italy.
- 23: Italian Social Republic founded in German-occupied parts of Northern Italy.
October
- 13: Italy declares war on Germany.
November
- 1: US Marines begin landings on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
- 6: The Red Army recaptures the city of Kiev.
- 15: Allied Expeditionary Force for the invasion of Europe is officially formed.
- 20: Allied invasion of the Gilbert Islands.
- 22 Cairo Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek begins.
- 28 Tehran Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin begins.
December
- 3: Conference at Cairo between Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek.
- 4: Bolivia declares war on all Axis powers.
- 26: German battle cruiser Scharnhorst sunk.
1944
January
- 4: Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
- 15: 27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division recreated, marking the start of Operation Tempest by the Polish Home Army.
- 18: Siege of Leningrad ends.
- 22: Allied landings at Anzio, Italy.
- 31: Allied invasion of the Marshall Islands.
February
- 8: The plan for the invasion of France, Operation Overlord, is confirmed.
- 14: SHAEF headquarters established in Britain by General Eisenhower.
- 22: Stockholm bombed by the Soviet Union.
March
- 19: Hungary occupied by German forces.
- 22: Japan invades India.
- 24: Orde Wingate killed in plane crash.
April
- 14: Odessa is liberated by Soviet forces
May
- 8: D-Day for Operation Overlord set for 5th June.
- 9: The German Army evacuates Sevastopol.
- 18: Battle of Monte Cassino ends with Polish victory; Polish troops hoist their red and white flag on the ruins of Monte Cassino.
June
- 4: Operation Overlord postponed 24 hours due to high seas.
- 5: Allied troops enter Rome.
- 6: D-Day: Operation Overlord is launched by the Allies, to invade Normandy.
- 7: Bayeux liberated by British troops.
- 17: Free French troops land on Elba. Iceland is declared a republic.
- 18: Elba declared liberated.
- 20: Siege of Imphal lifted.
- 21: Allied offensive in Burma.
- 22: Operation Bagration
- 26: Cherbourg liberated by American troops.
July
- 3: Minsk is liberated by Soviet forces.
- 9: Caen is liberated by the Allies.
- 18: Infamous ‘death ride of the armoured divisions’ as British XIII Corps repulsed by heavy German counter-attack.
- 19: The entire Government of Japan resigns, Emperor Hirohito asks General Kuniaka Koiso to form a new government.
- 24: Maidanek Concentration Camp is liberated by Soviet forces.
August
- 1: Warsaw Uprising by the Polish Home Army commences.
- 4: Florence liberated by the Allies.
- 10: Guam liberated by American troops.
- 15: Operation Dragoon began with the amphibious Allied landings in southern France.
- 19: French Resistance begins uprising in Paris.
- 23: Romania surrenders.
- 25: Paris is liberated; De Gaulle and Free French parade triumphantly down the Champs-Élysées.
- 29: The Slovak National Uprising breaks out
September
- 2: Allied troops enter Belgium.
- 3: Brussels liberated by British Second Army while Lyon is liberated by French and American troops.
- 4: Antwerp liberated by British 11th Armoured Division.
- 6: Ghent and Liège liberated by British troops.
- 8: Ostend liberated by Canadian troops; Russians invade Bulgaria.
- 9: Provisional government formed in France by De Gaulle, and Bulgaria makes peace with the USSR then declares war on Germany.
- 10: Luxembourg liberated by US First Army.
- 11: First Allied troops enter Germany.
- 17: Operation Market Garden, the attempted liberation of Arnhem, begins.
- 19: Nancy liberated by US First Army; Armistice is signed between the Soviet Union and Finland
- 25: British troops pulled out of Arnhem with failure of Operation Market Garden. Over 6,000 paratroopers are captured.
- 30: German garrison in Calais surrenders to Canadian troops.
October
- 1: Soviet troops enter Yugoslavia.
- 2: Germans finally succeed in putting down Warsaw Uprising by Polish Home Army in Warsaw.
- 4: German troops withdrawn from Greece; Allied troops enter Greece.
- 5: Canadian troops cross the border into the Netherlands.
- 6: Soviet and Czechoslovak troops enter North-eastern Slovakia.
- 14: Athens liberated by Allies.
- 20: Allies invade Philippines
- 21: Aachen occupied by US First Army - it is the first German city to be captured.
- 23: Battle of Leyte Gulf begins. Largest sea battle in history.
- 25: Russians invade Norway.
November
- 2: Canadian troops take Zeebrugge in Belgium; Belgium now entirely liberated.
- 4: Remaining Axis forces in Greece surrender.
- 24: Strasbourg liberated by French troops.
- 29: Albania liberated by Allies.
December
- 3: The Home Guard is stood down.
- 16: The Battle of the Bulge begins as German forces attempt a breakthrough in the Ardennes region.
1945
January
- 2: Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay dies in plane crash.
- 17: Warsaw liberated by Red Army troops.
- 27: The Battle of the Bulge officially ends; Auschwitz concentration camp is liberated by Soviet troops.
February
- 2: Ecuador declares war on Germany.
- 4: Yalta Conference of Allied leaders begins.
- 8: Paraguay declares war on Germany.
- 12: Peru declares war on Germany.
- 13/14: Dresden firebombed by Allied air forces. Large parts of city destroyed.
- 14: Uruguay declares war on Germany.
- 19: US Marines invade Iwo Jima
- 23: US forces raise the American flag at Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
- 25: Turkey declares war against Germany.
- 28: The United States Army captures Manila, capital of the Philippines.
March
- 20: Mandalay liberated by Indian 19th Infantry Division.
- 28: Argentina declares war on Germany.
- 29: The Red Army enters Austria.
April
- 1: US troops invade Okinawa.
- 4: Ohrdruf concentration camp is liberated by the Allies.
- 4: Georgian Uprising of Texel starts.
- 10: Buchenwald concentration camp is liberated.
- 12: President Roosevelt dies suddenly. Harry Truman becomes president of the United States.
- 13: Vienna liberated by Russian troops.
- 15: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated; Arnhem is liberated.
- 28: Mussolini captured and executed by Italian partisans.
- 29: Dachau concentration camp is liberated by the US 7th Army.
- 30: Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin; the Eastern and Western Fronts linkup as American forces meet up with Russians at Ellenburg.
May
- 2: Trieste is captured by British troops and Yugoslavian partisans.
- 2: Berlin captured by Russian and Polish troops.
- 3: Rangoon liberated.
- 5: Prague uprising begins
- 5: Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated.
- 5: German troops in the Netherlands officially surrender - symbolically, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands takes the surrender.
- 5: Denmark liberated by Allied troops.
- 6: German soldiers open fire on crowd celebrating the liberation in Amsterdam
- 7: Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies.
- 8: Ceasefire takes effect at one minute past midnight; V-E Day in Britain.
- 8: German troops in Prague surrender
- 9: Red Army enters Prague
- 9: German garrison in Channel Islands agrees to surrender.
- 11: Army Group Centre in Czechoslovakia surrenders.
- 16: British troops complete liberation of Channel Islands.
June
- 20: Schiermonnikoog, a Dutch Island, is the last part of Europe being reached by Allied troops.
July
- 6: Norway declares war on Japan.
August
- 6: The first nuclear weapon ever used in war, Little Boy, is dropped on Hiroshima by Enola Gay.
- 8: Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
- 9: Second atomic bomb Fat Man is dropped on Nagasaki; Russian troops enter China and Korea.
- 15: Emperor Hirohito issues a radio broadcast announcing Japan's unconditional surrender; V-J Day declared in Britain.
- 16: Emperor Hirohito issues an Imperial Rescript ordering Japanese forces to cease fire.
- 30: Royal Navy force under Rear-Admiral Cecil Harcourt liberates Hong Kong.
September
- 2: Japan signs the articles of surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
- 3: Japanese troops in the Philippines and Singapore agree to surrender to American and British forces respectively.
- 5: Singapore officially liberated by British and Indian troops.
- 16: Japanese garrison in Hong Kong officially signs the instrument of surrender.
Related articles
- Timeline of events preceding World War II
- Timeline of campaigns and battles of World War II
- Timeline of politics of World War II
- Timeline of the First World War
- Timeline of the WWII Eastern Front
External link
- Timeline of WWII (http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm)
- Documents of World War II (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww2.htm)fr:Chronologie de la Seconde Guerre mondiale
es:Cronología de la Segunda Guerra Mundial sl:Kronologija druge svetovne vojne