WWII Timeline

1939-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SEPT 1- German invasion of Poland

- 8pm curfew for Jews in Germany3- Britain and France declare war on Germany

NOV 8- Attempted assassination of Hitler 21- British Blockade Begins23- Jews must wear star of David for identification

1940-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FEB 12- Deportation of Jews beganAPR 9- Germany invades Denmark and NorwayMAY 10- Germany invades Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg

- Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister 27- June 4- Miracle of Dunkirk, troops rescued by boat

JUNE 10- Italy declares war on Great Britain and France14- Germans occupy Paris - Germans break Maginot Line

JULY 10- Air attack on Britain begins

SEPT 7- All out Air war on Britain begins15- 185 German planes shot down in the Battle of Britain17- Hitler postpones invasion of Britain27- Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis signed

OCT 16- US Begins draft 16.4 million registered28- Italy Invades Greece

NOV 15- Warsaw Ghetto established20-25-Hungary, Rumania, and Slovakia join the Tripartite Pact

DEC 15- Great Britain invades Libya in Northern Africa

1941-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FEB 12-Rommel to North Africa from Germany created the Afrika CorpsMAR 1- Bulgaria joins Tripartite

11- US approves Lend-Lease Act

1940 Cont.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

28- Battle of Cape Matapan-Great Britain defeated the Italian FleetAPR 6- Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia

19- British retreat in Greece23- British evacuate Greece27- Germans occupy Athens

MAY 10- Rudolph Hess flys to Scotland - German air raids damage Westminster Abby and Parliament in Britain14-Bormann becomes Hess’s successor - 3,600 Jews arrested in Paris16- Petain approves collaboration with Germany20-Germany starts air attacks on Crete27- German ship Bismark sank - US in national emergency

JUNE 1- Crete falls to Germans2- Mussolini and Hitler meet at Brenner Pass5- Secretary of State Hull denounces the Vichy Collaboration14- Axis funds are frozen in the US18- Germany Turkish friendship pack signed in Ankara22- Germany attack the USSR from the Baltic to the Black Sea

JULY 3- Scorched Earth Policy began by Stalin12- Soviet-British mutual assistance pact21- Maidanek Concentration Camp opened31- All Jews in Europe are to be sent to extermination camps

AUG 9-12- Roosevelt meets with Churchill off Newfoundland14- Atlantic Charter signed

SEPT 19- Germans occupy Kiev23- Gas chamber testing at Auschwitz

OCT 2- Germany drives toward MoscowNOV 18- British attack in North AfricaDEC 1- Soviets attack at Tula

7- Pearl Harbor Attacked8- US and Britain declare war on Japan11- Italy and Germany declare war on the US13- Hungary and Bulgaria declare war on the US19- Hitler assumes total control of the Armed Forces in the Reichby end of Dec.- Japan taken Hong Kong, Guam and Wake Islands, and invaded Burma, Malaya, Borneo,and the Philippines

1941Cont. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1942-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JAN 1- United Nations declaration signed by 26 nations

20- Wannsee Conference- Final Solution21- Field Marshall Rommel on the move in North Africa

FEB -Japan occupies SingaporeMAR 15- Hitler predicts victory over USSR by summer

29- Trains form Paris to AuschwitzAPR 9- US surrender to Japan at BatanMAY 6- Resistance in Philippines ended at Corregidor

7-8- Battle of the Coral Sea--Japanese defeated27- Rommel counter attacks the British in North Africa29- Heydrich-Concentration Camp Commandant-attacked by Czech rebels30-31- Air raid on Cologne by RAF-- 1,000 bombers

June 4- Heydrich Dies, more grief put on Jews for the death - Battle of Midway--4 Japanese carriers destroyed5- Japan general retreat from Midway10- Lidice destroyed in reprisal for Heydrichs death23- First official gassings at Auschwitz24- Eisenhower commander of the US forces in Europe

AUG 7- US Marines land on Guadalcanal23- German attack Stalingrad26-28- 7,000 Jews arrested in unoccupied France

SEPT 18- Food rations reduced for JewsOCT 4- All Jews in Concentration Camps sent to Auschwitz to die

23- Montgomery(GB) attacks the Afrika Corps at El-AlameinNOV 5- Rommel is defeated at El-Alamein

7-8- US and British troops land in Northern Africa11- Germany Invades unoccupied France19-20- Soviet counter offensive at Stalingrad20- Montgomery captures Benghazi in North Africa, and has Rommel running27- French fleet is scuttled (destroyed) by its own sailors so Nazis can’t use

1943-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JAN 14-Casablanca Conference

18- Resistance in Warsaw Ghetto20-26-Deportation of Warsaw Jews to Auschwitz23-British enter Tripoli24-At the Casablanca Conference unconditional surrender

1942 Cont.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FEB 2- Stalingrad retaken by Soviets9- Guadalcanal secured by US18- Student uprising in Munich

MAR 9- Rommel recalled to Germany13- New crematorium built at Auschwitz - Failed assassination attempt on Hitler in an airplane21- Another failed assassination attempt on Hitler at the Heroes Memorial Day27- Mareth line broken in Northern Africa (southeast of Tunis)

1943 Cont. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------APR 17- British and American forces link up in Tunisia

19- Nazis destroy the Warsaw GhettoMAY 7- Tunis and Bizeria taken by Allies

13- Germans surrender in Northern Africa19- Berlin declared Judenfrei (cleansed of Jews)

JUNE 12- Pantelleria Island of Sicily surrenders to AlliesJULY 10- Allies land in Sicily

19- Allies bomb Rome25- Mussolini dismissed by King Victor Emmanuel

AUG 17- Sicily conquered by AlliesSEPT 3- Allies land on the Italian Mainland

8- Italy surrenders9- Allies land at Salerno in Southern Italy10- Germany occupies Rome13- Mussolini rescued by Otto Skorzency

OCT 1- Allies enter Naples13- Italy declares war on Germany18- Jews for Rome sent to Auschwitz19-30-Moscow Conference

NOV 6- Kiev recaptured by Soviets9- UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration formed22-26- Cairo Conference-- Churchill, Roosevelt, and CiangKai-shek of China27- Auschwitz crematorium blown up28- Teheran Conference-- Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt

DEC 3-7 2nd Cairo Conference-- included Stalin24- Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in

Europe26- Failed assassination attempt on Hitler by Lt. Col. Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg

1944-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JAN 3- Soviets reach Polish border

19- 29 month siege of Leningrad ended22- Allies land at Anzio-behind German Lines in Italy

FEB 15- Monte Cassino destroyed-- Broke the Gustav LineAPR 5- Charles de Gaul head of French Liberation

14- Jews from Athens to Auschwitz22- Soviets invade Rumania

MAY 11- Gustav line in Italy attacked--100 miles south of Rome23- Allies move from Anzio Beachhead25- Germans fall back from Anzio to Terracina

JUNE 4- Rome occupied by US6- D Day Allies land at Normandy Beach12- First V-1 rocket launched at Great Britain14- De Gaulle returns to France

JULY 3- Minsk recaptured by Soviets9- Rommel request removal of his troops form Normandy- Refused-

Rommel joins the plot to kill Hitler11- Lithuania and Latvia occupied by Soviets16- Final meeting of Ludwig Beck & Von Stauffenberg on coup against Hitler

1943 Cont. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1944 Cont.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JULY 18- Line at Caen broken by Allies20-July Plot, fails at Rastenburg-- table stopped bomb from killing Hitler25-27- US break throw in France at Saint-Lo

AUG 1- Polish underground revolts4-8- Trial to hang conspirators in attempt on Hitler15- Allies invade southern France21-US reaches Seine river in France and surround Paris23- Coup-de-tat in Rumania, Rumania surrenders25- de Gaul returns to Paris

SEPT 3- Brussels liberated by British5- Soviet declares war on Bulgaria8- First V-2 rocket launched at Britain9- Armistice with Bulgaria12- Invasion of Germany for West

OCT 14- Rommel commits suicide20- Belgrade in Yugoslavia occupied by Soviets

NOV 16- All out Operation Queen in west Germany by Allies 26- Crematorium to be destroyed at Auschwitz, ordered by Himmler to cover up

DEC 4- Battle of Saar begins16- Battle of Bulge, German counteroffensive beaten back to former line

1945-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JAN 4-13- Kamikase pilots sunk 17 US ships

14-Soviets invade East Prussia17- Warsaw liberated by Soviets - Budapest Jews around 80,000 freed20- Armistice with Hungary27- Liberation of Lithuania

FEB 4-11- Yalta Conference of big Three-- Japans unconditional surrender13- Fall of Budapest to the Soviets19- Marines land on Iwo Jima23- German Roer Line protecting Cologne breached by US

MAR 3- Declaration of war by Finland7- Fall of Cologne - Crossing of the Rhine by US16- Allied attack on the Saar Basin - US marines secure Iwo Jima23- British-American crossing of the Rhine in the north and a drive to the Rhur

April 1- US land on Okinawa10- More than 15,000 Jews freed at Bushenwald11- Essen captured by the Allies--in west Germany in the heart of the Rhur12- Death of President Roosevelt. Truman becomes President.13- Occupation of Vienna by the Soviets15- Around 40,000 prisoners freed at Belsen by British16- Soviets on final push to Berlin

1945 Cont.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16- Soviets on final push to Berlin23-Outskirts of Berlin reached by Soviets25- Refusal of Himmler’s offer to arrange German Surrender to the Allies - Opening of the United Nations parley at San Francisco - Meeting of American and Soviets troops at Torgau, on the Elbe s. of Berlin28- Mussolini executed by Italian partisans near Lake Como and put on

display30- Hitler suicide in his Berlin bunker - Around 33,000 inmates freed from concentration camps by US

MAY 2- Unconditional Surrender of the German armies in Italy - Admiral Karl Doenity continues the Reich govt.

- Capitulation of Berlin - Concentration camp at Theresienstadt taken over by Red Cross5- Surrender of German armies in the Netherlands, Denmark, and north Ger.6- Occupation of Plzen, Czechoslovakia, by US7- Unconditional surrender signed by Gen. Alfred Jodl at Reims8- V E Day victory in Europe 9- Field Marshal Keitel and Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov sign the German unconditional surrender documents in Berlin

JUNE 21-Okinawa secured by US26- United Nations Charter signed by reps of 50 nations in San Francisco

JULY 12-8/2-Potsdam Conference16- Atomic bomb test in New Mexico

1945 Cont.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AUG 6- Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima--US#s 66-78,000K8- Soviets invade Manchuria- Declare war on Japan9- Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki--US #’s 39,000K--Japan #s

240,000K14- V Day Japan surrendered-- allowed to keep its emperor

SEP 2- Official signing of Japan’s surrender aboard the USS MissouriNOV 20- Nuremberg tribunal opensDEC 16-26- meeting of Big 3 in Moscow

October 16, 1946 Execution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg