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Important World War II Dates


1936
10/25...Hitler and Mussolini announce a Rome-Berlin alliance - the Axis.

1938
3/12...Germany invades and annexes Austria.
9/29...Germany, Britain, France and Italy sign the Munich Pact allowing Germany to invade the Sudeten territories of Czechoslovakia.

1939
3/15...German troops invade Czechoslovakia.
3/31...Britain declares that it will support Poland in the event of an attack.
8/23...Germany and Russia sign a non-aggression pact dividing up Poland.
9/1...Germany invades Poland...WORLD WAR ll begins.
9/3...Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
9/10...Canada declares war on Germany.
9/17...The USSR invades eastern Poland.
9/27...Poland surrenders to Germany.

1940
4/9...Denmark surrenders to Germany, then Germany invades Norway.
5/10... Winston Churchill becomes the new Prime Minister of Britain. Germany invades Netherlands and Belgium.
5/26... Operation Dynamo begins, the evacuation of British troops at Dunkirk.
5/28...Belgium surrenders to Germany.
6/10...Norway surrenders to Germany. Italy declares war on Britain and France.
6/14...German troops enter Paris.
6/22...France surrenders to Germany.
7/3...The British sink the French fleet at Oran.
7/10...The Battle of Britain Begins.
8/3...Italy invades British Somaliland, marking the beginning of World War ll in Africa.
9/27...Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact, making Japan part of the Axis.
10/1...The U.S. begins supplying the USSR under the Lend-Lease Act.
10/7...Germany invades Romania.
10/28...Italy invades Greece but fails to conquer it.
10/31...The Battle of Britain ends, the powerful German Luftwaffe fails to crush British morale.
11/20...Hungary and Romania sign the Tripartite Pact, becoming part of the Axis.
12/3...Greece invades Italian held Albania.

1941
3/1...Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, becoming part of the Axis.
3/11...The U. S. Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act giving Roosevelt the authority to sell, transfer or lease war goods to Allied countries.
3/25...Yugoslavia signs the Tripartite Pact.
3/30...The German Afrika Korps begins its offensive in North Africa.
4/6...Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
4/10...U.S. troops occupy Greenland.
4/13...The USSR and Japan sign a neutrality pact.
5/27...Sinking of the Bismarck by British warships.
5/31...German airborne troops defeat the British in Crete.
6/22...Germany invades Russia, thereby beginning Operation Barbarossa.
9/15...Germany begins the Siege of Leningrad. It would not end until January 1944.
10/2...Germany begins the drive towards Moscow.
12/5 ...Germany abandons its attack on Moscow and the USSR counterattacks.
12/7 ...Japan attacks Pear Harbor and invades Siam and Malaya.
12/8 ...The Allies- except the USSR -declare war on Japan.
12/11 ...German & Italy declare war on the United States.
12/25 ...Japan invades Hong Kong.

1942
1/1 ...Japan captures Manila in the Philippines.
1/12 ...Japan invades Burma.
1/20 ...Germany holds the Wannsee Conference in Berlin to find a "Final Solution" for the Jews.
1/26 ...The first American troops arrive in Britain.
2/15 ...Japan invades Singapore.
4/9...U.S. troops on Bataan in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
4/18...Doolittle's Raiders bomb Tokyo.
5/4...The U.S. Navy repels the Japanese at the Battle of Coral Sea.
5/6...The remaining U.S. troops on Corregidor in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
6/4...The U.S defeats the Japanese at the Battle of Midway.
7/3...Japanese troops take Guadalcanal.
8/7...U.S. troops land on Guadalcanal.
10/23...The battle between German and British troops at El Alamein in North Africa begins.
11/8...The Allies invade North Africa, beginning Operation Torch. U.S. forces land in Algeria, Oran and Casablanca.
11/10...Vichy French forces stop fighting the Allies.
11/13...British troops recapture Tobruk, Libya.

1943
1/31 ...90,000 German Troops surrender at Stalingrad to the Soviets.
2/8 ...U.S. troops complete the capture of Guadalcanal from the Japanese.
4/19...The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins and last for 30 days before its crushed.
5/11...U.S. troops retake the Aleutian Islands from the Japanese.
5/12...Axis forces in North Africa surrender.
7/10...160,000 Allied troops land in Sicily, beginning Operation Husky.
9/3...British troops land on mainland Italy, beginning the Allied campaign to liberate Italy.
11/1...U.S. Marines land on Bougainville Island in the Solomons.
11/8...The Tehran Conference between the U.S, Britain and the USSR begins.
11/20...U.S. Army troops land on Makin Island in the Gilberts.
11/21...U.S. Marines land on Tarawa.
12/24... Dwight Eisenhower is named Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.
12/1 ...The Tehran Conference...Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin.

1944
1/22 ...The Allies land at Anzio, Italy.
1/27 ...The German Siege of Leningrad that began in September 1941 finally ends.
2/20 ...The Allies begin a massive bombing campaign of German.
5/12...German troops surrender in Crimea.
6/4...The Allies capture Rome.
6/6...D-Day, Operation Overlord begins.
6/13...Germany launches the first V-1 flying bomb on Britain.
6/15...U.S. troops invade the island of Saipan in the Marianas.
6/19...The U.S. defeats the Japanese in a massive air battle known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
7/7...Japanese troops on Saipan surrender.
7/20...German military leaders attempt but fail to kill Adolf Hitler in the Rastenburg Assasination Plot.
7/23...U.S. troops land on Tinian in the Marianas.
8/10...U.S. troops complete the recapture of Guam.
8/23...Romania surrenders.
8/25...The Allies liberate Paris.
9/8...Germany launches the first V-2 flying bomb on Britain.
9/17...The start of "Operation Market Garden" against the Germans in Arnhem, Holand.
10/4...The Allies enter Greece, following the withdrawal of German troops.
10/14...The Allies liberate Athens.
10/20...The Allies capture Belgrade.
10/26...The U.S. Navy defeats the Japanese in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
11/4...Axis forces in Greece surrender.
11/24...U.S. B-29 bombers begin the massive bombing campaign against mainland Japan.

1945
1/9 ...U.S. Army troops land on Luzon in the Philippines.
1/26 ...Japanese troops retreat to the coast of China.
1/27 ...Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau extermination camps.
1/28 ...Battle of the Bulge ends...Americans suffered some 75,000 casualties and the Germans lost 80,000 to 100,000 troops.
2/4 ...Europe-The Yalta Conference...Post war plans are finalized. Pacific- the Allies retake Manila in the Philippines.
2/19 ...U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima.
2/23...U.S. Marines take Mt. Suribachi on the Island of Iwo Jima.
3/3... Finland declares war on Germany.
3/7...The Allies capture targets in Germany, the Remagen bridge and the City of Cologne.
3/9...U.S. firebombing of Tokyo killing about 85,000 Japanese.
3/16...U.S. troops complete the capture of Iwo Jima at the cost of 26,000 American casualties.
3/20...The Allies capture Mandalay, Burma.
4/1...U.S. troops invade Okinawa at a cost of 35,000 American casualties.
4/12...President Roosevelt dies of cerebral hemorrhage and Harry Truman becomes our next President.
4/13...Soviet troops capture Vienna, Austria.
4/18...The last of the German troops trapped on the Ruhr River surrender.
4/23...Soviet troops reach Berlin.
4/25...U.S. and Soviet troops meet at Elbe River in Germany.
4/28...Benito Mussolini is captured and executed by the Italian people.
4/29...U.S. troops liberate the Dachau concentration camp.
4/30...Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide in a Berlin bunker as Soviet troops advance through the city. Karl Doenitz is named as
Hitler's successor.
5/2...Soviet troops complete the capture of Berlin. The remaining German troops in Italy surrender.
5/7...Germany surrenders unconditionally.
5/8...V-E Day is Declared - Victory in Europe.
5/9...Soviet troops occupy Prague.
6/21...U.S. troops compete the capture of Okinawa.
7/16...The world's first atomic bomb is tested in New Mexico.
7/30...The USS Indianapolis is sunk by Japanese sub after delieving the atomic bombs with a lost 800+ men.
8/6...Enola Gay drops the first atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan.
8/9...Bock's Car drops the second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan.
8/14...Japan agrees to unconditionally surrender.
8/15...V-J Day is declared - Victory over Japan.
9/2...Japan signs the formal surrender agreement ending World War ll.

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