Timeline of World War II

This is the timeline of World War II, which shows the event linked to World War II during 1931-1945.

Before the war

Wartime

1939

  • September 1: The Germany invades Poland, starting World War II in Europe (European War).
  • September 3: Britain and France warns Germany to move all soldiers out of Poland or there will be war. Germany does not respond. Britain and France declare war on Germany.
  • September 17: The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
  • October 5-10: Baltic states sign "assistance pacts" with the Soviet Union, allowing it to have soldiers in these countries.
  • October 6: The Polish fight comes to an end.
  • October 20: The "Phoney War" begins.
  • November 24: Japan announces the capture of Nanjing, the Chinese capital at the time.
  • November 30: The Soviet Union invades Finland in the Winter War (it wasn’t part of WWII).

1940

  • 9 April: Denmark surrenders.
  • May 10: Germany invades Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  • May 25: The Allies falls back to Dunkirk. Hitler orders to stop attacking the Allies troops by land.
  • May 26: The Allies starts moving their soldiers from Dunkirk. By June 4, more than 300,000 Allies troops are transported to Britain.
  • June 2: Norway surrenders.
  • June 10: Italy declares war on Britain and France.
  • June 18: The Soviet Union occupies the Baltic states.
  • June 25: France formally surrenders.
  • July 10: The Battle of Britain begins.
  • September 9: The Italian army in Libya invades Egypt.
  • September 27: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Italy, and Japan.
  • October 15: Italy invades Greece.
  • December 6-9: The Italians are pushed back in Egypt.

1941

  • 16. January: British forces launch a counter-attack on Italy-controlled Ethiopia.
  • 12 February: Erwin Rommel arrives to lead the German Army in Africa
  • April 6: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
  • April 27: Greece surrenders.
  • May 20: German troops [in Crete] were to remain.
  • June 22: Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. There are also many European axes. German soldiers are sent to Finland.
  • September 8: The siege of Leningrad begins.
  • September 19: Arrest [Kiev].
  • September 30: Battle of Moscow begins.
  • October 16: [Capture of Odessa]
  • November 27: The Siege of Tobruk is broken.
  • December 5: German invasion of Moscow begins.
  • December 7: World War II in the Pacific

1942

  • April 18: The Doolittle Raid is launched, bombing Tokyo from the United States
  • June 4: Americans defeat Japan at Midway Island.
  • August 23: The Battle of Stalingrad begins.

1943

1944

  • January 24 to February 16: Battle of Korsun–Cherkassy.
  • January 27: 900-days lasted Siege of Leningrad is broken.
  • April 10: Odessa is liberated.
  • May 9: Sevastopol is liberated. All Crimea is without German and Romanian troops.
  • June 6: American, British and Canadian soldiers invade Normandy.
  • July 27: Lviv is liberated.
  • August 25: Paris, France is Liberated.
  • October 15: Riga is liberated.
  • December 16: German forces attack Americans in Belgium, beginning the Battle of the Bulge.
  • United States enters Germany

1945

  • January 27: Auschwitz camp of death is destroyed.
  • April 30: Hitler commits suicide.
  • May 7: Germany surrenders.
  • May 9: Prague is liberated.
  • May 9: The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union is finished.
  • May 15: National Liberation War in Yugoslavia is finished.
  • August 6: The First Atomic Bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.
  • August 9: The Second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
  • September 2: Japan surrenders, ending the war.

Notes

  1. "1935 Timeline". WW2DB. Retrieved 2011-02-09.