World War II timeline

Transcription

1 World War II timeline Pre-war Timeline : Adolf Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany. He abolishes democracy and becomes a dictator. Japan and Germany leave the League of Nations The German military enters the neutral Saar region, Hitler resumes conscription to the German military The German military enters the demilitarized Rhine region. The German-Italian "Axis" is formed Japan, which already occupies Manchuria, invades central China Hitler annexes Austria and western Czechoslovakia. Mar Czechoslovakia surrenders to imminent German invasion Apr Hitler cancels the German-British naval agreement and the German-Polish non-aggression pact. Italy invades Albania. Jul Polish intelligence passes all its knowledge about the German Enigma machine to British and French intelligence Aug Germany and Russia sign non-aggression pact, secretly agreeing to invade Poland and share it. German U-boats and battleships sail to the Atlantic Ocean for war. World War 2 Timeline : 1939 Timeline Sep 1 - Germany invades Poland, World War 2 begins. Sep 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany. Sep 8 - The US remains neutral but president Roosevelt declares "limited national emergency". Sep 17 - Russia invades Poland Sep 27 - Warsaw surrenders Oct 6 - The last remaining Polish forces surrender Nov 30 - Russia invades Finland 1940 Timeline Jan 17 - The first German Enigma messages are decoded by British intelligence Mar 12 - Russia-Finland war ends. It convinces Hitler that the Russian military is ineffective. Apr 8 - Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Apr 14 - British forces land in Narvik, Norway, but leave in 10 days May 10 - Germany invades France, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg. Winston Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister. May 20 - German forces reach the British Channel. May 27 - Evacuation of British and French forces to Britain at Dunkirk begins. Jun 4 - The evacuation at Dunkirk ends. 338,000 troops were rescued. Churchill declares that Britain will never surrender. Jun 9- Norway surrenders

2 Jun 10 - Italy declares war on the collapsing France and on Britain. Jun 14 - German troops march into Paris Jun 18 - Russia invades Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Jun 22 - France surrenders Jun 27 - Russia annexes the eastern regions of Romania. Jul 1 - Germany invades the British Channel islands. Jul 10 - The Battle of Britain air campaign begins. Jul 18 - Churchill declares this is Britain's finest hour. Aug 8 - The Luftwaffe begins to bomb British early warning radars Aug 15 - The Luftwaffe loses 76 aircraft in one day Aug 25 - British night bombers bomb Berlin Sep 3 - Hitler changes the Luftwaffe's objective from destroying the Royal Air Force to bombing London. This allows the R.A.F to recover and win the battle of Britain. Sep 13 - Italy invades British-held Egypt from Libya, the North African campaign begins. Sep 15 - The largest Luftwaffe daytime bombardment, it loses 56 aircraft Sep 27 - Japan joins The Axis Oct 7 - German troops enter their Ally Romania, Germany's only source of oil which is threatened by Russia Oct 12 - Hitler cancels the invasion of Britain. Oct 23 - Spain rejects Hitler's offer to join the war and remains neutral. Oct 28 - Italy invades Greece from Albania, but stopped, twice. Nov 11 - British carrier aircraft sink Italian fleet in Taranto's harbor. Yamamoto in Japan is impressed by their success. Nov 20 - Hungary and Romania, both military dictatorships, join The Axis. Dec 9 - British forces in Egypt counter attack the Italians and advance along the Libyan coast 1941 Timeline * To provide better time perspective of the German advances and stops in the direction of Moscow, the timeline related to it is marked in bold. The German failure to take Moscow marks the main turning point of the war. Feb 12 - Hitler sends Rommel and the Afrika Korps to help the Italians in North Africa Mar 1 - Bulgaria joins The Axis. The Axis-Russian border now stretch from the Baltic sea to the black sea. Mar 3 - Rommel attacks the British forces in North Africa. Mar 5 - British troops arrive at Greece to support it. Apr 6 - Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece Apr 13 - After military clashes, Japan and Russia sign non-aggression pact. Apr 17 - Yugoslavia surrenders. British forces evacuate Greek mainland to Crete Apr 27 - German troops occupy Athens May 9 - U-boat U-110 is captured with Enigma settings tables May 20 - German paratroopers and airborne troops invade Crete by air May 31 - British forces in Crete surrender.

3 Jun 8 - British forces aided by Israeli volunteers invade French controlled Syria and Lebanon Jun 22 - Germany invades Russia. Hitler orders "maximum cruelty" against civilians, which results in fanatic Russian resistance. Jul 3 - Stalin orders the "scorched earth" strategy. Jul 16 - German army group "Center" takes Smolensk, just 220 miles from Moscow. Jul 21 - The Luftwaffe bombs Moscow Jul 24 - Japan invades French Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) Jul 29 - Hitler, eager to occupy the rich Ukraine first, orders to stop army group Center's advance to Moscow and to transfer its two tank armies to army groups "North" and "South". This is perhaps Hitler's greatest mistake. The German Generals argue in vain against it. Jul 31 - Hermann Goering orders the SS to prepare "the final solution", the plan to murder the millions of European jews. Sep 6 - Hitler orders to resume the advance to Moscow, in order to take it "in the limited time before winter". Army group "Center", is given back its two tank armies, plus a third tank army and additional air units. Sep 15 - The long German siege of Leningrad begins. Sep 18 - The Germans in the South occupy Kiev and reach the Crimea. Oct 2 - The final German attack towards Moscow begins (operation Typhoon). Oct 15 - Rains stop German advance to Moscow due to deep mud which stops both tanks and infantry. Oct 16 - Russian government leaves Moscow, the Germans occupy Odessa. Oct 17 - General Tojo becomes Japan's prime minister Oct 21 - Churchill orders top priority to any request by the Enigma decoders. Oct 26 - The Germans occupy Kharkov Nov 15 - With the mud frozen by the dropping temperatures, German advance to Moscow resumes. Nov 30 - The foremost German forces reach 27km from Moscow, but can advance no further due to strong Russian resistance. Dec 6 - At temperatures of -34C (-29F) and below, a major Russian counter attack near Moscow begins. Moscow is saved, and the Germans are pushed back. Dec 7 - The Japanese Navy attacks Pearl Harbor and the Phillipines, and the US joins the war. With the German failure to defeat Russia, which is marked by their failure to take Moscow, and with the United States joining the war a day later, This date marks the main turning point of World War 2. Dec 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the US. Dec 19 - Hitler orders "fanatic resistance" and appoints himself military commander-in-chief Timeline Jan 2 - Japanese forces occupy Manila Jan 10 - Japanese forces invades Indonesia Jan 11 - Japanese forces occupy Malaysia Jan 12 - Japanese forces invade Burma Jan 13 - German U-boats begin to sink ships along the US East coast.

4 Jan 21 - Rommel begins another offensive in North Africa Jan 25 - Japanese forces invade the Solomon islands Jan 26 - US troops begin to arrive in Britain Feb 15 - Singapore surrenders to the Japanese Mar 20 - "industrial scale" murder of jews by poison gas begins in Nazi death camps. Apr 18 - Doolittle's raid - US bombers bomb Tokyo. May 7 - Battle of the Coral Sea. One Japanese carrier and one American carrier are sunk May 6 - The last American troops in the Phillipines surrender May 8 - The German spring offensive in southern Russia begins. Jun 4 - The battle of Midway. Four Japanese carriers are sunk, and one American carrier. Japan's naval superiority is lost. Jul 3 - Japanese forces land in Guadalcanal Jul 28 - Stalin forbids further Russian retreats, at any cost. Aug 7 - US forces land in Guadalcanal Aug 13 - Montgomery becomes commander of the British 8th army in North Africa Aug 19 - Allied landing in Dieppe fails. Aug 23 - The German 6th army reach Stalingrad, the battle of Stalingrad begins. Sep 6 - The German advance in Stalingrad is stopped. Oct 23 - The 2nd battle of El Alamein in North Africa begins. Nov 8 - Allied forces land in western North Africa, at Rommel's back Nov 19 - The Russian flanking counter attack around Stalingrad begins Dec 19 - The Germans fail to break the encirclement of their army in Stalingrad 1943 Timeline Feb 2 - The last German forces in Stalingrad surrender May 13 - The long North Africa campaign ends. The Allies control North Africa May German U-boats sunk in 3 weeks. Doenitz retreats all U-boats from the North atlantic Jul 5 - The battle of Kursk begins Jul 10 - The Allies invade Sicily Jul 25 - Mussolini is replaced and arrested. Aug 10 - The Germans know the Enigma was decoded, but believe the new types and procedures are safe again. Sep 3 - The Allies invade Italy's mainland Sep 8 - Italy surrenders. The German forces in northern and central Italy occupy it Sep 25 - The Russians liberate Smolensk Oct - Allied anti submarine bases established in the Azores, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean Nov 6 - The Russians liberate Kiev Nov 19 - The Marines land in Tarawa Nov - Rommel takes command of the "atlantic wall" in the French coast Dec - P-51 fighters provide all-the-way long range escort to bombers over Germany 1944 Timeline

5 Jan 16 - Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of western allies forces Jan 22 - Allies land in Anzio, Italy Mar - The Russians advance into the Ukraine Apr 10 - The Russians liberate Odessa May - Allied bombers begin to concentrate on the German fuel industry Jun 5 - The German Navy's Enigma messages are decoded almost in real time. Jun 6 - D-Day. American, British, Canadian forces invade France at the beaches of Normandy Jun 12-1st German V-1 cruise missile attack on Britain Jun 15 - The Marines land in Saipan Jun 19 - Battle of the Phillipine sea Jun 22 - The Russians advance to Belarus Jun 27 - Cherburg is liberated Jul 20 - Hitler survives an assassination attempt by senior German officers with light wounds. Jul 21 - Hitler appoints General Guderian to chief of the army (OKH). The Marines land in Guam Jul 24 - The Marines land in Tinian Jul 28 - The Russians reach the old German-Russian border in central Poland Jul 30 - Patton breaks out of the beachhead deep into France Aug 1 - Warsaw revolts against the Germans Aug 15 - The Allies land in southern France Aug 23 - Romania surrenders to the Russians. Its oil fields were Germany's only source of natural oil Aug 25 - Paris is liberated. Aug - Allied fighters achieve air superiority over Germany Sep 6 - Finland and Bulgaria surrenders to the Russians Sep 8-1st German V-2 ballistic missile attack on Britain Sep 17 - Operation Market Garden in Holland Oct 5 - British forces land in Greece Oct 10 - The Germans evacuate Riga, Latvia Oct 14 - Athens is liberated Oct 20 - The Marines land in Leyte, in the Philippines. In response, the Japanese Navy begins to use Kamikaze suicide pilots. Nov 14 - B-29 bombers begin to bomb Tokyo from bases in the Mariana islands Dec 16 - The German attack in the Ardennes begin 1945 Timeline Jan 9 - The Marines land in Luzon in the Philippines Jan 23 - The Russians reach Germany itself at the Oder river Jan 27 - The Russians liberate the Auschwitz death camp Jan 28 - The Ardennes campaign ends Feb 13 - The Russians occupy Budapest, Hungary. Dresden bombed. Feb 19 - The Marines land in Iwo Jima Mar 4 - Manila is liberated

6 Mar 6 - The Allies occupy Cologne, Germany Mar 7 - US forces cross the Rhine on the Remagen bridge Mar 16 - The battle of Iwo Jima ends Mar 27 - V-2 missile attacks end Apr 1 - German forces encircled in the Ruhr by the Americans Apr 6 - The Marines land in Okinawa. Japan orders all its forces to use Kamikaze suicide tactic Apr 7 - The super battleship Yamato is sunk on its way to a Kamikaze fight in Okinawa Apr 10 - The Allies occupy Hannover Apr 11 - The Allies liberate the Buchenwald death camp Apr 12 - President Roosevelt dies. Apr 13 - The Russians enter Vienna Apr 16 - The Russians begin final advance to Berlin Apr 25 - American and Russian forces meet Apr 26 - German defense in northern Italy finally collapse Apr 29 - Mussolini is executed by the Italian resistance. The Allies liberate the Dachau death camp Apr 30 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin. He appoints Admiral Doenitz as his successor. May 8 - Germany surrenders. The war in Europe ends May B-29 bombers bomb Yokohama Jun B-29 bombers bomb Japanese cities Jun 21 - Battle of Okinawa ends Jul 16 - the US tests the atomic bomb in New Mexico. It works Aug 6 - Hiroshima is destroyed by an atomic bomb Aug 8 - Russia declares war on Japan Aug 9 - Nagasaki is destroyed by an atomic bomb Aug 14 - Japan surrenders. World War 2 finally ends.