World War II

By keaton18

  • Germany invades Poland, World War 2 begins.

  • Period: to

    World War II

    Timeline for World War II

  • Britain and France declare war on Germany.

  • The US remains neutral but president Roosevelt declares "limited national emergency".

  • Russia invades Poland

  • Warsaw surrenders

  • The last remaining Polish forces surrender

  • Russia invades Finland

  • The first German Enigma messages are decoded by British intelligence

  • Russia-Finland war ends. It convinces Hitler that the Russian military is ineffective.

  • Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

  • Germany invades France, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg. Winston Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister.

  • German forces reach the British Channel.

  • The evacuation at Dunkirk ends. 338,000 troops were rescued. Churchill declares that Britain will never surrender.

  • Norway surrenders

  • German troops march into Paris

  • Russia invades Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

  • France surrenders

  • Germany invades the British Channel islands.

  • British night bombers bomb Berlin

  • Italy invades British-held Egypt from Libya, the North African campaign begins.

  • British forces in Egypt counter attack the Italians and advance along the Libyan coast

  • Hitler sends Rommel and the Afrika Korps to help the Italians in North Africa

  • Rommel attacks the British forces in North Africa.

  • Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece

  • British forces in Crete surrender.

  • British forces aided by Israeli volunteers invade French controlled Syria and Lebanon

  • Germany invades Russia. Hitler orders "maximum cruelty" against civilians, which results in fanatic Russian resistance.

  • German army group "Center" takes Smolensk, just 220 miles from Moscow.

  • The Luftwaffe bombs Moscow

  • The long German siege of Leningrad begins.

  • The Germans in the South occupy Kiev and reach the Crimea.

  • The final German attack towards Moscow begins (operation Typhoon).

  • General Tojo becomes Japan's prime minister

  • 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 ma

  • Dec 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the US.

  • Hitler orders "fanatic resistance" and appoints himself military commander-in-chief.

  • Japanese forces invade Burma

  • Rommel begins another offensive in North Africa

  • Japanese forces invade the Solomon islands

  • Singapore surrenders to the Japanese

  • Battle of the Coral Sea. One Japanese carrier and one American carrier are sunk

  • The battle of Midway. Four Japanese carriers are sunk, and one American carrier. Japan's naval superiority is lost.

  • Japanese forces land in Guadalcanal

  • Stalin forbids further Russian retreats, at any cost.

  • Allied forces land in western North Africa, at Rommel's back

  • The Russian flanking counter attack around Stalingrad begins

  • The Germans fail to break the encirclement of their army in Stalingrad

  • The last German forces in Stalingrad surrender

  • The long North Africa campaign ends. The Allies control North Africa

  • The battle of Kursk begins

  • Mussolini is replaced and arrested.

  • The Germans know the Enigma was decoded, but believe the new types and procedures are safe again.

  • The Allies invade Italy's mainland

  • Italy surrenders. The German forces in northern and central Italy occupy it

  • The Russians liberate Kiev

  • Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of western allies forces

  • Battle of the Phillipine sea

  • Hitler survives an assassination attempt by senior German officers with light wounds.

  • Warsaw revolts against the Germans

  • Romania surrenders to the Russians. Its oil fields were Germany's only source of natural oil

  • Finland and Bulgaria surrenders to the Russians

  • Operation Market Garden in Holland

  • British forces land in Greece

  • The Marines land in Leyte, in the Philippines. In response, the Japanese Navy begins to use Kamikaze suicide pilots.

  • B-29 bombers begin to bomb Tokyo from bases in the Mariana islands

  • The German attack in the Ardennes begin

  • The Marines land in Luzon in the Philippines

  • The Russians reach Germany itself at the Oder river

  • The Russians liberate the Auschwitz death camp

  • The Ardennes campaign ends

  • The Marines land in Iwo Jima

  • The Allies occupy Cologne, Germany

  • The battle of Iwo Jima ends

  • The Marines land in Okinawa. Japan orders all its forces to use Kamikaze suicide tactic

  • The super battleship Yamato is sunk on its way to a Kamikaze fight in Okinawa

  • The Russians begin final advance to Berlin

  • American and Russian forces meet

  • German defense in northern Italy finally collapse

  • Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin. He appoints Admiral Doenitz as his successor.

  • Germany surrenders. The war in Europe ends

  • Battle of Okinawa ends

  • the US tests the atomic bomb in New Mexico. It works

  • Hiroshima is destroyed by an atomic bomb

  • Russia declares war on Japan

  • Nagasaki is destroyed by an atomic bomb

  • Japan surrenders. World War 2 finally ends.