1940-1950 Timeline By yolandosm Apr 1, 1940 Katyn Forest Massacre May 1, 1940 Auschwitz Open Jul 1, 1940 Battle of Britain Dec 27, 1940 Nazis Begin Killing Adults & Children w/ Disabilities Sep 29, 1941 Babi Yar Massacre Dec 7, 1941 Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor Dec 31, 1941 Operation Barbarossa Jun 4, 1942 Nazis Raze Town in Retaliation for Reinhard Heydrich's Death Jul 16, 1942 Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding Jul 24, 1942 Battle of Stalingrad Apr 19, 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Jul 8, 1943 French Resistance Leader Jean Moulin Killed Oct 13, 1943 Italy Joins the Allies Jun 6, 1944 D-Day Jun 24, 1944 First German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired Jul 20, 1944 Hitler Escapes Assassination Attempt Apr 30, 1945 Hitler Commits Suicide May 7, 1945 Germans Surrender Oct 24, 1945 United Nations Founded Mar 5, 1946 Winston Churchill Gives His "Iron Curtain" Speech Jul 22, 1946 Bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem Aug 24, 1946 Jews Are Massacred in the Post-Holocaust Kielce Pogrom in Poland Jul 1, 1947 Marshall Plan Jul 17, 1947 Jewish Refugees Aboard the Exodus Turned Back by British Jan 30, 1948 Gandhi Assassinated May 14, 1948 State of Israel Founded Aug 1, 1948 Policy of Apartheid Begun Apr 4, 1949 NATO Established Aug 29, 1949 Soviet Union Has Atomic Bomb Oct 1, 1949 China Becomes Communist Jan 1, 1950 First Modern Credit Card Introduced Jan 31, 1950 U.S. President Truman Orders Construction of Hydrogen Bomb Jun 25, 1950 Korean War Begins