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Hitler invades Poland
Hitler invades Poland on 1 September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later -
The UK starts rationing
Rationing starts in the UK
German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France.
British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.
The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war -
American Naval Victory at Battle of Midway.
Singapore falls to the Japanese in February - around 25,000 prisoners taken.
American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War.
Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins. -
Italy surrenders
Surrender at Stalingrad marks Germany's first major defeat.
Allied victory in North Africa enables invasion of Italy to be launched.
Italy surrenders, but Germany takes over the battle. -
D-Day
Allies land at Anzio and bomb monastery at Monte Cassino.
D Day: The Allied invasion of France. Paris is liberated in August.
Soviet offensive gathers pace in Eastern Europe.
Guam liberated by the US Okinawa, and Iwo Jima bombed.
On 6 June - as Operation Overlord got underway - some 6,500 vessels landed over 130,000 Allied forces on five Normandy beaches: codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. -
atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops.
Truman becomes President of the US on Roosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces Churchill.
After atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders on 14 August.
While the bombing campaigns of the Blitz were over, German V1 and V2 rockets continued to drop on London -
World War Two Ends
At the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman (who had taken office after Roosevelt’s death in April), Churchill and Stalin discussed the ongoing war with Japan as well as the peace settlement with Germany.
