Course of WWII

By JRose17

  • Italy occupies Albania

    April. Base for invasion of Greece

  • The Phoney War

    Maginot Line, Siegfried Line. GB in process of full mobilisation. USA altered Neutrality Acts to ship war goods. Minor naval clashes, tried to blockade. GB bombers dropped peace leaflets.

  • USSR invades Finland

    November. Starts trying to reclaim land. Large Soviet army against small Finnish army. Wanted St Petersburg to be bettered protected.

  • Invasion of Poland

    France convinced Poland not to mobilise, defended the border when Germany invaded, used blitzkrieg to conquer.

  • Britain and France declared war on Germany

    French and British soldiers maintaining France's borders.

  • USSR invades Poland

    As agreed in Nazi-Soviet Pact. Little resistance.

  • Lwow to Soviets

    Major industrial city in Poland.

  • Warsaw surrenders

    13 Sep, surrounded and under constant attack. 24 Sep assault by over 1100 German bombers.

  • Poland divided between USSR and Germany

    Larger part given to USSR.

  • Polish Government established in Paris

    Remnants of Polish opposition went to Romania then transferred to France to reorganise.

  • Germany invades France

  • USSR increases troops in Finland

    February. To counter successful Finnish guerrilla tactics.

  • USSR annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

    Also seized Bessarabeia from Romania.

  • German Invasion of Denmark and Norway

    April. GB mines North Sea. Ger needs iron ore to sustain armaments production. Makes plans to seize Narvik in Norway. Ends up taking all of Norway. GB within bombing range.

  • Fall of Belgium and Luxembourg

    May. Former better defended, joined by 3 Fr armies and small GB army, main fortresses overrun. Latter fell almost immediately, further exposed Bel and Fr borders.

  • USSR peace treaty with Finland.

    Finland still independent. Lost 11% territory.

  • Denmark overrun

    Used to help take Norway. Two naval battles GB and Ger 10 and 13 April. GB won both. Land battle until June. Air controlled by Ger by June.

  • Germany Offensive Case Yellow

    Aims: Capture the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.
    Allies quantity, Ger quality.

  • The Netherlands surrenders

    Paratroops behind Dutch army's defences. Destroyed city of Rotterdam with bombers.

  • Fall of Belgium

    Main assault through Ardennes Forest, moved to English channel, cut off GB and Fr armies in Bel. They retreated to Dunkirk where 300,000 evacuated.

  • Fall of France

    10 June Italy invaded from south, Paris captured 13th.

  • Italy invades Greece

    Disastrous. Pushed back and lost 30% of Albania.

  • Bulgaria joins Axis

  • Germany invades Greece

  • Germany conquers Yugoslavia

    Assisted by Bulgaria. Divided between It, Ger, Hun, Bul. Large portion: independent Serbian puppet-state Croatia. Smaller independent Italian puppet-state Montenegro.

  • Fall of Greece

    GB captured Athens 27th April, evacuated 50,000 troops to Crete. Ger paratroops invaded 20th May.