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September 1939
September 1st: Germany invades Poland, starting World War 2.
September 3rd: Britain and France threaten the territory of Poland and tell Germany to get their troops out, Germany does not respond to this, and Britain and France declare war on them.
September 17th: The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
Timeline For Kids -
October 1939
October 5th-10th: The Baltic States signed "assistance pacts" with the Soviet Union (a pact allowing the states to have soldiers in these countries).
October 6th: The Polish fight comes to an end.
October 19th: Turkey signs mutual aid pact with France and Britain.
October 20th: The "Phony War" begins (the months between the Polish War ending and the invasion of France). -
March 1940
March 2nd: The Soviet Union cracked the Finnish Mannerheim Line, seizing Vyborg.
March 12th: Finland signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. -
October 1940
October 6th: Germany abandoned large-scale daylight raids and turned to night bombing.
October 10th: Germany occupied Romania.
October 16th: United States men register in the first peacetime treaty.
October 28th: Italy invaded Greece.
October 29th: The selection of American draftees began. -
April 1941
April 3rd: British yield Benghazi, Libya, to Axis attack.
April 6th: Germany attacks Yugoslavia and Greece. British take Addis Ababa, Ethiopian capital.
April 9th: United States takes Greenland under protection.
April 12th: British lose Bardia, Libya.
April 17th: Yugoslav army surrenders.
April 18th: British occupy Iraq.
April 27th: Germans occupy Athens.
April 30th: British forces leave Greece. -
December 1941
December 6th: Roosevelt appeals to Hirohito to intervene for peace.
December 8th: United States and Britain declare war on Japan.
December 10th: Japanese planes sink British ships off Malaya. Japanese land on Luzon in the Philippines.
December 12th: Japanese invade Burma from Thailand.
December 16th: Japanese invade Borneo.
December 22nd: Churchill discusses the united war effort with Roosevelt.
December 23rd: Wake Island surrenders to the Japanese.
December 25th: Hong Kong falls to Japanese. -
February 1942
February 1st: United States Navy raids Gilbert and Marshall Islands.
February 15th: Singapore falls to the Japanese.
February 19th: The Japanese invade Bali in the East Indies. Japanese planes bomb Port Darwin, Australia.
February 24th: United States naval task force bombards Wake Island.
February 27th–March 1st: The Japanese overwhelmed Allied naval forces in the battle of the Java Sea.
February 28th: Japanese land in northern Java. -
August 1942
August 7th: United States Marines land on Guadalcanal and Tulagi.
August 8–9th: Japanese naval force sinks one Australian and three American cruisers at the battle of Savo Island.
August 17th: United States Marines raid Makin Island.
August 19th: British, Canadian; American forces raid Dieppe, in northern France.
August 22nd: Brazil declares war on the Axis.
August 24th: Germans advance on Stalingrad.
August 26th: American bombers raid Lashio in Burma.
August 30th: Germany annexes Luxembourg. -
February 1943
February 2nd: Soviets defeat Germans at Stalingrad.
February 6th: The creation of the United States North African theater under the command of Eisenhower was announced.
February 8th: United States forces completely occupy Guadalcanal.
February 14th: Soviet army recaptures Rostov.
February 16th: Soviets recapture Kharkiv.
February 21st: Allies evacuate Kasserine Pass in Tunisia.
February 25th: Allies recapture Kasserine Pass. -
September 1943
September 3rd: Allies invaded southern Italy and received the Italian surrender effective five days later.
September 4th: American Marines invade Nanumea in Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu).
September 8th: The Soviets take Stalino in Donets Basin.
September 10th: Germans seize Rome, assure “protection” of Vatican.
September 22nd: Australian troops land north of Finschhafen, New Guinea.
September 25th: Germans evacuate Smolensk.
September 27th: Allies capture the air base at Foggia, Italy. -
June 1944
June 4th: American 5th Army enters Rome.
June 5th: King Victor Emmanuel of Italy transfers royal power to his son, Humbert.
June 6th: Allies invade France at the Normandy coast.
June 13th: Germans launch robot bombs on southern England.
June 15th: United States Marines invade Saipan in the Marianas.
June 16th: China-based B-29s raid southern Japan.
June 25th: Americans enter Cherbourg; the entire Cherbourg Peninsula was captured on July 1. -
December 1944
December 15th: United States forces invade Mindoro in the Philippines.
December 16th: Germans counterattacked at Ardennes Forest to begin the battle of the Bulge.
December 20th: United States 101st Airborne Division trapped at Bastogne, Belgium.
December 26th: MacArthur announces the end of resistance on Leyte. Soviets penetrate Budapest suburbs.
December 27th: Americans take the offensive in the battle of the Bulge. -
August 1945
August 2nd: Japan was hit by the largest B-29 attack, made by 800 Superfortresses.
August 6th: American plane drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August 8th: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
August 9th: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
August 10th: Japan agrees to surrender.
August 15th: Japan accepts Allied surrender terms.
August 27th: American occupation force enters Japan. -
September 1945
September 2nd: Japan surrendered, which ended the war.
WW2 Chronologically Explained: For Students