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The Second World War
Background to the Second World War
Background to the Second World War
Background to the Second World War
Date
Adolf Hitler
becomes Chancellor of Germany.
30th January, 1933
Reichstag
passes the
Enabling Bill
.
23rd March, 1933
Adolf Hitler
orders the
German Army
into
12th March, 1938
Neville Chamberlain
and
Adolf Hitler
sig
29th September, 1938
Joseph Goebbels
organizes
Crystal Night
.
9th November, 1938
The
German Army
invades
Czechoslovakia
.
15th March, 1939
Joseph Stalin
and
Adolf Hitler
sign the
23rd August, 1939.
The
German Army
invades
Poland
.
1st September, 1939
Chronology of the Second World War
Chronology of the Second World War
Chronology of the Second World War
Date
The
German Army
invades
Czechoslovakia
.
15th March, 1939
Edouard Daladier
announces that
France
intends to increase defence spending.
17th March, 1939
Adolf Hitler
demands the free city of Danzig in
Poland
.
21st March, 1939
Britain
and
France
pledge to support
Poland
.
29th March, 1939
Italy
invades and occupies
Albania
.
7th April, 1939
Britain
and
France
pledge to support
Romania
and
Greece
.
13th April, 1939
Soviet Union
proposes a triple alliance with
Britain
and
France
.
18th April, 1939
The government also published details of the
reserved occupations
if they exceeded the stated age.
27th April 1939
Sweden
,
Norway
and
Finland
reject Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.
17th May, 1939
Winston Churchill
urges the government to form a military alliance with the
Soviet Union
.
9th July, 1939
Joseph Stalin
and
Adolf Hitler
sign the
Nazi-Soviet Pact
.
23rd August, 1939.
Britain
and
Poland
sign a treaty of mutal assistance.
25th August, 1939.
The
German Army
invades
Poland
and annexes the free city of Danzig.
1st September, 1939
Britain
and
France
declare war on
Nazi Germany
.
3rd September, 1939
Parliament passes the
National Services (Armed Forces) Act
.
3rd September, 1939
Neville Chamberlain
appoints
Winston Churchill
as First Lord of the Admiralty.
3rd September, 1939
The
German Army
reach the city of Brest-Litovsk on the Polish border with the
Soviet Union
.
17th September, 1939
The
Red Army
invades
Poland
.
17th September, 1939
Reinhard Heydrich
announces that all
Jews
in
Poland
are to be imprisoned in
Ghettos
.
21st September, 1939
The Polish Army surrenders in
Warsaw
.
27th September, 1939
Franklin D. Roosevelt
announces that the
USA
will remain neutral in the European war.
3rd October, 1939
The British battleship
Royal Oak
is sunk by U-boat captained by
Gunther Prien
.
14th October, 1939
The
Schutz Staffeinel (SS)
establish the first
Jewish Ghetto
in Piotrkow.
28th October, 1939
Germany
formally annexes western
Poland
into the German Reich.
1st November, 1939
Joseph Stalin
formally annexes eastern
Poland
into the
Soviet Union
.
2nd November, 1939
The
Red Army
invades
Finland
.
30th November, 1939
The
Soviet Union
is expelled from the
League of Nations
.
14th December, 1939
The
Red Army
attacks the Mannerheim Line in
Finland
.
11th February, 1940
Finland
signs a peace treaty with the
Soviet Union
.
12th March, 1940
Paul Reynaud
replaces
Edouard Daladier
as prime minister of
France
.
20th March, 1940
Britain
and
France
agree not to sign a separate peace with
Nazi Germany
.
28th March, 1940
Neville Chamberlain
appoints
Lord Beaverbrook
as minister of aircraft production.
3rd April, 1940
Soldiers in the
British Army
land at Namsos in
Norway
.
8th April, 1940
The
German Army
invades
Denmark
and
Norway
.
9th April, 1940
Adolf Hitler
launches his
Western Offensive
and invades
France
.
10th May, 1940
Neville Chamberlain
resigns as prime minister and is replaced by
Winston Churchill
.
10th May, 1940
Anthony Eden
announces the formation of the
Home Guard
.
14th May, 1940
Netherlands
surrenders and
Queen Wilhelmina
flees to England.
14th May, 1940
Parliament grants
Winston Churchill
and his government wide emergency powers.
22nd May, 1940
General
Gerd von Rundstedt
and the
German Army
pierce the French defences at Sedan.
23rd May, 1940
Adolf Hitler
orders the German forces in
France
and
Belgium
to halt their advance.
23rd May, 1940
Adolf Hitler
orders the German forces in resume their advance into
France
and
Belgium
.
25th May, 1940
Evacuation from
Dunkirk
begins.
27th May, 1940
Belgium
surrender to the
German Army
and
Leopold III
is arrested.
28th May, 1940
Winston Churchill
appoints
Stafford Cripps
as British ambassador to the
Soviet Union
.
30th May, 1940
The last of the 338,000 British, French and Belgian forces evacuated from
Dunkirk
.
4th June, 1940
J. B. Priestley
gives first BBC radio broadcast.
5th June, 1940
Benito Mussolini
declares war on the Allies.
10th June, 1940
Gotthard Heinrici
and the 12th Corps break through the
Maginot Line
.
14th June, 1940
The
German Army
enters Paris.
14th June, 1940
The
USA
rejects France's renewed appeal for help against the
German Army
.
15th June, 1940
Henri-Philippe Petain
begins to negotiate an armistice with
Germany
.
17th June, 1940
France
signs armistice with
Nazi Germany
and is divided into two zones.
22nd June, 1940
Winston Churchill
recognizes
Charles De Gaulle
as leader of the
Free French
.
28th June, 1940
The
Royal Navy
destroys most of the
French Navy
at
Mers-el-Kébir
.
3rd July, 1940
Franklin D. Roosevelt
bans the shipment of strategic materials to
Japan
.
5th July, 1940
Ark Royal
sinks
Dunkerqueat
at
Mers-el-Kébir
.
6th July, 1940
The
Luftwaffe
launch the start of the
Battle of Britain
.
10th July, 1940
Henri-Philippe Petain
becomes president of
Vichy France
.
11th July, 1940
Winston Churchill
invites
Hugh Dalton
to establish the
Special Operations Executive
.
16th July, 1940
The
Italian Army
advances into British Somaliland.
3rd August, 1940
The
Luftwaffe
began attacking RAF Fighter Command's aircraft, airfields and installations.
13th August, 1940
The
Luftwaffe
carry out a all-night bombing raid on
London
and begins the
Blitz
.
23rd August, 1940
The
Royal Air Force
bombs Berlin.
25th August, 1940
Rodolfo Graziani
and
Italian Army
make a rapid advance into
Egypt
.
13th September, 1940
City of Bernares
sunk by a German torpedo killing 73 children on the way to
Canada
.
17th September, 1940
Winston Churchill
decides to abandon the attempt to capture the port of
Dakar
.
25th September, 1940
Vidkun Quisling
installed by the Germans as prime minister of
Norway
.
25th September, 1940
Yosuke Matsuoka
of
Japan
signs the
Tripartite Pact
with
Nazi Germany
and
Italy
.
27th September, 1940
William Friedman
breaks the Japanese secret code.
September, 1940
Winston Churchill
appoints
Kingsley Wood
as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
3rd October, 1940
Winston Churchill
appoints
Ernest Bevin
as Minister of Labour.
3rd October, 1940
Adolf Hitler
postpones
Operation Sealion
.
12th October, 1940
Adolf Hitler
meets
Francisco Franco
an attempt to persuade
Spain
to join the war.
23rd October, 1940
The
Mustang P-51B
makes its first flight.
26th October, 1940
The
Italian Army
invades
Greece
.
28th October, 1940
The
Royal Navy
attacks the
Italian Navy
at Taranto.
11th November, 1940
The
Luftwaffe
bomb
Coventry
killing 380 people and injuring 865.
14th November, 1940
The
Royal Air Force
bomb
Hamburg
in
Germany
.
16th November, 1940
Airbourbe
radar
successfully used by the
Royal Air Force
for the first time.
18th November, 1940
British Army
captures
Tobruk
.
22nd January, 1941
Bulgaria
signs the Tripartite Pact and joins forces with
Germany
,
Italy
and
Japan
.
1st March, 1941
The
British Army
invades Italian-controlled
Ethiopia
.
7th March, 1941
US Congress passes the
Lend-Lease Act
.
11th March, 1941
General
Erwin Rommel
mounts his first attack in the
Desert War
.
24th March, 1941
General
Andrew Cunningham
, commander of allied forces in East Africa, enters Addis Ababa..
6th April, 1941
Italian Army
in
Ethiopia
surrenders to Allied forces.
6th April, 1941
Germany
,
Italy
and
Bulgaria
invade
Yugoslavia
.
10th April, 1941
General
Paul von Kleist
and the 1st Panzer Group enter Belgrade.
12th April, 1941
Yosuke Matsuoka
of
Japan
signs non-aggression pact with
Soviet Union
.
14th April, 1941
Yugoslavia
surrenders to the
German Army
.
17th April, 1941
Marmaduke Pattle
, RAF's leading war ace, killed while fighting in
Greece
.
20th April, 1941
Greece
surrenders to the
German Army
.
21st April, 1941
General
Erwin Rommel
and his army enter
Egypt
.
25th April, 1941
The
Luftwaffe
destroy the
House of Commons
in Westminster.
10th May, 1941
Rudolf Hess
flies to
Scotland
and is arrested by the authorities.
10th May, 1941
Frank Whittle's jet-propelled
Gloster E28
takes its first flight.
15th May, 1941
The
Bismarck
sinks the British battlecruiser
Hood
.
24th May, 1941
The
Bismarck
attacked and sunk by the
Royal Navy
.
27th May, 1941
The
Bismarck
is sunk by the
British Navy
.
26th May 1941
The British government introduces plans to
ration
clothes and furniture.
1st June, 1941
Syria
invaded by
British Army
and
Free French
forces.
8th June, 1941
Operation Punishment
comes to and end.
22nd June, 1941
Adolf Hitler
launches
Operation Barbarossa
.
22nd June, 1941
Finland
declares war on the
Soviet Union
.
25th June, 1941
Hungary
declares war on the
Soviet Union
.
27th June, 1941
Armistice signed in
Syria
.
12th July, 1941
Soviet Union
and
Britain
sign an agreement of mutual aid.
12th July, 1941
Richard Acland
launches the
Common Wealth Party
.
26th July, 1941
The
German Army
advances on
Leningrad
.
12th August, 1941
Military forces from
Soviet Union
and
Britain
invade Iran.
25th August, 1941
The
German Army
captures Kiev, the Ukrainian capital in the
Soviet Union
.
20th September, 1941
The
German Army
advances on
Moscow
.
6th October, 1941
The
Royal Air Force
bombs the German city of Nuremberg.
13th October, 1941
General
Hideki Tojo
becomes prime minister of
Japan
.
16th October, 1941
Masha Bruskina
, first Soviet partisan to be executed in public by the
German Army
.
26th October, 1941
The British aircraft carrier,
Ark Royal
is sunk off
Gibraltar
.
13th November, 1941
Emperor Hirohito
officially approves the attack on the
United States
.
1st December, 1941
Britain
declares war on
Finland
,
Hungary
and
Romania
.
5th December, 1941
Japanese forces attack the US Fleet at
Pearl Harbor
.
7th December, 1941
The Start of the
Pacific War
.
7th December, 1941
Japanese troops invade
Malaya
,
Thailand
and the
Philippines
.
8th December, 1941
Japanese forces sink the
Prince of Wales
and
Repulse
off the east coast of
Malaya
.
10th December, 1941
Japanese troops invade
Burma
.
11th December, 1941
America First Committee
is dissolved.
11th December, 1941
The
National Service Act
, that conscripted unmarried women, was passed by Parliament.
18th December, 1941
Adolf Hitler
sacks
Heinrich von Brauchitsch
as commander in chief of the
German Army
.
19th December, 1941
Japanese Army
capture Manila, the capital of the
Philippines
.
22nd December, 1941
Hong Kong
surrendered with the loss of its 12,000 garrison
25th December, 1941
Japanese Army
capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the
Malaya
.
11th January, 1942
Reinhard Heydrich
organizes the
Wannsee Conference
.
20th January, 1942
General
Arthur Percival
orders retreat to
Singapore
.
25th January, 1942
USA government announces the establishment of relocation camps for
Japanese Americans
.
29th January, 1942
Japanese troops land on the northwest corner of
Singapore
8th February, 1942
The
Scharnhorst
and the
Prinz Eugen
start their successfully break out of Brest.
12th February, 1942
General
Arthur Percival
surrenders
Singapore
to Japanese.
15th February, 1942
Japanese Air Force
bomb Darwin in
Australia
.
19th February, 1942
General
Douglas MacArthur
and the United States forces leave the
Philippines
22nd February, 1942
The
Royal Air Force
bomb Lubeck in
Germany
.
23rd March, 1942
Allied raid on
St Nazaire
.
27th March, 1942
Hermann Balck
and the 3rd Panzer Division captures Salonika.
9th April, 1942
George VI
awards the George Cross to the people of
Malta
.
9th April, 1942
The
United States Air Force
bomb Tokyo.
18th April, 1942
Pierre Laval
becomes minister of foreign affairs in
Vichy France
.
18th April, 1942
The
Luftwaffe
start bombing
Exeter
,
Bath
and other historic cities in Britain.
23rd April, 1942
Japanese Army
capture Mandalay in
Burma
.
1st May 1942
Start of the battle of
Coral Sea
.
6th May, 1942
Reinhard Heydrich
is shot in Prague by Czech resistance fighters.
27th May, 1942
Arthur Harris
orders the first 1000 bomber attack on
Germany
at
Cologne
.
30th May, 1942
Start of the battle of
Midway
.
3rd June, 1942
The
Gestapo
destroy the village of
Lidice
in
Czechoslovakia
.
10th June, 1942
Erwin Rommel
defeats
Neil Richie
at
Gazala
.
14th June, 1942
Erwin Rommel
and the
German Army
captures
Tobruk
.
21st June, 1942
General
Erich von Manstein
captures Sevastopol on the Black Sea.
2nd July, 1942
Donald Bennett
appointed as commander of the
Pathfinder Force
.
5th July, 1942
Japanese Army
land on
Guadalcanal
.
7th July, 1942
The
Messerschmitt Me 262
makes its first test flight.
18th July, 1942
The
Royal Air Force
bomb
Hamburg
in
Germany
.
26th July, 1942
Alexander Vandegrift
and the
US Marines
land on
Guadalcanal
.
7th August, 1942
The
US Marines
use the
Navajo Code
for the first time.
7th August, 1942
General
Bernard Montgomery
is appointed commander of the British 8th Army.
13th August, 1942
The
Flying Fortress
begins making first daylight bombing raids on Europe.
17th August, 1942
5,000 Canadian and 1,000 British troops raid the port of
Dieppe
in
France
.
19th August, 1942
The
German Army
enters
Stalingrad
.
24th August, 1942
The
Duke of Kent
dies in an air crash in Scotland.
25th August, 1942
Erwin Rommel
attacks Eighth Army at
Alam el Halfa
.
30th August, 1942
The
B-29 Stratafortress
makes its first flight.
21st September, 1942
General
Bernard Montgomery
orders counter-attack at
El Alamein
.
23rd October, 1942
Thomas Kinkaid
faces
Nobutake Kondo
at the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.
26th October, 1942
Hornet
is sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.
27th October, 1942
The
German Army
defeated at
El Alamein
.
4th November, 1942
General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
,leads the invasion of
Tunisia
.
8th November, 1942
Admiral
Jean Darlan
surrenders French North Africa to
Dwight D. Eisenhower
.
11th November, 1942
Adolf Hitler
orders the occupation of
Vichy France
.
11th November, 1942
Benito Mussolini
orders the occupation of
Corsica
.
11th November, 1942
Nobutake Kondo
launches battle off Savo Island.
11th November, 1942
The
British Army
recaptures
Tobruk
.
12th November, 1942
Admiral
William Halsey
leads successful naval campain at
Guadalcana
.
13th November, 1942
Erich von Manstein
and the 4th Panzer Army begin the attempt to relieve the 6th Army.
12th December, 1942
Admiral
Jean Darlan
assassinated by member of
French Resistance
in Algiers.
24th December, 1942
The
Luftwaffe
renews its air attacks on
London
.
18th January, 1943
The Allies capture
Tripoli
.
23rd January, 1943
British and US military aircraft begin round-the-clock bombing of
Nazi Germany
.
25th February, 1943
Jurgen von Arnium
replaces
Erwin Rommel
as commander of the
Deutsches Afrika Korps
.
9th March, 1943
Germany
announces the discovery of 4,443 Polish officers at
Katyn
in the
Soviet Union
.
13th April, 1943
Yitzhak Zuckerman
leads the
Warsaw Uprising
.
19th April, 1943
The Allies capture
Tunis
.
7th May, 1943
Over 130,000 members of the
German Army
surrender in
Tunisia
.
13th May, 1943
Wing Commander
Guy Gibson
leads the
Dambusters Raid
.
16th May, 1943
Jean Moulin
holds the first meeting of the
Conseil National de la Resistance
in Paris.
27th May, 1943
Jean Moulin
, leader of the
French Resistance
, murdered by the
Gestapo
.
8th July, 1943
A
German
aircraft bombs
Whitehall Cinema
in East Grinstead and kills 235 people.
9th July, 1943
Allied troops land on German-occupied
Sicily
.
10th July, 1943
Air Marshall
Arthur Harris
orders further bombing of
Hamburg
.
24th July, 1943
Victor Emmanuel III
dismisses
Benito Mussolini
from office in
Italy
.
25th July, 1943
The
Red Army
recaptures the city of Kharkov.
23rd August, 1943
Bernard Montgomery
and the 8th Army land at Reggio in
Italy
.
3rd September, 1943
The
Tirpitz
and
Scharnhorst
bombard the Spitzbergen weather station.
7th September, 1943
Benito Mussolini
is rescued from prison by a team led by
Otto Skorzeny
.
12th September, 1943
Benito Mussolini
establishes a new fascist government at Salo on Lake Garda,
Italy
.
15th September, 1943
Italy's new prime minister,
Pietro Badoglio
, signs armistice with the Allies.
23rd September, 1943
The
Red Army
recaptures the city of Smolensk.
25th September, 1943
Corsica
becomes the first region of France to be liberated.
1st September, 1943
General
Mark Clark
and 5th Army capture
Naples
.
13th October, 1943
Italy's prime minister,
Pietro Badoglio
, declares war on
Germany
.
13th October, 1943
Evans Carlson
and the 2nd Raider Battalion land in
Guadalcana
.
4th November, 1943
The
Red Army
recaptures the city of Kiev.
6th November, 1943
The intensive bombing of
Berlin
by the
RAF
begins.
18th November, 1943
Allied invasion of the
Gilbert Islands
.
20th November, 1943
Eduard Benes
and
Joseph Stalin
sign a Soviet-Czech peace treaty in Moscow.
12th December, 1943
The
Scharnhorst
is sunk by the
Duke of York
off the coast of
Norway
.
26th December, 1943
Winston Churchill
,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
and
Joseph Stalin
meet at
Tehran
in Iran.
28th December, 1943
General
John Lucas
and US 5th Army land at
Anzio
.
22nd January, 1944
Allied invasion of the
Marshall Islands
.
31st January, 1944
Allied forces bomb monastery at
Monte Cassino
.
15th February, 1944
The
Luftwaffe
make their heaviest raids on
London
since May 1941.
19th February, 1944
Merrill's Marauders
begin their first campaign in
Burma
.
24th February, 1944
Orde Wingate
launches Operation Thursday in
Burma
.
5th March, 1944
United States Air Force
begin daylight air attacks on
Berlin
.
6th March, 1944
Orde Wingate
killed in plane crash in
Burma
.
14th March, 1944
Pierre Brossolette
, one of the leaders of the
French Resistance
, murdered by the
Gestapo
.
22nd March, 1944
Paul von Kleist
and
Erich von Manstein
recalled to
Germany
and sacked by
Adolf Hitler
.
29th March, 1944
Allied bombing of
Nuremberg Raid
.
30th March, 1944
The
German Army
evacuates Sevastopol.
9th May, 1944
Allied troops take
Monte Cassino
.
18th May, 1944
General
Harold Alexander
and Allied forces manage to breakthrough the
Gustav Line
.
23rd May, 1944
General
Mark Clark
and Allied troops capture Rome.
4th June, 1944
Second Front
opened with Allied landings in
Normandy
.
6th June, 1944
Pietro Badoglio
resigns and
Invanoe Bonomi
forms new government in
Italy
.
9th June, 1944
The
SS
carry out a revenge attack on the
Maquis
at
Oradour-sur-Glane
.
10th June, 1944
First
V1 Flying bomb
lands on Britain.
13th June, 1944
The
Red Army
recaptures the city of Minsk.
3rd July, 1944
Allied troops capture Caen in
Normandy
.
9th July, 1944
Hideki Tojo
resigns as prime minister of
Japan
.
18th July, 1944
July Plot
against
Adolf Hitler
fails.
20th July, 1944
Polish resistance forces in
Warsaw
rebel against German occupation.
1st August, 1944
V1 Flying bomb
brought down by a
Gloster Meteor
, Britain's first jet-fighter.
4th August, 1944
Allied troops land on the French coast between the ports of Toulon and Cannes.
14th August, 1944
Ernst Thaelmann
is executed at
Buchenwald
.
18th August, 1944
United States Army
enters Paris.
24th August, 1944
Romania
declares war on
Germany
.
25th August, 1944
British troops enter Brussels, the capital of
Belgium
.
4th September, 1944
First
V2 Rocket
lands on Britain.
8th September, 1944
The French provisional government abolishes the
Vichy
legislature.
10th September, 1944
Allied troops enter
Nazi Germany
.
11th September, 1944
Winston Churchill
and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
meet in Quebec to discuss post-war
Germany
.
11th September, 1944
Romania
signs an armistice with the
United States
,
Britain
and the
Soviet Union
.
12th September, 1944
Start of
Operation Market Garden
.
17th September, 1944
Finland
signs an armistice with the
Soviet Union
.
19th September, 1944
Allied troops forced to withdraw from
Arnhem
.
25th September, 1944
Adolf Hitler
calls up all remaining males between 16 and 60 in
Germany
for army service.
25th September, 1944
Canadian troops liberate the
French
port of Calais.
28th September, 1944
The
German Army
crushes
Warsaw Uprising
.
2nd October, 1944
The
British Army
land in German-occupied
Greece
.
4th October, 1944
The
Red Army
enters
Czechoslovakia
.
6th October, 1944
Winston Churchill
,
Joseph Stalin
and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
meet in Moscow.
9th October, 1944
Erwin Rommel
is forced to commit suicide by the Nazi government.
14th October, 1944
General
Douglas MacArthur
returns to the
Philippines
.
20th October, 1944
General
Walter Krueger
and the US 6th Army landed on
Leyte
.
22nd October, 1944
The Battle of
Leyte Gulf
begins.
24th October, 1944
Bulgaria
signs an armistice with the Allies.
28th October, 1944
The
Tirpitz
is sunk after being hit by
Tallboy
bombs.
12th November, 1944
The
Red Army
establish new government in
Hungary
.
21st December, 1944
The
British 14th Army
begin a new offensive in
Burma
.
3rd January, 1945
US forces make landings on the island of
Luzon
.
9th January, 1945
The
Red Army
liberate
Warsaw
.
17th January, 1945
The
Red Army
capture Budapest.
18th January, 1945
Start of
Operation Ten-Go
.
2nd February, 1945
Winston Churchill
,
Joseph Stalin
and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
meet at the
Yalta Conference
.
4th February, 1945
Air Marshall
Arthur Harris
orders the bombing of
Dresden
.
13th February, 1945
United States Army
land on
Iwo Jima
.
19th February, 1945
United States Army
capture Manila, the capital of the
Philippines
.
28th February, 1945
United States Army Air Force
creates
firestorm
in
Tokyo
.
9th March, 1945
British and Indian troops capture Mandalay in
Burma
.
20th March, 1945
United States Army
cross the River Rhine between Mainz and Mannheim.
22nd March, 1945
Last
V2 Rocket
lands on Britain.
27th March, 1945
The
Red Army
enters Austria.
29th March, 1945
United States Army
land on
Okinawa
.
1st April, 1945
A 700 plane
kamikaze
attack sink and damage 13 US destroyers..
6th April, 1945
The Japanese giant battleship
Yamato
sunk off
Okinawa
.
7th April, 1945
General
Harold Alexander
and British forces mount a new offensive in northern Italy.
9th April, 1945
Pastor
Dietrich Bonhoffer
is hanged by the Nazi authorities.
9th April, 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt
dies and is replaced by
Harry S. Truman
.
12th April, 1945
Liberation of
Belsen
and
Buchenwald
.
13th April, 1945
Ernie Pyle
, America's most famous war journalist, killed by Japanese sniper.
17th April, 1945
Liberation of
Dachau
.
25th April, 1945
United Nations Conference
held in
San Francisco
.
25th April, 1945
Benito Mussolini
is executed in Milan by Italian partisans.
28th April, 1945
German
forces in
Italy
surrender to the Allies.
29th April, 1945
Adolf Hitler
and
Eva Braun
commit suicide.
30th April, 1945
Joseph Goebbels
commits suicide.
1st May, 1945
Commander of German troops in
Berlin
surrenders.
2nd May, 1945
Queen Wilhelmina
returns to the
Netherlands
.
2nd May, 1945
Frank Messervy
and his troops captures Ragoon in
Burma
.
3rd May, 1945
All military forces in
Germany
surrender to the Allies.
4th May, 1945
Denmark
liberated by Allied trrops.
5th May, 1945
End of the
Battle of the Atlantic
.
7th May, 1945
General
Alfred Jodl
signs the official surrender of Germany.
8th May, 1945
Winston Churchill
announces
VE day
.
8th May, 1945
The
German Army
in
Czechoslovakia
surrender to the
Red Army
.
9th May, 1945
Heinrich Himmler
commits suicide.
22nd May, 1945
William Joyce
(Lord Haw Haw) is captured at Flensburg.
28th May, 1945
Manhattan Project
scientists test
atom bomb
at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
16th July, 1945
United States Army Air Force
drops
atom bomb
on
Hiroshima
.
6th August, 1945
United States Army Air Force
drops
atom bomb
on
Nagasaki
.
9th August, 1945
General
Tomoyuki Yamashita
surrenders army in the
Philippines
.
2nd September, 1945
General
Douglas MacArthur
accepts Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.
2nd September, 1945
Political Figures: Second World War
Politicial Figures: Britain
Richard Acland