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Timeline of Key Events World War 2

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1939

  • Hitler invades Poland on 1 September 1939.  Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later.

 

1940

  • Rationing starts in the UK.

  • German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France.

  • Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.

  • British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk.

  • British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans.

 

1941

  • Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.

  • The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.

  • Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks.

  • Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war.

 

1942

  • Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein.

  • 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.

 

1943

  • 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.

  • British and Indian forces fight Japanese in Burma.

 

1944

  • Allies land at Anzio and bomb monastery at Monte Cassino.

  • Soviet offensive gathers pace in Eastern Europe.

  • D Day: The Allied invasion of France. Paris is liberated in August.

  • Guam liberated by the US Okinawa, and Iwo Jima bombed.

 

1945

  • Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops.

  • Russians reach Berlin: Hitler commits suicide and Germany surrenders on 7 May.

  • 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.

  • War ended 2nd September 1945.

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