Sep 18, 1931 – Nov 12, 1948·128 events
World War II Timeline: 1939–1945, Every Front Side by Side
All 128 events
In date order. Indented events happen within the event above them. Times are shown in UTC. Last updated September 24, 2026.
· Pacific and Asia
Mukden Incident: Japan moves on Manchuria
Japanese officers set off a small charge beside a Japanese-owned railway near Mukden (now Shenyang) and blamed Chinese dissidents. The Imperial Japanese Army used it as the pretext to occupy Manchuria, where Japan set up the puppet state of Manchukuo five months later.
Sources: Wikipedia: Mukden incident; Wikipedia: Japanese invasion of Manchuria
1933 – May 1945 · The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators murdered six million European Jews, nearly two of every three Jews in Europe, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The regime also persecuted and killed millions of others, including Roma, people with disabilities, Soviet prisoners of war and Poles.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Introduction to the Holocaust; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution; Wikipedia: The Holocaust
· The Holocaust
Nuremberg Laws strip German Jews of rights
At a special Reichstag session during the Nazi Party rally, the regime restricted citizenship to people of "German or related blood" and banned marriage and sexual relations between Jews and other Germans. A November decree defined who counted as Jewish.
Sources: Wikipedia: Nuremberg Laws
· The Holocaust
Kristallnacht pogrom
SA and SS men, with Hitler Youth members and civilians, attacked Jews across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. Rioters destroyed over 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms and over 7,000 Jewish businesses, and about 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.
Sources: Wikipedia: Kristallnacht; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Kristallnacht
· The Holocaust
Warsaw ghetto sealed off
German authorities walled off part of occupied Warsaw. As many as 460,000 Jews were confined in 3.4 square km, about nine people per room. Around 100,000 died of hunger and disease before mass deportations began in 1942.
Sources: Wikipedia: Warsaw Ghetto
· The Holocaust
Mass shootings begin in the occupied Soviet Union
Behind the invading armies, SS mobile killing units called Einsatzgruppen shot more than half a million people, most of them Jews, in the first nine months. At least 1.5 million and possibly more than 2 million Holocaust victims died in shootings or gas vans on Soviet territory.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Einsatzgruppen; Wikipedia: Operation Barbarossa
· The Holocaust
Massacre at Babyn Yar
German forces and their collaborators murdered about 33,771 Jews from Kyiv at the Babyn Yar ravine over two days. Killings at the site continued until the Soviets retook Kyiv in 1943.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Kyiv and Babyn Yar; Wikipedia: Babi Yar
· The Holocaust
Killing begins at Chełmno
Chełmno, in German-annexed Poland, was the first camp where the Nazis murdered Jews with poison gas. At least 152,000 Jews and 4,300 Roma were killed there.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Chełmno (Kulmhof) Killing Center
· The Holocaust
Wannsee Conference
Reinhard Heydrich gathered 15 senior Nazi Party and government officials at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to coordinate what they called the "Final Solution". Most of them already knew that mass murder of Jews was under way in the occupied Soviet Union.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution"; Wikipedia: Wannsee Conference
· The Holocaust
Operation Reinhard killing centers
The SS ran three killing centers in occupied Poland, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka, to murder the Jews of the General Government. About 1.7 million Jews were killed in these camps and related shootings, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Operation Reinhard (Einsatz Reinhard); Wikipedia: Operation Reinhard
· The Holocaust
Warsaw ghetto deportations to Treblinka
About 254,000 people from the Warsaw ghetto, or at least 300,000 by other accounts, were sent to Treblinka and murdered there. Treblinka's staff killed an estimated 925,000 Jews in all before the camp was dismantled in 1943.
Sources: Wikipedia: Warsaw Ghetto; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Treblinka
· The Holocaust
Auschwitz-Birkenau becomes a killing center
The SS began operating a killing center at Auschwitz-Birkenau. About 1.1 million people were murdered at the Auschwitz complex: about one million Jews, 70,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma and Sinti, and 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war.
· The Holocaust
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
When German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its remaining residents, Jewish fighters resisted for nearly four weeks, the largest Jewish uprising of the war. SS commander Jürgen Stroop ended it by destroying the ghetto block by block.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; Wikipedia: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
· The Holocaust
Deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz
After Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944, about 437,000 Jews were deported on 147 trains, most of them to Auschwitz, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Wikipedia gives over 434,000 and says about 80 percent were gassed on arrival.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Hungary after the German Occupation; Wikipedia: The Holocaust in Hungary
· The Holocaust
Soviet troops reach Majdanek
Soviet forces arrived at Majdanek, near Lublin, during the night of July 22 to 23 and found it virtually intact. It was the first major Nazi camp to be liberated.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Liberation of Nazi Camps
· The Holocaust
Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz
Soviet forces reached the largest Nazi killing center and concentration camp complex. The date has been marked since 2005 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Sources: Wikipedia: Auschwitz concentration camp; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Liberation of Nazi Camps
· The Holocaust
Western Allies liberate Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen and Dachau
As US forces neared Buchenwald on April 11, prisoners took control of the camp. British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, and US forces liberated Dachau, the first regular Nazi concentration camp, on April 29.
Sources: USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Buchenwald; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Bergen-Belsen; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Dachau; Wikipedia: Dachau concentration camp; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Liberation of Nazi Camps
· Western Europe and Italy
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
After backroom negotiations that included Franz von Papen and Hindenburg's son Oskar, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler chancellor. The new cabinet was sworn in the same day in Hindenburg's office.
· Pacific and Asia
Second Sino-Japanese War
Full-scale war between China and Japan began two years before fighting started in Europe and merged into the wider war after Pearl Harbor. The National WWII Museum puts China's dead at about 20 million and notes that Chinese civilian deaths alone may have exceeded 50 million.
Sources: Wikipedia: Second Sino-Japanese War; The National WWII Museum: Worldwide Deaths in World War II
· Pacific and Asia
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
Near Beijing, Japanese garrison troops claimed a soldier was missing and demanded entry to the town of Wanping. Fighting broke out while the complaint was still being negotiated, though the soldier had already returned. The clash is generally regarded as the start of the war.
· Pacific and Asia
Nanjing Massacre
After capturing China's capital, Japanese troops killed civilians and prisoners of war and committed mass rape for weeks. The Tokyo tribunal estimated more than 200,000 killed. Most newer estimates fall between 100,000 and 200,000; published figures range from 40,000 to over 340,000.
Sources: Wikipedia: Nanjing Massacre
· Western Europe and Italy
Germany annexes Austria
Austria was absorbed into Nazi Germany in the Anschluss. The peace treaties of 1919 had forbidden any union of the two states.
Sources: Wikipedia: Anschluss
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Munich Agreement
Germany, Britain, France and Italy agreed that Germany could annex the Sudetenland, the part of Czechoslovakia where about three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. In March 1939 Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Sources: Wikipedia: Munich Agreement; Imperial War Museums: How Britain Hoped to Avoid War with Germany in the 1930s
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Einstein letter warns Roosevelt of atomic bombs
A letter drafted by Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner and signed by Albert Einstein warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt that uranium research could lead to "extremely powerful bombs of a new type".
Sources: Wikipedia: Einstein–Szilard letter; Wikipedia: Manhattan Project
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact in Moscow. A secret protocol divided Poland and put Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Bessarabia in the Soviet sphere. It was signed in the early hours of August 24 and dated August 23.
Sources: Wikipedia: Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
· Western Europe and Italy
World War II
The deadliest conflict in history, fought between the Allies and the Axis. Estimates of the dead run from 60 million to more than 75 million, most of them civilians. The National WWII Museum gives about 15 million battle deaths and 45 million civilian deaths, and notes that estimates vary widely.
Sources: Wikipedia: World War II; Wikipedia: World War II casualties; The National WWII Museum: Worldwide Deaths in World War II
· Eastern Front
Germany invades Poland
German and Slovak forces attacked Poland from the north, south and west, and Britain and France declared war two days later. The Soviet Union invaded from the east on September 17. By October 6 the two powers had divided Poland, as their pact's secret protocol provided.
Sources: Wikipedia: Invasion of Poland
· Eastern Front
Soviet Union invades eastern Poland
The Red Army crossed into Poland without a declaration of war, 16 days after Germany invaded, and took some 320,000 Polish prisoners of war. In November the Soviet government annexed the territory it held.
Sources: Wikipedia: Soviet invasion of Poland
· Western Europe and Italy
Battle of the Atlantic
The longest continuous campaign of the war pitted German U-boats, warships and aircraft against the convoys supplying Britain and the Soviet Union. About 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships were sunk in the Atlantic, for the loss of 783 U-boats.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of the Atlantic
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Honoring their treaty obligations to Poland, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, and France followed hours later. Little fighting followed in the west until May 1940, a period called the Phoney War.
· Eastern Front
Winter War: Soviet Union invades Finland
Finland refused Soviet demands for border territory near Leningrad, and the Soviet Union invaded. It made little early headway and suffered severe losses. The Moscow Peace Treaty ended the war, and the League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union.
Sources: Wikipedia: Winter War
· Western Europe and Italy
Germany invades Denmark and Norway
German forces rapidly occupied Denmark, whose government did not declare war, and landed in Norway, with the invasion fleet's landing time set for 05:15. Fighting in Norway lasted until June 10.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Weserübung
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Churchill becomes prime minister
Winston Churchill succeeded Neville Chamberlain as British prime minister on the day Germany invaded France and the Low Countries. He formed a war cabinet that included Labour leader Clement Attlee.
Sources: Wikipedia: Phoney War; Wikipedia: Winston Churchill
· Western Europe and Italy
Battle of France
Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Armored units advanced through the Ardennes and cut off the Allied armies in Belgium. France signed an armistice on June 22, and Axis troops occupied the north and west of the country.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of France
· Western Europe and Italy
Dunkirk evacuation
A fleet of over 800 vessels carried 338,226 British, French and other Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk to Britain. Only 7,669 got away on the first day.
Sources: Wikipedia: Dunkirk evacuation
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
Italy enters the war
Italy joined the war on Germany's side and began an invasion of southern France. Fighting in North Africa started the next day with British raids into Italian Libya.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of France; Wikipedia: North African campaign
· Western Europe and Italy
France signs armistice at Compiègne
France and Germany signed the Second Armistice at Compiègne. Germany occupied northern and western France, and Italy a small area in the southeast.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of France
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
North African campaign
British and Commonwealth forces, joined by the United States from 1942, fought Italian and German armies across Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. It began with British raids into Italian Libya and ended with the Axis surrender in Tunisia.
Sources: Wikipedia: North African campaign
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
Siege of Tobruk
German and Italian forces under Rommel besieged the Libyan port, held mostly by the 9th Australian Division. The British Eighth Army relieved it after 231 days.
Sources: Wikipedia: Siege of Tobruk
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
Second Battle of El Alamein
Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army broke the Axis Panzerarmee Afrika in a 13-day battle and forced it to retreat from Egypt and Libya toward Tunisia, ending the Axis threat to the Middle East.
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
Operation Torch landings
American and British troops landed in Vichy French Morocco and Algeria, at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, opening a second front in North Africa and putting US forces into the fight against Germany and Italy.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Torch
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
Axis forces surrender in Tunisia
The Tunisian campaign ended with over 260,000 German and Italian troops taken prisoner, including most of the Afrika Korps. No Axis armies were left in North Africa.
Sources: Wikipedia: Tunisian campaign; Wikipedia: North African campaign
· Western Europe and Italy
Battle of Britain
The Royal Air Force defended Britain against the Luftwaffe in the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces. Germany aimed to force a negotiated peace. These are the official British dates; German historians do not use them.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Britain; Imperial War Museums: 8 Things You Need to Know About the Battle of Britain
· Home fronts and diplomacy
The Blitz
German bombers attacked British cities, starting with London, which was bombed on 56 of the next 57 days and nights. More than 40,000 civilians were killed, almost half of them in London. Accounts put the end on May 11 or May 16, 1941.
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact
Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburo Kurusu signed the pact in Berlin in Hitler's presence, binding the three Axis powers together.
Sources: Wikipedia: Tripartite Pact
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Lend-Lease Act signed
The law let the still-neutral United States supply the Allies. By the time it ended in September 1945, $50.1 billion of supplies had been shipped: $31.4 billion to Britain, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France and $1.6 billion to China.
Sources: Wikipedia: Lend-Lease; US Office of the Historian: Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies
· North Africa and the Mediterranean
Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
Axis forces attacked Yugoslavia and Greece on the same day. Yugoslavia signed an armistice on April 17. German troops reached Athens on April 27 and Greece's southern shore on April 30, and German landings on Crete followed in May.
Sources: Wikipedia: Invasion of Yugoslavia; Wikipedia: German invasion of Greece
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and Churchill, meeting at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, issued a joint statement of American and British goals for the postwar world, four months before the United States entered the war.
Sources: Wikipedia: Atlantic Charter
· Home fronts and diplomacy
"Infamy" speech; US declares war on Japan
Roosevelt spoke to a joint session of Congress for about six and a half minutes at 12:30 pm Eastern time (UTC-5). Soon after, Congress declared war on Japan with near unanimity.
Sources: Wikipedia: Day of Infamy speech
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Germany declared war on the United States, and Mussolini announced Italy's declaration the same day. The United States declared war on Germany in return.
Sources: Wikipedia: German declaration of war against the United States
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Executive Order 9066
Roosevelt authorized the removal of people deemed a threat from military zones on the West Coast. About 122,000 Japanese Americans were forced into assembly centers and then camps; nearly 70,000 of them were US citizens, according to the National Archives.
Sources: National Archives: Executive Order 9066; Wikipedia: Executive Order 9066
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Casablanca Conference
Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to demand the Axis powers' unconditional surrender, to invade Sicily and Italy before France, and to intensify the bombing of Germany.
Sources: Wikipedia: Casablanca Conference
· Western Europe and Italy
Italian campaign
Allied forces invaded Sicily and then the Italian mainland. Mussolini fell and Italy signed an armistice, but German forces occupied northern and central Italy and fought on until Army Group C surrendered on May 2, 1945.
Sources: Wikipedia: Italian campaign (World War II)
· Western Europe and Italy
Invasion of Sicily
Operation Husky began on the night of July 9 to 10 with amphibious and airborne landings, followed by a six-week campaign that ended on August 17.
Sources: Wikipedia: Allied invasion of Sicily
· Western Europe and Italy
Mussolini deposed and arrested
After the invasion of Sicily, King Victor Emmanuel III had Benito Mussolini deposed and arrested, and the Fascist regime collapsed.
· Western Europe and Italy
Italy signs an armistice with the Allies
Italy signed the armistice at Cassibile in Sicily on the day British troops landed on the toe of Italy. It was kept secret until September 8; US troops landed at Salerno the next day.
Sources: Wikipedia: Armistice of Cassibile; Wikipedia: Italian campaign (World War II)
· Western Europe and Italy
Battles of Monte Cassino
The Allies made four assaults on the Gustav Line around Monte Cassino. On February 15, bombers dropped 1,400 tonnes of explosives on the hilltop abbey, which German troops then occupied as a defensive position.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Monte Cassino
· Western Europe and Italy
Anzio landings
US and British troops landed behind the German Winter Line in Operation Shingle, aiming to outflank it and open the road to Rome. The fighting at Anzio ended with the capture of Rome in June.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Anzio
· Western Europe and Italy
Allies enter Rome
After the Axis defeats at Cassino and Anzio, Allied troops entered Rome, two days before the Normandy landings.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Anzio; Wikipedia: Italian campaign (World War II)
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Tehran Conference
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met together for the first time, at the Soviet embassy in Tehran. The main outcome was a British and American commitment to open a second front against Germany.
Sources: Wikipedia: Tehran Conference
· Western Europe and Italy
July 20 plot against Hitler
Claus von Stauffenberg set off a briefcase bomb in a meeting with Hitler, who was only slightly injured. The plotters' coup attempt failed and was followed by a purge of the army.
Sources: Wikipedia: 20 July plot
· Western Europe and Italy
Operation Market Garden
American, British and Polish airborne troops tried to seize nine bridges in the occupied Netherlands to open a route over the Lower Rhine into Germany. The operation failed in its main objective, the Rhine bridge at Arnhem.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Market Garden
· Western Europe and Italy
Battle of the Bulge
Germany's surprise offensive through the Ardennes aimed to split the Allied lines and stop Allied use of Antwerp. It was the largest and bloodiest single battle the United States fought in the war, with 77,000 to more than 83,000 Allied casualties, including at least 8,600 killed.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of the Bulge
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Yalta Conference
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed on zones of occupation for Germany, with one for France, and Stalin pledged to enter the war against Japan "in two or three months after Germany has surrendered".
Sources: Wikipedia: Yalta Conference
· Western Europe and Italy
Bombing of Dresden
RAF and US bombers dropped more than 3,900 tons of bombs on Dresden, and the firestorm destroyed the city center. Authorities at the time estimated up to 25,000 dead, a figure a 2010 study commissioned by the city council supported.
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Roosevelt dies; Truman becomes president
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
Sources: Wikipedia: World War II
· Western Europe and Italy
Germany surrenders unconditionally
Alfred Jodl signed Germany's surrender at Allied headquarters in Reims on May 7, and a definitive version was signed in Berlin on May 8. It took effect at 23:01 Central European time on May 8, already May 9 in Moscow, which is why Russia marks victory on May 9.
Sources: Wikipedia: Victory in Europe Day
· Western Europe and Italy
VE Day
Crowds celebrated Victory in Europe Day across Allied countries. In a 3 pm radio broadcast, Churchill told Britons they could allow themselves "a brief period of rejoicing" while Japan remained undefeated.
Sources: Wikipedia: Victory in Europe Day
· Home fronts and diplomacy
United Nations Charter signed
Representatives of 50 countries signed the Charter of the United Nations at the close of the San Francisco conference, which had opened on April 25.
Sources: United Nations: History of the United Nations; Wikipedia: United Nations
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Potsdam Conference
Truman, Stalin and Churchill, replaced during the talks by Clement Attlee after the British election, confirmed Germany's division into four occupation zones and moved its eastern border west to the Oder–Neisse line.
Sources: Wikipedia: Potsdam Conference
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Potsdam Declaration demands Japan's surrender
The United States, Britain and China told Japan that if it did not surrender unconditionally it would face "prompt and utter destruction".
Sources: Wikipedia: Potsdam Declaration
· Eastern Front
German–Soviet war
The war between Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union was the largest front of the war. Soviet deaths are estimated at about 24 million by the National WWII Museum and 26.6 million in Russian government figures.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: Worldwide Deaths in World War II; Wikipedia: World War II casualties
· Eastern Front
Operation Barbarossa: Germany invades the Soviet Union
More than 3.8 million Axis troops attacked along a front of about 2,900 km. By the time the operation ended in December there were over 8 million casualties. The Axis eventually captured five million Soviet soldiers and killed 3.3 million prisoners of war.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Barbarossa; Imperial War Museums: What Was Operation Barbarossa?
· Eastern Front
Siege of Leningrad
German and Finnish forces cut the city's land routes and besieged it for 872 days. An estimated 1.5 million people died, from a prewar population of 3.2 million. A narrow corridor opened in January 1943, and the siege was fully broken on January 27, 1944.
Sources: Wikipedia: Siege of Leningrad
· Eastern Front
Battle of Moscow
Germany's Operation Typhoon aimed to take the Soviet capital. The advance stalled, and Soviet counteroffensives pushed German armies back 100 to 250 km before halting on January 7. Accounts date the start to September 30 or October 2, 1941.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Moscow
· Eastern Front
Battle of Stalingrad
The German 6th Army fought the Red Army for the city on the Volga in the deadliest battle of the war. Axis casualties are put at 800,000 to 1.5 million; Soviet archival figures give 1,129,619, including 478,741 killed or missing. Some accounts date it from July 17.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Stalingrad
· Eastern Front
Operation Uranus encircles the 6th Army
The Red Army struck the Romanian armies guarding the 6th Army's flanks and within four days encircled the Axis forces around Stalingrad.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Uranus; Wikipedia: Battle of Stalingrad
· Eastern Front
Paulus surrenders at Stalingrad
Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered at the Soviet 64th Army's headquarters. The last German troops in the city gave up on February 2, the first of Hitler's field armies to surrender; about 91,000 prisoners were taken.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Stalingrad
· Eastern Front
Battle of Kursk
Germany's Operation Citadel attacked the Kursk salient from north and south and was defeated. Wikipedia calls it the largest battle in history and the deadliest armored battle; its opening day saw more aircraft shot down than any other day of air war.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Kursk
· Eastern Front
Operation Bagration
The Soviet summer offensive in Byelorussia destroyed 28 divisions of Germany's Army Group Centre, the largest defeat in German military history. It began just over two weeks after D-Day, forcing Germany to fight major fronts in the east and west at once.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Bagration
· Eastern Front
Warsaw Uprising
The Polish Home Army rose against the German occupiers as the Red Army neared the city and then halted. After 63 days the Home Army surrendered. Between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, and German forces razed the city.
Sources: Wikipedia: Warsaw Uprising
· Eastern Front
Battle of Berlin
Two Soviet fronts attacked Berlin from the east and south while a third overran German forces to the north. Soviet artillery shelled the city from April 20, Hitler's 56th birthday, and the garrison surrendered on May 2.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Berlin
· Eastern Front
Hitler dies by suicide in Berlin
With the Battle of Berlin being lost, Adolf Hitler shot himself in the Führerbunker. His successor as head of state, Karl Dönitz, authorized Germany's surrender.
Sources: Wikipedia: Death of Adolf Hitler; Wikipedia: Victory in Europe Day
· Pacific and Asia
Pacific War
Japan attacked American and British territories across Asia and the Pacific, conquered much of Southeast Asia, and was then pushed back island by island. The Japanese government puts its war dead at 3.1 million.
Sources: Wikipedia: World War II; Wikipedia: World War II casualties
· Pacific and Asia
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese carrier aircraft struck the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 Americans and wounding 1,178. Hawaii then kept time at UTC-10:30. The National WWII Museum says the attack took less than 90 minutes; the Imperial War Museums says two hours.
Sources: Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor; The National WWII Museum: Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941; Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor; Wikipedia: Time in Hawaii
· Pacific and Asia
First wave launches north of Oahu
The first A6M Zero fighter lifted off the carrier Akagi, followed by more than 180 aircraft led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida.
Sources: National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline; Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor
· Pacific and Asia
USS Ward sinks a midget submarine
The destroyer Ward attacked and sank a Japanese midget submarine near the harbor entrance, the first American shots of the Pacific war. Its report was still being processed when the air attack began.
Sources: Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor; National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline
· Pacific and Asia
Opana radar detects the incoming planes
Two Army privates at the new Opana radar site saw a large formation about 130 miles north. It was approaching from almost the same direction as a flight of American B-17 bombers expected that morning, and no alert followed.
Sources: National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline; Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor
· Pacific and Asia
The air attack begins
Torpedo bombers went for the battleships while dive bombers struck Hickam, Wheeler and the other airfields. 7:48 am Hawaii time was 6:18 pm GMT.
Sources: Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor; Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor
· Pacific and Asia
"Tora, tora, tora" signals surprise
The attack leader's radio signal told the fleet that complete surprise had been achieved. The National Park Service timeline gives 7:49.
Sources: National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline
· Pacific and Asia
USS Arizona explodes
A bomb set off the battleship's forward magazine. Of 1,512 men aboard, 335 survived, per the National Park Service; the Imperial War Museums gives 1,177 killed. Nearly half of all American deaths that day were aboard Arizona. The Park Service timeline gives 8:06.
Sources: National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline; Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor; Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor
· Pacific and Asia
Second wave attacks
About 170 more aircraft struck airfields and ships; counts range from 163 to 171. Within two hours, 21 US warships had been sunk or damaged and 188 aircraft destroyed, according to the Imperial War Museums.
Sources: National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline; Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor; Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor
· Pacific and Asia
USS Nevada run aground at Hospital Point
With her captain ashore, the battleship Nevada got under way during the attack and was grounded at Hospital Point.
Sources: National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline; Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor
· Pacific and Asia
Singapore surrenders
Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore to General Tomoyuki Yamashita after a week of fighting on the island. About 80,000 British, Indian, Australian and local troops became prisoners, Britain's largest surrender in history.
Sources: Wikipedia: Fall of Singapore
· Pacific and Asia
Bataan Death March
After the fall of Bataan in the Philippines, Japanese troops forced about 72,000 to 78,000 Filipino and American prisoners to march toward Camp O'Donnell. Estimates of deaths on the march range from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipinos and 500 to 650 Americans.
Sources: Wikipedia: Bataan Death March
· Pacific and Asia
Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
Sixteen B-25 bombers launched from the carrier USS Hornet struck Tokyo and other cities on Honshu, the first American air raid on the Japanese home islands. Damage was minor, but the raid showed Japan could be hit.
Sources: Wikipedia: Doolittle Raid
· Pacific and Asia
Battle of Midway
US carrier aircraft sank all four Japanese fleet carriers present, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, for the loss of the carrier Yorktown. Japan's advance in the Pacific was halted.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Midway; Wikipedia: World War II
· Pacific and Asia
Guadalcanal campaign
US Marines landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Island in the Solomons, the first major Allied land offensive against Japan. Six months of land and naval battles followed.
Sources: Wikipedia: Guadalcanal campaign
· Pacific and Asia
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The largest carrier battle in history, with 24 carriers and about 1,350 aircraft, ended Japan's ability to fight large carrier actions. American pilots called the air battle the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
· Pacific and Asia
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The largest naval battle of the war, involving over 200,000 naval personnel, defeated Japan's attempt to repel the US invasion of the Philippines. Japanese aircraft made their first organized kamikaze attacks, and battleships fought each other for the last time.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Leyte Gulf
· Pacific and Asia
Battle of Iwo Jima
US Marines captured the fortified island and its airfields. Of about 21,000 Japanese defenders, 216 were taken prisoner. The Navy Department Library counts more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Iwo Jima
· Pacific and Asia
Firebombing of Tokyo
Overnight from March 9 to 10, 279 B-29 bombers over the target dropped incendiaries on Tokyo. More than 90,000 and possibly over 100,000 people were killed, most of them civilians, and one million were left homeless.
· Pacific and Asia
Battle of Okinawa
The largest amphibious assault in the Pacific opened an 82-day battle marked by mass kamikaze attacks. Local authorities count at least 149,425 Okinawans killed, dead by coerced suicide or missing; over 12,000 Americans were killed or missing.
Sources: Wikipedia: Battle of Okinawa
· Pacific and Asia
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
A single uranium bomb destroyed most of Hiroshima. The Department of Energy history estimates some 70,000 died from the blast, heat and radiation and over 100,000 by the end of 1945. Wikipedia gives 90,000 to 166,000 deaths within two to four months.
Sources: US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945; Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
· Pacific and Asia
Enola Gay takes off from Tinian
Colonel Paul Tibbets flew the B-29 from North Field on Tinian, about six hours from Japan, with two other B-29s carrying instruments and cameras. Tinian time was UTC+10, an hour ahead of Japan.
Sources: Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Wikipedia: Enola Gay
· Pacific and Asia
Little Boy explodes over Hiroshima
The bomb was released at 8:15 am Hiroshima time (UTC+9) and fell for 44.4 seconds before exploding about 580 m above the city. Radio and telegraph contact with Hiroshima ended at 8:16. In UTC it was 23:15 on August 5.
Sources: Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
· Pacific and Asia
Truman announces the atomic bomb
About 16 hours after the attack, US radio stations played a statement from President Truman announcing "an atomic bomb" and warning Japan to surrender. It aired at 11 am Washington time, then War Time (UTC-4).
Sources: US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945; Wikipedia: Daylight saving time in the United States
· Pacific and Asia
Soviet Union invades Manchuria
Just over an hour after declaring war on Japan, the Soviet Union attacked Manchuria on three fronts at one minute past midnight local time, meeting the Yalta deadline of three months after Germany's surrender.
Sources: Wikipedia: Soviet–Japanese War
· Pacific and Asia
Atomic bombing of Nagasaki
Haze over the primary target, Kokura, sent the B-29 Bockscar to Nagasaki, where the plutonium bomb exploded at 11:02 am. The Department of Energy history estimates 40,000 died at once and about 70,000 by January 1946; Wikipedia gives 60,000 to 80,000 within months.
Sources: US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945; Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
· Pacific and Asia
Hirohito announces surrender on the radio
Emperor Hirohito's recorded address was broadcast at noon Japan time. In the early hours of the same day, army officers had seized the NHK broadcasting building in a failed attempt to stop it.
Sources: Wikipedia: Hirohito surrender broadcast; Wikipedia: Surrender of Japan
· Pacific and Asia
Japan signs the surrender aboard USS Missouri
Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender in Tokyo Bay around 9 am Tokyo time, with about 250 Allied ships present, formally ending the war.
Sources: Wikipedia: Surrender of Japan
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Manhattan Project
The US program, run with Britain and Canada, built the first nuclear weapons. It employed nearly 130,000 people at its peak and cost nearly $2 billion. General Leslie Groves directed it, and J. Robert Oppenheimer led the Los Alamos laboratory that designed the bombs.
Sources: Wikipedia: Manhattan Project
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Trinity test: first nuclear explosion
The US Army detonated the first nuclear weapon in the New Mexico desert at 5:29 am Mountain War Time (UTC-6). Its yield was later calculated at 21 kilotons. The Department of Energy's history gives the time as 5:30.
Sources: Wikipedia: Trinity (nuclear test); US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Trinity Test, July 16, 1945
· Western Europe and Italy
Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord)
The Western Allies landed in Normandy and fought their way inland. Thirty-nine Allied divisions, over a million troops, were committed. German forces retreated east across the Seine on August 30, closing the operation.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Overlord
· Western Europe and Italy
D-Day: the Normandy landings
About 24,000 airborne troops landed after midnight and seaborne forces came ashore on five beaches from 6:30 am. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead; German losses are estimated at 4,000 to 9,000. Allied times were British Double Summer Time, UTC+2.
Sources: Wikipedia: Normandy landings; The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: British Double Summer Time
· Western Europe and Italy
US pathfinders jump behind Utah Beach
Pathfinders of the US 101st Airborne Division jumped minutes after midnight to mark drop zones for the paratroopers who followed. In UTC it was still June 5.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Normandy landings
· Western Europe and Italy
British gliders seize the Orne bridges
Glider troops of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry landed beside the Caen Canal and Orne River bridges near Bénouville and took both intact within 15 minutes, the first Allied action of D-Day. The canal bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge.
Sources: Wikipedia: Operation Deadstick; The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Normandy landings
· Western Europe and Italy
82nd Airborne reaches its drop zones
Paratroopers of the US 82nd Airborne arrived in 369 C-47 transports over zones near Sainte-Mère-Église. The National WWII Museum gives 1:51 am; Wikipedia says the division began arriving around 2:30.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Normandy landings
· Western Europe and Italy
H-Hour on Omaha Beach
The US 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions landed the first waves under heavy fire. Omaha, beneath high bluffs, had the most casualties of the five beaches, and its D-Day objectives were not reached until June 9.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Normandy landings; Wikipedia: Omaha Beach
· Western Europe and Italy
H-Hour on Utah Beach
The 8th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division landed first. Currents pushed the troops over a mile from their target beach, but they secured the area with few casualties.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Utah Beach
· Western Europe and Italy
Rangers land at Pointe du Hoc
225 US Rangers landed 41 minutes behind schedule to climb the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. Because they were late, their reinforcements were diverted to Omaha Beach.
· Western Europe and Italy
British land on Gold Beach
Because of the tides, the British 50th Division landed an hour after the American beaches. By the end of the day, troops from Gold and Juno had linked up.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Normandy landings
· Western Europe and Italy
British land on Sword Beach
The British 3rd Division landed on the eastern flank, and 21 of 25 amphibious tanks in the first wave got ashore. Wikipedia gives 7:30 for the infantry; the National WWII Museum gives 7:00.
Sources: Wikipedia: Normandy landings; The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline
· Western Europe and Italy
Canadians land on Juno Beach
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed 15 minutes behind schedule and met strong resistance. Casualties at Juno were 961 men.
Sources: The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline; Wikipedia: Normandy landings
· Western Europe and Italy
Liberation of Paris
Fighting in the city began on August 19. The German garrison surrendered on August 25, more than four years after the armistice of June 1940.
Sources: Wikipedia: Liberation of Paris
· Home fronts and diplomacy
United Nations founded
The UN Charter came into force once China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of the other signatories had ratified it.
Sources: United Nations: History of the United Nations; Wikipedia: United Nations
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Nuremberg trials
The International Military Tribunal tried 22 leading Nazi officials, one of them in absentia, and six organizations. Twelve defendants were sentenced to death.
Sources: Wikipedia: Nuremberg trials; USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg
· Home fronts and diplomacy
Tokyo war crimes trial
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East tried Japan's wartime leaders. Seven, including Hideki Tojo, were sentenced to death and sixteen to life imprisonment.
Sources: Wikipedia: International Military Tribunal for the Far East