# World War II Timeline: 1939–1945, Every Front Side by Side

World War II from the invasion of Poland to Japan's surrender, with Europe, the Eastern Front, the Pacific, North Africa, the Holocaust and the home fronts in parallel lanes, plus the lead-up from 1931 and the postwar trials. Zoom in on Pearl Harbor, D-Day and Hiroshima to see them minute by minute.

- Interactive timeline: https://www.timelinetraveler.com/timeline/world-war-2-timeline
- Last updated: 2026-09-24
- 128 events in 6 lanes: Western Europe and Italy, Eastern Front, Pacific and Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean, The Holocaust, Home fronts and diplomacy
- Times are shown in UTC.

## Events

Events are in date order. Indented events happen within the event above them.

- **Sep 18, 1931** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_incident); [Wikipedia: Japanese invasion of Manchuria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution); [Wikipedia: The Holocaust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust)
  - **Sep 15, 1935** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Laws)
  - **Nov 9, 1938 – Nov 10, 1938** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Kristallnacht](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht)
  - **Nov 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto)
  - **Jun 1941** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/einsatzgruppen); [Wikipedia: Operation Barbarossa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa)
  - **Sep 29, 1941 – Sep 30, 1941** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kiev-and-babi-yar); [Wikipedia: Babi Yar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar)
  - **Dec 1941** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/chelmno)
  - **Jan 20, 1942** · 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"](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution); [Wikipedia: Wannsee Conference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference)
  - **Mar 1942 – Nov 1943** · 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)](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/operation-reinhard-einsatz-reinhard); [Wikipedia: Operation Reinhard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Reinhard)
    - **Jul 23, 1942 – Sep 21, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Treblinka](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/treblinka)
  - **Mar 1942** · 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.
    Sources: [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Auschwitz](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/auschwitz)
  - **Apr 19, 1943 – May 16, 1943** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/warsaw-ghetto-uprising); [Wikipedia: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising)
  - **May 15, 1944 – Jul 9, 1944** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hungary-after-the-german-occupation); [Wikipedia: The Holocaust in Hungary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Hungary)
  - **Jul 23, 1944** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps)
  - **Jan 27, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Liberation of Nazi Camps](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps)
  - **Apr 11, 1945 – Apr 29, 1945** · 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](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/buchenwald); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Bergen-Belsen](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/bergen-belsen); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Dachau](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/dachau); [Wikipedia: Dachau concentration camp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: Liberation of Nazi Camps](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps)
- **Jan 30, 1933** · 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.
  Sources: [Wikipedia: Adolf Hitler's rise to power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_rise_to_power)
- **Jul 7, 1937 – Sep 2, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War); [The National WWII Museum: Worldwide Deaths in World War II](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war)
  - **Jul 7, 1937** · 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.
    Sources: [Wikipedia: Marco Polo Bridge incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_incident)
  - **Dec 13, 1937 – Mar 1938** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre)
- **Mar 12, 1938** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss)
- **Sep 30, 1938** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement); [Imperial War Museums: How Britain Hoped to Avoid War with Germany in the 1930s](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-britain-hoped-to-avoid-war-with-germany-in-the-1930s)
- **Aug 2, 1939** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szilard_letter); [Wikipedia: Manhattan Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project)
- **Aug 23, 1939** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact)
- **Sep 1, 1939 – Sep 2, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II); [Wikipedia: World War II casualties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties); [The National WWII Museum: Worldwide Deaths in World War II](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war)
  - **Sep 1, 1939 – Oct 6, 1939** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland)
    - **Sep 17, 1939** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland)
  - **Sep 1939 – May 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Atlantic)
  - **Sep 3, 1939** · 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.
    Sources: [Wikipedia: Phoney War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War); [Wikipedia: Battle of France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France)
  - **Nov 30, 1939 – Mar 13, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War)
  - **Apr 9, 1940 – Jun 10, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Weser%C3%BCbung)
  - **May 10, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War); [Wikipedia: Winston Churchill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill)
  - **May 10, 1940 – Jun 25, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France)
    - **May 26, 1940 – Jun 4, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation)
    - **Jun 10, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France); [Wikipedia: North African campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign)
    - **Jun 22, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France)
  - **Jun 11, 1940 – May 13, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign)
    - **Apr 10, 1941 – Nov 27, 1941** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tobruk)
    - **Oct 23, 1942 – Nov 4, 1942** · 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.
      Sources: [Wikipedia: Second Battle of El Alamein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein)
    - **Nov 8, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Torch)
    - **May 13, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisian_campaign); [Wikipedia: North African campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign)
  - **Jul 10, 1940 – Oct 31, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain); [Imperial War Museums: 8 Things You Need to Know About the Battle of Britain](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/8-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-britain)
  - **Sep 7, 1940 – May 11, 1941** · 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.
    Sources: [Wikipedia: The Blitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz); [Wikipedia: Battle of Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain)
  - **Sep 27, 1940** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact)
  - **Mar 11, 1941** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease); [US Office of the Historian: Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease)
  - **Apr 6, 1941** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Yugoslavia); [Wikipedia: German invasion of Greece](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_invasion_of_Greece)
  - **Aug 14, 1941** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter)
  - **Dec 8, 1941, 17:30** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Infamy_speech)
  - **Dec 11, 1941** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_declaration_of_war_against_the_United_States)
  - **Feb 19, 1942** · 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](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9066); [Wikipedia: Executive Order 9066](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_9066)
  - **Jan 14, 1943 – Jan 24, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_Conference)
  - **Jul 10, 1943 – May 2, 1945** · 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)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_campaign_(World_War_II))
    - **Jul 10, 1943 – Aug 17, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_invasion_of_Sicily)
    - **Jul 25, 1943** · 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.
      Sources: [Wikipedia: Italian campaign (World War II)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_campaign_(World_War_II))
    - **Sep 3, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_Cassibile); [Wikipedia: Italian campaign (World War II)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_campaign_(World_War_II))
    - **Jan 17, 1944 – May 18, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino)
    - **Jan 22, 1944 – Jun 4, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anzio)
    - **Jun 4, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anzio); [Wikipedia: Italian campaign (World War II)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_campaign_(World_War_II))
  - **Nov 28, 1943 – Dec 1, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran_Conference)
  - **Jul 20, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot)
  - **Sep 17, 1944 – Sep 25, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden)
  - **Dec 16, 1944 – Jan 25, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge)
  - **Feb 4, 1945 – Feb 11, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference)
  - **Feb 13, 1945 – Feb 15, 1945** · 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.
    Sources: [Wikipedia: Bombing of Dresden in World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II)
  - **Apr 12, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II)
  - **May 7, 1945 – May 8, 1945, 21:01** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_in_Europe_Day)
    - **May 8, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_in_Europe_Day)
  - **Jun 26, 1945** · 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](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un); [Wikipedia: United Nations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations)
  - **Jul 17, 1945 – Aug 2, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Conference)
    - **Jul 26, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Declaration)
- **Jun 22, 1941 – May 9, 1945** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war); [Wikipedia: World War II casualties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties)
  - **Jun 22, 1941 – Dec 5, 1941** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa); [Imperial War Museums: What Was Operation Barbarossa?](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-operation-barbarossa)
  - **Sep 8, 1941 – Jan 27, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad)
  - **Sep 30, 1941 – Jan 7, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow)
  - **Aug 23, 1942 – Feb 2, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad)
    - **Nov 19, 1942 – Nov 23, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uranus); [Wikipedia: Battle of Stalingrad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad)
    - **Jan 31, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad)
  - **Jul 5, 1943 – Aug 23, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk)
  - **Jun 22, 1944 – Aug 19, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bagration)
  - **Aug 1, 1944 – Oct 2, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising)
  - **Apr 16, 1945 – May 2, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin)
    - **Apr 30, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler); [Wikipedia: Victory in Europe Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_in_Europe_Day)
- **Dec 7, 1941 – Sep 2, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II); [Wikipedia: World War II casualties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties)
  - **Dec 7, 1941, 16:40 – c. Dec 7, 1941, 20:18** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor); [The National WWII Museum: Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/pearl-harbor-december-7-1941); [Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-at-pearl-harbor); [Wikipedia: Time in Hawaii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Hawaii)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 16:40** · 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](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm); [Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 17:07** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor); [National Park Service: Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Timeline](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 17:32** · 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](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm); [Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 18:18** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor); [Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-at-pearl-harbor)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 18:19** · 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](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 18:36** · 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](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm); [Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-at-pearl-harbor); [Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 19:24** · 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](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm); [Imperial War Museums: What Happened at Pearl Harbor](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-at-pearl-harbor); [Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
    - **Dec 7, 1941, 19:40** · 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](https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/timeline.htm); [Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
  - **Feb 15, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Singapore)
  - **Apr 9, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March)
  - **Apr 18, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid)
  - **Jun 4, 1942 – Jun 7, 1942** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway); [Wikipedia: World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II)
  - **Aug 7, 1942 – Feb 9, 1943** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_campaign)
  - **Jun 19, 1944 – Jun 20, 1944** · 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.
    Sources: [Wikipedia: Battle of the Philippine Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Philippine_Sea)
  - **Oct 23, 1944 – Oct 26, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leyte_Gulf)
  - **Feb 19, 1945 – Mar 26, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima)
  - **Mar 10, 1945** · 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.
    Sources: [Wikipedia: Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Meetinghouse)
  - **Apr 1, 1945 – Jun 22, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa)
  - **Aug 5, 1945, 16:45 – Aug 6, 1945, 15:00** · 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](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/hiroshima.htm); [Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki)
    - **Aug 5, 1945, 16:45** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki); [Wikipedia: Enola Gay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay)
    - **Aug 5, 1945, 23:15** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki); [US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/hiroshima.htm)
    - **Aug 6, 1945, 15:00** · 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](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/hiroshima.htm); [Wikipedia: Daylight saving time in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States)
  - **Aug 9, 1945** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_War)
  - **Aug 9, 1945, 02:02** · 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](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/nagasaki.htm); [Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki)
  - **Aug 15, 1945, 03:00** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito_surrender_broadcast); [Wikipedia: Surrender of Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan)
  - **c. Sep 2, 1945, 00:00** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan)
- **Aug 13, 1942 – Jan 1947** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project)
  - **Jul 16, 1945, 11:29** · 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)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)); [US Department of Energy, OSTI: The Trinity Test, July 16, 1945](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/trinity.htm)
- **Jun 6, 1944 – Aug 30, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Overlord)
  - **Jun 5, 1944, 22:15 – Jun 6, 1944, 21:59** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings); [The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: British Double Summer Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Double_Summer_Time)
    - **Jun 5, 1944, 22:15** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Normandy landings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)
    - **Jun 5, 1944, 22:16** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadstick); [The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Normandy landings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)
    - **Jun 5, 1944, 23:51** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Normandy landings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)
    - **Jun 6, 1944, 04:30** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Normandy landings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings); [Wikipedia: Omaha Beach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Beach)
    - **Jun 6, 1944, 04:30** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Utah Beach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Beach)
    - **Jun 6, 1944, 05:11** · 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.
      Sources: [The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline)
    - **Jun 6, 1944, 05:25** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Normandy landings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)
    - **Jun 6, 1944, 05:30** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings); [The National WWII Museum: D-Day Timeline](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline)
    - **Jun 6, 1944, 05:45** · 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](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/d-day-timeline); [Wikipedia: Normandy landings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)
  - **Aug 19, 1944 – Aug 25, 1944** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_of_Paris)
- **Oct 24, 1945, 20:07** · 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](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un); [Wikipedia: United Nations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations)
- **Nov 20, 1945 – Oct 1, 1946** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials); [USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia: International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/international-military-tribunal-at-nuremberg)
- **Apr 29, 1946 – Nov 12, 1948** · 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East)

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