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Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
the same day that Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of the UK - Germany invaded France, Belgium and Holland, and western Europe encountered the Blitzkrieg 'lightning war'. -
British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans.
The Battle of Britain, lasting from July to September, was the first to be fought solely in the air. Germany lacked planes but had many pilots . -
Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia
Hitler invaded Russia . Operation Barbarossa, as the invasion was called, began on 22 June. The initial advance was swift, with the fall of Sebastopol at the end of October, and Moscow coming under attack at the end of the year. -
Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein
The first Americans arrived in England in January - 'Over paid, over sexed and over here' as the gripe went - and in North Africa Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps began their counter-offensive -
Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins.
The news of mass murders of Jewish people by the Nazis reached the Allies, and the US pledged to avenge these crimes. -
British and Indian forces fight Japanese in Burma.
British and Indian troops began their guerrilla campaign in Burma. American progress continued in the Aleutian Islands, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. -
Nazi invasion of Poland
Hitler invades Poland on 1 September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later. -
Italy surrenders, but Germany takes over the battle.
By the end of the month Mussolini had fallen, and in September the Italians surrendered to the Allies, prompting a German invasion into northern Italy. -
D Day: The Allied invasion of France. Paris is liberated in August.
The Normandy landings were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Overlord and Operation Neptune, during World War II -
The first atomic bomb dropped in Japan
After atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders on 14 August.