Highlights of WWII 1939-1945

Germany invades Poland

Sep 1, 1939

Beginning of WWII

WWII

Period: Sep 1, 1939 to Aug 15, 1945

Allies declare war on Germany

Sep 3, 1939

Germany invades France

May 10, 1940

Miracle of Dunkirk

May 21, 1940

British soldiers, trapped between the English Channel and advancing German soldiers, are saved from France. 300,000 troops are saved.

France surrenders

Jun 22, 1940

Battle of Britain begins

Jul 10, 1940

Germany begins bombing Britain - Operation Sea Lion

Lend-Lease Act

Mar 11, 1941

Signed by the U.S.A.

Operation Barbarossa

Jun 22, 1941

The German invasion of Russia begins.

FDR and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter

Aug 14, 1941

Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941

Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz

Jun 1, 1942

Battle of Stalingrad begins

Sep 13, 1942

Himmler orders the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland

Jun 11, 1943

Mussolini arrested and the Italian Fascist govt. falls

Jul 25, 1943

After being rescued by Germany, Mussolini re-establishes his govt.

Sep 23, 1943

D-Day

Jun 6, 1944

Allied forces storm the shores on the northern coast of France

Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz

Oct 30, 1944

Mussolini is captured and killed by Italian partisans

Apr 28, 1945

Hitler commits suicide

Apr 30, 1945

Victory in Europe Day

May 8, 1945

First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan

Aug 6, 1945

Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan

Aug 9, 1945

Victory over Japan Day

Sep 2, 1945