The Second World War. The First phase of WW2: 1939-1940

Germany invaded Poland

Sep 1, 1939

Following the German-Soviet non-aggression treaty, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and by the Soviet Union on 17 September. The campaigns ended in early October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. After the German attack on the Soviet Union in summer 1941, Poland was occupied by Germany alone.
Under the two occupations, Polish citizens suffered enormous human and material losses.

N.Chamberlain reads the declaration of war.

Sep 3, 1939

At 11:15 a.m. British Standard Time (BST), British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces on BBC Radio that the deadline of the final British ultimatum for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland expired at 11:00am and that "consequently this nation is at war with Germany". Australia, India, and New Zealand also declare war on Germany within hours of Britain's declaration.

Auschwitz

Oct 12, 1939

Adolf Eichmann begins deporting Jews from Austria and Czechoslovakia into Poland.The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos: hólos, "whole" and kaustós, "burnt"), also known as the Shoah (Hebrew: השואה, HaShoah, "the catastrophe"), was a genocide in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and its collaborators killed about six million Jews. The number includes about one million children and represented about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe.

Hitler occupied Denmark and Sweden

Mar 1, 1940

Adolf Hitler directs his generals in planning the invasion of Denmark and Sweden.

Stalin occupied Poland

Mar 3, 1940

Soviets begin attacks on Viipuri, Finland's second largest city.
US witness report found on Stalin's Katyn massacre.

Italy entered the war on the side of Hitler.

Jun 10, 1940

Mussolini declares war on France and the United Kingdom.

Nazi occupation of Paris

Jun 13, 1940

Paris occupied by German troops.

The French government in exile

Jun 18, 1940

General De Gaulle forms the Comité français de la Libération nationale, a French government in exile. June 18, 1940. General Charles de Gaulle gave a speech on the BBC from London, urging the French to resist the Nazis, and organized the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in Britain.

Italian Army occupied South France

Jun 21, 1940

Franco-German armistice negotiations begin at Compiègne.
Elements of two Italian armies cross into France during Italian invasion of France.

Gen. Petain and Hitler

Jun 22, 1940

Adolf Hitler and Marshal Petain consolidate their contract on the sub-division of France.1940.

France surrendered to Germany

Jun 25, 1940

France officially surrenders to Germany at 01:35.
(north occupied by the Germans, Vichy collaborationist government to the south)

Operation Sea Lion

Jul 16, 1940

Hitler orders preparations for the invasion of England, under the codename Operation Sea Lion.

The Battle of England

Aug 13, 1940

German Heinkel He-111 bomber aircraft during the Battle of Britain.1940 August 13. The Battle of Britain reaches its most intense phase, with 1500 German planes involved in a single day's assault.

The Blitz

Sep 7, 1940

The Blitz
September 1940-May 1941
The Blitz was Nazi Germany's sustained aerial bombing campaign against Britain in World War Two. The raids killed 43,000 civilians and lasted for eight months, petering out when Hitler began to focus on his plans for Russian invasion in May 1941.