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Soviet troops invade Finland.
Soviet troops invade Finland in order to control more land. This resulted in the League of Nations expelling them from the League on 14 December 1939. This also ended up with a Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. -
Mussolini and Hitler announce Italy's formal alliance with Germany against England and France.
Mussolini and Hitler teamed up in order to try to take down Britain and France. Hitler has also gave support to Mussolini that helped him become the leader of Italy. -
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns
After British forces suffered defeat in Norway, Chamberlain's own party began to rebel against him which resulted in him being forced to resign. Churchill then replaced him as prime minister in May of 1940. -
The German Blitzkrieg beings
After the "phony war" where nothing happened for a period of time. Germany then uses their blitzkrieg against Netherlands and Belgium. This surprise attack was extremely efficient as Germany used a majority of it's army to catch their enemy off guard. -
Italy declares war on Britain and France
Benito Mussolini the dictator of Italy decides to declare war on Britain and France shortly after Germany takes over Paris. However Italy only joined long after Hitler asked him to. -
German troops enter Paris
German troops entered the capitol of France without any resistance. Allied troops retreated to prevent a violent and the destruction of Paris. Which is why the French's military governor declared Paris to be an open town. -
Royal Air Force begins night bombing of German targets.
During the night of August 25th, 95 aircraft were dispatched to bomb Tempelhof Airport near the center of Berlin and Siemensstadt. These bombings caused Hitler to swtich from targetting Birith airfields, defenceses to British cities. -
Britain receives its first American "Lend-Lease" aid shipments of food.
During the war, America sent resources to countries that needed it, for example, China, Britiain and the USSR. On this day, million tons of food has arrived for Britain. However the countries eventually did have to pay America back. -
German troops invade Soviet Russia
German troops invade Soviet Russia, breaking the German-Soviet Pact signed 2 years ago. German troops surprised them and advanced rapidly and took over cities. However the Soviet still withstood the attacks and soon the Germans would start to get weakened harshly by the winter conditions in Russia. -
President Roosevelt issues an order that German or Italian ships sighted in U.S. waters will be attacked immediately.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave orders to attack any German or Italian vessels found in U.S. defensive waters. This is because U.S. had not officially entered World War II at this time. -
Battle of Hong Kong
The attack was in violation of international law as Japan had not declared war against the British Empire. Japan was met with troops in Hongkong that consisted of people from Britain, Canada and Indians. However this colony still fell despite the amount of troops defending it.
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Japanese troops invade the Dutch East Indies.
The indonesians initially welcomed the Japanese as liberators from Dutch colonial masters but this changed after they had to endure more hardship for the war effort. -
The Philippines fall to Japanese troops.
The invasion of the Phillippines was to prevent the use of the Philippines as an advance base of operations by America. They also wanted To acquire staging areas and supply bases to enhance operations against the Netherlands East Indies. -
Battle of Dieppe
6000 Allied trooops whom were mostly Canadians attacked the northern coast of France. This raid was to gather information or seizing a major port. However the battle was incredible loss for the Allied forces.
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The Battle of Stalingrad begins.
German and it's allied forces fought to gain control over the Soviet Union's city Stalingard.This however turned out to be a loss for the Axis forces. -
Canada helps protecting Australia.
Forces representing Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. capture the southeastern tip of New Guinea from Japanese troops, in an attempt to protect Australia from a Japanese invasion.
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British forces capture Tripoli.
British 8th army marched into Tripoli, later occupying the Libyan capital. This forced Axis forces to retreat back into Tunisia -
Allied forces capture Guadalcanal
Allied troops whom were mainly American took over the islands on this day. The americans were trying to use it as bases to support a campaing to eventually capture the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. -
The Battle of Kursk begins.
The Germans had hoped to weaken the Soviet's offensive potential in the summer of 1943 by cutting off a large number of forces that they anticipated would be in the Kursk salient. However the Soviet had an early notice of this attack by the British Intelligence service, so they built a defence in depth designed to wear down the German panzer spearheads. -
Allied invasion of Sicily
On this day the Allied forces took Sicily from the Axis Powers ,This then launched the Italy campaign. Futhermore, Benito Mussolini was removed from power in Italy. -
Allied invasion of mainland Italy
This operation followed after capturing Sicily back, The main invasion force landed around Salerno on the western coast in Operation Avalanche. The Allied forces was victorious in this battle.
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Soviet troops retake Kiev.
On this day, German troops were defeated and Soviet troops reclaim Kiev after a few attempts. -
The Battle of Monte Cassino
General Juin's French troops captured Monte Santa Croce. This was in the Gustav Line which was a series of defense lines to delay the Allied advance toward Rome and Italy. -
D Day
Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The allied forces won the battle while Canadian troops secured the beaches in less than a week.
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German V1 remote-controlled rockets begin to hit London
German rockets rained down London a week after D-Day. 100 V-1s fell every hour on London and over 6000 people died with more than 17,000 injured. However they eventually destroyed all the launch sites so the bombings stopped. -
Liberation of Minsk
Soviet troops fight off German forces in the city of Minsk in order to reclaim it. Tanks broke through German defenses at dawn and ended before the next day. -
Paris is liberated by Allied French troops
The liberation of Paris began on August 19th where the French forces of the interior staged an uprising against German garrison when the US third army arrived. On August 25th, German garrison commander surrendered. -
Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a cease-fire.
The cease fire between these two countries had requirements that German troops be removed from Finland and that part of the Finland military had to be demobilized. -
Canadian Infantry Division's 5th Brigade starts the clear of the coast of Dieppe
The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division's 5th Brigade worked on clearing the coast of Dieppe and soon cleared the Dunkirk garrison which had 10 thousand German troops defending it.
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Loon-Plage, Spyker, Bergues and Bray Dunes. Loon-Plage and nearby Coppenaxfort were liberated on September 9
During the clearing of the coast of Dieppe, Canadian troops defeated German troops in outposts in these locations and liberated them on this day. 7 -
Mardick
During the clearing of the coast of Dieppe, Canadian troops defeated German troops in outposts in this location and liberated them on this day.
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Allied forces invade the Philippines
The American and filipino tries to expel the imperialistic Japanese forces from the Philippines. At this point the Japanese had already taken over more than half of the country. -
Battle of the Rhineland
First Canadian Army attempts to force back the German forces. The army was in charge for attacking over inundated ground in the first phase in Operation Veritable.
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British planes attack the German city of Dresden
American and British planes attacked Dresden by dropping more than 3900 tons of bombs. During this attack more than 25,000 people died, and 1600 acres of land was destroyed. -
South shore of the Scheldt was secured.
During the battle of Scheldt, on this day, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division secured the south shore of the scheldt in order to liberate the Netherlands.
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