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Adolf Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany. He abolishes democracy and becomes a dictator. Japan and Germany leave the League of Nations
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The German military enters the neutral Saar region, Hitler resumes conscription to the German military.
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The German military enters the neutral Saar region, Hitler resumes conscription to the German military.
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The German military enters the demilitarized Rhine region. The German-Italian "Axis" is formed.
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Japan, which already occupies Manchuria, invades central China
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Hitler annexes Austria and western Czechoslovakia.
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Czechoslovakia surrenders to imminent German invasion
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Hitler cancels the German-British naval agreement and the German-Polish non-aggression pact. Italy invades Albania.
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Polish intelligence passes all its knowledge about the German Enigma machine to British and French intelligence
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Germany and Russia sign non-aggression pact, secretly agreeing to invade Poland and share it. German U-boats and battleships sail to the Atlantic Ocean for war.
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Germany invades Poland, World War 2 begins.
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Sep 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany.
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The U.S. remains neutral but president Roosevelt declares "limited national emergency"
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Russia invades Poland
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Warsaw surrenders to the Nazi
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The last remaining Polish forces surrender
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Russia invades Finland
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The first German Enigma messages are decoded by British intelligence
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Russia-Finland war ends. It convinces Hitler that the Russian military is ineffective.
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Apr 8 - Germany invades Denmark and Norway
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British forces land in Narvik, Norway, but leave in 10 days
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Germany invades France, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg. Winston Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister.
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German forces reach the British Channel.
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Evacuation of British and French forces to Britain at Dunkirk begins.
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The evacuation at Dunkirk ends. 338,000 troops were rescued. Churchill declares that Britain will never surrender.
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Norway surrenders
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Italy declares war on the collapsing France and on Britain.
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German troops march into Paris
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Russia invades Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Churchill declares this is Britain's finest hour.
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France surrenders
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Russia annexes the eastern regions of Romania.
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Germany invades the British Channel islands.
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The Battle of Britain air campaign begins
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The Luftwaffe begins to bomb British early warning radars
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Aug 15 - The Luftwaffe loses 76 aircraft in one day
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British night bombers bomb Berlin
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Hitler changes the Luftwaffe's objective from destroying the Royal Air Force to bombing London. This allows the R.A.F to recover and win the battle of Britain.
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Italy invades British-held Egypt from Libya, the North African campaign begins.
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The largest Luftwaffe daytime bombardment, it loses 56 aircraft
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Japan joins The Axis
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German troops enter their Ally Romania, Germany's only source of oil which is threatened by Russia
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Hitler cancels the invasion of Britain.
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Spain rejects Hitler's offer to join the war and remains neutral.
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Italy invades Greece from Albania, but stopped, twice.
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British carrier aircraft sink Italian fleet in Taranto's harbor. Yamamoto in Japan is impressed by their success.
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Hungary and Romania, both military dictatorships, join The Axis.
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British forces in Egypt counter attack the Italians and advance along the Libyan coast
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Hitler sends Rommel and the Afrika Korps to help the Italians in North Africa
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Bulgaria joins The Axis. The Axis-Russian border now stretch from the Baltic sea to the black sea.
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Rommel attacks the British forces in North Africa.
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British troops arrive at Greece to support it.
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Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
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After military clashes, Japan and Russia sign non-aggression pact.
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Yugoslavia surrenders. British forces evacuate Greek mainland to Crete
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May 20 - German paratroopers and airborne troops invade Crete by air
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German troops occupy Athens
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U-boat U-110 is captured with Enigma settings tables
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British forces in Crete surrender.
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Stalin orders the "scorched earth" strategy.
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British forces aided by Israeli volunteers invade French controlled Syria and Lebanon
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Germany invades Russia. Hitler orders "maximum cruelty" against civilians, which results in fanatic Russian resistance.
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German army group "Center" takes Smolensk, just 220 miles from Moscow.
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The Luftwaffe bombs Moscow
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Japan invades French Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
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Hitler, eager to occupy the rich Ukraine first, orders to stop army group Center's advance to Moscow and to transfer its two tank armies to army groups "North" and "South". This is perhaps Hitler's greatest mistake. The German Generals argue in vain against it.
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Hermann Goering orders the SS to prepare "the final solution", the plan to murder the millions of European jews.
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Hitler orders to resume the advance to Moscow, in order to take it "in the limited time before winter". Army group "Center", is given back its two tank armies, plus a third tank army and additional air units.
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The long German siege of Leningrad begins.
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The Germans in the South occupy Kiev and reach the Crimea.
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The final German attack towards Moscow begins (operation Typhoon).
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Rains stop German advance to Moscow due to deep mud which stops both tanks and infantry.
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Russian government leaves Moscow, the Germans occupy Odessa.
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General Tojo becomes Japan's prime minister
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Churchill orders top priority to any request by the Enigma decoders.
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The Germans occupy Kharkov
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With the mud frozen by the dropping temperatures, German advance to Moscow resumes.
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The foremost German forces reach 27km from Moscow, but can advance no further due to strong Russian resistance.
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At temperatures of -34C (-29F) and below, a major Russian counter attack near Moscow begins. Moscow is saved, and the Germans are pushed back.
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<a href='' >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFERgSrNuaE</a>
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The Japanese Navy attacks Pearl Harbor and the Phillipines, and the US joins the war.
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Germany and Italy declare war on the US.
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<a href='' >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lpOQNNjejs</a>
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Hitler orders "fanatic resistance" and appoints himself military commander-in-chief.
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Japanese forces occupy Manila
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Japanese forces invades Indonesia
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Japanese forces occupy Malaysia
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Japanese forces invade Burma
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German U-boats begin to sink ships along the US East coast.
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Rommel begins another offensive in North Africa
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Japanese forces invade the Solomon islands
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US troops begin to arrive in Britain
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Feb 15 - Singapore surrenders to the Japanese
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"industrial scale" murder of jews by poison gas begins in Nazi death camps.
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Doolittle's raid - US bombers bomb Tokyo.
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The last American troops in the Phillipines surrender
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Battle of the Coral Sea. One Japanese carrier and one American carrier are sunk
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The German spring offensive in southern Russia begins.
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The battle of Midway. Four Japanese carriers are sunk, and one American carrier. Japan's naval superiority is lost.
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Japanese forces land in Guadalcanal
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Stalin forbids further Russian retreats, at any cost.
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US forces land in Guadalcanal
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Montgomery becomes commander of the British 8th army in North Africa
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Allied landing in Dieppe fails.
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Aug 23 - The German 6th army reach Stalingrad, the battle of Stalingrad begins.
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The German advance in Stalingrad is stopped.
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Oct 23 - The 2nd battle of El Alamein in North Africa begins.
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Allied forces land in western North Africa, at Rommel's back
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The Russian flanking counter attack around Stalingrad begins
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The Germans fail to break the encirclement of their army in Stalingrad
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The last German forces in Stalingrad surrender
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The long North Africa campaign ends. The Allies control North Africa
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41 German U-boats sunk in 3 weeks. Doenitz retreats all U-boats from the North atlantic
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The battle of Kursk begins
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The Allie invade sicily
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Mussolini is replaced and arrested.
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The Germans know the Enigma was decoded, but believe the new types and procedures are safe again.
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The Allies invade Italy's mainland
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Italy surrenders. The German forces in northern and central Italy occupy it
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The Russians liberate Smolensk
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Allied anti submarine bases established in the Azores, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
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The Russians liberate Kiev
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Nov 19 - The Marines land in Tarawa
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Rommel takes command of the "atlantic wall" in the French coast
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P-51 fighters provide all-the-way long range escort to bombers over Germany
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Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of western allies forces
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Jan 22 - Allies land in Anzio, Italy
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Mar - The Russians advance into the Ukraine
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The Russians liberate Odessa
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Allied bombers begin to concentrate on the German fuel industry
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The German Navy's Enigma messages are decoded almost in real time.
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D-Day. American, British, Canadian forces invade France at the beaches of Normandy
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1st German V-1 cruise missile attack on Britain
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The Marines land in Saipan
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Battle of the Phillipine sea
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The Russians advance to Belarus
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Cherburg is liberated
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Hitler survives an assassination attempt by senior German officers with light wounds.
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Hitler appoints General Guderian to chief of the army (OKH). The Marines land in Guam
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Jul 24 - The Marines land in Tinian
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The Russians reach the old German-Russian border in central Poland
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Patton breaks out of the beachhead deep into France
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Warsaw revolts against the Germans
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The Allies land in southern France
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Romania surrenders to the Russians. Its oil fields were Germany's only source of natural oil
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Paris is liberated.
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Allied fighters achieve air superiority over Germany
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Finland and Bulgaria surrenders to the Russians
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1st German V-2 ballistic missile attack on Britain
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Operation Market Garden in Holland
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British forces land in Greece
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The Germans evacuate Riga, Latvia
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Athens is liberated
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The Marines land in Leyte, in the Philippines. In response, the Japanese Navy begins to use Kamikaze suicide pilots.
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B-29 bombers begin to bomb Tokyo from bases in the Mariana islands
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The German attack in the Ardennes begin
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The Marines land in Luzon in the Philippines
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The Russians reach Germany itself at the Oder river
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The Russians liberate the Auschwitz death camp
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The Ardennes campaign ends
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The Russians occupy Budapest, Hungary. Dresden bombed.
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The Marines land in Iwo Jima
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Manila is liberated
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The Allies occupy Cologne, Germany
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US forces cross the Rhine on the Remagen bridge
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The battle of Iwo Jima ends
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V-2 missile attacks end
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German forces encircled in the Ruhr by the Americans
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The Marines land in Okinawa. Japan orders all its forces to use Kamikaze suicide tactic
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The super battleship Yamato is sunk on its way to a Kamikaze fight in Okinawa
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The Allies occupy Hannover
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The Allies liberate the Buchenwald death camp
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President Roosevelt dies.
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The Russians enter Vienna
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The Russians begin final advance to Berlin
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American and Russian forces meet
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German defense in northern Italy finally collapse
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Mussolini is executed by the Italian resistance. The Allies liberate the Dachau death camp
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin. He appoints Admiral Doenitz as his successor.
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Germany surrenders. The war in Europe ends
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450 B-29 bombers bomb Yokohama
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660 B-29 bombers bomb Japanese cities
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Battle of Okinawa ends
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the US tests the atomic bomb in New Mexico. It works
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Hiroshima is destroyed by an atomic bomb
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Russia declares war on Japan
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Japan surrenders. World War 2 finally ends.
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Nagasaki is destroyed by an atomic bomb
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