World War II Timeline By savoyjt Sep 3, 1939 Beginning of WWII Sep 5, 1939 United States proclaims Neutrality Jun 10, 1940 Italy declares war on Britain and France Jul 1, 1940 German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic Oct 28, 1940 Italy invades Greece Nov 5, 1940 Roosevelt re-elected as U.S. president Mar 11, 1941 President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act Sep 29, 1941 Nazis murder 33,771 Jews at Kiev Dec 7, 1941 Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor Dec 8, 1941 United States and Britain declare war on Japan Dec 11, 1941 Hitler declares war on the United States. Oct 18, 1942 Hitler orders the execution of all captured British commandos Jul 24, 1943 British bombing raid on Hamburg Sep 12, 1943 Germans rescue Mussolini Sep 23, 1943 Mussolini re-establishes a Fascist government Mar 18, 1944 British drop 3000 tons of bombs during an air raid on Hamburg, Germany Jul 20, 1944 Assassination attempt by German Army officers against Hitler fails Aug 4, 1944 Anne Frank and family arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam, Holland Oct 30, 1944 Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz Dec 4, 1944 Civil War in Greece Apr 28, 1945 Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian partisans Apr 30, 1945 Adolf Hitler commits suicide Aug 6, 1945 First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan Aug 9, 1945 Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan Sep 2, 1945 Japanese sign the surrender agreement
