World War II Timeline by Steven Faulkner By StevenFaulkner Jan 30, 1939 Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech Period: Jan 30, 1939 to Nov 20, 1945 World War II Timeline by Steven Faulkner Mar 15, 1939 Nazis take Czechoslovakia Mar 28, 1939 Spanish Civil war ends May 22, 1939 Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy Sep 5, 1939 United States proclaims its neutrality; German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland Sep 17, 1939 Soviets Invade Poland Nov 30, 1939 Soviets attack Finland Mar 12, 1940 Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets Apr 9, 1940 Nazis invade Denmark and Norway May 15, 1940 Holland surrenders to the Nazis Jun 3, 1940 Germans bomb Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ends Jul 10, 1940 Battle of Britain begins Aug 15, 1940 Air battles and daylight raids over Britain Aug 25, 1940 First British air raid on Berlin Apr 14, 1941 Rommel attacks Tobruk May 24, 1941 Sinking of the British ship Hood by the Bismarck May 27, 1941 Sinking of the Bismarck by the British Navy Jul 14, 1941 British occupy Syria Dec 8, 1941 United States and Britain declare war on Japan Apr 23, 1942 German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain May 30, 1942 First thousand-bomber British air raid (against Cologne) Sep 13, 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins Dec 2, 1942 Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago Dec 31, 1942 Battle of the Barents Sea between German and British ships Jan 2, 1943 Germans begin a withdrawal from the Caucasus Mar 2, 1943 Germans begin a withdrawal from Tunisia, Africa Jul 5, 1943 Germans begin their last offensive against Kursk Jul 19, 1943 Allies bomb Rome Nov 18, 1943 Large British air raid on Berlin Jan 6, 1944 Soviet troops advance into Poland Mar 4, 1944 Soviet troops begin an offensive on the Belorussian front; First major daylight bombing raid on Berlin by the Allies May 15, 1944 Germans withdraw to the Adolf Hitler Line Jun 5, 1944 Allies enter Rome Aug 19, 1944 Soviet offensive in the Balkans begins with an attack on Romania Dec 4, 1944 Civil War in Greece; Athens placed under martial law Jan 16, 1945 U.S. 1st and 3rd Armies link up after a month long separation during the Battle of the Bulge Jul 16, 1945 First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins Oct 24, 1945 United Nations is born Nov 20, 1945 Nuremberg war crimes trials begin
