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Britain rearms and reassures Poland
Britain had begun re-arming and a highly secret radar early warning system was installed along the east coast. Conscription was introduced and assurances were given to Poland, who was being threatened by the Fuhrer. -
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Hitler invades Czechoslovakia
Despite the assurances given by Hitler in the Treaty of Munich (Sept 1938), he marched into Czechoslovakia and occupied the country. -
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Russia and Germany sign pact
Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact which included secret clauses for the division of Poland. -
Hitler invades Poland
Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. -
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'Phoney War'
The months following Britain's declaration of war are referred to as the 'phoney war' because Britain saw no military action. -
Britain and France declare war on
Britain and France declared war on Germany. Neville Chamberlain broadcast the announcement that the country was at war. -
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Hitler invades Denmark and Norway
Hitler invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway to safeguard supply routes of Swedish ore and also to establish a Norwegian base from which to break the British naval blockade on Germany. -
Blitzkrieg
Hitler launched his blitzkrieg (lightning war) against Holland and Belgium. Rotterdam was bombed almost to extinction. Both countries were occupied. -
Chamberlain resigns
Neville Chamberlain resigned after pressure from Labour members for a more active prosecution of the war and Winston Churchill became the new head of the wartime coalition government. Chamberlain gave Churchill his unreserved support. Ernest Bevin was made minister of labour and recruited workers for the factories and stepped up coal production. Lord Beaverbrook, minister of Aircraft Production increased production of fighter aircraft. -
Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The British commander-in-chief, General Gort, had been forced to retreat to the coast at Dunkirk. The troops waited, under merciless fire, to be taken off the beaches. A call went out to all owners of sea-worthy vessels to travel to Dunkirk to take the troops off the beaches of Dunkirk. More than 338,000 men were rescued, among them some 140,000 French who would form the nucleus of the Free French army under a little known general, Charles de Gaulle. -
Italy enter war on side of Axis powers
Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis powers. Italy's motive for entering the war was the hope of rich pickings from the spoils of war. -
France signs armistice with Germany
The French, Marshall Petain, signed an armistice with Germany taking France, which had been devastated, out of the war and into German occupation. -
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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain comprised four phases:
1. During July Hitler sent his Luftwaffe bombers to attack British ports. His aim was also to assess the speed and quality of response by the RAF.
2. During August the attacks on shipping continued but bombing raids were concentrated on RAF airfields.
3. The Blitz - From September 7th the city of London was heavily bombed. Hitler hoped to destroy the morale of the British people.
4. Night Bombing - With the failure of daylight bombing raids Hitler -
Tripartite Pact
This pact of mutual alliance was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan. -
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British rout Italians in N. Africa
Italian forces in North Africa were routed by the British led by General Wavell. -
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Italy and Germany attack Yugoslavia
German and Italian troops attacked Yugoslavia, Greece and the island of Crete. German field Marshall Erwin Rommel led the axis powers back to North Africa. -
Hitler attacks Russia - Operation Barbarossa
Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3,500 tanks into Russia. The Russians were taken by surprise as they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939. Stalin immediately signed a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and launched an Eastern front battle that would claim 20 million casualties. The USA, which had been supplying arms to Britain under a 'Lend-Lease' agreement, offered similar aid to USSR. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese, who were already waging war against the Chinese, attacked the US pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, as a preliminary to taking British, French and Dutch colonies in South East Asia. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
Britain and the United States declared war on Japan. -
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Japanese take Singapore
The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners. -
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Battle of Midway
The USA defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway. Following this victory, the US navy was able to push the Japanese back. -
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Allies in N. Africa
General Alexander was given a hand-written directive from Churchill ordering that his main directive was to be the destruction of the German-Italian army commanded by Field-Marshall Rommell together with all its supplies and establishments in Egypt and Libya. As soon as sufficient material had been built up, Alexander handed the campaign over to General Montgomery. -
Battle of El Alamein
Montgomery attacked the German-Italian army in North Africa with a massive bombardment followed by an armoured attack. He then proceeded to chase the routed enemy some 1500 miles across the desert. -
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Battle Of Stalingrad
The Russians won their first victory against Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad. -
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Allies push into N. Africa
British and American forces under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower landed in the NW of Africa and assumed control of French Morocco and Algeria. They gradually closed in on the Germans. -
Axis surrender N Africa
The British and American forces managed to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa -
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Allies invade Sicily
British and US forces invaded Sicily. -
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Allies take Sicily
The allied troops had won the island of Sicily. -
Italy surrenders
Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the British and the USA. They then agreed to join the allies. The Germans took control of the Italian army, freed Mussolini from imprisonment and set him up as head of a puppet government in Northern Italy. This blocked any further allied advance through Italy. -
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Allies meet at Tehran
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met to co-ordinate plans for a simultaneous squeeze on Germany. They also discussed post war settlements. Churchill mistrusted Stalin; Roosevelt anxious to show that the West would not stand against Russia, went along with Stalin's wishes for a second front in France and no diversions further east. Churchill was over-ruled and the fate of post-war Eastern Europe was thus decided. -
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Leningrad relieved
The siege of Leningrad was lifted by the Soviet army. -
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Rome liberated
Although Italy had surrendered in September, it was only now that the allies were able to liberate Rome from the Germans. -
D-Day
The allies launched an attack on Germany's forces in Normandy, Western France. Thousands of transports carried an invasion army under the supreme command of general Eisenhower to the Normandy beaches. The Germans who had been fed false information about a landing near Calais, rushed troops to the area but were unable to prevent the allies from forming a solid bridgehead. For the allies it was essential to first capture a port. -
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Japanese evicted from Burma
British forces under General Slim, with help from guerrilla-fighting Chindits led by Orde Wingate, evicted the Japanese from Burma. -
Paris liberated
The French capital of Paris was liberated from the Germans. -
V2 Flying Bombs
The first V2 flying bombs killed three people in London. -
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Battle of the Bulge
Germany launched its final defensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium. However, they were beaten back by the allies. -
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Allies cross the Rhine
The Allies crossed the Rhine while Soviet forces were approaching Berlin from the East. -
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Death of Roosevelt
President Roosevelt died. He was succeeded by President Truman. -
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Russians reach Berlin
The Russians reached Berlin shortly before the US forces. -
Mussolini captured and executed
Italian partisans captured Mussolini and executed him. -
Hitler commits suicide
The German leader, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter together with his mistress, Eva Braun, who he had, at the last minute, made his wife. -
German forces surrender
German forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies. -
German forces surrender
German forces in north west Germany, Holland and Denmark surrendered to Montgomery on Luneburg Heath. Admiral Donitz, whom Hitler had nominated as his successor, tried to reach agreement to surrender to the Western allies but to continue to fight the Russians. His request was refused. -
Donitz offers unconditional surrender
Hitler's successor, Admiral Donitz, offerred an unconditional surrender to the allies. -
V.E. day
Victory in Europe was celebrated. -
Churchill loses election
Winston Churchill lost the election to Clement Atlee's Labour Party. The Labour party promised sweeping social reforms including nationalisation of the coal and railway industries and the creation of a welfare state. The Labour party gained 393 seats to the Conservatives 213. It was generally accepted that the landslide victory for Labour was due to the men and women of the armed services who did not want to resume civilian life under the conditions that they had before they entered service. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The Japanese generals refused to surrender. The US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
Russia declares war on Japan
Russia declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-ruled Manchuria. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
The US dropped an atomic bomb on the port of Nagasaki as the Japanese had not surrendered following Hiroshima. -
Japanese surrender
The Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the allies ending the second world war. -
MacArthur accepts Japan's surrender
US General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted Japan's surrender thus formally ending the second world war.