WW2 Brief Timeline

1939

• Hitler invades Poland on 1 September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later.

1940

• Rationing starts in the UK.
• German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France.
• Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
• British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk, 27th May - 4th June.
• British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans.

1941

• Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.
• The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.
• Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks.
• Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war.

1942

• Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein.
• Singapore falls to the Japanese in February - around 25,000 prisoners taken.
• American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War.
• Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins.

1943

• Surrender at Stalingrad marks Germany's first major defeat.
• Allied victory in North Africa enables invasion of Italy to be launched.
• Italy surrenders, but Germany takes over the battle.
• British and Indian forces fight Japanese in Burma.

1944

• Allies land at Anzio and bomb monastery at Monte Cassino.
• Soviet offensive gathers pace in Eastern Europe.
• D Day: The Allied invasion of France, 6th June. Paris is liberated in August.
• Guam liberated by the US Okinawa, and Iwo Jima bombed.

1945

• Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops.
• Russians reach Berlin: Hitler commits suicide and Germany surrenders on 7 May.
• 8th May VE Day (Victory in Europe)
• Truman becomes President of the US on Roosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces Churchill.
• After atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders on 14 August.

WW2 approximate number of those killed.

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