1939 After breaking off diplomatic relations, the Soviet Union attacks Finland by land and air without declaring war. During the Red Air Forces first raid on the Helsinki, only 91 civilians are killed due the capitals excellent air defence system. Stalin alleges provocation.

The Admiralty announces the completion of a 300 square mile minefield from Thames Estuary to the Netherlands.

1940 British civilian casualty figures for November: 4,588 killed, 6,202 injured.

President Roosevelt announces increase in support to Nationalist Chinese, a $50 million loan.

1941 Near Riga, a mass shooting of Latvian and German Jews.

Japan finally resolves itself to attack the USA, although portions of the governments are still unsure.

1942 An Italian radio broadcast, reports of large-scale evacuations of Turin, Genoa and Milan.

In Tunisia, Allied offensive halts between Tebourba and Djedeïda due to inadequate air power.

Battle of Tassafaronga: US ships repulse Japanese off Guadalcanal with heavy losses on both sides.

Air Surgeon Gen. David Grant appeals to nurses to train as flight nurses.

US First War Loan Drive begins, runs through December 23, 1942.

1944 Poland puts commandant and guards from Majdanek concentration camp on trial.

HMS Vanguard is launched at Clydebank, Scotland, the world’s last battleship to be launched.

As Japanese advance in southern China, Chiang Kai-shek removes two army divisions from Burma to protect Kunming.

1945 Rudolph Hess causes consternation at the Nuremberg trials by announcing that he has been shamming insanity and amnesia all this time.

Japanese forces in Indo-China surrender—final official surrender of troops in World War II.

Japanese relocation center at Rohwer, Arkansas closes (final relocation center at Tule Lake, CA, will close March 20, 1946).

1939 The USSR forces Soviet citizenship on all residents of Polish territory under their control.

1940 German High Command issues draft plan for invasion of Russia.

British and New Zealand troops under General Freyberg occupy the whole of the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean.

1941 Depleted by continuous savage fighting, blizzards and sub-zero temperatures, Army Group Centre’s offensive begins to grind to a halt as German units find it increasingly difficult to make ground. The Russians launch a counter-attack at Rostov-on-Don, forcing the German to evacuate the city and withdraw west towards the river Mius.

Italians counterattack near Sidi Rezegh, Libya, and almost destroy New Zealand unit.

1942 Prime Minister Churchill warns the Italian government that RAF bombing of Italian cities will continue until Italy abandons the war.

British paratroops drop south of Tunis.

Coffee rationing begins in the United States.

1943 The Australians chase the retreating Japanese towards Wareo in New Guinea.

US VI Corps launches assault north of Mignano Gap in Italy.

1944 Russian troops cross Danube into southwest Hungary, making large gains.

The submarine USS Archerfish sinks Japanese carrier Shinano on her maiden voyage.

German spies William Colepaugh and Erich Gimpel are landed by U-1230 at Hancock Point ME, both are arrested by January 1, 1945.

1945 Films of concentration camp atrocities are shown at the Nuremberg trials.

US War Department demobilizes enlisted men with three or more children under the age of eighteen.

1939 The Soviet Union denounces 1932 non-aggression pact with Finland.

The Australian Cabinet agrees to the sending of Australian troops overseas.

1940 Anti-Semitic film Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) is released in Germany.

1941 Overextended and short of supplies, the III Panzerkorps evacuates Rostov and withdraws to the Mius river, 30 miles to the West.

The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise departs from Pearl Harbor to deliver F4F Wildcat fighters to Wake Island. This mission saves the carrier from destruction when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.

1943 The Teheran summit conference opens with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, who discuss the future of post-war Germany and Poland.

The Eighth Army offensive on Sangro continues, with a second bridgehead being established.

1944 The U.S. Ninth Army reaches the Roer from Julich to Linnich. The French First Army closes its pincers at Bumhaupt, but only part of German 63rd Corps is trapped, 17,000 prisoners and 120 guns have been taken since 14th October.

Allies open port of Antwerp, Belgium as first convoy of supply ships arrives. Albania is secured by partisans as Germans evacuate.

British actor Arthur Treacher agrees to be raffled off at a series of bond rallies to the person buying the largest number of War Bonds. Treacher, who has made a career of playing the perfect butler, will work as a butler at an occasion of the winner’s choosing.

1945 The official Hiroshima and Nagasaki casualty figures are announced as between 110,000 and 165,00 dead.

Japanese relocation center at Poston, AZ closes.

1939 The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau put in to Wilhelmshaven after returning from their successful sortie in to the North Atlantic.

Australia and Britain establish the Empire Air Training Scheme.

1940 Romanian extremists, “Iron Guard”, begin a murder campaign with 64 executions.

The British Admiralty decides to send the Battleship Ramillies and 2 Cruisers from the Mediterranean fleet to reinforce the Atlantic fleet. They are to sail to Malta with a supply convoy, link up with Force H and then sail onto Gibraltar. Just as the reach the rendezvous point, Ramillies, the 2 Cruisers, the Aircraft Carrier Ark Royal and 10 Destroyers are intercepted by Admiral Campioni’s squadron of 2 Battleships, 7 Cruisers and 16 Destroyers. However, as soon as the Battleship Renown from Force H joined in, the Italians withdrew with 1 Cruiser and 2 Destroyers damaged, while the British suffered damage to the heavy cruiser HMS Berwick.

1941 German Panzer’s only 19 miles from Moscow. Some armed patrols have penetrated in to the western suburbs of the city and managed to get a good look at the Kremlin.

The Tobruk garrison links up the New Zealand Division of the Eighth Army at El Duda. Rommel forces, now under constant attack by the RAF are forced to turn his forces around in order to deal with this new development. Gondar, the last Italian held town in East Africa surrenders to British forces after a tough battle. The Italian commander, General Nasi surrenders 23,500 men, while the British suffer 500 casualties.

Japan rejects the USA’s demand for their withdrawal of forces from China.

US Pacific forces put on war alert.

1942 Continuing their occupation of Vichy France, German troops take the naval base of Toulon.

Army Group Don under Manstein is formed to relieve Stalingrad.

The French scuttle 79 warships docked at Toulon as German troops enter the City, but four submarines manage to escape.

British troops are only 22 miles from Tunis.

1943 The British 8th Army begins an offensive across the Sangro river.

1944 The Red Army breaks through the German-Hungarian defensive lines and captures Mohacs.

The German ship ˜Rigel’ is sunk. Over 2,570 are drowned, most of them prisoners of war.

B29 bombers from Saipan again pound Tokyo, but this time the Japanese reply with raids against the U.S. airbases on Saipan.

1945 UN Charter is now ratified by twenty-nine nations.

1938 Poland renews nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union to protect against a German invasion.

1939 The Soviet Union charges Finland with artillery attack on border.

1940 The Western Desert Force, begins Training Exercise No.1. This was a dress rehearsal for ‘Operation Compass’. Surprise was vital and so not even the troops involved were told of the rehearsals significance.

The half-million Jews of Warsaw, Poland, were forced by the Nazis to live within a walled ghetto.

Britain announces that after Christmas, bananas will no longer be imported.

1941 Due to Rommel’s bold move, General Cunningham wants to halt the offensive and fall back to the frontier. General Auchinleck overrides him on this and replaces him as commander of the Eighth Army with General Ritchie.

U.S. secretary of state puts his final proposal to the Japanese.

Japanese 1st Air Fleet sets sail for Pearl Harbor, from its anchorage in the Kurile Islands. Commanded by Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, its consists of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 9 destroyers and 8 oil tankers and has strict orders to observe strict radio silence. They await the signal “Climb Mount Nitaka”, the order to attack Pearl Harbor.

1942 President Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing, beginning December 1.

The Germans make the first large deportation of Jews from Norway.

The Russians throw Germans rearguards back across the Don.

1943 The largest USAAF raid so far on Bremen. A fifth consecutive night raid on Berlin by RAF.

German forces of Army Group Centre evacuate Gomel in Byelorussia.

The HMT Rohna, a British troop transport, is attacked in the eastern Mediterranean by a Luftwaffe plane using a radio-guided bomb, sinking the ship and killing 1,015 American GIs and 135 British and Australian service men. It is the largest loss of U.S. servicemen at sea in the war. The disaster is kept secret, as the Allies did not wish to disclose that the Germans possessed such an intimidating weapon. Consequently, the destruction of the Rohna will remain virtually unknown to the public for many years after the war.

1944 The Russians advance in Slovakia.

US 491st Bombardment Group loses 16 of 28 B-24 Liberators over Misburg, Germany in only 15 minutes.

1945 Gen. Douglas MacArthur confirms that Japan’s emperor will not be required to abdicate.

1939 Germany reports four British ships sunk in the North Sea, but London denies the claim.

1940 Zionist group Irgun blows up British liner Patria at Haifa to prevent removal of Eastern European Jewish refugees from Palestine to Mauritius (213/1771 refugees killed, 50/130 crew).

First flight of British De Havilland Mosquito bomber.

First flight of US Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber.

1941 Hitler takes time out from monitoring the assault on Moscow to meet with Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in Berlin. While the Fuhrer refrains from giving an unqualified endorsement of Arab nationalist aims in the Middle East (he did not wish to upset Vichy France), the two agree on the need for the “destruction” of the “Jewish element.”

The Germans continue their advance against Moscow, throwing all their available strength in to the attack in a final attempt to capture the Russian capital.

Rommel continues his attacks at the rear of the Eighth Army.

U-331 (Kplt. Tiesenhausen) sinks the British battleship Barham in the Mediterranean.

1943 The US Navy Department announces that very few Japanese are left alive in the Gilbert Islands. On Tarawa, 1,090 Marines were killed and 2,193 wounded, with only 100 Japanese out of garrison of 4,836 being taken prisoner, with only 17 of them being soldiers. Sattelberg in New Guinea falls to the 9th Australian Division.

A Destroyer action off Cape St. George results in the Japanese being routed to the north west of Bougainville and losing three destroyers out of five in the process.

1944 The French take Belfort.

Himmler orders the destruction of the crematories at Auschwitz.

The last Japanese resistance in Peleliu ends. 14,000 Japanese are killed or captured for 9,300 U.S. casualties.

German V-2 rocket hits Woolworth department store in London, killing 168.

Nazis demolish crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Gen. Mark Clark named to command 15th Army Group (Allied Armies in Italy); Gen. Lucian Truscott to replace him over US Fifth Army.

1945 British begin Operation Deadlight, the sinking of captured German U-boats off the Hebrides.

1939 Germany warns all neutral shipping to stay clear of British and French coasts, or risk being sunk. This had already happened to a number of neutral ships, particularly at night when it was difficult to identify them. U-boat skippers were now given the go ahead to sink any ship not showing lights at night.

Gestapo execute 120 Czech students accused of participating in anti-Nazi conspiracy.

1940 Treasury cancels Boxing Day Bank Holiday.

Slovakian Prime Minister joins the Tripartite pact in Berlin.

The Luftwaffe bomb Bristol.

1941 Two Luftwaffe officers, make the war’s most audacious attempt to escape from a British POW camp. Lt. Heinz Schnabel and Oblt. Harry Wappler were prisoners in Camp No.15 near Penrith, Northumbria. Forging papers that identified them as Dutch officers serving in the RAF, they made their way to the RAF airfield at Kingstown near Carlisle and started the engine of a Miles Magister. Taking off, they soon realized they did not have the fuel to make it to Nazi-occupied Holland reluctantly they turned back, landing in a field about five miles north of Great Yarmouth. Recaptured, they were sent back to Camp No.15 again and sentenced to 28 days solitary confinement.

Theresienstadt Ghetto is established near Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Nazis will use it as a model ghetto for propaganda purposes.

Rommel gives orders for his tanks to cut off the British supply routes by thrusting towards the Egyptian frontier, or as it became known, the ‘dash for the wire’. By the end of the day Rommel’s tanks had reached the frontier and caused complete confusion in the rear of the Eighth Army.

US Army commanders across the Pacific are warned of the possible imminence of war.

The United States, while remaining neutral, expands the Lend-Lease program to include Charles de Gaulle’s Free French troops.

1942 Laval sets up Phalange Africaine, to fight allies in Africa.

1943 Berlin reported as a ‘sea of flames’ this morning with casualty estimates put at 8 to 10,000 killed.

Laval sets up Phalange Africaine, to fight allies in Africa.

1944 The allies cross the Saar near the Franco-German border. Troops of the French First Army capture Mühlhausen in Alsace, while the French 2nd Armored Division takes Strasbourg.

In controversial decision, Gen. Eisenhower orders 6th Army Group not to cross Rhine but to drive north and assist Patton’s Third Army.

Japanese capture Nanning, completing a land corridor between occupied China and Indo-China.

USAAF B29s from Saipan Island in Pacific, bomb Tokyo for first time, but to little effect.

1939 RAF shoots down seven German aircraft over France.

The Nazis in control of Poland issue a decree requiring all Polish Jews over the age of twelve to wear white armbands emblazoned with a blue Star of David.

The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau intercept a convoy, which is escorted by the merchant cruiser Rawalpindi. The Scharnhorst sinks the Rawalpindi (killing 265 crew), which sacrificed itself in order that the convoy could escape. The British Home Fleet puts to sea in an attempt to engage the two German ships. However, both the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau have already headed for home. The Royal Navy recovers its first intact German Magnetic mine. These types of mines have been causing an increasing number of casualties to shipping, in and around the UK.

Britain begins rationing bacon and butter.

US celebrates Thanksgiving after Roosevelt moved holiday from last to second-to-last Thursday to extend the Christmas shopping season.

Macy’s parade first features Superman balloon.

1940 The Romanian leader Antonescu agrees to joins the Tripartite pact.

Seven Italian Caproni BR20m bombers, flying from bases in Belgium, are shot down by Fighter Command during an air attack on the UK.

Southampton is hit badly by the Luftwaffe.

German submarine U-100 sinks seven Allied cargo ships in convoy SC-11 off the coast ofIreland

1941 German troops are now only 35 miles north-west of Moscow.

Axis forces destroy the 5th South African Brigade after days of tank battles round Tobruk.

U.S. troops move into Dutch Guiana to guard the bauxite mines.

1942 The Russians claim 24,000 prisoners have been taken since the start of their counter offensive.

Retreating before the British 8th Army (Montgomery), Panzer Army Afrika reaches El Agheila.

Japanese air raid on Darwin, Australia.

1943 The allies cross the Sangro in strength.

Berlin hit again by the RAF, making it the worst bombed city in Germany with 12,000 tons dropped on it this year alone.

United States forces seized control of the Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese.

1944 The allies declare Macedonia on Greek Yugoslav border, free of Germans.

French First Army takes Strasbourg, France.

1945 Butter rationing comes to an end, leaving sugar as the only item that continues to be rationed in the USA.

1939 German aircraft parachute mines into the Thames Estuary.

1940 The Luftwaffe’s heaviest raid on Birmingham; 11-hr raid causes 600 fires.

1941 All operational U-boats ordered to proceed to the Mediterranean or its approach.

A confused battle continues around Sidi Rezegh, with XXX Corps being forced to stop it advance towards Tobruk after the loss of many tanks and for the Tobruk break-out to be halted. Better news for XIII Corps though as it captures Sidi Omar and Capuzzo.

German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis is sunk in the South Atlantic by heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire after having sunk 22 Allied merchant ships.

Luftwaffe ace Werner Mölders killed in landing accident while a passenger on a German He 111 bomber, the first pilot in the world to achieve over 100 victories.

1942 The Soviet 4th Mechanized Corps from the south and the 4th Tank Corps from the north, join hands at Kalach on the Don, thus establishing the complete encirclement of the 300,000 men of 6th and 4th Panzer Army’s. The Russians report gains of up to 50 mites south of Stalingrad.

1943 German troops complete the occupation of the islands of the Dodecanese in the eastern Mediterranean.

The RAF give Berlin the worst pounding so far, with more than 2,300 tons of bombs dropped in less than 30 minutes for the loss of just 26 planes.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan.

1944 Fighting in Metz is over but seven forts still hold out.

The RAF makes a second breach in the Dortmund-Ems Canal

US Third Army takes crucial town of Metz, France

1945 Thanksgiving is celebrated in America; Macy’s parade resumes after being cancelled 1942-44.

The Hollywood Canteen closes after having entertained 4 million servicemen; 3000 volunteers included many movie stars.

Take a look at these other WWII posts:

1937 The first stretch of the German Autobahn is opened for use. The main purpose of the road is to deploy and supply its forces throughout the country. Eventually, 4,500 miles of four-lane highway will cover Germany.

1939 Prime Minister Chamberlain imposes an embargo on all German trade, with goods currently in Britain, but destined for shipment to Germany to be confiscated.

Prime Minister Chamberlain announces the seizure of German merchant shipping in retaliation for the sinking of neutral ships and indiscriminate mine warfare. The German Battlecruiser’s Scharnhorst and Gneisenau set off from Germany on a mission to harry British sea routes in the North Atlantic.

1940 Greeks capture Koritza, defeating Italian IX Army.

The United States government announces that Nazi agents are active in eight American cities for sabotage, propaganda, espionage, and fomenting strife.

1942 The situation for the 6th Army is deteriorating fast, not least owing to the fact that Army HQ is being relocated which leads to serious disruptions in communications with the troops in and outside the city.

1943 Field Marshal Kesselring is appointed commander-in-chief of all German forces in Italy, while Rommel leaves his command to organize the Atlantic wall.

1944 Albanian patriots free the capital, Tirana.

The US 8th Air Force launches heavy attacks against Hamburg and the synthetic fuel producing plants of Leuna at Merseburg.

1945 All the top ranking Nazis at Nuremberg plead innocent.

Manzanar Relocation Center closes.

Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch dies of pneumonia at Fort Sam Houston TX, age 55.