Political

Thailand declares war on British Empire.
Gen Catroux declares Lebanon independent.
UK declares war on Finland, Hungary, Roumania.
Japan declares war on USA and UK.
UK & USA declare war on Japan.
China declares war on Germany, Italy, Japan.
Netherlands Govt in London declares war on Japan
Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador declare war on Axis.
Germany and Italy declare war on USA; USA declares war on both.
Bulgaria declares war on Allies.
Churchill visits Washington.
Royal Yugoslav Govt recognises Mihailovitch as head of patriot forces.

Military

Ark Royal sunk.
British offensive in Libya.
Germans take Rostov; Russians retake it.
Russian counter-offensive begins; Rostov retaken.
Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Japanese invade Malaya, Thailand.
Dutch and Imperial forces occupy Portuguese Timor.
Hitler assumes personal command of German Army.
Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk.
Japanese land in N Borneo.
Japanese take Wake.
British retake Benghazi,
Hong Kong surrenders.
Wavell takes over defence of Burma.
Japanese attack Philippines.

Political

Panama declares war on Axis.
Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia sever diplomatic relations with Axis.
Timoshenko crosses Donetz, advances into Ukraine.
Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Axis

Military

Japanese invasion of Dutch East Indies, New Guinea.
Rommel begins offensive and retakes Benghazi.
US troops arrive in Ulster.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau run the Channel
Anti-British riots in Spain
Fall of Singapore.
Japanese land on Timor
Bruneval raid

Political

Richard Casey Minister of State Middle East
Laval becomes Chief of Vichy Govt
Iran severs diplomatic relations with Japan

Military

Wavell CinC India and Burma
Japanese occupy Batavia
Alexander GOC Burma
St Nazaire raid
US forces on Bataan surrender
Mountbatten Chief of Combined Ops

Political

Gort Governor and CinC Malta
Mexico declares war on Axis
Anglo-Soviet Treaty signed

Military

Brits evacuate Mandalay
Brits land on Madagascar (to be administered with Free French)
US forces on Corregidor surrender
Coral Sea battle
Germans attack in Libya; Ritchie's counter-attack fails
Battle of Midway
Assassination of Heydrich; reprisal at Lidice
Japanese land in Aleutians
Ritchie withdraws to Egyptian frontier;
Fall of Tobruk, Germans take Bardia.
Russians fall back at Kharkov.
Germans cross Egyptian frontier and advance to Sidi Barrani, defeat British at Mersa Matruh .
Eisenhower appointed CinC US forces in Europe.

Political

Churchill visits Moscow.
Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy.

Military

Germans reach El Alamein.
Russians evacuate Rostov.
Rioting in Bombay and Dehli.
Alexander CinC Middle East. Montgomery GOC 8th Army.
Dieppe raid.
Germans penetrate Russian positions near Stalingrad.
Solomon Islands
Japanese counter-attack at Guadalcanal repulsed.
Russians begin offensive in Leningrad area.

Political

Ethiopia declares war on Axis.

Military

Stalingrad continues. Russian counter-offensive.
8th Army attack at El Alamein.

Political

Armistice signed in Madagascar.
Vichy breaks of diplomatic relations with USA
Beveridge Report
Darlan assassinated in Algiers.
General Giraud High Commissioner in French Africa

Military

Axis forces retreat from Egypt.
Anglo-American landings in N Africa
Algiers surrenders
German and Italian troops occupy Vichy France; Darlan orders all Vichy commanders to cease hostilities. Vichy warships scuttled at Toulon.
Tobruk and Benghazi recaptured, Cyrenaica cleared.
Tide turns in Stalingrad.
Severe fighting in Tunisia.

Political

Casablanca conference: Roosevelt and Churchill agree on Unconditonal Surrender policy.
Chile severs diplomatic relations with Axis
Iran declares war on Axis
Churchill visits Turkey, Cyprus, Cairo and Tripoli.
Eisenhower appointed to command N African Theatre of Operations
Gandhi begins 3 week fast
Polish Govt in exile issues resolution that the borders should be those of status quo prior to 1 September 1939.

Military

Russians capture Vilikiye Luki, Voronezh
Siege of Leningrad raised
von Paulus surrenders at Stalingrad.
8th Army enters Tripoli
Doenitz replaces Raeder as CinC German Navy
Russians capture Kursk, Rostov, Voroshilovgrad and Kharkov

Political

Germans announce discovery of Katyn massacre: Polish Govt demands IRC investigation. Soviets break off diplomatic relations with Polish Govt.

Military

Russians evacuate Khakov and Byelgorod.

Political

"Union of Polish Patriots" and Polish Kosciusko Division formed in USSR.
U S troops land in Aleutians
Moscow dissolves Comintern
de Gaulle visits Algiers, agrees constitution of French executive Committee with Giraud. French Fleet at Alexandria joins Allies.
Wavell Viceroy of India. Auchinleck CinC India.

Military

Tunis and Bizerta captured. Fighting in Tunisia ends. Giraud deposes Bey of Tunis.
Pantelleria and Lampedusa surrender.
Dambusters raid

Political

Gen Sikorski killed in plane crash
Roosevelt & Churchill call on Italian people to surrender
Mussolini resigns. Marshal Badoglio Prime Minister. Martial law in Italy. Fascist Party dissolved.
Quebec Conference (Churchill-Roosevelt-Canadians)
Martial law in Denmark

Military

Invasion of Sicily
700 US planes bomb Rome
Russians capture Orel and Taganrog.
Brits enter Catania.
Mountbatten SAC SEAsia

Political

Churchill in Washington
Iran declares war on Germany.
Russians capture Poltava and Smolensk and cross Dnieper..
Chiang Kai Shek inaugurated as president of China.
Portugal accords Britain base facilities in Azores.
Italy declares war on Germany.
Three power conference in Moscow (Eden/Cordell Hull)

Military

8th Army lands in Italy. Unconditional surrender of Italy. Allied troops land near Naples (Salerno_. German troops occupy Rome. Mussolini rescued. German counter-attacks at Salerno. Germans evacuate Sardinia.
US paras land in New Guinea: Australians capture Lae.
Allies enter Naples, 8th Army landings at Termoli on Adriatic.
Germans land on Cos.
A Cunningham 1st Sea Lord.
Submarine attack on Tirpitz
J Cunningham CinC Med

Political

de Gaulle President of French National Liberation Committee
Teheran Conference
Colombia declares war on Axis
Roosevelt & Churchill meet Turkish President
Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty of Amity

Military

Germans in Crimea cut off.
Russians take Kiev
US attack on New Britain
Scharnhorst sunk

Political
Count Ciano executed
Anzio landings
Argentine breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan
Polish National Council formed (Soviet puppet)

Military

Russians take Kirovograd, Novgorod
US landings in Marshall Islands
Monte Cassino bombed

Political
De Valera refuses to expel Axis representatives from Eire; travel between Great Britain and Eire banned
Russia establishes diplomatic relations with Italy
Finns reject Soviet peace terms
Turkey stops export of chrome to Germany
All travel from Britain banned; censorship imposed on diplomatic bags
Soviet-Czech agreement on administration of liberated Czechoslovakia.

Military

New Russian offensives near Leningrad and in Dniepr Bend; Russian break through in Ukraine; launch offensive towards Lvov
Polish underground forces establish contact with Soviet forces
Russians reach Roumanian and Czechoslovak frontiers
Germans occupy Hungary
Tirpitz bombed
Russians capture Odessa, Kerch, Balaklava, Tarnopol, Yalta, Simferopol
Russian advance into Czechoslovakia

Political

Churchill presides at conference of Empire Prime Ministers in London.
Spain drastically reduces exports of wolfram to Germany
USA breaks off diplomatic relations with Finland
Allies switch aid from Mihailovitch to Tito

Military

Russians take Sevastopol: Crimea cleared of Germans
5th Army breaks Gustav Line in Italy; Cassino captured; 5th Army penetrates Adolf Hitler line; Allied armies link up with Anzio beachhead; 5th Army occupies Rome
Normandy landings
US bomb Japan
French landing on Elba
Russian offensive in Karelia; Mannerheim Line broken
Battle of Philippine Sea ends Japanese naval aviation power
Russian offensive in Vitebsk sector
Cherbourg liberated

Political

USA recognises de Gaulle
Japanese Cabinet resigns
Bomb attempt on Hitler's life; People's Courts trials of army officers
Polish Committee of National Liberation set up; agreement with Soviets that PCNL will assume control of civil administration as soon as any part of Poland ceases to be a zone of military operations.
Finnish President Ryti resigns, replaced by Marshal Mannerheim
Turkey breaks off relations with Germany
Warsaw uprising
German mass mobilisation of civilians to dig defences in Poland and East Prussia
Roumania makes peace with Allies and declares war on Germany
Peace moves by Bulgaria
Mutiny by German garrison troops in Hungary

Military

Cherbourg Peninsula cleared
Russians take Minsk, Polotsk, Baranovichi, Lida, reach Latvian and Lithuanian frontiers, take Vilna, Pinsk, Grodno, Ostrov, Pskov, Lublin, Narva, reach Vistula, take Byalistok, Przemysl, Yaroslav, Brest litovsk
French take Siena
von Kluge replaces von Runstedt
Caen liberated
Pisa captured; Allies reach Florence
New offensive in Normandy; Americans take Avranches; US troops enter Brittany, occupy Rennes, St Malo by-passed and later surrenders
Russians take Kaunas. Establish bridgehead over Vistula
Eisenhower moves SHAEF to France; later assumes personal command of allied armies in Northern France
Superfortress raid on Nagasaki
US troops take Nantes and cross Loire
Allied landings in South of France
Seine crossed; Falaise pocket eliminated
French enter Toulon; FFI in control of Lyons; FFI rising in Paris; FFI control Franco-Spanish border; Paris, Marseilles, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Honfleur, Cannes, Valence, Nice liberated; de Gaulle in Paris
New Russian offensives in Roumania
Russians take Bucharest, Constanza and Ploesti
US troops cross Marne, enter Rheims
Brits liberate Amiens

Political

Bulgarian Govt resigns
Finns (politely?) ask German troops to leave Finland
Russian-Finnish Armistice
USSR declares war on Bulgaria; Bulgaria asks for Armistice
Belgian Govt in Brussels
Bulgaria declares war on Germany
Churchill in Canada
Armistice between Allies and Roumania
Germans disarm Danish police
Warsaw uprising ends
Admiral Horthy asks for Armistice terms. Hungarian Arrow Cross (Nazi) coup in Budapest
Dumbarton Oaks peace plan
Churchill in Moscow
Bulgaria accepts preliminary armistice terms
Death of Rommel announced
Hitler and Himmler raise Volkssturm
UK, USA, USSR recognise de Gaulle's provisional Govt

Military

Canadians liberate Dieppe; Brits take Arras; US takes Verdun
Russians reach Bulgarian frontier
Brits enter Brussels
US troops enter Mons and Lyons
Brits liberate Malines, Antwerp, Lille
Brits cross Dutch frontier near Breda
Allies enter Luxembourg
US patrols enter Germany; US troops cross Moselle
Ghent, Courtrai, Ypres liberated
Russians reach Roumanian-Yugoslav frontier
Russian troops move into Bulgaria
US troops liberate Liege
Canadians liberate Ostend
US troops from N and S of France link up near Dijon
Surrender of le Havre
Aachen, Maastricht, Eindhoven liberated.
US breaks Siegfried Line near Aachen
Russians enter Sofia. Also cross Czechoslovak and Yugoslav frontiers.
Operation Market Garden
Brest surrenders, Boulogne liberated
8th Army take Rimini
Russians take Tallinn
Allied landings in Albania
Canadians liberate Calais
RAF breaches dykes and floods Walcheren island
Brits land in Greece, liberate Athens, Corinth
Russians cross Hungarian frontier.
Canadians land in Scheldt estuary
Russians reach Baltic at Memel, cross East Prussian frontier, take Riga
Heavy daylight air raids on Germany
Germans surrender on Corfu
US invade Leyte in Philippines
Tito and Russians take Belgrade
Russians cross Norwegian border
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Brits liberate Tilburg
Tito liberates Split
Biggest RAF raid on Koln

Political
Roosevelt re-elected
Churchill in Paris
National Liberation Committee set up in Yugoslavia. Tito president and CinC
General strike in Athens;
Gen de Gaulle visits Moscow, signs treaty of alliance with Stalin
Hungarian Provisional Govt set up by Soviets, declares war on Germany
Polish National Council in Lublin declares itself Provisional Govt
King Peter repudiates Yugoslav Anti-fascist National Council
Pravda publishes Polish territorial claims on Eastern Germany

Military

Landings at Flushing: Walcheren liberated
Salonika liberated
Liberation of Belgium and Greece completed
Super fortress raid on Singapore
Tirpitz sunk
Tito takes Skopje
Brit 2nd Army enters Germany
Patton takes Metz
French enter Alsace, take Mulhouse and Strasbourg
Tirana liberated by Albanians
First raid on Tokyo by land based aircraft
Alexander Supreme Commander Mediterranean Theatre
New Russian offensive in S Hungary
Antwerp opened to Allied shipping
ELAS uprising
8th Army takes Ravenna
German counterattacks in Ardennes defeated

Political

New Greek Govt sworn in; ELAS rising put down
USSR recognises Lublin Committee as Provisional Govt of Poland
Armistice between Hungarian Prov Govt and Allies
Churchill-Roosevelt meeting on Malta
Yalta Conference
Turkey declares war on Germany and Japan
Egypt, Lebanon and Syria declare war on Germany

Military

Heavy German air losses in attacks on Allied airfields in Holland/Belgium
German attack in Alsace
US landings on Luzon
Russians take Warsaw; Lublin Cttee transfers to Warsaw
Russians take Lodz, Cracow, Tilsit, Tannenberg, cross Oder near Breslau
East Prussia isolated
Lithuania "liberated"
Zhukov crosses into Pomerania
US 1st and 3rd armies enter Germany
US advance in Ardennes
Heaviest US raid on Berlin
US troops take Manila
Russians reach Oder opposite Berlin
Budapest captured

Political

Saudi Arabia declares war on Germany
Death of Lloyd George (aka B Cameron)
Death of Roosevelt
Blackout in UK ended
Himmler offers surrender to US/UK
Russians and US meet at Torgau
Petain arrested
Mussolini executed
Unconditional surrender of German armies in Italy at Casserta
Benes Govt returns to Czechoslovakia

Military

US takes Muenchengladbach, Neuss, Venlo, Trier, Koln
Rhine crossed at Remagen
US bridgeheads across Moselle
Soviet offensive against East Prussian pocket
US take Koblenz
Last German air raid on UK
Brit cross Rhine
Last V2 at Orpington
Last V1
Russians take Danzig
Canadians enter Holland
US cross Weser
Russians reach Vienna
Russian offensive E of Berlin
Ruhr pocket eliminated; US take Nuremburg and Leipzig
Allies reach Po
Russians take Frankfort /Oder
Brits take Verona and Bremen
Italian partisans liberate Milan
Russians take Stettin and Brno
US take Genoa
US enter Munich, Turin
Brits enter Venice, Milan
Brits cross Elbe
Food drops in Holland
Yugoslavs enter Trieste
 

Political

Death of Hitler
Doenitz Hitler's successor.
Hostilities in Italy ceased (2 May)
Laval escapes to Spain from Germany
Unconditional surrender of all German forces signed at Rheims
VE Day

Military

NZ troops link up with Tito
Russians reach Stralsund and Brandenburg
Fall of Berlin
Brits and Russians meet
Trieste occupied by NZ troops
Americans cross Inn, take Innsbruck
Brits take Hamburg, reach Baltic
Surrender of German forces in Holland, NW Germany and Denmark
US enter Linz
Russians take Dresden, Prague
Germans in Norway and Channel Islands surrender
Russians occupy Latvia

Political

Agreement for provisional Govt of National Unity in Poland
Czechs cede Trans-Carpathian Ukraine to USSR
Potsdam Conference; Polish border to be Oder-Neisse line
USSR declares war on Japan
Japanese surrender.

Military

Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki