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1939 1 September Germany invades Poland. 3 Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. 5 United States proclaims neutrality. 8 President of United States declares limited national emergency. 6 October Last remnant of Polish forces surrenders to German Army. 4 November Congress passes law permitting "cash and carry" sale of munitions to belligerents. 30 USSR attacks Finland.1940 12 March Soviet-Finnish war ends. 9 April Germany occupies Denmark and invades Norway. 14 -20. British land troops in Norway. 23 Greece concludes armistice with Germany. 10 May Germany launches invasion of Belgium, the Nether- lands, Luxembourg, and France. Churchill succeeds Chamberlain as British Prime Minister. 3 June United States releases war material to Great Britain. 4 Dunkerque is evacuated. 10 Italy declares war on France and Great Britain. 14 Germans march into Paris. 21 France and Germany conclude armistice. 3 July British naval forces attack French fleet at Oran. 10 Germany begins air offensive against Great Britain. 27 August Congress authorizes call of reserve components for 12 months' duty. 3 September United States and Great Britain conclude agreement' to exchange destroyers (U.S.) for base rights (British). 16 Selective Service law enacted by Congress. 22 Japanese invade French Indochina. 27 Germany, Italy, Japan conclude three-power pact. 6 October -31. Last phase of air battle of Britain. Page 5201941 29 January -29 March. British-American Staff Conversations. 11 March Congress passes Lend-Lease Act. 27 May President Roosevelt proclaims state of unlimited national emergency. 22 June Germany invades the USSR. 7 July United States forces land in Iceland. 26 United States declares oil embargo on Japan. 14 August Roosevelt and Churchill announce Atlantic Charter 4 September German torpedo attack on USS Greer opens unde- clared shooting war in Atlantic. 25 Army and Navy Secretaries, at President's direction, submit Victory Program—an estimate of U.S. forces needed to defeat the Axis and Japan. 1 October First Soviet Protocol signed by U.S., Great Britain, and USSR at Moscow. 7 December -8. Japan delivers simultaneous bombing attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Wake, and Guam, invades Malaya and Thailand, seizes Shanghai, and declares war on the U.S. and Great Britain. 8 German offensive in Russia bogs down. 9 China declares war on Japan, Germany, Italy. 10 Japanese capture Guam, land on Luzon in Philippines. 11 Germany and Italy declare war on United States, and United States declares itself at war with them. 20 Chennault's Flying Tigers enter combat against Japanese in China. 23 General MacArthur decides to evacuate Manila and withdraw to Bataan. Wake Island captured by Japanese. 24 -14 January 1942. Anglo-American Conference (ARCADIA) at Washington.1942 1 January United Nations Declaration signed by twenty-six na- tions at war with Axis. 2 Japanese occupy Manila. 7 American and Filipino forces complete withdrawal into Bataan. 9 Combined Chiefs of Staff established. United States Joint Chiefs of Staff established. Page 521 19 January Japanese capture British North Borneo. 23 Japanese capture Rabaul and Kavieng in the Bismarck Archipelago, invade Bougainville in the Solomons. 1 February U.S. Navy bombards Gilberts and Marshalls. 2 Singapore surrenders. 27 -28. Battle of Java Sea. Japanese invade Java. March -November. Submarine sinkings in Atlantic rise to record heights. 7 Japanese occupy Burma. 9 War Department is reorganized. 17 General MacArthur reaches Australia to take command of Allied forces. 8 April -15. British-American conversations in London result in conditional agreement on BOLERO-ROUNDUP Plan. 9 Surrender of Bataan. 18 First U.S. air bombardment of Tokyo. 2 May Japanese land on Tulagi, adjacent to Guadalcanal, where they soon began to build an airstrip. 6 Surrender of all U.S. forces in Philippines. 8 Battle of the Coral Sea. 20 Japanese complete conquest of Burma. 27 Rommel opens drive into Egypt. 3 June -4. Battle of Midway. 7 Japanese invade western Aleutians. 21 Tobruk falls to Axis. 1 July Germans capture Sevastopol. 2 Rommel's advance stops at border of Egypt. 4 One of the most devastating submarine attacks on convoy to USSR along the northern route. 7 Second Soviet Protocol signed. 15 British suspend convoys to USSR on northern route. 18 -25. British-American conversations in London, resulting in decision to invade North Africa. 21 Japanese landing near Gona, New Guinea, starts Papua Campaign. 7 August South Pacific forces invade Guadalcanal, Florida, and Tulagi Islands, in the Solomons. 19 British Commonwealth force raids Dieppe, France. 23 Churchill accepts Roosevelt's proposal that the U.S. operate Persian Gulf facilities for aid to USSR. 14 September Battle for Stalingrad begins. Page 522 23 October British open counteroffensive at El Alamein. 8 November Allies land at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in French North Africa. 10 Axis troops move into Tunis and Bizerte. 11 British offensive reaches Libya. French resistance to Allies in North Africa ceases. Axis troops march into unoccupied France. 13 British recapture Tobruk. 15 Allied offensive in West reaches Tunisia. 19 USSR opens offensive at Stalingrad. 27 French fleet scuttled in Toulon harbor. 24 December Allied drive on Tunis ends in stalemate.1943 14 January -23. Allied conference at Casablanca. 22 Campaign for Papua, New Guinea, ends. 27 Eighth Air Force makes its first attack on Germany, at Wilhelmshaven. 2 February Soviet Army destroys remnants of German Sixth Army at Stalingrad. 9 Organized Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ceases. 20 Rommel breaks through Kasserine Pass, Tunisia. 25 Allies retake Kasserine Pass. 2 March -4. Battle of the Bismarck Sea. 16 Final Allied offensive in Tunisia begins. 18 Americans capture E1 Guettar. 20 -27. Montgomery breaks through the Mareth Line. 11 May -31. With recapture of Attu by Allies Japanese are driven from the Aleutians. 12 -25. TRIDENT Conference in Washington. 13 Axis forces in Tunisia surrender. 1 June -30. Shipping losses reach new low, signalizing vic- tory over U-boat. 30 Allies begin operation for reduction of Rabaul (CARTWHEEL) with attacks in central Solomons and New Guinea. 10 July Allies invade Sicily. 25 Fall of Mussolini proclaimed. 14 August -24. QUADRANT Conference at Quebec. 17 End of Sicily campaign. 23 Germans abandon Kharkov. 25 Allies complete occupation of New Georgia, Solomon · Islands. Page 523 3 September British troops invade Southern Italy. 4 -16. Southwest Pacific forces recapture Lae-Sala- maua, New Guinea. 8 Italy surrenders. 9 Allies under U.S. Fifth Army land on the Salerno beaches; British troops land at Taranto. 11 Italian Fleet is surrendered at Malta. 1 October Allies enter Naples and occupy Foggia airfields. 2 Australians seize Finschhafen, New Guinea. 13 Italy declares war on Germany. 14 Soviets reach Zaporodzhe, industrial center of Ukraine. 19 -30. Soviet, British, American Foreign Ministers and military representatives confer in Moscow. 1 November South Pacific forces invade Bougainville. 5 U.S. Fifth Army attacks German Winter Line in Italy. 20 Opening of Central Pacific offensive (Makin and Ta- rawa in Gilberts). 22 -7 December. Allied conferences, Cairo-Tehran (SEX- TANT, EUREKA). 14 December Soviet armies begin first phase of winter offensive. 26 Southwest Pacific troops invade New Britain at Cape Gloucester.1944 15 January USSR opens offensive to relieve Leningrad. 20 In Italy, beginning of unsuccessful operations to cross the Rapido River and seize Cassino. 22 VI Corps, U.S. Fifth Army, lands at Anzio. 31 Central Pacific forces invade the Marshall Islands. 12 February General Eisenhower is formally designated Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, Europe, by Combined Chiefs of Staff. 18 U.S. Naval forces attack Truk in Caroline Islands. 20 Reduction of Rabaul completed with Japanese aban- donment of it as an airbase. 24 In Burma, Merrill's Marauders advance into Hu- kawng Valley, with the Myitkyina airfield as their goal. 29 Southwest Pacific forces begin invasion of Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago. 5 March Soviet Army opens drive in the Ukraine to destroy enemy in Dnieper bend. 20 German troops occupy Hungary. Page 524 10 April Odessa retaken by Russian troops. 22 Southwest Pacific forces land at Aitape and Hollan- dia, New Guinea. 9 May Sevastopol retaken by Soviet forces. 11 In Italy, Allies open a general offensive against the Gustav Line. 17 Myitkyina airstrip captured by Chinese forces. 18 Allied forces capture Cassino. 23 U.S. VI Corps launches offensive to break out of the Anzio Beachhead. 27 Southwest Pacific force lands on Biak Island, New Guinea. 4 June U.S. Fifth Army enters Rome. 6 D Day. Allied Forces invade France, landing on coast of Normandy, in Operation OVERLORD. 9 Soviet forces launch attack against the Finnish positions on Karelian Isthmus. 12 Germans launch first V-1 bombs against England. 15 B-29's based in China, make their first attack on Japanese homeland. Central Pacific forces invade the Marianas. 19 -20. First Battle of the Philippine Sea. 27 Organized resistance ceases at Cherbourg. 18 July U.S. forces, concluding "the battle of the hedgerows," capture St. Lo. 19 Leghorn falls to the U.S. Fifth Army. 20 Attempt to assassinate Hitler fails. 25 U.S. First Army launches Operation COBRA from St. Lo area to gain a breakthrough. 1 August Polish underground forces revolt as Soviet offensive nears Warsaw. U.S. Third Army becomes operational in France. 3 In Burma, Myitkyina is taken. 4 British Eighth Army reaches Florence. 7 In Normandy, Germans launch Mortain counter- attack. 15 American and French troops, under U.S. Seventh Army, invade southern France in Operation DRAGOON—ANVIL. 20 Allied forces in France close pincers on Germans caught retreating from Mortain in the Falaise- Argentan pocket. 25 U.S. Third Army crosses the Seine. U.S. and French troops liberate Paris. Page 525 28 August Germans surrender Toulon and Marseille. 30 Ploesti, center of Rumanian oil industry, falls to Soviet troops. 31 In Italy, British Eighth Army penetrates the Gothic Line. 3 September British liberate Brussels. 4 Hostilities between Finland and the USSR cease under truce agreement. 10 U.S. First Army liberates Luxembourg. 11 Patrols of U.S. First Army enter Germany. 12 -16. Second Quebec Conference (OCTAGON). German garrison of Le Havre surrenders. Rumania signs armistice with Allies. 15 Southwest and Central Pacific forces reach Morotai and the Palaus. 16 Soviet forces enter Sofia, capital of Bulgaria. 17 First Allied Airborne Army launches Operation MARKET to secure axis of advance toward Arn- hem for British Second Army. Ground forces (GARDEN) open assault northward. 18 U.S. Ninth Army takes Brest. Finland signs armistice with Allies. 20 In Italy, the British Eighth Army reaches the Rimini Line. Soviet troops cross the Danube in force and push toward Belgrade. 1 October U.S. First Army begins siege of Aachen. Germans suppress insurrection of patriots in Warsaw. 13 Germans launch first V-bomb against Antwerp. Soviet troops overrun Riga, capital of Latvia. 14 U.S. naval force in air attacks neutralizes Formosa. 15 Northern China Area Command opens offensive to clear North Burma. 18 Soviet troops advance from Poland into Czechoslo- vakia. General Stilwell is recalled from China by President Roosevelt. 20 Belgrade falls to Soviet and Yugoslav forces. U.S. forces, landing on Leyte, invade the Philippines. 21 Aachen surrenders. 23 -26. The battle for Leyte Gulf. 28 Bulgaria signs armistice with Allies. 8 November U.S. Third Army begins drive to breach the West Wall and reach the Rhine. Page 526 16 November U.S. First Army begins drive to cross Roer River and reach the Rhine. 24 B-29's begin attacks on Tokyo from bases in the Marianas. 28 First Allied cargo ship drops anchor in Antwerp harbor. 13 December U.S. First Army launches attack to capture Roer River Dams. 16 Germans open all-out counteroffensive in the Ar- dennes (Battle of the Bulge). 26 In U.S. First Army area, enemy's westward drive is stopped short of the Meuse. 27 U.S. Third Army raises siege of Bastogne. Soviet troops complete encirclement of Budapest.1945 9 January U.S. Sixth Army lands on Luzon. 12 Soviet forces open powerful winter offensive across the Vistula in South Poland. 16 U.S. First and Third Armies join at Houffalize. 17 Warsaw falls to Soviet forces. 3 February Sixth Army attacks Manila in a battle lasting until 4 March. 4 -9. Conference at Yalta (ARGONAUT). 5 -9. In Alsace, American and French forces wipe out the Colmar Pocket. 13 Soviet Army completes capture of Budapest. 19 U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima. 25 In Italy, U.S. Fifth Army begins limited offensive in the Apennines. 6 March U.S. Ninth Army units complete drive from Roer to Rhine. Soviet troops seize key point of German defense sys- tem on the lower Vistula in Poland. 7 Cologne falls to U.S. First Army. U.S. First Army seizes bridge at Remagen and es- tablishes bridgehead across the Rhine. 10 U.S. Eighth Army units land on Zamboanga Penin- sula, Mindanao. 15 VII Corps, U.S. First Army, crosses the Rhine. U.S. Seventh Army opens offensive to break through the West Wall and join U.S. Third Army in clearing the Saar-Palatinate triangle. Page 527 23 March U.S. Third Army crosses the Rhine. 23 -24. Allied forces, under Field Marshall Montgomery, cross the Rhine north of the Ruhr. 30 Soviet troops capture Danzig; other Soviet forces continue offensive in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. 1 April U.S. Tenth Army lands on Okinawa. U.S. First and Ninth Armies complete encirclement of the Ruhr. 9 Organized German resistance, in East Prussia, ends. 11 The 2d Armored Division, Ninth Army, reaches the Elbe south of Magdeburg. 12 President Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia. Harry S. Truman sworn in as President. 13 Vienna falls to Soviet troops. 20 U.S. Seventh Army captures Nuremburg, Germany. 23 Soviet Army forces break into Berlin. In Italy, U.S. Fifth Army units cross the Po. 24 United Nations Conference opens at San Francisco. 25 In Germany, U.S. and Soviet patrols establish con- tact on the Elbe near Torgau. 29 German forces in Italy surrender at Caserta, effec- tive 2 May. 30 Adolf Hitler commits suicide in Berlin; Admiral Doenitz becomes head of state. 3 May Hamburg surrenders to British Second Army. British recapture Rangoon, Burma. 7 German High Command surrenders all land, sea, and air forces unconditionally to Allied forces, effective 9 May. All offensive operations are im- mediately halted. 8 President Truman proclaims this day V-E Day (Vic- tory in Europe). 5 June The Berlin Declaration is made by France, Great Britain, United States, and USSR, announcing their assumption of supreme authority in occu- pied Germany. 18 Organized resistance ends on Mindanao. 22 U.S. Tenth Army completes capture of Okinawa. 26 The United Nations Organization Charter is signed at San Francisco by fifty nations. 10 July Carrier-based and land-based planes open powerful and sustained attacks on Japan in preparation for invasion. Page 528 11 July In Europe, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expedi- tionary Force, is dissolved. 16 -26. Potsdam Conference (TERMINAL). Potsdam ultimatum, issued on 26 July, calls for Japan to surrender unconditionally or face "utter destruction." 6 August Atomic bomb dropped by U.S. Air Forces on Hiroshima. Second bomb dropped 9 August on Nagasaki. 8 USSR declares war on Japan. 14 Japanese Government agrees to unconditional surrender of its armed forces. 30 Occupation of Japan by U.S. forces begins. 2 September V-J Day—Victory over Japan. Formal terms of surrender signed by Japanese envoys.