Timeline

1939 - Hitler invades Poland on 1 September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later. 1940 - German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelmsBelgium,Holland andFrance. - Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain. - British Expeditionary Force evacuated fromDunkirk. - British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans. 1941 - Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion ofRussia. - The Blitz continues againstBritain's major cities. - Allies take Tobruk inNorth Africa, and resist German attacks. - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and theUS enters the war. 1942 - Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad andEl 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 atAuschwitz begins. 1943 - Surrender at Stalingrad marksGermany's first major defeat. - Allied victory in North Africa enables invasion ofItaly to be launched. - Italy surrenders, butGermany takes over the battle. - British and Indian forces fight Japanese inBurma. 1944 - Soviet offensive gathers pace inEastern Europe. - D Day: The Allied invasion ofFrance.Paris is liberated in August. - Guam liberated by the US Okinawa, andIwo Jima bombed. 1945 - Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops. - Russians reachBerlin: Hitler commits suicide andGermany surrenders on 7 May. - Truman becomes President of theUS onRoosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces Churchill. - After atomic bombs are dropped onHiroshima andNagasaki,Japan surrenders on 14 August.
 * Timeline **