1939
1 September |
Germany invades Poland. |
3 September |
Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. |
1940
10 May |
Germany invades Western Europe. |
26 May |
Start of the Allied evacuation from France at Dunkirk. |
14 June |
German forces occupy Paris. |
18 June |
Charles de Gaulle broadcasts his ‘Appeal of 18 June’ from London urging the French to continue the fight against the Nazi invaders. |
22 June |
France surrenders. |
11 July |
Philippe Pétain, already prime minister, becomes president of the French Vichy government. |
1941
22 June |
Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. |
7 December |
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. |
11 December |
War declared on the USA by Germany (and Italy). |
1942
23 March |
Hitler issues his Führer Directive No. 40, ordering the construction of what became known as the ‘Atlantic Wall’. |
19 August |
The Allies’ ill-fated Dieppe Raid. |
1943
14–24 January |
Casablanca Conference at which Churchill and Roosevelt agree that a cross-Channel invasion is a necessity. |
March |
Frederick Morgan, given the title Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC), is charged with the initial planning stages of a cross-Channel invasion, codenamed Overlord. |
June |
The Allies launch Operation Pointblank, the strategic bombing of Germany by the USAAF and the RAF. |
10 July |
Allied forces land in Sicily. |
August |
The Quadrant Conference held in Quebec accepts Morgan’s plans, prioritizes the defeat of Germany over that of Japan, and sets 1 May 1944 as D-Day. |
December |
General Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed the Supreme Commander for the planned invasion of France, and his team, the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) is assembled. |
1944
February |
Hitler appoints Erwin Rommel to oversee the defence of France. |
March |
The Allies launch Operation Transportation, the strategic bombing of German facilities in occupied France. |
27–8 April |
US troops training at Slapton Sands in Devon for the landing at Utah beach are fired upon by friendly fire and a German patrol. Nine hundred and forty-six American servicemen are killed. |
May |
D-Day is postponed to 5 June. |
2 June |
The first warships set sail for Normandy from their ports within Britain. |
3 June |
Rommel, believing poor weather would rule out an invasion, returns home to Germany. |
3–4 June |
Lancaster bombers destroy the radar station at Urville-Hague near Cherbourg, the Germans’ primary listening station in Normandy. |
4 June |
Eisenhower postpones D-Day by twenty-four hours. Ships already out at sea are recalled. |
5 June |
Eisenhower visits US troops about to embark for the invasion. |
D-Day, 6 June
00:16 hours |
British and American gliders and paratroopers drop behind enemy lines into Normandy. |
00:35 |
Pegasus and Horsa bridges secured by British airborne troops. |
02:00 |
First wave of bombers are launched, attacking German targets in France. |
03:30 |
Assault troops begin boarding landing craft. |
04:30 |
British troops capture Merville Battery. |
05:30 |
Allies begin bombardment of the beaches. |
06:30 |
H-Hour on Omaha and Utah beaches. |
07:00 |
The first landing wave on Omaha beach becomes pinned down under heavy enemy fire. |
07:30 |
H-Hour on Sword and Gold beaches. |
07:45 |
H-Hour on Juno beach. On Utah beach, American troops begin advancing inland. |
10:15 |
Rommel is informed of the Allied invasion and hastens back to France. |
13:30 |
On Omaha beach, American troops advance inland. |
16:30 |
The German 21st Panzer Division assaults the Allies at the Sword beachhead. |
18:00 |
British advance towards Caen held back. |
23:59 |
All five Allied beachheads have been secured. |
Post D-Day
7 June |
British troops capture Bayeux. |
10 June |
SS soldiers murder inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane. |
12 June |
Allied troops link up their positions over the five beaches. |
13 June |
Germany launches the first V-1 attack against London. |
19 June |
Severe gales destroy the American Mulberry Harbour and damage the British one. |
22 June |
Stalin launches Operation Bagration, the Soviet Union’s counteroffensive against Germany. |
27 June |
US troops capture Cherbourg. |
2 July |
Hitler replaces Karl Gerd von Rundstedt with Günther von Kluge. |
9 July |
British troops capture Caen. |
17 July |
Rommel is injured by a British fighter plane and is invalided back to Germany. |
20 July |
Hitler survives the ‘July Bomb Plot’ assassination attempt at his Wolf’s Lair. |
25 July |
US Operation Cobra launched. |
30 July |
American troops capture Avranches. |
7 August |
German counterattack launched. |
12 August |
First PLUTO pipeline, running from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg, becomes operational. |
15 August |
Secondary Allied attack, Operation Dragoon, lands in the south of France. |
17 August |
Kluge commits suicide. |
20 August |
Falaise Pocket closed. |
25 August |
Paris liberated. |
26 August |
De Gaulle returns to Paris. |
3 September |
Brussels liberated. |
8 September |
Germany launches the first V-2 against London. |
17 September |
Start of Operation Market Garden. |
14 October |
Rommel forced into committing suicide. |
21 October |
US troops capture Aachen, the first German city to fall into Allied hands. |
23 October |
The Allies recognize General de Gaulle as the head of France’s provisional government. |
2 November |
Canadian troops capture Zeebrugge; Belgium is now entirely liberated. |
16 December |
Hitler launches his Ardennes offensive, the Battle of the Bulge. |
1945
7 March |
US troops cross the Rhine. |
23 April |
Soviet troops enter Berlin. |
25 April |
Soviet and US forces meet at the River Elbe. |
30 April |
Hitler commits suicide. |
4 May |
German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and north-west Germany surrender. |
7 May |
German unconditional surrender to the West. |
8 May |
German unconditional surrender to the East. |
6 August |
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. |
8 August |
Soviet Union declares war on Japan. |
9 August |
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. |
14 August |
Japan agrees to surrender. |
2 September |
Formal Japanese surrender. |