Feb 12 |
Hitler sends Rommel and the 'Afrika
Korps' to help the Italians in north Africa |
Mar 1 |
Bulgaria joins the axis. The axis-Russian border now
stretch from the Baltic sea to the black sea. |
Mar 3 |
Rommel attacks the British forces in north Africa. |
Mar 5 |
British troops arrive at Greece to support it. |
Apr 6 |
Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece |
Apr 13 |
After military clashes, Japan and Russia sign
non-aggression pact. |
Apr 17 |
Yugoslavia surrenders. British forces evacuate Greek
mainland to Crete |
Apr 27 |
German troops occupy Athens |
May 9 |
U-boat U-110 is captured with Enigma settings tables |
May 20 |
German paratroopers and airborne troops invade Crete by
air |
May 31 |
British forces in Crete surrender. |
Jun 8 |
British forces aided by Israeli volunteers invade French
controlled Syria and Lebanon |
Jun 22 |
Germany invades Russia. Hitler orders "maximum cruelty"
against civilians, which results in fanatic Russian resistance. |
Jul 3 |
Stalin orders the 'scorched earth' strategy. |
Jul 16 |
German army group 'centre' takes Smolensk, just 220 miles
from Moscow. |
Jul 21 |
The
Luftwaffe bombs Moscow |
Jul 24 |
Japan invades French Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) |
Jul 29 |
Hitler, eager to occupy the rich Ukraine first, orders to
stop army group centre's advance to Moscow and to
transfer its two tank armies to army groups 'north' and
'south'. This is perhaps Hitler's
greatest mistake. The German generals argue in vain against it. |
Jul 31 |
Hermann Goering orders the S.S. to prepare "the final solution",
the plan to murder the millions of European jews. |
Sep 6 |
Hitler orders to restore the advance to Moscow, in order
to take it "in the limited time before winter". Army
group 'centre', is given back its two tank armies, plus a
third tank army and additional air units. |
Sep 15 |
The
long German siege of Leningrad begins. |
Sep 18 |
The
Germans in the south occupy Kiev and reach the Crimea. |
Oct 2 |
The
final German attack towards Moscow begins (operation
Typhoon). |
Oct 15 |
Rains stop German advance to Moscow due to deep mud which
stops both tanks and infantry. |
Oct 16 |
Russian government leaves Moscow, the Germans occupy
Odessa. |
Oct 17 |
General Tojo becomes Japan's prime minister |
Oct 21 |
Churchill orders top priority to any request by the
Enigma decoders. |
Oct 26 |
The
Germans occupy Kharkov |
Nov 15 |
With
the mud frozen by the dropping temperatures, German
advance to Moscow resumes. |
Nov 30 |
The
foremost German forces reach 27km from Moscow, but can
advance no further due to strong Russian resistance. |
Dec 6 |
At
temperatures of -34C (-29F) and below, a major Russian
counter attack near Moscow begins. Moscow is saved, and
the Germans are pushed back. |
Dec 7 |
The
Japanese navy attacks Pearl Harbour and the Phillipines, and
the US joins the war.
With the German failure to defeat Russia, which is marked
by their failure to take Moscow, and with the United
States joining the war a day later, This date marks the
main turning point of world war 2 |
Dec 11 |
Germany and Italy declare war on the US. |
Dec 19 |
Hitler orders "fanatic resistance" and appoints himself
military commander-in-chief. |