- 1942
Feb 18 | Japanese troops land on Bali. | Ref: 5 |
- 1943
Jan 02 | (and 2nd) Germans begin a withdrawal from the Caucasus. | Ref: 36 |
Jan 02 | The Allies capture Buna in New Guinea. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 03 | Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 05 | William H Hastie, civilian aide to secretary of war, resigns to protest segregation in armed forces. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 08 | The British hand Madagascar over to the Free French. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 09 | Soviet planes drop leaflets on the surrounded Germans in Stalingrad requesting their surrender with humane terms. The Germans refuse. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 09 | Japanese government in Java limits sale & use of motorcars. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 10 | The Soviets begin an offensive against the German 6th/4th Armies in Stalingrad. | Ref: 36 |
Jan 11 | The Soviet Red Army encircles Stalingrad. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 12 | Soviet forces raise the siege of Leningrad. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 13 | General Leclerc's Free French forces merge with the British under Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery in Libya. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 13 | British premier Winston Churchill arrives in Casablanca. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 13 | Russian offensive at Don under General Golikov. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 13 | US infantry captures Galloping Horse-ridge Guadalcanal. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 13 | Hitler declares "Total War". | Ref: 5 |
Jan 14 | (through the 24th) The Casablanca conference between Churchill, DeGaul and Roosevelt. During the conference, Roosevelt announces the war can end only with an unconditional German surrender. The conference ends 10 days later. | Ref: 36 |
Jan 14 | Heinrich Himmler views Warsaw. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 15 | The American army agrees to co-fund an anthrax-producing site at Grosse Ili, Quebec, Canada. | |
Jan 15 | Japanese driven off Guadalcanal. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 16 | First US air raid on Ambon. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 16 | German 2nd SS-Pantzer division evacuates Charkow. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 16 | Red Army recaptures Pitomnik airport at Stalingrad. | Ref: 5 |
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Jan 18 | U.S. commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread. Only whole loaves were sold until the end of World War II. This action is aimed at reducing bakeries demand for metal replacement parts. | Ref: 35 |
Jan 18 | The Soviets announced that they had broken the long Nazi siege of Leningrad. | Ref: 70 |
Jan 19 | Joint Chiefs of Staff decide on invasion in Sicily. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 20 | Operation-Weiss Assault of German, Italian, Bulgarian & Croatian. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 21 | A Nazi daylight air raid kills 34 in a London school.
A Nazi daylight air raid kills 34 in a London school. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 21 | Soviet forces reconquer Gumrak airport near Stalingrad. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 21 | Soviet forces reconquer Worosjilowsk. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 21 | Vice-Admiral Cunningham appointed British Admiral of fleet. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 22 | Axis forces pull out of Tripoli for Tunisia, destroying bases as they leave. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 22 | Joint Chiefs of Staff determine invasion in Sicily for July 10th. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 22 | Allied forces take New Guinea in first win over Japanese in WWII; 3,000 allies die, 7,000 Japanese. | Ref: 10 |
Jan 23 | Montgomery's Eighth Army takes Tripoli. | Ref: 36 |
Jan 23 | Japanese Mount Austen on Guadalcanal captured. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 24 | At the end of an Allied conference at Casablanca, Morocco, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly announces his doctrine of "unconditional surrender" for Germany, Italy, and Japan, including "total and political capitulation." | Ref: 3 |
Jan 24 | Hitler orders Nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 25 | The last German airfield in Stalingrad is captured by the Red Army. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 26 | The first OSS (Office of Strategic Services) agent parachutes behind Japanese lines in Burma. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 27 | The first all-U.S. raids on the Reich blast Wilhelmshaven base and Emden. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 29 | Nazis order all Gypsies arrested and sent to extermination camps. | Ref: 35 |
Jan 29 | New Zealand's Kiwi cruiser collides with Japanese sub I-1 at Guadalcanal. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 30 | Ernst Kaltenbrunner succeeds Heydrich as head of RSHA. | Ref: 35 |
Jan 30 | Fieldmarshal Friedrich von Paulus surrenders himself and his staff to Red Army troops in Stalingrad. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 30 | 6 British Mosquito's daylight bomb Berlin. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 30 | German assault on French in Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 30 | Hitler promotes Friedrich von Paulus to General field marshal. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 30 | USS Chicago sinks in Pacific Ocean. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 30 | German under officers shot down in Haarlem Netherlands. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 30 | Illegal opposition newspaper Loyal begins publishing. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 31 | The Battle of Stalingrad ends as small groups of German soldiers of the Sixth Army surrender to the victorious Red Army forces. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 31 | 39 U boats sunk this month (203,100 ton). | Ref: 5 |
Jan 31 | Chile breaks contact with Germany & Japan. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 01 | The Japanese begin the evacuation of Guadalcanal. | |
Feb 01 | One of America's most highly decorated military units of World War Two, the 442d Regimental Combat Team, made up almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, was authorized. | Ref: 6 |
Feb 01 | American tanks and infantry are battered at German positions at Fais pass in North Africa. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 01 | Mussert forms pro Nazi shadow cabinet (Netherlands). | Ref: 5 |
Feb 01 | German occupiers make Vidkun Quisling Norwegian premier. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 02 | The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II. (Go to article.) | Ref: 70 |
Feb 03 | Germany's U-223 sinks the troop transport Dorchester. The Dorchester goes down 27 minutes after the hit. 677 of 902 die. As it sank, four chaplains gave up their lifejackets to shipmates, thereby also perishing in the icy waters. The bravery of Rev. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rev. George Lansing Fox (Methodist), Father John Washington (a Catholic priest) and Alexander David Goode (a Jewish rabbi) led Congress afterward to mark February 3rd as "Four Chaplains Day." (The Colubmus Dispatch, 03/19/2000, p. 1H) | |
Feb 03 | Finland begins talks with the Soviet Union. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 04 | American P-40's strafed Japanese installations on the island of Kiska. Five enemy bombers attacked American positions on Amchitka. | Ref: 37 |
Feb 05 | Wim Gertenbach Dutch resistance fighter (Slogan), shot by Nazis. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 05 | Clandestine Radio Atlantiksender, Germany, first transmission. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 05 | Amsterdam resistance group CS-6 shoots Nazi General Seyffardt. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 06 | First Spitfire in action above Darwin, Australia, Mu Ki-46 shot down. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 06 | Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower named commander of Allied expeditionary forces in North Africa. | Ref: 17 |
Feb 07 | The government announced that shoe rationing would go into effect in two days, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person for the remainder of the year. | Ref: 6 |
Feb 08 | British General Orde Wingate leads a guerrilla force of "Chindits" against the Japanese in Burma. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 08 | The Red Army takes back Kursk 15 months after it fell to the Germans. | Ref: 36 |
Feb 09 | The Red Army takes back Kursk 15 months after it fell to the Germans. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 09 | Japanese government in Java limits sale & use of motorcars. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 09 | FDR orders minimal 48 hour work week in war industry. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 09 | German riots at "plutocratenzoontjes", 1,200 in Vught Camp. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 09 | Nazis arrest Dutch sons of rich parents. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 09 | The World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces. (Go to article.) | Ref: 70 |
Feb 10 | Soviet forces attack the Spanish Blue Division near Krasny Bor, below Leningrad. The Blue Division is forced to retreat for the first time in the war. | |
Feb 10 | 8th Army sweeps through North Africa to Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 10 | Van der Veen Resistance starts fire in Amsterdam employment bureau. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 11 | General Dwight David Eisenhower was selected to command the allied armies in Europe. | Ref: 4 |
Feb 12 | General Eisenhower departs Algiers to Tebessa. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 13 | German assault on Sidi Bou Zid Tunisia, General Eisenhower visits front. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 13 | Women's Marine Corps created. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 14 | (through the 25th) The Battle of Kasserine Pass between the U.S. 1st Armored Division and German Panzers in North Africa. The battle lasts 12 days. | Ref: 36 |
Feb 14 | German offensive through de Faid-pass Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 14 | Soviets recapture Rostov. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 15 | The Germans break the American Army's lines at the Fanid-Sened Sector in Tunisia, North Africa. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 15 | Women's camp Tamtui on Ambon (Moluccas) hit by allied air raid. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 15 | The British government protests to the Swedish government regarding Sweden building fishing boats for the Germans to use as minesweepers. | |
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Feb 16 | British premier Winston Churchill gets pneumonia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 16 | Sign on Munich facade "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 16 | Withdrawing Africa Corps reaches Mareth-line in North-Africa. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 17 | General-Major Bradley flies to Washington DC. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 17 | Hitler visits field marshal von Mansteins headquarters in Zaporozje. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 18 | Nazis arrest White Rose resistance leaders "White Rose" in Munich. | Ref: 36 |
Feb 18 | German General Erwin Rommel takes three towns in Tunisia, North Africa. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 18 | First edition of Dutch resistance newspaper "Trouw". | Ref: 5 |
Feb 19 | German tanks under Brigadier General Buelowius attack Kasserine Pass Tunesia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 21 | German offensive at Western Dorsalgebergte Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 22 | Sign on Munich façade "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group on 2/16/1943, caught on 2/18, beheaded. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 23 | German troops pull back through Kasserine-pass Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 23 | (Chairman, Joint Chiefs) Major General Omar Bradley arrives in Dakar & Marrakesh. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 24 | (Chairman, Joint Chiefs) Major General Omar Bradley flies to Algiers. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 25 | U.S. troops retake the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia, where they had been defeated five days before. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 26 | U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators pound German docks and U-boat lairs at Wilhelmshaven. | Ref: 2 |
Feb 26 | German assault moves to Beja North Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Feb 28 | 63 U Boats (359,300 ton) sinks this month. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 01 | The British RAF conducts strategic bombing raids on all European railway lines. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 02 | The center of Berlin is bombed by the RAF. Some 900 tons of bombs are dropped in a half hour. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 02 | The US & Australia are victorious over Japan in the 3-day Battle of Bismarck Sea. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 02 | Germans begin a withdrawal from Tunisia, Africa. | |
Mar 03 | US wins Battle of Bismarck Sea over Japan. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 03 | Adm. Thomas C. Kincaid, commanding officer of the Alaska Defense Command, begins planning for the invasion of Attu. | Ref: 37 |
Mar 03 | Bomb fleeing crowd falls into London shelter; 173 die. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 05 | Anti fascist strikes in Italy. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 05 | RAF bombs Essen Germany. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 05 | In desperation due to war losses, fifteen and sixteen year olds are called up for military service in the German army. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 06 | British RAF fliers bomb Essen and the Krupp arms works in the Ruhr, Germany. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 06 | Battle at Medenine, North-Africa; Rommels assault attack. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 06 | Sukarno asks for cooperation with Japanese occupiers. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 07 | Major General Patton arrives in Djebel Kouif Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 08 | Japanese forces attack American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville. The battle will last five days. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 08 | 335 allied bombers attack Neurenberg. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 10 | Adolf Hitler calls Field Marshall Erwin Rommel back from Tunisia in North Africa. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 11 | Nazi Militia forms in Netherlands. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 12 | Soviet troops liberate Wjasma. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 13 | Japanese forces end their attack on the American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 13 | While escorting a convoy to Gibraltar, RMS corvette Prescott sinks U-boat U-163 in the Bay of Biscay. | |
Mar 13 | Failed assassin attempt on Hitler during Smolensk-Rastenburg flight. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 14 | The Germans reoccupy Kharkov in the Soviet Union. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 15 | Germans re-capture Kharkov; Red army evacuates. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 15 | Allied reconnaissance flight over Java. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 16 | A 5-day Battle of Atlantic climaxes with 27 merchant ships sunk by German U-boats. | Ref: 36 |
Mar 16 | Elin K (No) & Zaanland (Netherlands) torpedoed & sinks. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 17 | Aldemarin (Ned) & Fort Cedar Lake (US) torpedoed & sinks. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 18 | Adolf Hitler calls off the offensive in the Caucasus. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 18 | American forces take Gafsa in Tunisia. | Ref: 2 |
Mar 18 | James Oglethorpe (US) & Terkolei (Netherlands), torpedoed & sinks. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 18 | Red Army evacuates Belgorod. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 19 | Airship Canadian Star torpedoed & sinks. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 20 | (through the 28th) Britain's Eighth Army under Montgomery breaks through the German Mareth Line in Tunisia. | Ref: 36 |
Mar 20 | German U-384 bombed & sinks. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 21 | Assassination attempt on Hitler fails. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 21 | British 8th army opens assault on Mareth line, Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 23 | German counter attack on US lines in Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 25 | 97% of all Dutch physicians strike againt Nazi registration. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 27 | US begins assault on Fondouk-pass, Tunisia | Ref: 5 |
Mar 29 | Meat, butter & cheese rationed in US during WWII (784 gram/week, 2 kilogram for GI's). | Ref: 5 |
Mar 30 | The British 1st army recaptures Sejenane. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 31 | US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 05 | The British 8th Army attacks the next blocking position of the retreating Axis forces at Wadi Akarit. | Ref: 2 |
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Apr 06 | (and 7th) Axis forces in Tunisia begin a withdrawal toward Enfidaville as American and British forces link. | Ref: 36 |
Apr 06 | British & US offensive at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 06 | Lou Jansen, leader of illegal Dutch political party (CPN) arrested. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 07 | British and American armies link up between Wadi Akarit and El Guettar in North Africa, forming a solid line against the German army. | Ref: 2 |
Apr 07 | Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini meet for an Axis conference in Salzburg. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 07 | Lieutenant Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded in allied air raid. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 09 | Exterminations at Chelmno cease. The camp will be reactivated in the spring of 1944 to liquidate ghettos. In all, Chelmno will total 300,000 deaths. | Ref: 35 |
Apr 10 | General Montgomery occupies Sfax Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 12 | Allies conquer Soussa, North-Africa. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 13 | Nazi's discover mass grave of Polish officers near Katyn. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 14 | Generals Alexander/Eisenhower/Anderson/Bradley discuss assault on Tunis. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 15 | The first production B-29 rolls out of the Wichita plant. | |
Apr 16 | 40 New Zealand bombers attack Haarlem Netherlands (85 killed). | Ref: 5 |
Apr 17 | Admiral Yamamoto flies from Truk to Rabaul. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 17 | SS-Lieutenant-General Jürgen Stoop arrives in Warsaw. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 18 | U.S. code breakers pinpoint the location of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto flying in a Japanese bomber near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Eighteen P-38 fighters then locate and shoot down Yamamoto. | Ref: 2 |
Apr 19 | (thru the 30th) The Bermuda Conference occurs as representatives from the U.S. and Britain discuss the problem of refugees from Nazi-occupied countries, but results in inaction concerning the plight of the Jews. | Ref: 35 |
Apr 19 | Alexander Schmorell German resistance fighter, beheaded. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 19 | Kurt Huber German resistance fighter, beheaded. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 19 | Willy Graf German resistance fighter, beheaded. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 21 | President Roosevelt announces that several Doolittle pilots have been executed by Japanese. | Ref: 2 |
Apr 22 | Japan announces captured Allied pilots will be given "one way tickets to hell." | |
Apr 22 | German counter attack in North-Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 22 | RAF shoots down 14 German transport planes over Mediterranean Sea. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 23 | British & US offensive directed at Tunis/Bizerta. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 27 | Lou Jansen & Jan Dieters arrested, lead illegal CPN party in Holland. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 27 | Soviet Union breaks contact with Polish government exiled in London. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 28 | German-Italian counter offensive in North-Africa. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 28 | US 34th Division occupies Djebel el Hara North Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 29 | Dietrich Bonhöffer arrested by Nazi's. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 29 | US 34th Division occupies Hill 609, North Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 30 | The British submarine HMS Seraph drops 'the man who never was,' a dead man the British planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. | Ref: 2 |
Apr 30 | Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp for Jews forms. | Ref: 5 |
Apr 30 | Dutch strike against forced labor in Nazi Germany's war industry. | Ref: 5 |
May 01 | German plane sinks boat loaded with Palestinian Jews bound for Malta. | Ref: 5 |
May 01 | German Wehrmacht deployed in order to break Dutch strikes. | Ref: 5 |
May 01 | First edition of illegal "The Free Artist" appears in Amsterdam. | Ref: 5 |
May 02 | German troops vacate Jefna Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 03 | US first armour division occupies Mateur Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 03 | Strike against obligatory labor camps ends, after 200 killed. | Ref: 5 |
May 06 | British first army opens assault on Tunis. | Ref: 5 |
May 07 | The last major German strongholds in North Africa--Tunis and Bizerte--fall to Allied forces. | Ref: 2 |
May 07 | Liberty Ship George Washington Carver, named after scientist, launched. | Ref: 5 |
May 07 | Dutch men 18-35 obliged to report to labor camps. | Ref: 5 |
May 07 | British 11th Huzaren occupies Tunis Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 07 | US first Armour division occupies Ferryville Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 07 | US 9th Infantry division occupies Bizerta/Bensert Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 08 | Admiral Cunningham of British fleet: "Sink, burn & destroy; let nothing pass" | Ref: 2 |
May 09 | 5th German Pantser army surrenders in Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 10 | André Bertulot Belgian resistance fighter, hanged. | Ref: 5 |
May 10 | Arnaud/Armand Fraiteur Belgian resistance fighter, hanged. | Ref: 5 |
May 10 | Maurice-Albert Raskin Belgian resistance fighter, hanged. | Ref: 5 |
May 11 | Hermann Goering-division in Tunisia surrenders. | Ref: 5 |
May 12 | During World War Two, Axis forces in North Africa surrender. | Ref: 5 |
May 12 | British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in US. | Ref: 5 |
May 13 | German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa. | Ref: 35 |
May 13 | German occupiers confiscate all radios. | Ref: 5 |
May 14 | A Japanese submarine sinks the Australian hospital ship CENTAUR resulting in 299 dead. | |
May 15 | Halifax bombers sink U-463. | Ref: 5 |
May 16 | Barnes Wallis's "bouncing bombs" first dropped by Britain on Ruhr Valley dams at Mohne and Eder. | Ref: 2 |
May 18 | Allied bombers attack Pantelleria in the Mediterranean Sea. | Ref: 5 |
May 19 | In an address to the US Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country's full support in the war against Japan. (XDG, p 4A, 5/19/2003) | Ref: 83 |
May 20 | French, British & US victory parade in Tunis Tunisia. | Ref: 5 |
May 22 | German Admiral Dönitz suspends U-boat operations in the North Atlantic. | Ref: 36 |
May 22 | RAF scatters first copies of "The Flying Hollander". | Ref: 5 |
May 23 | 826 Allied bombers attack Dortmund. | Ref: 5 |
May 24 | U-441 shoots Sunderland seaplane down over Gulf of Biskaje. | Ref: 5 |
May 24 | Admiral Dönitz stops U-boat in Atlantic Ocean. | Ref: 5 |
May 25 | Trident conference in Washington DC (operation plan '43 against Japan). | Ref: 5 |
May 26 | Premier Churchill & General Marshall fly from US to North Africa. | Ref: 5 |
May 26 | At Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1,042 Gypsies executed in gas chamber after typhoid breaks out. | Ref: 10 |
May 27 | French defiance under Jean Moulin meets secretly in Paris. | Ref: 5 |
May 27 | US forbids racial discrimination in war industry. | Ref: 5 |
May 28 | British militia reaches Tito. | Ref: 5 |
May 29 | Confederacy of Algiers (Churchill-Marshall-Eisenhower). | Ref: 5 |
May 29 | Norman Rockwell's portrait of "Rosie the Riveter" appears on the front page of the Saturday Evening Post. (XDG, p.4A, 5/29/2003) | Ref: 83 |
May 30 | French General De Gaulle arrives in Algiers. | Ref: 5 |
Jun 01 | U.S. begins submarine warfare against Japanese shipping. | |
Jun 01 | (about 12:30 PM) German Luftwaffe shoots down British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 airliner en route from Lisbon, Portugal, to London, England, killing all aboard, including actor Leslie Howard. One explanation for the shooting is that the Germans thought British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was on board. | Ref: 6 |
Jun 02 | 99th Pursuit Squadron flies first combat mission (over Italy). | Ref: 5 |
Jun 10 | The Allies begin bombing Germany around the clock. | Ref: 2 |
Jun 11 | The Italian island of Pantelleria surrenders after a heavy air bombardment. | Ref: 2 |
Jun 21 | Allies advance to New Georgia, Solomon Islands. | |
Jun 24 | Royal Air Force Bombers hammer Muelheim, Germany, in a drive to cripple the Ruhr industrial base. | Ref: 2 |
Jun 25 | Newly built gas chamber/crematory III opens at Auschwitz. With its completion, the four new crematories at Auschwitz have a daily capacity of 4,756 bodies. | Ref: 35 |
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Jul 02 | Lt Charles Hall, becomes first black pilot to shoot down Nazi plane. | Ref: 5 |
Jul 04 | The American Forces Network radio program begins airing from England. | |
Jul 05 | Germans begin their last offensive against Kursk resulting in the largest tank battle in history. | Ref: 36 |
Jul 07 | Adolf Hitler makes the V-2 missile program a top priority in armament planning. | Ref: 2 |
Jul 08 | American B-24 bombers strike Japanese-held Wake Island from Midway for the first time. | Ref: 2 |
Jul 09 | (and 10th) The Allies land in Sicily. | Ref: 35 |
Jul 09 | England's 1st Air Landing (glider) Brigade takes off from airfields in Tunisia, bound for Sicily. This is the first use of American-built CG-4A gliders. The Canadian assault convoy joins the main invasion armada of almost 3000 Allied ships en route to Sicily. | |
Jul 10 | Allied armada lands over 80 miles of shore line at Sicily. The attack is headed by Seventh United States Army under Lieut.-General George Patton, and the 8th British Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery. The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade are part of the British Army. (XDG, p 4A, 7/10/2000) | Ref: 83 |
Jul 15 | The British war cabinet approves use of "Window" on bombing attacks. "Window" is the code name for using bundles of aluminum foil dropped from planes to confuse enemy radar. | |
Jul 15 | In Italy, Canadian troops of the 1st Infantry Brigade and tanks of the Three Rivers Regiment take the village of Grammichele from Germans of the Hermann Goering Division. | |
Jul 19 | US B-17s and B-24 Liberators carry out the first bombing raid on Rome. | Ref: 36 |
Jul 22 | The American Seventh Army under General George Patton captures Palermo, Sicily. | Ref: 2 |
Jul 24 | The first wave of British bombers arrive at Hamburg, Germany, dropping 1000- to 8000-pound bombs. Within minutes much of the city is a raging firestorm. | |
Jul 25 | (and 26th) Mussolini is arrested and the Italian Fascist government falls; Marshal Pietro Badoglio takes over and negotiates with Allies. | Ref: 36 |
Jul 26 | Regime of Benito Mussoloini collapses in Italy.Pietro Badoglio becomes PM. | Ref: 10 |
Jul 27 | (and 28th) An Allied air raid causes a firestorm in Hamburg. | Ref: 36 |
Jul 28 | A second British bomber force of 722 planes attacks Hamburg, Germany, creating nine square miles of firestorm, reaching 1800ºF with winds up to 150 MPH feeding the fire. | |
Jul 28 | Canadian troops take Agira, Italy, after five days of hard fighting. | |
Jul 28 | Italian Facist dictator Benito Mussolini resigns. | Ref: 5 |
Jul 28 | Pres FDR announces end of coffee rationing in US. | Ref: 5 |
Jul 29 | (morning) Hamburg, Germany, is evacuated of nearly one million non-essential civilian personnel. | |
Jul 30 | British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany again. | |
Aug 02 | U.S. General George Patton had a bad day. He slapped and kicked U.S. Army Private C.H. Kuhl. | Ref: 4 |
Aug 02 | (night) British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany again. | |
Aug 06 | Battle of Vella Gulf in the Solomon Islands. | |
Aug 07 | Canadian forces in Sicily are put into reserves. | |
Aug 12 | In Rawalpindi, India, the Chemical Warfare Research Establishment begins two weeks of testing troop exposure to mustard gas. | |
Aug 16 | The Bialystok Ghetto is liquidated. | Ref: 35 |
Aug 17 | Americans conduct daylight air raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt in Germany. | Ref: 36 |
Aug 17 | The Germans complete their evacuation of Sicily. | Ref: 36 |
Aug 17 | The Allies reach Messina, Sicily, completing the Sicily conquest. | Ref: 36 |
Aug 17 | Portuguese leader Salazar signs an accord with Britain, allowing British airbases on Azores in return for US$30 million, the promise of modern fighter planes, anti-aircraft guns, and British protection in the event of Axis or Spanish attack. | |
Aug 17 | British planes attack a German experimental rocket base at Peenemonde. The attack is a success, delaying German deployment of V-1 rockets by a year. | |
Aug 18 | The Royal Air Force Bomber Command completes the first major strike against the German missile development facility at Peenemunde. | Ref: 2 |
Aug 23 | The Soviet troops recapture Kharkov. | Ref: 36 |
Aug 25 | German warships attack and sink two Swedish trawlers in Danish waters. | |
Aug 25 | U.S. forces overran New Georgia in the Solomon Islands during World War II. | Ref: 70 |
Aug 26 | The United States recognizes the French Committee of National Liberation. | Ref: 2 |
Aug 29 | Responding to a clampdown by Nazi occupiers, Denmark managed to scuttle most of its naval ships. | Ref: 70 |
Sep 03 | During World War II, the British Eighth Army invade Italy landing at Calabria. The same day Italy signed a secret armistice with the allies. The 8th British Army begins an assault on Italy, from Sicily across the Strait of Messina. The 1st Canadian Division lands at Reggio Calabria at the toe of Italy. The 5th United States Army lands in Italy in the Gulf of Salerno. (XDG, p 4A, 9/3/2000) | Ref: 83 |
Sep 04 | Allied troops capture Lae-Salamaua, in New Guinea. | Ref: 2 |
Sep 05 | The United States 101st Airborne Division troops leave New York by ship for Britain. | |
Sep 06 | The United States asks the Chinese Nationals to join with the Communists to present a common front to the Japanese. | Ref: 2 |
Sep 08 | The Italian surrender is announced. | Ref: 36 |
Sep 09 | The Allies land at Salerno and Taranto and encounter strong resistance from German troops. | Ref: 36 |
Sep 11 | Germans occupy Rome, after occupying northern and central Italy, containing in all about 35,000 Jews. | Ref: 35 |
Sep 11 | The Italian Navy surrenders their warships to the Allies at Malta. | |
Sep 12 | German paratroopers took Benito Mussolini from the hotel where he was being held by the Italian government. | Ref: 2 |
Sep 13 | Chiang Kai-shek became president of China. | Ref: 70 |
Sep 14 | German troops abandon the Salerno front in Italy. | Ref: 2 |
Sep 15 | The United States 101st Airborne Division troops arrive in England. | |
Sep 17 | Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at Norfolk Naval Air Station | Ref: 5 |
Sep 17 | The Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as US and British forces entered Messina. | Ref: 6 |
Sep 20 | A Canadian brigade diverted from the main Canadian advance toward Catazaro, takes Potenza in southern Italy. | |
Sep 22 | British Midget submarines X6 and X7 penetrate anti-submarine net defences at Kaafjord, northern Norway, and plant mines under the hull of German battleship Tirpitz. In the following explosions, the hull is severely damaged, the port engine destroyed, and the propeller shaft bent. | |
Sep 22 | Singer Kate Smith finished her War Bond radio appeal. For 13 continuous hours Smith had stayed on the air, collecting a whopping $39 million dollars in bond pledges. | Ref: 4 |
Sep 23 | Mussolini re-establishes a Fascist government. | Ref: 36 |
Sep 25 | The Red Army retakes Smolensk from the Germans who are retreating to the Dnieper River in the Soviet Union. | Ref: 2 |
Sep 27 | P-47s escorting B-17's on a raid on Germany set a distance record of over 600 miles. | Ref: 50 |
Sep 29 | General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson off Malta. | Ref: 5 |
Sep 29 | Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf is published in the United States. | Ref: 2 |
Sep 30 | The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps becomes the Women's Army Corps, a regular contingent of the U.S. Army with the same status as other army service corps. | Ref: 2 |
Oct 01 | British troops in Italy enter Naples and occupy Foggia airfield. | Ref: 2 |
Oct 07 | The Japanese execute approximately 100 American POWs on Wake Island. | |
Oct 12 | The U.S. Fifth Army begins an assault crossing of the Volturno River in Italy. | Ref: 2 |
Oct 12 | British forces begin landing on the Portuguese Azores islands, to establish airbases. | |
Oct 13 | Italy declares war on Germany; Second American air raid on Schweinfurt. | Ref: 36 |
Oct 14 | In Italy, the 1st Canadian Corps takes Campobasso. | |
Oct 15 | In Italy, the 1st Canadian Corps takes Vinchiaturo. | |
Oct 21 | Eight American and British officers land from a submarine on an Algerian beach to take measure of Vichy French to the Operation Torch landings. | Ref: 2 |
Oct 24 | Anti-nazi Clandestine Radio Soldatsender Calais begins transmitting. | Ref: 5 |
Oct 26 | Emperor Hirohito states his country's situation is now "truly grave." | |
Nov 01 | U.S. Marines invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. | Ref: 2 |
Nov 02 | The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in Bougainville ends in U.S. Navy victory over Japan. | Ref: 2 |
Nov 03 | Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 51, in which he warns of an Allied landing in western Europe, by spring of 1944. [28] Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris proposes to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that sustained aerial bombing of Berlin would cost 400-500 aircraft, and cost Germany the war. Churchill authorizes commencing the Battle of Berlin. | |
Nov 05 | The Headquarters of the Canadian Corps and the 5th Canadian Armoured Division arrives at Italy. | |
Nov 06 | Russians recapture Kiev in the Ukraine. | Ref: 36 |
Nov 07 | British troops launch a limited offensive along the coast of Burma. | Ref: 2 |
Nov 11 | Auschwitz Kommandant Höss is promoted to chief inspector of concentration camps. The new kommandant, Liebehenschel, then divides up the vast Auschwitz complex of over 30 sub-camps into three main sections. | Ref: 35 |
Nov 14 | An American torpedo is mistakenly fired at the US battleship Iowa, which was carrying President Franklin Roosevelt and his joint chiefs to the Tehran Conference. The torpedo exploded harmlessly in the Iowa's wake. (XDG, p 4A, 11/14/2003) | Ref: 83 |
Nov 18 | 444 heavy British bombers attack Berlin, Germany, in the first attack of the Battle of Berlin. Nine British planes are lost. | |
Nov 20 | The United States Marines land at the Makin Atoll and the Tarauna Islands (Tarawa) in the Gilbert Island chain in the Pacific Ocean. | Ref: 5 |
Nov 22 | At the beginning of a five-day Allied conference in Cairo, Egypt, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet with General Chiang Kai-shek of China to discuss strategy in the war against Japan. | Ref: 3 |
Nov 23 | Japanese end their resistance on Makin and Tarawa. | Ref: 2 |
Nov 26 | During World War II, the HMS Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed, including 1,015 American troops. | Ref: 70 |
Nov 27 | First US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen). | Ref: 5 |
Nov 28 | President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met in Tehran during World War II. (XDG, p 4A, 11/28/2002) | Ref: 83 |
Dec 01 | President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Tehran conference. (XDG, p 4A, 12/01/2003) | Ref: 83 |
Dec 01 | FDR, Churchill & Stalin agree to Operation Overlord (D-Day). | Ref: 5 |
Dec 02 | Two battalions of the 2nd Regiment of the Special Service Force begin climbing Mount la Difensa in Italy. Their objective is to clear German positions there and on Mount Remetanea. | |
Dec 02 | Several German JU-88 bombers attack the Italian seaport of Bari. After 20 minutes, four ships have been damaged. One, a gasoline ship, explodes. Then an ammunition ship explodes. Sixteen cargo ships sink, with 1000 men killed. One ship containing 100 tons of mustard gas in 100-pound bombs sinks. 559 men suffer greatly from the poisoning, with a further 69 dying within two weeks. | |
Dec 03 | Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy begins. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 03 | Three battalions of the Special Service Force clear Germans from positions on the summit of Mount la Difensa in Italy | |
Dec 04 | 2nd conference of Caïro: FDR, Churchill & Turkish President Inönü. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 04 | Yugoslavian resistance forms provisionary government under Dr Ribar. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 05 | Yugoslavian resistance forms provisionary government under Dr Ribar. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 06 | A British division takes Mount Camino in Italy. | |
Dec 07 | Cairo: President Roosevelt travels back to the US from the Tehran Conference. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 08 | U.S. carrier-based planes sink two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 08 | (afternoon) Canadian artillery begin a barrage of the Moro Valley in Italy, in preparation for infantry of the 1st Division to assault it in the morning. | |
Dec 09 | In Italy, the Canadian 1st Division infantry launches an attack on the Moro Valley, to clear out German forces while engineers build a bridge across the Moro River. | |
Dec 10 | British 8th Army occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 10 | Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill that postpones a draft of pre-Pearl Harbor fathers. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 10 | Allied forces bomb Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 11 | U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull demands that Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria withdraw from the war. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 12 | The German Army launches Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 12 | The exiled Czech government signs a treaty with the Soviet Union for postwar cooperation. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 13 | 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 14 | (6 AM) In Italy, the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment begins a one-hour artillery barrage of German positions, in preparation for an attack toward Casa Berardi. (about 2 PM) In Italy, C Company of the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment reaches Casa Berardi. | |
Dec 15 | U.S. troops land on the Arawe Peninsula of New Britain in the Solomon Islands. | |
Dec 16 | The chief surgeon at Auschwitz reports that 106 castration operations have been performed. | Ref: 35 |
Dec 17 | U.S. forces invade Japanese-held New Britain Island in New Guinea.
U.S. forces invade Japanese-held New Britain Island in New Guinea. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 19 | Military coup in Bolivia. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 20 | Soviet forces halt a German army trying to relieved the besieged city of Stalingrad. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 21 | The battle for Ortona, Italy, begins, the first big street-fighting battle of the war. | |
Dec 22 | President Franlin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchhill and General Chiang Kai-shek come to an agreement on measures to be taken to defeat Japan. (XDG, p 4A, 12/22/2000) | Ref: 83 |
Dec 23 | Canadian troops capture Ortona from German occupation. | |
Dec 23 | General Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 24 | President Franklin Roosevelt appoints General Dwight D Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord. (XDC, p 4A, 12/24/2000) | Ref: 83 |
Dec 24 | Soviets launch offensives on the Ukrainian front. | Ref: 36 |
Dec 26 | The German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight. | Ref: 2 |
Dec 26 | Full Allied assault on New Britain as 1st Division Marines invade Cape Gloucester. | |
Dec 27 | German forces retreat from Ortona, Italy, as Canadian forces complete taking the town; Canadian General McNaughton is removed from command of the 1st Canadian Army in Europe. | |
Dec 27 | German warship "Scharnhorst" sinks in Barents Sea. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 27 | Montgomery discusses Overlord with Eisenhower & Bedell Smith. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 28 | Montgomery discusses Overlord with Eisenhower & Bedell Smith. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 28 | German warship "Scharnhorst" sinks in Barents Sea. | Ref: 5 |
Dec 28 | All inhabitants of Kalmukkie deported, about 70,000 killed. | Ref: 5 |
- 1944
-
Jan 15 | The U.S. Fifth Army successfully breaks the German Winter Line in Italy with the capture of Mount Trocchio. | Ref: 2 |
Jan 15 | European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany. | Ref: 5 |
Jan 15 | General Eisenhower arrives in England. | Ref: 5 |
Mar 15 | Japanese begin offensive toward Imphal and Kohima. | |
Mar 15 | Italian town of Cassino destroyed by Allied bombing. | Ref: 5 |
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