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World War II

01 Sep
1939: Germany invades Poland

03 Sep
1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

10 May
1940: Churchill takes helm as Germans advance

04 Jun
1940: Dunkirk rescue is over - Churchill defiant

14 Jun
1940: German troops enter Paris


World War II

10 Jul
1940: Luftwaffe launches Battle of Britain

07 Sep
1940: London blitzed by German bombers

15 Sep
1940: Victory for RAF in Battle of Britain

15 Nov
1940: Germans bomb Coventry to destruction

22 Jun
1941: Hitler invades the Soviet Union

14 Aug
1941: Secret meetings seal US-Britain alliance

07 Dec
1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor

11 Dec
1941: Germany and Italy declare war on US

15 Feb
1942: Singapore forced to surrender

15 Apr
1942: Malta gets George Cross for bravery

07 Jun
1942: Japanese beaten in Battle of Midway

19 Aug
1942: Allies launch daring raid on Dieppe

04 Nov
1942: Rommel goes on the run at El Alamein

01 Dec
1942: Beveridge lays welfare foundations

17 Dec
1942: Britain condemns massacre of Jews

02 Feb
1943: Germans surrender at Stalingrad

16 May
1943: Germans crush Jewish uprising

17 May
1943: RAF raid smashes German dams

10 Jul
1943: Western Allies invade Sicily

25 Jul
1943: Italian dictator Mussolini quits

03 Sep
1943: Allied troops invade mainland Italy

08 Sep
1943: Italy's surrender announced

01 Dec
1943: Allies united after Tehran conference

27 Jan
1944: Leningrad siege ends after 900 days

18 May
1944: Monte Cassino falls to the Allies

05 Jun
1944: Celebrations as Rome is liberated

06 Jun
1944: D-Day marks start of Europe invasion

20 Jul
1944: Hitler survives assassination attempt

01 Aug
1944: Uprising to free Warsaw begins

25 Aug
1944: Paris is liberated as Germans surrender

17 Sep
1944: Airborne invasion of Holland begins

26 Sep
1944: Airborne troops retreat from Arnhem

03 Oct
1944: Poles surrender after Warsaw uprising

17 Dec
1944: Germany counter-attacks in Ardennes

27 Jan
1945: Auschwitz death camp liberated

07 Feb
1945: Black Sea talks plan defeat of Germany

14 Feb
1945: Thousands of bombs destroy Dresden

23 Feb
1945: US flag raised over Iwo Jima

15 Apr
1945: British troops liberate Bergen-Belsen

21 Apr
1945: Red Army enters outskirts of Berlin

27 Apr
1945: Russians and Americans link at Elbe

28 Apr
1945: Italian partisans kill Mussolini

01 May
1945: Germany announces Hitler is dead

07 May
1945: Germany signs unconditional surrender

08 May
1945: Rejoicing at end of war in Europe

21 Jun
1945: US troops take Okinawa

16 Jul
1945: Allied leaders gather at Potsdam

26 Jul
1945: Churchill loses general election

06 Aug
1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima

09 Aug
1945: Atom bomb hits Nagasaki

15 Aug
1945: Allied nations celebrate VJ Day

02 Sep
1945: Japan signs unconditional surrender

24 Oct
1945: United Nations Organisation is born

20 Nov
1945: Nuremberg trial of Nazis begins

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