1. World War II: Dates to Remember

2. 1939 Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II (Sept. 1) Britain and France Declare War on Germany. (Sept. 3)

3. 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway (April 9). Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands (May 10). Italy declared war on France and Great Britain (June 10). France signed an armistice with Germany (June 22). Battle of Britain begins (July 10).

4. 1941 Germany invaded Greece and Yugoslavia (April 6). Germany invaded the Soviet Union (June 22). German troops completed the blockade of Leningrad, which lasted until January 1944 (Sept. 8) Japan bombed U.S. military bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Dec. 7). The U.S., Great Britain, and Canada declare war on Japan (Dec. 8).

5. 1942 Singapore fell to the Japanese (Feb. 15). U. S. and Philippine troops on Bataan Peninsula surrendered (April 9). U.S. Bombers hit Tokyo in the Doolittle raid (April 18) Allies checked a Japanese assault in the battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8) The allies defeated Japan in the Battle of Midway (June 4-6) U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal (Aug. 7). Hitler ordered his forces to capture Stalingrad (Aug. 25). Britain attacked the Axis at El Alamein in Egypt (Oct. 23). Allied Troops landed in Algeria and Morocco (Nov. 8).

6. 1943 The last Germans surrendered at Stalingrad (Feb. 2). Axis forces in northern Africa surrendered (May 13.) Germany opened an assault near the Soviet city of Kursk. (July 4). Allied forces invaded Sicily (July 10). Italy secretly surrendered to the Allies (Sept. 3). Allied troops landed at Salerno, Italy (Sept. 9). U.S. Forces invaded Tarawa (Nov. 20).

7. 1944 Allied troops landed in Normandy in the D-Day invasion of northern France (June 6). U.S. defeat Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19-20). Japan’s Prime Minister Tojo resigned (July 18). A plot to assassinate Hitler failed (July 20). The Allies began landing in the Philippines (Oct. 20). The Allies defeat Japan’s navy in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines (Oct. 23-26). The Germans struck back at U.S. troops in the Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16).

8. 1945 U.S. Marines captured Iwo Jima (March 16). Hitler took his life in Berlin (April 30). Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies in Reims, France, ending World War II in Europe (May 7). Allied forces captured Okinawa (June 21). Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Aug. 6). Soviet Union declared war on Japan (Aug. 8). Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki (Aug. 9). Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally (Aug. 14). Japan surrenders formally (Sept. 2).