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World War II

British troops on landing craft 6 June
1944: D-Day marks start of Europe invasion

Thousands of Allied troops are landing on the beaches of Normandy in northern France at the start of a major offensive against the Germans.


Churchill, Truman and Stalin at Potsdam Conference 16 July
1945: Allied leaders gather at Potsdam
Winston Churchill, Harry S Truman, Josef Stalin discuss the fate of a defeated Germany.

German SS woman moving dead bodies under eye of British guards 15 April
1945: British troops liberate Bergen-Belsen
British troops enter the concentration camp after negotiating a truce with the German commandant.

Foreign Minister Anthony Eden 17 December
1942: Britain condemns massacre of Jews
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden condemns the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe.

Cheering crowds in front of double-decker bus 8 May
1945: Rejoicing at end of war in Europe
The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, officially announces the end of the war with Germany

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

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

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

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

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

21 Jun 1945: US troops take Okinawa

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
Witness
0 'A miracle to leave'
Auschwitz survivor Yehuda Bacon's story

0
0 'You never forget'
Veteran Fred Bromley's memories of D-Day


In Pictures
0 How the BBC reported a world at war


In Pictures
0 Striking images of World War II


Frontline despatches
0 German Heinkel 111 bomber flies over London during the Battle of Britain - 1940 All about On This Day coverage of key events in World War II

On This Day
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0 7 January
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