World War II Timeline of Events

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World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

Timeline of Events

1944

1.27.1944

World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.

1.29.1944

World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.

1.31.1944

World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1.31.1944

World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.

2.3.1944

World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.

2.7.1944

World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.

2.15.1944

World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins.

2.17.1944

World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.

2.29.1944

World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.

3.9.1944

World War II: Japanese troops counter-attack American forces on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a battle that would last five days.

3.24.1944

World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie ''The Great Escape'', 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.

4.4.1944

World War II: First bombardment of Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.

4.22.1944

World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.

5.18.1944

World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino

6.5.1944

World War II: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.

6.9.1944

World War II: 99 civilians are hung from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for maquisards attacks.

6.9.1944

World War II: the Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland since 1941.

6.13.1944

World War II: Germany launches a counter attack on Carentan.

6.15.1944

World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invade Saipan.

6.19.1944

World War II: First day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

6.20.1944

World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.

6.25.1944

World War II: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic Countries, begins.

7.17.1944

World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France.

7.21.1944

World War II: Battle of Guam (1944)|Battle of Guam

7.26.1944

World War II: the Soviet army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.

8.10.1944

World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.

8.15.1944

World War II: Operation Dragoon

8.20.1944

WWII: 168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being "terror fliers", arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.

8.26.1944

World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.

9.11.1944

World War II: The first Allied troops of the U.S. Army cross the western border of Germany.

9.14.1944

World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces.

9.26.1944

World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.

9.27.1944

The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission in World War II.

10.24.1944

World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier ''Zuikaku'', and the battleship Musashi are sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

10.25.1944

The USS ''Tang'' under Richard O'Kane (the top American submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own malfunctioning torpedo.

12.18.1944

World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.

12.31.1944

World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.

1945

1.1.1945

World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops massacre 30 SS prisoners at Chenogne.

1.28.1945

World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

2.4.1945

World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

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