January 1-22Â Â Â First Washington Conference.
January 1-2Â Â Â Â Â British sea and air bombardment of Bardia.
 January 5        Australians capture Bardia: 48,000 prisoners.
January 10Â Â Â Â Â Â Lend-Lease Bill introduced to Congress.
January 11Â Â Â Â Â Â HMS Southampton sunk in the Mediterranean by Stuka attack.
January 20      Roosevelt’s third inauguration.
January 22Â Â Â Â Â Â Tobruk falls to British and Australians: 25,000 prisoners.
January           Allied shipping losses: 76 ships of 320,200 tons, 21 to U-boats.
February 1-14Â German Pocket battleship Admiral Hipper sinks 7 ships in raid from Brest.
February 3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau break into North Sea in Operation Berlin.
February 6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British and Australians take Benghazi.
February 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Italian collapse at Beda Fomm.
February 10Â Â Â Â Â Mussolini accepts offer of a German armoured division. British forces advance into East Africa.
February 11      Darlan appointed deputy and successor to Pétain.
February 12Â Â Â Â Â Â Rommel arrives in Tripoli.
 February 14      German troops join Rommel.
February 19Â Â Â Â Â Â Australian 8th Division lands in Singapore.
February 24Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain agrees to send forces to Greece.
February 25Â Â Â Â Â Â British forces occupy Mogadishu.
February 27Â Â Â Â Â Â New Zealand cruiser sinks Italian ship off Maldives.
March 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne: first use of AI air-to-air radar. Bulgaria joins Axis and German troops enter country. Free French Forces capture Kufra Oasis.
March 4             Commando raid on Lofoten Islands (Norway). (Albania). 5 Italian warships, (2 cruisers, 3 destroyers) with strong Italian fighter escort began shelling coast road to Himare, Albania. RAF Flight Lieutenants, Ace South African, Marmaduke ‘Pat’ Pattle DFC and Bar and Australian Ace, Richard Nigel ‘Ape’ Cullen DFC and Bar intercepted the ships in their Hurricanes. Cullen’s aircraft was ‘jumped by a Fiat CR42, and last seen heading straight into the side of a mountain – my uncle aged 22 years, honoured yearly at Kefalonia by the good people of that island, along with his great friend, ‘Pat’ who succumbed a month later at the Battle of Piraeus Harbour against impossible odds aged 26 years – both lovingly remembered by family and friends and never Forgotten – DA
March 6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Churchill gives Battle of Atlantic Directive.
March 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British and Australian forces land in Greece. HMS Wolverine sinks U-47 (N. Atlantic).
March 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Senate passes Lend-Lease Bill.
March 9-25Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Greeks repel Italian counter-offensive in Albania.
March 11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Roosevelt signs Lend-Lease Bill.
March 13Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Devastating night raids on Glasgow and Clydeside leave two-thirds of the population homeless.
March 16-17Â Â Â Â Â Â U-99 and U-100 sunk.
March 19Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German ultimatum to Yugoslavia.
March 22Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â End of Operation Berlin, Germans sink 22 vessels.
March 25Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Yugoslavia signs tripartite Pact.
March 27Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Coup in Yugoslavia.
March 28-29Â Â Â Battle of Cape Matapan (Mediterranean), RN sinks 3 Italian cruisers.
March 30Â Â Â Â Â Â Afrika Korps offensive in Cyrenaica. US Navy begins to patrol west Atlantic.
March         Allied shipping losses: 139 ships of 529,700 tons, 41 to U-boats, 41 to aircraft, with 6 U-boats sunk.
April 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Raschid Ali seizes power in Iraq.
April 4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Afrika Korps captures Benghazi. German raider Thor sinks armed merchant cruiser Voltaire (Atlantic).
April 6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans invade Greece and Yugoslavia.
April 10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans capture Zagreb.
April 11        US Navy covers to 26º W, British cover to 35º W. Germans take Belgrade.
April 13        Rommel’s forces surround Tobruk. Japan and USSR sign 5-year neutrality pact, freeing Soviet forces to fight the Germans.
April 15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF Coastal Command under RN control increases cover.
April 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German troop convoy wiped out of Kerkennah Islands.
April 17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Yugoslav army capitulates.
April 20        Battle of Piraeus Harbour, Athens. RAF v. Luftwaffe encounter. RAF South African Ace, Squadron Leader Marmaduke ‘Pat’ Pattle DFC and Bar (mentioned earlier), ignoring medical orders deeming him unfit for duty, chose instead to join the conflict and engage German aircraft over Piraeus on this day. He was last seen battling Messerschmitt 110s. His Hurricane crashed into the sea against hopeless odds. Lovingly remembered by family and friends – DA.
April 21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese occupy Foochow.
April 22Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Greek army surrenders to Germans at Thessaloniki; British withdrawal begins. Germans break through at Thermopylae.
April 25Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans occupy Halfaya Pass.
April 27Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans enter Athens. British evacuate Greece.
April 28Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Sollum.
April 30Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Iraqi troops surround RAF base at Habbaniya.
April           Allied shipping losses: 195 ships of 687,000 tons, 43 to U-boats, 116 to aircraft.
May 1-9Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Liverpool Blitz.
May 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German attack on Tobruk repulsed.
May 2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Iraq demands British withdrawal.
May 5-9Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tiger convoy carries tanks to Alexandria.
May 6-10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British forces defeat Iraqis and march on Baghdad.Â
May 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Captured German ship provides secret Enigma code papers.
May 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RN cruiser Cornwall sinks German raider Pinguin near Seychelles.
May 9Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Thailand and French Indo-China sign peace treaty in Tokyo. Captured U-boat provides British with Hydra naval code.
May 10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Climax of London Blitz. Hess flies to Scotland.
May 14Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British reinforcements land in Singapore.
May 15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Gloster E28/39 flight powered by Whittle jet engine. Operation Brevity, British retake Sollum and Halfaya.
May 18-27Â Â Â Â Â Â Voyage of the Prinz Eugen and Bismarck.
May 20-31Â Â Â Â Â Â Operation Merkur: German invasion of Crete. 6,000 paratroops dropped.
May 24Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Prinz Eugen and Bismarck engage Hood and Prince of Wales. Hood sunk.
May 27         Bismarck sunk after a torpedo from an RN Fairey Swordfish bi-plane from the Aircraft Carrier HMS Ark Royal, piloted by RN Lieutenant John Moffat  which disabled one of her screws. Leaving her vulnerable and helpless, unable to manoeuvre, except in a circle. HMS Rodney was called in, and just one shell was enough to disable her command. HMS Dorsetshire was called in to scuttle her with torpedoes. These tragic encounters resulted in just 114 survivors from her crew of 2,100, contrasted with HMS Hood’s earlier loss of 1,415 souls from a complement of 1,418.
May 27Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Newfoundland Escort Force accompanies convoy HX-129.
May 30Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Iraqi revolt ends.
May 31Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British abandon Crete.
May            Allied shipping losses: 139 ships, 58 of 325,000 tons to U-boats.
June 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British enter Baghdad. Prinz Eugen reaches Brest. US Coastguard begin patrols of southern Greenland.
June 2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Vichy government orders census of Jews.
June 5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans claim 15,000 prisoners on Crete.
June 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British, Australian, Indian and Free French forces invade Syria.
June 11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Italians occupy Greece. USSR-Japanese trade pact.
June 13         12,000 Jews ‘interned’ in France.
June 14-17Â Â Â Â Â Â British Operation Battleaxe fails to relieve Tobruk.
June 17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese-Dutch negotiations fail.
June 21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Free French occupy Damascus. Auchinleck replaces Wavell as Commander-in-Chief in Middle East.
June 22Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germany invades USSR. Italy and Rumania declare war on USSR.
June 23Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Hungary and Slovakia declare war on USSR. Germans cross River Bug. Destruction of Soviet Air Force.
June 23-29Â Â Â Â Â Battle of convoy HX-133, 5 ships lost for 2 U-boats (out of 10)
June 26Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Finland declares war on USSR.
June 27         Japan declares ‘Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’.
June 28Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans capture Minsk.
June 30        Germans encircle Russian forces in Bialystok ‘pocket’.
June           Allied shipping losses: 109 ships of 432,000 tons, 61 ships of 310,000 tons to U-boats.
July 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans capture Riga. US Navy aircraft start anti-sub patrols from Newfoundland.
July 3          Stalin calls for ‘scorched earth’ policy in broadcast. End of Vichy resistance in Syria.
July 4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tito announces resistance in Yugoslavia.
July 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â US Marines arrive in Iceland.
July 8          First daylight raid by RAF ‘Flying Fortresses’ on Wilhelmshaven. Germany and Italy partition Yugoslavia.
July 10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans cross River Dnieper. Germany urges Japan to fight USSR.
July 11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Ceasefire in Syria.
July 12Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Anglo-Soviet Mutual Assistance Agreement.
July 14Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Acre convention between Allied and Vichy forces.
July 15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans capture Smolensk.
July 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF bomb shipping in Rotterdam. Japanese Cabinet resigns.
July 19         BBC broadcasts ‘V’ for Victory declaring Resistance in occupied Europe. US Navy TF I protects all ships sailing to Iceland.
July 21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Moscow bombed.
July 22Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German advance halted through exhaustion of supplies.
July 26Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Italian E-boats attack Valetta harbour (Malta). Japanese assets frozen in US and UK.
July 28Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese troops land in Indo-China to occupy Vichy bases.
July 31         Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ order. Style convoy reinforces Malta garrison (to 2nd Aug)
July           Allied shipping losses: 121,000 tons, 22 of 94,200 to U-boats.
August 1       US oil embargo against ‘aggressor’ states.
August 5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Siege of Odessa begins. US and Great Britain impose embargoes on sale of raw materials to Japan.
August 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF fighter sweeps over northern France begin. Stalin becomes USSR Supreme Commander.
August 8-13Â Â Â Â Japanese air-raids on Chung-king.
August 9-12Â Â Â Â Placentia Bay Conference.
August 12Â Â Â Â Â Â Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchill.
August 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Novgorod.
August 18Â Â Â Â Â Â National Fire Service formed in Britain.
August 19Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans surround Leningrad. British Spitzbergen expedition (to 3 Sept).
August 24Â Â Â Â Â Â Finns surround Russians at Vipuri.
August 25-28Â Â Â British and Russians enter Persia to secure oil supply.
August 27Â Â Â Â Â Â U-570 captured by Coastal Command bomber.
August 29Â Â Â Â Â Â Russians evacuate Karelian Isthmus.
August         Allied shipping losses: 41 ships of 130,700 tons, 23 of 80,300 to U-boats.
September 1Â Â Â Russians counter-attack at Gomel.
September 2Â Â Â Â Three Power Conference in Moscow (to 29th)
September 3Â Â Â Â Â First use of Auschwitz gas chambers.
September 4Â Â Â Â Â Heavy raids on Malta. USS Greer attacked by U-boat.
September 5Â Â Â Â Â Germans occupy Estonia.
September 9Â Â Â Â Â RAF raids Turin. Persian government accepts Anglo-Soviet terms.
September 11    US Navy told to ‘shoot on sight’.
September 12Â Â Â Â First snows slow German offensive.
September 15Â Â Â Â Siege of Leningrad begins. Hitler orders U-boats to operate in the Mediterranean. U-boats diverted to Mediterranean.
September 16Â Â Â Â Germans to shoot 50 to 100 hostages in retaliation for the death of one of their own.
September 18Â Â Â Â Japanese prepare Southern Area operation.
September 19Â Â Â Â Germans take Kiev and Poltava.
September 20    Italian ‘human torpedoes’ sink 3 ships at Gibraltar. First successful shooting-down of German plane from escort carrier HMS Audacity. (OG-74 still loses 6 from 27).
Sept 23-28Â Â Â Â Â Â Halberd convoy to Malta.
September 25Â Â Â Â German paratroops land in Crimea.
September 28Â Â Â Â Japanese occupy Changsha.
September 29Â Â Â British convoy PQI Reykjavik to Archangel, 84 ships of 285,900 tons lost, 53 to U-boats.
September 30Â Â Â Â Massacre of Jews at Kiev.
October 4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF night raid on Benghazi.
October 5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF night raid on Tripoli.
October 6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â RAF night raid on Piraeus.
October 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Panzers seal off Briansk and Vyazma pockets.
October 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Orel.
October 10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain to supply USSR on Lend-Lease terms.
October 14Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Deportation of German Jews to Poland.
October 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Odessa. Soviet government moved to Kuibyshev.
October 16-17Â Â Â Â U-boat damages US destroyer Kearney
 October 17       Konoye resigns. Tojo takes over.
October 20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German commander of Nantes shot by Resistance. 50 hostages shot in reprisal. Germans take Briansk. Japanese prepare Pearl Harbor attack.
October 21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â General Zhukov takes charge of Moscow defence.
October 24Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Kharkov.
October 26Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese carrier fleet sets sail.
October 27Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Russians counter-attack at Moscow.
October 29Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans break through in Crimea.
October 31Â Â Â Â Â Â Â U-boat sinks US destroyer Reuben James, first American loss.
October         Allied shipping losses: 218,300 tons, 156,500 tons to U-boats.
November 1Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Simferopol. Marshal Shaposhnikov becomes Soviet Chief of Staff.
November 2     Tito’s partisans and Chetniks war with each other in Yugoslavia.
November 3Â Â Â Â Â Germans capture Kursk. HMS Indomitable carrier intended for Far East damaged at Bermuda.
November 6Â Â Â Â Â Roosevelt announces $ 1 bn loan to USSR.
November 8-9Â Â Â British force K from Malta destroys Italian convoy.
November 9Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Yalta.
November 14 Â Â Â Â RN Carrier Ark Royal sunk by U-boat.
November 15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German advance halted by extreme cold.
November 16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Kerch.Â
November 17     Keyes Raid – abortive Commando raid on Rommel’s HQ.
November 18Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Sir Alan Brooke appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff. 8th Army launches Operation Crusader.
 November 19        HMAS Sidney intercepts German raider Kormoran. Both vessels sink.
November 20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tank battle at Sidi Rezegh.
November 22Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans take Rostov. HMS Devonshire sinks German raider Atlantis off West African coast.
November 23Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Afrika Korps destroys S. African 5th Brigade but is forced to retreat.
November 25Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â German attack on Moscow, Panzers get within 20 miles of city. US Navy begins compulsory convoying of merchant ships.
November 27Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Mass Italian surrender at Gondar, Ethiopia.
November 28Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans lose Rostov. HMS Prince of Wales and HMSÂ Repulse arrive at Colombo.
November 29Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Rommel counter-attacks. Japan decides on war.
November 30Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â British bomber sinks U-206 using ASV radar.
November               Allied shipping losses: 104,600 tons, 13 ships of 62,200 tons to U-boats.
December 5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Germans abandon attack on Moscow.
December 7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese land in Siam and Malaya, bomb Singapore. Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, declare war on US.
December 8Â Â Â Â Â Â Allies declare war on Japan. USSR remains neutral.
December 10-11Â Â Â Siege of Tobruk raised: Rommel retreats to Gazala.
December 10Â Â Â Â Â Japanese sink Repulse and Prince of Wales. Japanese land on Luzon, capture Guam.
December 11Â Â Â Â Â Â US declares war on Italy and Germany.
December 14-23Â Â Convoy HG-76 reaches Malta. Gibraltar to London fights off 12 U-boat attack (5 sunk) for the loss of escort carrier Audacity.
 December 15     British forces fall back in Burma, Malaya and Kowloon.
December 16Â Â Â Â Â Â British advance to Gazala; Rommel retreats to El Agheila.
December 17      Hitler issues ‘Halt Order’ on general offensive. Japanese land
in North Borneo.
December 18Â Â Â Â Â Â Japanese land in Hong Kong.
December 19Â Â Â Â Â Â Hitler assumes direct command of armies in field.
December 22Â Â Â Â Â (to 7 Jan) Churchill and Roosevelt decide strategy at the Arcadia Conference in Washington.
December 22Â Â Â Â Â Japanese land in Lingayen Gulf.
December 24Â Â Â Â Â Japanese capture Wake Island.
December 25Â Â Â Â Â British retake Benghazi. Hong Kong surrenders. Allied shipping losses: 430,000 tons.
December 29Â Â Â Â Â Russians retake Kerch.
December             Allied shipping losses: 153,000 tons, year total: 1229 ships of 4,300,000 tons.
