A Brief  Timeline of World War Two

1939-1940

Sept 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland. 

Sept 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany. 

Sept 4, 1939 - British Royal Air Force attacks the German Navy.

Sept 5, 1939 - United States proclaims neutrality; German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland. 

Sept 10, 1939 - Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins. 

Sept 17, 1939 - Soviets invade Poland.

April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.

May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.

May 15, 1940 - Holland surrenders to the Nazis.

May 26, 1940 - Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins. 

May 28, 1940 - Belgium surrenders to the Nazis.

June 3, 1940 - Germans bomb Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ends.

June 10, 1940 - Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France.

June 14, 1940 -  Germans enter Paris.

June 18, 1940 -  Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich; Soviets begin occupation of the Baltic States.

June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with the Nazis.

June 23, 1940 - Hitler tours Paris.

June 28, 1940 - Britain recognizes Gen. Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.

July 1, 1940 - German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic.

July 5, 1940 - French Vichy government breaks off relations with Britain.

July 10, 1940 - Battle of Britain begins.

July 23, 1940 - Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Aug 3-19 - Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.

Aug 13, 1940 - German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England.

Aug 15, 1940 - Air battles and daylight raids over Britain.

Aug 17, 1940 - Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles.

Aug 23/24 - First German air raids on Central London.

Aug 25/26 - First British air raid on Berlin.

Sept 3, 1940 - Hitler plans Operation Sealion (the invasion of Britain).

Sept 7, 1940 -  German Blitz against England begins.

Sept 13, 1940 - Italians invade Egypt.

Sept 15, 1940 - Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.

Sept 16, 1940 - United States military conscription bill passed.

Sept 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.

Oct 7, 1940 - German troops enter Romania.

Oct 12, 1940 - Germans postpone Operation Sealion until Spring of 1941.

Oct 28, 1940 - Italy invades Greece.

Nov 5, 1940 - Roosevelt re-elected as U.S. president.

Nov 10/11 - A torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.

Nov 14/15 - Germans bomb Coventry, England.

Nov 20, 1940 - Hungary joins the Axis Powers.

Nov 22, 1940 - Greeks defeat the Italian 9th Army.

Nov 23, 1940 - Romania joins the Axis Powers.

Dec 9/10 - British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.

Dec 29/30 - Massive German air raid on London.