Contents
Guide
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Army groups in italics fought the Battle of the Bulge.
ALLIES
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER , Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe
BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH
KING GEORGE VI , King of the United Kingdom and Dominions of the British Commonwealth
CANADA
WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE KING , Prime Minister
GENERAL HENRY "HARRY" CRERAR Canadian 1st Army
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
WINSTON CHURCHILL , Prime Minister
FIELD MARSHAL BERNARD MONTGOMERY British 21st Army Group
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MILES DEMPSEY British 2nd Army, including XXX Corps
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT , President
GEORGE MARSHALL , General and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army
GENERAL OMAR BRADLEY U.S. 12th Army Group
LIEUTENANT GENERAL COURTNEY HODGES U.S. First Army
LIEUTENANT GENERAL GEORGE PATTON U.S. Third Army
LIEUTENANT GENERAL WILLIAM SIMPSON U.S. Ninth Army
FREE FRENCH FORCES
CHARLES DE GAULLE , leader of the Free French Forces, head of the French government in exile, and head of the French Army of Liberation
MAJOR GENERAL JACQUES-PHILIPPE LECLERC , in command of Free French Forces in France
AXIS
THE THIRD REICH (Nazi Germany)
ADOLF HITLER , Fhrer
HEINRICH HIMMLER, Supreme Commander of the Home Army
FIELD MARSHAL WALTER MODEL German Army Group B
GENERAL HASSO VON MANTEUFFEL German 5th Panzer Army
SS GENERAL JOSEF DIETRICH German 6th Panzer Army
GENERAL ERICH BRANDENBERGER German 7th Army
FIELD MARSHAL GERD VON RUNDSTEDT German Army OB West
1939
MAY 22
Adolf Hitler of Germany signs a treaty with Italys Benito Mussolini
AUGUST 23
Joseph Stalin of Russia and Adolf Hitler sign a pact vowing not to invade each others countries
SEPTEMBER 1
Germany invades Poland
SEPTEMBER 3
Britain and France declare war on Germany
SEPTEMBER 10
The Parliament of Canada declares war on Germany
DECEMBER 18
First Canadian troops arrive in Europe
1940
APRIL 9
Germany invades Denmark and Norway
MAY 10
Germany invades Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg
MAY 15
Holland surrenders
JUNE 10
Italy declares war on Britain and France
JUNE 14
Germany invades Paris, and France surrenders to the Nazis
JUNE 28
Charles de Gaulle is recognized as the leader of the Free French Forces, French troops who had escaped to Britain after the Nazis occupied France
JULY 10
The Battle of Britain between the RAF and the Luftwaffe begins in the skies over England
SEPTEMBER 7
The German Blitz against Great Britain begins
SEPTEMBER 13
Italian forces invade Egypt
SEPTEMBER 17
Hitler postpones invasion of Britain after losing air battle
OCTOBER 7
German troops enter Romania
OCTOBER 28
Italy invades Greece
1941
APRIL 27
German troops occupy Athens
JUNE 1
The Nazi SS begin mass murder of Jews in eastern Poland
JUNE 22
Germans launch massive invasion of the Soviet Union
DECEMBER 7
The Japanese attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
DECEMBER 8
The U.S. Congress declares war on Japan
DECEMBER 11
Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.
The U.S. Congress declares war on Germany and Italy
1942
JANUARY 26
U.S. troops arrive in Europe
FEBRUARY 15
The British surrender to Japanese forces in Singapore
APRIL 1
Internment of U.S. Japanese-American citizens begins
JUNE 47
The U.S. wins the decisive Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers
JULY 6
Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in Amsterdam
AUGUST
Germany attacks the Russian city of Stalingrad
NOVEMBER 8
The U.S. invasion of North Africa begins
1943
JANUARY 10
Soviets begin offensive against Germans in Stalingrad
JANUARY 23
U.S. troops take Tripoli (now Libya)
FEBRUARY 1
Germans surrender to Soviet forces in Stalingrad
MAY
Allied troops defeat the Germans in North Africa
JULY 5
Germans launch the largest tank battle in history at Kursk, Russia
JULY 9
Allied invasion of Sicily, an island off Italy, begins
JULY 25
Benito Mussolini is arrested, ending the Fascist regime in Italy
SEPTEMBER 8
Italy surrenders to the Allies; Hitler rushes troops to Italy
OCTOBER 13
Italy declares war on Germany
NOVEMBER 1
U.S. Marines land on the Japanese-occupied Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean
NOVEMBER 28
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Yalta in Crimea to plan the final assault on and occupation of Germany
DECEMBER 1
Erwin Rommel becomes commander in chief of the German forces responsible for the defense of the Normandy coast
1944
JANUARY 17
Allies launch first attack against Germans in Italy
JANUARY 27
Soviet forces break the German 900-day siege of Leningrad, Russia, during which more than one million civilians died of starvation
FEBRUARY 2025
German aircraft factories are bombed by U.S. and British air forces
MARCH 15
Germans launch offensive against India
APRIL 28
German E-boats attack Allied forces training for D-Day at Slapton Sands, England, killing nearly 700
JUNE 4
Allies liberate Rome, Italy, the first Axis capital to be freed after Canadians break the Hitler line south of the city
JUNE 6
D-Day
JULY 18
U.S. troops capture St.-L, France
JULY 21
U.S. Marines land on Japanese-occupied Guam in the Mariana Islands
JULY 29
Allies take Cherbourg, France
AUGUST 4
Anne Frank and her family are arrested
AUGUST 15
Allies launch the invasion of southern France
AUGUST 25
German troops in Paris surrender to the Allies
SEPTEMBER 3
The British liberate Brussels, the capital of Belgium
SEPTEMBER 1722
Canadian Third Infantry Division liberates French ports of Boulogne and Calais
OCTOBER 20
U.S. invasion of the Philippines begins
OCTOBER 25
First Japanese kamikaze attack on a U.S. ship occurs
DECEMBER 16
The Battle of the Bulge begins
1945
JANUARY 17
Soviet troops capture Warsaw, Poland
JANUARY 25
The Battle of the Bulge ends
JANUARY 26
Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz death camp in Poland
FEBRUARY 19
U.S. Marines begin the assault on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima
FEBRUARY 23
U.S. Marines raise the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima