World War II Time Line     |   home
Nov 11, 1918 - World War One ends with German defeat.   |   Sept 14, 1930 - Germans elect Nazis making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany.   |   Jan 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.   |   May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.   |   June 22, 1941 - Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins.   |   Dec 5, 1941 - German attack on Moscow is abandoned.   |   Dec 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor   |   Dec 8, 1941 -   States and Britain declare war on Japan.   |   Dec 11, 1941 - Germany declares war on the United States.   |   Feb 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.   |   May 13, 1943 - German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa   |   July 9/10, 1943 - Allies land in Sicily.   |   June 6, 1944 - D-Day landings.   |   Oct 11, 1944 - U.S. air raids against Okinawa.   |   Dec 16-27, 1944 - Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.   |   April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide.   |   May 2, 1945 - German troops in Italy surrender.   |   Aug 6, 1945 - First Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets.   |   Aug 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.   |   Sept 2, 1945 - Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay as 1000 carrier-based planes fly overhead; President Truman declares VJ Day.
Dec 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor
At 7:53 a.m, the first Japanese assault wave commences the attack with flight commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, sounding the battle cry "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!)
The Americans are taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes.