Russia at war 1941-1945

October 16 Height of "Moscow panic". Germans and Rumanians capture Odessa.

October 20 State of siege declared in Moscow.

October 24 Germans capture Kharkov.

October 25 Failure of first German offensive against Moscow.

October 30 Nine-month siege of Sebastopol begins.

November 3 Germans capture Kursk.

November 9 Germans take Tikhvin, thus almost completely isolating Leningrad.

November 12 HMS Ark Royal sunk.

November 6 and 7 Stalins two "Holy Russia" speeches.

November 16 Second German offensive against Moscow begins.

November 18 British offensive in Western Desert begins.

November 19 Germans take Rostov.

November 20 to Dec 25 All-time low in Leningrad rationing.

November 22 Germans break into Klin and Istra.

November 29 Russians recapture Rostov.

December 5 Eden arrives in Moscow.

December 6 Russian Moscow counter-offensive begins.

December 7 Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour, and raid British Malaya.

December 8 Britain and USA declare war on Japan. Japanese air-raids on Guam,

Midway, Philippines and Hong Kong.

December 9 Japanese land on Luzon. Russians recapture Tikhvin, thus saving

Leningrad.

December 11 Hitler declares war on USA.

December 10 HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse sunk by Japanese.

December 15 Russians recapture Klin, Istra and relieve Tula.

December 19 Penang evacuated.

December 24 British recapture Benghazi.

December 25 Hong Kong surrenders.

December 25-30 Russians establish bridgehead in East Crimea.

December 30 Russians recapture Kaluga.

January-March Russian offensive west of Moscow continues.

January 10 Japanese invade Dutch East Indies.

January 11 Japanese take Kuala Lumpur.

January 21 German counter-offensive in Western Desert begins.

January 28 Germans retake Benghazi.

1942

February 1 British forces in Malaya withdraw to Singapore.

February 15 Singapore surrenders.

February 24 US task force raids Wake Island.

February 28 Japanese land in Java.

March 10 Rangoon falls to Japanese.

March 28 Commando raid on St. Nazaire

April 9 Surrender of Bataan.

May 1 Japanese take Mandalay.

May 6 Corregidor surrenders.

May 8 Germans attack in Eastern Crimea.

May 12 Russian offensive opens in Kharkov area.

May 17 German counter-offensive begins; Russian defeat in Kharkov area.

May 20 Germans take Kerch peninsula.

May 26 Molotov signs Anglo-Soviet twenty-year Alliance in London, then visits

Washington. Rommel resumes offensive in Western Desert.

May 30 Thousand-bomber raid on Cologne.

June 3 Battle of Midway Island begins.

June 7 Germans and Rumanians launch final attack on Sebastopol.

June 11 Publication of the "Second-Front" communique.

June 19 British withdraw to Egyptian frontier.

June 21 Rommel takes Tobruk.

June 28 Eighth Army retreats to El Alamein. Beginning of great German offensive in the South.

July 3 Fall of Sebastopol.

July 19 Germans take Voroshilovgrad.

July 28 Germans retake Rostov.

July 30 Stalin's "Not another step back" order to the Army.

August 3 Germans reach Kotelnikovo.

August 7 Americans land in Guadalcanal.

August 11 Fall of Maikop and Krasnodar.

August 12-15 Churchill, Harriman and Stalin confer in Moscow.

August 19 Dieppe raid.

August 23 Germans break through to Volga, north of Stalingrad. 40,000 killed in air-raid on Stalingrad.

August 25 Germans held at Mozdok on way to Grozny and Baku.

August 31 Battle of Alam Haifa begins.

September 3 German breakthrough to Volga south of Stalingrad.

September 13 German all-out attack on Stalingrad begins.

September 24 Most of central Stalingrad in German hands.

October 14-15 Failure of most concentrated German attack on northern Stalingrad

October 23 Battle of El Alamein begins.

November 4 Rommel in full retreat.

November 8 Allied landings in French North Africa.

November 13 Sea battle of Guadalcanal.

November 19 Russian counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins.

November 22 Over 300,000 Germans surrounded at Stalingrad.

December 12-23 Manstein's abortive attempt to relieve Stalingrad.

December 16-20 Rout of Italians on Don.

December 21 Eighth Army reaches Benghazi.

1943

January 2 German withdrawal from Caucasus begins.

January 23 Eighth Army reaches Tripoli.

January 26 Russians liberate Voronezh.

January 31 Paulus surrenders at Stalingrad.

February 2 Final German surrender at Stalingrad.

February 8 Russians take Kursk.

February 14 Russians take Rostov.

February 16 Russians take Kharkov.

March 3-12 Russians liberate Gzhatsk-Viazma-Rzhev triangle.

March 15 Germans recapture Kharkov.

March 29 Eighth Army takes Mareth Line.

April 14 Eighth Army reaches Enfidaville.

April 20 Massacre in Warsaw Ghetto.

April 26 USSR breaks off relations with London Polish Government following Katyn

"bombshell".

May 7 Allies take Tunis and Bizerta.

May 11 US troops land on Attu, Aleutian Islands.

May 12 German Army in Tunisia surrenders.

May 22 Comintern dissolved.

June 29 US forces land in New Guinea.

July 5 Battle of Kursk begins.

July 10 Allies land in Sicily.

July 12-15 Russian counter-offensive against Orel salient begins.

July 26 Mussolini falls from power.

August 5 Russians take Orel and Belgorod.

August 16 Americans enter Messina.