1940
Soviet troops finally breach the Mannerheim line, forcing the Finns to withdraw to a secondary defense line.
The Soviet Union and Germany sign a treaty to exchange Soviet raw materials for German manufactured goods.
1941
Former GOP presidential candidate Wendell Willkie testifies in favor of Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease Bill in Congressional hearings.
Hanover is bombed by the RAF.
British forces advance into Italian Somaliland in East Africa.
Three Stirlings of No. 7 Sqn carry out the first RAF four-engined bomber attack against oil depots in Rotterdam.
1942
The Channel Dash (Operation Cerberus). At 23.00 hours, Admiral Ciliax orders his squadron, which includes the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, to leave Brest and dash through the English Channel for the safety of Kiel in Germany.
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Japanese troops cross the river Salween in Burma. This caused concern for the commander on the 17th Indian Division, Lieutenant General John Smyth, who felt that his troops might be cut off. He urged Burma Army commander, Lieutenant General Hutton to allow him to withdraw across the river Sittang. However, he was ordered to hold firm on the river Bilin.
The US Army occupies Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao in Dutch West Indies with permission from Free Dutch.
US Army begins construction on Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California.
US War Production Board takes DuPont’s supply of nylon.
In Montréal, French-Canadians riot against conscription plans.
1944
German relief forces are now just 10 mile from the Korsun pocket.
Americans troops at Cassino are relieved by Indian and New Zealand forces. The allies are pushed back to final defence line at Anzio.
The Australians take Rooke Island between Huon and New Britain.
1945
The Red Army the encirclement of the fortress city of Kastrin on the Oder.
The meeting of the President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin in Yalta, adjourns.
On way home from Yalta, Roosevelt meets with kings Farouk of Egypt, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, and Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, but is unable to convince them to allow Jewish settlement in Palestine.