1940
Two IRA bombs explode in London; 12 people injured.
n North Sea, Luftwaffe accidentally sinks German destroyer Leberecht Maass; during rescue,German destroyer Max Schultz is sunk by mine.
1941
The first mass round-up of Jews in Amsterdam; 430 deported in reprisal for murder of Dutch Nazi party member.
Bread ration in Jewish ghetto in Warsaw reduced to 3 oz per day.
The Afrika Korps, newly arrived in Libya, launch their first probing attacks against the unpleasantly surprised British Army at El Agheila.
1942
Air Marshal A. T. (Bomber) Harris is appointed C-in-C of Bomber Command.
British forces in retreat less than 100 miles from Rangoon, the capital of Burma.
President Franklin Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur to leave the Philippines.
New car sales in the United States end for the duration of the war
1943
Churchill is said to be ‘on the mend’ after a severe fever.
Army Group Centre begins a counterattack in the area between the Dnieper and Donets.
Allied commando raid on Myebon, South of Akyab in the Arakan, western Burma.
Norway, Nazi collaborationist Quisling orders conscription of 35,000 Norwegian men for military construction.
Battleship USS Iowa is commissioned, New York Naval Yard, first of four Iowa class battleships, the last US battleships.
1944
Malinovsky completes the capture of the mining area around Krivoi Rog.
Heavy Japanese losses as the U.S. Navy bombards the Marianas in the Pacific.
1945
Allied Air Forces launch Operation Clarion, a concerted effort to wipe out all forms of transport available to the Germans in 24 hours. Nearly 9,000 aircraft, operating from bases in England, France, Holland, Belgium and Italy attack over 250,00 square miles of territory, targeting
railways, bridges, ports and roads.
After a heavy four-day battle, the U.S.Fifth Army takes the Upper Reno Valley in northern Italy between Bologna and Florence.