1940
Mussolini and Hitler meet in the Brenner Pass in northern Italy, Mussolini agreeing to Italy’s entry into the war “at an opportune moment”.
Alan Turing’s Bombe electromechanical decipher machine becomes operational at Bletchley Park, England to decrypt German Enigma messages.
Russia assures Sweden of its safety after Finland’s surrender.
1941
The United States and Canada sign joint defense pact.
German spy Capt. Ulrich von der Oster is struck and killed by a car in New York City; his briefcase is swiped by fellow spy Kurt Ludwig; FBI launches investigation.
The Luftwaffe bombed Liverpool and Birkenhead.
Erwin Rommel departed North Africa for a meeting with Adolf Hitler.
The British armed boarding vessel Rosaura struck a naval mine off Tobruk and sank.
1942
Lord Mountbatten is appointed Chief of Combined Operations.
US forces occupy the New Hebrides in order to help protect Australia’s west coast from direct Japanese invasion.
: President Roosevelt creates War Relocation Authority under Milton Eisenhower to remove all Japanese-Americans from West Coast.
1943
Chindit forces cross the Irrawaddy in Burma.
The United States II Corps takes El Guettar, Tunisia.
After successful US Eighth Air Force mission to Vegesack, Germany, experiment with daylight bombing is declared a success.
1944
A New Zealand tank attack on Monte Cassino is repulsed, with the loss of all 17 tanks.
Hitler forces Hungary’s regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, to agree to new terms of alliance, including occupation by German troops and deportation of Hungary’s 750,000 Jews.
1945
Kolberg falls to the Polish 1st Army, of the 2nd Belorussian Front, although the Germans manage to evacuate 80,000 refugees and wounded first.
The US Third Army captures Boppard on the Rhine.
US Fifth Fleet strikes Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu in Japan in preparation for Okinawa landings.