1938
The German government orders all German Jews to have red J’s printed on their passports, in order to more easily identify and track them in the future.
1939
Hitler enters Warsaw in triumph.
The Soviet Union forces a treaty on Latvia that allows the Red Navy to establish bases in her Baltic harbors
The US Navy Hawaiian Detachment opens at Pearl Harbor.
1940
US Naval Reserve and US Marine Corps reserve divisions and aviation squadrons are placed on call for active duty.
1941
Advancing in the southern Ukraine, Panzer Group 1 reaches the Sea of Azov.
Field Marshal Paul von Kleist named commander of German First Panzer Army; Gen. Heinz Guderian over Second Panzer Army.
Marshal Georgi Zhukov ordered to replace Ivan Konev over Soviet Western Front.
1942
Himmler orders all Jews in concentration camps in Germany to be sent to Auschwitz and Majdanek.
1943
German troops complete the evacuation of the island of Corsica.
The first of two heavy raids by a US Navy Task Force against Wake Island, with 61 Japanese aircraft being reported as destroyed.
1944
Canadian troops cross Belgian-Dutch border north of Antwerp.
Germany begins conscription of sixteen-year-olds. Germans lose 36 “Linsen” explosive-packed motorboats in raid off the Scheldt Estuary.
The First Baltic Front begins an offensive South of Riga to cut off Army Group North in Lithuania.
1945
Lt. Louis Zamperini (Unbroken) returns home, over two years after his plane ditched in the Pacific.