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WWII Overview

Theatres of War:
European
- Western Front
- Eastern Front
- Atlantic
Pacific and Asian
- China
- South-East Asia
- Pacific
Mediterranean, African and Middle East
- North Africa
- Middle East
- Italy
- Balkans

1939-1940
Eastern Front:
- GER Invasion of Poland (1 Sept-Oct 1939)
- Winter War (Nov 1939-Mar 1940)
Western Front:
- Phoney War (Oct1939-Apr1940)
- GER Invasion of Denmark and Norway
(Apr 1940)
- GER Invasion of Netherlands,
Belgium and France (May-Jun 1940)
- Dunkirk (Jun 1940)
- Battle of Britain (Aug-Sept 1940)
North Africa:
- ITA invasion of Egypt (Sept 1940)
Balkans:
- ITA invasion of Greece (Oct 1940)
SE Asia:
- JAP occupies French Indochina (Sept
1940)

I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this
government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil [struggle], tears and
sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have
before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask,
what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs
Victory in spite of all terror Victory, however long and hard the road
may be, for without victory there is no survival.
(Blood, toil, tears, and sweat speech, 13 May 1940)

10 May 1940,
Winston Churchill
new Prime Minister

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States
have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious
apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the
end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we
shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we
shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the
beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields
and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,
and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it
were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed
and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in
God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth
to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
(We shall fight on the beaches speech, 4 June 1940)

...the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the
survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions
and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he
will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed...
But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared
for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age... Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties,and so bear
ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say,
This was their finest hour.
(This was their finest hour speech, 18 June 1940)

1941-June 1942
North Africa:
- GER Afrikakorps in North Africa
(Feb 1941)
Balkans:
- GER invasion of Yugoslavia and
Greece (Apr 1941)
Eastern front:
- GER Invasion of USSR (Jun 1941)
Middle East:
- Iraq, Lebanon and Syria
(May-July 1941)
Pacific:
- Pearl Harbor (7 Dec 1941)
SE Asia:
- JAP Invasion of Thailand, Malaya,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Burma,
Dutch East Indies, Philippines (Dec 1941-May1942)

June 1942-July 1943


Pacific:
- Midway (Jun 1942)
- Guadalcanal (Aug 1942-Feb 1943)
Eastern front:
- Stalingrad (Aug 1942-Feb 1943)
North Africa:
- El Alamein (Oct-Nov 1942)
- US-UK Invasion of
Morocco-Algeria (Nov 1942)

July 1943-August 1945


Italy:
- Allied Invasion of Sicily (Jul-Aug 1943)
- Allied Invasion of Italy (Sept 1943)
Mussolini executed
by Italian partisans (28 Apr 1945)
Eastern front:
- Kursk (July 1943)
Western front:
- Allied Invasion of Normandy (D-Day)
(6 Jun 1944)
- Allied invasion of Southern France (Aug 1944)
- GER Ardenne offensive (Dec 1944-Jan 1945)
- Berlin (Apr-May 1945)
Hitler's suicide (30 April 1945)
8-9 May (Victory Day)
Pacific:
- Iwo Jima (Feb-Mar 1945)
- Okinawa (Apr-Jun 1945)
Hiroshima (6 Aug)
Nagasaki (9 Aug)
15 Aug (Japan surrenders)

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