Concerning British support of Russia: "If Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons."—W.C.

FDR also agrees to aid Russia--$1B in Lend Lease.

June. Italians defeated in East Africa. Germans arrive to bolster Italian forces.

August: Roosevelt and Churchill confer in Newfoundland, producing Atlantic Charter

Dec 7—Pearl Harbor. Germany declares war on the U.S. on December 11.

Question after U.S. enter war is where and when to attack: across channel or at "soft underbelly." U.S. wants to go across early, feel that a North African invasion is "unsound."  Churchill concerned about British interests in the Suez, etc.

Planning for OPERATION TORCH begins August 1942.

18 April. General Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Tokyo.

7-8 May Coral Sea stops Japanese advance in Pacific. First non-sight naval battle.

3-6 June.  Midway. 1st major Japanese defeat—they lose 4 carriers. Restores naval balance in Pacific.

10 June. Villiage of Lidice, Czechoslovakia destroyed in retaliation for assassination of Heydrich.

June - 13 Sept. German summer offensive in Russia eventually reaches Rostov, Stalingrad.

June, 1942, British disaster occurs in North Africa at the hands of Rommel. 33,000 surrender at Tobruk; 75,000 casualties during summer of 1942. But: Rommel's logistics problems worsening. Germans vulnerable.

October 23-November 4. Decisive Battle of El Alamein, great victory for Montgomery, but Germans not at peak. Suez safe. Mediterranean under British control.

Aug 7 - Feb 1943. Guadalcanal. 1st Major U.S. offensive of war.   

November 8.  Operation TORCH: U.S. forces under Eisenhower land in North Africa. Planning had begun in August, 1942. Bad going early on—Kasserine Pass defeat in February, 1943, is bad for U.S. troops, who are overrun. Coordination poor, plans confused, etc. Individual (green) soldiers fought well. Patton and Bradley moved up in command structure, dead wood out. (See film, "Patton" )

19 November. Russian counteroffensive begins on Stalingrad front.

2 February. 20 German divisions surrender at Stalingrad. 600,000 men lost.

13 May. North African campaign formally ends as last German troops surrender. 250,000 Axis troops surrender. U.S. casualties 18,500.

German city of Cologne attacked by over 1,000 bombers.

11 July - 17 Aug: Allied invasion of Sicily. Month-long bombardment. Germans and Italians evacuated much equipment, defense was not especially strong.

1943 July 24: Mussolini overthrown. Armistice with Italy reached September 3.

Sept 8: Salerno. OPERATION AVALANCHE. U.S. Fifth Army (Mark Clark), VI Corps. Tough operation as U.S., Great Britain unable to consolidate beachheads. Kesselring counterattacks, allied positions desperate. Reinforcement, air, naval gunfire save beachhead. Italy looked easy, but was not. Took 8 months to get to Rome.

Nov 24: Tarawa in the Pacific secured. Costly battle.

In the Pacific, U.S forces take the Marshall and Marianas Islands. Island-hopping campaign. MacArthur advances through Indonesia toward the Philippines.

In 1944 Germans lose 180,000 square miles in Russia.

Jan 22: Anzio. Follow-on invasion of Italy.

June 6: D-Day. The Allied invasion of Normandy is the largest and most complicated military operation ever conducted. Thousand of men, ships, planes take part, and hundreds of thousands of tons of equipment and supplies are moved across the Channel and ashore in the early days.

August 15. Operation Dragoon—Allied invasion of Southern France to taek pressure off Normandy area.

August 25: Liberation of Paris

23-25 October. Battle of Leyte Gulf

24 Nov. U.S. B-29s begin attacking Tokyo from Saipan.

Dec 16-26: Battle of the Bulge.

By January the Americans are in Luzon in the Philippines.

19 Feb Invasion of Iwo Jima.

1 April Invasion of Okinawa

8 May V-E Day. Germany surrenders.

6 August. Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
8 August. Russia declares war on Japan

9 August Nagasaki is bombed
10 August Japanese offer to surrender.

15 August. V-J Day—the war is over. Japan formally surrenders aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay in September. General MacArthur accepts the surrender on behalf of the Allies.