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Key Moments

'39
'40
'41
'42
'43
'44
'45

Click on a year to view Key Moments from that year

WW2History.com contains a range of articles produced exclusively by Laurence Rees. In addition, we also have many exclusive videos and audio testimonies from those who experienced the conflict.

1939

Western Front
1st Aug 1939

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Hitler and the Road To War
Eastern Front
1st Aug 1939

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Stalin and the Road to War
Eastern Front
24th Aug 1939

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Nazi/Soviet non-aggression pact
Holocaust
1st Sep 1939

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Einsatzgruppen operate in Poland
Western Front
1st Sep 1939

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German invasion of Poland
Western Front
3rd Sep 1939

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Britain and France declare war
Holocaust
Oct 1939

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Hitler authorizes killing of disabled

1940

Western Front
1st Jan 1940

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Hitler and the ideology of the war
Western Front
10th May 1940

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Germans invade the Low Countries
Western Front
10th May 1940

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Winston Churchill becomes PM
Holocaust
15th May 1940

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Himmler writes crucial memo
Western Front
Sep 1940

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RAF wins Battle of Britain

1941

Holocaust
22nd Jun 1941

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Einsatzgruppen killing squads start
Eastern Front
22nd Jun 1941

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Invasion of the Soviet Union
Eastern Front
29th Jun 1941

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Stalin tries to cope
Western Front
1st Aug 1941

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FDR and the Road to War
Western Front
14th Aug 1941

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Atlantic Charter
Eastern Front
1st Oct 1941

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Stalin the War Lord
Eastern Front
16th Oct 1941

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Panic in Moscow
Holocaust
Oct 1941

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German Jews deported
Eastern Front
5th Dec 1941

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Red Army counter attacks
Pacific Front
7th Dec 1941

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Pearl Harbour
Holocaust
12th Dec 1941

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Hitler talks of Jewish 'annihilation'

1942

Western Front
1st Jan 1942

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Hitler's Mentality
Western Front
1st Jan 1942

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President Roosevelt and his Allies
Holocaust
20th Jan 1942

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Wannsee Conference
Pacific Front
15th Feb 1942

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Singapore surrenders
Western Front
29th May 1942

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Molotov visits Washington
Pacific Front
4th Jun 1942

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The Battle of Midway
Eastern Front
12th Aug 1942

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Churchill meets Stalin in Moscow
Western Front
4th Nov 1942

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Allies win at El Alamein
Eastern Front
19th Nov 1942

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Soviets launch Operation Uranus

1943

Eastern Front
31st Jan 1943

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Surrender of Stalingrad
Holocaust
Mar 1943

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Murder factory at Birkenau
Eastern Front
11th Apr 1943

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Germans find bodies at Katyn
Western Front
24th May 1943

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Battle of the Atlantic
Eastern Front
13th Jul 1943

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Soviets stop Germans at Kursk
Western Front
8th Sep 1943

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The Italians surrender
Holocaust
4th Oct 1943

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Himmler’s Posen speech
Western Front
28th Nov 1943

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Tehran Conference begins

1944

Western Front
1st Jan 1944

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FDR and the reshaping of Europe
Pacific Front
Apr 1944

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Imphal and Kohima
Western Front
6th Jun 1944

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D-Day
Eastern Front
22nd Jun 1944

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Operation Bagration
Holocaust
26th Jun 1944

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USA rejects bombing of Auschwitz
Western Front
1st Aug 1944

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Warsaw uprising begins
Eastern Front
9th Oct 1944

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Churchill returns to Moscow

1945

Holocaust
27th Jan 1945

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Liberation of Auschwitz
Eastern Front
4th Feb 1945

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'Big Three' meet at Yalta
Pacific Front
1st Apr 1945

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The battle for Okinawa
Western Front
30th Apr 1945

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Adolf Hitler commits suicide
Eastern Front
1st Jul 1945

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Stalin and the West
Pacific Front
6th Aug 1945

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Nuclear bomb on Hiroshima

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