| |
WW2 Events by Day of the Week
Putting the conflict into a realistic and relatable perspective.
Total Events: 121
for Friday
1939
Friday
September 1st |
|
|
German airborne elements begin bombardment of Polish defensive targets. At 6:00 AM, 50 German divisions making up Army Group North and Army Group South flood into Poland. Army Group South's mission is the capture of the Polish capital of Warsaw. |
1939
Friday
September 8th |
|
|
German ground forces arrive at the outskirts of the Polish capital of Warsaw, covering an astounding 200 miles in a single week. |
1939
Friday
September 22nd |
|
|
The Polish city of Bialystok falls to the Soviet Army. |
1939
Friday
September 22nd |
|
|
The Polish City of Lwow falls to the Soviet Army. |
1939
Friday
September 29th |
|
|
The German-Soviet Boundary Friendship Treay is signed between German representative von Ribbentrop and Soviet representative Molotov. Poland is divided into a western zone under German control and an eastern zone under Soviet control. |
|
|
The Soviet Union installs a Finnish-Soviet puppet government in Terijoki to be led by Otto Kuusinen. |
1939
Friday
December 15th |
|
|
Finnish defenders keep the town of Nautsi from falling under Soviet control. |
1939
Friday
December 15th |
|
|
The deteriorating conditions of a Finnish winter protect Helsinki from additional Soviet attacks. |
1939
Friday
December 15th |
|
|
The Mannerheim Line holds as Soviet Army elements are kept at bay. |
1939
Friday
December 15th |
|
|
Valliant Finnish forces repel the Soviet Army out of Soumussalmi, retaking the town. |
1939
Friday
December 15th |
|
|
The Soviet 14th Army takes Petsamo. |
1940
Friday
February 23rd |
|
|
The Soviet government delivers terms of surrender to the Finnish government, claiming the Karelian isthmus and Lake Lagoda as their own. The Finns are required to defend the Soviet Union from the north if the empire is attacked. |
|
|
German airborne elements land across Belgium and Holland in advance of ground forces, capturing key bridges and routes. |
|
|
89 German paratroopers land and take the Belgium fortress of Eben Emael with its garrison of 2,000 soldiers. |
|
|
German paratroopers land in The Hague and Rotterdam. |
1940
Friday
May 17th - May 18th |
|
|
Allied forces are in full retreat of the Germans, making their way towards the French coastline. |
1940
Friday
May 17th - May 18th |
|
|
Brussels falls to the German Army. |
1940
Friday
May 17th - May 18th |
|
|
Antwerp falls to the German Army. |
|
|
German Luftwaffe bombers hammer Allied defensive positions in and around the French port city of Dunkirk. |
|
|
In a stunning move, Hitler orders his forces not to cross the Lens-Bethune-St Omer-Gravelines line, allowing the retreating Allied forces more time to reach the French coast. |
|
|
Over 150,000 Allied soldiers (including some 15,000 French) arrive in Britain. |
1940
Friday
September 20th |
|
|
Massive convoys breed equal massive measures - German U-boats begin operating in 20-strong "Wolf Packs" with coordinated attacks. |
1940
Friday
October 18th - October 19th |
|
|
An attack on two Allied convoys yields 36 sunken ships by the attacking German U-boats. |
1940
Friday
December 6th - December 8th |
|
|
The Western Desert Force in Egypt, under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor, set up pre-assault positions. The force includes 36,000 total men from the 7th Armored Division, 4th Indian Division and the New Zealand Division. They set up their initial position southeast of the Italian fort at Nibeiwa. |
|
|
Fuhrer Directive No.28 is issued by Adolph Hitler, calling for the invasion of the island of Crete through Operation Mercury led by General Kurt Student. |
|
|
HMS Bulldog acquires the first Enigma code machine during the capture of the U-110. British codebreakers set to work on deciphering the device. |
|
|
At 7:22 PM, the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Suffolk and the HMS Norfolk spot and shadow the mighty German battleship Bismarck. Its location is radioed in to Vice-Admiral L. E. Holland. |
|
|
German dive bombers destroy the HMS Kelly and HMS Kashmir, two Royal Navy destroyers. |
|
|
German dive bombers destroy the HMS Gloucester and the HMS Fiji, two Royal Navy cruisers. |
|
|
The brave defense of Rethymnon by Australian soldiers finally falters under intense pressure from the German Army. |
1941
Friday
September 26th - November 26th |
|
|
Over the course of two months, Soviet Major-General I.Y. Pretov and his band of 32,000 Independent Maritime Army soldiers set up a vast network of defenses at the fortress in Sevastopol. The defense consists of three well-defended rings. |
|
|
The Soviets launch a full-scale counter-attack along a 500-mile front encompassing 19 Russian armies against Field Marshal von Bock's German Army Group Centre near Moscow. |
1941
Friday
December 12th |
|
|
The airfields at Laoang and Tuguegarao fall to the Japanese invaders. |
1941
Friday
December 26th |
|
|
Manstein's offensive gains substantial ground, piercing the first two Soviet defensive rings. |
1941
Friday
December 26th |
|
|
Soviet naval forces land army troops near Kerch. |
|
|
The Japanese begin their offensive against the dug-in American forces on the Bataan Peninsula. |
|
|
The American defensive lines finally break. |
|
|
German General Manstein meets with Hitler and proposes a new German counter-attack against the Russians. |
1942
Friday
February 20th |
|
|
The Germans unleash their counterattack using the 4th Panzer Amry, 1st Panzer Army and the II SS Panzer Corps. |
|
|
British Convoy PQ13 sets sail for Russia but comes under fire from German U-Boats. Five of the 19 ships are lost. |
|
|
No fewer than five Japanese Navy aircraft carriers reach the Indian Ocean. |
|
|
At 9:25AM, Japanese and American warplanes take to the skies. |
|
|
Some 27 Japanese aircraft are launched under the cover of darkness in the hopes of locating the Allied Task Force. They come up empty and only six aircraft return safely home. |
|
|
By 6:00PM that evening, nearly all of the USS Lexington's sailors have been rescued. |
|
|
At 2:47PM, the American carrier USS Lexington is hit by a Japanese torpedo, causing a major explosion in her generator room. |
|
|
The Japanese invasion force heads back to New Britain. |
|
|
Lieutenant-General von Manstein launches his assault. |
|
|
German General Manstein leads his 11th Army onto the Kerch Peninsula towards the city of Sevastopol. |
|
|
At 6:10PM, the USS Lexington is a complete loss. She is scuttled and sunk. |
|
|
At 11:40AM, US Navy warplanes manage to score devastating hits to the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku, severely damaging her. |
|
|
Just past dawn, the Japanese and American carrier groups spot one another. |
|
|
Manstein's offensive results in the taking of the Kerch peninsula from the Soviets. |
|
|
Sevastopol is cutt off from the rest of the Soviet Union by German Army elements. |
|
|
Manstein begins planning his next major offensive to take Sevastopol - this becomes Operation Sturgeon. |
|
|
Burma falls to the Japanese. |
|
|
The Allies attempt an offensive to drive the German pocket back from Sidi Muftah and fail. 230 Allied tanks are lost in the attack. |
|
|
The Japanese carrier Hiryu is scuttled. |
1942
Friday
June 12th - June 16th |
|
|
The German offensive against Sevastopol is repulsed by the 180,000 or so Russian soldiers holed up in the city. |
|
|
The Allies put up a stubborn defense, repelling Rommel's offensive. |
|
|
Hitler diverts the 4th Panzer Army away from Stalingrad and sends them towards the Caucasus. |
|
|
Elements of the German Army attack Soviet forces near Kalach. |
|
|
Amphibious forces spearheaded by the United States Marines begin against the Japanese-held island of Guadalcanal. |
|
|
German forces cross the Kuban river near Krasnador. |
|
|
Japanese ground forces attempt attacks against Henderson Field and American forces at Tenaru. The Japanese troops make little headway and are themselves encircled. |
|
|
Nazi-allied French leader Marshal Petain celebrates the German victory over the Allied invasion at Dieppe. |
1942
Friday
September 25th |
|
|
With winter upon the German Army once more, Hitler orders a halt to any major offensives around Leningrad. |
|
|
The Soviet government hands all military powers to the Soviet Army. |
|
|
Some 20,000 Japanese fighters, including elements of the 2nd Division and 17th Army, undertake a new offensive under the direction of General Maruyama. |
|
|
The Allied counter-offensive begins through Operation Lightfoot, a massive artillery bombardment of dug-in German forces. |
|
|
At 10:00PM, British XIII Corps hits the German 21st Panzer Division and Italian Brescia and Folgore Divisions in the south of the German defensive wall as a diversion to its north-bound actions. |
|
|
XXX and X Corps begin their assault on Axis nothern positions. |
1942
Friday
November 20th |
|
|
The Allied assault on the strategic city of Medjez el Bab begins. |
1942
Friday
November 20th |
|
|
German General Manstein is appointed the commander of Army Group Don. |
1942
Friday
November 20th |
|
|
Part 2 of Operation Uranus is enacted at the southern end of Stalingrad. |
|
|
The H2S navigation system is delivered to the RAF for installation into bombers. |
|
|
German forces at Terek retreat. |
|
|
Soviet generals send in the formal request for surrender of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, a request which is formally rejected. |
1943
Friday
February 19th |
|
|
American armored forces hold up the German advanced at Kasserine Pass. |
|
|
For the first time, RAF bombers make use of the "Oboe" navigational aid in a large-scale operation. |
|
|
The Allied invasion fleets sail out to Sicily. |
|
|
German Army forces are pushed back to their original starting positions by this date. |
|
|
Soviet armies from the 2nd Baltic, Volkov and Leningrad fronts overtake German Army Group North in a massive two-week offensive. |
|
|
In the afternoon hours, an Allied convoy of 243 ships sets sail from the Bay of Naples for the beaches at Anzio and nearby Nettuno. |
|
|
Von Mackensen moves six divisions to Anzio, some ten miles of the Allied beachhead. |
|
|
Hitler delivers an ultimatum to supreme commander-in-chief over Italy operations, Field Marshall Kesselring, to fight to the death and drive the invading Allied forces into the sea. |
|
|
The US 1st Armored Division captures the town of Aprilia. |
|
|
By this date, some 70,000 men, 27,000 tons of goods, 508 artillery guns and 237 tanks are ashore on the beachhead. |
|
|
The Germans are driven back at Cisterna. |
|
|
German Army Group North is pushed away from the city of Leningrad. |
1944
Friday
February 11th |
|
|
A blanket retreat is enacted by the Allies in an attempt to regroup and plan a new strategy to take Cassino. |
1944
Friday
February 11th |
|
|
US and Indian losses mount in the offensives against German positions in Calvario, the town of Cassino and Monte Cassino itself. |
1944
Friday
February 11th |
|
|
The entire US 142nd Regiment is destroyed. |
1944
Friday
February 11th |
|
|
The 34th and 36th US Divisions both report a high number of casualties from the ensuing offensives. |
1944
Friday
February 11th |
|
|
The 4th Indian Division reports unacceptably high casualties when coming up against the stout German defenders. |
1944
Friday
February 25th |
|
|
RAF bombers hit Augsburg with 594 aircraft in a night time raid. |
1944
Friday
February 25th |
|
|
The final American air raid of Big Week is launched with 900 bombers against Regensburg, Augsburg and Forth. |
1944
Friday
February 25th |
|
|
By the end of it all, 3,300 Allied sorties are launched in the offensive and 226 bombers are lost. 290 German fighters are destroyed and another further 90 are damaged. |
|
|
By this date, the partisan actions along the German rear dwindle in preparation for the upcoming offensive. |
|
|
The 1st and 3rd Belorussian Fronts advanced to northeast of Minsk, surrounding the German 4th Army. |
|
|
By this date, the German Army has recorded some 200,000 casualties from the aggressive Soviet offensive. |
|
|
After heavy bombing by British Royal Air Force elements, British and Canadian army forces regroup and begin their offensive to take Caen from the Germans. |
|
|
8th Air Force B-17 and B-24 bombers are launched on Schweinfurt. |
|
|
Soviet forces lay claim to Brest-Litovsk. |
|
|
Patton's 3rd Army arrived at Brittany. The German defense crumbles and relocates to defensive positions along the coast. |
|
|
Paris is liberated by the arriving Allies. |
|
|
Patton and his 3rd Army continue their march and setup critical strategic bridgeheads over the Seine River at Elbeuf and Louviers. |
|
|
The Allies reach the French capital of Paris. |
1944
Friday
September 22nd |
|
|
Elements of the Polish Parachute Brigade, delayed multiple times from earlier participation in the operation, finally land south of Arnhem. Their mission is to reinforce the battered British 1st Airborne Division. |
|
|
As American forces move further inland, the battle for Okinawa intensifies. Pockets of dug-in Japanese defenders become evermore concentrated the more inland the Allied forces go. |
|
|
The deadly kamikaze air attack is unleashed on American Naval vessels in the Pacific. These aircraft appear as coordinated airstrikes and prove equally deadly to both sides. USN vessels off the coast of Okinawa itself are targeted. Some 34 US Navy ships fall victim. |
|
|
American forces are now amassed as two separate assault fronts. To the north are the 1st and 6th Marine divisions. To the mountainous south are the 7th and 96th Infantry divisions. |
|
|
The IJN Yamato, Japan's pride and joy and the largest battleship ever built, sails from the Inland Sea on a suicide mission at Okinawa. She is escorted by the light cruiser Yahagi and some eight destroyers on her final voyage. |
|
|
US Marines reach Hedo Point in the north of Okinawa. |
|
|
Motobu Peninsula falls to the Americans as the Japanese defenders are either killed or captured. |
|
|
German General Wenck of the 12th Army launches a futile counter-offensive against the Soviet onslaught. |
|
|
The British Royal Air Force slow down the 12th Army offensive through intense bombing. |
|
|
The Japanese enact a major offensive in the south of Okinawa. A coast-to-coast defensive front is established from Naha to Yonabaru. Regardless, the line is targeted by prolonged American firepower and infantry. |
|
|
The fighting on Okinawa comes to a close as American forces overwhelm the islands determined Japanese defenders. Those that are not taken prisoner or die in the fighting, subject themselves to ritual suicides. |
|
|
Understanding that defeat is iminent, Japanese Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushjima commits ritual suicide with his staff after reporting the loss of Okinawa to his superiors. |
|
|
The Battle of Okinawa officially draws to a close and now represents the all-important staging area for the Allied invasion of the Japanese mainland. |
|
|
| All Events By Day of the Week |
|
|
