| January 10th |
The Allies in the south-west Pacific set up a combined command ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) under the command of General Sir Archibald Wavell. |
| January 11th |
The Japanese begun their campaign in the Dutch East Indies by attacking the islands of Tarakan and Manado. |
| January 14th |
The ‘Tirpitz’ moved into Trondheim, Norway, as Germany built up her strength on the Artic Convoy routes. |
| February 15th |
Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on ‘Black Sunday’. |
| February 19th |
135 Japanese planes attacked Darwin in northern Australia. 240 people were killed and 10 wounded. |
| February 27th |
Battle of Java Sea – an attempt by the Allies to stop the Japanese attacking Java. It failed. |
| March 6th |
The ‘Tirpitz’ sailed to intercept Convoy PQ-12 but was driven off by torpedo-bombers from ‘HMS Victorious’. |
| March 8th |
Dutch East Indies surrendered unconditionally. |
| March 12th |
Douglas MacArthur, under orders from Roosevelt, left the Philippines for Darwin, Australia. |
| March 17th |
Three US fighter squadrons arrived in Darwin and Japanese attacks on the city decreased. |
| March 20th |
Germany’s all-out aerial assault on Malta started. |
| April 9th |
The Allied forces at Bataan surrendered and the Philippines fell to Japan. 78,000 prisoners were forced on the 65 mile ‘death march’. |
| April 18th |
16 B-25 bombers, launched from aircraft carriers, carried out the first air raid on Japan. |
| April 20th |
47 Spitfires are sent to Malta but almost all are destroyed on landing. |
| May 6th |
Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese |
| May 7th |
Start of the Battle of Coral Sea |
| May 8th |
Battle of Coral Sea ends in US victory |
| May 15th |
The Red Army failed to re-take Kharkov |
| June 4th |
America defeated the Japanese attempt to capture Midway Island. |
| June 7th |
The Siege of Sebastopol started in the Crimea. |
| June 10th |
The massacre of Lidice occurred. |
| June 21st |
Tobruk captured by Rommel. Churchill called the defeat a “disgrace”. |
| June 25th |
General Auchinleck took over command of 8th Army in North Africa. |
| June 27th |
Convoy PQ-17 sailed from Iceland for Archangel. The convoy included 33 merchant ships. |
| June 28th |
7,000 prisoners from the 8th Army were captured by Rommel |
| June 30th |
Russia started to evacuate Sebastopol. |
| July 4th |
Convoy PQ-17 was attacked by torpedo-bombers and dive-bombers. Two merchant ships were sunk and two more damaged. The Admiralty gave the order for the convoy to scatter. |
| July 5th |
Germany launched an all-out assault on Convoy PQ-17. |
| July 10th |
Only two out of the 33 ships reached Archangel. More get to Archangel in later days. the convoy lost a total of 23 merchant ships that carried 430 tanks, 210 planes, 3,350 vehicles and nearly 100,000 tons of cargo. |
| August 7th |
The Americans landed at Guadacanal. |
| August 17th |
The start of the Allied attack on Dieppe. There was a day’s delay in leaving from British ports due to bad weather. |
| August 19th |
The decision was made to evacuate the survivors from Dieppe. |
| August 19th |
The Russians started their first attempt to free Leningrad. This attempt ended in failure by September 26th. The Germans launched their first attempt to take Stalingrad. |
| August 23rd |
The German Army reached the backs of the River Volga in Stalingrad. |
| August 25th |
Heavy Russian fighting halted the German advance in Stalingrad. |
| September 13th |
The Japanese launched heavy attacks against the Americans at Guadacanal but sustained heavy casualties. |
| September 25th |
The “final” German attack on Stalingrad started but was halted by the Russians. |
| October 4th |
The fourth German attack on Stalingrad started. It led to three weeks of intense fighting. |
| October 23rd |
Britain attack on the German army started at El Alamein in North Africa. |
| November 4th |
With Montgomery victorious at El Alamein, Rommel started his retreat in North Africa. |
| November 8th |
The start of Operation Torch – the Allied invasion of North Africa. Allied troops landed near Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. With a large Allied army in the west of North Africa and with Montgomery advancing from the east, Rommel was caught between two major forces. |
| November 19th |
The German advance in south Russia was held up at Stalingrad. |
| November 24th |
The Russians launched an attack that would encircle the Germans at Stalingrad. |
| December 12th |
The Germans launched ‘Operation Winter Storm’ to relieve the VI Army in Stalingrad. It fails after 11 days, leaving the VI Army trapped in Stalingrad. |
| December 31st |
The Japanese planned to withdraw their troops from Guadacanal after suffering heavy losses in a number of battles. The Russians at Stalingrad had pushed all German troops away from Stalingrad leaving the city open to a major attack. |