| January |
Rationing of clothes introduced in Britain |
| January 3rd |
Italy launched a counter-offensive in Albania against the Greeks. This was the first of 46 Italian attacks – all repulsed by the Greeks. |
| January 22nd |
British and Australian forces captured Tobruk in North Africa. |
| January 29th |
South African forces entered Italian Somaliland. |
| February 4th |
The British started a mechanised movement which encircled the Italians to the south of Benghazi. |
| February 6th |
British and Australian forces entered Benghazi. Rommel was appointed commander of the German Afrika Corps. |
| February 10th |
Mussolini accepted Hitler’s offer of a German armoured division to support Italian forces in North Africa. |
| February 12th |
Rommel arrived in Tripoli. |
| February 14th |
First German units arrived in Tripoli. |
| February 22nd |
Anthony Eden went to Athens to discuss the possibility of a German attack on Greece. |
| February 24th |
German and British forces clashed for the first time in the Western Desert. |
| March 2nd |
German troops enter Bulgaria |
| March 6th |
British forces invaded Ethiopia. The start of a three week blockage of the Suez Canal by the Germans placing magnetic and acoustic mines there. |
| March 9th |
Italy launched a major attack on the Greeks but to no avail. |
| April 4th |
The Germans capture Benghazi. |
| April 6th |
Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece. British forces occupy Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. |
| April 10th |
The start of the siege of Tobruk after the Germans failed to capture it. The Germans captured Zagreb. |
| April 12th |
Germany accepted the surrender of Belgrade. |
| April 17th |
The Yugoslavian Army surrenders |
| May 10th |
Last of the heavy air raids on Britain. The Blitz ended. |
| May 24th |
HMS Hood sunk by the Bismarck with the loss of 1,416 men out of a crew of 1,419. |
| May 27th |
The Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy. Out of a crew of 2,200, just over 100 survived. |
| June 22nd |
The German invasion of Russia – Operation Barbarossa began. |
| September 1st |
The first German shell landed in Leningrad – the start of the 900 day siege. |
| September 27th |
Italian forces surrendered at the Wolchefit Pass, Ethiopia. |
| September 28th |
The first Allied convoy to Russia took place. |
| October 2nd |
The final phase of the German attack on Russia started – the attack on Moscow. |
| October 6th |
Churchill promised Stalin that a convoy would sail to Russia every 10 days. |
| November 28th |
Italian forces surrender at Gondar ending Mussolini’s East African venture. |
| December 5th |
The Russian counter-attack in Moscow started. |
| December 7th |
The Japanese attacked the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. |
| December 8th |
Britain and America declared war on Japan. |
| December 11th |
Germany declared war on America. |
| December 31st |
By this date, a total of 53 merchant ships had reached Russia and delivered 750 tanks, 800 fighter planes, 1,400 vehicles and 100,000 tons of general stores. |