Explore 5072 historical events from 1940–1949.
The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), …
World War II: The United States Fifth Army captures Rome, although much of the German Fourteenth Army is able to withdra
Nazi Germany, officially the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the countr…
World War II: More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. …
World War II: Commencement of Operation Overlord: The Allied invasion of Normandy begins with the execution of Operation
The Liberation of Paris was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had b…
World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
The Tartu offensive operation, also known as the Battle of Tartu and the Battle of Emajõgi was a campaign fought over southeastern Estonia in 1944. It took place on the Eastern Fro…
World War II: Soviet forces capture the city of Tartu, Estonia.
The Battle of Meligalas took place during the Axis occupation of Greece in Meligalas in southwestern Greece on 13–15 September 1944. Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's L…
World War II: Start of the Battle of Meligalas between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation…
The Battle of San Marino was an engagement on 17–20 September 1944 during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War, in which German Army forces occupied the neutral Republic of…
World War II: German forces are attacked by the Allies in the Battle of San Marino.
The capture of the Caen Canal and Orne River bridges was an operation by airborne forces of the British Army that took place in the early hours of 6 June 1944 as part of the Norman…
World War II: Capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges by Allied paratroopers, also known as Operation Coup de M
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. …
World War II: Battle of Normandy: At Ardenne Abbey, members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisone
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: Ninety-nine civilians are hanged from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in repris
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It…
World War II: The Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland sinc
On 10 June 1944, four days after D-Day, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 642 civilians, including non-combatant men, wome…
World War II: Six hundred forty-three men, women and children massacred at Oradour-sur-Glane, France
HMS Tradewind was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built as P329 at Chatham, and launched on 11 December 1942. As of 2021 she is the only ship of the …
World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Jun'yō Maru, killing 5,600, mostly slave labourers and POWs.
The Battle of Arracourt took place between U.S. and German armoured forces near the town of Arracourt, Lorraine, France between 18 and 29 September 1944, during the Lorraine Campai…
World War II: The Battle of Arracourt begins.
Distomo is a town in western Boeotia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra, of which it is the seat and a munici…
World War II: In Distomo, Boeotia, Greece, 228 men, women and children are massacred by German troops
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play …
In baseball, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds becomes the youngest player ever in a major-league game
USS Missouri (BB-63) is an Iowa-class battleship built for the United States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is now a museum ship. Completed in 1944, she is the last battleship commiss…
USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrum
The Battle of Carentan was an engagement in World War II between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of Normandy. The battle took p…
World War II: Battle of Carentan: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Norm
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: The Battle of Villers-Bocage: German tank ace Michael Wittmann ambushes elements of the British 7th Armou
The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armisti…
World War II: The Moscow Armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union is signed, which officially ended the…
The Kassel Mission on 27 September 1944 was also known as the air battle over the Seulingswald. The mission aimed to destroy the factories in Kassel of the engineering works of Hen…
World War II: The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission during the war.
Klooga concentration camp was a Nazi forced labor subcamp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex established in September 1943 in Harju County, during World War II, in German-oc…
World War II: Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.
The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" was a German Waffen-SS division that saw action on the Western Front during World War II. It was formed in October 1943…
World War II: German combat elements, reinforced by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, launch a counterattack on Amer
Operation Perch was a British offensive of the Second World War which took place from 7 to 14 June 1944, during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy. The operation was intend…
World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandons Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-o