Explore 6096 historical events from 1940–1949.
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, with many eng…
World War II: American and Australian airborne forces landed at Nadzab as part of the New Guinea campaign against Japan.
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, with many eng…
World War II: Australian troops led by Gordon Grimsley King defeated Imperial Japanese forces at the Battle of Kaiapit…
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, with many eng…
World War II: Nazi forces began a mass extermination campaign against the civilian residents of around 20 villages on…
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, with many eng…
Second World War: The German Army began the Massacre of the Acqui Division on the Greek island of Cephalonia,…
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, with many eng…
World War II: Allied forces executed Operation Leader, an air raid against German shipping near Bodø, Norway.
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, with many eng…
World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured fifty-seven…
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, with many eng…
World War II: During the second raid on Schweinfurt, the U.S. 8th Air Force suffered so many losses that it lost air…
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered ar…
The Holocaust: Prisoners at Sobibor extermination camp revolted, killing 11 SS officers and staging a mass escape.
The Second Philippine Republic, officially the Republic of the Philippines and also known as the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic, was a pro-Axis government established on Oc…
The Second Philippine Republic, a Japanese puppet state, was established with Jose P. Laurel as its first president.
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered ar…
The Holocaust: The Gestapo conducted a raid on the Roman Ghetto, capturing 1,259 members of the Jewish community, most…
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, with many eng…
World War II: Allied aircraft sank the German cargo ship Sinfra, killing mostly Italian POWs.
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" d…
French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress
Pierre Jean Marie Laval was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy Fr…
Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe on the United Kingdom during World War II in April and May 1942. Towns and cities in England wer…
World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck
The 11th Army was a World War II field army.
World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three
Phayap Army was the hastily combined forces between the Royal Thai Army (RTA) and the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) that invaded the Siamese Shan States of Burma on 10 May 1942 durin…
World War II: The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign
A tanker is a ship designed to transport or store liquids or gases in bulk. Major types of tanker ship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, cargo ships, and a gas carrier. …
World War II: The U
The Battle of Gazala, also the Gazala Offensive was fought near the village of Gazala during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Liby…
World War II: The Battle of Gazala begins, in present-day Libya
The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, all by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A total of 34,711 long tons (35,268 t) of bombs…
World War II: One thousand British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany
The Tsardom of Bulgaria, also known as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom, commonly known in English as the Kingdom of Bulgaria, or simply Bulgaria, was a constitutional monarchy in South…
World War II: The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania
Annelies Marie Frank was a German-born Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim. She gained worldwide notability posthumously for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding during t…
Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel, known as The Desert Fox, was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. He served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, as well as in the Reichsweh…
World War II: Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the Axis capture of Tobruk
The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, …
The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was …
Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th symphony premiers in a besieged Leningrad.