WW2

1941

: Twenty-six Allied countries signed the Declaration by United Nations during the Arcadia Conference. Manila is captured by Japanese forces. They also take Cavite naval base, and the American and Filipino troops continue the retreat into Bataan. The beginning of a major Red Army offensive under General Zhukov. The British advance continues to El Agheila, on the western edge of Libya. In his State of the Union speech, President Roosevelt promises more aid to Britain, including planes and troops. The Soviet Winter counter-offensive comes to a halt, after having pushed the exhausted and freezing German Army back 62–155 mi from Moscow. 'Operation Barbarossa' had failed. Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.Heavy air attacks on Malta; it is estimated that the bomb tonnage dropped on the island is twice that dropped on London.

1943

German 1st Panzer Division withdraws from the Terek River area in southern Russia to prevent encirclement. Americans and Australians recapture Buna, New Guinea. Japanese land more troops at Lae, New Guinea. United States Western Task Force redesignated I Armored Corps.: Soviet troops launch an all-out offensive attack on Stalingrad; they also renew attacks in the north (Leningrad) and in the Caucasus.: The Casablanca Conference of Allied leaders begins. Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt discuss the eventual invasion of mainland Europe, the impending invasion of Sicily and Italy, and the wisdom of the principle of "unconditional surrender". The British start an offensive aimed at taking far-off Tripoli, Libya. Iraq declares war on the Axis powers.

: The Royal Air Force begins a two-night bombing of Berlin. The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rise up for the first time, starting the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

: Besieged defenders of Leningrad link up with relieving forces.: General Georgy Zhukov is promoted to Marshal as the Stalingrad struggle grinds to a close. USS Silversides attacks a Japanese convoy 286 miles from Truk, Caroline Islands en route to the Solomon Islands, sinking transport Meiu Maru and damaging Surabaya Maru. Last airfield at Stalingrad is taken by Red Army forces, ensuring that the Luftwaffe will be unable to supply German troops any further; Hitler still demands that Friedrich Paulus continue the fight.

1942

Lend-Lease introduced into the U.S. Congress

: German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement is signed.

: German aircraft damage aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, which is heading for Malta. German Luftwaffe, it is now clear, has command of air over the Mediterranean. The attack is also the opening of Malta's agony over the next months.

: Greek forces in Albania take the strategically important Klissoura pass.

1940

10,000 Japanese troops launched a counter-attack in eastern Shanxi Province in China in an attempt to relieve the nearly-surrounded Japanese 36th Division

Battle of the Atlantic 1939

Britain had the largest fleet in the world - 3,000 ocean-going vessels and 1,000 large coastal ships.

The German navy, in contrast to the submarine fleet, was in poor condition following World War One and initially the Germans underestimated the role the U-boat might play - only 46 vessels were in operation, intended for surface attacks.

WW2