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ALLIED FORCES ATTACK THE GUSTAV LINE
:
Date : 12th January 1944.
General Juin (Free French
Expeditionary Corps) launched an attack the Gustav line near Cassino,
crossing the Garigliano river.
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SOVIET ADVANCES : LENINGRAD SIEGE ENDED
:
Date : January 1944.
A new Soviet offensive
on the northern part of the eastern front relieved the besieged
city of Leningrad, as the Red Army advanced pursuing the retreating
Nazis.
Date : 19th January 1944.
The Soviet Red Army advanced
on the eastern front and captured the industrial city of Novgorod,
approximately 100 miles south of Leningrad.
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ALLIED ITALIAN CAMPAIGN : THE ANZIO
LANDINGS :
Date : 22nd January 1944.
Allied forces landed at
Anzio, sixty miles behind the German defensive position known
as the Gustav line in central Italy.
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SECRET WEAPONS PRODUCTION :
Date : January 1944.
The first 52 V2 rockets
leave the "Mittelwerk". In the same month 679 prisoners
die or are killed in the slave camps that built the rockets.
Slave
Camps :
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MONTE CASSINO MONASTERY DESTROYED :
Date : 15th February 1944.
The Benedictine monastery
at Monte Cassino was totally destroyed in an Allied air raid.
Although it is said that the Germans had already retreated before
the attack. After the attack German forces returned, as the bombing
had made the monastery a stronger defensive position within the
craters, rubble and ruins created by the air raid.
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GERMAN COUNTER ATTACK AT ANZIO :
Date : 16th February 1944.
Kesselring launched a counter
attack against the Allies at Anzio, in the hope to push the invading
Allied force back into the sea.
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US ADVANCES IN THE PACIFIC :
Date : Early February 1944.
US forces advanced and
landed on the Marshall Islands of Kwajalein, Engebi, Eniwetok
and Parry in the Pacific.
Date : 17th-18th February
1944.
US carrier fleet launches
air strike on the Japanese base at Truk in the Carolines, and
completely destroyed the facility beyond use.
Date : 22nd February 1944.
US forces defeated Japanese
opposition and captured the Marshall Islands of Kwajalein, Engebi,
Eniwetok and Parry in the Pacific.
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DORA CREMATORIUM :
Date : February 1944.
During the month of February
1944 the Nazis started construction of the crematorium at the
slave camp Dora.
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RAF RAID ON HAMBURG :
Date : 18th March 1944.
RAF Bomber Command attacked
the German city of Hamburg. 3000 tons of bombs were dropped on
the city to devastating effect causing a firestorm.
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SOVIET ADVANCES :
Date : 2nd April 1944.
The Soviet Red Army crossed
the border into Romania on the eastern front, advancing towards
the Romanian Ploesti oil fields.
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JAPANESE OFFENSIVE :
Date : April 1944.
Japanese renews offensive
in Burma, advancing and entering India. Japanese forces put the
towns of Imphal and Kohima in India under siege.
General Slim in command
of the British 14th Army held both towns during the siege that
lasted for the month of April 1944.
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CRIMEA RETURNED TO SOVIET CONTROL :
Date : 9th May 1944.
The Soviet Red Army advanced
on the eastern front in the south and had captured the Crimean
port of Sebastopol, on the Black Sea. The Soviets had driven the
Nazis out of the Crimea and had regained the territory.
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MONTE CASSINO MONASTERY CAPTURED :
Date : 18th May 1944.
Free Polish troops captured
the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in central Italy.
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ALLIED FORCES ADVANCE IN BURMA :
Date : 2nd June 1944.
British General Stilwell,
US General Merrill (Merrill's Marauders) and Chinese forces under
Chiang Kai-shek, attack and advanced from north Burma, besieged
and captured the Burmese town of Myitkyina.
Date : 3rd June 1944.
The sieges at Imphal and
Kohima ends in defeat for the Japanese forces and the towns in
India were relieved by Allied forces.
The defeat is the first
major defeat for the Japanese army, and the Japanese army was
thrown into a retreat back into Burma.
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ALLIED FORCES ENTER ROME :
Date : 4th June 1944.
Allied troops liberated
the Italian capital Rome. The success is over shadowed by the
D-day landings in Normandy, France.
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D-DAY : OPERATION OVERLORD :
Date : 6th June 1944.
D-day : The Allied invasion
of mainland Europe landed on the beaches of Normandy in northern
France. The Allied force launched the invasion from southern England,
using over 6,000 ships to transport troops and equipment.
The successful operation
established a beach head on the mainland of Europe, and creating
the long awaited western front.
Operation
Overlord :
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SECRET WEAPONS ATTACK LONDON : V1 MISSILE
:
Date : 13th June 1944.
One of the secret weapons
developed at Peenemünde is unleashed
on the English capital London. Hitler's first V weapon is the
V1 pulse jet missile, and the attacks are the start of a second
Blitz that the British populace had to endure.
The V1 was an indiscriminate
terror weapon.
Secret
Weapons :
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ALLIED ADVANCES :
Date : 15th June 1944.
US marines landed on the
island of Saipan, part of the Marianas group in the south Pacific.
Other islands in this group were Guam and Tinian. Days after the
landings the Japanese sent a carrier task force to support its
troops fighting on the island.
The air attack would be
known as the 'Marianas Turkey Shoot' as the Americans delivered
such a devastating blow to the Japanese naval air forces. The
Japanese suffered a heavy defeat losing over 300 planes.
Date : 18th June 1944.
British 8th Army captured
the Italian town of Assisi, situated in the mountainous region
of Umbria in central Apennines, approximately 70 miles north of
the Italian capital Rome.
Date : 27th June 1944.
American forces broke out
from the Normandy beach heads advanced, swept west, then north
and captured the French port of Cherbourg, on the northern point
of the Contentin peninsula, northern France.
Cherbourg became the first
port captured by the Allied forces, although severely damaged
by the defending Germans, the port would be used to supply the
advance of Allied forces advancing inland.
Date : 3rd July 1944.
The Soviet Red Army advanced
on the central eastern front and captured the Belorussian capital
of Minsk.
Date : 4th July 1944.
The British 14th Army under
General Slim turned a defensive position to an offensive action.
The town of Imphal had been under siege during April and June
1944, and was relieved by Allied forces.
The British offensive defeated
Japanese forces at the town Imphal, capital of the Manipur state
in India, forcing General Sato's Japanese troops to retreat further
into Burma.
Date : 9th July 1944.
The French town of Caen
falls to the British and Canadian forces, who then continued to
advance south to link up with American forces advancing from the
south-west heading north. The manoeuvre will cut of and trap most
of the opposing German force in what is known as the Falaise Pocket.
The
Falaise Pocket :
The island of Saipan is
captured by the American forces, after a bitter battle was fought
between US and Japanese forces.
Date : 18th July 1944.
Allied forces advanced
south inland 20 miles from the Normandy beach head, and US troops
reach the French town of St. Lô.
Japanese Prime Minister
Hideki Tojo is blamed for a series of defeats inflicted on Japanese
forces by the Allies. The heavy blow given to Japan's naval pilots
in the invasion of Saipan, and the 'Marianas Turkey Shoot' forces
his, and his Cabinet's resignation.
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ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON HITLER :
Date : 20th July 1944.
During a meeting at Hitler's
eastern headquarters the plot to kill Hitler unfolded. A time-bomb
was left under the conference table and killed several Generals
and destroyed the room, but Hitler survived the assassination
attempt.
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US FORCES ADVANCE ON THE MARIANAS ISLANDS
:
Date : 21st July 1944.
After capturing Saipan,
US Marines targeted other islands of the Marianas group. US Marines
landed on the island of Guam.
Date : 24th July 1944.
US Marines landed on the
island of Tinian, also part of the Marianas group in the south
Pacific.
By August the Marianas
Islands were in the hands of the Americans, and all Japanese forces
on Saipan, Guam and Tinian had been defeated.
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THE WARSAW RISING :
Date : 1st August 1944.
With the Soviet Red Army
advancing from the east the Polish Resistance instigated an uprising,
and attacked the German forces that occupied the Polish capital
Warsaw.
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OPERATION ANVIL :
Date : 15th August 1944.
The Allied invasion of southern France, named
Operation Anvil. Allied forces, including Free French, landed
at St. Tropez on the French Riviera, under the command of the
General Patch.
The invasion was lightly opposed by German forces,
who had been ordered by the German command, General Model, to
retreat north.
The Allied objectives would be to advance north
linking with Allied forces advancing east in northern France,
creating a broad western front.
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ALLIED ADVANCES :
Date : 24th August 1944.
German commander General
von Choltitz was ordered by Hitler to destroy Paris if he could
not defend it. But the German General ignored Hitler's order and
surrendered German forces in Paris to General Leclerq and Free
French forces under his command.
Date : 25th August 1944.
With the French capital
liberated and under Allied control, General De Gaulle leader of
the Free French entered the French Paris.
Date : 31st August 1944.
The Soviet Red Army advanced
on the south eastern front and captured the Romanian capital of
Bucharest.
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ALLIED GAINS :
Date : 3rd September 1944.
The Belgium capital of
Brussels was liberated by Allied forces.
Date : 4th September 1944.
The Allies liberated the
Belgium port of Antwerp, an important target. The port could be
used for the swift supply to advancing Allied forces, and at the
same time shortened the supply line to the Allied front.
Date : 5th September 1944.
The Soviet Union declared
war on Bulgaria.
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A NEW SECRET WEAPON ATTACKS LONDON :
V2 ROCKET :
Date : 8th September 1944.
The Nazis start their next
generation of secret
weapons and fire the first V2's at Paris and London.
Secret
Weapons : First
V2 Strike On London :
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THE BATTLE OF ARNHEM :
Date : 17th
September 1944.
Allied forces attempted
to outflank Nazi forces in western Europe, Holland. An airborne
mission named Operation Market Garden dropped commandos behind
the enemy lines. The operation failed and the Allied forces took
heavy casualties from strong German defences.
The
Battle of Arnhem :
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DORA-MITTELBAU SLAVE CAMP :
Date : 1st October 1944.
Dora grows large enough
to be considered a concentration camp and is given the name Dora-Mittelbau
and 30 sub-camps are built.
Slave
Camps :
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WARSAW RISING IS CRUSHED :
Date : 2nd October 1944.
Warsaw resistance which had erupted in August
against the German garrison, was crushed. Polish Home Army surrendered
to the Nazis. Hitler ordered Warsaw to be levelled.
The Red Army had halted its advance close to
Warsaw, giving reasons that the advance had out stretched its
supply line. Even Allied air supply to the Warsaw freedom fighters
from Soviet held territory was refused by Stalin.
Post war position of Poland was in consideration,
and Stalin allowed the Nazis to crush Polish resistance.
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ALLIED ADVANCES :
Date : 14th
October 1944.
Allied forces liberated
the Greek capital of Athens.
Date : 20th
October 1944.
US forces landed in the
Philippines. General MacArthur had fulfilled his promise of returning
to the Philippines, as a beach head was established on the island
of Leyte.
Soviet troops and Tito's
partisans entered the Serbian capital of Belgrade. During World
War II Serbia had been under a puppet government set up by the
Germans.
Date : 23rd-26th
October 1944.
US and Japanese fleets
clash in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On 20th October General MacArthur's
forces had landed on Leyte, and the Japanese fleets engaged to
destroy the landings and clashed with Admiral Halsey's American
fleet.
The defeat at Leyte was
devastating for the Japanese navy, and after the battle the US
navy dominated the Pacific.
The Soviet Red Army extended
its eastern front and entered East Prussia.
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ALLIED FORCES ENTER GERMANY :
Date : 18th
November 1944.
As the Soviets advanced
in the east, in the west Allied forces crossed the German border
and advanced into the Third Reich.
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THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE :
Date : 16th
December 1944.
A German offensive to split
Allied forces on the western front, and drive the Allies back
to the English Channel. The clash is known as the Battle of the
Bulge.
Hitler's offensive would
be a replica of Colonel-General Heinz Guderian's 1940 manoeuvre,
thrusting through the Ardennes dividing the Allied forces on the
broad western front. The difference in this operation would be
for the Nazi forces to sweep north and capture the Belgium port
of Antwerp. The port was at this stage a vital entry into Europe
in supplying the Allied push east.
Bad weather aided the German
offensive and the hindered the Allied intelligence, and any Allied
air attacks on the advancing German force.
Date : 26th
December 1944.
The town of Bastogne had
become besieged, but the American forces held out under the command
of General McAuliffe. On the 26th December General Patton relieved
Bastogne, and with the change in weather conditions for the better,
Allied air attacks on the advancing Germans changed the tide of
the battle.
The German offensive was
stopped, and Hitler's gamble had failed.
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MITTELWERK DEATH FACTORY :
Date : December 1944.
Further armament programs
were transferred to the "Mittelwerk" death factory.
Slave
Camps :
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