| Date |
Event |
| 4th August 1938 |
The RAF start using the Spitfire fighter aircraft. |
| 26th September 1938 |
The first gas masks are given out to people in Britain. |
| February 1939 |
The first Anderson shelters are delivered to houses in London. |
| 15th March 1939 |
Germans invade Czechoslavakia. |
| 31st March 1939 |
Britain and France tell Poland that they will defend it if attacked. |
| April 1939 |
Britain installs a top secret radar system on the east coast. |
| August 1939 |
Code breakers arrive at Bletchley Park to start de-coding secret messages written by the Germans using the Enigma machine. |
| 23rd August 1939 |
Germany and the Soviet Union agree not to fight each other. |
| 1st September 1939 |
Germans invade Poland. |
| 1st September 1939 |
The first schoolchildren are evacuated from towns in Britain to the countryside as a safety precaution. |
| 1st September 1939 |
The night time blackout begins in Britain. |
| 3rd September 1939 |
France, the UK and some of its Commonwealth declare war on Germany. |
| 3rd September 1939 |
Parliament passes the National Services (Armed Forces) Act. |
| 7th September 1939 |
The National Registration Act introduces identity cards into Britain. |
| October 1939 |
The ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign is launched in Britain. |
| 28th October 1939 |
Stockport tunnels air-raid shelter opens. |
| 8th January 1940 |
Rationing of basic food items begins in Britain. |
| 17th January 1940 |
The movie Gone with the Wind is released in cinemas. |
| 6th February 1940 |
The ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ campaign begins in Britain. |
| 9th April 1940 |
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. |
| May 1940 |
3,000 foreign strangers in Britain are rounded up and interned. |
| 10th May 1940 |
Winston Churchill becomes the Prime Minister of the UK. |
| 10th May 1940 |
The Germans invade: Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Belgium. |
| 12th May 1940 |
The German army enters France. |
| 14th May 1940 |
The Local Defence Volunteers (Home Guard) is formed. |
| 26th May 1940 |
The evacuation of Dunkirk begins. |
| 4th June 1940 |
The evacuation of Dunkirk ends with 338,226 French and British soldiers being rescued. |
| 13th June 1940 |
A second evacuation effort of schoolchildren takes place in Britain. |
| 22nd June 1940 |
German troops conquer most of France and so France surrenders to them. |
| 30th June 1940 |
German occupation of the Channel Islands begins. |
| 13th August 1940 |
'Eagle Day' – The main attacks of the Battle of Britain begin. |
| 15th August 1940 |
The German Luftwaffe bomb Croydon airfield near London by mistake. |
| 23rd August 1940 |
The German Luftwaffe bomb Harrow near London by mistake. |
| 25th August 1940 |
Berlin, the capital city of Germany, is bombed by the British RAF. |
| 31st August 1940 |
Hitler gives orders for the invasion of Britain, but no date is agreed. |
| 7th September 1940 |
First German ‘Blitz’ bombing raid on London. |
| 15th September 1940 |
Battle of Britain Day |
| 17th September 1940 |
Hitler postpones his invasion of Britain until further notice following the RAF’s resistance to German bombing. |
| 21st September 1940 |
People are given permission to use the London Underground as an air-raid shelter. |
| 27th September 1940 |
The Tripartite Pact allies: Germany, Italy and Japan together in the war. |
| 31st October 1940 |
The daylight air attacks of the Battle of Britain end. |
| 14th November 1940 |
German ‘Blitz’ bombing raid on Coventry. |
| 22nd December 1940 |
The German ‘Christmas Blitz’ bombing raid on Manchester starts. |
| March 1941 |
The Morrison shelter is introduced. |
| 13th March 1941 |
German ‘Blitz’ bombing raid on Clydebank in Scotland starts. |
| 1st May 1941 |
A week of German ‘Blitz’ bombing raids on Liverpool starts. |
| 10th May 1941 |
Hitler halts his Blitz campaign on Britain after a final air-raid attack on London. |
| 1st June 1941 |
Rationing of clothing and furniture begins in Britain. |
| 22nd June 1941 |
The Soviet Union joins the allies, after Germany attacked it. |
| July 1941 |
Coal rationing begins in Britain. |
| 7th December 1941 |
The American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii is attacked by the Japanese. |
| 11th December 1941 |
The United States (US) joins the Allies by formally declaring war on Germany. |
| 18th December 1941 |
The National Services Act is passed, calling all unmarried women aged between 20 and 30 up for war work. |
| February 1942 |
Soap rationing begins in Britain. |
| 28th February 1942 |
Vera Lynn releases the song The White Cliffs of Dover. |
| July 1942 |
Driving your car in Britain is banned as petrol needs to be saved for the war effort. |
| 12th September 1942 |
HMS Laconia is torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat. |
| 8th May 1943 |
War work made compulsory for all British women aged 18 to 50. |
| 2nd December 1943 |
Men start being called up to work in coal mines in Britain as 'Bevin Boys'. |
| 28th April 1944 |
All foreign travel from Britain is banned, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Europe. |
| 6th June 1944 |
D-Day landings start. |
| 12th June 1944 |
First V-1 ‘doodlebug’ rockets land in Britain. |
| 25th August 1944 |
Paris is liberated from Nazi control. |
| September 1944 |
The Spitfire Mk XVI goes into production. |
| 8th September 1944 |
First V-2 rockets hit London. |
| 17th September 1944 |
The blackout in Britain ends and is replaced with a 'din-out'. |
| 28 January 1945 |
The Battle of Bulge ends with a German defeat. |
| 13th February 1945 |
The Allies bomb the German city of Dresden, killing 50,000 people. |
| 29th March 1945 |
The last V-1 rocket is fired at Britain and is shot down over Kent. |
| 29th April 1945 |
German forces in Italy start surrendering to the Allies. |
| 30th April 1945 |
Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, commit suicide (kill themselves). |
| 7th May 1945 |
Germany surrenders unconditionally. |
| 8th May 1945 |
Victory in Europe (VE) Day is celebrated. |
| 9th May 1945 |
The Channel Islands are liberated. |
| 14th August 1945 |
Japan surrenders, ending World War II. |
