WW2 was a global conflict that raged from September 1939 to August 1945; almost six long years.
The change of seasons brought with it changes in the pace of the war. Spring generally meant new offensives, while winter could mean stalemate or a winter offensive - such as those made by the Russians on the eastern front, or the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardenne.
British troops wait to be rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk
1 May 1941: Heavy Axis attack on Tobruk beaten back by Australian troops
2 May 1945: Red Army occupies Berlin. German forces in Italy surrender
3 May 1936: Italian troops occupy Addis-Ababa, as Abysinia declared part of the Italian Empire
4 May 1945: German forces in Holland, Denmark and N.W Germany surrender unconditionally to British Field Marshall Montgomery at Luneburg Heath, Germany
5 May 1945: Japanese Kamikaze planes destroy 17 US ships off Okinawa, Japan
6 May 1945: Russians occupy Breslau
7 May 1945: German General Jodl signs the surrender of all German forces in General Eisenhowers HQ at Rheims, France
8 May 1945: VE-Day. German forces surrender to Russians signed at Karlshorst, near Berlin
9 May 1945: Russian forces occupy Prague
10 May 1940: Germany invades Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium. The impregnable fortress of Eben-Emael, Belgium is assaulted using gliders and hollow-charged explosives; the first time these weapons have been used in warfare
11 May 1940: German troops reenforce the paratroopers at Eben-Emael, and cross the Albert Canal, Belgium
12 May 1943: General von Arnim surrenders Axis forces in North Africa
13 May 1941: Martin Bormann succeeds Rudolf Hess as Nazi Party Secretary, after Hess flies to Scotland to negotiate with the Allies
14 May 1940: German Luftwaffe terror raid on Rotterdam, Holland
15 May 1940: Holland capitulates
16 May 1944: Last Japanese troops driven from Kohima Ridge, India
17 May 1943: RAF Lancasters of 617 Sqn led by Guy Gibson breach the Mohne and Eder dams in the ‘Dambusters Raid’
18 May 1940: German forces reach the Belgian port of Antwerp
19 May 1944: Merills Marauders and Chinese troops surround Myitkyina
20 May 1940: German paratroops invade Crete during Operation Merkur; the largest airborne assault to date
21 May 1940: British and French counter-attack at Arras fails
22 May 1944: Canadian troops break through the ‘Adolf Line’ in Italy
23 May 1940: German forces reach the French port of Boulogne
24 May 1941: British battleship HMS Hood sunk during battle with the Bismark and Prinz Eugen
25 May 1944: Troops from the Anzio beachhead link up with the Fifth Army at Terracina, Italy
26 May 1940: Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk begins
27 May 1941: German battleship Bismark sunk
28 May 1940: The Belgian Army capitulates and King Leopold surrenders his country
29 May 1944: Himmler promises Nazi officials that “before the end f the year the Jewish problem will be settled once and for all”
30 May 1941: Iraqi revolt collapses
31 May 1940: Allied evacuation of Crete completed
This month in WW2
Chonicle of the Second World War; Longman
On this day...
& other sources
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