World War 2 Timeline

Most historians date the beginning of World War II to September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. In fact, however, World War II began earlier - July 7, 1937, when the Japanese Empire launched total war against China. This timeline shows how World War II unfolded all across Asia between 1937 and Japan's surrender in 1945.

Battles and Events, 1937 - 1940:

July 7, 1937: Marco Polo Bridge Incident, beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War

July 25 - 31: Battle of Beijing - Tianjin, Japanese victory

Aug. 13 - Nov. 26, 1937: Battle of Shanghai, Japan takes city with heavy losses

August 1937: Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang, Soviets invade western China to put down Uighur uprising that resulted in massacre of Soviet diplomats and advisors in Xinjiang

Sept. 1 - Nov. 9: Battle of Taiyuan, Japanese capture capital of Shanxi Province and China's arsenal of weapons

Dec. 9 - 13, 1937: Battle of Nanking, Chinese provisional capital falls to Japanese, ROC government flees to Wuhan

Dec. 13, 1937 - Jan. 31, 1938: Nanjing Massacre / Rape of Nanking, Japanese troops rape, loot, and murder civilians of Nanjing, approx. 300,000 killed

Winter/Spring 1938: Japanese Imperial Army officers in China ignore orders from Tokyo to halt southward expansion

Feb. 18, 1938 - Aug. 23, 1943: Bombing of Chongqing, years-long campaign of fire bombing against Chinese provisional capital, 10,000 civilians killed

March 24 - May 1, 1938: Battle of Xuzhou, Japan captures city but most Chinese troops break out, become guerrillas

June 1938: Chinese forces break dams along Yellow River, halting Japanese advances but also drowning 1,000,000 Chinese civilians

June 11 - Oct. 27, 1938: Battle of Wuhan, 1.1 million Chinese troops versus 350,000 Japanese, Japan wins but loses 100,000 men

July 29 - Aug. 11, 1938: Battle of Lake Khasan, Japan attacks into Soviet-held area ofManchuria, thrown back with heavy losses 

Feb. 1939: Japan captures strategic Hainan Island, part of effort to stop foreign aid to China

March 17 - May 9, 1939: Battle of Nanchang, Japanese victory breaks Chinese National Revolutionary Army supply lines, threatens all southeast China 

April 20 - May 24, 1939: Battle of Suixian-Zaoyang, Chinese victory against Japanese drive despite Japan's use of chemical weapons

May 11 - Sept. 16, 1939: Battle of Khalkhyn Gol, Japanese Imperial Army and Soviet/Mongol forces battle along border between Mongolia and Manchuria, Japanese lose

Sept. 13 - Oct. 8, 1939: First Battle of Changsha, Japan attacks Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, Chinese cut Japanese supply lines and defeat Imperial Army

Nov. 15, 1939 - Nov. 30, 1940: Battle of South Guangxi, Japan captures Nanning and Guangxi coast, stops foreign aid by sea to China, so only Indochina, the Burma Road and The Hump remain

Nov. 1939 - March 1940: Winter Offensive, Chinese forces mount country-wide counteroffensive against Japanese, Japanese hold in most places but realize they can't easily win

Dec. 18, 1939 - Jan. 11, 1940: Battle of Kunlun Pass, Japan attacks critical Kunlun Pass, Guangxi Province, where supplies flow from French Indochinato Chinese army, but China holds on to the pass

May 1 - June 18, 1940: Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang, Japanese successfully drive toward new Chinese provisional capital, Chongqing

Aug. 20 - Dec. 5, 1940: Hundred Regiments Offensive, Communist Chinese troops in northern China blew up rail-lines, disrupted Japanese coal supplies, and even made a frontal assault on Imperial Army troops, resulting in a strategic Chinese victory

Sept. 9, 1940: Italian bombing of Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine, kills 137

Dec. 27, 1940: Tripartite Pact, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan formally align as Axis Powers

Battles and Events, 1941-1943:

Japan's war planners realized over the course of 1940 and 1941 that Japan would not be able to easily conquer all of China. Although the Imperial Army and Navy controlled China's coastline, the Chinese armies simply retreated into the vast interior. When a Chinese army unit was defeated, its surviving members would carry on as guerrilla fighters. China was proving so valuable an ally to the western anti-fascist coalition that the French, British, and Americans were more than willing to send supplies and aid to the Chinese, despite Japan's attempts at a blockade.

Japan needed to cut China off from resupply, while also expanding its own access to key war materials like oil, rubber, and rice. The Showa government decided to drive into British, French, and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, rich in all of the necessary supplies... after knocking out the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the effects of World War II in Europe were beginning to be felt in western Asia, starting with the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.

April 1941: Volunteer American pilots called the Flying Tigers begin to fly supplies to Chinese forces from Burma over "the Hump" - the eastern end of the Himalayas

June 8, 1941: Combined British, Indian, Australian and Free French troops invade Syria and Lebanon, held by pro-German Vichy French, who surrendered July 14

August 1941: The United States, which had supplied 80% of Japan's oil, initiates a total oil embargo, forcing Japan to seek new sources to fuel its war effort

Sept. 17, 1941: Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran deposes the pro-Axis Shah Reza Pahlavi, replaces him with his 22-year-old son to ensure Allies' access to Iranian oil

Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese attack on US Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii kills 2,400 American service members and sinks 4 battleships

Dec. 7, 1941: Japan initiates Southern Expansion, launching massive simultaneous invasion aimed at the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Malaya, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Midway Island

Dec. 8, 1941: United States and United Kingdom formally declare war on Japan

Dec. 8, 1941: Kingdom of Thailand surrenders to Japan

Dec. 10, 1941: Japan sinks British warships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales off Malaya

Dec. 10, 1941: US base at Guam surrenders to Japan

Dec. 17, 1941: Japanese force British colonial forces in Malaya to withdraw to Perak River

Dec. 22 - 23, 1941: Major Japanese invasion of Luzon, the Philippines begins - American and Filipino troops withdraw to Bataan

Dec. 23, 1941: United States base at Wake Island surrenders to Japan

Dec. 25, 1941: British Hong Kong surrenders to Japan

Dec. 26, 1941: In Malaya, Japanese troops break through British Perak River line

Jan. 10, 1942: Japanese invade Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)

Jan. 11, 1942: Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur, Malaya

Jan. 20, 1942: Japan's Southern Army attacks British colony of Burma

Jan. 30, 1942: British withdraw from Malaya to Singapore, fortify island

Feb. 14, 1942: Japanese attack Sumatra, Dutch East Indies

Feb. 15, 1942: British Singapore surrenders to Japan, entire British garrison of 85,000 British, Indian, and Australian troops either killed or captured

Feb. 19, 1942: Japanese launch major bombing raid against Darwin, Australia

Feb. 19, 1942: Japanese capture island of Bali, Dutch East Indies

Feb. 27, 1942: Battle of the Java Sea, a disastrous defeat of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command's naval forces by the Imperial Japanese Navy, with 2,300 Allied sailors killed

Feb. 29, 1942: Japanese take island of Java

March 21, 1942: Japanese push into central Burma, hoping to take Britain's "crown jewel" -British India

April 5 & 9, 1942: Japanese navy raids British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

April 8, 1942: American and Filipino troops surrender at Bataan, and Bataan Death Marchbegins

April 18, 1942: Doolittle Raid, US launches first bombing raid against Tokyo and other parts of Japanese home islands

May 4 - 8, 1942: Battle of the Coral Sea, Australian and American naval forces fend off Japanese invasion of New Guinea

May 5 - 6, 1942: Battle of Corregidor, Japanese take fortified Corregidor Island in Manila Bay, completing conquest of the Philippines

May 20, 1942: British finish withdrawing from Burma

June 4 - 7, 1942: Battle of Midway, pivotal American naval victory over Japan at Midway Atoll, west of Hawaii

June 7, 1942: Japanese invade Alaska's Aleutian Island chain

Aug. 8 - 9, 1942: Battle of Savo Island, first major naval action of Guadalcanal campaign, US victory

Aug. 24 - 25, 1942: Battle of the Eastern Solomon Islands, Allied naval victory in run-up to Guadalcanal campaign

Sept. 11, 1942: Australian troops throw back Japanese invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea

Oct. 11 - 12, 1942: Naval Battle of Cape Esperance, second major engagement in Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands, American victory

Oct. 25 - 27, 1942: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, hard-won Japanese naval victory against US in the Solomons

Nov. 12 - 15, 1942: Battle of Guadalcanal, decisive American naval victory in campaign for Solomon Islands, but 1,700 dead on US side including 2 admirals, 1,900 Japanese

Nov. 30, 1942: Naval Battle of Tasafaronga, Japanese victory in night fighting at Guadalcanal, but Japan unable to drive US forces out of Solomons

Dec. 20 - 24, 1942: Japan strikes Calcutta (Kolkata), India with air raids

Feb. 8, 1943: Japanese withdraw from Guadalcanal

Feb. 1943: UK General Wingate launches counter-offensive against Japanese in Burma

April 18, 1943: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plane shot down by Americans, Yamamoto is killed

May, 1943: China's National Revolutionary Army launches offensive along Yangtze River

Sept. 16, 1943: Australians capture Lae, New Guinea, drive Japanese out

Nov. 2, 1943: American Marines land at Tarawa and Makin, Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), heading toward Japan's home islands

Battles and Events, 1944-45:

By 1944, the tide of war was turning and the Axis Powers, including Japan, were at a stalemate or even on the defensive in many places. The Japanese military found itself over-extended and out-gunned, but many Japanese soldiers and ordinary citizens believed that they were fated to win. Any other outcome was unthinkable.

Jan., 1944: China launches major offensive in Hukawng Valley, northern Burma, a vital part of the Ledo Road supply line into China

Jan. 31, 1944: US mounts amphibious attack, drive out Japanese in Battle of Kwajalein, Marshall Islands

Feb. 3, 1944: Japan launches Second Arakan Offensive in Burma, intending to drive toward Delhi, but Allies repel them

Feb. 5 - 23, 1944: Battle of the Admin Box, Burma; Allies fight off Japanese counter-attack

Feb. 16, 1944: US invades Truk Atoll, Micronesia, Japan's major base in the South Pacific

Feb. 17 - 23, 1944: Americans land at Eniwetok, drive out Japanese defenders after 5 days' fierce fighting

March 22, 1944: Japanese advance halted at Tamu, India

April 4 - June 22, 1944: Battle of Kohima, Japanese besiege British and Indian troops, but are forced to retreat into Burma

June 15 - July 9, 1944: Battle of Saipan, Mariana Islands; US Marines defeat Japanese defenders, Navajo code talkers play key role

June 19 - 20, 1944: Battle of the Philippine Sea, key naval battle that effectively wiped out the Japanese Imperial Navy's carrier fleet

Oct. 20 - Dec. 31, 1944: Battle of Leyte, Americans begin drive to liberate Philippines from Japanese occupation

Oct. 21, 1944: At Leyte, Japan deploys first kamikaze pilot attack against US Naval fleet

Nov. 24, 1944: First American B-29 bombing raid against Tokyo

Jan. 9, 1945: US forces land on Luzon Island, Philippines

Feb. 1945: Allies reopen Burma Road

Feb. 19 - March 26, 1945: Battle of Iwo Jima, bloody American victory over Japan

March 3, 1945: Last Japanese in Manila surrender

March 10, 1945: Allies begin fire-bombing Tokyo

April 1 - June 22, 1945: Battle of Okinawa, Allied forces capture Ryukyu Islands just south of Japanese home islands

April 12, 1945: US President Franklin Roosevelt dies, succeeded by Harry S Truman

May 3, 1945: Allies recapture Rangoon, Burma from Japanese

Aug. 6, 1945: American atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan

Aug. 9, 1945: American atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan

Aug. 9, 1945: Soviet Red Army invades Japanese-held Manchuria

Aug. 15, 1945: Japanese Emperor Hirohito formally surrenders, World War II ends