Explore 6097 historical events from 1940–1949.
Mike the Headless Chicken was a male Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after he was beheaded, surviving because most of his brain stem remained intact, and a blood clot pr…
Mike the Headless Chicken was decapitated on a farm in Colorado; he survived another 18 months as part of sideshows…
The Topoľčany pogrom was an antisemitic riot in Topoľčany, Slovakia, on 24 September 1945 and the best-known incident of postwar violence against Jews in Slovakia. The underlying c…
Dozens of Jews were injured in the Topoľčany pogrom, one of the worst episodes of anti-Jewish violence in postwar…
The Cigar Factory is a historic industrial building at 701 East Bay Street in Charleston, South Carolina. It was constructed in 1881 and opened in 1882 as the Cotton Mill of Charle…
Workers at the Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina, began a labor strike against the American Tobacco Company…
The Charter of the United Nations, also referred to as the UN Charter, is the foundational treaty of the United Nations. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overa…
The Charter of the United Nations entered into force after being ratified by the five permanent members of the…
The 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida is one of three United States Air Force active duty Special Operations wings and falls under the Air Force Special Operat…
The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat searc
The fall of Denmark in April 1940 left the Danish colony of Greenland an unoccupied territory of an occupied nation, under the possibility of seizure by the United Kingdom, United …
World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station
Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe was a German career soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. While leading German forces in occupied Crete in April 1944, he wa…
Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete
Börse Berlin AG, also known as the Berlin Stock Exchange, is a stock exchange based in Berlin, Germany, in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. Founded in 1685 by an edict of El…
Börse Berlin building burns down after being hit in an air raid during World War II
The V-1 flying bomb was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was Höllenhund (hellhound). It was also…
World War II: Germany launches the first V1 Flying Bomb attack on England
In the evening of June 23, 1944, a powerful F4 tornado devastated northern West Virginia, particularly the town of Shinnston. The tornado killed at least 100 people and injured hun…
An F4 tornado tears through the Appalachian Mountains, killing over 100 people in West Virginia, particularly in the tow
Mogaung is a town in Kachin State, Myanmar. It is situated on the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line. It's near the capital city state Myitkyina.
World War II: Mogaung is the first place in Burma to be liberated from the Japanese by British Chindits, supported by th
The Minsk offensive was part of the second phase of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration.
World War II: The Minsk Offensive clears German troops from the city.
Hideki Tojo was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. His leadership was marked by widespread stat…
World War II: Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan because of numerous setbacks in the war effort.
Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German army officer who is best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wol…
World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot to assassinate…
Convoy HX 300 was the 300th of the numbered series of World War II HX convoys of merchant ships from Halifax to Liverpool. It started its journey on 17 July 1944 and was the larges…
World War II: The largest trade convoy of the world wars arrives safely in the Western Approaches.
The Battle of Narva was a World War II military campaign, lasting from 2 February to 10 August 1944, in which the German Army Detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front foug…
World War II: The Battle of Narva on the Eastern Front ends with a defensive German victory.
Alençon is a commune in Normandy, France, and the capital of the Orne department. It is situated between Paris and Rennes and a little over 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Le Mans. …
Alençon is liberated by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, the first city in France to be liberated from the…
A forward-swept wing or reverse-swept wing is an aircraft wing configuration in which the quarter chord line of the wing, from root to tip, has a forward sweep. Typically, the lead…
First flight of a jet with forward-swept wings, the Junkers Ju 287.
The Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II involved air attacks on cities and towns in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and Royal Air For…
World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people
The Battle of Romania in World War II comprised several operations in or around Romania in 1944, as part of the Eastern Front, in which the Soviet Army defeated Axis forces in the …
World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.
Michael I was the last king of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947.
World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is later arrested.…
On 23 August 1944, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Consolidated B-24H Liberator crashed during a test flight into the centre of the village of Freckleton, Lancashire, Engla…
Freckleton air disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton,…
The Greek People's Liberation Army was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberation Front (EAM) during the period of the Greek resistance until February 1945, when, follow…
Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resi
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area