Explore 6097 historical events from 1940–1949.
Bo-Göran "Bosse" Larsson was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a midfielder and striker. Best remembered for his time with Malmö FF, he also represented VfB Stuttgart…
Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer (died 2023)
John Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor known for portraying Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise. He has received three Screen Actors Guild A…
John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter
Roger Rees was a Welsh-American actor and director. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He als…
Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor and director (died 2015)
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands…
The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the…
The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a F…
World War II: Continuation War: The Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, the largest offensive launched by Soviet Union…
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, with many eng…
World War II: The Battle of Guam in the Pacific comes to an effective end.
The Waffen-SS was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and consc…
Waffen-SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
Nazi Germany, officially the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the countr…
Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people are killed…
Masanori Murakami, nicknamed "Mashi", is a Japanese former baseball pitcher. He is notable for being the first Japanese player to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Sent …
Masanori Murakami, Japanese baseball player
Paul Francis Gadd, better known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is a British former singer who achieved fame and success during the 1970s and 1980s. His career ended after his 1999…
Gary Glitter, English singer-songwriter
Marie-France Pisier was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave, and twice earned the national César Award for Best Supp…
Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (died 2011)
The Razing of Anogeia or the Holocaust of Anogeia refers to the complete destruction of the village of Anogeia in central Crete (Greece) and the murder of about 25 of its inhabitan…
World War II: German troops begin the pillage and razing of Anogeia in Crete that would continue until September 5.
Operation Dragoon, known as Débarquement de Provence in French, was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence on 15 August 1944. Although initially…
World War II: Operation Dragoon: Allied forces land in southern France.
The Liberation of Paris was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had b…
World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
Between 20 August and 19 October 1944, 168 Allied airmen were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp. Colloquially, they described themselves as the KLB Club. Of them, 166 …
World War II: One hundred sixty-eight captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being…
The Dumbarton Oaks Conference, or, more formally, the Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization, was an international conference at which proposals …
Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
Operation Tractable was the final attack conducted by Canadian and Polish troops, supported by a British tank brigade, during the Battle of Normandy during World War II. The operat…
World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, is a British politician who was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, and the 28th and last Governor of Hong…
Chris Patten, English academic and politician, 28th Governor of Hong Kong
Armistead Jones Maupin Jr. is an American writer notable for Tales of the City, a series of novels set in San Francisco.
Armistead Maupin, American author, screenwriter, and actor
Gene Cornish is a Canadian-American musician. He is an original member of the popular 1960s blue-eyed soul band The Young Rascals. From 1965 to 1970, the band recorded eight albums…
Gene Cornish, Canadian-American guitarist
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, with many eng…
World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German forces.
Marseille is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the Bouches-du-Rhône department and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in Provence, it marks the eastern e…
World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allied forces.
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany and Vichy France in World War II and chaired the Provisi…
World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
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, with many eng…
World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.