With the Ribbentrop Pact signed between the Soviet Union and Germany in late August, Russia followed Germany into Poland in September. In eastern Europe and Scandinavia, however, there was nothing phoney about the war. Gas masks were distributed, and everybody waited for the proper war to begin. Preparations for war continued in earnest, but there were few signs of conflict, and civilians who had been evacuated from London in the first months drifted back into the city. Western Europe was eerily quiet during this 'phoney war'. While the USA proclaimed neutrality, it continued to supply Britain with essential supplies, and the critical Battle of the Atlantic between German U-Boats and British naval convoys commenced. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Three years of mounting international tension - encompassing the Spanish Civil War, the Anschluss (union) of Germany and Austria, Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland and the invasion of Czechoslovakia - culminated in the German invasion of Poland on 1 September. After atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders on 14 August.Truman becomes President of the US on Roosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces Churchill.

Russians reach Berlin: Hitler commits suicide and Germany surrenders on 7 May.Guam liberated by the US Okinawa, and Iwo Jima bombed.Soviet offensive gathers pace in Eastern Europe.Allies land at Anzio and bomb monastery at Monte Cassino.British and Indian forces fight Japanese in Burma.Italy surrenders, but Germany takes over the battle.Allied victory in North Africa enables invasion of Italy to be launched.Surrender at Stalingrad marks Germany's first major defeat.Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins.American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War.Singapore falls to the Japanese in February - around 25,000 prisoners taken.Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein.Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war.Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks.The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans.British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk.Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France.Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later. In the first paragraph of the Washington agreement, the two governments declared “that they are engaged in a cooperative undertaking, together with every other nation or people of like mind, to the end of laying the bases of a just and enduring world peace securing order under law to themselves and all nations. was pledged to provide “such articles, services, facilities or information as it may be in a position to supply.” against aggression is vital to the defense of the United States of America,” and accordingly provided for speeding the flow of materials for defense to the Soviet Union under the lend-lease system. It acknowledged, on the part of the Government of the United States, “that the defense of the U. The document signed at Washington pledged the continued adherence of the United States and Soviet Russia to the principles of the Atlantic Charter. Molotov had flown to Washington from London, where he had negotiated a 20-year mutual assistance treaty with Great Britain. Soviet Foreign Commissar Molotov, who had completed a five-day visit to Washington on June 4, participated in the shaping of the Russian-American agreement. are cooperating in World War II under an agreement “on the principles applying to mutual aid in the prosecution of the war against aggression” signed between Secretary of State Hull and Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinoff on June 11, 1942. Soviet-American Cooperation in World War II Basic Russian-American Agreement of 1942 Soviet-American Cooperation in World War II American and British Relations with Russia

Second front wwii