CBI - China: Day 37 of 154 of the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria.
1936 — , October 24
Spain: Day 100 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 5 of 29 of the 1st Battle of Suiyuan.
1937 — , October 24
Spain: Day 465 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 110 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 73 of 106 of the 2nd Battle of Shanghai.
Day 54 of 70 of the Battle of Taiyuan.
1938 — , October 24
Spain: Day 830 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 475 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 136 of 139 of the Battle of Wuhan.
Day 13 of 81 of Japan's Operation GUANGDONG.
1939 — , October 24
CBI - China: Day 840 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
1940 — , October 24
ETO - UK: Day 49 of 258 of the Blitz.
ETO - UK: Day 107 of 114 of the Battle of Britain.
East Africa: Day 137 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,206 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 345 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
CBI - Thailand: Day 24 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).
1941 — , October 24
ETO - UK: French Resistance fighter Jean Moulin meets in London with General Charles de Gaulle, who gives him the assignment of going back into France to unify the various Resistance groups.
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21 Aug 41: First violent act of resistance against the Germans in Paris
22 Oct 41: Fifty hostages shot in reprisal for Resistance assassination
24 Oct 41: Jean Moulin meets in London with Charles de Gaulle
01 Jan 42: Jean Moulin organizes French Resistance groups
27 May 43: First unified meeting of French Resistance groups takes place
21 Jun 43: French Resistance leader Jean Moulin is arrested
08 Jul 43: French Resistance leader Jean Moulin dies from torture
19 Dec 43: French Resistance battles German troops in eastern France
10 May 44: French Resistance claims they have over 100,000 fighters
20 May 44: Eisenhower broadcasts to groups in preparation for invasion
01 Jun 44: BBC broadcasts 1st line of poem to signal invasion within 2 weeks
05 Jun 44: BBC broadcasts 2nd line of poem to signal invasion within 48 hours
19 Aug 44: French Resistance fighters rise up in Paris against Germans
29 Aug 44: Resistance continues to hunt Germans after Paris' liberation
Russian Front - Finland: Day 118 of 142 of Operation SILVER FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign to capture the Russian port of Murmansk in the Arctic.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 116 of 140 of Operation ARCTIC FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign against Soviet Northern Front defenses at Salla, Finland.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 125 of 164 of the Battle of Hanko. The Soviets will be forced off their leased naval base.
Russian Front: Day 125 of 167 of Germany's Operation BARBAROSSA.
Russian Front - North: Day 47 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - Center: Day 23 of 98 of the Battle of Moscow.
Russian Front - South: Day 5 of 5 of the 1st Battle of Kharkov, Ukraine. Germans take Kharkov (Ukraine) and Belgorod (Russia).
MTO - Libya: Day 198 of 256 of the Siege of Tobruk.
East Africa: Day 502 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,571 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
1942 — , October 24
Russian Front - North: Day 412 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 173 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - South: Day 119 of 150 of Germany's CASE BLUE, the failed offensive to take the Caucasus oil fields.
Russian Front - South: Day 63 of 165 of the Battle of Stalingrad, bloodiest battle in human history.
MTO - Egypt: Day 2 of 20 of the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. British 8th Army assaults the German troops near El Alamein. US B-25s and P-40s provide air cover.
East Africa: Day 173 of 186 of the Battle of Madagascar.
CBI - China: Day 1,936 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Alaska: Day 140 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands. The US and Canada will defeat the Japanese invaders.
PTO - Malaya: Day 248 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island, a long guerrilla war ending in Japanese victory.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 96 of 119 of the Battle of the Kokoda Track. The Australians continue pushing back the Japanese troops.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 79 of 187 of the Battle of Guadalcanal. The ground battle around Henderson Field begins. The Japanese 2nd Division will be wiped out.
1943 — , October 24
Atlantic: E-boats attack a convoy off the Norfolk coast (UK), 4 E-boats and 1 British trawler sunk. Note: The German Schnelboot or S-boot was referred to as an E-boat by the Allies.
Russian Front - North: Day 777 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 538 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket. USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - South: Day 62 of 122 of the Battle of the Lower Dnieper River, USSR. The Soviets achieve a breakthrough on the Dnieper river.
MTO - Italy: US 12th Air Force bombers attack numerous targets including a marshalling yard at Pisa.
CBI - China: Day 2,301 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 36 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 33 of 162 of the Battle of the Huon Peninsula.
1944 — , October 24
ETO - France: Day 85 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
ETO - Belgium: Day 53 of 62 of the liberation of Belgium.
ETO - Belgium: Day 23 of 38 of the Battle of the Scheldt Estuary.
ETO - France: Day 40 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
ETO - Germany: Day 36 of 145 of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest.
ETO - Germany: US 8th Air Force P-47s and P-51s hit targets in Germany.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 40 of 223 of the Lapland War. Finland and Russia have joined forces to kick the Germans out of Finland's most northern province.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 18 of 23 of the Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive. The Soviets will drive the Germans out of the Arctic region in northern Scandinavia. Soviet troops attack the German troops at Kirkenes, Norway.
Russian Front - North: Day 41 of 41 of the Battle of Riga, Latvia. The Soviets liberate Riga.
Russian Front - Center: Day 10 of 206 of the Battle of the Courland Pocket in Latvia. Germans will hold this area until the very end of the war.
Russian Front - Center: Day 3 of 99 of the Siege of Memel, a border town of Lithuania and East Prussia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 41 of 72 of the Battle into East Prussia and northern Poland.
Russian Front - Center: Day 9 of 15 of the Battle of Goldap, East Prussia.
Russian Front - South: Day 19 of 24 of the Battle of Debrecen, Hungary.
Russian Front - South: Day 41 of 72 of the Battle of Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
MTO - Italy: US 12th Air Force fighters cover the US 5th Army as they push north through the Apennines.
MTO - Greece: US 15th Air Force B-24s hit five targeted areas.
CBI - Burma: Day 207 of 302 of the Chinese Salween Offensive in Burma.
CBI - China: Day 2,667 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 191 of 259 of Japan's Operation ICHI-GO.
PTO - Hawaii: Martial law, imposed on 07 Dec 41, is lifted in Hawaii.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 315 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 186 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea.
PTO - Palau Islands: Day 40 of 74 of the Battle of Peleliu (Operation STALEMATE II).
PTO - Philippines: Day 5 of 299 of the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, aka the Liberation of the Philippines or the Philippines Campaign.
PTO - Philippines: Day 5 of 73 of the Battle of Leyte.
PTO - Philippines: Day 2 of 4 of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The first kamikaze suicide attacks occur against US warships.
1945 — , October 24
London: The United Nations formally comes into being with ratifications received from the five permanent members of the Security Council and 29 member nations.
Spotlight...
24 Oct 45: President Truman signs UN Charter with Secretary of State James Byrnes.
The UN was founded after World War II to replace the League of Nations, which had failed to prevent the war. Because of the widespread recognition that humankind could not afford a third world war, the United Nations was established to replace the flawed League of Nations in order to maintain international peace and promote cooperation in solving international economic, social and humanitarian problems. The earliest concrete plan for a new world organization actually began under the US State Department in 1939.
Franklin D Roosevelt first coined the term "United Nations" to describe the Allied countries. The term was first officially used on 01 Jan 42 when 26 governments signed the Atlantic Charter, pledging to continue the war effort.
Since its founding, there have been many calls for reform of the United Nations, although little consensus on how to do so. Some want the UN to play a greater or more effective role in world affairs, while others want its role reduced to humanitarian work. There have also been numerous calls for the UN Security Council's membership to be increased, for different ways of electing the UN's Secretary-General, and for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.
Today, there are 193 member states of the United Nations, including every internationally recognized sovereign state in the world but Vatican City.
Related dates (United Nations)...
12 Jun 41: Inter-Allied Declaration is signed in London, first step to the UN
14 Aug 41: Atlantic Charter signed, defining goals for post-war world
01 Jan 42: First use of term "United Nations" in Washington DC
24 Oct 45: UN Charter ratified by 5 members of Security Council
19 Dec 45: Eleanor Roosevelt appointed delegate to the UN
10 Jan 46: First General Assembly held, 51 nations represented
17 Jan 46: First Security Council meeting, adopting rules, procedures
12 Apr 46: The League of Nations holds its final meeting
24 Jan 46: First resolution adopted, focusing on atomic energy
10 Dec 48: General Assembly adopts Declaration of Human Rights
24 Oct 49: Cornerstone laid for UN Headquarters in New York City
Norway: Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling is executed by firing squad for high treason at Oslo's Akershus Fortress. The name Quisling has become synonymous in many languages for traitor.
Spotlight...
Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945)
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonsson Quisling's face is not at all instantly recognizable, but his last name has become infamous as the supreme Nazi collaborator.
What sets Quisling apart from other Nazi collaborators is that he actively sought to overthrow the government of Norway with his fascist "National Unity" party prior to Germany's invasion of his country. In fact, Quisling, a former Norwegian Minister of Defense, went so far as to pass military secrets on to Germany and encourage the Nazis to invade and conquer Norway in order to have political power eventually handed to him as head of a pro-Nazi puppet government.
Charges against Quisling included assisting the enemy, illegally attempting to alter Norway's constitution, theft, murder, embezzlement and, most of all, high treason and conspiring with Hitler over the invasion and occupation of Norway. The Quisling regime participated in the Nazi Final Solution, sending nearly 1,000 Jews to die in concentration camps.
Norway had abolished capital punishment in 1905, but after its government fled in-exile to London on 05 May 40, it was reinstated expressly for dealing with high-level collaborators such as Quisling.
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