 1936
The Garand M-1 Rifle is adopted by Springfield resident John Garand. This is the major weapon used by ground troops in World War Two. It fires 20 rounds per minute and weighs 9.5 pounds. General George S. Patton Jr. reported to the ordnance department on January 26, 1945: "In my opinion, the M1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised." From 1940 to the end of World War II, 4.5 million Garand Rifles had rolled off the assembly line.
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September 1939
Nazis Invade Poland
After the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, Hitler ordered his general staff to draw up plans for the invasion of Poland. The Germans would invade from the West, the Soviets from the East, and divide the country along previously agreed upon lines.
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August 1941
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt board a warship off the coast of New Foundland to sign the Atlantic Charter. This joint proclamation by the U.S. and Britain declared that they were fighting the Axis powers to "ensure life, liberty, independence and religious freedom and to preserve the rights of man and justice." The Atlantic Charter served as a foundation stone for the later establishment of the United Nations.
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 November 1941
Women began working at the Springfield Armory. At its peak during the war, 5210 women represented 42.5% of the total work force.
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December 1941
Japanese launch a sneak attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This led to the United States declaring War on Japan. On December 8th, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made his historic speech before Congress, "Yesterday December 7, 1941: a date which will live in infamy: the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
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June 6, 1944
D-Day landings, the day on which the Battle of Normandy began - commencing the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II.
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May 7, 1945
Unconditional Surrender of all German forces to the Allies.
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August, 1945
President Harry S. Truman orders the dropping of the Atomic bomb on first Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and then on Nagasaki on August 9. On September 2, 1945 the Japanese signed the surrender agreement, V-J day.
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