July 1, 1944: After a long British blockade, the government of French Somaliland declares itself a part of Free France. The Axis Powers are finally kicked out of the continent of Africa.
July 4, 1944: The Allies invade the Spanish-occupied Portuguese towns of Ciombra and Castello Branco. As in a number of other battles in Spanish-occupied Portugal, the Portuguese Resistance assists the Allies in the invasion of these towns through the sabotage of the Spanish war effort behind enemy lines. These acts of sabotage include destroying railroads, attacking supply trains, raiding army posts, among other such similar acts.
July 6, 1944: In preparation for the Allied invasion of Turkey, the Turkish Liberation Army (TLA) is established in Allied-occupied Damascus with Turkish general Kâzım Orbay at its head. A number of other Turkish army generals and military personnel who opposed the Axis invasion of Turkey join the new Turkish Liberation Army.
Kâzım Orbay
Flag of the Turkish Liberation Army [1]
July 7, 1944: The Allies invade Spanish-occupied southern Portugal by beginning a bombardment and invasion of the town of Evora.
July 9, 1944: Castello Branco falls to the Allies.
July 12, 1944: Ciombra falls to the Allies.
July 14, 1944: Evora falls to the Allies after only a week.
July 20, 1944: After over a month of planning and preparation, the Allies invade Toledo. The plan is to invade Madrid from the south after capturing Toledo, as well as for Allied armies from Portugal to assist in the invasion from the west.
July 22, 1944: The Allied armies storm out of Evora and then proceed to invade the town of Beja.
July 26, 1944: The Allies besiege and invade the town of Porto.
July 27, 1944: Beja falls to the Allies.
July 30, 1944: After ten days, the First Battle of Toledo ends in an Allied defeat. The Allied armies now have to recuperate and both metaphorically and literally lick their wounds.
August 2, 1944: Succumbing to pressure from the US Navy, the British Royal Navy and the Canadian Royal Navy the governments of the French Caribbean colonies declare themselves a part of Free France.
August 5, 1944: Bulgaria annexes the entirety of German-Bulgarian occupied Thrace. Some German troops from Thrace are then sent to German-occupied Athens, but the majority are sent to both the Iberian and Eastern Fronts.
August 6, 1944: Porto falls to the Allies.
August 8, 1944: The Allies capture the southern Portuguese towns of Sagres, Lagos and Faro.
August 9, 1944: The Allies besiege the Portuguese coastal city of Nazare.
August 11, 1944: Cut-off from the rest of Spain and Spanish-occupied Portugal, the Spanish armies in the city of Nazare surrender to the Allies after only two days.
August 12, 1944: Braga falls to the Allies.
August 14, 1944: Portugal is completely liberated by the Allies after all Spanish armies in Portugal surrender to the Allied armies. The Portuguese Provisional Government is established in Lisbon with Francisco Craveiro Lopes as Provisional President of Portugal.
Flag of the Portuguese Provisional Government
August 15, 1944: The US Air Force and the British Royal Air Force restart aerial bombardments over Madrid and other areas surrounding the city.
August 18, 1944: Vigo is invaded by the Allies. These Allied armies include newly established Portuguese armies. The Spanish resistance, including Galician nationalists, assist the Allies through the sabotage of the Spanish war effort behind enemy lines.
Flag of Galician Nationalism, first used by Galaician partisans during World War II [2]
Galician partisans, circa August, 1944
August 21, 1944: Vigo falls to the Allies after three days of brutal battle.
August 29, 1944: Not wanting to see the historic cathedral destroyed by Allied bombardment, the Spanish armies in the town of Santiago de Compostela surrender to the Allies in a surprise move.
In Madrid, Francisco Franco is infuriated by this act of supposed cowardice on the part of these armies.
September 1, 1944: On the fifth anniversary of the beginning of World War II, the Allies drive into northern Spain and invade Oviedo.
September 8, 1944: After almost two months of planning, the Allies re-invade Toledo. As with numerous other battles on the Iberian front, the Spanish resistance assists the Allies through the sabotage of the Spanish war effort behind enemy lines.
Members of the Spanish Resistance outside of Toledo, September, 1944
The Flag of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, one of the most popular flags used by the Spanish Resistance during World War II
A variant of the Spanish Republican flag used by Communist Spanish partisans
September 9, 1944: Oviedo falls to the Allied powers.
September 13, 1944: The Allies begin besieging Valladolid.
September 15, 1944: The entirety of Galicia and Austurias are occupied by the Allies.
September 19, 1944: The Concentration Camp of Toledo is liberated by the American armies. Photographs and films of the Concentration Camp of Toledo are subsequently shown in numerous newspapers, magazines and newsreels in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, showing the horrors of the Holocaust to so many of the citizens of these nations for the first time.
September 24, 1944: After several days of harsh street to street battles between the armies of the Allies and Axis Powers, Toledo finally falls to the Allied armies. Thus, the Second Battle of Toledo ends in an Allied victory.
September 29, 1944: The Allies finally capture Valladolid.
October 1, 1944: Madagascar is handed over by the British to the Free French government.
October 12, 1944: After months of preparation and anticipation, the Allied armies invade Madrid from two directions. A number of Allied armies invade from Toledo in the south while a number of other Allied armies invade from Valladolid in the west.
October 15, 1944: As the result of several disagreements between him, Beria and Molotov, General Secretary Andrei Zhdanov, having already been largely discredited, is dismissed from the emergency triumvirate by Minister of Internal Affairs and NKVD head Baria and Premier Molotov in Omsk. Zhdanov then retires from public life and spends most of his newly-found free time in his private bunker in Omsk.
October 19, 1944: The Allied armies, led primarily by the American armies, liberate Madrid. As the Allied armies come into the city, many Spaniards run out into the streets, celebrate and greet the Americans, British, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and other Allied soldiers as liberators.
Members of the Spanish Resistance shortly after the liberation of Madrid
October 20, 1944: The Philippines Campaign of 1944-1945, also known as the liberation of the Philippines, begins. After over two years, General Douglas MacArthur has made good on his promise and has finally returned to the Philippines.
Douglas MacArthur, Philippine President Sergio Osmeña and their staff land at Palo in the Philippine province of Leyte, October 20, 1944
Douglas MacArthur
October 25, 1944: A number of Allied armies storm out of Madrid and begin besieging the city of Bilbao. Once again, the Spanish resistance, including Basque nationalists, assist the Allies through the sabotage of the Spanish war effort behind enemy lines.
Flag of the Basque Country, used by Basque partisans during World War II
Basque Partisans, circa October, 1944; note the black Basque Berets being worn by the soldiers
October 30, 1944: The US Army Air Corps and the British Royal Air Force begin a large-scale bombing campaign over the Italian possession of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica.
November 3, 1944: In the United States presidential election of 1944, Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York and Director of the Office of War Mobilization James F. Brynes of South Carolina defeat Republicans Senator Robert Taft of Ohio and Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan to become President and Vice President of the United States of America [3].
Robert Taft
Arthur H. Vandenberg
November 6, 1944: A number of Allied armies storm out of Madrid and begin besieging the cities of Zaragoza and Valencia.
November 8, 1944: Bilbao falls to the Allied powers.
November 11, 1944: The Allies begin besieging the city of Burgos.
November 14, 1944: The entirety of the Basque country is occupied by the Allies.
November 16, 1944: According to the official story, Andrei Zhdanov is found dead of alcohol poisoning in his bunker in Omsk. Some historians claim that Zhdanov was murdered by NKVD agents loyal to Baria to Molotov, while others claim that Zhdanov committed suicide, distraught over his being ousted from the Soviet wartime triumvirate.
Andrei Zhdanov (2/26/1896-11/16/1944, aged 48)
November 17, 1944: The Allies invade the city of Pamplona.
November 19, 1944: Burgos is captured by the Allies.
November 22, 1944: Zaragosa falls to the Allies. By this point, many Spanish soldiers are beginning to see which way to the wind is turning and as a result surrender and defect to the invading Allied armies.
November 25, 1944: Valencia falls to the Allies. Once again, many Spanish soldiers surrender and defect to the invading Allied armies.
November 29, 1944: The Allies invade the city of Teruel.
December 3, 1944: Pamplonia is captured by the Allies. For the first time, Allied forces are now on the border with German-occupied France.
December 12, 1944: Teruel is captured by the Allies.
December 14, 1944: After over a year of planning and preparation, the American, British, Canadian, ANZAC, Fre
e French and Turkish Liberation Army armies launch a major assault against the German Wehrmacht and the Collaborationist Turks in German-occupied Turkey. The Allies launch this assault with the American armies under Mark W. Clark and Lucian Truscott, the British armies under Henry Maitland Wilson, Claude Auchinleck and Ouvry Lindfield Roberts, the Canadian armies under E.L.M. Burns, the ANZAC armies under John Lavarack, the Free French armies under Paul Legentilhomme and the Turkish Liberation Army under Kâzım Orbay.
Mark W. Clark
Henry Maitland Wilson
E.L.M. Burns
John Lavarack
Paul Legentilhomme
December 25, 1944: Over Christmas and the following days, the Allies continue conducting large-scale air raids on Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica.
December 31, 1944: By New Year's Eve of 1944, almost all of Spain is occupied by the Allied powers. Only the Spanish region of Catalonia is still under the control of Franco, the Spanish State and their loyalists.
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[1] IOTL this is just a variant of the Turkish flag.
[2] IOTL this flag was invented in the 1960s.
[3] In the 1944 election ITTL, the Democrats and the Republicans won the same states as the did IOTL.
