of Britain ends in defeat for Nazi Germany. August 30, 1940 Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the division of the disputed province of Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol to abdicate in favor of his son, Michael, and brings to power a dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu. September 13, 1940 The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya. September 27, 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact. October 1940 Italy invades Greece from Albania on October 28. November 1940 Hungary (November 20), Romania (November 23), and Slovakia (November 24) join the Axis. Source: 1941 1941-06-22 Operation Barbarossa launched – Axis invasion of the Soviet Union 1941-06-22 – Battle of the Baltic (1941) 1941-06-22 – 1941-07-09 Battle of Bialystok-Minsk – Soviet 3rd and 10th armies encircled 1941-06-23 – 1941-06-30 Battle of Brody – Soviets lose hundreds of tanks in a staggering defeat 1941-07-01 – German army entered Latvian capital Riga 1941-07-10 – 1941-09-10 Battle of Smolensk – Soviet 16th and 20th armies encircled with over 300,000 troops 1941-07-15 – 1941-08-08 Battle of Uman (1941) Battle of Western Ukraine – destruction of Soviet tank armies 1941-08-08 – 1941-09-19 Battle of Kiev – Soviet Southwestern Front encircled with over 600,000 red army troops, which will later be known as the largest encirclement in the world 1941-09-08 – 1944-01-18 Siege of Leningrad – the city of Leningrad and armies of the Leningrad Front encircled, deadliest siege in history Operation Silver Fox German and Finnish forces advance north of Leningrad on Murmansk Battle of Roslavl 1941-10-24 – 1942-01-07 Operation Typhoon – German advance on Moscow 1941-10-21 – 1941-10-27 Battle of Rostov – Germans initially occupied Rostov but were over-extended and driven back along shore of Sea of Azov by the Red Army Battle of Vyazma-Bryansk— see Battle of Moscow 1941-10-10 – Battle of Vyazma – occupied by Germans 1941-10-06 – Battle of Bryansk – occupied by Germans 1941-10-02 – 1942-01-07 Battle of Moscow – Operation Typhoon stalls. Soviet Winter counter-offensive Crimean Campaign – eight-month-long campaign by Axis forces to conquer the Crimea peninsula First Battle of Kharkov— Germans occupy Kharkov 1941-11-16 – 1942-07-04 Siege of Sevastopol – Crimea is occupied by the Germans 1941-12-05 - 1942-04-30 Winter Campaign of 1941–1942 1942 January–April Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive (1942) – disastrous Soviet attempt to cut off the Rzhev salient 1942-02-08 Demyansk Pocket 1942-05-12 –