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Japanese Invasion of China
The "Second Sino-Japanese War" happened between July 7th, 1937-September 9th, 1945). The war happened because of a decade-long Japanese imperialist policy focused on making their influence and military bigger so they can take raw materials, reserves. War Footage -
Germany's Invasion of Poland (1939)
On September 1st, 1939, German forces invaded Poland in order to get lost territory and take complete control of Poland. Hilter used the "blitzkreig" strategy by bombing Poland's resources like communication lines and then invade the land with a high amount of military troop, tanks and artillery. When the German did this, Poland decided to take on the German army even though Poland's army was extremley under-equipped. They were no match to the German army. This made WW2 inevitable. -
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German Blitzkrieg (1939-1940)
"Blitzkrieg" was a German tactic that involved overwhelming the enemy by bombing their resources and catching them off guard so they arn't prepared for the attack. Germany did this tactic on September 1st, 1939 when they invaded Poland and started World War Two. They also did this tactic on Scandinavia in the months of March through April in 1940. Blitzkreig was used on lower countries such as Holland, Belgium and Luxemborg in May, 1940. Blitzkreig was also used in June 1940 on France. -
Fall of Paris (1940)
On this day German troop enter and occupy Paris. Before this date, Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain, tried to convince France to hold on and wait for America to come with aid. The U.S agreed to aiding France but the Secretary of state, Cordell Hull, didn't want to form an agreement with the U.S. knowing that Hitler would take the agreement as a form to declare war with France. When German came to take over, Canadian troops came to the rescue. -
Operation Barbarossa (1941)
Operation Barbarossa was given to the giant Nazi attack on Russia. The attack was based on the tactic "blitzkreig" and was known to be one of the biggest German invasion in all of World War 2. Germany wanted to destory the Soviet Union military forces since the 1920s and Operation Barbarossa was their chance at that. On June 22nd, 1941, German forces invaded the Soviet Union with a full force of 134 divisions even after Hitler signed a pact called the German-Soviet nonagression pact. -
Pearl Harbor (1941)
On December 7th, 1941 Japanese forces bombed the American naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. Lasting about 2 hours, the Japanese managed to destory 20 vessels and almost 200 aircrafts along with taking the lives of more than 2,000 soldiers and wounding 1,000. After the attack, the president at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, ask Congress to declare war on Japan. After that, Japan's allies, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. too. After 2 years into the war, the U.S.A had finally joined. -
Wannsee Conference (1942)
On January 20th, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich brought together the Wannsee Conference in Berlin. He brought together the 15 top Nazi government officials to discuss the Final Solution. The Final Solution was the Nazi's attempt to kill all of the European Jewish population (11 million people). The whole point of the Wannsee Conference was to figure out how to fix the "Jewish question" in Europe. -
Bataan Death March (1942)
The day after Pearl Harbour, the Japanese invaded the Philippines. The Japanese took control of the island forcing American troops and Filipino defenders to go back to the Bataan Peninsula. After surviving a few months the people were forced to surrender. The troops were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to walk 65 miles. The march took about 5 days to complete and killed thousands of troops. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Wharsaw Ghetto uprising the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. Seven hundred and fifty fighters fought the heavily armed and well-trained Germans. The ghetto fighters were able to hold out for nearly a month, but on May 16, 1943, the revolt ended. The Germans had slowly crushed the resistance. Of the more than 56,000 Jews captured, about 7,000 were shot, and the remainder were deported to camps. -
Operation Gomorrah (1943)
On this night in July, British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany after suffering the deaths of 167 civilians after German bombing raids. The British dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Germany killing more than 1,500 German civilians. In the day, the U.S air force dropped bombs on Hamburg. After Operation Gomorrah, over 17,000 bomber sorties had dropped 9,000 tons of explosives killing more than 30,000 people and destroying 280,000 buildings. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
After defeating Italy and Germany in the North African Campaign of World War II the United States and Great Britain, the leading Allied powers, looked ahead to the invasion of occupied Europe and the final defeat of Nazi Germany. The Allies’ Italian Campaign began with the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. After 38 days of fighting, the U.S. and Great Britain successfully drove German and Italian troops from Sicily and prepared to assault the Italian mainland. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion-1944)
On June 6th, 1944 the Normandy invasion occurred. This was an invasion of Hitler's "Fortress Europe" by American and British troops. Their goal was to disrupt German communications by invading the beaches. This Normandy invasion ultimatley led to the defeat of the Nazi forces in the West.
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operation thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the code for a cancelled operation planned in August 1944 but shelved and never implemented. The plan envisaged a massive attack on Berlin in the belief that would cause 220,000 casualties with 110,000 killed, many of them key German personnel, which would shatter German morale. -
Battle of the Bulge
battle of the bugleThe Battle of the Bulge, fought over the winter months of 1944 – 1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War Two.The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies in two in their drive towards Hitler had convinced himself that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was not strong. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle fought by the Americans in WW2. -
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Battle of Owkinawa
battle of Owkinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties. -
Ve Day
Ve day marchTuesday 8 May 1945 was Victory in Europe (VE) Day, and it marked the formal conclusion of Hitler's war. With it came the end of six years of misery, suffering, courage and endurance across the world. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
Atomic bombOn this day in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. -
Vj Day
it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final close.
