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Japanese Invasion of China
Sino-Japanese War
The Japanese invaded China from the North. They at first received no retaliation from the Chinese since the Chinese were in a sort of civil war. Japan wanted China's vast natural resources and saw that China was weak, so they attacked it. Japan scorched Chinese ground and raped around 80,000 women. Around 10-20 million Chinese civillians were slaughtered. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
Germany
Luftwafe bombers destroyed key Polish infrastructure. Ground forces moved through roads that led Polish cities. Despite British and French warnings, Hitler kept attacking Poland. On October 6th, Poland surrendered. Hitler wanted to neutralize Poland in order to start world domination, since Russia was not a threat because of the pact. The Germans got half of Poland, while the Russians got the other half. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
Germans first used Blitzkrieg when they invaded Poland. it was a tactic that creates disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. They used it first on Poland to see if it would work so then they could use it on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. -
Fall of Paris
FP
France, who had been very weakened by Germany, was almost to the point of surrender. The Germans finally moved in to Paris, France's capital. They received almost no resistance. This meant that the Nazis had successfully taken over Paris and with it, France. Conquering France was another step ahead in the Germans world domination. The result was the Americans freezing all assets to the Axis powers. -
Battle of Britain
BoB
Germany tried to gain air superiority from Britain by trying to take out Britain's RAF. They also bombed ports and shipping lanes to hurt Britain's resources. Britain resisted the German attacks, so Hitler decided to back off and focus on Russia, the Luftwaffe lost 1,887 aircraft, while the British lost 1,547. -
Operation Barbarossa
Op Barbarossa
The Nazis invaded the Soviet Union with the blitzkrieg tactic.. The German's plan was to capture Moscow, but they instead defeated all of the Soviet forces first. Hitler wanted the Soviet union subdued in order for his world domination to work. The results were the Nazis taking 600,000 Russian prisoners, 5,700 tanks, and 4,600 artillery pieces -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl JHarbor
The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. They ised 6 carriers that had 450 aircraft combined. They did this because they wanted to destroy America's Navy so America would be greatly weakened. Over 2,400 people are killed and 1,178 are wounded. More die in the later days trapped in the hulls of sunken ships. -
Wannsee Conference
WC
In the Wannsee Confernece, Reinhard Heydrich spoke with 15 other Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution in which the Naziz would try to exterminate the whole European Jewish population. Hitler had ordered this meeting to take place. The results were gas vans killing more than 1,000 people per day. -
Battle of Midway
BM
The Japanese attacked the Americans for Midway Atoll. The attacks consisted of sea and air troops. The Americans had cracked the Japanese code, so they were successfullly able to repel the Japanese. The Japanese had wanted Midway Atoll since it was strategically placed in the Pacific and was close to Hawaii. Japan lost all 4 of its carriers that it brought, and the US lost 2 of them. Both lost many aircraft, too. -
Operation Gomorrah
OG
British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night, while Americans bomb it by day. Winston Churchill, believed that a devastating attack on a symbolic target would push the Nazis into seeking a peace deal. The results were more than 30,000 people killed and 280,000 buildings destroyed. Hitler also refused to visit Hamburg after. -
Allies invade Italy
Italy
150,000 allied troops landed on the southern tip of Italy and received little to no resistance since the people of Italy didn't want Mussolini in power anymore. Mussolini was arrested and taken to a prison. The Allies took Italy over since they were one of the 3 main Axis powers. This also made Germany lose some power. -
D-Day
D-Day
156,000 American, British and Canadian forces attacked the German-controlled part of France's Normandy region. The attack was to start the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II. The result was the Allied forces taking Normandy over and starting what would be the end to WW2. -
Battle of the Bulge
BB
250,000 Nazi troops fought against 80,000 American troops. The Germans surprised attacked the Americans in the Ardennes forest. Nazi troops were trying to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The result was more than 7,500 American troops were captured by the Nazis. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
<ahref='http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724' >LCC</a>
The Russian forces were the first to storm the concentration camps. They found no German forces since they had been forced to retreat because of how the war was resulting. There were thousands of prisoners in a single camp. They were able to be liberated since Germany was close to surrendering. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners were able to return to their homes after years of confinement. -
Operation Thunderclap
OT
The Allied powers bombed different German cities in a series of 2 waves in the morning. 796 Lancasters took place in the bombing. The purpose of it was to disrupt the transport infrastructure for Germany. It was also to prove to the German population that the air defences of Germany were now of little substance and that the Nazis had failed them. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
IJ America launched an attack on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima by both water and ground. The battle lasted a month, but America emerged victorious. America wanted Iwo Jima because it was an ideal location for an air base, since planes sometimes had to go all the way to Marianas to get aid. America was able to gain control, but lost 5,900 men and 17,400 were wounded. -
Battle of Okinawa
BO
The battle which took 82 days, the Allied powers tried to take over the island Okinawa from Japan. The Japanese tried to fend off the Americans, but they slowly were pushed back. The Japanese fought until they could no longer. Some were captured and some comitted suicide. The Allies won out, capturing the island that they wanted since it was so close to the Japanese mainland. Americans had 65,000 casualties. -
VE Day
VE
America and Great Britain celebrated victory. Their people rejoice and put out flags and banners. VE day happened because of Germany's surrender to the Allies. German soldiers tried to escape capture by the Soviet Union, but failed. The Russians took around 2 million German prisoners. -
The Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
AB
President Truman dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima since the Germans had already surrendered, but the Japanese had not. this was so the war would come to a speedy end and so he didn't lose many troops in a straight on attack. After Hiroshima, another one Nagasaki. The total death toll was around 226,000. The bombs caused Japan to surrender. -
VJ Day
VJ
Japan surrenders to the US, which brings an end to WW2. Japan surrendered because their ally Germany had already surrendered and because America had bombed them with the atomic bombs. The result was 6 years of Pacific hostilities brought to an end.
