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Japanese Invasion of China
In 1937, Japan waged war against Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist China because Chinese troops "attacked" Japanese troops in an "autonomous" region. Japanese bombed Shanghai, invaded northeastern China and made a new state, Manchukuo.
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The Rape of Nanking
To discourage the Chinese resistance in the Sino-Japanese War, General Matsui lead soldiers to destroy the city of Nanking. 150,000 male war prisoners were slaughtered while at least 20,000 women of all ages were raped and killed. After WWII ended, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East found Matsui guilty of war crimes and was executed. Link text (photo from Wikipedia) -
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German Blitzkrieg (1939-1940)
Blitzkrieg translates to "lightning war." The tactic is meant to wreak havoc on enemy forces. Usually the enemies become highly disorganized due to the constant shooting and bombing. Then, the military on the offensive can more easily move in and oppress the population. Link text -
Germany Invades Poland (photo from ushmm.org)
It started with German forces attacking Poland from land and air. Hitler's goals: be the ultimate ruler of Poland and take back the territory he lost. The invasion was like "blitzkrieg 1.0" in the sense that it set up the way Hitler would do business in the future. Poland had some serious miscalculations in their strategy. Even though they were 1 million strong, they were no match for German forces.
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Operation Barbarossa
This event had the most powerful invasion force in history. There were over 3 million German troops and even more tanks, aircrafts, and artillery. Russia invaded Rumania and Hitler took it as a threat to his Balkan oil. It started as a defensive move, but evolved into Germany's first attack. Now, Germany was fighting a two front war. link text (pic from wikipedia) -
Pearl Harbor Bombed
December 7th is, "a day that will live in infamy." 360 Japanese war planes assaulted the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. Everyone was taken by surprise because the base was expecting some B-17s that day. 2,400 people were killed along with the sinking of five out of the eight battleships. The biggest impact was the involvement of America in the war. link text (my photo) -
The Wannsee Conference (photo from wikipedia)
Simply, the Wannsee Conference was a bunch of high-ranking Nazis coming together under one common goal: genocide. One idea was to sterilize all Jewish people and then deport them to Madagascar. Another was to work them to death in work camps. They finally settled on using gas chambers and vans to murder people. Records of the conference were later used as evidence against the Nazis in the Nuremberg trials.
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Bataan Death March (photo from history.com)
The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Japanese began to invade the Philippines. After three months of holding back the Japanese, the U.S. and Filipino troops surrendered. They were rounded up and forced to march a five day walk to a prisoner-of-war camp. Those that could not walk were stabbed. In February 1945, U.S.-Filipino forces were able to recapture the Bataan Peninsula and liberate Manila. link text -
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The Battle of Midway
Americans had a large breakthrough in this battle. Intelligence was able to solve the Japanese fleet codes. The Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Nimitz knew the exact plans of the enemy. On American radios, Yamamoto's orders could be heard in great detail and they were set up to surprise the Japanese. Many historians considered this a turning point in the Pacific theater, because U.S. forces headed straight for Tokyo.
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The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad is considered by many Russians to be the greatest battle of WWII, while historians consider it to be the greatest in all of WWII. Russian forces were tough and had many reinforcements. Around 2 million civilian and military casualties were sustained, but it ceased German advance into the Soviet Union and helped turn the war around for the better. Score one for the allies. link text -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah was Britain's revenge story. 167 civilians died due to German bombing raids earlier in July. Later in the month, the British dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg. Britain sustained minimal losses because of technology called, "Window." They were strips of aluminum foil that looked like aircrafts on German radar. Operation Gomorrah wad demoralizing and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
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Battle of the Bulge
Hitler's plan was to split up the Allied forces in Northwestern Europe by surprise blitzkrieg. Everyone was caught off guard and fought desperately in four major locations. Fighting was desperate and the Allied line looked like a bulge, which is the name of the battle. German forces experienced a fuel shortage which lead to their demise. The U.S. Army sustained over 100,000 casualties.
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Battle of Normandy (A.K.A. Operation Overlord)
156,000 Brits, Canadians, and Americans stormed the beaches along the Normandy region in France. Months before that, the Allies deceived the Germans of their intentions. By the end of August, Northern France had been liberated. Some call the Normandy landings, "the beginning of the end of war in Europe."
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Battle of Iwojima
Americans invaded Iwo Jima mainly because they needed a base near Japan. Iwo Jima's defenders fought from a network of caves, tunnels and other underground structures. American troops obliterated the Japanese after one month of fighting and became famous from a photo of the U.S. flag being raised.
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Operation Thunderclap
Allied forces firebombed the proclaimed "Florence of the Elbe" (Dresden, Germany) to nothing. They wanted to bring the Germans down quickly by destroying a city they thought was manufacturing war goods. In reality, it was an artistic town and had no relation to war-production. Many people believe that this event was meant to punish the Germans and weaken morale. Regardless, the city was ablaze for many days following the initial bombing and bodies littered the streets. (history.com,pic frm wiki) -
Battle of Okinawa (photo from wikipedia, info from History.com)
This was one of the final major battles of WWII. The goal was to occupy the Ryukyu Islands, which Okinawa is one of. Japanese commanders knew that if Okinawa fell, Japan would as well. Soldiers as well as some civilians (Boeitai) defended Okinawa fearlessly. Despite their efforts, the Americans outmaneuvered them. Once the Japanese were defeated, many committed suicide rather than surrendering. Still, this was not enough. -
Dachau Liberated
Dachau was the first concentration camp established by the Nazi regime. Those in Dachau were slave laborers and mostly Jewish. This camp was the first to use human testing for medical experiments. When Americans arrived, there were only 30,000 survivors. Supposedly, 30 German guards were gunned down by Americans.
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V-E Day
Karl Dönitz, the new leader of Germany, surrendered on May 7 hoping the Allies would be more forgiving than Russia. When news got out, people across the world poured into the streets and celebrated. The war in Europe that was officially over. War in the Pacific was still happening, but people were just happy that Hitler was out.
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Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration asks Japan to surrender. If it didn't, the Allies would destroy them. If they did, they were promised a democracy where everything is sunshine and rainbows. Given the Japanese attitude about surrendering, the government refused. On August 6 the Americans atomic bombed Hiroshima and three days later, Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered soon after.
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Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The war in the pacific was still going on and the American government wanted it to end. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6 and Nagasaki 3 days later. Some historians believe that the U.S. was trying to show off their weapon of mass destruction to the Soviet Union. Soon enough, the Soviets created their own atomic bomb in 1949 and the race was on.
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V-J Day
It was officially announced that Japan had surrendered to the Allies, reigning in the end of WWII. It was a climax to a horrendous conflict. Japan's formal surrender happened in Tokyo Bay on the U.S.S. Missouri.
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