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Japanese invasion of China
The Japanese invasion of China proper, launching the Second Sino-Japanese, developed from a small border skimish. Some historians also date the beginning of World War II with the Japanese invasion. Fighting began with the Battle of Lugou Bridge, often referred to as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The incident occurred during provocative Japanese military maneuvers. Precisely what occurred at the bridge is not know with any real certainly. There were casualties on both side. -
Rape of Nanking
The Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The actual military invasion of Nanking was preceded by a tough battle at Shanghai that began in the summer of 1937. Filmed footage and still photgraphs taken by the Japanese themselves up for future battles. The incredible carnage- citywide burning, stabbings, drownings, strangulations, rapes, thefts, and massive property destrution. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, literally, "Night of Crystal," is often referred to as the "Night of Broken Glass." The name refers to the wave of violent anti-Jewissh pogroms which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938, throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia recently occupied by German troops. Instigated primarily by Nazi Party Officials and members of the SA and Hitler Youth, Kristallnacht owes its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets. -
Germany's invade of Poland
On September 1,1939, germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more that 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27,1939. -
German Blitzkrieg
A German trem for "lightning war," blitzkrieg is a miltitary tactic designed to created disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentraated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. Germans forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Battle of Britain
In the summer and fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany's Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain's air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. -
Operation Barbarossa
On June 22,1941, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies began a massive invasion of the Soviet Union named Operation Barbarossa some 4.5 million troops launched a surprise attack deployed from German-controlled Poland, Finland, and Romania. Hitler had long had his eye on Soviet resources. Although Germany had signed non-aggression pact with the USSR in 1939, both sides remained suspicious of one another, and the agreement merely gave them more time to prepare for a probable war. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enotmous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. -
Wannsee Conference
On January 20,1942, 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." -
Bataan Death March
The Battle of Bataan ended on April 9,1942 when U.S. General Edward P. King surrendered to Japanese General Masaharu Homma. At that point 75,000 soldiers became Prisoners of War: about 12,000 Americans and 63,000 Filipinos. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway, fought in June 1942, must be considered one of the most decisive battles of World War II. The Battle of Midway effectively destroyed Japan's naval strength when the Americans destroyed four of its aircraft carriers. Japan navy never recovered from its mauling at Midway and it was on the defensive after this battle -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the sucessful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greastest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greastest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
On April 19, 1943, the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deprt 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. -
Allied invasion of Italy
On Septemebr 3, Montgomery's 8th Army began its invasion of the Italian mainland and the Italian Government agreed to surrender to the Allies. By the terms of the agreement, the italians would be treated with leniency if they aided the Allies in expelling the Germans from Italy. Later that month, Mussolini was rescued from a prison in the Abruzzo Mountains by German commandos and was installed as leader of a Nazi puppet state in northern Italy -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
June 6,1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortilfied French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Elsenhower called the operation a crusade in which "we will accept nothing less than full victory." More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 alrcraft supported the D-Day invasion, and
by day's end on June 6, the allies gained a foot-hold in Normandy. -
Liberation Of Nazi Camps
As allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousnads of concentration camp prisoners. Many of these prisoners had survived forced marches into the interioir of Germany from camps in occupied Poland. These prisoners were suffering from starvation and disease -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. -
Victory in Europe Day (VE Day)
Tuesday May 8,1945 was "Vicotry in Europe"(VE Day), and it marked the formal end 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 Bomb
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 th effects of the fallout. There were 90,000 buildings in Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped; only 28,000 remained after the bombing -
Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day)
On August 14, 1945, 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 "Victory over Japan Day," or simply "V-J Day." The term has also been uses for September 2,!945, when Japan's formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
