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Germany invades Poland
On the first of September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and within weeks of the fighting Germany had total victory. German units including more than 2000 tanks and 1000 airplanes they smashed through the Polish border. Hitler made an agreement with the soviet union that they would divide Poland between the two powers. So while Germany attacked from the West, the Soviets attacked from the east.
Theatre: Europe -
Britain & France declare war on Germany
Two days after the invasion of Poland British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany, with France seconding this act of war.
Theatre: Europe -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
Winston Churchill, known for his military leadership ability was appointed as Britain's Prime Minister after Neville Chamberlain lost a confidence vote in the House of Commons.
Theatre: Europe -
Period: to
Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The evacuation of Dunkirk otherwise known as Operation Dynamo was the evacuation of around 200,000 British troops and around 140,000 French and Belgian troops. A limited amount of naval vessels and a fleet of civilian boats saved these men from constant German air strikes on the beaches of Dunkirk.
Theatre: Europe/France -
Italy enters the war on the side of the axis powers
Italy joined the war on the side of the Axis powers mainly because of their similar political views. They all wanted to expand their territory and their empires through militaristic ways.
Theatre: Europe -
France signs an armistice with Germany
When Paris fell to German forces the invasion was at a conclusion. Marshal Henri Petain replaced Paul Reynaud as France's Prime Minister and announced that he intended to sign an armistice with the Nazis. When this was signed more than half of France came under German occupation.
Theatre: Europe -
Period: to
Battle of Britain
In Summer and Autumn of 1940 British and German air forces clashed of the United Kingdom. The Battle was lost when German fighter planes failed to gain air superiority of the RAF. This was also what prevented a ground invasion of German forces and possible German occupation.
Theatre: Europe/UK -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for the invasion of Great Britain. This operation was a last resort plan if all else failed to conquer Britain and it detailed having air and sea superiority over the English channel and proposed troop landing sites. But with heavy air loss, Hitler decided to postpone Operation Sea Lion indefinitely on 17 September 1940 and the plan was never used.
Theatre: Europe -
Tripartite Pact signed
The Tripartite Pact was signed by Italy, Germany and Japan to form the Axis Powers. This pact was signed for an official alliance between the three powers and to support each other if any of them come under attack by anyone not in the war already, this was mainly directed at the US.
Theatre: Europe/Asia Pacific -
Period: to
Siege of Tobruk
Between April and August 1941 around 14,000 Australian and Indian soldiers were besieged by a German and Italian army. This was a vital position to hold for the allies because it was the only way to advance through Egypt without traversing 1500 km of desert. The siege lasted for a total of 241 days while enduring constant shelling and artillery strikes plus ground force raids.
Theatre: Egypt/Africa -
Period: to
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the name given to the invasion of Russia by the Nazis. The invasion force consisted of a massive three million troops and three thousand tanks, this force was split into three armies. The invasion smashed through Soviet frontier defenses and covered a distance of over two thousand miles. But the failure of this operation resulted in Germany fighting a war on two fronts.
Theatre: Russia/Europe -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbour was meant to intimidate America to stay out of the war but this had quite the opposite effect. The Japanese bombing attack on Pearl Harbour was a complete surprise, which killed thousands of US soldiers and civilians and sunk the Naval fleet stationed there. So this was a great victory for the Empire of Japan, but the outcome of this event just caused America to declare war on Japan which wasn't the outcome the Japanese had intended on.
Theatre: Hawaii/America -
Britain and the US declare war on Japan
Both Britain and the US declared war on the Empire of Japan after Japan carried out multiple attacks including the bombing of Pearl Harbour and attacks on British forces in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. -
Period: to
Japan invaded Singapore
The invasion of Singapore led by the hands of the Japanese is considered Britains greatest defeat in WW2. The seemingly 'impregnable fortress' of the British military defense was thought to withstand anything the Japanese through their way and the commanders and soldiers were overconfident speakings that they better not keep Singapore too defended or the Japanese may never attack. So it was a huge surprise when the British forces occupying Singapore surrendered.
Theatre: Asia Pacific -
Period: to
The battle of Midway
Six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbour a decisive naval battle took place between the US and Japan. The US defeated Japanese naval forces attempting to ambush remaining US air carriers leaving a permanent blow in the Japanese Naval force. The US had an advantage in major advances in code-breaking were they able to find out about the ambush. This victory was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign allowing US naval forces to go on the offensive.
Theatre: Pacific -
Period: to
The First battle of El Alamein
The first battle of El Alamein was battle of Western Desert Campaign, fought between Axis forces, Germany and Italy and Allied forces including British, Australian, New Zealand, British Indian and South African forces. Axis forces had backed the Allies deep into Egypt were the Allies would make a defensive at the train stop of El Alamein. Hoping to dislodge Allied forces, Axis attacked them but were unsuccessful to push them any further.
Theatre: North Africa/ Egypt -
Period: to
The battle of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad was the successful defense led by the Soviets that pushed back the Nazi advance, it came to be known as one of the bloodiest battles in history with over two million civilian and Military personnel dead. This battle marked a turning of the tide in the war when the Nazi advance was stopped in Russia. It was said that Hitler wanted to take Stalingrad because of its symbolic name of the current leader of the Soviet Union Stalin.
Theatre: Russia -
Period: to
The Second battle of El Alamein
After the first battle Allied commander Montgomery had predicted that the Axis forces would try an attack from the south so the Allies had heavily mined the area and in fact, this was a success, with all Axis tank movement stopped and Allied fighter planes were to easily pick them off. With tank reinforcement, the Allied forces prevailed through cleverness and sharp wit of Montgomery. This had turned the tide in the North Africa campaign.
Theatre: North Africa/Egypt -
The D-Day Invasion
The landing on Normandy, code-named Operation Overlord was a joint attack combined with British, American and Canadian forces landing on the beaches of Normandy. This was were the allies turned the tide of the war with this operation aiming to retake France and then to defeat Germany. The landing consisted of naval warships and thousands of ground forces, prior to the landing bombing runs were carried out to destroy rail lines and roads to prevent German reinforcements.
Theatre: Europe -
Period: to
The battle of Bulge
Hitler planned to split the Allied forces in two when he sent a surprise attack at allied lines through the Ardennes to Antwerp. The Allied forces caught off guard were effectively pushed back but did not split and just made a bulge in the line hence the name.
Theatre: Europe -
Benito Mussolini was captured and executed
Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy, was captured by Italian partisans while trying to flee to Switzerland, and then executed by a gunshot to the head in the last days of WW2 in Europe. -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide
After multiple German defeats including the battle of Stalingrad in Russia and the D-day landings in Normandy, Hitler realized that the Germans were not going to win this war. So in his bunker under his headquarters in Berlin Adolf Hitler committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill and then shooting himself in the head. Soon after German forces called for a full surrender to allied forces.
Theatre: Europe -
German forces surrender
This was the day when General Alfred Jodl, the representative of the German high command signed a complete and unconditional surrender of all German forces. The Germans had at least lost the war on paper.
Theatre: Europe -
V.E. Day
V.E day or Just V day marks the day when the Nazi forces officially surrendered to allied forces marking the end of Hitler's regime.
Theatre: Europe -
The US dropped an Atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan
Little Boy was the first nuclear weapon used against Japan in WW2 when it was dropped by a US bomber plane on the city of Hiroshima. Dropping this bomb was meant to save thousands of American lives that would have been lost if they had to invade Japan by land, this was done at the expense of Japanese civilians. The bomb immediately killed over 80,000 people and tens of thousands more after from radiation poisoning, wounds and injuries.
Theatre: Asia Pacific -
The Soviet Union Declared war on Japan
Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese occupied Manchuria with a massive force of over one million soldiers. This took the Japanese by completely by surprise because they had thought that they would not engage in fighting the Soviets until spring of the next year.
Theatre: Asia Pacific -
The US dropped a Atomic bomb on Nagasaki
The US dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki called Fat Man. The first target was Kokura but the weather had become too cloudy to accurately make the drop so The second target, Nagasaki was chosen.
Theatre: Asia Pacific -
Japanese forces surrendered
With the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing over 100,000 people in the combined bombings, and the Soviet invasion force moving through Japanese occupied regions, smashing its way through their defenses, the Japanese were quickly surrounded and with little options. aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan officially surrendered. Their Naval and air force destroyed and the Allied naval blockade lifted WW2 had come to an end.
Theatre: Asia Pacific -
The United Nations is formed
In 1945, representatives from 50 countries met in San Fransisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organisation to draw up the United Nations Charter. The Charter was signed on June 26 by the 50 representatives and Poland later signed it to become one of the original 51 members of the United Nations.
Theatre: America -