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Bibliography and Key
Orange: European theatre of War
Blue: Pacific theatre of War
Green: North African theatre of War Bibliography:
www.History.com
www.theatlantic.com
www.time.com
www.theconversation,com
www.historic-uk.com -
German Invasion Of Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. With more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes German Forces broke through Polish defences 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. -
Britain And France declare war on Germany.
Due to the invasion of Poland Britain and France, standing by their guarantee of Poland's border, declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. -
Period: to
WWII
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Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea lion was the name given by Hitler for the planned invasion of Great Britain in 1940. Operation Sea lion was never carried out during the war as the Germans lost the Battle of Britain and it is now believed that Hitler was more interested in attacking Russia opposed to invading Britain. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
In September 1939, Hitler breached the 'Peace' by invading Poland. Chamberlain declared war against Germany but during the next eight months showed himself to be ill-equipped for the daunting task of saving Europe from Nazi conquest. Churchill, who was known for his military leadership ability, was appointed British prime minister in his place. -
Dunkirk Evacuation
On May 10, 1940, the Germans launched their attack against the West, storming into Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Faced with vastly superior air power and more powerful armoured forces, the Allied defenders were a poor match for the German Forces. The Allied forces were forced to evacuate in one of the largest military evacuations in history. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis powers to gain territory and see the end of Soviet communism. -
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 point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force. Britain’s victory saved the country from a ground invasion and possible occupation by German forces. -
France signs armistice with Germany
The armistice, signed by the French on June 22, went into effect on June 25, and more than half of France was occupied by the Germans. -
Tripartite Pact signed
On this day in 1940, the Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. -
Siege of Tobruk
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Battle of Midway
This Battle resulted from Japan’s desire to sink the American aircraft carriers that had escaped destruction at Pearl Harbour. Japanese fleet command, chose to invade a target that would draw out the American fleet to ambush them. Instead, an American intelligence breakthrough (decoding Japanese messages) enabled the Americans to understand the Japanese plans and create a counter attack that Sank 4 Japanese carriers and killed close to 3000 Japanese crewmen. -
Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks crossed the frontier into Soviet territory. By this point German combat effectiveness had reached its pinnacle in training and fighting ability, Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war and ultimately led to German loss. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbour in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. sinking and severely damaging Five Battleships, Three destroyers, 200 Aircraft and Killing Nearly 2,400 Americans.Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
On this day, as America’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbour, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. -
Battle of Stalingrad
On this day, the last German troops in the Soviet city of Stalingrad surrender to the Red Army, ending one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a massive invasion against the USSR. Germany's army raced across the Russian plains, inflicting terrible casualties on the Red Army. By mid October the great Russian cities of Leningrad and Moscow were under siege. -
Japan takes Singapore
On this day Singapore, the “Gibraltar of the East” and a strategic British stronghold, falls to Japanese forces. An island of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore had been a British colony since the 19th century. In July 1941, on the eve of the Pearl Harbour attack, 24,000 Japanese troops were transported to assist in the attack against Singapore. -
First Battle of El Alamein
On this day in 1942, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is brought to a standstill in the battle for control of North Africa. In June, the British had succeeded in driving Rommel into a defensive position in Libya. But Rommel repelled repeated air and tank attacks, delivering heavy losses to the armoured strength of the British, and finally, using his panzer divisions, managed to force a British retreat. -
Second Battle of El Alamein
On this day in 1942, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is brought to a standstill in the battle for control of North Africa. In June, the British had driven Rommel into a defensive position in Libya. But Rommel repelled repeated air and tank attacks, delivering heavy losses to the armoured divisions of the British army. -
D-Day Landings
On this day in 1944, the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the end of Nazi control of Western Europe during World War II. 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night aircraft filled with parasoilders headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilised to provide air cover and support for the invasion. -
Battle of the Bulge
On this day, the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, otherwise known as the Ardennes Offensive or the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. -
Mussolini captured and executed
On this day in 1945, “Il Duce,” Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol. -
German forces surrender
On this day in 1945, the German High Command, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces, East and West, at Reims, in northwestern France. -
V.E. day
On this day in 1945, both Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazis. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to the power of 15,000 tons of TNT reduced four square miles of the city to ruins and immediately killed 80,000 people. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
On this day in 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
On this day in 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan’s unconditional surrender. -
Japanese surrender – End of WWII
The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. -
United Nations is born
On this day in 1945, the United Nations Charter, which was adopted and signed on June 26, 1945, is now effective and ready to be enforced. The United Nations was born of perceived necessity, as a means of better arbitrating international conflict and negotiating peace than was provided for by the old League of Nations.
