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Invasion of Poland
On 1 September 1939, 62 German divisions supported by 1,300 aircraft began the invasion of Poland. At 8pm on the same day, Poland requested military assistance from Britain and France.
At 6am Warsaw was battered by the first in a succession of bombing raids, two German army groups invaded Poland from Slovakia (in the south) and Prussia(in the north). German army had much more tanks and aircrafts than Poland ( tanks: 2600 against 180; aircrafts: 2000 against 420). -
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World War Two
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Invasion of Poland
By 8 September, German tanks were already on the outskirts of Warsaw. -
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Invasion of Poland
Poland had been overrun in four weeks, long before any meaningful Anglo-French military aid could reach Poland. -
Polish counterattack ( invasion of Poland)
A Polish counterattack on 9 September led to the Battle of Bzura, the largest engagement of the campaign. Despite some limited early Polish success, massive German air superiority, and their ability to quickly redirect forces to meet the Polish attack, led to a crushing German victory. -
Invasion of Poland
On 15 September the capital was completely surrounded by Germans. -
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Phoney War
By May 1940, Europe had been at war for nine months. Britain and France, despite having declared war on Germany in September 1939 (following Hitler’s attack on Poland), had seen little real fighting. This period of anticipation is known as the ‘Phoney War’ – met an abrupt end on 10 May 1940, when Germany launched an invasion of France and the Low Countries. -
The Battle of the Atlantic
The Second Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War II, running from 1939 right through to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and was at its height from mid-1940 through to about the end of 1943. The naval battle pitted Nazi Germany's U-boats against convoys from North America to the United Kingdom, protected mainly by the British and Canadian navies and air forces, which were later aided by United States forces. Although many ships were sunk, the Allies -
Dunkirk
The "Phoney War" was now over.
The advancing German Army trapped the British and French armies on the beaches around Dunkirk. 330,000 men were trapped here and they were a sitting target for the Germans.From May 26th 1940, small ships transferred soldiers to larger ones which then brought them back to a port in southern Britain. -
The Battle of Britain
The First attack on British airfields came on the 10th of July 1940, wave after wave of German Dornier Bombers escorted by Messerschmitt fighters filled the sky over the southeast of England, British Hurricane fighters and Spitfires took to the sky in retaliation. -
Authorise of Operation Sealion
Having failed on a settlement, Hitler on the 16th July 1940 signed Fuhrer directive number 16 which authorised Operation Sealion, The Invasion of Britain. -
War in Africa
During the Second World War some 375,000 men and women from African countries served in the Allied forces. They took part in campaigns in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa, Italy and the Far East.
Men of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions served with great distinction against the Japanese in Burma, as part of the famous ‘Forgotten’ 14th Army. -
The Blitz
The German Bombing campaign that followed became known as the Blitz (Lightning) it began on the 7th of September 1940 after over 300 tonnes of bombs were dropped over London, Liverpool and Coventry were also hit hard as were cities all over Britain. -
Operation Sealion
Operation Sealion was scheduled to start on September 24th, the landings would begin at dawn. On the14th of September Hitler postponed the invasion for a further 3 days and because of heavy bombing from the British the fleet was ordered to be dispersed on the 14th but in a way that they could reassemble quickly at a moments notice. Britain only lost 470 pilots during the battle of Britain. -
Pearl Harbour (Japan and Germany)
Political relationships between the USA and Japan had broken down in 1937 when Japan attacked China to add to their growing empire, having already taken control of Korea and Manchuria, The Japanese aim was to also take control of British French and Dutch colonies in the Far East and the American controlled Philippines.
In Italy on the 27th of September 1940 The Japanese signed the Tripartite Pact with the Germans and Joined the Axis. -
Operation Barbarossa
Germany's invasion to the Soviet Union, also known as Operation "Barbarossa". The plan was divided into 3 different actions Army Group North would overrun baltic states and seize Leningrad Army Group Centre was to advance to Moscow Army Group South would occupy the Ukraine The Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line was the military goal of Operation Barbarossa. -
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Operation Barbarossa
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Operation Barbarossa
The gravity of the beleaguered German army's situation towards the end of 1941 was due to the Red Army's increasing strength and factors that in the short run severely restricted the German forces' effectiveness. Chief among these were their overstretched deployment, a serious transport crisis and the eroded strength of most divisions. The infantry deficit that appeared by 1 September 1941 was never made good. For the rest of the war in the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht would be short of infantry -
Pearl Harbour ( American loses)
The damage left Pearl harbor in ruins, the Arizona, was completely destroyed, the Oklahoma capsized, the Nevada, California and West Virginia were sunk at their moorings three other battleships, three cruisers and 3 destroyers and many other craft also suffered damage, 169 American aircraft were destroyed and another 150 damaged mainly on the ground, 2403 Americans were killed and 1176 people were wounded. -
Pearl Harbour (the Japanese loses)
The Japanese losses were minimal they lost up to 69 planes, all 5 of their Midget Submarines and 1 fleet submarine, and under 100 Japanese were killed in action, including some suicide bombers. -
Pearl Harbour
On the 7th of December 1941 at 7:53 am Japanese warplanes attacked the American fleet as it lay at anchor in Pearl Harbor, the Naval base in Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.40 minutes later a second wave of 170 warplanes attacked the harbor. -
D-Day
During World War II the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. -
D-Day
By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. -
THe dropping of the atomic bombs
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date
