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Japanese invasion of China
The war between China and Japan started in July 1937 when Japanese said that they were attacked by the chinese troops outside Beijing. Using the attack as a gateway the Japanese launched a full-scale invasion on China using Manchuria as the launching base for the troops. -
The Rape of Nanking
Over a six week span in late 1937, The Imperial Japanese army brutally murdered thousands of people including soldiers and civilians. This brutal attack took place in Nanking China. The terrible events are known as the Nanking Massacre or also known as the Rape of Nanking. During this attack somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland by the Germans was the primer on how Hitler intended to start a war ( blitzkrieg strategy.) This was characterized by the extreme bombings early on to destroy the Polish air capacity, their railroads,and communication lines. This was all followed by a massive land invasion overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzberg also known as The Lightning War, was the solution to the trench warfare of WW1. The Americans, Russians, and British all developed similar concepts, but only the Germans received support for their plans before WW11. The Blitzkerg tactics was what won Poland in September 1939, it also help win Denmark, and Norway. -
Fall of Paris
The Germans led an Attack on France which started in May 1940, The british and french both faught back agaistnt the Germans but once the Germans took over Paris it was all over. Millions of people had already fled from Paris in expectation of the Germans. Churchill told the French to hang on the Americans were going to help but it was to late. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the name of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Russia. Barbarossa was the largest military attack of WW11. The attack was based on the war tactics known as blitzkrieg. -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941 at 8 a.m. Japanese fighter planes flew over and attacked the American naval base known as Pearl Harbor which is located near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack lasted just over two hours, in the time span the damage was extensive. The Japanese destroyed 20 american naval boats, which includes eight battleships, and 200 airplanes. Just over 2,000 americans soldiers and sailors were killed in the attack and over 1,000 were wounded. This was also the solid reason that the US entered t -
Wannsee Conference
On January 20, 1942 the Nazi Party and the German government officials met at a villa in a suburb city known as Wannsee. At this conference they discussed how to take of the Jewish problem known as “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The battle of stalingrad is known as the most successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the USSR during WWll. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle in their Great Patriotic war. It is also known as the greatest battle of the entire war to some historians. This battle stopped the Germans from advancing into the Soviet union and also marked the turning point of the war. The battle of Stalingrad is one of the bloodiest battles in the war, with a combined casualty number of nea -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
On April 19, 1943 the Warsaw ghetto uprising started after German soldiers and police officers came into the ghetto to deport the last of the surviving inhabitants. 750 fighters fought back against the heavily armed German soldiers. The ghetto fighters were able to hold out for almost a month but sadly on May 16, 1943 the uprising ended. The Germans slowly was able to crush the resistance. From the 56,000 jews taken about 7,000 were shot and the people that were left went to death camps. -
Operation Gomorrah
On July 24 the British air force dropped over 2,300 tons of bombs over Hamburg in just a few hours. The explosive power was equal to what the German bombers had done to London in the five destructive raids. In the first british raid more than 1,500 German civilians were killed. -
D-Day (Normandy)
During World War ll, the battle of Normandy ( June 1944-August 1944) this battle resulted in the allied liberation in Western Europe. The battle began on June 6, 1944 which is also known as D-Day. During D-Day over 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forced landed over five different beaches along the 50-mile stretch of heavily guarded French coast. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, 1944. Hitler had made himself believe that the alliance between Britain, France and America in western Europe was not strong so he developed a major attack. This attack would be the thing to break up the alliance. He ordered a huge attack against the american forces. The attack was strictly known as Ardennes Offensive but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in Allied front lines. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the codename for an operation that was cancelled in August 1944. The plan was to release a massive attack on Berlin. This attack would cause 220,000 casualties with many of them being German personnel. -
Liberation of Death Camps
In the summer of 1944, the Soviet soldiers came across the sites of the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka death camps. The Germans had abandoned these camps in 1943 after most the Polish jews had been killed. The Soviets then came across Auschwitz, which was the largest death camp. The soldiers liberated this camp in January 1945. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima which started on February 19 and ended on March 26, 1945 was a key battle in the attack and capture of the island Iwo Jima. In capturing Iwo Jima the US had got a base that was close enough to plan an attack on the island of Japan. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Okinawa Campaign which started on April 1 and lasted till June 22 involved over 287,000 troops who were in the U.S. tenth army who fought 130,000 Japanese soldiers from the thirty second army. The “prize” for winning this battle was the air bases that were vital to the projected invasion of Japan. At the end of the 82 day campaign, the Japanese had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the allies had more than 65,000 casualties. During this mission the kamikaze tactics were introduced and used. -
VE Day
May 8th was the day that the German troops throughout Europe finally surrendered and laid down their arms. This day was made a public holiday all throughout Europe. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
August 6th 1945 at approximately 8:16 am japanese time, the American B-29 bomber The Enola Gay flew over Hiroshima and dropped the first atomic Bomb. Around 80,000 people were killed from the direct blast of the bomb and more than 35,000 were injured. At least 60,000 more would be dead by the end of the year because of the radiation from the blast. -
VJ Day
August 14, 1945 was the day that the Japanese announced their formal surrender unconditionally to the allies. Thanks to the surrender of Japan this effectively ended War World ll. August 14 and the 15 are both known as “Victory over Japan Day” or better known as “V-J Day.”
