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Germany Invades Poland
Germany invades Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on September 17, 1939. The Nazis remained in Poland when it invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Poland remained under German occupation until January 1945. -
Nazis take the Sudetenland
The Sudetenland was part of Germany until 1806 and of the German Confederation between 1815 and 1866. After the First World War the Sudetenland (around 11,000 square miles) became part of Czechoslovakia. in 1935 a Sudten-German Party, financed from within Nazi Germany, began to complain that the Czech-dominated government discriminated against them. German's who had lost their jobs in the depression began to argue that they might be better off under Hitler. -
Nazis take the Sudetenland Part 2
One group of senior generals even made plans to overthrow Hitler if he ignored their advice and declared war on Czechoslovakia.In September 1938, Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia. Adolf Hitler was in a difficult situation but he also knew that Britain and France were unwilling to go to war. The meeting took place in Munich on 29th September, 1938 -
German Army Marches In Part Three Of Sudetenland
The German Army marched into the Sudetenland on 1st October, 1938. As this area contained nearly all Czechoslovakia's mountain fortifications, she was no longer able to defend herself against further aggression. -
Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.
Representatives from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union met and signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, which guaranteed that the two countries would not attack each other. In 1939, Adolf Hitler was preparing for war causing his desire for this pact. Hitler was planning against the possibility of a two front war. , four days after the economic agreement was signed and a little over a week before the beginning of World War II, Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. -
Ribbentrop/ Molotov Pact Part 2
When the Nazis attacked Poland in the morning on September 1, 1939, the Soviets could only sit back and watch. In thus avoiding the two front war Hitler so very much feared. . Two days later, the British declared war on Germany and World War II had begun. This act in itself could have been avoided. Hence being able to avoid an entire World War. -
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Blitzkrieg (Lightning War)
German forces invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Soviet forces were driven back more than 600 miles to the gates of Moscow, with staggering losses. In December 1941, Hitler unilaterally declared war on the United States, which consequently added its tremendous economic and military power to the coalition arrayed against him. The Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive in November 1942, trapping and destroying an entire German army at Stalingrad. Leading ultimately to its defeat in May 1945 -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a struggle between the German Luftwaffe, and the British Royal Air force which raged over Britain between July and October 1940.which was the first major military campaign in history to be fought entirely in the air, was the result of a German plan to win air superiority over Southern Britain and the English Channel. In May 1940, German forces had overrun Belgium, the Netherlands and northern France using Blitzkrieg (‘Lightening War’) tactics. Ending in September 1940 -
Nazi Invasion Of the Soviet Union
in numerous speeches Adolf Hitler claimed that the German population needed more living space. Hitler's Lebensraum policy was mainly directed at the Soviet Union. He was especially interested in the Ukraine where he planned to develop a German colony. The surrender of France in June, 1940 cast doubts on joseph Stalins thought of the soviet union not being attacked until 1942. The plan was for the invasion of the Soviet Union to start on the 15th May, 1941. -
Battle of Britain Part two The End
The climax of the battle came on 15 September, On 17 September, Hitler recognised the growing futility of the campaign and postponed indefinitely the invasion of Britain. Yet this did not mean an end to the bombing terror. An estimated 544 were killed and a further 791 lost their lives in the course of their duties before the war came to an end. Ending in September 1940 -
Suprise Attack Against Allies
Because of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, the Soviets did not join the fight against Germany, thus Germany was successful it its attempt to safeguard itself from a two-front war.
The Nazis and the Soviets kept the terms of the pact and the protocol until Germany's surprise attack and invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. -
Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu
the US Fleet had been sent to Pearl Harbor to deter aggressive moves by Japan in the Pacific. and the strike force under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo sailed from the Kurile Islands on 26th November, 1941. On Sunday, 7th December, 1941, 105 high-level bombers, 135 dive-bombers and 81 fighter aircraft attacked the the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor, The second attack, launched 45 minutes later, -
Wannsee Conference
Conference held on 20th January 1942, chaired a meeting to consider what to do with the large number of inmates in Germany's concentration camps, Those at the meeting eventually decided on what became known as the Final Solution. It was decided to establish extermination camps in the east that had the capacity to kill large numbers. between 1942 and 1945 around 18 million were sent to extermination camps. Of these, historians have estimated that between five and eleven million were killed. -
Operation Gomorrah
Cologne is an important German city on the Rhine. It was therefore a major target of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In the spring of 1942 Air Marshall decided to launch the first thousand bomber raid on Cologne. On 30th May, 1942, 1,047 bombers attacked the city in a concentrated bombardment lasting around two hours. After the attack reconnaissance after the attack showed that 600 acres of Cologne had been destroyed by the raid. -
Battle of Stalingrad
After the failure of Operation Barbarossa to win a decisive victory, Adolf Hitler decided to launch a new offensive in July 1942. Over the next few weeks his troops killed or captured 50,000 Soviet troops but on 18th August, Paulus, now only thirty-five miles from Stalingrad, ran out of fuel again. As his northern flank came under attack Paulus decided to delay the attack on the city until 7th September. . The Soviets also made good use of sniper detachments deployed in the bombed out buildings -
Allied Invasion of Africa
In July, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill decided that the Allies should open a Second Front to help the Red Army fighting in the Soviet Union. Darlan was assassinated by, Ferdinand Bonnier de la Chapelle, an anti-Nazi royalist, on 24th December, 1942. The Allies now decided to make another effort to take Tunis. On 7th May 1943, British forces took Tunis and the US Army captured Bizerte. By 13th May all Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered and over 150,000 were taken prisoner. -
D-Day
On June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. Although the D-Day invasion had been planned for months, it was almost cancelled due to bad weather. Although the weather did have some affect and on the Allies ability to attack, it also caused the Germans to think that no attack was coming. They were less prepared as a result. Soon the main invasion force of over 6,000 ships carrying troops. -
Liberation of Nazi Camps Part Two
In the following months, the Soviets liberated additional camps in the Baltic states and in Poland. Shortly before Germany's surrender, Soviet forces liberated the Stutthof, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrueck concentration camps. Disease remained an ever-present danger, and many of the camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. Survivors of the camps faced a long and difficult road to recovery. -
Liberation of Nazi Camps
Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp, reaching Majdanek near Lublin, Poland, in July 1944. Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance, the Germans attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by demolishing the camp.The Germans had dismantled these camps in 1943, after most of the Jews of Poland had already been killed. The Soviets liberated Auschwitz, the largest killing center and concentration camp, in January 1945. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major battle in Europe during World War II. It was Germany's final attempt to drive the Allies off of mainland Europe. Most of the troops involved on the Allied side were American troops. It is considered one of the greatest battles ever fought by the United States military. Early in the morning on December 16, 1944 Germany launched a major attack. The battle lasted for around one month as American forces fought back and kept Germany's army from overrunning Europe. -
Battle of the Buldge PART 2
The Battle of the Bulge actually took place in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium. When the Germans attacked, they pushed back the center of the Allied forces' line. -
VE Day
By the beginning of 1944 air warfare had turned overwhelmingly in favor of the Allies, who wrought unprecedented destruction on many German cities and on transport and industries throughout German-held Europe.On Mar. 7 the Western Allies crossed the Rhine after having smashed through the strongly fortified Siegfried Line and overran W Germany. German collapse came after the meeting (Apr. 25) of the Western and Russian armiesand after Hitler's death amid the ruins of Berlin,Ratified at Berlin 8th
