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The Invasion of Poland
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish, fled the German advance hoping the Polish army could halt the German advance. The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, marked the beginning of World War II. -
The Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain, during World War II, the successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force (Luftwaffe) from July through September 1940, after the fall of France. The Battle of Britain was a major air campaign fought largely over southern England in the summer and autumn of 1940. -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, which resulted in the sinking of several American warships and the deaths of over 2,400 U.S. military personnel, effectively propelling the United States into World War II. The attack killed 2,403 service members and wounded 1,178 more, and sank or destroyed six U.S. ships. -
The Battle of Midway
he Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle fought between the United States and Japan in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. It was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific theater of World War II where the United States Navy decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was one of the most decisive battles on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The Soviet Union inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the German Army in and around this strategically important city on the Volga river, which bore the name of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was a joint British and American military invasion of French North Africa during World War II, marking the first major Allied amphibious assault against Axis forces in the region. The concept of Operation Torch was extraordinarily audacious, especially the invasion of French Morocco, which entailed transporting 35,000 U.S. Army troops and 250 tanks in complete secrecy 4,000 miles through U-boat–infested waters and landing them, at night, on a hostile shore. -
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program
In 1943, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) was established under the Civil Affairs and Military Government sections of the Allied armies as part of a concerted effort to protect artworks, archives, and monuments of historical and cultural significance as the Allies advanced across Europe. Representing thirteen nations, 345 men and women volunteered for service in this group, which was known as the "monuments men." -
The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in history, involving some 6,000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops, and 4,000 aircraft. It was a pivotal World War II engagement on the Eastern Front, considered the largest tank battle in history, where the Soviet Union decisively defeated Nazi Germany, effectively halting the German offensive capability and marking a major turning point in the war against the Eastern Front. -
D-Day (June 6th, 1944)
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive launched in the Ardennes Forest during the winter of 1944-1945, marking the last significant counterattack by the German forces on the Western Front in World War II. It was the German military's last-ditch, surprise counteroffensive against Allied armies in western Europe. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The battle of Iwo Jima was a brutal and bloody World War II engagement where U.S. Marines landed on the volcanic island of Iwo Jima and fought against heavily entrenched Japanese forces. Marines invade Iwo Jima, about 650 miles from Tokyo, with support from navy and army units. -
The Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, which began 75 years ago, was the last major battle of World War II — and the bloodiest of the Pacific campaign. At dawn on Easter, April 1, 1945, a fleet of 1,300 U.S. ships and 50 British ships closed in for the invasion of the island, which is part of Japan's southernmost prefecture. -
The Death of FDR
On April 12, while sitting for a portrait, he collapsed and died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Vice President Harry Truman took the oath of office the same day. -
The Death of Adolf Hitler
On April 30, 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a “1,000-year” Reich. -
Atomic Bombing Nagasaki
The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still being felt today. On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking the end of World War II, demonstrate the devastating power of nuclear weapons. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
At 7:15 a.m., the bomber crew armed the bomb, and the plane began its ascent to the bombing altitude of 31,000 feet. Instead, the intended target of the first bomb was Hiroshima, a fan-shaped city of approximately 550,000 people that occupied the estuary of the Ota River. The city was also home to the headquarters of the Japanese army that defended the island of Kyushu as well as a number of war industries.