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The Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland was a relatively quick surprise attack to start World War II. On September 1, German forces completely outclassed the Polish defenses by Flanking them from the North and South. In the air, the Poles stood to match the Luftwaffe and within days Poland was almost at the mercy of Germany. Quickly, German tanks sliced through the remaining Polish lines. This faster, deadly form of warfare would be named the Blitzkrieg, lighting war. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the German name for their campaign against the Soviet Union. This campaign includes many battles including many losses. Operation Barbarossa ended in total failure. Germany constantly struggled with the Soviet Union until they were just beaten out outright. This inability to win on the Eastern front was a very important turning point in the war for the Allies and was one of the main reasons for Germany's eventual defeat. -
The Leningrad Seige
The Leningrad Seige also called the 900-day siege, was a drawn-out siege on Leninburg, modern-day St. Petersburg, in the Soviet Union by Germany and Finland. While Germany invaded from the south, and Finland invaded from the north, Leninburg fortified it's defenses. This resulted in a drawn-out battle that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths becoming one of the deadliest battles of the war. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7th, 1941 the Japanese attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. The attack caused a devastating amount of death with the assault ending with over 2,400 American casualties. long with the horrible number of deaths, the assault dealt a crippling blow to our Pacific Naval Fleet. Two of our battleships were sunk and another six battleships received varying amounts of damage. -
The Guadalcanal Campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign was a series of clashes between the United States and Japan that lasted from August 1942 to February 1942. All of these skirmishes took place in the area on the Guadalcanal island or nearby. These Battles also include the Battle of Midway. All of these battles combined marked the turning point in the war and was when the Allies finally gained the advantage overall, especially against Japan. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a naval battle in the Midway Islands between Japan and the United States. Although it was a naval battle, almost all of it was fought in the air. In the battle, the United States destroyed many of Japan's aircraft carriers and killed many of Japan's pilots. This battle was one of the main factors in ending Japan's threat in the Pacific. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad, widely known as the greatest battle of the entire war was fought between the Soviets and Germany. Soviet forces at Stalingrad, now Volgograd, heroically beat back the German forces trying to invade their home. This resistance completely halted the German's advance in the Soviet Union and is widely seen as the turning point in the war that turned it in the favour of the Allies. -
D-Day
The D-Day invasion, also known as the Normandy Landings, was the invasion of western Europe by the Allied forces. On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy in France and by August, they had taken back all of northern France. The Allies would continue pushing back the Nazis and would eventually meet with Soviet forces, crushing the Nazis from two sides, and defeating them. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also called the Battle of Ardennes was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. It was Germany's failed attempt to push back the Allies out of the country. The name comes from Churchill and his description. The bulge came from how Germans drove a "buldge" into the lines of the Allies' forces. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of many during the United States' military campaign in the Pacific to combat Japan's takeover. The United States launched a very dangerous attack against the island and paid a heavy price for it. It was one of the United States' most costly battles during the war and one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the Marine Core. Japan had little regard for a soldier's life so instead of backing down, Japan lost the island and many, many lives in the process. -
The Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the largest-scale battle between Japan and the United States of the clashes on the Ryukyu Islands. Okinawa was very close to mainland Japan and taking it was seen as vital for a ground invasion of the country. The battle took over 10,000 American lives, however, it took ten times that of Japanese lives. This mass of casualties led the hard-fought battle to be known as "the Typhoon of Steel." -
The Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin was one of the last leading up to Germany's defeat in World War II. The Battle was between the Soviets and children. Hitler Youth was the militia that was deployed because Berlin had already faced so much military bombardment from the Allies on both sides. Firing nearly 2 million wheels of ammunition at Berlin, the Soviets decimated the city taking their revenge and completing one of their other missions besides taking the city, which was to "inflict colossal damage." -
The German Surrender
On May 7, 1945, German General Alfred Jodl signed the German Instrument of Surrender, this immediately resulted in the complete surrender of all German forces and ended World War II in Europe. -
The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6, 1945, during the Japanese bombing raids that leveled many parts of the country, the first atomic bomb used on people was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and after a 45-second drop, "Little Boy" exploded, instantly killing tens of thousands of people. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, shortly after 11:00 AM, the atomic bomb "Fat Man" was dropped over the Urakami Valley, instantly killing another 40,000 of Japan's population. -
The Japanese Surrender
On August 10, 1945, one day after the atomic bombing on Nagasaki, the Japanese agreed to surrender, however, it wasn't until a mother later on September 2, 1945, that the surrender documents were signed on the USS Missouri, officially ending the war.