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Japan's Invasion of China
Marco Polo Bridge Incedent marking the beginning of Japanese invasion and which sparked the Sino-Japanese war. ON JULY 7, 1937 a clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese troops near Peiping in North China. When this clash was followed by indications of intensified military activity on the part of Japan. -
NANJING MASSACRE
Japan's Central Cina Front Army,commanded by General Matsui Iwane,enter Nanking.Chinese soldiers were hunted down and killed by the thousands,and left in mass graves.Entire families were massacred,even the elderly and infants were targets for execution,tens of thousands women were raped.Japanese looted and burned 1/3 of the city buildings. 1938,Japanese declare that order had been restored and dismantled safety zone; killing continues into 1st week of Feb. A puppet government was installed. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
German leader Adolf Hitler's conquest of Europe relied on neutralizing Poland in the East, gaining a non-aggression assurance from the Soviets and preparing for battle against Britain and France in the West. From there, the final push would be against its one-time ally in the Soviet Union giving Hitler's Reich all of the slave manpower, agricultural resources and natural resources that it required. -
German Blitzkrieg
A German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939. -
Fall of Paris
2 million Parisians had already fled, as the sound of a German-accented voice announcing that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening-as German troops enter and occupy Paris.French premier Paul Reynaud telegrammed President Franklin Roosevelt, asking for a declaration of war,if not that, any/all help possible. Material aid was sent.The Gestapo went to work: arrests,interrogations, and spying were the order as a gigantic swastika flew beneath the Arc de Triomphe. -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union:The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea a distance of two thousand miles. Barbarossa was the turning point in World War II, its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a alliance possessing immensely superior resources.The Germans had serious deficiencies. They severely underestimated their opponent. -
Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a assault.The surprise attack left much of the Pacific fleet rendered useless: Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged.2,400 Americans killed and 1,200 wounded. This drew the United States into World War II. -
Wannsee Conference
Nazi officials met discuss “a general plan of the administrative, material, and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired "final solution of the Jewish question.” Various gruesome proposals were discussed, including mass sterilization and deportation to the island of Madagascar, simply transporting every Jews to concentration camps in Poland and working them to death.The word “extermination” was never used during the meeting, yet the implication was clear. -
Battle of Midway
One of most decisive U.S. victories against Japan in WWII. It was 4 days of sea and air battle. U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying 4 Japanese aircraft carriers the victory was accompanied with the loss of the Yorktown a U.S. aircraft carrier. U.S. intelligence broke Japanese naval code and we're able to anticipate the surprise attack that Yamamoto designed to smash U.S. resistance to Japan's imperial designs. -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Warsaw,Poland Nazi forces entered with tanks and heavy artillery attempting to clear out the city’s Jewish ghetto in honor of Hitler's B-day.Jewish Combat Organization ZOB members meety them with gunfire and homemade bombs. Suffering casualties,Germans withdrew.On April 24 Germans launched all-out attack against Warsaw Jews.Germans systematically blew up the ghetto buildings 1 by 1.The ZOB took to the sewers to continue the fight.May 8 their command bunker fell to Germans. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah.Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn.British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg.More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid.British attacks on Hamburg continued until November of that year. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
Montgomery’s 8th Army began invading Italian mainland.Italian gov. surrendered to the Allies. Italians would be treated with leniency if they aided the Allies in expelling the Germans from Italy. October, Allied advance through Italy was slow and costly affair. Rome fell in June 1944,stalemate ensued as British and American forces redirected resources into the Normandy invasion April 1945, new offensive began.May 1 German forces in Italy surrendered and six days later all of Germany surrendered. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
North western France.The Normandy beach landings were a joint services operation, with naval, aerial and paratroop elements supporting the main amphibious assault. Specific conditions: a late-rising full moon, a receding tide, good visibility, sparse cloud cover and low winds. The Channel weather was unreliable. After one postponement, the operation was rescheduled.The establishment of Allied beachheads on the Normandy coast was a successful start to the Allies' invasion of North West Europe. -
Operation Thunderclap
The first of three waves of Allied bombers swept over Dresden, the jewel of Germany.The Saxon capital was a cherished center of art, music, and learning, one of the shrines of Western civilization. It was unmarked until that moment by the awful pox of the Second World War. But by the time the third aerial assault ended, the next morning, it had been incinerated by more than 3,400 tons of explosives by 800 American and British aircraft. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American invasion of Iwo Jima stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following preparatory for air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. The reason for the battle was air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan.In the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties—including 14,000 dead. -
VE Day
Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.May 9,Soviets lost 600 soldiers in Silesia before the Germans surrendered.V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio broadcast salute from Stalin:“The age-long struggle of the Slav nations..has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over.” -
Dropping of the atomic bombs: Hiroshima
American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first five-ton atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. “Little Boy” left the island at 2:45 a.m. Five and a half hours later, was dropped, exploding 1,900 feet over a hospital.The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure and wounds. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs: Nagasaki
Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender. The United States dropped the bomb "Fat Man" at 11:02 a.m., 1,650 feet above the city of Nagasaki, resulting in Japan’s unconditional surrender. -
"Victory over Japan Day” ( VJ Day )
It was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. -
Japan Surrenders
July16, U.S. detonated the world’s first atomic bomb in New Mexico desert.10 days later, Allies issued Potsdam Declaration, demanding “unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces.” or else “the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitable the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.” July 28,Prime Minister tells press his government was “paying no attention.” Aboard USS Missouri,Tokyo Bay, Japan surrenders to the Allies, ending WWII -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, was an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defensive line, The battle lasted three weeks and was the largest batyle fought on the Western front. A German trick was to use English-speaking German commandos to infiltrated American lines using captured U.S. uniforms,trucks and jeeps to sabotaged. communications.
