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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan invaded China because they felt that they were excluded from the divisions of spoils in China. All of China's major cities were occupied and almost every family and community was affected by the war.Tens of millions of people took flight. Between 20 million and 30 million soldiers and civilians died during the war. America aided China after declaring war on Japan the day after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. Japan stayed in China until they surrendered September 2, 1945. -
Rape of Nanking
The Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. Between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted. This 6 weeks is represented as the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war. China, was left in ruins, and it would take decades for the city and its citizens to recover from the savage attacks. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Germany wanted to avoid a long war so the strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short attacks. Blitzkrieg is a German term for “lightning war,” Germany successfully used the Blitzkrieg tactic against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty. One week later, Germany invaded Poland. The first attack of the war was when an German aircraft bombarded the Polish town of Wielun. Five minutes later, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on a transit depot at Westerplatte in the Free City of Danzig. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east. Polish forces surrendered in early October after losing 65,000 troops and thousands of civilians. -
Fall of Paris
Parisians woke up to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing over loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8pm that evening as German troops enter and occupy Paris. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had tried for days to convince the French government to hang on, not to sue for peace, that America would enter the war and come to its aid. By the time German tanks rolled into Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled, with good reason. -
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. By this point German combat effectiveness had reached its peak in training, and fighting ability. Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. They destroyed nearly 20 naval vessels, 8 battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Three days later, Japanese allies also declared war on the United States. After 2 years, America had finally joined World War II. -
Bataan Death March
U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65-mile march. They marched in intense heat and were exposed to harsh conditions. Each group took 5 days to complete this march. Survivors were taken to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport the surviving Jews.Fighters used a small supply of weapons that had been smuggled into the ghetto. 750 fighters fought the heavily armed and well-trained Germans. The ghetto fighters were able to hold out for nearly a month, but on eventually lost. The Germans had slowly crushed the resistance. Of the more than 56,000 Jews captured, about 7,000 were shot, and the remainder were deported to camps. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day in its own “Blitz Week.” British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. To make matters worse for Germany, the U.S. Eighth Air Force began a more comprehensive bombing run of northern Germany, which included two raids on Hamburg during daylight hours. -
D-Day
The turning point of the war. More than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops. -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge. Germans last offensive move in WWII. After this, they were totally on the defensive side. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American invasion of Iwo Jima stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Iwo Jima was defended by 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, and it was attacked by 3 marine divisions after elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting, and the battle earned a place in American lore with the publication of a photograph showing the U.S. flag being raised in victory. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II. The Japanese navy and army mounted mass air attacks by planes on one-way “suicide” missions.The kamikaze tactics the Japanese used on these missions, although not especially sophisticated, were so determined that Allied forces perhaps faced their most difficult Pacific campaign. By 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, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, delighted in the defeat of the Germans. German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms. In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more. -
Liberation of concentration camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind in their hasty retreat from the camp. Although the Germans had attempted to empty the camps of surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, the Allied soldiers came upon thousands of dead bodies "stacked up like cordwood,". The British, Canadian, American, and French freed prisoners from the camps. -
Potsdam Declaration
Just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing. Japan stated it was not able to continue in the war. -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
An American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. -
VJ Day
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.” -President Harry Truman -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.
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