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Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nanking (Nanking Massacre) was the mass killing and ravaging of Chinese citizens and capitulated soldiers by soldiers of Japanese Imperial Army after its seizure of Nanjing, China.100,000-300,000 people were killed in this massacre. The destruction of Nanjing (the capital of the Nationalist Chinese from 1928-1937) was ordered by Matsui Iwane, commanding general of the Japanese Central China Front Army that captured the city. https://www.britannica.com/event/Nanjing-Massacre -
Japanese Invasion of China
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a conflict that broke out when China began a full-sale resistance to the expansion of Japanese territory. This war was divided into three stages,a period of rapid Japanese advance until the end of 1938, a period of virtual stalemate until 1944, and the final period when Allied counterattacks, principally in the Pacific and on Japan’s home islands, brought about Japan’s surrender. https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Sino-Japanese-War -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
One of Adolf Hitler's first major foreign policy initiatives after coming to power was to sign a nonaggression pact with Poland in 1934. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. In October 1939, Germany directly annexed those former Polish territories along German's eastern border. Poland remained under German occupation until 1945. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070 -
German Blitzkreig
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. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, and was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. On that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, eight enormous battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, and another 1,000 people were wounded. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps.
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Warsaw Ghetto uprising
On April 19, 1943, the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. The Germans had crushed the uprising and left the ghetto area in ruins. Surviving ghetto residents were deported to concentration camps or killing centers. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188 -
Battle of Bulge
In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp.The Battle of the Bulge, so-called because the Germans created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defensive line, was the largest fought on the Western front.
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Liberation of concentration camps
As the Allies advanced across Europe at the end of the Second World War, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners.The first major camp to be liberated was Majdanek, Poland in July 1944. Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance from the east, the Germans attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by demolishing much of the camp, but parts - including the gas chambers - were left standing.
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D-Day
On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France.More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion. 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. https://www.army.mil/d-day/ -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
