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Bataan Death March
After the surrender of the US on the Bataan Peninsula, they were made to march in excruciating heat and harsh conditions to prison camps operated by Japanese soldiers. Approximately 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers were included. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the attack on the Soviet Union by the Germans. 3 million German soldiers raided the frontier of the Soviet Union, to try to create more Lebensraum, or living space. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Japanese against the United States naval base in Hawaii, trying to destroy the pacific fleet. This led to the United States entry into WWII. -
D-Day
D-day was the day that the allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, and it signified the end of the war in Europe. Due to this, it allowed France to gain freedom again. -
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offense in WWII. The Germans were trying to attempt to push the allied front line towards Belgium from France. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As Allied forces advanced across Europe at the end of WWII, they came across many concentration camps filled with starved and diseased prisoners. Due to this, they liberated many of them, the first being Majdanek, near Lublin, Poland in 1944. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
US Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, because they needed a base near the Japanese coastline. -
VE Day
Public holiday created to celebrate the official surrender of the Germans and the victory under the allied forces in WWII. This holiday is observed by Europe (1945), France, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
On August 6, 1945, and August 9, 1945, the United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosion wiped out 90,000 in the city of Hiroshima and 40,000 in Nagasaki. This triggered the surrender of the Japanese in WWII. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan day is the day that Imperial Japan surrendered in WWII, ending the war. On August 14, Japan surrendered. On August 15, Japan surrendered to the world. On September 2 is when the victory is honored.
