-
Japanese Invasion of China
Japan captured all key Chinese ports and industrial centers, but the Chinese Nationalists kept resisting, They used "scorched earth" tactics, which means they destroyed anything that could be useful to the enemy as they went through. Japanese slaughtered 300,000 civilians, and raped 80,000 women in December of 1937. By the end of the war an estimated 10 to 20 million Chinese civilians were killed. The end of this war begun the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
The Polish army was defeated within weeks of invasion. Germany had more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes. They advanced on Warsaw, who eventually surrendered to the Germans on September 27th, 1939. Germany directly annexed the Polish borders by October of 1939. All of the German-occupied Poland, like Warsaw, Krakow, Radom, and Lublin, were called the Generalgouvernement (General Government). Held by the Nazi lawyer Hans Frank. -
German Blitzkrieg
Means "lightning war," it's a military tactic to disorganize enemy forces through mobile forces and concentrated fire power. German forces tried this in Poland in 1939, before invading Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1940. This term was actually never used in a German military handbook, but it came up in the Wehrmacht during World War II, considered t be foreign origin. -
Fall of Paris
Parisians woke up to German voices telling them that they had set a curfew on them for 8 p.m. That night Germans begun occupying Paris. Winston Churchill tried to convince the French to hang on for a few days until America would enter the war and come to the French's aid. They knew that Hitler and the Allies would take this help as a formal declaration of war. 2 million Parisians had fled by the time the German tanks showed up. Canadian troops rolled in, offering hope for a free France yet. -
Operation Barbarossa
When Hitler launched his army east to invade the Soviet Union. Three groups with over three million soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks. Covered two thousand miles. This combat was a turning point for World War II, because its failure forced the Nazis to fight a two-front war against a coalition. In March 1942, operations came to a halt, Barbarossa failed and the Nazis were confronted with a two-front war that they couldn't win. -
Wannsee Conference
When 15 Nazi and German officials gathered to implement what they called "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." Representing the SS was General Reinhard Heydrich, who was the chief of the security main office. Representing the agencies of the state was the Ministry of Justice and the Reich Cabinet. The "Final Solution" was code for the annihilation of the Jews. This meeting determined when the slaughtering of the Jews would begin, for most of the people attending the conference knew before. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US defeated Japan in a naval attack that was apart of World War II. This resulted from Japan’s desire to sink the American aircraft carriers that had escaped destruction at Pearl Harbor. During the battle, Torpedo bombers became separated from the American dive-bombers and 36 of 42 were killed. The Japanese were caught while they were refueling and rearming their planes. America lost 147 aircraft's, and more than 300 seamen. -
Pearl Harbor
At 8 AM on this day, Japanese planes attacked this American Naval Base near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American vessels, more than 300 airplanes, and more than 2,000 American soldiers died in the attack, 1,000 were wounded. The day after, president Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Three days later, Japan and its allies Germany and Italy declared war on us. The United States had entered World War II. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
After German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants, the ghetto began an uprising. The Germans crushed that and left the ghetto in ruins. Surviving ghetto residents were sent to concentration camps or killing centers. The Germans had murdered 300,000 ghetto residents, and deported 265,000 Jews. During the deportation operations alone the Germans murdered 10,000 Jews. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
Crossing the Strait of Messina from Sicily and landing at Calabria–the “toe” of Italy. Italian government secretly agreed to the Allies terms for surrender, but didn't tell the public until September 8th. On JUly 10th, 1943, the Allies began their invasion off the coast of Italy. 150,000 allied troops were ashore. Mussolini was forced to resign because of the Allied conquest of Sicily. On April 28 Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and summarily executed. Germany surrendered on May 5. -
Operation Gomorrah
On this day, British bombers raided a city in Germany, we called it "Blitz Week." One hundred and sixty seven civilians died, so now the tables were going to turn and Britain was dropping 2,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed. Britain lost 12 aircraft's because of the device called the "Window," which consisted of strips of tin foil dropped by the bombers on route to their target. When it was over, 9,000 tons of explosives were dropped, killing 30,000. -
D-Day
This is the battle that resulted in liberation of the allies from Nazi Germany's control. 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of France, Normandy's coast. This battle required lots of planning, there was large-scale deception plans beforehand to trick the Germans about the intended invasion target. June 5th was the invasion date, but bad weather caused it to be put off for 24 hours. On May 8th, 1945, the allies accepted surrender. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
The Soviets liberated Auschwitz in January 1945. But the Nazi's had forced most of their prisoners to march westward, this was later referred to as the "death march." So the Soviets didn't find many that were still alive. They found tons of personal belongings though which showed them just how many people were actually there. They discovered, for example, hundreds of thousands of men's suits, more than 800,000 women's outfits, and more than 14,000 pounds of human hair. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. These soldiers were elaborate with 6,800 tons of bombs, and 22,000 shells. The Japanese fought from a network of caves, dugouts, and and tunnels. Except for 1,083 prisoners, the entire garrison was wiped out. Americans had 5,900 killed and 17,400 wounded. -
Operation Thunderclap
The proposal was the bomb the eastern most cities of Germany in attempt to disrupt the transport infrastructure behind what was becoming the eastern front. Also to demonstrate to the German population that the air defenses of Germany were now little, and that the Nazi regime had failed them. Dresden, a very far city for any sorts of bombing to ever happen, was rumored of being the next attack. First they bombed the Dresden Cathedral. 400 pound bombs were exploding at 4000 feet. -
Battle of Okinawa
This battle involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-Second Army. They were protecting air bases, vital to the protection of Japan. Japanese navy and army mounted air attacks by planes on one-way “suicide” missions. They sent the Yamato, their big ship on missions with few escorts. Commanding generals on both sides died during these battles, American general by artillery fire, and Japanese general by suicide. 7,374 other U.S. losses. -
VE Day
Both Great Britain and the US celebrated Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations put out flags, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi's. This is when the German troops throughout Europe finally got to lay down their arms. In Prague, they surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after losing more than 8,000 soldiers. The main concern was to keep from being taken prisoner. One millions Germans attempted at mass exodus. 13,000 POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The United States was the first and only country to use atomic weapons during this time. The dropping of this bomb on Japan\, marked the end of World War II, but many others also think it ignited the Cold War. In 1940, the US began research into atomic bombs after being warned by Albert Einstein that Nazi Germany was already looking into nuclear weapons. In New Mexico, they had their first successful test drop in the dessert. On August 6th, Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over Hiroshima. -
VJ Day
This was the day that Japan surrendered to their allies, ending World War II. Since then, August 14th and August 15th have been known as "Victoryover-Japan Day," or "V-J Day." Several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a highly anticipated close. -
Battle of the Bulge
In December of 1944, Germans launched against the allies in the Ardennes Mountains region on the western front. The objective was to split the allied armies by a surprise blitzkrieg, repeating what the Germans did three times previously. More than a quarter-million troops launched the deadliest battle in the west. Armies drove deeper to secure vital bridge-heads, the line defining allied front took on the name of a bulge. This was the costliest action which caused over 100,000 casualties.
