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Japanese Invasion of China
Picture;Marco Polo Bridge Incident;Near Peiping in North China, a clash between the Chinese and Japanese occured. Follwed by this clash, were intense milaristic actions on Japan's part. Upon conversing with the Japanese Ambassador, Hull realized that self-restraint would be best. This became known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. -
Rape of Nanking
PictureNanking Rape; In December of 1937, the Japanese Army stormed into the Chinese city of Nanking, and then proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 people in the city. The incredible carnage - citywide burnings, stabbings, strangulations, rapes, and property destruction - continued for about six weeks, from mid-December 1937 through the beginning of February 1938. Young or old, male or female, everyone was targeted. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
PictureInvasion of PolandOn September 1st 1939, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish garrison of the Westerplatte Fort, Danzig (modern-day Gdansk). Simultaneously, 62 German divisions supported by 1,300 aircraft commenced the invasion of Poland. The decision of Adolf Hitler to invade Poland was a gamble. The German Army was not yet at full strength, so this attack was extremely risky. After fighting, a peace opt-out was provided instead of war. -
German Blitzkrieg
PictureBlitzkrieg; On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. Germany's attack was carried out with fast tanks and troops that were supported by warplanes. This is why it was called a "Blitzkrieg". On May 10, Hitler's troops invaded Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and days later they surrendered. -
Fall of Paris
PictureFall of Paris: In 1940, the people in Paris awoke to 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.By the time German tanks rolled into Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled. In short order, the German Gestapo went to work: arrests, interrogations, and spying were the order of the day. -
Operation Barbarossa
Picture;Barbarossa OperationOn June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers. Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war. The spring thaw in March 1942 brought operations to a halt and Barbarossa had failed lading Nazi Germany to a two-front war that it could not win. -
Pearl Harbor
PictureAttack on Pearl Harbor; On December 7, hundreds of Japanese planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu. The bombing lasted two hours, but was devastating: The Japanese destroyed 20 naval vessels, and more than 300 airplanes. Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote. Two years later, America finally joined WWII. -
Bataan Death March
PictureDeath March: After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese, the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Battle of Midway
PictureMidway Battle; Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in World War II. The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.Scouts found the Japanese on the morning of June 4. Although initial strikes by Midway-based planes were not successful, American carrier-based planes turned the tide. Some historians see Midway as the turning point in the war. -
Battle of Stalingrad
PictureStalingrad Battle; The Battle of Stalingrad, was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their war, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined casualties of nearly 2 million. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
PictureWarsaw Uprising; From April 19 to May 16, 1943, during World War II, residents of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. The ghetto uprising inspired other revolts in extermination camps throughout Eastern Europe in a chance to stop Nazis from controlling the amount of food that was brought into the ghetto and the ghetto itself. -
Operation Gomorrah
Picture;Gomorrah OperationOn this day, British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah. On the evening of July 24, British aircraft dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours and more than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. Then, the U.S. Eighth Air Force began bombing northern Germany, which included two raids on Hamburg during daylight hours. British attacks on Hamburg continued until November of that year, resulting in more deaths. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
PictureNormandy Invasion; The Battle of Normandy, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch on the coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest military assaults in history and required a lot of planning. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Picture;Iwo Jima BattleFollowing elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island of Iwo Jima in February. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. The marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting, American losses included 5,900 dead and 17,400 wounded. -
Battle of Okinawa
Picture; Okinawa BattleThe Okinawa campaign involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. The “special attack” kamikaze tactics the Japanese used on these missions were determined that Allied forces faced their most difficult Pacific campaign. The net result made Okinawa a mass bloodletting both on land and at sea. -
VE Day
Picture;VE DayOn this day in 1945, Great Britain and the United States both celebrate Victory in Europe Day. May 8th spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms and the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
PictureConcentration Camp Liberations; As Allied troops moved across Europe, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. These prisoners were suffering from starvation and disease. Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp, so the Germans attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by demolishing the camp. In the following months, the Soviets liberated camps in Poland. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
Picture;Atomic BombsOn August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city. After that attack, the Manhattan Project began developing as well as "Little Boy" and "Fat Man". All were atomic bombs capable of killing thousands, maybe even millions. -
VJ Day
Picture;VJ DayOn August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as VJ Day which means "Victory over Japan". After all of the attacks on Japan, Japan knew they had to surrender. President Harry S. Truman then announced news of Japan’s surrender in a press conference at the White House and many Americans were thrilled. -
Battle of the Bulge
PictureBattle of the Bulge; On December 16, three German armies launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west in the poorly roaded, heavily forested Ardennes. A German shortage of fuel proved fatal to Hitler’s ambition to snatch at least a draw with the Allies in the west. The Battle of the Bulge was the costliest action ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 casualties.
