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Japanese invasion of China
In 1931, Japan started to expand its influence on China with the intension of taking over that part which was Manchuria. In 1937, Japan invaded Manchuria but this time the Chinese began a full-scale resistance against Japan. This invasion and resistance was the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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Rape of Nanking
Nationalist leader Chiang Kai- Shek ordered Japanese soldiers to remove all Chinese soldiers from Nanking. Japan's Central China Front Army led by General Matsui Iwane arrived in Nanking. Japanese soldiers hunted down and killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers, entire families were massacred, and tens of thousands of women were raped. After, Japanese troops looted and burned most of the city.
Rape of Nanking -
Germany's invasion of Poland
Germans invade Poland
Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia were annexed by Germany in 1938 and 39. So for more "living space" for their people, Germany invaded Poland. 1.5 million German troops invaded, German planes bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. On September 2nd, Britain and France demanded Germany withdraw by September 3rd or face war. On September 3rd, they declared war and World War II had begun. -
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German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
In order to avoid a long war, Germany created a new military tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). This tactic is supposed to create shock and disorientation in the enemies through the employment of quick surprise attacks. Germany successfully used this tactic on Poland (September 1939), Denmark and Norway (April 1940), Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France (May 1940), and Yugoslavia and Greece (April 1941). -
The Fall of Paris
Germans enter Paris
On this day, Nazi Germans invaded Paris. Allied soldiers tried their hardest to keep Germans out of France and to prevent them from taking over Paris but the Germans were too strong. As the French government was asking the U.S. for help, German tanks rolled into Paris. 2 million Parisians had already fled before they arrived but many more were trapped in Paris as it was being taken over. A gigantic swastika flew beneath the Arc de Triomphe. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. Three million soldiers covered a front fof two-thousand miles. In the operations first month, German soldiers covered a lot of ground and made it all the way to Moscow. Now, Russian weather started to take a toll on the German army. Heavy rains and colder weather delayed their advances and eventually led to the Germans retreating. Now Russia saw Germany as an enemy and now Germans had to fight a two-front war. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Just before 8 a.m, Japanese fighter planes attacked the U.S. naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii. This attack surprised the naval base which gave them no time to prepare. The Japanese managed to destroy almost 20 American naval vessels, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors were killed and another 1,000 wounded. The day after, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Japanese allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the U.S. -
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
On April 9th, the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula on the main Phillipine island of Luzon to the Japanese. The surrendered Filipinos and Americans were rounded up by the Japanese and were forced to travel about 65 miles to prison camps. This journey became known as the Bataan Death March and thousands of troops died during the march and in prison camps because of mistreatment by Japanese guards, starvation and disease. -
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Japanese navy wanted to sink the remaining American aircraft carriers that survived Pearl Harbor. So a Japanese commander planned on invading an area close to Pearl Harbor in order to draw out the American fleet and crush them. But before this plan could play out, the American fleet solved the Japanese fleet codes and figured out their exact plan. So while the Japanese were refueling their carriers and rearming their planes, American planes soared in and defeated the Japanese fleet. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
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Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
Germans saw Stalingrad as a vital city in their plan to take over Russia. So German soldiers invaded the city and planned to easily take it over. They advanced into Stalingrad slowly as they fought a fierce resistance. Houses and factories were destroyed as the battle was fought on the streets and both sides suffered large losses. Hitler would not allow his army to retreat so as winter set in, German soldiers froze and starved and on February 2nd, 1943, the German army surrendered. -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Starting in July of 1942, 6,000 Jews every day were moved to the Treblinka death camp. After hearing this news, Jews formed a resistance group called the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB). On April19th, in honor of Hitler's birthday, the ghetto was to be completely emptied. ZOB members fought back. The Nazi's withdrew but came back on the 24th and blew up every building, killing thousands of Jews. By May, the ghetto was under Nazi control and the remaining Jews were sent to the death camp. -
Allied invasion of Italy
Allies invade Italy
Allied soldiers invaded Italy to rid it of the German military presence and to stop Benito Mussolini from continuing his fascist government. Allied soldiers started by invading Sicily and did so with very little resistance. This invasion caused Mussolini's government to collapse. On July 25, Mussolini was arrested and a new government formed in Italy. This new gov't entered into secret negotiations with the Allies. And the gov't helped the Allies rid Italy of German soldiers. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
D-Day
AKA Operation Overlord, British, American and Canadian troops invaded France in the Normandy region. Their mission was to liberate France of German control. An estimated 4,000 troops lost their lives on this day and many more wounded or missing. But less than a week later, the Allies had successfully landed in Normandy and secured the beaches. By the end of August 1944, Paris was liberated and Germans had been removed from northwestern France. -
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of surprise blitzkrieg from the Ardennes mountains to Antwerp. Allied troops were caught off guard but fought desperately to prevent German troops from advancing into Europe anymore. As they advanced further into the Ardennes, the Allied line took the shape of a bulge, giving this battle its name. German troops had a shortage of fuel which prevented them from advancing anymore. The Allies won, Germany lost. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The United States wanted a base near the Japanes coast so damaged B-29 bombers could land without going all the way to the Marianas. So American troops invaded the island of Iwo Jima. The island held about 23,000 Japanese soldiers that fought from a series of dugouts, caves, tunnels and underground installations that were difficult to find and destroy. Except for over 1,000 prisoners, American troops wiped out the whole garrison. -
Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The last, biggest and bloodiest battle of World War II. American troops were out to get air bases vital to the invasion of Japan. Japanese forces launched mass air attacks by plane in "kamikaze" missions. Also, Japan sent out their last big battleship,Yamato, on a similar mission. Japanese troops were so aggressive that Allied forces faced their most difficult Pacific campaign. Japanese and Allied troops fought in more populated areas which resulted in a large number of civilian deaths. -
Liberation of concentration camps
As Allied troops moved across Europe launching attacks of Nazi Germany, they encountered concentration camps. The first concentration camp, Majdanek, was liberated in July of 1944 by the Russians. After hearing about the Allies liberating concentration camps, Germans evacuated the remaining camps. But, the Allies continued liberating them. In 1945, Auschwitz was liberated on (1/27), Buchenwald (4/8), Bergen-Belsen (4/15), Sachsenhausen (4/22), Flossenburg (4/23), Dachau (4/29) and many more. -
VE Day
Both Britian and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe day. This was the day that German troops laid down their arms all across Europe. Germany finally surrendered. In an attempt to not be captured by Soviet forces, German soldiers fled to the west but were captured by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took about 2 million German prisoners and more than 13,000 British POW's were released and sent back to Britian. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
After the defeat of Germany, Japan still vowed to fight until the very end. So on August 6, a U.S. plane dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Japan failed to surrender after this bombing. So on August 9, another U.S. plane dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. This explosion almost wiped out both cities and immediatly killed tens of thousands of people and thousands more died of radiation poisoning. -
V-J Day
V-J Day
AKA Victory over Japan day. Japan finally surrendered after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is celebrated on the 14th and 15th of August. But September 2nd can also be called V-J Day because September 2, 1945 was the day that Japan formally signed a surrender agreement aboard the U.S.S. Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay. This day marked the end of World War II.
