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Germany started war
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939.
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World War II
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Germany invades Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemberg
German bombers attack Holland at 03.55 on May 10th. The target was Waalhaven airfield to the south of Rotterdam. One hour later, a battalion of paratroopers was dropped onto the airfield. Dutch troops based in Waalhaven put up fierce resistance but it was in vain. As with all early blitzkrieg attacks, the Germans had the element of surprise. While Waalhaven was being taken - a perfect base for the Luftwaffe to use - more paratroopers landed at Dordrecht, ten miles to the south-east of Waalhaven. -
France's agreement with Germany
Five days later, on June 22, 1940, the armistice was signed in the Compiègne forest. The site had been chosen by Hitler – it was here that Germany had signed the armistice ending World War I in November 1918. This photograph shows General Wilhelm Keitel handing the German conditions for the armistice to General Charles Huntziger of France. The armistice, factually a dictate, stipulated that 3/5 of France, including all of the major industrial areas in the north, would be occupied by Germany; the -
Battle of Britain
Immediately after the defeat of France, Adolf Hitler ordered his generals to organize the invasion of Britain. The invasion plan was given the code name Sealion. The objective was to land 160,000 German soldiers along a forty-mile coastal stretch of south-east England. Within a few weeks the Germans had assembled a large armada of vessels, including 2,000 barges in German, Belgian and French harbours. -
Battle of Britain ends
The Blitz brought an end to the Battle of Britain. During the conflict the Royal Air Force lost 792 planes and the Luftwaffe 1,389. There were 2,353 men from Great Britain and 574 from overseas who were members of the air crews that took part in the Battle of Britain. An estimated 544 were killed and a further 791 lost their lives in the course of their duties before the war came to an end. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The Americans are taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes. -
Germany and Italy declare war on America
The United States declared war on Japan the day after the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). In response, Italy and Germany, Japan’s allies, declared war on the United States, making the U.S. a full partner in the war against Germany. -
D-Day
The first three of these units were given the missions of securing the eastern and western flanks of the beachhead by destroying bridges and laying mines. Their main mission was to allow for the main invasion force to come ashore without the immediate threat of German flank attacks. They were tasked to destroy bridges where the enemy was likely to stage a counterattack, and to secure bridges where Allied forces were expected to go immediately on the offensive. -
U.S. drops bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On a hook in the ceiling of the plane, hung the ten-foot atomic bomb, "Little Boy." Navy Captain William S. Parsons ("Deak"), chief of the Ordnance Division in the "Manhattan Project," was the Enola Gay's weaponeer. Since Parsons had been instrumental in the development of the bomb, he was now responsible for arming the bomb while in-flight. Approximately fifteen minutes into the flight (3:00 a.m.), Parsons began to arm the atomic bomb; it took him fifteen minutes. Parsons thought while arming "
