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Japanese Invasion of China
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/nanjing-massacre' ><Source: History></a>On December 13th, Japanese troops invaded China, killed and pillaging the Nanking safety zone as they sought to claim natural resources. This invasion led to anger and hatred between the Japanese and Chinese. -
Germany Invasion of Poland
(Source)(Source)Germany attacked Poland from both the land and air, bombing from above and then using naval forces from warships and U-boats to attack Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Hitler's strategy became known as "blitzkrieg". At 4:45 a.m, German troops invaded Poland along its border with Germany while the German Luftwaffe bombed Poland and the navy attacked military forces. Hitler declared his actions as defensive, but Britain and France Disagreed. On September 3rd, they declared war on Germany. -
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German Blitzkrieg
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg' ><Source: History></a> Blitzkrieg refers to the German terms for "Lighning War" which was a military tactic designed to create disorder amng enemy forces and was highly mobile. This prevented deadlock between opposing forces and allowed teh Germans to take Poland and gain several territories in other countries. -
Fall of Paris
<a href='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris' ><Source: History></a>On June 14th, German troops marched into the city of Paris and began to occupy it. The French government was asked to hang on and await assistance from the United States from Britain but the United States denied giving help. They feared that sending help would be seen as a declaration of war on Germany. Paris was taken and trade between Germany and Italy ceased. -
Operation Barbarossa
<a href='http://http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa' ><Source: History></a>Operation Barbarossa was an attempted invasion of the Soviet Union by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi army. The attack was carried out by 3 million German troops pusing along the Russian border. The German army was hopeful that their combat stratagies would be enough to take Russia however they failed. This marked the turning point of the war and create a two front battle for the Germans. -
Pearl Harbor
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor' ><Source: History></a>Early morning, December 7th, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the naval baase Pearl Harbor located in Hawaii of United States territory. The Japanese destroyed several large battle shops, killed thousands of soldiers and wounded many more. This sparked FDR to declare war on Japan which resulted in Germany and Italy declaring war on the United States. -
Wannsee Conference
<a href='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference' ><Source: History></a> Nazi officals, on January 20th, met to discuss and plan a "Final Solution" for dealing with their 'jewish problem'. They wanted to propose an efficient way to kill off hundreds of thousands of Jewish people within concentration camps. Their plan of action was to establish gas vans which would kill about a thousand people each day. Conversation made was used as evidence in the Nuremberg War trials. -
Bataan Death March
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march' ><Source: History></a>The surrended Filipinos and Americans following Japanese invasion were forced to march about 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando. The men were divided into groups of about 100 and each walked the long trek. It is believed that tousands of troops died because of their captors brutality, who starved and beat them or simply killed them if they could no longer walk. Those that survived were taken by rail to prisoner-of-war camps where many more died of disease, mistreatment and starvation -
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Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising' ><Source: History></a>Residents of the Jewish ghetto located in a Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. This inspired other revolts in ghettos throughout German-occupied Europe. While not necessarily successful as many Jews died during the uprisings and many who survived where still deported, the Germans lost many men and some people escaped. -
Operation Gomorrah
<a href='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched' ><Source: History></a> During Operation Gomorrah, British and American forces althernatingly bombed the Germany city Hamburing night and day. The British, in their first day cycle, dropped more incendiary bombs than the Germans had in their five most destructive raids. These acts were seen as retrubition for the German bombings against Great Britain as they crushed German moral and devistated the city. -
D-Day
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day' ><Source: History></a> On June 6th, over 150,000 American, British, and Canadian forces lead a major assault on the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy, France in an attempt claim it. Holding France allowed the Allies to prepare to invade Germany and meet with the Soviet Union. -
Battle of the Bulge
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge' ><Source: History></a>On December 16th, 1944, over a quarter of a million troops belonging to three German armies, attacked western Ardennes with the most deadly and desperate battle of the war. The inexperienced U.S. 106th Division was nearly annihilated as they attempted to stem German advances. The Americans were able to buy time for General Bruce C. Clarke. The Battle of the Bugle was the costliest action ever fought by the U.S. Army which suffered over 100,000 casualties. -
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Operation Thunderclap
<a href='http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm' ><Source: History></a>Also known as the Bombing of Dresden, Operation Thunderclap was opened on the night of Februar the 13th with two British raids. The first attack dropped more than 800 tons of bombs and was moderately successful. The second delivered another 1,800 tons of bombs. The attacks continued until February 15th and more than 45,000 were expected to have died. Operation Thundeclap was a British plan to break German morale with an Allied assualt on the German capital, Berlin, and refugee centers. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
<a href='http://http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima' ><Source: History></a>On the 19th of February, Americans invaded Iwo Jima, Japanese Home Islands, to secure an area for their B-29 bombers to land. After air and naval bombardment, three U.S marine divisions landed on the Island where 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops defended their land using caves, dugouts, tunnels and many underground installations. After a month the marines wiped out the Japanese defending forces. -
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Battle of Okinawa
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa' ><Source: History></a>The last and biggest Pacific Island battles of WW2 was the Okinawa campaign which consisted of more than 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army and 130,000 Japanese of the Thirty-Second Army. Japanese changes tactics to consist of suicide missions or kamikaze attacks. While not sophisticated, it brought many challenges for the Allied forces. After the 82-day campaign, more than 77,000 Japanese soldiers died and the Allies suffered 65,000 casualties. -
Victory in Europe
<a href='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe' ><Source: History></a>May 8th was the day German troops thoughout Europe laid down arms. Both Great Britian and the United States celebrated Victories where they rejoiced the defeat of the Nazi's. This day was not celebraed until the 9th in Moscow until Stalin himself held a radio broad salute declaring the war over. -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
<a href='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima' ><Source: History></a>Although Germany had been defeated, the war against Japan in the Pacific had not. President Harry S. Truman, eager to end the war, ordered that a new weapon be used. On August 6th, the American bomber Enola Gray dropped a five-ton bomb over Hiroshima which immedietly killed 80,000 people. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki which killed another 40,000 people. Japan announced its surrender a few days later. -
V-J Day
<a href='http://http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day' ><Source: History></a>On August 14th, it was officially announced that Japan had surrendered to the Allies which effectively ended World War II.
