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Japanese invasion of China
Conflict in Asia began well before the official start of World War II. Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China, and war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace. https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/invasion-manchuria -
Rape of Nanking
To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians.The Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 woman girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking -
German Blitzkrieg
"Blitzkrieg," a German word meaning “Lightning War,” was Germany’s strategy to avoid a long war. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents with offensive weapons (such as tanks and planes) along a narrow front. These forces would drive a breach in enemy defenses, permitting armored tank divisions to penetrate rapidly and roam freely behind enemy lines, causing shock and disorganization among the enemy defenses. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/blitzkrieg-lightning-war -
Operation Barbarossa
The code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which was launched on June 22, 1941. The failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war. -
Pearl Harbor
The Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States in a U.S. naval base named Pearl Harbor. The attack killed about 4,000 members and sank or destroyed six U.S. ships. It signalled the official entry of the US into the hostilities, which eventually led to the dropping of nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Wannsee Conference
A group of Nazi leaders met to coordinate a continent-wide genocide. It was a high-level meeting of Nazi officials that took place in Berlin to discuss the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. The SS envisioned that some 11 million Jews, some of them not living on German-controlled territory, would be eradicated as part of the Nazi program. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution -
Bataan Death March
about 75,000 Filipino and American troops on the Bataan Peninsula on the Philippine island of Luzon were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. After the U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula in 1942 during World War II, the Japanese took control of the area, and the prisoner of war (POWs) were subjected to brutal treatment by Japanese guards. An estimated 17,000 men perished during and after the Bataan Death March.https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Europe. Established by the Germans in October 1940, and sealed that November, the ghetto housed approximately 400,000 Jews. About 700 young Jewish fighters participated in what became known as the Warsaw ghetto uprising. During the uprising, the civilian population in the ghetto also resisted German forces by refusing to assemble at collection points and burrowing in underground bunkers. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
Was brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted for five weeks from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in Europe -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz—the largest killing center and concentration camp complex—in January 1945. American forces liberated concentration camps including Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenbürg, Dachau, and Mauthausen. British forces liberated concentration camps in northern Germany, including Neuengamme and Bergen-Belsen.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The American invasion, designated Operation Detachment, had the purpose of capturing the island with its two airfields: South Field and Central Field.https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. it marked the official end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front. https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/VE-Day/#:~:text=V%2DE%20Day%20marked%20the%20end,were%20murdered%20by%20Nazi%20Germany. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
An American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people, Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
VJ Day
VJ Day "Victory in Japan" was the day when the Allied forces in the Second World War received an unconditional surrender from the Japanese forces, ending the Second World War. When Japan surrendered, it brought a feeling of relief to Allied Servicemen. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/vj-day-and-the-end-of-the-second-world-war#:~:text=The%20news%20that%20Japan%20had,home%2C%20to%20their%20loved%20ones.