-
Poland Gets Invaded by Germany
Germany invades Poland with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, The luftwafe -- the German airforce -- drops bombs, while ground troops and tanks help as well. The attack began early in the morning, a little before five o'clock. Poland is defeated in less than two weeks, and are forced to give up land to the Germans as a result. -
Germany Invades France
Germany now decides to invades France. Germany uses a blitzkrieg tactic, which helped him move into France faster. Their blitzkriek was made up of tanks, infantry, artillery, and planes, all converging on a certain area very fast. This tactic proved to be successful in this invasion. France ending up falling to the Germans, and and armistice was signed as well between the Germans and the French to end the fighting. -
The Battle of Dunkirk
The Battle Of Dunkirk was a total evacutation of British and other Allied forces in Eaurope. On the first day of the evacuation, only 7,011 men were rescued. But by the 9th day, a total of 338,226 soldiers were rescued. 198,229 British and 139,997 French troops were had been rescued by the fleet of 933 boats. This evacuation was allowed by Hitler, because he stopped his advancement before he got to the beaches. -
Battle of Britain
Germany decides to invade Britain, using their Luftwaffe, The German luftwaffe continuously dropped bombs on Britain, and also faught in the air, in order to try to gain aerial control of this area. This battle at Britain was the first major battle to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest aerial bombing campaign tht the world had seen up to that day. Britain ended up prevailing, and they stopped Germany from gaining control of the air. -
Germany invades Russia
Germany now invades the Soviet Union, in what is called Operation Barbarosa. The Finnish decide to help the Germans in this attack as well. The Germans quickly take over Leningrad and Kiev, which are two major cities in Russia. Germany is dominant in this battle. The Germans take alot of ground after this battle is over, and start pushing towards towards Moscow. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese decide to launch a surpise attack on the U.S. They attacked in 2 seperate waves. This attack caught the U.S. completely off gaurd, and ended up destroying many ships, killing many men, and battering America as a whole. This attack caused the U.S to officially join the war. The Japs were after the aircraft carriers, which they failed to destroy. -
Battle of Tunisia
This battle was the last one in Africa. This battle was a major morale booster for the Americans, because German troops retreated out of Africa after this battle. America ended up capturing around 240,000 german soldiers. Erwin Rommel, who was one of the highest decorated officers of this war, managed to escape from the battle. This battle was a success for the allies, causing a total defeat of the Axis powers. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad is considered the turning point of the war in Europe. This was a battle betweeen Germany and its axis powers, against Russia. Germany was trying to gain control of Stalingrad from the Russians. At the beginning of the battle the Germans were winning. The Russians ended up staying strong and defended the city. This put the entire German army in retreat, and hurt their morale. -
Victory in Europe (V-E Day)
This was the day that the axis powers finally surrendered to the Allies. This was an unconditional surrender, which means there was no exceptions. They completely admitted defeat, and said they would not continue fighting. This day marked the end of the war in Europe, which was a moment everyone had been waiting for. Hitler's reign was over, and the powerful Germans were no longer in control. -
D-Day
The Allies deployed around 160,000 troops along a 50-mile stretch of French coastline in an effort to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was president during this time. More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircrafts supported this effort. On June 6, the Allies started to gain the upper-hand in Germany. Around 9,000 soldiers died, but the rest begant the march across Germany to defeat Hitler.
