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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan Invades ChinaIn 1937, the Japanese claimed that they were fired on by Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing. The Japanese used this as an excuse to launch a full scale invasion on China. Within 5 months, 1 million Chinese people were under Japanese control. By the end of 1937, all of the major cities in China were captured by the Japanese. The war with China had led to 4 million Chinese casualties and 60 million homeless. -
Germany's Invasion on Poland
Germany invades PolandIn the summer of 1939, Hitler negotiated a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union. The German-Soviet Pact of August 1939 stated that Poland was to be partitioned between the two powers. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Within two weeks of the invasion the Polish army was defeated. With 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, the Germans broke through polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw. Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on Sept. 27. -
German Blitzkrieg
BlitzkriegBlitzkrieg was an operating concept developed as a solution to the trench warfare of WWI. The Germans used the Blitzkrieg on Poland, Scandinavia, France, and the low countries which include Holland Belgium and Luxemburg. American, Russian, British and other armies developed similar concepts, but only the German generals received support for their operational plans prior to WWII. Blitzkrieg accounted for most of Germany's military victories from 1939-1942. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the name given to Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941. Operation Barbarossa was based on a massive attack based on Blitzkrieg. Three army groups attacked Russia on June 22nd. Germany used 3 million soldiers, 3,580 tanks, 7,184 artillery guns, 1,830 planes and 750,000 horses. By day 17 of the attack, 300,000 Russians had been captured, 2500 tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250 aircraft captured or destroyed. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl HarborOn December 7, 1941, just before 8 a.m., hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vesels and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died and about 1,000 were wounded. The day after the war, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Congress approved. -
Wannsee Conference
Wannsee ConferenceOn January 20, 1942, 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials met in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." The "Final Solution" was the code name for the annihilation of the European Jews. At the time of the conference, most participants were already aware that the National Socialists had engaged in the mass murder of Jews in the German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union and in Serbia. -
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death MarchAfter the surrendure of the Bataan Peninusla, about 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march to prison camps. They were forced to march in extreme heat. They were liberated in early March. -
Battle of Midway
Battle of MidwayThe battle lasted four days. The U.S. was outnumbered, but ended up succeeding in destroying four Japanese carriers while only losing one of it's own. It ws the turning point in the Pacific theatre in WWII. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad This battle was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad during WWII. The Russians consider the Battle of Stalingrad to be the greatest battle of the whole conflict. The battle was one of the most bloodiest battles with nearly 2 million casualties. The victory of the Soviets was a big humiliation for Hitler. -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah On July 24, 1943, British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany by night. On the evening of July 24, British aircrafts dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. The U.S Eighth Air Force began bombing Northern Germany, which included two raids on Hamburg during daylight hours. British attacks on Hamburg continued until November of 1943. When the attacks were over more than 30,000 were killed. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw GhettoGerman authorties deported and murdered around 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto between July 22 and Sept. 12, 1943. After they were forced to live in ghettos, they were forced to go into concentration camps or labor camps. More than 20,000 jews remained in the ghetto for hiding. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
Normandy InvasionThe battle began on June 6, 1944. About 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along the coast of France's Normandy region. The invasions began at 6:30 a.m. By the end of August 1944, France had been liberated and then prepared to enter Germany. -
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, 1944 and was fought over the winter months of 1944-1945. The Germans success only lasted two days. By December 22nd, the weather had cleared up and the Americans were now able to use their aircrafts, thus allowing them to start a counter attack against the Germans. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle the Americans fought in WWII. -
Liberation of concentration camps
In January of 1945, the Soviets liberated Auschiwitz, the largest concentration camp. When they discovered the camps, most of the buildings were destryoed by the Germans except for a couple. The Soviets found personal belongings including hundreds of thousands of men's suits, 800,000 women's outfits, and more than 14,000 pounds of hair. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap For several months, the Air Ministry had been conserding heavy raids on German cities. They wanted to wait until the military situation in Germany was critical. There were two raids and both raids dropped around 1,000 tons of bombs. The next day, the Americans dropped 771 tons of bombs on Dresden. The Americans also bombed Dresden on the 15th and on March 2nd. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo JimaIn Febuary 1945, three U.S. Marine divisions landed on the island. The Japanese army and navy troops fought back from tunnels, dugouts, caves, and underground installations. After a month of fighting, the U.S. Marines had taken out the Japanese defending forces. -
Battle of Okinawa
Battle of OkinawaThe Battle of Okinawa was the last and biggest of the Pacific battles. It involved 287,000 U.S. troops against 13,000 Japanese troops. At the end of the battle, Japan had lost many of their soldiers. They lost more than 77,000 soldiers including 14,000 dead. -
VE Day
VE DayOn May 8th, 1945, German troops finally laid down their arms. More than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Grat Britian. VE Day technically not celebrated until the 9th when Stailn came across the radio saying the war was over. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
Dropping of the atomic bombsOn Augst 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed 80,000 people and later thousands of peole died from radiation. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki killing about 40,000 people. -
V-J Day
On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendured to the allies, ending WWII. Both August 14 and 15 have been known as "Victory over Japan Day." A couple of months after the Nazis surrendured, six years of hostility finally came to and end.
