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Japanese Invasion of China
A clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese near Peiping in North China that showed Japan's aggression for expansion in China. The Chinese began a full-resistance to this expansion.
-Encyclopedia Britanica Sino-Japanese War 1937 -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Germany violated the nonaggression pact of 1934 with Poland by attacking them on Sept. 1, 1939. The Polish Army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. Britain and France then declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939 starting WWII.
-Website WWII in Europe -
German Blitzkreig
A German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower, which preserves human lives and limits the use of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before using the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940.
-History.com, article on Blitzkreig -
Fall of Paris
The Germans launched a major attack on Paris France on June 9, 1940 and took the city on June 13, 1940. The first German troops entered the capital on June 14 after the government fled to Bordeaux. Hitler completed his task of humiliating France.
-BBC, WWII BBC General Topics -
Operation Barbarossa
In a pre-dawn offensive, German troops pushed into the USSR from the south and west, with a third force making their way from the north towards Leningrad. The Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, has been taken completely by surprise. The invasion breaks the non-aggression pact signed by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. It ended up being a failure and Hitler's first major defeat.
-BBC, WWII BBC General Topics. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed 20 American naval vessels and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved. More than two years into the conflict, America had finally joined World War II.
-History.com -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathering at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question", mass killing. The Germans envisioned that some 11 million Jews, some of them not living on German-controlled territory, would be wiped out as part of the Nazi program.
-ushmm.org, WWII in Europe -
Battle of Midway
The turning point in the Pacific war came with the American naval victory in the Battle of Midway. The Japanese fleet sustained heavy losses and turned back. Japan had wanted the strategic island of Midway to further attack the US. The US spoiled their plan and with a surprise attack they destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft carriers.
-History.com -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
More than 400,000 Jews in Warsaw were confined to an area that was no more than 1 sq mile. In Nov 1940, this ghetto was sealed off by brick walls, barbed wire and armed guards. Hundreds of resistance fighters, armed with weapons, managed to fight the Germans for nearly a month. During that time, the Germans dismantled the ghetto and by May 16, the ghetto was under Nazi control. 7,000 Jews died during the uprising and 50,000 Jews were sent to extermination or labor camps.
-History.com -
Operation Gomorrah
Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn. On the evening of July 24, British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. Operation Gomorrah proved devastating to Hamburg—not to mention German morale. To make matters worse for Germany, the U.S. Air Force began bombing northern Germany, which included two raids on Hamburg.
-History.com -
Allied Invasion of Italy
The British and US armies began their invasion of Italy with landings on the island of Sicily and had little resistance. Within 3 days, 150,000 Allied troops were ashore. The Allied conquest led to the collapse of Mussolini’s government and he was forced to resign. The new government quickly entered into secret negotiations with the Allies and the terms of the agreement was that Italians would be treated with leniency if they aided the Allies in expelling the Germans from Italy.
-History.com -
Operation Thunderclap
The Soviets asked for Allied air attacks on communication centers to prevent the shifting of German troops to the Eastern Front so the Allied strategic bombing raid against the German city of Dresden was planned. This operation illustrated the excesses and horror of conventional bombing of cities. The immediate controversy about the raid contributed to the end of Allied strategic bombing.
-PBS.com, Firebombing -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
D-Day was when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the invasion target. All of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
-History.com -
Battle of the Bulge
Germans objective was to split the Allied armies by surprise so three German armies (more than a quarter-million troops) launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west in the poorly roaded, rugged, heavily forested Ardennes. The line defining the Allied front took on the appearance of a large protrusion or bulge, which is why the battle was named. The Battle of the Bulge was the most expensive action ever fought by the U.S. Army.
-History.com -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The US invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval plan, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. The marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting, and the battle earned a place in American history with the publication of a photograph showing the U.S. flag being raised in victory.
-History.com -
Battle of Okinawa
Allied forces invade the island of Okinawa and engage the Japanese in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. It was the last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of the war. The campaign involved 287,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, it provided what the US needed.
-History.com -
VE Day
Victory Day in Europe, both Great Britain and the US celebrate. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners rejoicing in the defeat of the Germans. It's the day when German troops in Europe finally laid down their arms. Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. The Soviets lost 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. VE Day was not celebrated until the 9th in Moscow. -
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration or the terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. Officials from the US, Great Britain and China issued the document, which outlined the terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference. This ultimatum stated that, if Japan did not surrender, it would face "prompt and utter destruction." Japan did not accept until Aug 10th.
-History.com -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
An American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and immediately killed 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 in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
-History.com -
VJ Day
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or simply “VJ Day.” In Washington on August 14, President Truman announced news of Japan’s surrender in a press conference at the White House: “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.”
-History.com
