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Germans invade Poland and war starts (German Blitzkrieg)
On September 1,1939, Germany invaded Poland at 4:45 a.m. on their border. They bombed airfields and attacked from U-boats and warships from the Baltic Sea. They claimed to be defending themselves, but France and Britain did not see that and declared war in Germany two days later. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland -
Germany invaded France and took over Paris
Early in the morning, German troops
invaded France as the Allies tried to keep them out. On the day before, Paris was declared an open town, but the French would regret that as the Germans marched in and took over the city. All stored and businesses were shut down and the French government traveled south. French men were commissioned to fight and the British troops arrived to aid them. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/14/newsid_4485000/4485727.stm -
Germany bombed London, the Battle of Britain began
120 German troops bombed and attacked a British shipping convoy and 70 more attacked in South Wales. They had more than twice the amount of British troops. British had some better technology and ways to detect attacks, so they especially didn't expect a surprise attack from the Germans. Britain was low on supplies in the beginning of the battle, and all aluminum they could get was turned into weapons for them. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-britain-begins -
USA gave Britain war supplies and old ships for military bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean
Even though the United States wanted to stay neutral, they were (and still are) allies with Great Britain, so they decided to help them with supplies. They gave Britain over 50 obsolete destroyers, for territory on islands that they would use as military bases. That bill was signed by Roosevelt on September 2, but on December 17 he signed the Lend-Lease, an official agreement to lend them supplies without being immediately payed. Source: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease -
Japan Bombed Pearl Harbor
Japanese forces attacked the naval base in Hawaii, killing over 2,300. They destroyed 2 ships completely, sunk 12 in total, and 9 others were damaged. The attack led the United States to declare war the following day against Japan and join WWII. Source: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/wwii/jb_wwii_pearlhar_3.html -
Germany declared war on the United States and they declare war on Germany and Japan
Adolf Hitler said he had tried not to get directly in war with the United States, but declared war on them to defend Japan and support their ally. The United States had declared war on Japan on December 8, and now they also declared war on Germany. The United States immediately started to prepare for war with the Axis Powers. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/11/newsid_3532000/3532401.stm -
United States wins the Battle of Midway and this is the turning point of the war
The US Navy defeated Japan after an attack on a base on Midway Atoll. The US had known of this attack, and they were going for US ships next. Japan was defeated in their plan to attack them, and many planes and ships were easily set to fire and blown up. This was 6 months almost to the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, and as a Japanese Admiral had predicted, Japan was set back after this time. Source: http://www.molossia.org/milacademy/midway.html -
Germany invaded the Soviet Union and was defeated by them at Stalingrad
After Germany invaded, the Battle of Stalingrad began. Stalingrad was a large city and was important to the Soviet Union. Hitlers original plans to invade changed and the army was split into 2 to attack 2 places at once, weakening it. The battle started after and went on for months, with the Soviet Union eventually winning after nearly 2 million casualties. This was the Eastern Europe turning point, with Germany finally weakened. Source: https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Stalingrad -
Allies landed in Normandy on D-Day
160,000 Allied troops invaded Normandy on the German front. The Germans were unprepared but fought, and were beat by the Allies. Many casualties happened then and Germany was even weaker after this battle. Source: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-d-day -
United States dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan, ending WWII
The United States dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, killing around 90,000 to 166,000. The bomb was known as "Little boy" and exploded with around 13 kilotons of force. On August 9, they dropped another bomb on the city of Nagasaki. This bomb killed around 263,000. It was dropped somewhere different than originally planned, and accidentally dropped in a different spot, which protected some of the city from it. Source: https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/bombings-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-1945
