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The Invasion of Poland
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish, fled the German advance hoping the Polish army could halt the German advance. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a major air campaign fought largely over southern England in the summer and autumn of 1940. After the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk and the Fall of France, Germany planned to gain air superiority in preparation for an invasion of Great Britain. -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, where Japanese airplanes flew in and bombed many American ships, causing a lot of damage and killing many soldiers, which ultimately led to the United States joining World War II. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle. On the morning of June 4, 1942, aircraft from Japanese carriers attacked and damaged the US base on Midway. The US Marine Corps force stationed on Midway endured devastating losses, but the facilities only suffered minor damage. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was one of the most decisive battles on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The Soviet Union inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the German Army in and around this strategically important city on the Volga river, which bore the name of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin. -
Atomic Bombing Nagasaki
At 11:02 a.m., at an altitude of 1,650 feet, Fat Man (right) exploded over Nagasaki. The yield of the explosion was later estimated at 21 kilotons, 40 percent greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb. Nagasaki was an industrial center and major port on the western coast of Kyushu. -
operation torch
The concept of Operation Torch was extraordinarily audacious, especially the invasion of French Morocco, which entailed transporting 35,000 U.S. Army troops and 250 tanks in complete secrecy 4,000 miles through U-boat–infested waters and landing them, at night, on a hostile shore. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, 1944, when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The battle lasted until January 16, 1945, after the Allied counteroffensive forced German troops to withdraw. -
The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in history, involving some 6,000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops, and 4,000 aircraft. It marked the decisive end of the German offensive capability on the Eastern Front and cleared the way for the great Soviet offensives of 1944–45. -
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program
In 1943, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) was established under the Civil Affairs and Military Government sections of the Allied armies as part of a concerted effort to protect artworks, archives, and monuments of historical and cultural significance as the Allies advanced across Europe. -
D-Day (June 6th, 1944)
nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a very tough fight during World War II where American Marines landed on a small volcanic island called Iwo Jima, which was controlled by the Japanese military, and had to battle their way through underground tunnels and bunkers to take over the island, even though many American soldiers were killed in the process; this battle is famous because of a famous photo of Marines raising a flag on top of Mount Suribachi, a volcano on the island. -
The Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, That began 75 years ago, was the last major battle of World War II and the bloodiest of the Pacific campaign. At dawn on Easter, April 1, 1945, a fleet of 1,300 U.S. ships and 50 British ships closed in for the invasion of the island, which is part of Japan's southernmost prefecture. -
The Death of FDR
FDR was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until he died in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America's involvement in World War II. He raised his hand complaining of a headache, then slumped over and lost consciousness. -
The Death of Adolf Hitler
As Soviet troops entered the heart of Berlin, Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, in his underground bunker. Although there is some speculation about the manner of his death, it is widely believed that he shot himself. Eva Braun, whom he had recently married, also took her own life. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
The US wanted to force a quick surrender by the Japanese to reduce the number of American lives lost. it was secretly decided at the Yalta Summit in February 1945 that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan. Using the atomic bomb before that entry was intended to assure U.S. supremacy in the post-war world order. The U.S. also wanted to test the world's first atomic bomb in combat to ascertain its effectiveness.