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Rape of Nanking
Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people, including both soldiers and civilians, in the Chinese city of Nanking. The horrific events are known as the Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted. Nanking, then the capital of Nationalist China, was left in ruins, and it would take decades for the city and its citizens to recover from the savage attacks. -
Japanese Invasion of China
Second Sino-Japanese War broke out when China began a full-scale resistance to the expansion of Japanese influence in its territory. The war remained undeclared until December 9th, 1941, which was divided into three phases. A period of virtual stalemate until 1944, and the final period when allied counterattacks, in the Pacific and on Japan's home islands, brought about Japan's surrender. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war, that became the “blitzkrieg” strategy. Great Britain would respond with bombing raids over Germany three days later. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganized among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. It’s successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. German commander Erwin Rommel, during the North African campaign of WWII, and adopted by U.S General George Patton for his army’s European operations. -
Fall of Paris
The collapse of France, just six weeks after Hitler’s initial assault, ripped up the balance of power in Europe. Hitler was eager to follow up how voctoey over Poland in 1939 by attacking in the west, but bad weather forced the planned offensive to be postponed. In January 1940, a German plane crashed in neutral Belgium, with a copy of the attack orders on board. -
Battle of Mid
6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. The victory allowed the U.S and it’s allies to move into an offensive position. Japanese aircraft losses at Midway as eliminating the power of the Imperial Navy’s air arm, two-thirds of air crews survived. Midway ranks as a truly decisive battle. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, and was the scene of a devasting surprise attack by Japanese forces. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels. More than 2400 Americans died and another 1000 were injured. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan. The U.S Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a high level meeting of German officials to discuss and implement the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” (mass killing). The mass murder of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators required the coordination and cooperation of governmental agencies throughout Axis-controlled Europe. -
Bataan Death March
United States surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II. The approximately 75000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65 mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. By May 16 1943, the Germans had crushed the uprising and left the ghetto area in ruins. Surviving ghetto residents were deported to concentration camps or killing centers. After the Uprising, individual Jews were hiding out in the ruins of the ghetto continued to attack the patrol of Germans. The Warsaw was the largest, symbolically most important Jewish Uprising. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
The United States and Great Britain, the leading allied powers planned to invade Italy. Their goals of crushing Italian Axis forces. Allies wanted to draw German troops away from the main Allied advanced through Nazi. The Italian Campaign, was a series of Allied beach landings and land battles from Sicily. The Campaign seared into history, Anzio, Salerno and Monte Cassino. The allied advanced through Italy produced some of the most bitter, costly fighting of the war. -
Battle of the Bulge
Three German armies launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west in the poorly roaded, rugged, heavily forested Ardennes. The once quiet region became bedlam as American units were caught flat footed and fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St. Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and, later, Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division. -
Liberation of the Concentration Camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. They entered the Majdanek camp in Poland and later overran several other killing centers. On January 27 1945, they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind in their hasty retreat from the camp. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Battle of Normandy, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 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. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. The battle earned a place in American lore with the publication of a photograph showing the U.S. flag being raised in victory. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest. On April 1, 1945, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan. The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a complex plan to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. -
VE Day
Both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended. -
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Conference, was the last of the World War II meetings held by the Big Three heads of state. The talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations.The Big Three also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. -
VJ Day
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close.
