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Japanese invasion of China
The war was a result of a very long Japanese imperialist policy aimed at expanding its influence politically and militarily in order to secure access to raw material reserves and other economic resources in the area, particularly food and labor. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/china.htm -
Rape of Nanking
The rape of Nanking was an event of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. http://www.history.com/topics/nanjing-massacre -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, came and got through Polish defenses along the border and went on to Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070 -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German term for “lightning war,” it is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Battle of Paris
On this day in 1940, Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening-as German troops enter and occupy Paris.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris -
Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack lasted two hours, but it was devastating The Japanese to destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight huge battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Wannsee Conference
On January 20, 1942, 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathered 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."
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477 -
Bataan Death March
After the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were forced to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
Battle of Midway
This fleet engagement between U.S. and Japanese navies in the north-central Pacific Ocean resulted from Japan’s desire to sink the American aircraft carriers that had escaped destruction at Pearl Harbor. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, Japanese fleet commander, chose to invade a target relatively close to Pearl Harbor to draw out the American fleet.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
Battle of Stalingrad
he Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad -
Warsaw Ghetto
Shortly after the German invasion of Poland, in September 1939, more than 400,000 Jews in Warsaw, were confined to an area of the city. November 1940, this ghetto was sealed off by brick walls, barbed wire and armed guards, and anyone caught leaving was shot on sight. The Nazis controlled the amount of food that was brought into the ghetto, and disease and starvation killed thousands each month. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
D-Day
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. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Liberation of concentration camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners at the end of the war. On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners.
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724 -
Battle of Iwo Jima
After lots of preparing air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by about 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from a creative network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Even with the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defenders after a month of fighting.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa
The battle of Okinawa, known as Operation Iceberg, took place in April-June 1945. It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. It also resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies.
www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-operation-iceberg.htm -
VE Day
On this day in 1945, 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.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima -
Battle of the Bulge
On December 16, three German armies launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west. It was very poorly roaded, rugged, and heavily forested Ardennes.
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724 -
VJ Day
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” 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.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
