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Japanese invasion of china
China started to resist as Japan wanted to expand its influence across China's territory.To shed the nationalist government Chain Kai Shek, Japan took control of large areas in Eastern China, 1937.China had help from all Britain, US, and France. Lots of Chinese got killed because of the bombing of the cities by the Japanese air force. By the end of the war, an estimated 10-20 million Chinese were dead.
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/sino-japanese-war www.britannica.com/ -
Germany's invasion of Poland http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland
1.5million German troops invaded Poland at its border.At the same time,the German air force bombed Polish airfields.Hitler declared that the whole invasion is a defensive attack,however Britain and France were't convinced.In addition, Hitler thought that with the conquest of Poland,he'll bring more living space.To balanceout the opportunity that USSR will help Poland,Germany signed the nonaggression pact with them.The enemies decided to give out the land between them. -
German Blitzkrieg(1939-1940)
A blitzkrieg is a tactic used at war, a surprise attack, to disorganize enemy forces. Germans used it first on Poland before declaring the successfulness of the tactic.Then it was later tried on Belgium, Netherlands, and France and it was successful.It's accomplishment rose in maintaing humans lives. Usually most of the blitzkriegs are successful, therefore it made expansion and taking over of countries or colonies possible and much easier.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris/France part 2
The Germans quickly overwhelmed Dutch forces, and the bombing of Rotterdam persuaded the Netherlands to surrender on 15 May.French second-rate divisions in the area weren't prepared to deal with the major armored thrust that developed.4 days passed, German troops crossed the Meuse river, and the Germans had broken through the French lines.Attempts by the Allies to harm were failed.
http://www.history.co.uk/ -
Fall of Paris/France (1940)
By May 1940, Europe had been at war for 9 months. However, Britain and France, despite having declared war on Germany in September 1939 following Hitler’s attack on Poland, had seen little real fighting.The German plan of attack, named Case Yellow, required an armored offensive through the Ardennes Forest, which bypassed the strong French frontier defenses of the Maginot Line.
It lasted from May 1940 till June 1945. -
Operation Barbarossa http://www.history.co.uk
Largest military operation.Germany invaded the Soviet Union, planning took 1 year before,the germans believed that USSR were weak.The soviet union wasn't prepared.Stalin didn't believe that an invasion is being prepared.It had 3 primary objectives;the Baltic states and Leningrad in the north,Moscow in the centre, and the economic resources of the Ukraine and southern Russia in the south.Led to a division of focus for Hitler and his generals.At the end,the Germans failed to land a decisive blow. -
Pearl Harbor
Japanese fighter planes stroke the American naval base. The bombardment lasted for 2 hours but it was devastating.The Japanese destroyed about 20 American naval vessels,which included 8 huge battleships,and more than 300 planes.More than 2000 American soldiers and sailors died, and 1000 were wounded.The day after Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan,it was approved.3 days later Germany and Italy declare war on the US.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Bataan Death March part 2
The surrendered Filipinos and Americans were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march some 65 miles. The men were divided into groups of 100, and what became known as the Bataan Death March typically took each group around five days to complete. Thousands of troops died because of the cruelty of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. -
Battan Death March (1942)
After the April 9,1942,US surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during WW2.It began after Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.About 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps.The marchers were treated harshly by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Bataan Death March part 3
Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands died due to diseases, mistreatment and starvation. After the war, an American military tribunal tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines. He was responsible for the death march which's a war crime, and was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.
http://www.history.com/ -
Battle of Midway (1942)
US defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of WW2, they were able to prevent counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers.It was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, and the victory allowed the US and its allies to move into an offensive position.It lasted for 3 days;ended on the 6th. -
Battle of Midway part 2
Japanese fleet commander, chose to invade a target relatively close to Pearl Harbor to draw out the American fleet.However Nimitz placed available US carriers in position to surprise the Japanese moving up for their preparatory air strikes on Midway Island itself.Japan had lost trained mechanics and aircraft ground crews who went down with the ships.Some saw Midway as the turning point in the Pacific theater of the war,while others view it as a cusp in the war.
http://www.history.com/ -
Battle of Stalingrad (1942)
The Battle of Stalingrad was from July 17 1942 till Feb 2 1943.It was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the USSR.It ceased the German advance into the SU and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. It's considered to be one of the bloodiest battles in history, with nearly 2 million casualties.During the battle Soviet forces surrounded and crushed an entire German army. http://www.history.com/ -
Battle of Stalingrad part 2
In following days the invaders fought their way into Stalingrad against fierce resistance,and both sides had tremendous losses. Germany were ordered to hold their ground at all costs. As winter set in,the freezing and starving Germans in Stalingrad were forbidden to try to reach their would be rescuers.On February 2, General Paulus surrendered what remained of his army. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad was a great humiliation for Hitler,on the other hand Stalin gained confidence in his military. -
Manhattan Project (1942) www.britannica.com
It was a US govt research,where the first atomic bomb was developed.There was only one way for the production of the fissionable material plutonium239.It was developed at the metallurgic laboratory of the University of Chicago, it involved the transmutation in a reactor pile of uranium-238.It requires the construction of a reactor of great size and power.In December 1942 Fermi at last succeeds in producing and even controlling a fission chain reaction in this reactor at Chicago.It ended on 1945 -
Operation Gomorrah (1943) http://www.history.com/
Britain had 167 deaths as a result of Germans bombing raid.A British aircraft dropped a 2300 ton of incendiary bombs on Hamburg,more than1500 Germans were killed in that first British raid.Britain only lost 12 aircrafts.British attacks on Hamburg continued.Operation Gomorrah showed devastating to Hamburg.17000 bomber sorties dropped more than 9,000 tons of explosives.More than 30000 were killed,280000 buildings destroyed.The effect on Hitler was significant,refused to visit the burned-out cities -
D-day (Normandy Invasion-1944) history.com
It resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.It's he day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II.There was 156,000 American,British,and Canadian forces along the beach.Normandy landings is called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. Hitler's refusal to surrender to the Allies led to "Operation Overlord".
ushistory.org -
Battle of the Bulge, part 2
Lt. Patton’s cleaver plan of turning the Army ninety degrees from Lorraine was the key to stopping the German counteroffensive. It lasted for almost 2 years, and it was the turning point
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Battle of the Bulge (1945)
Hitler attempted to split the allies in NW Europe by another blitz attack through Ardennes to Antwerp. In Ardennes the Allied took the shape of a large bulge, to secure vital bridgehead. Lt. Patton’s maneuver proved vital to the defense, neutralizing the German counteroffensive despite big casualties. On 16 Dec the Germans launched the biggest and deadliest attack in Ardennes.
German shortage of fuel proofed fatal to German victory. -
Operation Thunderclap part 2
Dresden,in the east of Germany,they received very little bombing so far. Maybe because the Allies wanted to keep one undamaged city as a new administrative centre when they occupied Germany. Unlike most other German cities the air raid precautions and the range of air raid shelters available was relatively poor.
http://ww2today.com/13-february-1945-operation-thunderclap-raf-start-firestorm-in-dresden -
Operation Thunderclap
It was an under discussion for a cancelled operation with the Allied Command.The plan was to bomb the east,mostly cities of Germany to disrupt the transport infrastructure.Also to show the German people that the air defenses of Germany were now of little substance and that the Nazi regime had failed them.Churchill promised to increase the Soviet force's support,moving west to Germany.The priority for Thunderclap moved up the timetable of bombing. -
Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)
The invasion of Iwo Jima stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast.3 US marine divisions landed on the island,Iwo Jima was defended by almost 23000 Japanese army and navy troops.The marines wiped out the defending forces and the battle earned a place in American lore,US flags were raised for victory.The battle was marked by changes in Japanese defense tactics.Japanese fought from pace that were difficult to find and destroy.Americans had 5,900 deaths and 17,400 wounded.history.com -
Battle of Okinawa (1945)
It involved the 287,000 troops of the US Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army.By the end of the campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties.The Japanese navy and army mounted mass air attacks by planes on one way suicide missions.The attack was so determined that Allied forces perhaps faced their most difficult Pacific campaign.
www.history.com/ -
VE Day (1945) www.history.com/
VE Day which stands for Victory in Europe.Is the day when German troops throughout Europe laid down their arms.The main concern of many German soldiers was to avoid the grasp of Soviet forces,to keep from being taken prisoner.The Russians took about 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender. While 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Britain.The next day the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. -
Potsdam Declaration
A day after the bombing of Nagasaki,Japan submits its acceptance to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Truman orders a stop to atomic bombing.Hirohito has remained detached from the daily decisions of prosecuting the war.The emperor ordered a special meeting of the Council and implored them to consider accepting the terms of the Potsdam Conference, which meant unconditional surrender.The Council had been split.At last it was it was agreed,Japan would surrender. -
Potsdam Declaration part 2
Tokyo released a message that accepted the Potsdam Declaration but included the proviso that “said Declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as sovereign ruler.” Negotiations between Washington and Tokyo proceeded.While, savage fighting continued between Japan and the Soviet Union in Manchuria.
http://www.history.com/ -
Dropping of the atomic bombs (1945)
On August 6,an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the bomb was called "Little Boy".It wiped out 90 percent of the city,automatically 80,000 people were killed.Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, and it was nicknamed "Fat Man”, and it was more powerful than that of Hiroshima. About 40,000 people got killed.Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender in World War II.
www.history.com -
VJ Day (1945)
On July 26th, The Potsdam Declaration called for Japan to surrender, and offered a peaceful government, otherwise they had to face the consequences. Japan turned down the declaration, therefore on August 6 the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima ,3 days after, another bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on August 15. On August 14, Truman announced the surrender of Japan, and declared this day as VictoryOver Japan Day(VJ Day).
www.history.com/
