-
Japanese invasion of China
In 1937 Japan invaded China, because they felt they needed to expand their terirory. They took over Manchuria, and then they moved onto the rest of China. The US decided to cut off supplies to the Japanese by imposing economic sacntions on Japan. As a result Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
This is how Germany started WWII. Britian and France responded by declaring war on Germany. After one month, Polan was deafeated by a combo of German and Russian soliders. Germany invaded Poland because, it was apart of the non-aggression pact. Russia and Germany would each get half of Poland. They used 2,000 tanks, and 1,000 airplanes. The Germans bombed Poland, and took over. -
German Blitzkrieg
The Blitz started out with mass bombing on London, Britain. This was a new tactic that the Germans came up with, to try and take over England. In the First Two days Germans had killed a total of 442 people. By th end of all the bombing 60,000 civilans had died. Until half-way through WW II more women and children in Britian had been killed than soliders. -
Fall of Paris
The Germans started to invade Paris. France desperately asked Franklin Roosevelt for help. He refused, so 2 million people fled Paris. Many people coldn't get out so they became trapped. The United States froze the assets of the Axis Powers. -
Operation Barbarossa
It was a plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union. The goal was to capture Moscow. German forced split into three groups. One group went to the north, another the south, and one right in the middle. Lots of Germans died. Troops started to freeze to death because it became too cold. Over 150,000 German troops had died by the end of the operation. Hitler wouldn't let the troops back down. FInally, they surrender and were put in Siberia. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet. It severly damaged the American fleet. The Japanese did this to prevent the USA from entering the war. One effect is the Americans delcraed War on the Japanese. Another effect was that Germany declared war on the USA , so they declared war on them also. -
Wannsee Conference
It was a meeting to consider what to do with the large amount of inmates in Gemany's concentration camps. They talked about Jews living in countries that the Nazis did and didn't occupy. After much dicussion, they decided to exterminate the Jews. They changed conccentration camps to exterimation camps. 18 million Jews were sent to the camps. -
Bataan Death March
American and Filipino troops were captured on the Bataan Penisula. There were 75,000 troops caputred. THey had to march 85 miles in six days, with only one meal of rice during the whole journey. About 10,000 men died. -
Battle of Midway
It was one of the most decivise victrories against Japan. It was a four day air and sea battle. Four aircraft carriers were destoryed.Japan tried to fake out the US by going to attack Alaksa, but really attacking Honolulu. The US cracked the code and ambushed the Japanese. This destroyed Japan's naval might. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Hitler ordered the 6th army to take Stalingrad in the South. They attack Stalingrad thinking it would only take ten days. But the Russians wouldn't give up. A month later, they launched a counter attack. It involved 500,000 soviet troops, 900 tanks, and 1,400 aircraft. With in three days, the entire German forced was captured. Lots of German forces were lost. It turned the tide of war between Garmany and the Soviet Union. -
Operation Gomorrrah
British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany. They dropped over 2,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. The British lost only 12 aircraft during this raid. This led to more countries bombing Germany, The USA joined in and they didn't stop until November. Hitler refused to look at the cities that were bombed. This kinda led to Germany's retreat from attacking Britian -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The USA drew up a plan to invade five beaches in northern France. The goal was to desroy German communications. D-day was the largest invasion ever. There was 156,000 men on a fron of 30 miles. The US, Canada, and Britian used airforce and groundforce to attack to Germans. The result was that France became liberated. -
Battle of the Bulge
The battle was the largest and bloodest batte fought by the US in WW II. Eisenhower commanded the US military to attck the "bulge". This was to prevent the swelling of German forces. It gave them operational control in the North. It also depleted Germanys war making resources. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
The Soviets liberated the camp. They found about 7,600 sick detainees who had been left behind. They also found mounds of corpses. According to the estimates, 1.5 million people a majority of them Jewish, who died at Auschwitz. The remaining were freeded and sent home. -
Operation Thunderclap
Arthur Harris devised the operation. It was an air raid to break they morale of the German people. The target was Dresden, a medieval city. They sent 773 bombers to attack the city. The result was death of about 135,000 people. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The main objective of the caputure of the island was to capture the airstrip and airbase. There was strong resistance from the Japanese. Over 250,00 men and 900 ships attacked Iwo Jima. Of the 23,000 Japanses, only 261 were taken alive. Iwo Jima was the perfect location to launch bombing attacks on Japan. -
Battle of Okinawa
After Iwo Jima, the USA decided to move on to Okinawa. More allied foreces bacame to the battle. Okinawa offered excellant harbor, and a perfect base to attack Japan. The USA could attack the Japanese more. -
VE Day
On this day the German troops surreneder to the Soviets. Great Britian and the United States celebrated this victory also. The British POWs were sent back home. This marked the end of the war in Europe. -
Dropping of the Atomic bombs
The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The first was dropped on Hiroshima, the second on Nagaski.120,000 people died from the bombs. On August 15, Japan surrendered. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan day. On August 14 it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally. It offically happened on September 2 1945. The Japanses formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri. This effectively ended the war.
