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Germany's Invasion of Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air. Adolf Hitler wanted to regain lost territory and gain rule Poland. Poland had 1 million soldiers. Polish forces were very under-equipped and tried to take the Germans head-on in a forward concentration, rather than falling back to more normal defensive positions. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-invades-poland -
German Blitzkrieg
Germany tested the tactic in the Spanish Civil War in 1938 & then in 1939 against Poland. The tactics of the Germans was to split a narrow front by combat groups using tanks, diving bombers, & motorized artillery to disrupt the enemy position. The tactics were economical of lives & material for the attackers & because of the speed & short length of the campaign & the victims. The use of mobility, shock, and local firepower in a well coordinated attack. http://www.britannica.com/topic/blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris
German had planned an attacked with a code name of Case Yellow with included an armored offense through the Ardennes Forest that bypassed the French frontier of the Maginot line. This would threatened to encircle French and British to the north. The Dutch forces were overwhelmed by the Germans and in the north French and Belgian were resisting but the Ardennes was a tremendous success for Germans. http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/fall-of-france -
Operation Barbossa
Nazi Germany & its Axis allies began an invasion of the Soviet Union. Within 1 week German forces advanced 200 miles into Soviet territories & destroyed 4,000 aircraft, killed, captured, or wounded about 600,000 Red Army troops. It's one of the deadliest military operations in history, Germany suffered about 775,000 casualties & more than 800,000 Soviets were killed & 6 million were wounded or captured. http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/07/world-war-ii-operation-barbarossa/100112/ -
Pearl Harbor
Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base near Hawaii. It lasted two hours, but Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including 8 big battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. Over 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and 1,000 were wounded. President FDR procceeded to ask Congress to declare war on Japan & was approved, 3 days later Germany and Italy also declared war on the US. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
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Battle of Stalingrad
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Bataan Death March
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Battle of Midway
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Operation Gomorrah
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Allied Invasion of Italy
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D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
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Operation Thunderclap
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Battle of Iwo Jima
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Battle of Okinawa
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VE Day
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Postsdam Declaration
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Dropping of the atomic bombs
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VJ Day
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Battle of the Bulge
