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Nazi invasion of Poland
The morning after the Gleiwitz incident, German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west. As the Germans advanced, Polish forces withdrew from their forward bases of operation close to the Polish-German border to more established lines of defence to the east. -
Period: to
Worl War II
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Germany invades France, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg
In a flanking move that made the French Maginot Line irrelevant, the Germans attacked the low countries. The Netherlands surrendered in four days, after massive German attacks on Rotterdam.The Germans quickly drove into Northern France, dividing the French and British forces into two. -
Germany invades Russia
Germany tried to invade and take over Moscow, Russia; however, the dropping temperature and the massive Russian army stopped Hitler and the Nazis from actually reaching Moscow. The failed atempt to invade Moscow was a turning point in the war. -
Japan attack Pearl Harbor
The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 men were killed and 1,282 wounded. -
Doolittle's Raid: US bombs Tokyo
The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle. The attack demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . -
P-51 fighters provide all-the-way long range escort to bombers over Germany
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range single-seat World War II fighter aircraft. Designed and built in just 117 days to a specification issued to NAA by the British Purchasing Commission, the Mustang first flew in Royal Air Force (RAF) service as a fighter-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft before conversion to a bomber escort, employed in raids over Germany, helping ensure Allied air superiority from early 1944. -
Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of western allies forces
Dwight Eisenhower was the Allies Supreme Commander in the lead up to D-Day and in the actual landings in Normandy. He commanded the Allied forces in the last great counter-attack by the Germans in World War Two – the Battle of the Bulge. Eisenhower was one of the most important generals of World War Two and one who went on to greater success as president of America from 1953 to 1961. -
The Russians liberate the Auschwitz death camp
On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops, a day commemorated around the world as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. -
Germany surrenders. War in Europe is over.
Allied armies closed in on Germany from all directions. There was no possible way the Axis powers could still win WWII. Late in April the head of the Gestapo and German home guard tried to barter a peace agreement with Great Britain and the United States. The Allies demanded that the Germans surrender. On April 25 U.S. troops joined forces with the Russian Red Army. Italians captured and killed Mussolini three days later. German forces in Italy surrendered on May 2. -
The first atomic bomb dropped on Japan
At 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Forces dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima.