-
Germany Invades Poland
The day 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. After the mid-September Polish defeat in the Battle of the Bzura, the Germans gained an undisputed advantage. Polish forces then withdrew to the southeast. It ended on September 6, 1939. -
Pittsburgh
"Thousands of persons of all faiths, attending the county fair, joined in a peace demonstration as Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany." -
Pittsburgh
"The Pirates played their first night game in Forbes Field." -
France Surrender To Germany
A new government is formed with World War I hero Marshall Petain at its head. On June 17 the aging warrior announces in a broadcast to the French people that “It is with a heavy heart that I tell you today that we must stop fighting.” This is the final straw that breaks the back of the French resistance to the German invasion. The French government calls on the Germans for an armistice that will end the fighting. -
Japenses Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. The next day the United States declared war on Japan resulting in their entry into World War II. -
Pittsburgh
"Pittsburgh was shocked over the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.Between 4 and 7 June 1942. Approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy defeated an Imperial Japanese Navy attack against Midway Atoll, causing irrepairable damage on the Japanese fleet. -
Pittsburgh
"First "blackout" practice took place." -
Pittsburgh
"United Steel Workers' wage policy committee, meeting at William Penn Hotel, accepted a 44-cents-a-day wage increase granted by War Labor Board to employees of "Little Steel" firms." -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The battle's outcome was disastrous for Germany, making its victory in the East impossible. The battle marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies. Contemporaries described the Soviet victory at Stalingrad as salvation of European civilization. The battle of Stalingrad ended on Feburary 2, 1943. -
D Day
At 200 that morning one British and two American airborne divisions were dropped behind the beach. After an intensive air and naval bombardment, assault waves of troops began landing at 630. More than 5,000 ships and 4,000 ship-to-shore craft were employed in the landings. British forces on the left flank and U.S. forces on the right, but U.S. forces in the center met determined opposition. By nightfall they all had Hitler's area cornered. -
Pittsburgh
"In a mass rally outside the East Pittsburgh plant, 20,000 employees of Westinghouse reaffirmed a no-strike pledge for duration of the war." -
Pittsburgh
"A survey showed that war contracts completed to date or underway in Pittsburgh district plants totaled $903,398,644, with $322,000,000 of it delivered to the front lines." -
Allies Liberate (Free) Paris
The liberation started with an uprising by the French Resistance against the German Paris garrison. On 24 August, the French Forces received backup from the Free French Army of Liberation and from the United States' 4th Infantry Division. This battle marked the end of Operation Overlord, the liberation of France by the Allies, the restoration of the French Republic and the exile of the Vichy government to Sigmaringen in Germany. -
Pittsburgh
"Thousands of Monday night Christmas shoppers were stranded Downtown by a 15-inch snowfall; all hotels were filled to capacity and lobbies were pressed into service as shelter; mills, schools, and many other activities were forced to suspend for two days." -
The Battle of the Bulge
Hitler had convinced himself that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was not strong and that a major attack and defeat would break up the alliance. Therefore, he ordered a massive attack against what were primarily American forces. The attack is strictly known as the Ardennes Offensive but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the Allied front line. The battle ended on January 25, 1945. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jiima was a battle in which the United States fought for and captured Iwo Jima from Japan. The U.S. invasion was charged with the mission of capturing the two airfields on Iwo Jima. The battle produced some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific Campaign of World War II. It ended on March 29, 1945. -
Pittsburgh
"Heavy production losses resulted and 25,000 persons in industry were idled by swollen rivers which rose to a crest of 33.4 feet." -
Pittsburgh
"The city and county governments, business, schools, and all other activities were suspended, all churches scheduled special prayer services, and Mayor Scully asked all amusement places to close in mourning for President Franklin D. Roosevelt." -
FDR dies
FDR served for 2 terms and during World War 2. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage (a stroke) (aged 63) while vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia. Truman later became president on that same day and made his exceptance speech. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
The death of Adolf Hitler happened in Berlin, where he committed suicide by gunshot and cyanide poisoning. For many decades, a lack of public information as to the whereabouts of Hitler's remains, confused reports stemming from the "dual method" of suicide and other circumstances surrounding the event stirred rumors that Hitler may have survived the end of World War II. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day commemorates May 8, 1945, the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not until May 9, 1945. -
Pittsburgh
"Dr. Paul R. Anderson, dean of Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, was elected president of Pennsylvania College for Women to succeed Dr. Herbert L. Spencer." -
Pittsburgh
"Councilman George E. Evan, chairman of the Pittsburgh Housing Authority and a pioneer in slum-clearance planning, died at the age of 69." -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945, at 10:47 PM. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date, and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
In the early morning, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from the island of Tinian and headed north by northwest toward Japan. The bomber's primary target was the city of Hiroshima. Hiroshima had a civilian population of almost 300,000 and was an important military center, containing about 43,000 soldiers. -
Pittsburgh
"Russian labor leaders arrived to tour the district's steel mills." -
Pittsburgh
"The city was jubilant over the surrender of Japan." -
VJ Day
It is a name chosen for the day on which Japan surrendered, This effectively ending World War II, and the anniversaries of that event. The term has been applied to both the day on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made in the afternoon of August 15, 1945, in Japan. -
Pittsburgh
"Pittsburgh district industries laid off 7000 workers as the first cancellation of a war contract became effective,"
