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Germany's Invasion of Poland
On this day in 1939, German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. -
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German Blitzkrieg
The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. This was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy’s air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. This strategy completely annihilated Poland, and allowed for the swift take over of Germany -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. -
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Battle of Stalingard
The Battle of Stalingrad was the most major confrontation of World War II in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. -
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Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II. -
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
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Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. -
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Battle of Imo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. -
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Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, code-named Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. -
Victory in Europe Day (VE Day)
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6, 1945 the US dropped an atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima in Japan. Three days later a second atomic bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. These are the only occasions nuclear weapons have ever been used in war. -
Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day)
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war.
