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HItler invades Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated ina couple weeks of the invasion. German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border. -
Battle Of the Atlantic
18,00 merchants and seaman killed in this battle. -
Battle of France.
The French government abandoned Paris On June 10, 1940. Italy, run by Fascist Benito Mussolini, soon declared war on France as well as Great Britain on the same day. French general Charles de Gaulle led one of the few armoured counter-attacks that were successful. On June 14th, German troops enetered Paris and then on June 22nd, France and more than 1.5 million soldiers surrendered. -
Battle for Britain
A air campaign by Germany against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940, in order to gain superiority over the Royal Air Force. The name is taken from a speech by Prime Minister Winston Churchill that went “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin…” The Battle was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
On December 7th 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on the US Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbor. This surprise attack brought the US into World War II. -
El Alamein
During the first battle of El Alamein that took place in June of 1942 the Axis power's advances were stopped by the Allied. The second battle of El Alamein commenced in October and broke the German lines which forced the German retreat back to Tunisia. -
Battel of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad took place between August of 1942 and February of 1943 in Stalingrad, Russia. The heavy German losses resulted in a turning point in the war. -
Guadalcanal Campaign
After failure of the Battle of Bataan, MacArthur promised to return to the Philippines, which he did and accepted Japan’s surrender on 2 September 1945 and oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. -
Guadalcanal
In the six month battle of Guadalcanal that started in August of 1942 the US succeeded in driving the Japanese off the island. -
Battle of El Guettar
5,000 casualties, against germany and italy. -
Battle Of Sicily.
9,195
(2,572 killed, 5,946 wounded and 1,012 captured or missing -
MacArthur Returns to the Philippines
After failure of the Battle of Bataan, MacArthur promised to return to the Philippines, which he did and accepted Japan’s surrender on 2 September 1945 and oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. -
D-Day
Allied warships in the English Channel began a massive shelling of the coast of Western Europe. Hitler had hesitated and feared a second, larger invasion. Hitler's force resisted at Omaha beach at Normandy. Inspite of heavy casualities of D-Day, within a week a half million men had come a shore. By late July, the Allied force in France numbered some 2 million troops. -
The Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin was the final major offensive in the European theatre. It led to the collapse of Berlin and to the final surrender of Germany. -
V-E Day
Hitler committed suicide on April 30th, 1945 after the Soviet army had surrounded Berlin. Germany's remaining troops surrendered on May 8, 1945.
