-
Japanese Invasion of China
The Japanese invasion of China occurred because the U.S. had cut off the trade of oil and steel from Japan so they were low on essential resources. Japan saw that, if they invaded China successfully, they could take China's resources to make up for the ones held from them by the U.S. The Japanese then proceeded to use a skirmish near Peking as pretext for invading China. -
Rape of Nanking
The Japanese used the Raping of Nanking as a way to break the spirit of the Chinese resistance. They did such by destroying the city of Nanking, killing 150,000 male "war prisoners" as well as an additional 50,000 male civilians, and also raping at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. The Japanese man who ordered for the Raping of Nanking, Matsui, was found guilty of war crimes shortly after the end of WW2 and executed. -
German Blitzkrieg
This tactic by the name of "Lightning Warfare" was used starting during the invasion of Poland in 1939 and ending in 1940. The successful executions by the Germans including their invasions of Poland, Belgium, the Neverlands, and France, resulted in short military campaigns, which preserved human lives and limited the expenditure of artillery. Others who used this tactic in WW2 include Commander Erwin Rommel during his North African campaigns and U.S. General Patton on his European operations. -
German Invasion of Poland
A series of 1,600 German aircrafts invade Poland without formal declaration of war on three fronts- East Germany, East Prussia, and Slovakia. Luftwaffe tactical raids, strategic bombing raids on Warsaw, and German navy blockades in the Baltic Sea helped aid the Germans cause. Poland appealed for British and French intervention under terms of Mutual Assistance Treaties and Britain and France demanded the withdrawal of German forces from Poland while Italy dissociates herself from this conflict. -
The Fall of Paris
General Huntziger, commander of the French 2nd Army, ordered the removal of all anti-tank obstacles from the roads of the Ardennes Forest, on the pretense that their existence was contrary to standing orders. At the outbreak of war, France found herself with too few a number of modern fighters and an obsolete bomber force restricted to flying only at night. The repercussions of the Fall of Paris were incalcuable and lasted far beyond the end of the war which was certain to be tough for France. -
Battle of Britain
Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force (RAF) dogfight in the sky for control, lasting roughly around 15 weeks. Unfortunately for Hitler, the Luftwaffe was lacking in terms of leadership and tactics and of its equipment. Short-range ME 109 fighters, JU 87 stukas (dive bombers), twin-engined ME 110 "destroyers", and poorly-armed long-range medium bombers- none of which had been designed for the counterattacks at the end of the battle. -
Operation Barbarossa
Starting in July, 1941 and ending in January, 1942, Operation Barbarossa was the German invasion of Russia done through devastating air strikes on 66 Russian airfields along the entire front from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Three groups comprised of 120 divs. with 3,200 tanks, and 1,945 aircraft tore through Russia causing the loss of 1,800 planes, 35 of which were German. Russians retaliated with bombing attacks on Constanta, Rumania and Germany formally declared war on the USSR. -
Pearl Harbor
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with 350 bombers, torpedo planes, and zero fighters in two waves from 6 carriers, targetting the U.S. Pacific fleet and air bases. Battleship Arizona explodes and battleships California, Nevada, Oklahoma, and West Virginia sink; Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee damaged and 10 other warships sunk or seriously damaged. 188 U.S. aircraft are destroyed and the Americans lose 2,403 with 1,178 wounded. Japanese lost 55 men and 29 aircrafts. -
Wannsee Conference
The conference commenced in Berlin, Germany where Heydrich outlines Hitler's plans for "Final Solution" pertaining to the Jewish 'problem'.There it was decided that all European and British Jews were to be deported to East Europe to either die from forced labor or to be liquidated in concentration camps. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway lasted from June 4, 1942 until June 7, 1942. The Japaese combined fleet attempts to lure U.S. Pacific Fleet into a trap off Midway Atoll (N.W. of Hawaii) but their complex battle plan completely misfires. Dauntless dive bombers cripple Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu along with two cruisers. Americans lose the carrier Yorktown, one destroyer, and 179 aircraft in battle. -
D-Day
Also known as the "Invasion of Normandy" or "Operation Overlord", this attack commenced at dawn when 50 convoys began landing in 5 divs. of AEF, U.S., British, and Canadian troops on 'Utah', 'Omaha', 'Gold', 'Juno', and 'Sword' beaches. AEF meets slight resistance, except on 'Omaha Beach', where 1st U.S. Inf. DIv. suffers severe losses. Allied AF's fly 14,674 sorties over Normandy and, in the Pacific, three destroyers are sunk by a U.S. submarine. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge lasted from December 16, 1944 through January 25, 1945 and is said to be the bloodiest and most costly battle in WW2 for the Americans. Rundstedt and Model launch surprise counter-offensive into the Ardennes on the weakest sector of Allied line. German troops were able to do so without failure because of the inclement weather and weakly-defended lines. Allied powers prolonged the battle, causing Germans to run low on supplies and are forced to withdrawl because of this. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
-from February 19, 1945 through March 26,1945
4th and 5th American Marine Divs. employed during battle when German garrison of Konigsberg launches desperate counter-attack. The battle was part of a strategy called "island hopping" where, once the U.S. gained an island, they would use it to prepare for the next invasion. Nearly all Japanese troops placed on Iwo Jima were killed while only 7,000 American troops lost their lives. The capture of Iwo Jima allowed the U.S. to breech Japan's defenses. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa took place from April 1, 1945 through June 22, 1945 and was part of a three-point plan the Americans had for winning the war in the Far East. The Americans wanted the territorial re-conquest of land in the Far East, wished to destroy what was left of merchant fleet, and used airships in the region to launch bombing raids on Japan's industrial heartland. For invasion, Americans had gathered together 300 warships and 1,139 other ships. Americans lost 7,373 and 32,056 wounded. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they encountered tens of thousands of concentration camps with prisoners suffering from starvation and disease. Soviets overran countless camps such as Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka in the summer of 1944. They liberated Auschwitz in January 1945; Buchenwald in April 1945; and others like Flossenburg, Mauthausen, and Dachau. -
VE Day
This day marks the victory of the Allies in WW2! The Allies cross the Rhine after having smashed through the strongly fortified Siegfriend Line and overran West Germany. German collapse came after the meeting of the Western and Russian armies at Torgau in Saxony, and after Hitler's suicide amid the ruins of Berlin. The unconditional surrender of Germany was signed at Rheims on May 7 and ratified at Berlin on May 8, 1945. -
Potsdam Declaration
Issued by U.S. President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and President Chiang Kai-Shek of the Republic of China. These leaders demanded immediate and unconditional surrender of Japan and threaten "prompt and utter destruction" of Japanese homeland. -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
American B-29 bomber drops the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima which wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000; tens of thousands more would later die from radiation exposure. Three days later, on August 9, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people and Japan's emperor Hirohito announced the country's unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945. -
VJ Day
"Victory over Japan Day" which can be celebrated on either August 15 or September 2. This is the day when Japan's formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. -
Nuremburg Trials
Commencing from November 20, 1945 through October 1, 1946, the Nuremburg Trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Germany held for the purpose of bringing Nazi criminals to justice. Defendants, including the Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers, and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and humanity. Hitler, who committed suicide, was never brought to trial.
