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Japanese invasion of China
In 1937, fighting between the Japanese and Chinese along the frontier lines led to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. This was the second war between China and Japan. The Japanese quickly captured most Chinese ports and industries, but the Chinese still did not give up. In December of 1937, Japanese troops slaughtered 300,000 Chinese civilians and raped 80,000 women. After this violent of a war, 10 to 20 million Chinese Civilians were killed. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German term for "lightning war." Blitzkrieg is a military tactic to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. German forces triet Blitzkirieg in Poland in 1939, before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Germay's invasion of Poland
On September 1,1939, 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland. On September 3, Poland declared war on Germany, which was the start of World War II. By September 8, German forces had reached the outskirts of Warsaw, which means they advanced 140 miles in just the first week of the invasion. On September 17, Soviet forces invaded from the east, and all hope was lost. On September 28, the Warsaw Garrison surrendered to the relentless German siege. -
Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler sent his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion covered a distance of over two thousand miles. Barbarossa was the major turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war. -
Wannsee Conference
In July 1941, the agenda was very simple and focused. They were to devise a plan that would render a final solution to the Jewish plan. Months later, the "gas vans" in Poland were killing 1,000 people a day. This was proved to be the "solution" that they were looking for. -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor near Hawaii. This extremly devestating attack lasted 2 hours. The Japanese destroyed 20 naval vessles in these two hours, including almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,00 Americans were killed in the attacks and 1,000 were attacked. The day after the attack, the United States declared war on Japan. -
Operation Gomorrah
Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn. The evening of July 24 saw British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. The explosive power was the equivalent of what German bombers had dropped on London in their five most destructive raids. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. -
D-Day
On this day 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50 mile stretch of France. By late August, all of northern france had been liberated. This was the beginning of war in Europe. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the code for a canceled operation planned in August 1944. The plan was reconsidered in early 1945, to be implemented in coordination with a Soviet advance, but was again was rejected as impractical, and instead a number of coordinated smaller attacks against cities in the communications zone of the Eastern Front through which key routes to the east converged, were chosen. -
Battle of the Bulge
In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe. aught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name.
