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Japanese invasion of China
Japanese Invasion The Japanese invasion of China was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan before and during World War 2. It's the largest Asian War in the twentieth century and the invasion was condemed and declared illegal by the League of Nations. All imperial powers including those who censured Japan's actions as immoral, have committed crimes against humanity. -
Rape of Nanking
Rape of Nanking Members of the Chinese Army had their hands tied behind their backs and led en mass killing fields where gruesome things happened to them. Thousands buried still alive. Thousands of women were repeatedly forced into brutal sex and often murdered once the lust of their attackers had been satisfied. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
Germany's Invasion Nazi S.S troops wearing Polish uniforms staged a phony invasion on Germany, damaging several minior installments on the German side of the border. They also left behind a handful of dead concentration camp prisoners in Polish uniforms to severe as further evidence of the supposed Polish invasion. At 4:45 a.m. on September 1st, the invasion had began. By September 3rd Germany needed to withdrawl or face war. -
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German Blitzkrieg
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German Blitzkrieg
German BlitzkriegGerman forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. The term blitzkrieg was never used in the title of a German military manual or handbook. The word was used in the Wehrmacht during World War 2. It wasnt until September 25th, 1939 it was known in the Times Magazine. -
Fall Of Paris
Fall of Paris On June 10th, Italy opportunistically entered the war on Germany's side. Four days later the French capital fell provoking the flight of the French Government to Bordeaux. The Government capitulated on June 25th, just seven weeks after the beginning of the invasion. The British 51st Highland Division- stationed in the Maginot Line when the fighting started, was forced to surrender at St. Valery. British troops and crew on the Atlantic coast were sunk with the loss of around 4,000 refugees. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Just before 8 a.m. on December 7th, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, and more than 300 airplanes. 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died and 1,000 wounded. The day after President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's Second incommand of the SS, convened the Wannsee Conference in Berlin with 15 top Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe. "Eliminated by natural causes"- combination of hard labor and starvation. As a result, deaths are by gassing of "special treatment" and "special actions" regarding the Jews. -
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March The Japanese began to march some 76,000 prisioners northward to captivity along a route of death. Many prisoners were bayoneted, shot, beheaded or just left to die on the side of the road. After the war, the finger of blame pointed to General Masaharu Homma, a commander of the Japanese troops in the Philippines. Tried for war crimes, he was convicted and executed by a firing squad on April 3rd, 1946. -
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway The Japanese fighters were drawn down to sea level by attacking American torpedo bombers, the vast majority to which were destroyed. That afternoon American aircraft caught the Hiryu, inflicting serious damage. The Japanese fleet retreated. The one- day battle reversed the tide of war in the Pacific, six months after Pearl Harbor. From that point on, Japan would be on the defensive. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler announced that the ghetto was to be emptied of its residents in honor of Hitler's birthday the following day, and more that 1,000 S.S. soldiers entered the confines with tanks and heavy artillery. Tousands were slaughtered as the Germans systematically progressed down the ghettos, blowing up buildings one by one. By May 16th, the ghetto was firmly under Nazi control, and mass deportation of the last warsaw Jews to Treblinka began. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
Allied Invasion of Italy Montgomery's 8th Army began its invasion of the Italian mainland and the Italian government agreed to surrender to the Allies. By the terms of agreement, the Italians would be treated with leniency if they aided the Allies in expelling the Germans from Italy. In April 1945, a new major offensive began, and on April 28th, Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and summarily executed German forces in Italy surrendered on May 1st, and six days later all of Germany surrendered. -
D- Day (Normandy Invasion)
D-Day Normandy Invasion Some 156,000 American, British and Candian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. Less than a week later, the beaches, were fully secured and over 326,000 troops, and then some had landed at Normandy. By the end of August, Paris was liberated and the Germans had been removed from Northwestern France. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap First bombs were released over Dresden st 22:14 with all but one bomber releasing all thier bombs within two minutes. Later on Febuary 14th, "311 American B-17s dropped tons of bombs on Dresden, with the railway yards as their aiming point." Out of 28,410 houses in the inner city of Dresden, 24,866 were destroyed. The main railway was destroyed but working again in a few days. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installments. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. Except for 1,083 prisoners the entire garrison was wiped out. American losses included 5,900 dead and 17,400 wounded. -
Battle of Okinawa
Battle of OkinawaAt stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82- day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualities, including 14,000 dead, U.S. losses inground combat included 7,374 killed, 31,807 wounded, and 239 missing in action. The navy suffered 4,907 killed or missing aboard 34 ships sunk and 368 damaged, 763 aircraft were lost. -
VE Day
VE Day On this day in 1945, both Great Britian and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the west when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. More than 13,000 British POW's were released and sent back to Great Britian. The war is finally over. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Liberation of Concentration Camps The Americans were responsible for liberating Buchenwald and Dachau, while British forces entered Bergen- Belsen. Allied troops, physicians, and relief workers tried to provide nourishment for the surviving prisoners. The camp staff sets fire to the large crematorium at Majdanek, but because of the hasty evacutation the gas chambers are left standing. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
Atomic Bombs American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War 2. People were being killed weeks after from wounds and radiation poisoning. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender. By 1949, the Soviets had developed thier own atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race began. -
VJ Day
VJ Day "Victory over Japan Day" On August 14th, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War 2. On September 2nd, 1945, Japan's formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan's capulation in the Pacifc brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close. -
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of Bulge Three German armies launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west in the poorly roaded, rugged, heavily forested Ardennes. The Battle of Bulge was the costliest action ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 casualities.
