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Key Battles and Events of WW2

By GOO0005
  • Germany invades Poland

    Germany invades Poland
    On September the 1st 1939 Germany Invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within a few weeks. After heavy shelling and bombing Warsaw surrendered on September 27th 1939.
  • britain and France declare war on Germany

    britain and France declare war on Germany
    On the 3rd of September 1939 Britain and France declare war on Germany after finding out that Hitler had lied about stopping his territory gain and had invaded Poland.
  • Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain

    Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
    Near the beginning of World War 2 Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty just after the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.
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    Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)

    The Evacuation of Dunkirk or Operation Dynamo was the evacuation of allied troops from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France.
  • Italy enters war on side of Axis powers

    Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
    On the 10th of June Italy joins the war on the side of the Axis powers.
  • France signs armistice with Germany

    France signs armistice with Germany
    France signed the armistice with Germany on the 22nd of June 1940 in the Compiegne Forest.
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    Battle of Britain

    From the 10th of July to the 31st of October 1940 British and German airforces clashed in the skies above the UK. The battle ended when Germany's Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority.
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    Operation Sea Lion

    Operation Sea Lion was a Nazi German code name for a provisionally proposed invasion of the United Kingdom that was to happen at roughly the same time as the Battle of Britain.
  • Tripartite Pact signed

    Tripartite Pact signed
    On the 27th of September 1940 Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact in Berlin becoming allies.
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    Siege of Tobruk

    The Siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days and begun after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila during Operation Sonnenblume against the British Western Desert Force in Libya.
  • Operation Barbarossa

    Operation Barbarossa
    Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union which began on the 22nd of June 1941.
  • Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Bombing of Pearl Harbor
    Pearl Harbor was bombed on the 7th of December 1941. President Franklin Roosevelt called "a date which will live in infamy." On this day Japanese planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor killing more than 2300 Americans and causing America to join the war.
  • Britain and US declare war on Japan

    Britain and US declare war on Japan
    On the 8th of December 1941, a day after the Pearl Harbor bombing America declares war against Japan
  • Japan take Singapore

    Japan take Singapore
    On the 15th of February 1942 Singapore falls to Japan. 5000 Japanese troops landed on Singapore Island. The British were both outmanned and outgunned.
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    Battle of Midway

    Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US defeats Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War 2.
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    First Battle of El Alamein

    The First Battle of El Alamein was fought in Egypt between Axis forces (Italy and Nazi Germany) and Allied forces (Britain, British India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.) The British stopped a second advance by Axis forces into Egypt.
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    Battle of Stalingrad

    The Battle of Stalingrad was a successful Soviet defense of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R during the Second World War.It stopped the advance of Germman forces into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of the war in favor of the Allies.
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    Second Battle of El Alamein

    The Second Battle of El Alamein took place near the Egyptian railway. The second battle was won by the Allies and marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign.
  • D-Day Landings

    D-Day Landings
    During the Second World War, a battle known as the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June of 1944 to August of the same year, resulted in the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control. The battle buggon on the 6th of June and is refered to as the D-Day Landings.
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    Battle of the Bulge

    The battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign that was launched on the 16th of December and ended on the 25th of January 1945.
  • Mussolini captured and executed

    Mussolini captured and executed
    Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator was executed on the 28th of April 1945 in the final months of the Second World War.
  • Hitler commits suicide

    Hitler commits suicide
    On the 30th of April 1945, Adolf Hitler commited suicide in his underground bunker. Hitler and his wife Eva Braun who he had married only 2 days before their double suicide swallowed cyanide capsules and for good measure, Hitler shot himself with his service pistol.
  • German forces surrender

    German forces surrender
    On the 7th of May 1945, Germany surrenders to Allied forces after years of fighting and suffering.
  • V.E day

    V.E day
    V.E day also known as Victory in Europe Day or simply V Day was the public holiday celebrated on the 8th of May 1945, which marked the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
  • Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

    Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
    On the 6th of August 1945, an atomic bomb named 'Little Boy' was dropped on Hiroshima. President Harry S. Truman ordered that an atomic bomb be used to end the war as quickly as possible after being warned by some of his advisers that if Japan attempted to inade America there would be lots of American casualties.
  • Soviet Union declares war on Japan

    Soviet Union declares war on Japan
    On the 8th of August 1945, the Soviet foreign minister Molotov informed the Japanese ambassador Sato that the S.U declared war on Japan and that from the next day the Soviet Government would consider itself at war.
  • Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

    Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
    On the 9th of August 1945, only 3 days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki was nuked by a similar bomb to 'Little Boy' known as 'Fat Man.'The president of America, Harry S. Truman called for Japans surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." This was called on the 6th of August before the bomb was dropped.
  • Japanese surrender - End of WW2

    Japanese surrender - End of WW2
    The surrender of Japan was announced and formally signed on the 2nd of September 1945, ending the Second World War.
  • United Nations is born

    United Nations is born
    On the 24th of October 1945, the United Nations is born. It consisted of/consists of 50 nation representatives, including 9 European, 21 North, Central, and South American, 7 Middle Eastern, 5 British Commonwealth, 2 Soviet, 2 East Asian and 3 African.