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German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg was a war tactic used, and is used to cause panic among enemy forces. This tactic uses short military campaign, which preserves lives of soldiers and the expenditure of artillery. -
Germany Invading Poland
On this day, Germany invaded Poland and this was officially the start of the WWII. Germany wanted to capture the Polish capital of Warsaw, however it created much backlash and resulted in many countries declaring war on Germany. source: secondworldwarhistory.com -
Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked the US Pacific Fleet on December 7th which resulted in the United States entering the war. Thousands of American soldiers were killed, and this severely damaged the American fleet. The first American POW from WWII was taken from this. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler attempted to split the Allied army, however he did not succeed. He caught the American army off guard but they kept fighting to delay the advance of the Axis Powers. The Allied line took an appearance in a "bulge" to delay the Axis powers, giving the battle the name. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
This lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, and was one of the largest and most extensively planned military attacks. 156,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers landed on 5 beaches in a 50 mile length to attack. Many soldiers died during this attack. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
This American invasion of Japan started the need for an American base near the Japanese coast. The US Marine Division fought against 23,000 Japanese troops and still wiped the Japanese out after a month of fighting. The American losses were 5,900 dead and 17,400 injured. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
The atomic bomb was dropped on August 1st on the city of Hiroshima and the explosion killed almost 90% of the population. 80,000 people were killed and later more people would die from radiation exposure. This was the first time ever an atomic bomb had been deployed on a city. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
In January 1945, Auschwitz was liberated. Liberators saw how brutal the camps really were. They saw the illness and disease of the prisoners and saw thousands of unburied dead bodies. Most of the concentration camps were burnt down. -
Battle of Okinawa
It was the last major battle of World War II and was one of the most bloodiest. Many Japanese soldiers believed that America did not take prisoners and that they were killed on the spot, so many Japanese soldiers took their own lives. 180,000 American soldiers were present to attack Okinawa. -
VJ Day
This was the day Japan declared they were surrendering the war, which ended WWII. This came several months are the surrender of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers dissipated in power. This came in result of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
