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The Occupation of Poland
By the end of September, the Germans and Russians had occupied Poland. (Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and by the Soviet Union on 17 September). It consisted of rapid thrusts by motorized divisions and tanks supported by airpower.
When the Russians invaded eastern Poland, resistance collapsed. On 29 September Poland was divided up between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
U-boat Attacks
The first shots on the Atlantic were fired just hours after Britain formally declared war on Germany. Off the coast of Ireland, a German submarine, U-30, torpedoed the SS Athenia, a passenger ship en route to Montréal with more than 1,400 passengers and crew on board; 112 people were killed, including four Canadians.
The battle for control of the key shipping routes between Europe and North America had begun. -
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Battle of the Atlantic
World War II's longest continuous campaign takes place, with the Allies striking a naval blockade against Germany and igniting a struggle for control of Atlantic Ocean sea routes. The Axis, with its U-boats, responds with a counter-blockade that is at first successful, but the Allies' use of convoys, aircraft and technology eventually turns the tide. Over five years, thousands of ships engage in 100-plus battles in the Atlantic Ocean with approximately 100,000 lives lost -
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The "Phoney War"
Britain and France had signed military assistance treaties with Poland and two days after the German Invasion of Poland (on 1 September 1939), both declared war against Nazi Germany. However, neither country mounted significant offensive operations and for several months no major engagements occurred in what became known as the Phoney War or "Twilight War". -
Canada Joins the Battle
Canada declared war on Germany a week later, on 10 September 1939. Immediately, Canada’s navy, merchant marine and air force were thrust into the Battle of the Atlantic.
Canada’s role was primarily to escort duty for the hundreds of convoys that gathered in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, for the treacherous journey across the Atlantic. -
Fall of Norway
German troops invaded the country and quickly occupied Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, and Narvik. The Norwegian government rejected the German ultimatum regarding immediate capitulation. The Norwegian Army, which received help from an Allied expeditionary force, was unable to resist the superior German troops, however. After three weeks the war was abandoned in southern Norway. -
Attacks on Holland, Belgium and France.
The so-called “phoney war” ended decisively when Nazi Germany attacks Holland, Belgium and France were launched simultaneously on 10 May, and again Blitzkrieg methods brought swift victories
In the face of such a coordinated strategy, superior air power and highly mobile ground forces supported by Panzer tanks, all three countries would succumb quickly: The Germans occupied Luxembourg on May 10, the Netherlands on May 14 and Belgium by the end of the month. -
Operation Dynamo
By May 19, General John Gort, commander of the British Expeditionary Force had begun to weigh the possibility of evacuating his entire force by the sea to save them from certain annihilation by the approaching Nazi troops.
Some 800 to 1,200 boats, many of them leisure or fishing crafts, eventually aided in the evacuation from Dunkirk.
On May 29, more than 47,000 British troops were rescued; more than 53,000, including the first French troops, made it out on May 30. -
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Battle of Dunkirk
A German invasion around the French coastal town of Dunkirk separates the French and British armies, marooning Allied forces. But with Adolf Hitler halting Germany's advance there, the Allies are able to perform a daring—and successful—evacuation, called Operation Dynamo. Germany claims victory with remaining Allied troops surrendering, but the evacuation serves to boost British morale, still referred to as the "Dunkirk spirit." -
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Western Desert Campaign
In February he sent Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps to Tripoli, and together with the Italians, they drove the British out of Libya. After much advancing and retreating, by June 1942 the Germans were in Egypt approaching El Alamein, only 70 miles from Alexandria -
Fall of France
Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening as German troops enter and occupy Paris.
The Germans occupied northern France and the Atlantic coast, giving them valuable submarine bases, and the French army was demobilized. Unoccupied France was allowed its own government under Marshal Petain, but it had no real independence and collaborated with the Germans. -
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Battle of Britain
After a nearly four-month air campaign waged over England, Britain's Royal Air Force and Navy respond to heavy bombing attacks from Germany's Luftwaffe air force, including “the Blitz,” in an attempt to destroy the RAF before invading. Defence systems, including radar, and Hitler's decision to bomb London, rather than military bases, allows Britain to regroup and eventually win the battle. -
Operation Sea Lion
After France fell to Germany on June 22, 1940, Hitler set his sights on the Soviet Union but still had to contend with Great Britain. He planned a massive invasion by land and sea, code-named Operation Sea Lion.
Hitler hoped Luftwaffe and its fierce reputation would intimidate Britain enough that they would surrender peacefully, and even dangled the prospect of a peace treaty. -
Blitzkrieg
300 German bombers raid London, in the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. This bombing “blitzkrieg” (lightning war) would continue until May 1941.
Evidence of the large-scale movement of German barges in the Channel and the interrogation of German spies had led the British to the correct conclusion-unfortunately, it was just as the London docks were suffering the onslaught of Day One of the Blitz. By the end of the day, German planes had dropped 337 tons of bombs on London. -
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The Blitz (Lightning War)
300 German bombers raid London, in the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. This bombing “blitzkrieg” (lightning war) would continue until May 1941.
Evidence of the large-scale movement of German barges in the Channel and the interrogation of German spies had led the British to the correct conclusion-unfortunately, it was just as the London docks were suffering the onslaught of Day One of the Blitz. By the end of the day, German planes had dropped 337 tons of bombs on London. -
Mussolini invades Egypt
Mussolini sent an army from the Italian colony of
Libya penetrated about 60 miles into Egypt (September 1940), while another Italian army invaded Greece from Albania (October). However, the British soon drove the Italians out of Egypt, pushed them back far into Libya and defeated them at Bedafomm, capturing 130 000 prisoners and 400 tanks. They seemed poised to take the whole of Libya -
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Holocaust
To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler’s “final solution” came to fruition under the cover of World War II, with mass killing centres constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland. -
Germans conquer Crete
On the morning of May 20, some 3,000 members of Germany’s Division landed on Crete, which was patrolled and protected by more than 28,000 Allied troops and an almost equal number of Greek soldiers. The German invasion, although anticipated, was not taken seriously; the real fear was of an attack from the sea. Those initial 3,000 parachutists were reinforced—to the tune of an additional 19,000 men, arriving by parachute drop, glider, and troop carrier. -
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Battle of Crete
Nazi paratroopers invade the Greek island of Crete, marking history's first mostly airborne attack. Day one of the campaign results in heavy losses for the Germans, but fearing a sea assault, Allied forces soon withdraw and evacuate in defeat. With nearly 4,000 Allies and more than 3,000 Germans killed, however, Hitler decries "the day of the parachutist is over" and it is the country's last airborne campaign. -
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Operation Barbarossa
Hitler hoped to repeat the success of the blitzkrieg in Western Europe and win a quick victory over the massive nation he viewed as Germany’s sworn enemy. On June 22, 1941, more than 3 million German and Axis troops invaded the Soviet Union along a 1,800-mile-long front, launching Operation Barbarossa. It was Germany’s largest invasion force of the war, representing some 80 per cent of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, and one of the most powerful invasion forces in history. -
The Attack on Moscow
German forces also sustained heavy casualties, as the Soviets’ numerical advantage and the strength of their resistance proved greater than expected. By the end of August, with German panzer divisions just 220 miles from the Soviet capital, Hitler ordered—over the protests of his generals—that the drive against Moscow is delayed in favour of focusing on Ukraine to the south.
Kyiv fell to the Wehrmacht by the end of September. -
Pearl Harbor
In a surprise wave of attacks on the U.S. naval base at Oahu Island, Hawaii's Pearl Harbor, Japan, aligned with the Axis, takes out America's Pacific fleet (the fleet's three aircraft carriers are not present during the attack). With approximately 2,400 U.S. troops killed and another 1,000 wounded, President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls it "a date which will live in infamy" and, the next day, the U.S. officially enters World War II, declaring war on Japan. -
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Pacific War
Was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theatre of the war, including the vast Pacific Ocean theatre, the South West Pacific theatre, the South-East Asian theatre, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Soviet–Japanese War. -
US joins the Battle
After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war.
The Japanese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them; instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Japan’s first occupation by a foreign power. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Admirals defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutaka Kondō near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that rendered their aircraft carriers irreparable. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Despite the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, Nazi Germany launched a massive invasion against the USSR. Aided by its greatly superior air force, the German army raced across the Russian plains, inflicting terrible casualties on the Red Army and the Soviet population. With the assistance of troops from their Axis allies, the Germans conquered vast territory, and by mid-October, the great Russian cities of Leningrad and Moscow were under siege. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
In a conflict that marks the war's outcome tipping in the favour of the Allies, the Red Army defends the Russian city of Stalingrad from German attack, bringing an end to the Axis's eastern Europe advances and handing it its first decisive defeat. One of the longest, biggest and deadliest battles of the war, it ends with close to 2 million casualties, including civilians, with brutal winter weather and a Russian blockade causing many Germans to starve to death. -
El Alamein
At El Alamein in Egypt Rommel's Afrika Korps were driven back by the British Eighth Army, commanded by Montgomery. This great battle was the culmination of several engagements fought in the El Alamein area: first, the Axis advance was temporarily checked (July); when Rommel tried to break through he has halted again at Alam Halfa (September); finally, seven weeks later in the October battle, he was chased out of Egypt for good by the British and New Zealanders. -
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Second Battle of El Alamein
At El Alamein in Egypt Rommel's Afrika Korps were driven back by the British Eighth Army, commanded by Montgomery. This great battle was the culmination of several engagements fought in the El Alamein area: first, the Axis advance was temporarily checked (July); when Rommel tried to break through he has halted again at Alam Halfa (September); finally, seven weeks later in the October battle, he was chased out of Egypt for good by the British and New Zealanders. -
Fall of Italy
This was the first stage in the Axis collapse. British and American troops landed in Sicily from the sea and air (10 July 1943) and quickly captured the whole island. This caused the downfall of Mussolini, who was dismissed by the king. Allied troops crossed to Salerno, Reggio and Taranto on the mainland and captured Naples -
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Battle of Monte Cassino
Advancing in Italy toward Rome, the Allies attack the Gustav Line, held by the Axis, at the mountain town of Monte Cassino. Evacuated by the Germans, both sides tell the Vatican it will not be attacked or used in military operations. However, in a bomber attack by the Allies, the abbey is destroyed, leading to public outcry and, post-bombing, as a shelter for the Nazis. Polish troops capture the abbey on May 18, leading the way for the Allied capture of Rome soon after. -
Battle of Monte Cassino
Between 17 January and 18 May, Monte Cassino and the Gustav defences were assaulted four times by Allied troops. On 16 May, soldiers from the Polish II Corps launched one of the final assaults on the German defensive position as part of a twenty-division assault along a twenty-mile front.
The capture of Monte Cassino resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses being far fewer, estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded. -
D-Day
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of northern France, commonly known as D-Day.
By daybreak, 18,000 British and American parachutists were already on the ground. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion. At 6:30 a.m., American troops came ashore at Utah and Omaha beaches. -
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Operation Overlord
American, British and Canadian troops storm five beaches at Normandy France on June 6, known as D-Day, waging one of military history's largest water invasions. At Omaha Beach, more than 2,000 American casualties are suffered from some 4,000 deaths that day. But by June 11, the beaches are secured and 325,000-plus forces have landed. The Allies begin their advance across Normandy, eventually liberating Paris. -
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Battle of Leyte Gulf
In World War II's largest naval battle, the Allies invade the Philippines to retake the commonwealth and create a Southeast Asian blockade. In a counter-attack, Japan deploys its first kamikaze, or suicide, bombers. Despite heavy U.S. casualties—more than 23,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors are killed—Japan suffers nearly 420,000 casualties and the conflict serves to cripple most of Japan's surface fleet, giving the Allies command of the Pacific. -
First kamikaze attack of the war
During the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, the Japanese deploy kamikaze bombers against American warships for the first time. It will prove costly–to both sides.
This decision to employ suicide bombers against the American fleet at Leyte, an island of the Philippines, was based on the failure of conventional naval and aerial engagements to stop the American offensive. -
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Battle of the Bulge
Was a major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg towards the end of the war in Europe. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to encircle and destroy the four Allied forces and cause the Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favour. -
Marines Invade Iwo Jima
U.S. Marines made an amphibious landing on Iwo Jima and were met immediately with unforeseen challenges. First and foremost, the beaches of the island were made up of steep dunes of soft, grey volcanic ash, which made getting sturdy footing and passage for vehicles difficult.
As the Marines struggled forward, the Japanese lied in wait. The Americans assumed the pre-attack bombardment had been effective and had crippled the enemy’s defences on the island. -
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Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was an epic military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945. Located 750 miles off the coast of Japan, the island of Iwo Jima had three airfields that could serve as a staging facility for a potential invasion of mainland Japan.
It’s believed that all but 200 or so of the 21,000 Japanese forces on the island were killed, as were almost 7,000 Marines -
Iwo Jima Falls to American Forces
The American forces sustained a number of casualties but ultimately quelled the attack. Although the American military declared that Iwo Jima had been captured the next day, American forces spent weeks on end trudging through the island’s jungles, finding and killing or capturing Japanese “holdouts” who refused to surrender and opted to continue fighting. -
Battle of Okinawa
On April 1, 1945, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan. The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a complex plan to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. Though it resulted in an Allied victory, kamikaze fighters, rainy weather and fierce fighting on land, sea and air led to a large death toll on both sides. -
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Battle of Okinawa
World War II's final major battle—and one of the war's bloodiest—begins Easter Sunday as U.S. Army and Marine forces invade Okinawa in the Ryukyus island chain southwest of Japan with the orders of taking the island to execute airstrikes against Japan and create a blockade. -
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Battle of Berlin
Soviet forces, with support from American and British aircraft, launch an offensive against the German capital of Berlin in one of World War II's final major battles. As the Red Army encircles the city, capturing Gestapo headquarters, Hilter commits suicide April 30 in the Führerbunker and Germany surrenders a few days later, essentially ending the war -
The fall of the Third Reich
Dönitz attempted to negotiate with the Western powers, but the Allies insisted upon unconditional surrender, and this was signed at Reims on May 7, 1945, to take effect at midnight May 8–9. With the unconditional surrender, Hitler’s “Thousand-Year Reich” ceased to exist, and the responsibility for the government of the German people was assumed by the four occupying powers—the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, during World War II, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
Three days after Hiroshima, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. -
Surrender of Japan
Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender in a radio broadcast. The news spread quickly, and “Victory in Japan” or “V-J Day” celebrations broke out across the United States and other Allied nations.
The formal surrender agreement was signed on September 2, aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.