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The Rape of Nanking
During the Nanking the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces, and the Chinese government flees to Hankow, further inland along the Yangtze River. Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people–including both soldiers and civilians. The aftermath of the survivors were full of mental breakdowns and traumatic experience. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking -
German Blitzkrieg
Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the Blitzkrieg. A German term for lightning war, blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/blitzkrieg-lightning-war -
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The Fall of Paris
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. After the British left and France was left to fight for itself, the Germans launched Case Red or Fall Rot which started on June the 5th. https://www.historynet.com/fall-of-france -
Pear Harbor
the Japanese navy attacked the United States navy base at Pearl Harbor. Their intention was to destroy and damage as much of the US Pacific Fleet as possible, before it could respond to Japanese operations. President Roosevelt moved the US Pacific Fleet from California to Pearl Harbor. This move was a threat to Japan. the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Wannsee Conference
high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."Heydrich met with Adolf Eichmann, chief of the Central Office of Jewish Emigration, and 15 other officials from various Nazi ministries and organizations at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference -
Bataan Death March
U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II. The day after Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines began. After the war, an American military tribunal tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
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Battle of Midway
The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific theatre.Midway itself was not especially important in the larger scheme of Japan's intentions: they were keen on concentrating on the Samoa Islands, Fiji and Australia to expand their newly acquired SE Pacific territory. Having scored a decisive victory, American forces retired.http://www.molossia.org/milacademy/midway.html -
D-day
the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. D-Day is another name for the invasion of Normandy in which the Allied forces attacked the German forces in a place called Normandy on the coast of France on June 6, 1944. There were some 156,000 Allied troops that invaded that day. It was a turning point in the war. https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-d-day-important-ww2-357066 -
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Battle of the Bulge
The name Battle of the Bulge was appropriated from Winston Churchill’s optimistic description of the resistance that he mistakenly supposed was being offered to the Germans’ breakthrough in that area just before the Anglo-French collapse; After the invasion the Allies moved across northern France into Belgium during the summer but lost momentum in the autumn. https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Bulge -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As the Allies advanced across Europe, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners. As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Auschwitz included a concentration camp, killing center, and forced-labor camps. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/liberation-of-the-concentration-camps -
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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. According to postwar analyses, the Imperial Japanese Navy had been so crippled by earlier World War II clashes in the Pacific that it was already unable to defend the empire’s island holdings, including the Marshall archipelago. Iwo Jima Falls to American Forces. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
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Battle of Okinawa
By the time American troops landed on Okinawa, the war on the European front was nearing its end.Okinawa was to prove a bloody battle even by the standards of the war in the Far East but it was to be one of the major battles of World War Two. It resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/the-pacific-war-1941-to-1945/the-battle-of-okinawa/ -
VE Day
V-E Day stands for Victory in Europe Day. In the Soviet Union it was called simply Victory Day and still goes by that name in states of the former USSR. VE Day is celebrated to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. in London over a million people celebrated the end of the European war. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-v-e-day-definition-facts.html -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The United States was the first and only nation to use atomic bombs. By the time the United States conducted the first successful test Germany had already been defeated.The long-term effects of radiation exposure also increased cancer rates in the survivors https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima -
VJ Day
it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
