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Japanese invasion of China
Japan was interested in the rich natural sources of China and in that time China was weak since there was a civil war between the nationalists and communists,so it was the right time for Japan to invade. China asked for help from the league of nation so they published the Lytton Report against the Japanese which angered them. Chaos began to rise between the two but Japan was close to victory but the intervention of the west made Japan backup and later bombed Pearl Harbor. (History.com) -
Germany's invasion of Poland
1934- Hitler signed a non aggression pact with Poland but disliked that Poland acquired German provinces under Treaty of Versailles during WWI. Appeasement was used on Hitler by Britain & France after annexation of Austria & signed Munich pact to take German speaking part of Czech known as Sudetenland. Later Hitler breaks the Munich pact and is promised to have parts of Poland. A German Soviet pacts is signed to divide Poland for each. Germany invades Poland and leads to blitzkrieg. USHMM.ORG -
German Blitzkrieg
Germany's easiest & shortest way of defeating its opponent was their special war tactic known as Blitzkrieg which involves offensive weapons and a narrow front. Its first success was during invasion of Poland in 39, Denmark in 40 & many other European countries. Then it was used against Soviet union, it was somewhat successful but later in 1942 as they attacked again, Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive trapping the destroying the Germans. It was a major defeat in May 1945. USHMM.ORG -
Fall of Paris
As Germans had in plan to attack, Netherlands surrendered & Belgian-French soldiers weren't equipped well & defeated. As Germans entered French line, British & French resisted & had to evacuate to England. On June 5 the French resistance collapsed and on June 10, Italy allies with Germany & French capital falls.British troops were evacuated and ships were bombed. - HISTORY.COM -
Operation Barbarossa
After Hitler failed to conquer England, he decides to invade Soviet Union. His reasoning was that he wanted the Ural mountains. Germany launched Blitzkrieg on Stalin, surprised he was not ready, neither was Hitler. Because of the harsh cold weather, German soldiers weren't able to resist, it became a turning point for Stalin and Soviet soldiers were able to defeat the Germans by attacking on both sides leading to a major defeat and loss of ally with Soviet Union. - MS KRISTY'S NOTES -
Pearl Harbor
America was already upset with Japan's behavior towards China ever since they declared war in 1937. Japan thought of solving their economic & demographic problems was by expanding their territory to China. It was needed to stop, the U.S put embargo on Japan. Japan got upset and respond by bombing pearl harbor. It was unexpected and shocking to the U.S, more than thousands were dead and several other ships were attacked. Japan allied with the axis powers and U.S enters WW2. -HISTORY.COM -
Battle of Stalingrad
As the Germans invaded Soviet Union to plan to take over they marched their way to Stalingrad under General Paulus. The Russians already set defense and had backups. As the fighting continued, the invaders(NAZIS) were beginning to lose more soldier, Soviet General Zhukov launched counteroffensive on the enemies. Germans couldn't hold the harsh weather, they had to withdraw back & about 91,000 soldiers were captured. It was a humiliation to Hitler & the biggest Soviet victory. - HISTORY.COM -
Manhattan Project
Around 1939, 3 German scientists discovered that splitting a Uranium atom could cause a tremendous explosion. Einstein was not okay with Germans succeeding it, he wrote to Roosevelt his concerns. The U.S had to develop the bomb first. After several discoveries, in Dec 1942, the U.S Gov launches Manhattan Project. 1st successful test of the atomic bomb was done at Alamogordo, New Mexico in July 1945. On Aug 6, U.S bombs Japan in Hiroshima & 3 days later in Nagasaki. - AMNH.ORG -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
The most famous uprising Jews from the Ghettos occurred in Warsaw fighting against the Germans. Around 1942, reports of mass killing of Jews who were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka had made small young survivors form an organization called D.O.B and began fighting against Germans troops, they made a small victory which inspired them to prepare for future. Later in 1943, professional troops and police entered and crushed the Ghettos & ended the revolt. Many were captured or killed. -USHMM.ORG -
Operation Gomorrah
On this day the British invade Germany and bombed Hamburg with U.S on the side. Because of the loss of the British civilians and destroyed buildings caused by Germany's invasion, it was the time to pay back. British and U.S aircraft dropped heavy explosives and continued until November. Many innocent lives were lost, Hitler refused to visit burned out cities as he knew it was the end for him and for Nazi Germany. - HISTORY.COM -
Allied invasion of Italy
Italian dictator, Mussolini who supported fascism, allied with axis powers & is threatened by opposition groups but strong German troops threatened these groups. British army lands on Sicily which led to collapse of Italian gov. Later they invade Italy mainland and had to surrender to the allies. Later on a new offensive began, Mussolini was captured on Apr 18 and is executed, German troops in Italy surrender and 6 days later all Germany surrender.- HISTORY.COM -
D-Day(Normandy invasion)
Germany had occupied North western France by the beginning of may, 20,1940. The U.S later entered WWII with Britain. Hitler was aware of allies invasion, he sent his general and troops to spread over the regions although they didn't know where the allies were. The allies tricked them into coming to Calais but not Normandy. As the allies arrived to Normandy they marched to France & was liberated. The allies were to enter Germany & meet with Soviets. Later, Hitler suicides. - HISTORY.COM -
Battle of Bulge
Hitler's objective was to split the allied groups into 2 by using the Blitzkrieg tactic. The allied leaderships miscalculated and left inexperienced two american divisions in the Ardennes. Half of the first division was gone as the Germans were tough. However, as they got deeper into Ardennes, fighting in the cold harsh weather they were becoming fatal which was the turning point, led by S.Pattons preventing German counteroffensive. The U.S army suffered from 100.000 casualties. -HISTORY.COM -
Operation Thunderclap
At that time the allies were very close into completely defeating Germany. The big three met in USSR and decided who's going to invade which part of Germany. Usual places to focus on were the one that focused on war and was industrial, however Dresden was nearly anywhere had to do with war. As the allies were bombing, they bombed Dresden which was a historical place and had lots of refugees. Buildings were destroyed & estimated 200,000 were killed. -HISTORY.COM -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American invasion of Iwo Jima a key island in Bonin Chain close to the Japanese coast where is was bombed. It was defended by 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops and was attacked by three division groups. The marines were succeeding but still faced difficulties with Japanese changing tactics where they fought from caves to dugouts to tunnels. American losses included 5,900 and 17,400 wounded.- HISTORY.COM -
Battle of Okinawa
Final and largest battle in the pacific. Japanese forces changed their tactics and launched heavy attacks known as kamikaze this resulted as the bloodiest battle in the pacific. It took place in a populated island which also led to more than 100,000 causalities of civilians. Both generals on each side died. Many U.S soldiers were dead, wounded, navy ships either sunk or completely destroyed. - HISTORY.COM -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As allied troops moved across Europe in series of offensives against the Nazi Germans they began to encounter concentration camps. Many of those prisoners had survived forced marches and were suffering from starvation and disease. The soviets were the first to encounter major Nazi camps in Poland and were the first to liberate Auschwitz the largest concentration camp. Later on Allied groups began liberating other camps & prisoners. Many of these prisoners had a long way to recover.-USHMM.ORG -
VE Day
On this day both U.S & Britain celebrate victory in Europe. Even cities who were occupied by the Nazi hold banners & celebrations of defeat of Nazi Germany. The only thing that worried the Germans was being captured by the Soviets. Over 1 million Germans tried to move to the west but was either stopped by the Soviets and captured as prisoners. VE was not celebrated until May 8 after Stalin announced Soviet's victory over the Nazis. -HISTORY.COM -
Dropping the Atomic Bombs
As Nazi Germany collapsed it was only Japan the seemed not wanting to give up and continue with its behavior. President Truman had decided that the only way for Japanese to surrender was to use the Atomic bomb. Without any warnings, on Aug 6 the first atomic bomb was thrown in Hiroshima known as little boy & three days later another was thrown onto Nagasaki called Fat man.On Aug 15, emperor Hirohito announces surrendering. - MS KRISTY'S NOTES -
VJ Day
On this day is the celebration of the victory over Japan as Japan surrenders to the U.S. It was all after the pearl harbor, to Hiroshima and to Nagasaki. Today it isn't widely celebrated as it might be offensive to the Japanese and its now called end of the pacific war.-HISTORY.COM -
Picture Sources
Pictures from: Sakuramochi, Wikipedia, USHMM, telegraph,
