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Battle of the Atlantic
Longest campaign of WW2. German U-boats and warships, and later Italian submarines, were pitted against Allied convoys transporting military equipment and supplies across the Atlantic to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. -
Pearl Harbor
Surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, in the United States Territory of Hawaii. -
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Douglas MacArthur Defeats
MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with the destruction of his air force on December 8, 1941, and the invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese. His army were subsequently defeated in Guam, Hong Kong, Wake Island, and Australia. MacArthur's forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. -
War is Declared
Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed assistance to the Allied forces by the United States government when the US was supposedly neutral during World War II. -
Bataan Death March
Forcible transfer from Saisaih Pt. and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 American and Filipno prisoners of war which began on after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines. -
Doolittle Raid
US air raid to the Japanese capital of Tokyo in retaliation to the Pearl Harbor attack. Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched beyond fighter escort range from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. -
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Battle of Coral Sea
First air-sea battle in history between Japan and American/ Australian forces. The Japanese were seeking to control the Coral Sea with an invasion of Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea. -
Battle of Midway
Fought almost entirely with aircraft, the United States destroyed Japan’s first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. This battle ended the threat of further Japanese invasion in the Pacific. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad and one of the greates and most brutal battles of WW2. It stopped the Nazi advance into Russiaand marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allied forces. -
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Manhattan Project
Research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II. American scientists, many of them refugees from fascist regimes in Europe, took steps in 1939 to organize a project to exploit the newly recognized fission process for military purposes. -
Operation Torch
British and American invasion of North Africa with the purpose to clear the Axis powers from North Africa, improve naval control of the Mediterranean Sea, and prepare for an invasion of Southern Europe in 1943. -
Surrender of Italy
With Mussolini deposed from power and the earlier collapse of the fascist government, General Pietro Badoglio, began negotiating with General Dwight D. Eisenhower for surrender terms. Weeks later, Badoglio finally approved a conditional surrender, -
D-Day
More than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of the French coastline, to fight Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. About 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. -
Libertion of Paris
The liberation began when the French Forces of the Interior staged an uprising against the German garrison upon the approach of the US Third Army, led by General George Patton. This victory raised the morale of Allied troops everywhere. -
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Battle of Bulge
Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne -
Mussolini's Execution
Benito Mussolini was executed by anti-fascist partisans in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy. It was this point where Germany lost its European ally and Italy was no longer active in the war. -
Hitler's Suicide
Hitler commited suicide in his recently repaired underground bunker by cyanide pill, then subsequently a gunshgot through his head. His wife Eva soon consumed a cyanide pill and took her life as well. This is where his "1000 Year Reich" had officially ended. -
Hiroshima Bombing
American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; while thouands more would later die of radiation exposure. -
Nagasaki Bombing
Three days after the Hiroshima Bombing, a second B-29 bomber dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing about 40,000 people. The Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in the war in a radio address on August 15th.
