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Czechoslovakia surrenders
Czechoslovakia surrenders after Adolf Hitler annexes the country into the Third Reich. Although the Czechs had warmly welcomed the Germans when they entered the Sudetenland months earlier, they stood silently in despair when the Nazis entered Prague. -
The Germans cross the French border.
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Hitler signs an order for an assult on poland
Germany's Adolf Hitler signs the order for an assault on Poland. After the Germans stage a phony raid on a Gleiwitz radio station, they blame the Polish for the "unprovoked attack." -
Germant invades poland
Without declaring war, Germany invades Poland. The coordinated air-and-land attack is conducted with such brutal efficiency that "blitzkrieg" becomes a feared offensive tactic. -
Britian and France join the war
Honoring their treaty with Poland, France and Great Britain enter the war against Germany. -
Japan declares nuetral in European War
Japan, engaged in war with China, declares its neutrality in the European War. -
US declares nuetral in the European War
As war broke out in Europe, American sentiment heavily favored isolationism. With the nation still skeptical of Allied propaganda after it had lured the U.S. into the first World War, the United States declares its neutrality in the European War. -
Canada declares war on Germany.
Canada declares war on Germany. -
Warsaw, Poland, surrenders
Warsaw, Poland, surrenders to German forces. Poland is partitioned by Germany and Russia. -
Germans hit the Brits at the Firth of Forth
In the first attack on British territory, the Germans hit the Brits at the Firth of Forth. They damage cruisers South-Hampton and Edinburgh and the destroyer Mohawk. -
The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations
The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for its aggression against Finland. -
The Finland olymics are cancelled
The 1940 Olympic Games, to be held in Finland, are cancelled. -
The British bomb German soil
The British drop the first bombs on German soil as the RAF hits the seaplane base at Hornum. -
Germany invades Denmark and Norway
Germany invades Denmark and Norway with the first major airborne attacks on Allied forces. -
Germany invades Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns.
Germany invades Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Because of the failure of his appeasement policies, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns. Forming a coalition government, Winston Churchill replaces him. Standing alone, Churchill soon began conferring with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt for aid to the British cause. -
The British evacuate over 338,000 soldiers from France.
Leaving behind weapons and supplies at Dunkirk, the British evacuate over 338,000 soldiers from France. -
Italy joins the war as an ally of Germany.
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Italy declares war on its allies
Italy declares war against the Allies. Great Britain, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India and South Africa declare war on Italy. General Hering, the military governor of Paris, declares the French capital an open city to prevent its destruction. -
The Germans march into Paris.
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France accepts German armistice terms
France accepts German armistice terms, establishing the Vichy Government under Marshal Petain. -
A British airborne attacks and sinks French vessels
A British airborne attack sinks French vessels at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir to prevent them from passing into German possession. -
The Battle of Britain begins.
The Battle of Britain begins. The air war designed to destroy the RAF and ease the German invasion opens with the Luftwaffe outnumbering its opponent in operational aircraft: 2,669-to-704. -
The London Blitz starts
The London Blitz starts as Germany, attempting to weaken the country's resolve, bombs the British capital. -
The Selective Service act is passed
The U.S. Congress passes the Selective Service Act. It calls for the first peacetime draft in American history. To serve, men had to be five feet tall, weigh 105 pounds, have correctable vision and at least half their teeth. -
The Tripartite Pact is signed
Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact. It recognizes their right to establish a new order in Europe and Asia. -
American men are required to register at draft boards
Close to 16 million American men between the ages of 21 and 36 are required to register at one of 6,500 draft boards across the country. Nearly 50 million men would register during the war. -
The Italians invade Greece.
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The Lend-Lease program is introduced into U.S. Congress.
The Lend-Lease program is introduced into U.S. Congress. -
President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease act
Despite opposition from isolationists, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease act to provide aid to Great Britain. -
The first all-black unit of the U.S. Air Corps is activated.
The first all-black unit of the U.S. Air Corps — the 99th Pursuit Squadron — is activated. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. -
Japan and Russia sign a neutrality pact.
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German battleship Bismark sunk
On its first mission, the German battleship Bismarck is hunted down and sunk. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union without declaring war.
Unleashing its "Barbarossa" plan, Germany invades the Soviet Union without declaring war. Despite massing troops at the border, the Germans encounter little opposition. Hitler is now fighting a two-front war. -
Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802.
Under threat of a forced march on Washington, Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802. It combats discrimination against blacks and women in the hiring practices of defense jobs. It is the first federal gesture toward civil rights since Reconstruction. -
Germany and Italy declare the end of the Yugoslav nation.
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With Luftwaffe raids, Germany hits Moscow for the first time.
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The U.S. extends aid to the Soviet Union.
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The Germans reach the gates of Moscow.
The Germans reach the gates of Moscow. Civilians flee the "Bolshoi Trap" amid panic and looting. -
Soviet Premier Josef Stalin remains in Moscow
Soviet Premier Josef Stalin remains in Moscow, vowing that the city "will be defended to the last." -
U.S.S. Reuben James sinks
A German U-boat torpedoes and sinks the U.S.S. Reuben James off the Icelandic coast. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII. -
Roosevelt extends Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union.
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Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 AM on a Sunday, hundreds of Japanese warplanes, launched from aircraft carriers far out at sea, attack the American Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, based on a plan by Isoroku Yamamoto. Eight battleships, including the U.S.S. Arizona, three light cruisers, three destroyers and four other naval vessels are either sunk or damaged. One hundred-sixty-four American aircraft, mostly on the ground, are destroyed. And 2,403 Americans are killed. On the day that President Roosevelt -
The U.S. declares war on Japan.
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Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.
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American general Douglas MacArthur orders a retreat to Bataan.
As more than 40,000 Japanese troops come ashore north of Manila, American general Douglas MacArthur orders a retreat to Bataan. -
Manila is declared an open city as the army departs.
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Battle of the Atlantic
Silhouetted against the lights of Manhattan, eight unarmed vessels are sunk by a German U-boat. By the end of January, U-Boats would sink 25 tankers along the East Coast, continuing a fierce struggle for supremacy of the seas called the "Battle of the Atlantic" and threatening to choke off America's allies. More than 230 Allied ships and almost 5 million tons of desperately needed materiel went to the bottom of the sea in the first six months of 1942. -
The Final Solution
The Wannsee Conference in Germany establishes the "Final Solution" for Jews in Europe. The plan would attempt to exterminate an estimated 11 million people. -
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066.
Its neutral tone authorizes the War Department to designate "military areas" and then exclude anyone from them whom it felt to be a danger. But it has a specific target: the more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans, living along the West Coast. They were about to be forced from their homes and moved inland. -
U.S announces attack on Japan
U.S. War and Navy Departments announce that commanders of the forces in Hawaii at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack will be court-martialed for dereliction of duty -
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea is fought for control of New Guinea.
The decisive American victory forces the Japanese to re-enforce its troops by submarine — a defensive strategy employed to prevent the continued loss of transports and warships. The battle removes a threat to General Douglas MacArthur's invasion plans. -
General Douglas MacArthur leaves the troops and departs for Australia.
General Douglas MacArthur, under orders from the President, leaves the troops and departs for Australia. -
General MacArthur is named supreme commander of the Allied Forces.
Given strategic defense of the entire Pacific Ocean, General MacArthur is named supreme commander of the Allied Forces. -
B-25 bombers land at McClellan Field near Sacramento.
B-25 bombers land at McClellan Field near Sacramento. In preparation for a secret mission, Lt. Col. James Doolittle oversees modifications to the planes, which depart April 1. -
Bataan falls
Bataan falls. It is the largest surrender by the U.S. Army — 78,000 American and Filipino troops. What followed would be remembered as the Bataan Death March. -
America bombed Japan
In the first American raid on the Japanese mainland, 16 B-25 carrier-launched bombers led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle strike Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Nagoya and Yokosuka. -
Notice is posted on the West Coast announcing the planned ouster of all "Japs" from the area into assembly centers.
Notice is posted on the West Coast announcing the planned ouster of all "Japs" from the area into assembly centers. -
Corregidor falls.
Corregidor falls. The last American stronghold in the Philippines is now under Japanese control. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea rages.
The first air-naval battle in history prevents the Japanese from landing a large invasion force at Port Moresby and signals America's move from a purely defensive strategy in the Pacific to a mixed defensive-offensive one. -
The Battle of Midway is fought.
The first defeat of the Japanese navy in 350 years is the turning point in the Pacific as the U.S. goes on the offensive. The Japanese had hoped to smash what was left of the Pacific fleet, take Hawaii, hold its people hostage and force the United States to sue for peace. But American cryptographers had deciphered their plans and the Navy was waiting for them. The Japanese would lose 3,500 men, four carriers, a cruiser and 332 aircraft. The Americans would lose 30 -
A Japanese submarine shells the military depot at Fort Stevens, Oregon
A Japanese submarine shells the military depot at Fort Stevens, Oregon in the first attack on the U.S. mainland. -
American land forces go on the offensive in the Pacific
American land forces go on the offensive for the first time in the Pacific, landing on Guadalcanal. It would take six months to secure the island, but Japanese expansion is halted. -
The first supply aircraft land on Guadalcanal's Henderson Field.
The first supply aircraft land on Guadalcanal's Henderson Field. -
Operation Torch opens as Allied forces land in North Africa.
While American planners had a straightforward idea of how to beat the Germans — invade France in the spring of 1943 and drive right for Berlin, the British favored attacking German and Italian forces in North Africa. American commanders thought invading Africa would be a dangerous and wasteful diversion. But Congressional elections were coming up. -
The Russians launch a major counter-offensive at Stalingrad.
The Russians launch a major counter-offensive at Stalingrad. It would end with the annihilation of the German 6th Army. -
After a year at war, more than 35,000 Americans in uniform had died.
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Roosevelt and Winston Churchill announce that only an unconditional surrender will be accepted from the Axis Powers.
At the Casablanca Conference, Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announce that only an unconditional surrender will be accepted from the Axis Powers. -
German Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus surrenders at Stalingrad.
The war in the East has turned. -
The Battle of Berlin begins.
Bombing of the German capital will continue until March 24, 1944. -
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel sends his Panzer units against the untested U.S. forces in North Africa.
The Americans are routed and the Germans pour through the Kasserine Pass. -
A listening post in the Aleutian Islands intercepts a radio transmission
A listening post in the Aleutian Islands intercepts a radio transmission that Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto will be touring bases in the South Pacific. -
Japan's most popular military leader is killed.
Acting upon the decoded message, U.S. P-38 Lightning pilots intercept the bomber carrying Yamamoto and shoot it down. -
The Axis powers surrender in Tunisia.
North Africa is now under Allied control. -
Tokyo announces the death of Admiral Yamamoto
Tokyo announces the death of Admiral Yamamoto to a shocked nation. -
All organized Japanese resistance ends on Attu Island in the Aleutians.
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Lt. Charles B. Hall becomes the first black aviator to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
Flying a P-40 as a part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, he downs a Focke Wulf-190 over western Sicily. -
The Soviets win the Battle of Kursk.
It is the largest tank battle in history. The German Luftwaffe also loses the air war and dominion of Russian skies for the first time. -
Allied forces land in Sicily and gain control of the Mediterranean.
Allied forces land in Sicily and gain control of the Mediterranean. The precursor to the invasion of Italy would take 38 days to secure -
The Allies bomb Rome.
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The Fascist Grand Council passes a vote of no confidence in Benito Mussolini.
He is arrested. Martial law is declared in Italy the next day. -
To prevent further bombing, Rome is declared an open city.
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The Allies land in Southern Italy.
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Italy accepts Allied surrender terms.
German troops move to take control of the country. -
Life magazine runs pictures of three dead American soldiers.
It is the first time such photos are shown to the American public since the attack on Pearl Harbor. -
The Allies enter Naples
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Italy declares war on Germany.
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Black Thursday
On the second strike against Schweinfurt, 60 Flying Fortresses are shot down and more than 600 men are lost on what is remembered as "Black Thursday." -
The Allies attack Tarawa.
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Japanese surrender demanded
At the conference in Cairo, the Allies demand nothing less than the unconditional surrender of Japan -
Tarawa is secured at high cost.
It would take 10 days to compile and release the casualty list. The total is almost as much as the six months of fighting at Guadalcanal. -
Allied forces land at Anzio
Hoping to break the impasse near the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, Allied forces land at Anzio. Despite catching the enemy by surprise, General John P. Lucas takes nine days to strengthen his position rather than dash inland. His army would remain pinned down by the Germans for four miserable months. -
Monte Cassino is bombed.
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Polish troops take the ruined Monte Cassino monastery
Polish troops, eager to avenge the Nazi invasion of their country, finally take the ruined Monte Cassino monastery and the positions around it. The Gustav Line has broken. The Germans began falling back. Monte Cassino is in Allied hands. -
General Mark Clark takes the offensive
He is determined to break out of the beachhead and link up with the Allied Armies coming up from Cassino, to trap the enemy now retreating northward, finally taking the fiercely defended village of Cisterna they tried to take months earlier. -
An Associated Press flash mistakenly announces Allied landings in France.
The error stems from a British teletype operator practicing her typing. -
D-Day
The greatest invasion in history begins just after midnight as the first of 24,000 paratroopers -- flown over the Channel in more than 1,000 aircraft -- are dropped behind enemy lines in Normandy. More than 5,300 ships, carrying 176,000 men are streaming across the Channel. Allied commanders plan five coordinated landings along a 45-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline between the Cotentin Peninsula and the Orne River for Operation Overlord. It will be the bloodiest day in Ameri -
Saipan is defended by Japanese troops
Saipan, 14 miles long but featuring all kinds of terrain, is defended by more than 30,000 Japanese troops. It is shelled for two days before the Marines of the Fourth Division go ashore. -
the Battle of the Philippine Sea takes on a new name.
As American carrier planes score over 270 kills at a loss of 29, and American submarines claim two carriers, the one-sided affair is forever known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot." -
Japanese Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa's plan to destroy both the American land forces
Japanese Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa's plan to destroy both the American land forces — still struggling their way inland on Saipan — and the American fleet off shore in order to reinforce the Japanese garrison on the island fails. He had said, "The fate of our Empire rests on this one battle. Everyone must give all he has." The Battle of the Philippine Sea would be the greatest carrier battle of the Pacific War, nearly four times as big as Midway. -
The Japanese launch the largest, and last, Banzai charge of the Pacific War.
Three thousand men charge into the American lines. -
Saipan is officially declared "secured."
In almost four weeks of fighting, 16,525 Americans are killed, wounded or reported missing, the costliest battle in the Pacific to date. Almost 30,000 Japanese soldiers are dead. In the final days of the battle, some 4,000 terrified Japanese civilians, mostly women and children, had fled to the island's northern tip, a high plateau called Marpi Point. Their government had convinced many of them that it was their duty to kill themselves rather than fall in -
St. Lo fell to the Americans.
St. Lo — or what was left of it after six weeks of Allied bombing — fell to the Americans. Lt. C.D. Lester of the 332nd Fighter Group scores three kills in a single day. -
The German resistance group fails in its attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
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Operation Cobra mistakenly strikes Allied forces
Operation Cobra, designed to create a gap in the German lines, mistakenly strikes Allied forces in the worst friendly-fire incident of the war. Among the 111 killed is Lt. General Leslie J. McNair. The commanding general of the Army Ground Forces is the highest-ranking U.S. casualty of the war. -
The First Army pours through the newly opened gap in the German lines
The First Army pours through the newly opened gap in the German lines and out into the countryside beyond the hedgerows. For weeks, the Americans on the ground had felt fortunate to gain 1,000 yards a day. Soon they would be covering up to 40 miles in the same amount of time. The Germans were reeling. -
American and Free French forces land in the south of France and begin driving northward.
The following day, Hitler reluctantly agrees to pull his battered Seventh Army out of Normandy. It begins a desperate retreat toward Germany. The Allies catch them near the town of Falaise. For three days, the Allies pour fire into the fleeing men from the ground and from the air: 80,000 Germans ran the terrible gauntlet. At least 10,000 died, so many that the pilots of the Allied spotter planes hundreds of -
After four years of Nazi occupation, Paris, the City of Light, is liberated.
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General Dwight Eisenhower is given command of the combined Allied forces in Europe.
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Warner H. Holzinger wades across the Our River south of Aachen
Warner H. Holzinger, leading an advance of the U.S. First Army, wades across the Our River south of Aachen to become the first foreign soldier to step on German soil since the time of Napoleon. -
The Allies land on Peleliu.
It is only 550 miles east of Mindanao, which is to be the first stop in General Douglas MacArthur's campaign to recapture the Philippines. MacArthur wants the Peleliu airfield put out of action to protect his flank. Securing Peleliu was supposed to take four days. It took more than two months. 10,000 Japanese were killed, nearly every man who had defended the island. More than 1,200 Americans perished; 5,274 more Americans were maimed or missing. -
Operation Market-Garden opens.
Designed to drive into the industrial Ruhr valley by capturing bridges and end the war in weeks, it fails. Market-Garden would be the largest Allied airborne operation of the war and the most disastrous. Seventeen thousand Britons and Canadians, Americans and Poles are killed or wounded or captured before the operation is abandoned, more casualties than the Allies suffered on D-Day. -
MacArthur's forces land on the island of Leyte
MacArthur's forces land on the island of Leyte, the first foothold in the struggle to win back the Philippines. MacArthur's own landing craft gets stuck 75 yards offshore, forcing him to wade to the beach. His publicity machine makes the most of it. As the Battle of Leyte Gulf wages offshore the next two days, the greatest sea battle ever fought would signal the demise of the Japanese navy. -
MacArthur returns
The general re-installs the legitimate government of the Philippines -
Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a fourth term as U.S. president.
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Americans attack Japanese installations in Manila and other parts of the Philippines
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the Battle of the Bulge begins.
Out of the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge begins. Thousands of guns open up. Shells fall on and around the American positions for an hour. A few moments later, the enemy emerges out of the dense fog that shrouds the forest. Twenty German infantry divisions move forward along a 50-mile front — a quarter of a million men. Behind them roar 600 tanks. Surrounded by the enemy, cut off from one another, out of ammunition and unable to fight back, others are forced to surrender — more than 10,000 me -
An SS Panzer unit ambushes an American convoy
An SS Panzer unit ambushes an American convoy near a tiny village called Malmedy, capturing and disarming 150 men before gunning down at least 86 of them. They also butcher scores of Belgian civilians. News of the killing spread fast among the embattled Americans. -
German officers under a white flag approach the American commander
German officers under a white flag approach the American commander at Bastogne, General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne. The Americans' situation is hopeless, they said. The town is surrounded. They demand the Americans surrender. McAuliffe has a one-word answer — "Nuts!" -
the Americans stop the German advance.
Thirty miles west of Bastogne, the Americans stop the German advance. The following day, American tanks break through the German lines and link up with the 101st Airborne inside Bastogne. -
German Allies regain all the ground they'd lost
Six weeks after the German offensive in the Ardennes began, the Allies regain all the ground they'd lost. It had been the biggest battle of the war on the Western Front. More than a million men took part; 19,000 Americans died; 60,000 more had been wounded or captured or listed as "missing." Hitler's enormous gamble ends in disaster. He had lost some 100,000 men and virtually all his tanks and aircraft. -
World Leaders pledge to hold free elections after the war in Eastern Europ
At the Yalta Conference, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin pledge to hold free elections after the war in Eastern Europe and divide Germany and Austria into three zones of occupation. -
Nine hundred British and American bombers hit Dresden in two waves
Nine hundred British and American bombers hit Dresden in two waves, dropping incendiary bombs in hopes of setting off a firestorm. They succeeded. At least 35,000 civilians were burned or blown apart — or asphyxiated as they huddled in basements and bomb shelters. -
Marines land on Iwo Jima to capture the Japanese airfield
After 72 days of shelling the island, Marines land on Iwo Jima to capture the Japanese airfield. The intense fighting lasted a month; 6,821 Americans died, five times the number killed on Guadalcanal or Saipan. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to those who fought on the island. -
The flag is raised on Mt. Suribachi.
Photographer Joe Rosenthal snaps one of the most famous photos of the 20th century. -
Firebombing comes to the cities of Japan.
Three hundred and thirty four American B-29s roared in low over Tokyo and dropped hundreds of thousands of 70-pound napalm bombs. Sixteen square miles of the city — built largely of pine and paper and bamboo — burst into flame. More than a million were left without homes. In the next ten days, the Americans hit Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya again. Some 50,000 more people were killed. -
Kamikazes target the USS Indianapolis for destruction off Okinawa.
Damaged, she would be sent to Ulithi to have her hull mended, and eventually dispatched all the way across the Pacific to Mare Island, near San Francisco for further repairs. -
The battle to take Okinawa commences.
Okinawa — 60 miles long and home to almost half a million civilians — was the gateway to Japan. The Allies had to take it before they could move on to the home islands. They gathered the largest invasion force since D-Day — almost 1500 ships and more than half a million men. In the end, 92,000 Japanese soldiers and as many as 100,000 Okinawan civilians would be dead. More than 12,000 Americans died, 60,000 were wounded — the worst losses of the Pacific War. -
President Roosevelt dies.
Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd President. -
American and Soviet forces link up at Torgau on the Elbe River.
Germany has been cut in half. -
The Russians enter Berlin
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Russian troops fight their way into the Reichstag
Russian troops fight their way into the Reichstag, the symbol of German power. Less than half a mile away, beneath the rubble, Adolf Hitler and his closest aides huddle in their bunker. That afternoon, Hitler names Admiral Karl Donitz to succeed him, then shoots himself in the mouth. -
Advance patrols of the American 11th Armored Division come upon Mauthausen in Austria.
There they find more than 110,000 desperate, so-called "enemies of the Reich" confined behind barbed wire. Many were too weak to stand. -
Germany surrenders
The Reich that Hitler promised would last a thousand years had lasted less than a dozen -
V-E Day is proclaimed as Victory in Europe is celebrated
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The USS Indianapolis receives orders to retrieve special cargo at Hunters Point, California.
The USS Indianapolis, her repairs now complete and ready to return to war, receives orders to retrieve special cargo at Hunters Point, California. -
A successful test of the atomic bomb takes place at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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The Big Three call for a surrender for Japan
At the Potsdam Conference, the Big Three — U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin — decide the fate of Europe and that Japan must submit to unconditional surrender or face "utter destruction." -
The USS Indianapolis delivers its mysterious cargo — the atomic bomb — to the B-29 base on Tinian.
The USS Indianapolis delivers its mysterious cargo — the atomic bomb — to the B-29 base on Tinian. -
The Indianapolis is sunk
A Japanese submarine sends two torpedoes hissing into the hull of the Indianapolis. They cut her nearly in half. Within the first few minutes, some 300 of the 1,196 men aboard are blown apart or burned to death. The ship sinks in 12 minutes. -
Japan rejects the Potsdam ultimatum.
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The majority of the Indianapolis crew die
Awaiting rescue, 880 crewmen from the Indianapolis die. Only 321 are plucked from the sea. -
The first atomic bomb is dropped on Japan
The first atomic bomb tumbles through the bomb-bay doors of the Enola Gay. Forty-three seconds later, six miles below but still high above the city of Hiroshima, it detonates. With a single bomb, 40,000 men, women and children are obliterated in an instant. One hundred thousand more die within days of burns and radiation. Another hundred thousand would succumb to radiation poisoning over the next five years. Despite the devastation, the Japanese still would't surrender. -
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
The islands now face invasion on two fronts. -
A second atomic bomb is dropped on Japan
A second atomic bomb drops, this time on Nagasaki. Some 40,000 more civilians die instantly. In Tokyo, the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War remains split between those still determined to fight on and those willing finally to give up. That evening all six members of the Council call upon the Emperor, who breaks the deadlock. -
Japan requests conditional surrender terms but is denied.
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Japan accepts unconditional surrender terms.
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The occupation of Japan begins.
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The Japanese sign ceremonial surrender terms aboard the U.S.S. Missouri.