-
Germany's Invasion of Poland
1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German controlled territory. The German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action. On September 3, Britan and France declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. -
German 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 logically concentrated firepower. German forces tried the Blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing it with invasions on Beligum, the Netherlands, and France in 1940. This tactic was later used by other generals. Germany's reason for usiing this tactic was because they wanted to defeat their opponents quickly. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the name given to the Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia. Three army groups attacked Russia. Though Russia had a large army, the purges had wiped out a considerable part of the army's senior commanders. Plans for the attack on Russia had beed around since 1940. It is now that Hitler lost interest in the Battle of Britain and was focused on his desired attack on Russia. -
Pearl Harbor
Just before 8 AM, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanes managed to destroy nearly 20 naval vessels, including 8 battleships and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 American soldiers died and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan: Congress approved his declaration. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war on United States. -
Battle of Midway
This was the most decisive naval battle of World War II. The United States defeated Japan in this battle. This victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-February 2,1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most Historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. There were casualties of nearly 2 million people. -
D-Day
Some 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces landed on the five beaches alont the 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largers amphibious assaults n history and required extensive planning. By late August 1944, all of norther France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. -
Battle of the Bulge
In December 1944, Adolf Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to battle's name. -
Battle of Okinawa
This battle was the last and biggest of the pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1-June 22 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. By the end of the 82-day capmaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties, including 14,000 dead. -
VE Day
Victory in Eruope Day (VE Day) was on May 8th, 1945. VE day officially announced the end of World War II in Eruope. On May 7th, 1945 German General Jodi signed the unconditional surrender document that formally ended war in Europe. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people, tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. -
VJ Day
On August 15, 1945, Japan surreneder. News of the surrender was announced to the world. This sparkled spontaneous celebrations over the final ending of World War II. On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was held in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri. At the time President Truman declared September 2 to be VJ Day.