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On September 1, 1939, Germany led by Hitler invaded Poland. Their primary goal was to regain lost territory and rule the land to the East. Read more here
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The Battle of Dunkirk started in May of 1940, and turned out to be a big turning point for the Allies in WWII. The Germans had surrounded the Allies forces of about 338,000 soldiers. The Allies made a miraculous escape from Dunkirk and retreated back to England as the German forces were closing in on them.Read more here
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The Battle of Britain was the battle fought solely by air. It was a battle between the British RAF and the German Luftwaffe. The RAF successfully held off the Luftwaffe and Germany backed off, though both sides suffered tremendous damage. Read more here
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In June of 1941, Adolf Hitler led 3 army groups of over 3 million soldiers in an operation called Operation Barbarossa and marched 2,000 miles into Soviet territory. [Read more here](istory.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa) -
Operation Torch was the Allies operation to take part of North Africa that was held by the Axis power. Read more here -
16 American B-25 Bombers flew over Japan, but did very little damage to Japan itself, but damaged Japan's prestige, leading to Doolittle receiving the Medal of Honor.Read more here -
The Battle of Coral Sea was the first ever air-sea battle in history, and it lasted 4 days. The Japanese wanted to control the Coral Sea by invading New Guinea, but they were stopped by the Allies and were unable to gain control of the Coral Sea. Read more here
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The Japanese wanted to show their superiority in the air and sea by destroying an Allies base on Midway Island and create an effect similar to their attack on Pearl Harbor, but they were stopped by the American Navy. This battle lasted 3 days. Read more here
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The American forces take the Marshall Islands, which were long occupied by the Japanese, and turned them into a base for military operations. Read more here
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The Battle of the Bulge was called "the greatest American battle of the war" by Winston Churchill. Germany's aim was to split the Allies up as they moved in on Germany, but they were unsuccessful. The battle lasted 6 weeks and resulted in an Allies victory. Read more here
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin all met in February 1945 to discuss what was to happen to Germany and the rest of Europe. Read more here
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The Battle of Okinawa was one of the last major battles of WWII. The U.S. Army and U.S Marines Corp worked together against Japan to take the Ryukyu Islands, which included Okinawa. The battle lasted a long time, but ended in an Allies victory, and pushed the Japanese to surrender. Read more here
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The German High Commander and General Alfred Jodl met with the Allies in hopes to only surrender the German forces fighting the Western Allies, but General Dwight Eisenhower demanded the full surrender of Germany from WWII, and if it wasn't met there would be no surrender but complete annihilation of German forces. Read more here
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The worlds first deployed atomic bomb was used on a city in Japan called Hiroshima and killed an estimated 80,000 people, with tens of thousands of people dying from radiation poisoning in the coming days. 3 days later, another atomic bomb was used on another city in Japan, Nagasaki, which killed an estimated 40,000 people. This ultimately led to Japans surrender from WWII. Read more here
