-
German Blitzkrieg
Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland and conquered it with very little resistance by the Polish, making the name accurate. "Blitzkrieg" means lightning war in German. This officially started war in Europe.
Link text -
Paris Falls
After several refusals by France and Britain to make peace pacts with him, Hitler invades France and captures Paris after entering Paris on June 15th. This resulted in Charles de Gaulle fleeing to England to head the French government from there.
Link text -
Bombing of England
After their success in the invasion of Poland, the Luftwaffe, the Germany Air Force, began bombing London, England. This marked the beginning of the Battle of Britain.
Link text -
Lend Lease from the United States
Since Churchill believed that Britain would soon run out of money to fight the war with Germany, he requested once again for help from FDR. Even though the American public was still opposed to war, intelligence agents from the BSC persuaded FDR to send military aid to Britain. Britain received a huge chunk of the $50 billion allotted for the act. In return, the US obtains military bases in the Bermudas and Caribbean.
Link text -
Operation Barbarossa
Nazi army invades Soviet Union, breaking the Soviet-Nazi Nonaggression pact. Hitler did this because he had always wanted the resources in Russia. Germany started with massive advances, succeeding in capturing millions of Soviet soldiers. But once they arrived in Moscow, they were halted and both sides suffered major losses.
Link text -
Pearl Harbor
Because of the freeze placed on exporting oil and other trading with Japan by FDR, Japanese air force bombed and torpedoed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The next day, congress declared war on Japan and subsequently Germany. Japan and Germany soon after declared war on the US.
Link text -
Bataan Death March
After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, the US-Filipino army was forced to retreat to the Bataan peninsula where they held off the Japanese for 3 months. Eventually, disease and lack of naval assistance forced them to surrender. Thousands of troops then died when they were forced to march 65 miles to San Fernando, the death march. Yet, in 1945, the US recaptured the Bataan Peninsula for the Philippines.
Link text -
Battle of Midway
In an attempt to occupy Midway Atoll and destroy US aircraft carriers, Japan prepared to attack the Pacific US forces. These plans were decoded by US intelligence and battles over the ocean in the sky and in the water broke out. The casualties and damages to the Japanese army far surpassed those of the US. It was a turning point in the Pacific.
Link text -
Defeat at Stalingrad
After hundreds of battles between the Red Army and the Germans, Hitler invades Stalingrad and Stalin declares "Not a step back!" The Germans were defeated, and this marked a turning point for the Allies in the Eastern war.
Link text -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
After the Nazi planned to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto where those of the non-Aryan race were being kept, residents hid from the Nazi soldiers on the eve of Passover. Because this caused people to be deported, groups of Jews fought the Nazis for about a month.
Link text -
D-Day
Also called Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Allies was a very successful deception plan whose goal was to liberate France. Later that year in August, Paris was liberated.
Link text -
Battle of Iwo Jima
In an attempt to find a place for bombers to land, the US set it sights on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. This was an amphibious, meaning from the sea to land, attack of the Japanese homelands by the US army. The Japanese fought from a network of tunnels and dugouts. It was the first attack of the sort by the US and after a month of fighting, the Japanese were defeated.
Link text -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
The Soviets were the first to discover the camps in mid 1944, but on this date, they entered and liberated Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp. In the following months, they liberated several camps in the Baltic states and Poland and shortly after Nazis began evacuating camps, the US and Britain began liberating others in Germany. Some of those liberated often died soon after due to malnutrition and disease.
Link text -
Bombing of Japan
After the surrender of Germany, the Allies, specifically the US, focused on Japan with a series of bombings. Two atomic bombs, developed by the Manhattan Project in secret, were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered only 6 days after the second bomb was dropped.
Link text -
Battle of the Bulge
On this day, the German army launched their deadliest attack of the whole war on 4 battered American divisions in the forested Ardennes. As the German army pushed on into the Ardennes, the formation of the Allied front lines took on the shape of a bulge. The American army was able to stop Hitler from gaining the victory, but it was the costliest war for the Allies yet.
Link text
