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Japanese invasion of China and the Sino-Japanese war
The second sino-japanese war (1937-1945) was sparked by the invasion of china by the japanese army. Japan invaded manchura in 1931, established a puppet government in Manchukuo in 1932 and soon pushed south into north china. However the Marco polo incident in 1937 marked the beginning of full scale warfare. Shanghai was attacked and soon fell. This occured because japans desire to be a global power required them to conquer china. -
Marco Polo Bridge incident
Small numbers of both japanese and chinese soldiers were stationed in the area. The japanese noticed that one of their soldiers was missing and demanded to search Wanping but the chinese refused saying they could do the search themselves. The japanese then tried to force their way into Wanping but were pushed back. Soon more troops were sent in from both sides and the incident gave the japanese an excuse to launch a fullscale invasion of china. -
Rape of Nanking
the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The invasion was preceded by a tough battle at Shanghai that began in the summer of 1937. Chinese forces there put up surprising resistance against the Japanese Army, this infuriated the japanese. -
Germany invades Poland
Some 1.5 Million troops attack poland all along its boarder, at the same time the German luftwaffe bombed their airfeilds and their u-boats and warships attacked their naval forces in the Baltic sea. Adolf hitler claimed this was a defensive action but Britain and France didnt believe him. -
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german blitzkrieg
blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. If sucessful it results in short military campaigns, this preserves human lives and limits the use of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg first in Poland in 1939 before successfully using the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
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Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies in a massive invasion of the soviet union. There was three different army groups with over 3 million soldiers, 150 divisions and 3 thousand tanks. However they severely underestimated their opponent they were determined to enslave the Slavic population and exterminate the Jews. Thus, from the beginning, the war in the East became an ideological struggle, waged with a ruthlessness and mercilessness. -
Attack on pearl harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. -
Wannsee Conference
15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Operation Gomorrah
British aircraft dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. The explosive power was the equivalent of what German bombers had dropped on London in their five most destructive raids. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. -
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D-Day: Normandy Invasion
The Western Allies of World War II launched the largest amphibious invasion in history when they assaulted Normandy. Resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. -
Battle of the Bulge
three German armies (more than a quarter-million troops) launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war. 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. -
Operation Thunderclap
The railway yards, near the center of Dresden, had been targeted and bombed twice before the night of February 13 by the USAAF Eighth Air Force in daytime raids: on October 7, 1944, with 70 tons of high-explosive bombs, and then again with 133 bombers on January 16, 1945, during which 279 tons of high-explosives and 41 tons of incendiaries were dropped. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II was caused by the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island . Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. -
Battle of Okinawa
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. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties including 14,000 dead. -
VE Day
German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists. The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrend -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. -
VJ day
Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender in a radio broadcast. The news spread quickly, and “Victory in Japan” or “V-J Day” celebrations broke out across the United States and other Allied nations. The formal surrender agreement was signed on September 2, aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
