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The Germans invaded Poland. German leader was Adolf Hitler. Polish leader was Edward Rydz-Śmigły.
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Polish Warsaw Army (Armia Warszawa) entrenched in the capital of Poland (Warsaw) and the German Army. It started with huge aerial bombardments by the Luftwaffe starting on September 1, 1939. Land fighting started on September 8, when the first German armored units reached the Wola area and south-western suburbs of the city. Despite German radio broadcasts claiming to have captured Warsaw, the attack was stopped and soon afterwards Warsaw was placed under siege.
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After conquering Poland, Germany attacked France led by Albert Lebrun. France fell, and soon the Nazis overran most of the rest of Europe and North Africa. Only Britain, led by Winston Churchill, was not defeated.
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An unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies of World War II to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa (modern-day Senegal), which was under Vichy French control, and to install French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle there.
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- On June 22, 1941, four million of Hitler’s troops poured over the Russian border. Within one month, over two and half million of Stalin’s Russians had been killed. The German forces then made their way to Leningrad and Stalingrad. In the spring of the next year (1943), another German offensive was launched around Stalingrad. What followed was a nine-month titanic battle, and the German Sixth Army in Russia was almost completely destroyed.
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4.5 million troops launched a surprise attack deployed from German-controlled Poland, Finland, and Romania. Hitler had long had his eye on Soviet resources. Although Germany had signed a non-aggression pact with the USSR in 1939, both sides remained suspicious of one another, and the agreement merely gave them more time to prepare for a probable war.
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The Japanese attacked America’s Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii. Over 3,500 Americans were killed in a 2 hour long, 2 waves of terror. America was led by President Roosevelt, Japan by Fumimaro Konoe
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The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea, was the first of the Pacific War's six fights between opposing aircraft carrier forces. Though the Japanese could rightly claim a tactical victory on "points", it was an operational and strategic defeat for them, the first major check on the great offensive they had begun five months earlier at Pearl Harbor.
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The war in the Pacific was fought on land, at sea, and in the air. The turning point in the war in the Pacific came in the Battle of Midway. In a four day battle fought between aircraft based on giant aircraft carriers, the U.S. destroyed hundreds of Japanese planes and regained control of the Pacific
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The Battle of Bismark took place in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II. Over the course of the battle, aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a Japanese convoy that was carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea. Most of the task force was destroyed, and Japanese troop losses were heavy.
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The Battle of Kursk took place after the Battle of Stalingrad, and was the final offensive the Germans were able to launch in the east. The Germans envisioned breaking through the northern and southern flanks to encircle the Soviet forces. However, the Soviets knew Hitler’s intentions and constructed a series of defensives.
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160,000 Allied troops, led by Dwight Eisenhower landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.
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Starting on 12 January 1945, the Red Army breached the German front as a result of the Vistula–Oder Offensive and advanced westward 25 miles a day through East Prussia, Lower Silesia, East Pomerania, and Upper Silesia, temporarily halting on a line 37 mi east of Berlin along the Oder River. When the offensive resumed, two Soviet fronts (army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin.
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VE Day officially announced the end of World War 2 in Europe. On Monday May 7th, German General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender document that formally ended war in Europe. Winston Churchill was informed of this event.
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On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as "Victory over Japan Day," or simply "V-J Day."
