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Clash near Marco Polo Bridge
On the night of 7-8 July of 1937, there was an obscure clash that involved a Japanese unit near the Marco Polo Bridge. Japanese felt that they have been challenged, so they sent fresh forces to the region. Japanese members used the accident as a source to push a deal with China, but they were not interested, so a war started which caused a huge impact in both armies. -
German Invasion of Poland
The Second World War begin on September 1st of 1939. All started when Adolf Hitler launched his invasion of Poland. Britain and France decided to declared war on Germany on the 3rd of September, 1939. Two weeks later, Stalin invaded eastern Poland, it was divided up between Hitler and Stalin control. -
German Offensive in the West
Hitler wanted to take advantage of the defeat of Poland, which offered Germany to fight on a single front. On May 10, the Germans attacked Belgium and the Netherlands and invaded France. They were caught off guard, so the French and British suffered for not being prepared. Germany's success transformed the strategic situation in Europe. Thanks to this victory, the Germans could continue fighting, and any challenge against them would now have to overcome German dominance of Western Europe. -
The Battle of Britain
The first phase of the battle began on 10 July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping in the Channel. After a month, the airfield and aircrafts factories came under attack but despite its losses of pilots and aircraft, it was never as weakened as the Germans assumed. The battle continued until late October, but was essentially won in early September, when the Germans diverted their resources toward night bombing raids. -
The Blitz
The Blitz was the world lighting war, where German bombard Britain with air attacks between 7 September 1940 and 16 Mayo 1941. London was bombed by accident, and they ordered an attack on Berlin. This prompted the Germans to start attacking Britain's towns and Cities. On September 7th London attacked, and the capital was bombed for 57 nights.
More than 43,000 people were killed in the Blitz and there was a lot of damage done. -
German Invasion of Russia
Hitler had seen Russia as the principal target for conquest and expansion. The campaign against Russia began on June 22nd, 1941. For the first months they had great victories, they capture land and a lot of prisoners, buy they failed taking Moscow or Leningrad. On December 5 and 6, the Red Army eliminated the immediate threat to the Soviet capital. Which led Germany to a military crisis, but Hitler decided to take command and take charge of the situation himself. -
Pearl Habor
The US President Franklin Roosevelt, ordered the freezing of Japanese assets, they decided prepare a blow against the Americans. On December 7th, 1941, Japanese carrier borne aircraft attacked the US Pacific fleet at the Pearl Harbor. The Americans were caught completely by surprise. More than 2,500 Americans were killed, while the Japanese lost only 29 planes. The following day Congress declared war on Japan, which had also attacked British and Dutch colonial possessions. -
Midway
The Japanese want to eliminate the United States as a strategic Pacific power. They would trap US Navy aircraft carriers, while the Japanese would occupy Midway Atoll for future attacks. Since they hoped that the loss of the aircraft carriers would force them to negotiate. At the end the Americans defeated the Japanese, since their code breakers determine the location and date of the attack which allowed them to make their own trap, and wrest the strategic initiative from the Japanese. -
Alamein
The North African campaign began in September 1940, during two years the fighting was between the Allies and the Axis. In the summer of 1942, lower Axis forces seemed poised to take Cairo and advance toward the Suez Canal. The British commander, Claude Auchinleck, took control of the Eighth Army and halted the retreat at the strong defensive line of El Alamein. Montgomery assumed control of the army and built a superiority in the team, and launched his offensive in Alamein on October 23, 1942. -
Battle for Stalingrad
The battle for Stalingrad started in August of 1942. The defense of the Red Army gave Georgi Zhukov time to prepare a counterattack which was launched on November 19, 1942, and which soon trapped the Sixth Army commanded by General Friedrich Paulus. Hitler ordered to break through and relieve the beleaguered Sixth Army, he was unsuccessful and on January 31, 1943, Paulus capitulated.
Stalingrad was one of Germany's greatest defeats and marked the end of Hitler's dreams of an empire in the East. -
Operation Overlord
The Operation Overlord was the invasion and liberation of north-west Europe on June 6th, 1944. British, Canadian and American troops supported by the Allied navies and air forces, came ashore on the coast of Normandy.
The break was achieved, on August 25 Paris was liberated. Brussels followed on September 3.
They were frustrated by the Allied failure at Arnhem and the unexpected German offensive, so on 4 May 1945 the German forces surrendered to Montgomery at his headquarters on Lüneburg Heath. -
Yatla
In June 1940 and June 1941, Britain stood alone against Hitler. After the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he gained two powerful allies. For the next four years, Churchill tried to foster The Grand Alliance against the Nazis.
In Yalta the post-war division of Germany and the decision to put war criminals on trial were agreed. The future constitution of the United Nations was discussed and Stalin pledged to enter the war against Japan after Germany was defeated. -
Bombing of Dresden
In Yalta a plan was created to bomb the city of Dresden. The attack was part of a plan codenamed "Thunderclap", designed to convince the Germans that the war was lost. On the night of 13/14 February 1945, Dresden was attacked by 800 RAF bombers, followed by 400 United States Army Air Force bombers. The bombing destroyed 1,600 acres of Dresden. Where 25,000 to 135,000 people died. -
Liberation of Bergen-Belsen
The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945. This caused a shock wave of horror and revulsion throughout Britain, as it was the first time they were faced with the reality of the solution. Hitler's end to the Jewish question: the Holocaust.
During Hitler's policies also there were millions of non-Jewish victims, including Soviet prisoners of war, people with physical and mental disabilities, gypsies, homosexuals, and witnesses of Jehovah. -
Victory over Japan
The drooping of some atomic bombs brought the quick acceptance of Allied terms and Japan surrendered. So on August 15th 1945 was commemorated as Victory over Japan or Vj Day. -
End of the World War 2
On the afternoon of May 8, 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that they had signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe. After almost six years, the war in Europe was finally over.
Evendough the official documents were signed until September 2nd. The Second World War was officially over.