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Japanese Invasion of China
SourceJapan was eager to obtain the natural resources that were in China, the Japanese quickly invaded and obtained Manchuria. In 1937 a fight that came to be known as the Marco polo bridge incident led to the second Sino-Japanese war. This led to the sain agreement which said that the Chinese nationalists would now fight with the Japanese. -
German Invasion of Poland
sourceThe overall conquest of Europe relied on the neutralizing of Poland. Once German forces crossed over the line into Poland World War II had official begun. -
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German Blitzkrieg
sourceBlitzkrieg was also known as the "lightening war", this tatic was used to create disorganization among the enemy forces. Blitzkreig was tried out during the invasion of Poland, before successfully using the tatic in the invations of the Netherlands, France, and Belgum. This method playe a big role in German victories in 1939-1940. -
Fall of Paris
sourceThe French were given a curfew of 8 p.m that night. Gernman troups would then come in and occupy paris. The US was not able to give a formal decree of help to Paris giving them the confidence they needed. 2,000 people had fled paris before German tanks rolled in. German Gesapo began to make arrests and interogate French citizens -
Operation Barbarosa
sourceHitler launched over 3 million troops, 150 divisions and thousands of tanks into Soveit territory. Germany was there to enslave the slavic people and kill the Jews. This operation became a turning point in WWII. This loss caused Germany to fight a two- front war against an army who possesed superior resources. The Germans underestimated their oppenent. -
Pearl Harbor
sourceAroung 8 in the morning hundreds of Japanese fighter jets attacked the US navel base at Pear harbor. The attack lasted about two hours. In those two hours 20 vessels and 300 ariplanes were destroyed, more than 2,00 American soliders were killed and 1,000 were wounded. One day after this attack the Us declared war on China. Three days later Germany and Italy declared war on the US. Although this attack was a surprise the US and Japan had been creeping towards war for sometime. -
The Wannsee Conference
sourceThis was a conference used to discuss the final solution to the destruction of the Jews. Although there were many proposals thronw around they finnally settled on work camps and extermination for those who were stong enough to survive the camps. Months later gas vans were popping up in ploland killing thousands of Jews. -
Batann Death March
source75,000 Filipino and American troops on Batann were forced to make a 65 mile march to prison camps. Thousands died due to the harsh conditions and the punishmet by the Japanese gaurds, the march lasted about 5 days.This march came after the US surrendered to the Japanese on the island of Luzon. This led to American redemption in the ivasion of the island of Leyte in October of 1944. -
Operation Gomorrah
sourceBritain dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg Germany on the night of July 24. More than 1,500 Germanss were killed during this raid. The British wanted payback on the Germans due to the bombing in July that killed 167 British civilians. This opperation was devistating and real blow to German Morale. -
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D-Day
sourceD-Day is also known as the battle of Normandy. The battle began when 156,000 American, British and Canadian troops marched onto the 50 mile stretch of heavily guarded land. This even required large amounts of planning and it became one of the larges amphibious military assaults in history. This ended in a victory with Allies reaching the Sine river, Paris was liberated and the Germans had been removed from the northwestern france. -
Battle of the Bulge
sourceBeginning in December of 1944 Battle of the Bulge was the most deadly and desparate battle of the war in the west. This battles was an attempt to push the Allied front line west from norther France to northwestern Belgium. The Germans created a bulge around the Ardeness forest giving the battle it's name. This bulge was able to push through the American Defensive line. The resulted in the sencond largest surrender of troop of the war for the Americans. -
Bombing of Dresden
sourceAllied forces bombed the historic city of Dresden in Germany. The bombing lased from Feburary 13-15. This bombing was a contreversial topic. Dresden was not important to the Germans during war time, but by February 15 the city was nothing but ruins. The bomb killed between 35,000- 135,000 people. The Allies believed that this bombing would cut off lines of communication that would have hindered the soviet union, this is why they bombed the city -
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Battle of Iwo Jima
sourceAmerica need a place for our damaged B-29 bombers to land and a base for escort fighters tha could assist in the bomb campain, the island of Iwo Jima became the perfect place. 23,000 Japanese troups were attacked by three marine evisions after air bombardment.The marines were able to wipe out the forces. 5,900 Americans dies and 17,400 were wounded.This led to a change in Japanese defense tactics. -
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Battle of Okinawa
sourceThis was the last and larges of the Pacific island battles in WWll. This battled lasted 82 days and ended with 77,000 Japanese soldiers dead and 65,000 Allied casualties inclding 14,000 dead. The allies planned to use the island of Okinawa as a base for air operations. The Japanese used mass air attackes and sent out their larges battled ship. This battles was a bloodbath on both land and sea. -
VE day
sourceVictory in Europe day. This was the day that German troops throughout Europe laid down their arms. The loss of soldiers to the Soviet Union led to this glorious event. The Russians were able to take about 2 million Germand prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender. More than 13,000 British POW's were sent back to great Britain. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
sourceThe worlds first Atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This explosion killed 80,000 people and wiped out 90 percent of the city within the initial impact. More people would die later due to radiation exposure. Three days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing 40,000 people. The attackes led to Japanese surrender on August 15. -
Operation Thunderclap
sourceThis is a code for a cancelled operation in August 1944. This attack was a planned attack on Berlin that would have ended in 220,000 causualties and 110,000 killed. It was decided that this plan would most likely not work. -
VJ Day
sourceVJ day is Victory over Japan. On August 14 is was announced that Japan had surrendered to the Allies. Both August 14 and 15 are know as VJ day.The surrender of the Japanese signaled the end of World War II. This surrender came after massive amounts of American air attacks. September 2, is also know as VJ day. that is when Japan's formal surrender took place on the U.S.S Missouri that was anchored in Tokyo bay.
