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Germany's Lightning Attack
Hitler invaded Poland, and used his new military strategy, blitzkrieg, or "lightning war", which invloved fast airlplanes, tanks and surprise attacks. This strategy allowed Germany to conquer the western half of Poland and ignite World War II. -
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Germany's Sudden European Invasion
Hitler launched a surprise attack on Norway and Denmark, which fell almost instantly. He used these countries as a base from where he could strike Great Britain. Then he dramatically swept through the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, which was a part of his strategy to reach France and attack. -
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Rescue at Dunkirk
By the end of May, German troops cornered the Allies, forcing them to retreat to the beaches of Dunkirk. Here, Great Britain heroically set out to rescue them. They send 850 ships-including Royal Navy Ships as well as civilian yachts, fishing boats and life boats- across the English Channel to Dunkirk. These ships were threatened by German bombers, but managed to bring 338,000 soldiers to safety. -
France Surrenders
Following Dunkirk, French resistance began to weaken. Once Germany captured Paris, France had no choice but to surrender to Germany. Germany took control of Northern France, while Southern France was controlled by a a puppet government lead by Marshal Philipe Petain. -
Axis Forces Attack North Africa
After Germany's conquest of France, Mussolini declared war on Great Britain and France. He attacked British-controlled Egypt and Suez Canal, which lead to the oil fields in the East. When the British attacked back, Hitler sent his tank force, the Afrika Corps under the command of General Erwin Rommel to aid Italy. Rommel was able to push the British back and gain Tobruk , nicknamed the "Desert Fox". -
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Battle of Britain
The battle of Britain was the series of battles betweeen the German and British Air Force, occurring over Britain. German planes tried to bomb large British cities. The RAF, Royal Air Force, began to fight back using two new inventions, the radar -electronic tracking system, and the Enigma -machine used to decode German messages. This was able to increase British resistance, forcing Hitler to call off bombing. -
The War in the Balkans
Hitler's great plan was to conquer one of his allies, the Soviet Union. In order to do this, he had to establish bases in southeastern Europe, gain influence on the Balkans, and make sure there was no British interference. He persuaded Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to join the Axis Powers by threat of force, and invaded resisting Yugoslavia and Greece. -
Leningrad Under Seige
After Hitler had the Balkans secured, he moved on to Operation Barbossa on June 22, 1942, whiich was his plan to invade the Soviet Union, who was completely unprepared for attack. His invasion went on until German troops moved 500 miles into the Soviet Union. This was when he captured Leningrad, cut it off from the rest of the Soviet Union, and was prepared to starve its population of 2.5 million. -
Pearl Harbor Bombing
Americans were able to crack Japanese codes, and found out about Japan's plans to conquer Southeast Asia, which put their Philippine Islands and Guam at harm. So Roosevelt sent aid to Chinese resistance and cut off oil shipments to Japan. In response, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto called to attack US fleet at Pearl Harbor through use of Air Force, to destroy Japan's enemy. -
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Battle of the Midway
Japan targeted Midway Island, the location fo the American Airfield. Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet, knew that Japan was planning to attack. On June 4th, Admiral Nimitz allowed the Japanese to begin their assault on the island. When their planes arrived, the US barraged their fleet. The US won the battle as Japan withdrew on June 7. -
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Battle of Guadalcanal
The confident Allies took an offensive as their Pacific Land Forces Commander devised a plan to stop the Japanese from invading US Islands. He decided to seize islands that weren't well defended, but close to Japan. While the Japanese were still building their Air Base on the Soloman and Guadalcanal Islands, the Allies, the US and Australian marines attacked the Japanese. After six moths of fighting, when Japan lost 24,000 corps, they abandoned the "Islands of Death", -
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The Battle of Stalingrad
During the summer of 1942, Hitler sent his Sixth Army, under the command of General Friedrich Paulus to capure oil fields on Caucusus Mountains, and control Stalingrad. By November, Hitler capured 90% of the ruined Stalingrad until winter set in, the Soviets launched a counterattack, and Hitler ordered to keep hold of the city. Only 90,000 ill-conditioned soldiers remained for Germany when they surrendered, after 99% of Stalingrad was destroyed and Soviets lost one million soldiers. -
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The Battle of El Alamein
After General Rommel took control of the Libyan Port City of Tobruk, London sent General Bernard Montgomery to control British forces in North Africa. But in time, German troops moved to the village of Alamein. Montgomery decided to have a large frontal attack on the British forces, who were armed for battle. By November 4, Rommel's troops retreated. -
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Invasion of Italy
Churchill of Britain and Truman of the US decided to attack Italy by landing on Sicily and capturing it from Italy and Germany. This attack kicked Mussolini from power, and Italy surrendered on September 3. Germany then seized control of northern Italy, put Mussolini back in power, and the Allies entered Rome ion June 4, 1944. Fighting in Italy continued until Germany fell. On April 25, Italian resistance fighters found Mussolini diqguised as a German soldier and shot him. -
D-Day Invasion
D-Day waas the day which the Allies began their invasion of the European mainland during World War II. This "Operation Overload" was the invasion of Normandy, and the largest land and sea attack in history. The allies had been planning this attack in Great Britain to free German-controlled France. Three million British,French, Americna and Canadian troops launched an attack on Normandy with heavy casualties. However one month later, they managed to free France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Allied forces moved into Germany fromthe East, while the Soviets marched in from the west. Hitler decided to counterattack on the west and hoped that Victory would split American and British forces, breaking up Allied Supply lines. The Germans broke through Allied forces, who, although caught off guard, pushed the Germans back, forcing them to retreat. -
V-E Day
V-E Day, representing Victory in Europe Day when Europe celebrated the end of their fighting in World War II. After the Battle of the Bulge, the Allies approached Germany through the Rhineland. Three million Allied troops and six million Soviet troops surrounded Berlin and attacked. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide in an underground headquarters. General Eisenhower of Germany accepted the surrender of the Third Reich from the German military. The War in Europe was over. -
The Battle of Okinawa
When Allies General Douglas MacArthur returned to Leyte, Philippennes, the Japanese had a plan to halt the Allied advance into Philippennes by destroying the American naval fleet. However, the Japanese navy lost this Battle of Leyte Gulf miseably, being elimianted from the war. In March 1945, the American troops seized Iwo Jima, a Japanese island, and then took Okinawa. The Japanese resisted, and this Battle of Okinawa ended with Japan having lost 100,000 troops, and the Americans 12,000. -
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Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Japans's millitary had cost the Alies a half a million lives, and now that they were weakened, Truman wanted to end the war as quickly as possible and decided to use the new atimic bomb on Japan. He dropped the first A-bomb on Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki, two heavily populated Japanese cities. These bombs killed approximately 200,000 Japanese Citizens and ended World War II. -
Surrender of Japan
After Okinawa, the American's next victory had to be in Japan itself. They had a top-secret team develop and atomic bomb, and attacked weakened Japan. They dropped their first bomb on Hiroshima and a second on Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of citizens overall. Japan was forced to surrender.
