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Japanese Invasjon of China
Japan saw the natural resources in China, they invaded and took Manchuria, then began taking more territory that led to Chinese-Japanese skirmishes. The League of Nations published the Lytton Report which condemned Japanese Aggression. -
German Blitzkrieg
A term for "lightning war" is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Before this tactic, trench warfare was used by most nations, but resulted in more pointless losses. It's successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. It was very affective against the allied forces, this basically made everyone change their tactic -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
About 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland, attacked Polish naval forces, and Hitler claimed that it was a defensive action. But he believed that it would bring Lebensraum or "living peace" to the German people. Hitler dressed prisoners as polish soldiers, then publicized an invasion that was phony. -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched a massive invasion eastward, but had underestimated the opponent, causing the invasion to fail and forcing Germans into a two front war that ultimately affected the outcome of the war. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan believed that the US pacific fleet was their only threat and set out to neutralize the fleet by means of a surprise air attack. They flew their own planes into the US fleet, the US was not ready but did what they could. They were devastated, but Japan had made a huge mistake. The US came into the war aggression and revenge. -
Wannsee Conference
Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's second in command of the SS, convened the Wannsee Conference in Berlin with 15 top Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution (Endlösung) in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe, an estimated 11 million persons.
"Europe would be combed of Jews from east to west," Heydrich stated. -
Kasserine Pass
The Kasserine Pass was the site of the United States’ first major battle defeat of the war.
Gener Erwin Rommel was dispatched to North Africa in February 1942, along with the new Afrika Korps, to prevent his Italian Axis partner from losing its territorial gains in the region to the British. Despite his skill, until this point Rommel had been unable to do much more than manage his own forces’ retreats, but the Battle of Kasserine Pass would finally display the “Desert Fox’s” strategic genius. -
Operation Gomorrah
Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn. The evening of July 24 saw British aircraft drop 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. -
D-Day
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. -
Battle of the Bulge
In December 1944, 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 at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. A U.S. flag was raised in victory. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, 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
On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.
The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms. -
Atomic bombs
At approximately 8.15am on 6 August 1945 a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, instantly killing around 80,000 people. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, causing the deaths of 40,000 more. The dropping of the bombs, which occurred by executive order of US President Harry Truman, remains the only nuclear attack in history. In the months following the attack, roughly 100,000 more people died slowly due to radiation. -
VJ Day
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 “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Six years of hostility had finally ended.
