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Rape of Nanking
In late 1937, over a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people–including both soldiers and civilians–in the Chinese city of Nanking (or Nanjing). The horrific events are known as the Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted. Nanking, then the capital of Nationalist China, was left in ruins, and it would take decades for the city and its citizens to recover from the savage attacks -
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World War II
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German Blitzkrieg
German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Grmany's Invasion of Poland
The German invasion of Poland on September 1 was the first display of Hitler’s Blitzkrieg tactic. He rushed into Poland with over one and a half million troops, tanks, and his air force the Luftwaffe. He used the Luftwaffe to damage and disable the Polish airfields and burn their cities. He then followed with the infantry and tanks to secure positions. By September 28, Poland surrendered.
Invasion of Poland -
Operation Barbarossa
This was a German operation to seize Russia and enslave the Slavic people and Jews that lived there. They invaded with over three million troops but were slowed down by the Russian army’s counterattacks. By winter, the Germans had little supplies and no winter clothes. They surrendered and Operation Barbarossa was declared a failure.
German Invasion -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl HarborNear 8 a.m. the naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by hundreds of Japanese fighter planes and torpedo bombers. This naval base in the Hawaiian islands was home to the U.S. Pacific fleet and was essentially the headquarters of the U.S. navy there. The attack lasted all of a couple of hours and damaged or destroyed over 20 navel ships and injured or killed nearly 3000 sailors. This event is most famous for being the spark that brought us into WWII. -
Wannsee Conference
In July 1941, Herman Goering, writing under instructions from Hitler, had ordered Reinhard Heydrich, SS general and Heinrich Himmler’s number-two man, to submit “as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative, material, and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.” Heydrich met with Adolf Eichmann, chief of the Central Office of Jewish Emigration, and 15 other officials from various Nazi ministries and organizations at Wannsee -
Bataan Death March
In the Bataan Death March over 70,000 allied prisoners were forced to march over 65 miles to the other side of the main Philippine island of Luzon. They were beaten and mistreated by their Japanese captors and thousands died on the march. It took them nearly 5 days to reach their destination all the while the Japanese bayoneted anyone who were too weak to walk.
Death March -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. -
Operation Gomorrah
This was mainly a revenge operation in which British and American forces bombed the German city of Hamburg. They killed over 1,500 civilians in just the first raid. This was a successful operation because of the 791 aircraft that flew only 12 were shot down. This operation was also the first to use the Window radar jamming tactic.
Gomorrah -
D-Day
D-Day, codenamed Operation Overlord, was one of the most decisive turning points of WWII. It marked the beginning of the end of the war in Europe and was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of the world. The invasion began on June 6, 1944 at approximately 6:30 a.m. where a force of over 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. This battle set the Allies up for liberation of Europe.
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Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time. Field Marshal Montgomery's goal was to force an entry into Germany over the Lower Rhine. He wanted to circumvent the northern end of the Siegfried Line and this required the operation to seize the bridges across the Maas (Meuse River) and two arms of the Rhine. -
Battle of the Bulge
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, Was a major loss for Germany. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap’ had been under discussion within the Allied Command for some time, the proposal was to bomb the eastern-most cities of Germany to disrupt the transport infrastructure behind what was becoming the Eastern front. Also to demonstrate to the German population, in even more devastating fashion, that the air defences of Germany were now of little substance and that the Nazi regime had failed them. -
Iwo Jima
Iwo JimaThis was one of the most iconic battles of WWII because of the infamous picture of a group of marines raising the American flag after they won control of the island. This battle was another Allied amphibious attack that contained three divisions of marines. The area was strategically bombarded with over sixty-eight hundred tons of bombs and twenty-two thousand shells before the marines landed. With this victory the Allies were within bombing range of Japan and could end the war. -
VE Day
The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more; in Copenhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark—the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany. -
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. -
Potsdam Declaration
The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (replaced on July 26 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee), and U.S. President Harry Truman—met in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. After the Yalta Conference of February 1945, Stalin, Churchill, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had agreed to meet following the surrender of Germany to determine the postwar borders in Europe. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs (Hiroshima)
On August 6, at precisely 8:16 a.m. the first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This bomb caused massive destruction and killed nearly 80,000 people instantly. The war needed to end and the United States believed that this was the only option because it was believed too many lives would be lost in a land invasion. The Japanese still did not surrender
Hiroshima A-bomb -
Dropping of the atomic bombs (Nagasaki)
A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, nicknamed Fat Man on August 9, at 11:02 a.m. and killed another 70,000 people. This time the Japanese did surrender unconditionally after the Emperor decided that it was better to surrender before more people died. The peace treaty was signed on August 14 and the war was finally over.
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VJ Day
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 “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. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Brought the end to WW2.
