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Germany Invades Poland
Poland was invaded by both Germany (from West) and Soviet Union (from East). After being defeated in many battles, Poland understood that its militar forces weren't enough to defeat both the powers so ordered an emergency evacuation of all troops to neutral Romania. On October the 6th Germany and Soviet Union gained the total control over Poland and the two powers divided the territory between them. About 150.000-200.000 polish civilians lost their lives during the invasion. -
Britain and France Declare War On Germany
France, Britain and all the Commonwealth countries declared war on Germany but didn't helped Poland. On the same day France and Britain also started the Naval Blockade Of Germany in order to ruin Germany's ecomy and war effort. -
Canada Declares War On Germany
Canada obtained the authority to declare war on a country with the Statute Of Westminster on 1931, so Canadian leaders decided to ask for the Parliament approval before declaring war on Germany. Both the Senate and the House Of Commons approved it, therefore Prime Minister King Declared war on Nazi Germany. -
Germany Invades Norway
Germany invaded Norway for many reasons: to get ice-free harbours from which send boats to control the Atlantic, to secure the availability of iron ore from mines in Sweden and to pre-empt a possible British invasion. The Allies help was almost in vain. The King and the government escaped in London and established a government-in-exile. The occupation of Norway ended on May 8, 1945 -
Germany Invades Denmark
The invasion of Denmark started at 4:15 am on April 9th. Germany wasn't really interested in Danish territory but it saw it as a quicker way to invade Norway, much more important for Germany. Sixteen soldiers died during the invasion but after two hours Denmark surrendered since the Danish troops were less and used obsolete equipment. A possible resistance was useless. The occupation of Denmark ended on 5 May 1945 with the liberation by the Allies forces. -
Germany Invades Luxembourg
Luxembourg was conquered in a day since the Militar and Police Forces didn't put up significant fights against the German Troops. The government fled to Canada and stayed there for all the duration of the war. Luxembourg was liberated on 10 September 1944 by the Allies. -
Germany Invades Netherlands
The invasion of Netherlands was needed in order to conquer France later. Dutch Forces fought hardly but couldn't defeat the Germans. The city of Rotterdam was completely destroyed by bombardments and 30,000 civilians died. Netherlands surroundered on May the 14th, scared by possible bombardments of other cities like Utrecht, Amsterdam an Hague. -
Germany Invades Belgium
Belgium was, as Netherlands and Luxemburg, the way the Germans decided to use to attack France and the British troops. Belgium was the hardest one between the three countries to be conquered by the Germans. Indeed Belgium was helped by the Allies but finally surrondered on May the 28. -
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Evacuation Of Dunkirk
As the Germans advanced the Allies where surrounded in the French port of Dunkirk. The soldiers needed to escape before the arrival of the Germans so an evacuation by sea was started. The Germans started bombing Dunkirk on May the 28th but the evacuation continued and 340,000 soldiers arrived safely in Britain. -
Germany Invades France
After conquering Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, Germany bypassed the Maginot Line and invaded France. Italy declared war on France on 10 June and the French government escaped to Bordeaux. Paris was occupied on 14 June. On 17 June France asked for an armistice. On 22 June, an armistice was signed and Franc surrondered to Germany. France was divided in a German occupation zone, an Italian occupation zone and an unoccupied zone in the South, later occupied as well by the Axis Powers. -
Operation Sea Lion Starts
Operation Sea Lion was the name of the operation that aimed to the conquest of Britain by Germany. German Luftwaffe started massive bombardments of British harbours and shipping facilities. -
The Blitz
Germany started bombing civilian targets. London, was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 57 consecutive nights. These raids became known as The Blitz. The Blitz lasted between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941. 40,000 civilians were killed but Germany couldn't defeat British Air Force and eventually Hitler gave up with his invasion plans. -
Operation Barbarossa
Even though Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a treaty to do not invade each other, after the Soviet Union took over part of the Balkans, Hitler started his plan to conquer the entire USSR. 3.9 soldiers invaded Russia. At the start the operation was successfull but the Germans weren't equipped for the long Russian winter. After suffering more than 300,000 casualties, Germany surrendered in 1943 and the Soviet Union retook much of the land they've lost. -
Pearl Harbor Bombardment
Japan attacked the U.S. naval base of Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions Japan was planning. 353 Japanese planes attacked dropping bombs. Many U.S. boats and airplanes were destroyed and 2,402 Americans died. The next day U.S. declared war on Japan. -
U.S. Declares War On Japan
After Pearl Harbor the U.S. declared war on Japan. The Allies gained strenght and the tide of the war changed. -
Fall Of Hong Kong
Japanese troops invaded and conquered Hong Kong. Many Canadian soldiers, unable to fight and poorly trained, were killed or kept as prisoners by the Japanese. They were treated as slaves and many died for diseases and starvation. -
Invasion Of Sicily
Canadians soldiers, together with the Allies, started the invasion of Italy from Sicily. On 17 August Sicily was completely free, the Mediterranean's sea lanes were opened and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini lost his power. Almost 25,000 Allies died in the Campaign, the Axis suffered 160,000 casualties. -
Invasion Of Mainland Italy
The conditions of fight were really difficult and reminded Canadians of WW1. The Allies landed Americans at Salerno and British at Taranto on September 9, and by September 26 had built a force of 189,000 men and 30,000 vehicles. However advances were really slow and many battles were fought in little medieval cities, street by street, house by house, like in the city of Ortona, 1372 Canadians soldiers died. -
Capture Of Rome
The Allies finally took Rome but fighting in Italy didn't stop: the Allies continued liberating all the North of Italy. -
D-Day
D-Day was the invasion of Europe by the Allies. The plan was studied in the most little particular rehearsed many times. Germans expected an attack but they thought that the Allies would not attack on that day due to bad weather conditions. Allies landed on 5 beaches, 30,000 Canadians landed on Juno Beach. 359 Canadians died, in total 12,000 Allies lost their lives. However the attack was successfull and the Allies made their way inland. -
Liberation Of Netherlands
Netherlands cittizens were starving due to Germans cut off of food and fuel. 18,000 civilians had already starved to death. The Canadians liberated Holland from the German troops and helped bringing food and fuel to the civilians. -
Germany Surrender To The Allies
General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff in the German High Command, signed the document of unconditional German surrender in Reims, France. The war in Europe was ended. -
Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima
On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the Atomic Bomb "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by an American bomber, the Enola Gay. 80,000 innocent civilians died immediatly, some bodies were never found because they were vaporized by the energy of the bomb. -
Atomic Bomb On Nagasaki
On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the United States' second atomic bomb attack at 11:02 a.m. The city was destroyed and an estimated 70,000 people were killed by the bomb codenamed "Fat Man." -
Japan Surrender, End Of World War Two
After the atomic bombs and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria Japan had no possibility rather than surrender. World War Two, that caused in total 73,000,000 casualties between soldiers and civilians was over.
