-
After a rapid advance across North
Africa toward British-held Egypt, a
German offensive was halted at el-
Alamein during the summer of 1942. By
mid-October, a British counteroffensive
began to push the Germans back. In
November, "Operation Torch," an Allied
amphibious invasion, landed on the
coasts of Morocco and Algiers. By May
1943, all of North Africa was in Allied
control. -
Japan, which joined Germany in the
Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936, which was
directed against the Soviet Union, was
outraged when Hitler signed a
nonaggression pact with Stalin.
However, in September 1940, Japan
joined with Germany and Italy in the
Tripartite Pact that created the Axis
Powers. -
After the Germans conquered Poland,
they began a systematic destruction of
Polish intellectuals and the ruling
classes, and by the end of World War II
had killed a total of three million Poles
(in addition to an equal number of
Polish Jews). -
The British and French had given
Poland guarantees of military support in
the event of an attack by Germany. -
In the summer of 1940, as a result of an
agreement with the pro-German Vichy
government of France, Japan gained
access to raw materials from French
Indochina. -
Invading France on May 10, the
Germans made an effective use of
mechanized forces and air power to
rapidly defeat the French; German
troops entered Paris on June 14 -
Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday
morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter
planes descended on the base, where
they managed to destroy or damage
nearly 20 American naval vessels,
including eight battleships, and over 300
airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans
died in the attack, including civilians,
and another 1,000 people were
wounded. The day after the assault,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked
Congress to declare war on Japan. -
For "Operation Barbarossa." their
campaign against the Soviet Union, the
Germans assembled the largest
invasion force in history, totaling almost
150 divisions (or about three million
men). 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery
pieces, and 2,500 aircraft. In addition.
more than 30 divisions of Finnish and
Romanian troops supported this
massive German force. -
Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday
morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter
planes descended on the base, where
they managed to destroy or damage
nearly 20 American naval vessels,
including eight battleships, and over 300
airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans
died in the attack, including civilians,
and another 1,000 people were
wounded. The day after the assault,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked
Congress to declare war on Japan. -
American naval dive bombers fly in
formation over the Midway atoll -
It was briefly fought between the
Kingdom of Thailand and the Empire of
Japan. Despite fierce fighting in
Southern Thailand, the fighting lasted
only five hours before ending in a
ceasefire. Thailand and Japan then
formed an alliance, making Thailand
part of the Axis' alliance until the end of
World War Il. -
The Japanese continued their
occupation of China until the end of
World War Il. -
In May 1944, the Western Allies were
finally prepared to deliver their greatest
blow of the war, the long-delayed,
cross-channel invasion of northern
France, code-named Overlord. -
Austrian SS chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner
oversaw the Nazi concentration camps
throughout Europe. Captured by a U.S
patrol shortly after the German
surrender, he was indicted on August
29, 1945 by the international military
tribunal at Nuremberg on charges of
war crimes. Here Katlenbrunner is
shown addressing the court during his
trial. He was found guilty of crimes
against humanity and executed on
October 16, 1946. -
The combination of the threat of further
U.S. attacks with atomic weapons,
together with the Soviet Union's
declaration of war against Japan on
August 8, caused the Japanese to
surrender.