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Hitler invades and attacks Poland
The September campaign, also known as the 1939 defensive war or the Poland campaign, was an attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that marked the start of World War II. The attack on Poland by Hitler ended on Oct 6, 1939. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the world's longest combat campaign. During WW2, this fight accounted for the majority of naval warfare. The Battle of the Atlantic ended on May 8, 1945. -
Canada declares war on Germany
On September 10, after a discussion in Parliament, Canada declared war on Germany. Only volunteers would serve overseas, according to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation, sometimes known as the Dunkirk Miracle or just Dunkirk, occurred between May 26 and June 4, 1940, and was codenamed Operation Dynamo. The Miracle at Dunkirk ended on June 4,1940 -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain marked the commencement and end of Britain's use of its royal air force. The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England, was a Second World War military operation in which the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm defended the United Kingdom against large-scale raids by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. The Battle of Britain ended on October 31, 1940. -
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
The unexpected military attack on the United States by Japan on the naval facility of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was known as the Pearl Harbor bombing. The strike was intended as a deterrent to the US Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japan's planned military efforts in Southeast Asia against British, Dutch, and US foreign territories. -
Canadian soldiers defeated at Hong Kong
After many days of fierce combat, the defenders of Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day 1941. 290 Canadian troops were killed and another 493 were injured during the conflict. [2] The remaining 1,685 troops were seized as prisoners of war (POWs). Approximately 290 Canadian troops were killed in battle, and another 264 died as POWs in captivity, for a total death toll of 554. Moreover, about 500 Canadians were injured. More than 1,050 of the 1,975 Canadians murdered or injured. -
Japanese Canadians were sent to internment camps
For the sake of national security, approximately 22,000 Japanese Canadians from British Columbia were forcefully evacuated and incarcerated beginning in 1942. This represented over 90% of the entire Japanese Canadian population. The vast majority of them were born in Canada. -
Battle of Dieppe
The Dieppe Raid, also known as Operation Jubilee, was an Allied amphibious assault on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France during World War II. Dieppe was a humiliating defeat for the Allies, as well as a tragedy for those who were killed, gravely injured, or captured. The attack disproved Allied military strategists' assumptions that surprise and tanks were sufficient for a successful amphibious assault against occupied France. -
German and Italian troops surrender in Africa
Six days later, on May 13, 1943, the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered after suffering 40,000 casualties in Tunisia alone; 267,000 German and Italian soldiers became prisoners of war. The Allies surrounded several hundred thousand German and Italian men in northern Tunisia after the Anglo-American landings (Operation Torch) in November 1942 and subsequent fights against Vichy France forces (who afterward switched sides). -
Italian Campaign
The Italian campaign, also known as the Liberation of Italy, lasted from 1943 to 1945 and consisted of Allied and Axis engagements in and around Italy. The Italian Campaign ended on May 8, 1945. The Allies agreed to assist and chose to utilize Italy (which was linked with Germany) as a staging area for attacking enemy territory in Europe and diverting German resources away from the Eastern Front. The Italian Campaign was the name given to this attempt. -
Liberation of the Netherlands
Every year on May 5th, the Netherlands commemorates the end of Nazi Germany's occupation during World War II by celebrating Liberation Day. On May 4th, which is the National Day of Remembrance, it will take place. -
D-day
The Normandy landings took place on June 6, 1944, as part of the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord. The world's largest seaborne attack, codenamed Operation Neptune and often known as D-Day, took place on June 6, 1944. The D in D-Day refers to the day. The day of any major invasion or military action was given this coded name. The displays of the National WWII Museum go into the history of the D-Day invasions of Normandy and the Pacific. -
End of the War in Europe (Germany surrenders)
In Reims, France, on May 7, 1945, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies, bringing World War II and the Third Reich to an end. -
End of the War in the Pacific (Japan surrenders)
On August 15, Japanese Emperor Hirohito declared Imperial Japan's surrender, which was later ratified on September 2, 1945, thereby ending World War II hostilities. ... On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. local time, the United States unleashed an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.