-
Japanese invasion of China
The Japanese claimed that they were fired on by Chinese troops near Beijing. So using that as an excuse, the Japanese launched a full invasion on China. -
Rape of Nanking
The Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital (Nanking) and murdered 300,000 out of the 600,000 civilians and soldiers residing in the city. This lasted 6 weeks and was known as the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in Europe and the Pacific. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Hitler said that the conquest of Poland would bring living space for the German people. He said that the “racially superior” Germans would colonize the territory and the native Slavs would be enslaved. -
German Blitzkrieg
Meaning “lightning war”, Blitzkrieg is a military tactic that was designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the usage of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower.
German forces used the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before they successfully employed this tactic when they invaded Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Fall of Paris
The German's attack plan, codenamed "Case Yellow", consisted of an armoured offensive through the Ardennes Forest, bypassing the strong defences of the French frontier on the Maginot Line. This advance would then threaten to encircle French and British divisions to the north, which were stationed along the Belgian frontier. And even though the German forces in the north faced a strong resistance from the French and Belgian, Germany pushed through the Ardennes with great success. -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, yet they had failed in their attempt. This failure was a crucial turning point in World War II, since it then forced Nazi Germany to fight in a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes barraged the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. it only lasted two hours, but it was devastating. They managed to destroy about 20 American naval vessels, including 8 enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. And more than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died. A day after the attack, the president of the united states declared war on Japan. -
Wannsee Conference
It is seen as the meeting where the so-called 'Final Solution' was decided on. This led to the Holocaust, where they decided on setting up death camps to get rid of Europe's Jews and gypsies and etc. -
Bataan Death March
75,000 Filipino & American troops on the Bataan Peninsula were made to march 65 miles to prison camps. Thousands died on the way there due to extreme conditions. -
Battle of Midway
The United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to recieve and prepare for Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers. Resulting in the United States inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. -
Operation Gomorrah
Britain's aircraft dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg, Germany in only a few hours. The explosive power was equivalent to what German bombers had dropped on London in their 5 most destructive raids. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. -
D-Day (Normandy invasion)
Codenamed Operation Overlord, this invasion resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. This invasion was 1 of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II came from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following air and naval bombardment, 3 U.S. marine divisions landed on the island. Iwo Jima was defended by about 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. The Japanese fought from an complex network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Though Despite these conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces. -
Battle of Okinawa
The last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, involving 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. Air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan were at stake. By the end, Japan lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies suffered more than 65,000 casualties—including 14,000 dead. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the public holiday to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Liberation of concentration camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. They first entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, then later overran several other killing centers. Lastly, they entered Auschwitz and found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners there. -
Operation Thunderclap
The operation was to bomb the eastern-most cities of Germany to disrupt the transport infrastructure behind what was becoming the Eastern front. it was to also show that the German population that the air defences of Germany were now of little substance and the Nazi regime had failed them. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 90 percent of the city and tens of thousands more later from radiation exposure. 3 days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing about 40,000 people. -
VJ Day
It was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, which effectively ended World War II. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwestern Europe by a surprise blitzkrieg through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, America's units fought desperate battle to stop the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans went deeper into the Ardennes to try to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving the reason to the battle’s name.
