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Period: to
WWII
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Germany invades Poland
On this day Germany took over Poland and essentially started the war. 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland, while the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields. Hitler wanted to start expanding his empire. This was his first priority. The U.S. at the time was remaining nuetral. -
German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic (Battle of the Atlantic)
On this day German U-boats attack british merchant ships. The British were not happy and decided to make a come back at the Germans. The British sank some of the U-boats that sunk merchant ships. This was the war's longest military campaign. The Germans ended up losing 783 U-Boats and 28,000 sailors. -
First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz
On this day the Germans first experiment with gas chambers. It is reported that there were seven gas chambers in Auschwitz. These gas chambers were made to look like showers for when the Jews were brought into concentration camps. When the Jews were brought into these chambers the doors were sealed off and gas (Zylon B) was released from the shower heads killing everyone in the room.The showers could contain 700 to 800 people at a time. -
Japan makes a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii declaring war on Britain and the United States
The attack on Peal Harbor was the pivital turning point for the U.S. in the war. Hundreds of Japenese airplanes flew overseas to bomb the american naval base. Over 1000 American sailors were killed or wounded.The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. After the attack, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. -
Japan captures Bataan leading to the 'Death March'
The U.S. loses the battle of Bataan. They are forced to march to Camp O' Donnell near Cabanatuan . It was an 85 mile marched, that they were also forced to march in 6 days. During these six days, the soilders were only given one meal of rice. Many of the American soliers die on what is later be named the "Death March". -
Jews deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps
Between July and September 1942, German SS and police units, supported by non-German auxiliaries, deported approximately 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka II extermination camp.Generally, the Germans and their auxiliaries rounded up Jews by cordoning off a city block and systematically forcing the residents out onto the street. -
Italy surrenders to the Allies
American and British armies made landings in Sicily sperate and began to advance across the island before teaming up in the north. On september 3, 1943, Dwight Eisenhower announced Italy's surrendered to the Allies. Germany reacted with Operation Axis, the Allies with Operation Avalanche Five weeks later, Italy declared war on Germany. -
D-Day landings on the northern coast of France
More than 11,000 planes prepare to destroy German Nazi beach defenses. On four of the beaches, the landings were easy and had low casualties. On the otherhand Omaha, one of the two beaches assigned to american forces, was a massacre. Within a month over 1 million troops had landed at Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. -
Hitler commits suicide
As the German defences fell due to the allies, Hitler and his family moved to a bunker in Berlin. When Hitler recieved word that the Solviets were closing into the Furherbunker, he took a pistol and killed himself. His wife took hydrogen cyanide. The bodies were later burned by Hitler's staff. -
The Japanese surrender at the end of WW2
The Japanese finnaly surrender to allied forces. They surrender only after they were incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. This was due to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
