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germany invades poland
The invasion of Poland by Germany began at 4:45 am on the 1st of September, when the Germans opened fire on the Polish garrison at Danzig. The invasion of Poland by the Germans was carried out by 62 divisions and 1,300 aircraft.The British and French had decided that Hitler had taken too much territory in Europe and were determined to stop him. They guaranteed the borders of Poland but Hitler did not believe they would go to war on Poland's behalf. He was wrong and thats when wwii started -
Tripartite Pact signed
On this day in 1940, the Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. This formalizing of the alliance was aimed directly at “neutral” America–designed to force the United States to think twice before venturing in on the side of the Allies. -
Pearl Harbor attacked
Japanese airplanes made a surprise attack on the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. They destroyed many ships and killed many soldiers. It was this attack that forced the United States to enter World War II. United States was in shock. They had tried to avoid the war, but they could not ignore this attack. The Japanese had hoped to break the Americans by attacking Pearl Harbor, instead they united them. The next day the US japan,Three days later Japans allies Germany and Italy, declared war on US -
Battle of Midway
The Japanese formulated a plan to sneak up on the U.S. forces. They hoped to trap a number of the U.S. aircraft carriers in a bad situation where they could destroy them. However, American code breakers had intercepted a number of Japanese transmissions. The Americans knew the Japanese plans and prepared their own trap for the Japanese.US planes would fly in low and try to drop torpedoes that would strike the side of the ships to sink them in the end Yorktown and the Hiryu were sunk. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The battle took place during the last part of 1942 and early 1943. After months of fighting and finally nearly starving to death, the Germans surrendered on February 2, 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest and deadliest battles in World War II. It was a turning point in the war. After losing the battle, the German army lost so many soldiers and took such a defeat that they never quite recovered. -
D-Day invasion
On June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. With a huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, the Allies attacked and gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe. This famous battle is sometimes called D-Day or the Invasion of Normandy. By the end of D-Day over 150,000 troops had landed in Normandy. They pushed their way inland allowing more troops to land over the next several days. -
Battle of the Bulge
When Germany attacked they used over 200,000 troops and nearly 1,000 tanks to break through the US lines. It was winter and the weather was snowy and cold. The Americans were not ready for the attack. The Germans broke through the line and killed thousands of American troops.The Germans had a good plan. They also had English speaking German spies drop in behind the Allied lines. These Germans were dressed in American uniforms and told lies to try and confuse the Americans -
Battle of Iwo Jima
US Marines first landed on the island on February 19, 1945. The generals who planned the attack had thought that it would take around a week to take the island. They were wrong. The Japanese had many surprises for the US soldiers and it took over a month of furious fighting for the US to finally capture the island.After 36 days of brutal fighting, the US had finally secured the island of Iwo Jima.They placed a flag on top of Mount Suribachi -
V-E Day
mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It marked the end of World War II in Europe. -
Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II -
V-j day
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay
