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Germany invades Poland
On Sept. 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, the act that started World War II. The day before the invasion, the Nazis acted as Polish military officers to stage an attack on the radio station. Two days later, France and England wanted war with Germany, but no one was ready for it. -
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World War II
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Germany invades France
Using a military strategy unheard of prior, Blitzkrieg, Germany rushed into Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. After kicking Britain out of the continent they stormed into France. France surrendered on June 22nd 1940. -
Germany invades Soviet Union
On June 22nd 1941 Hitler broke his agreement (pact) with Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union. Stalin sided with Britain and the Free-French state. Germany advances all the way to Stalingrad and Moscow. -
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941 , many Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed about 8 battleships and about 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. -
The Battle of Midway
In May 1942, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto wanted to go to battle with the US. On June 4, 1942, the US aircraft flying from USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown sunk 4 Japanese carriers, making Yamamoto give up. The Battle of Midway was when everything got serious in World War II. -
The Battle of Guadalcanal
The Japanese lost a total of 24,000 men in the Battle of Guadalcanal, while the Americans had 1,600 killed, 4,200 wounded, and several many died from malaria and other diseases. The many naval battles made each side use 24 warships: Americans lost 8 cruisers, 2 heavy carriers, and 14 destroyers while the Japanese lost 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 1 light carrier, 11 destroyers, and 6 submarines. -
D-Day
- On July 6th 1944 the US initiated the largest invasion in the history of the world
- Codename = Overload
- Launching point = England
- Invasion point was Normandy, France
- 5,000 naval vessels
- 150,000 allied soldiers
- 300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs
- German casualty = 9,000 dead
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Battle of the Bulge
- Adolf Hitler of Germany didn't want to end war after allies had freed France and defeated Germany at Normandy. On December 16, 1944 Germany had a major attack. The battle lasted for around one month as American forces fought back and kept Germany's army from overrunning Europe. -
U.S. forces take Iwo Jima
- The invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. The marines wiped them out after a month of fighting. Iwo Jima was defended by 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. They were in caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. -
The fire-bombing of Tokyo
On March 9, 1945, U.S. warplanes dropped bombs that cause fire on eastern Tokyo. It killed about 100,000 civilians and left many more severely injured. This was the deadliest bombing in history. -
Battle of Berlin
On April 21st, the Red Army had broken through the gates of Hitler’s capital. The Russian’s had advanced quickly, advancing as much as 25 miles every day, as German forces fell. The city was surrounded, but the Nazi leadership still believed that they had victory. -
America drops Atomic Bombs
When the united states dropped the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II. The United States were the first and only nation to use atomic bombs when they dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Since 1940, the United States had been working on making an atomic bomb. The United States had their first successful test in the desert in New Mexico in July 1945. -
VJ Day 1945
About 60 cities in Japan had been damaged because of bombing, so on August 14, 1945, Japan had surrendered to their allies. World War II was officially over. August 14 and August 15 have been known as 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.
