-
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg was not successful against well organised defences. The flanks of rapidly advancing mobile forces were vulnerable to counter-attack. Soviet commanders learned to blunt German assaults with successive defence lines of guns and infantry. By 1943 the days of Blitzkrieg were over, and Germany was forced into a defensive war on all fronts.
the link is too long for me to add. -
Fall of Paris
The fall of France in 1940 was sudden and shocking. French leaders believed that they had prepared for a potential war with Germany and were well prepared. Tragically, they were not. Within months of the German invasion, France collapsed.
(https://dailyhistory.org/Why_was_France_defeated_in_1940%3F ) -
Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in hopes of destroying the US Pacific Fleet and weakening the resolve of the American people. They hoped that a defeat at Pearl Harbor would end up in the Americans giving up.
(https://pearlharbor.org/why-japan-attacked-pearl-harbor/) -
Wannsee Conference
Nazi officials meet to discuss the details of the “Final Solution” of the “Jewish question.” What about the strong ones who took longer to die? What about the millions of Jews who were already in Poland? Although the word “extermination” was never uttered during the meeting, the implication was clear: anyone who survived the egregious conditions of a work camp would be “treated accordingly.”
(https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference) -
Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942 U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65 mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March.
(https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march) -
Allied invasion of Italy
The British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery begins the Allied invasion of the Italian peninsula, crossing the Strait of Messina from Sicily and landing at Calabria–the “toe” of Italy. On the day of the landing, the Italian government secretly agreed to the Allies’ terms for surrender, but no public announcement was made until September 8.
(the link is too long to add) -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. The statistics of D-Day, codenamed Operation Overlord, are staggering. The Allies used over 5,000 ships and landing craft to land more than 150,000 troops on five beaches in Normandy. The landings marked the start of a long and costly campaign in north-west Europe, which ultimately convinced the German high command that defeat was inevitable.
(https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-d-day) -
Battle of the Bulge
Called “the greatest American battle of the war” by Winston Churchill, the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Adolf Hitler’s last major offensive in World War II against the Western Front. Hitler’s aim was to split the Allies in their drive toward Germany. The German troops’ failure to divide Britain, France and America with the Ardennes offensive paved the way to victory for the allies.
(https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge) -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was an epic military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945. American forces invaded the island on February 19, 1945, and the ensuing Battle of Iwo Jima lasted for five weeks. In some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II, it’s believed that all but 200 or so of the 21,000 Japanese forces on the island were killed, as were almost 7,000 Marines.
(https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima) -
VE Day
On May 8, 1945, celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe.The war had been raging for almost five years when U.S. and Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.The invasion signaled the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. In less than a year, Germany would surrender and Hitler would be dead.
https://www.defense.gov/Experience/VE-Day/#:~:text=On%20May%208%2C%201945%20%2D%20known,%2C%20on%20June%206%2C%201944. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
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 immediately killed an estimated 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.
(https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki) -
VJ Day
V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, marks the end of World War II, one of the deadliest and most destructive wars in history. When President Harry S. Truman announced on Aug. 14, 1945, that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, war-weary citizens around the world erupted in celebration.
(https://www.defense.gov/Experience/VJ-Day/ ) -
Liberation of concentration camps
On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division liberates Dachau, the first concentration camp established by Germany’s Nazi regime. A major Dachau subcamp was liberated the same day by the 42nd Rainbow Division.
(https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dachau-liberated) -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest. On April 1, 1945 the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan.
(https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa) -
Potsdam Declaration
On August 10, 1945, just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing.
(https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-accepts-potsdam-terms-agrees-to-unconditional-surrender)
