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INVASION OF POLAND
Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In response to the invasion of Poland by Germany, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, beginning World War II. By October 6, 1939, Germany annexed the Polish territories along the German border and occupied the remainder of Poland in June 1941 after invading the Soviet Union. Poland was under German occupation until January 1945. -
BATTLE OF FRANCE
Paris started mobilizing for war in September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, but the war seemed far away until May 10, 1940, when the Germans attacked France and quickly defeated the French army. The French government departed Paris on June 10, and the Germans occupied the city on June 14. During the Occupation, the French Government moved to Vichy, and Paris was governed by the German military and by French officials approved by the Germans. -
BATTLE OF BRITAIN BEGAN
On September 7, 1940, 300 German bombers raided London in what would be the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing. This "blitzkrieg" would continue until May 1941. In the summer and autumn of 1940, the German and British air forces clashed in the sky over the United Kingdom. The Battle of Britain ended when Germany's Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force. -
LEND LEASE
March 11, 1941. was a program by which the United States supplied Free France, the United Kingdom, and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel. This included warships and warplanes, along with other weaponry. ended during September 1945. The aid was free for some countries, although some countries were repaying with gold, and some military equipment were required to be returned after the war. In return, the US was given leases on army and naval bases in Allied territory during the war. -
JAPAN BOMBED PEARL HARBOR
Pearl Harbor was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after, President F.D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
DECLARED WAR
President Franklin Roosevelt requests, a declaration of war against Japan. James, a captain of the Marines, enters the House of Representatives to request a declaration of war and address the nation through the radio. On December 8, Japanese Ambassador Oshima went to the German, von Ribbentrop, for a formal declaration of war against the United States. On December 11, the German charge d'affaires in Washington delivered a copy of the declaration of war to the US Secretary of State. -
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 (1939-45), 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. -
THE UNITED STATES WAS VICTORIOUS
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the U.S was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
The Battle of Stalingrad (ending Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (Volgograd) in the U.S. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history. -
D-DAY
the Battle of Normandy, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation as D-Day, when some American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. -
LIBERATION
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind in their hasty retreat from the camp. British, Canadian, American, and French troops also freed prisoners from the camps. -
END WORLD WAR II
On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to the power of 15,000 tons of TNT reduced four square miles of the city to ruins and immediately killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands more died in the following weeks from wounds and radiation poisoning. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing nearly 40,000 more people. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender.
