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WWII Timeline
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Japanese invasion of China
A clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese troops near Peiping in North China.The war was the result of a Japanese imperialist policy aimed at expanding influence in a political and military way, in order to secure access to raw material reserves and other economic resources in the area, like food and labor. China fought against Japan with help from Germany and the Soviet Union. -
Rape of Nanking
During the Sino-Japanese War, Nanking, the capital of China, fell to Japanese forces, and the Chinese government fled to Hankow, further inland along the Yangtze River. To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. About 150,000 men were nanked and were called "war prisoners." -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
Hitler and Stalin signed a non-agression pact, called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty. Secret protocols of the treaty defined the territorial areas of influence Germany and Russia would have after a successful invasion of Poland. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
At 4:45 a.m. some 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland all along its 1,750 mile border with German-controlled territory. At that very moment, the German luftwaffe bomded polish airfields and german warship with U-boats attacked naval forces in the Baltic Sea. -
German's Blitzkrieg
A german term for "lighting war" blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile force and locally concentrated firepower. German forces tried out the blitzrieg in Poland in 1939, before successfully employing the tactic with invasion of Belgium Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Fall Of Paris
This tense period of anticipation; came to be known as the "Phoney War", met an abrupt end on 10 May 1940, when Germany launched an invasion of France and the Low Countries. German tanks and weapons quickly broke through the French defensive lines and advanced to the coast. -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. There were three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles. It was a way start war with Russia. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack lasted just two hours, but it was horrific: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight large battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. Roosevelt then made a result as to have war between the U.S. and Japan. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of main officials of Nazi Germany, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. It was a meeting that would change history for the Jews and the whole world. It was the final decision what to do with the Jewish community. -
Bataan Death March
It was the U.S. surrender of the Bataan area on the main Philippine island during World War II, The Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an long 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trip in intense heat and were in harsh treatment by guards. -
Battle of Midway
It was one of the most U.S. victories against Japan during World War II began. During the four day battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its own. Japan sought to eliminate the United States as a huge power in the Pacific. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers raided in Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah. Operation Gomorrah was a bombing campaign that occurred in the European Theater of Operations. Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, called for a sustained bombing against the German city of Hamburg. The campaign was the first act to feature between the Royal Air Force and the US Army Air Force. -
Operation Thunderclap
It was a code for a cancelled operation planned in August 1944, but was never implemented. The plan created a massive attack on Berlin in the belief that would caused 110,000 killed, many of them were German personnel. However, it was later decided that the plan was unlikely to work. -
D-Day ( Normandy Invasion)
D-Day is the day on which a combat attack was to be initiated. It was the best known day during World War II. The day of the Normandy landings occurred, the Western Allies were making an effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazis. -
Battle of the Bulge
The battle launched a powerful counteroffense in the forest at Ardennes and caught the Allies by surprise.The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the plan of the attack and entered their highest soldiers for any operation during the war. The “bulge” refers to the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines that became unsuccessful later. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima was under Japanese administration until early in 1945, when it became the scene of a fierce battle between Japanese and invading U.S. troops during the last stages of World War II. The island was important because, if it was captured, it could serve as a base for U.S. fighter planes to accompany U.S. heavy bombers flying to Japan from bases on Saipan. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa served to indicate the nature of future combat at sea. By that time, the U.S. Navy had reduced the Japanese Navy to weakness, and aircrafted could not stab the American defenses. It was one of the bloodiest campaigns from WWII. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, was the public holiday celebrated to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces to all of Europe and the whole universe. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers any attempt to invade Japan, would result in horrific American casualties. It was ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end. The American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
VJ Day
The day in 1945, on which Japan stopped fighting in World War II, and the day when Japan formally surrendered. It gave Americans more relief from the fighting of the Allies.
