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The Japanese Imperial Army began marching its way to Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. Japanese army troops began slaughtering not only Chinese soldiers, but civilians as well. The total death score for the Chinese people came up to 20 million dead, and 15 million wounded from 1937 to 1945. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/thoughts-on-the-nanjing-massacre/ -
Video: https://www.britannica.com/video/22969/Germans-The-Second-World-War-Prelude-to-September-1939#:~:text=NARRATOR%3A%20On%20September%201%2C%201939,%2D%2DHitler%20unleashed%20his%20blitzkrieg.
German forces under Adolf Hitler's power invaded Poland and started WWII. They invaded Poland in order to regain their lost territory and ultimately rule. The event demonstrated Germany's ability to combine air and armor in a new kind of mob warfare. -
Paris fell to Germany after one month of the German Wehrmacht marched into France. It had fell due to the divided French political elite, lack of quality military leadership, and rudimentary French military tactics. In the end, it resulted to capture other countries including France which were the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/history-and-stories/fall-of-france/
https://dailyhistory.org/Why_was_France_defeated_in_1940 -
The Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. The reason of the attack was for oil. They wanted to continue growing the empire but lacked resources to do so. In result, 2,403 people in total were found dead while only 1,178 were left wounded. It led to the United States entering WWII.
https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/pearl-harbor-fact-sheet-1.pdf
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor -
15 high ranked Nazi Party and German government officials gathered in Wannsee to discuss the coordinate and matters of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." The discussed about a policy decision for the Jews. As results, it is a base on how the Nuremberg laws came to light and to serve whether or not someone was a Jew.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution -
It began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport the surviving inhabitants. However, the Jews refused to leave the resort. The Jews were either killed off or sent to concentration camps, but they did not go down without a fight.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/warsaw-ghetto-uprising
https://www.history.com/news/holocaust-treblinka-uprising-facts-warsaw-ghetto?scrlybrkr=bba830e1 -
Montgomery's Army began its invasion of Italy, and the Italian government agreed to surrender to the Allies. By terms of agreement, the Italians would be treated with leniency if they aided the Allies in expelling Germany from Italy. Their objective was trying to remove Italy from the war.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland#:~:text=In%20April%201945%2C%20a%20new,later%20all%20of%20Germany%20surrendered. -
The Allied forces of Canada, Britain, America, and France attacked German on the Normandy coast of France. By the end of D-Day over 150,000 troops landed on Normandy. Dwight D. Eisenhower came up with the nam D-Day, and they invaded Normandy due to the weather and Nazi planes were grounded.
https://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_ii/d-day_invasion_of_normandy.php
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/d-day
https://www.history.com/news/d-day-normandy-wwii-facts -
German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. This battle lasted until January, 1945. The battle was intended to stop the Allied use of Antwerp, and split the Allied lines, so the Germans can destroy the four Allied armies. The Allies won the battle, the Germans losing 120,000 of its people and military supplies. The Allies only lost about 75,000 people.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Bulge -
The Soviet army entered Auschwitz, a major concentration camp and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners. They did this in order to save the Jews suffering in concentration camps. The Jewish survivors feared going home due to the antisemitism. A lot of them ended up migrated towards western Europe by the western Allies.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-aftermath-of-the-holocaust -
The American forces invaded the island of Iwo Jima against Japan. The island was targeted by the Americans as part of the Allies "Island Hopping" strategy. After the battle it was served as an emergency landing site.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima#:~:text=American%20forces%20invaded%20the%20island,as%20were%20almost%207%2C000%20Marines.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/iwo-jima-fact-sheet.pdf -
The US Navy and Army troops descended on Okinawa island as the final push towards Japan. The invasion was apart of the something called Operation Iceberg, a plan in order to invade and occupy Ryukyu Islands. Japan ended u losing about 110,000 soldiers, and an estimate of 40,000 to 150,000 citizens have also lost their lives.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa#:~:text=The%20invasion%20was%20part%20of,death%20toll%20on%20both%20sides. -
Known as Victory in Europe day. This day marks the surrender of Germany after five years of war. With this victory, the Allies wanted to celebrate, as this was a special day. VE Day marked the start of economic, political, and physical reconstruction of Europe.
https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/VE-Day/#:~:text=On%20Victory%20in%20Europe%20Day,World%20War%20II%20in%20Europe.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-after-ve-day -
The United States not only dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, they dropped another one on them 3 days later in Nagasaki, Japan. They said it was used to speed up to the end of the war. Although it brought WWII to an end, there were a lot of citizens and soldiers of Japan who had lost their lives due to the bombs in those locations.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4782/impact-of-the-atomic-bomb -
Although it wasn't official until the formal surrender documents were signed on September 2, 1945, it marks the day of Japan's surrender. Hirohito, the Emperor of the time, broadcast the surrender to the Japanese people on the radio. It finally marks the end of WWII worldwide.
https://www.uso.org/stories/2802-history-explains-why-the-u-s-marks-vj-day-as-september-2-1945-instead-of-august-15-1945#:~:text=On%20August%2015%2C%201945%2C%20local,process%20of%20officially%20ending%20WWII.