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Japanese Invasion of China
The Japanese military requested to cross the Lugou Bridge to search for a missing soldier, however the Chinese army refused. A unit of the Jaonaese military sought to breech the bridge, but the CHinese army had greater reinforcemnts and were able to hold the bridge. This would be the beginning of a long and bloody fight. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Hitler hated that Poland got many of Germany's terriotories in the Treaty of Versallies after WWI, he planned to take them back. Soon the German-Soviet Pact was made, which stated that when Germany invaded Poland Russia would stay out of it and then get half of the territory. The Polish army was defeated in a week of Geman invasion, with Grmany's gigantic army of 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 palnes. Soon fromer Polish land was annexed back into Germnay. -
The Fall of Paris
On this day, Geman troops began to march through France, imposing their laws and regulation on the Parisian people. Winston Churchill begged the French premir to hold on, that America would join the war soon. However, even though FDR was ready and willing to enter the war and send France aid, his Secretary of State was not. This left France vulnerable and it soon feel to German rule. -
Germna Blitzkrieg
During WWII Germany quickly over ran Europe for moe than two years by using a miitary tactic called, "Blitzkrieg", which translates to lighting war. This was the concentration of offensive weapons on a narrow front. It would drive a breach in enemy forces, permiting armored tanks through. The most remembered type of Blitzkrieg was the planes that were used to bomb cities in the middle of the night. -
Pearl Harbor
"A day that will live in infamy..." FDR says as he speaks about the attack Pearl Harbor, a deliberate strageic attack of Japanese kamikazie planes against U.S. Military ships at Honlulu, Hawaii. More than 2,000 died and over 1,000 were wounded. This was supposed to frighten the United States to submitting to Japan, this only lead to the United States declaring war on Japan and entering WWII. -
The Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrender to Japanese troops at the Bataan Pennisula, approximatley 75,000 American and Filipino men were captured and taken prisoner. They were forced to walk the 65-mile distance to the prison camps. Extreme and cruel conditions were inflicted on the prisoners by the Japanese soldiers. Many prisoners never made it to camps having died on the way form any number of reason. This caused even more peope want to get involved with the war to avenge those in the Bataan Death March. -
Allied Invaison of Italy
The British Army had crossed the Straight of Messina and landed in Calabria, this was the beginning of the Allies' invasion of Italy. Before they could start a full on attack, on the day of the landing the Italian government agreed to Allies' terms of surrender, but no public announcement was made until September 8th. Slowly, the Allies began to conquest Italy form the bottom up, until Rome was take in June of 1944. This lead to facsist leader Mussolini's execution and the liberation of Italy. -
D-Day
D-Day was a collaborative effort between all Allied troops to storm the beaches of Normandy, France and take it back from Nazi control. There were al,ost 156,000 troops that stormed the beaches that day, as well as 11,590 aircrafts used. This helped the Allies take full control of the North Sea again. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As they moved across Germany in a series of offensive attacks, Allied troops encountered many concentration camp prisoners. The Soviet forces were the first to reach a camp in Poland, in July 1944. The news of these liberations, they forced the remaning prisoners into death marches to other camps. But, in the end, all camps were liberated and the remaining prisoners, sent home. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The attack on Iwo JIma began with American troops needing a base near the Japanese coast. The three divisions of marines were to fight against 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. After a heavy arial attack, the three marine troops attacked. The entire garrison was wiped out, with 5,900 dead and 17,400 wounded. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Okinawa campaign involved 287,000 of the U.S. and 130,000 Japanese troops, at stake were vital arial bases for the projected invasion of Japan. Japan also used kamikazi, or suicide tactics, where pilots wold fly into something effictivley destorying the object and themsleves. This was also a fight that took place in a more populated area than other battles, the civilian casualty amounted to over 10,000. -
VE Day
VE Day Celebration
After the suicide of Adolf Hitler, the President of the NAzi regiem after him was only in office a week before he surrendered. The most notable people to celbrate this victory were the British. Many reported people leaving their work places to go into the streets and celbrate with everyone else. The King and Queen made a speech to the thousands around Buckingham Palace. -
The Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
At the beginning of WWII the Manhattan Project, a secret government experimental project, was created with a group of scientist to make an atomic bomb. Later, after VE Day, the day of the Axis' European surrender, Japan refused to surrender. This lead to President Harry Truman ordering the dropping of two atomic bombs, "Little Boy" and "Fat Man", on Nagasaki and Hiroshima respectively. Japanese surrender follwed almost immeadiately after these attacks. -
VJ Day
VJ Day , or Victory Over Japan Day, marked the day of Japanese surrender and the end of WWII. After nearly six years of fighting the war was finally over and people all over the world were celbrating. Harry S. Truman made a speech at the White House declaring a "end to fascism." VJ Day also gave us the very famous picture of a navy boy kissing a nurse in the middle of Times Square in New York
