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Germnay invades Poland
German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish, fled the German advance hoping the Polish army could halt the German advance. But, after heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans within a month of the German attack. Germany and the Soviet Union split up Poland in half. -
German Blitzkrieg
military tactic calculated to create psychological shock and resultant disorganization in enemy forces through the employment of surprise, speed, and superiority in matériel or firepower. Germany used blitzkreig tactics including combined air-ground attacks and the use of Panzer tank divisions to quickly crush the poorly equipped Polish troops. Then in April 1940, Germany invaded neutral Norway, seizing the capital, Oslo, and the country’s main ports with a series of surprise attacks. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain in World War II was between Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe, Nazi Germany’s air force, and was the first battle in history fought solely in the air. From July 10 through October 31, 1940, pilots and support crews on both sides took to the skies and battled for control of airspace over Great Britain, Germany and the English Channel. The powerful, combat-experienced Luftwaffe hoped to conquer Britain easily, but the RAF proved a formidable enemy. -
Operation Barbarossa
Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, named Operation Barbarossa. Where Adolf Hitler predicted a quick victory, but after initial success, the brutal campaign dragged on and eventually failed due to strategic blunders and harsh winter weather, as well as a determined Soviet resistance and attrition suffered by German forces. -
Pearl Harbor
surprise attack by Japanese forces on Hawaii. Just before 8 a.m. on that 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 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 the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan -
Battle of Coral Sea.
The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first time since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that the enemy’s seemingly relentless advance into the Pacific was checked. It was also the first major U.S. Navy fleet action against Japan and the first naval engagement in history in which the participating ships never sighted or fired directly at each other. The Japanese plan was to initially seize the islands of Tulagi, in the Solomons, and Deboyne off the east coast of New Guinea. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a huge turning point between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Pacific powers that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively changed the view of World War II in the Pacific. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In the summer of 1942, Hitler launched a major offensive into southern Russia, seeking to destroy what was left of the Soviet Army and ultimately capture the Caucasus oilfields. The initial advance went well, and the German Sixth Army under General Friedrich von Paulus was ordered to capture the city. But Stalin demanded it be defended at all costs. Every available soldier and civilian was mobilised. -
Operation Gomorrah
British aircrafts dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. The explosive power was the equivalent of what German bombers had dropped on London in their five most destructive raids. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid. -
D-Day (Normandy invasion)
D-Day occured when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target, resulting the longer lasting battle of Normandy. -
Operation Thunderclap
was an Allied unrealised plan to end the war against Germany by the use of bombing to bring about the destruction of Berlin. The goal was a massive air attack on Berlin to cause an estimated 220,000 casualties, many of them key German personnel, in an effort which, it was believed, would shatter German morale. It was then decided, after further consideration, that the concept was unlikely to work and it was therefore abandoned. -
Battle of the Bulge
Lasted for 6 weeks and was 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. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle between the U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945. Located 750 miles off the coast of Japan, the island of Iwo Jima had three airfields that could serve as a staging facility for a potential invasion of mainland Japan. 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, (7,000 Americans dead, and over 20,000 Japanese dead.) -
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. The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a complex plan to invade and occupy Okinawa. Though it resulted in an Allied victory, kamikaze fighters, rainy weather and fierce fighting led to a large death toll on both sides. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
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. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15.