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Germany's invasion of Poland
On September 1st 1939, Adolf Hitlers German army crossed into neighboring Poland to officially begin WWII. After this British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain to formally declare the United Kingdom at war with Germany. Hitlers army used a combination of fast-moving armor and fast- reaching airborne tactics. -
Germany blitzkrieg
On 21 June 1940, early in the second year of World War Two, the French president, Marshall Philippe Pétain, sued for peace with Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. In the course of the negotiations Pétain - victor of the battle of Verdun in World War One - agreed to cede three-fifths of French territory to German control. -
Operation Barbosa
Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack severely damaged the American fleet and prevented, at least for the short term, serious American interference with Japanese military operations. In response, the United States declared war on Japan. Following Germany's declaration of war on the United States, the United States also declared war on Germany. -
Battle of midway
At 10.26am on 4 June 1942 the course of World War Two in the Pacific changed utterly. At that moment 37 Douglas Dauntless bombers from the USS Enterprise peeled off into a dive attack on two Japanese aircraft carriers. Within minutes both ships were ablaze, their death throes punctuated by the explosion of fuel lines, badly stowed ordnance and aircraft petrol tanks. Within six hours the other two carriers in their fleet had also been destroyed. -
D-Day
The Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944 were among the most desperate undertakings in the history of war. Amphibious operations against an enemy in a strong defensive position will almost always lead to heavy casualties. In November 1943, the United States Marine Corps' capture of the tiny atoll of Tarawa in the central Pacific had cost more than 3,000 casualties. American censors banned a public screening of the US Navy film of this event, arguing that its shocking images of a lagoon re -
Battle of the bulge
Flanked by the 7th Army to the south, the 5th and 6th Panzer Armies were to break through the American line and advance to the Meuse. The 5th Panzer Army would then make for Brussels and the 6th for Antwerp, encircling and destroying the American, British and Canadian forces to the north of this double advance - Hodges' 1st Army and the whole of Montgomery's 21st Army Group. Flanked by the 7th Army to the south, the 5th and 6th Panzer Armies were to break through the American line and advance. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
American troops crossed the Rhine river in March 7, 1945 to battle japnese troops. The Japanese lost over 20,000 men while the Americans only lost 6,000 and yet they Japanese did not give up. The Americans saw their persistence and knew that they were not going to quit and decided to come up with a better solution. -
V-E day
By 27 April, the area still held by the Germans amounted to a strip measuring only 16km by 5km (ten by three miles). Hitler killed himself in the Führer's Bunker on 30 April, two days after Mussolini had been captured and hanged by Italian partisans. Two days, also, since he had married his mistress Eva Braun, whom he poisoned before his suicide.
It was left to Grand Admiral Dönitz, President of the Third Reich for a week, to travel to Eisenhower's HQ at Reims. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
On August 6 1945 an American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb in Hiroshima instantly killing 20,000 people on impact. Three days later another American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. -
VJ Day
The Allies celebrated victory over Japan on 15 August 1945, although the Japanese administration under General Koiso did not officially surrender with a signed document until 2 September. Both dates are known as VJ Day. War with Japan had been brewing since the China incident in 1937, and the threat of war in the east intensified when Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany in September 1940. -
Battle of Stalingrad
As the German armies swept further into the Russian heartland, one million Soviet troops were drafted to protect Kiev. But despite Stalin's ruthless order forbidding any city to surrender, Kiev fell and 600,000 Soviet soldiers were captured. By October 1941, three million Soviet soldiers were prisoners of war. New testimony and documentary evidence can now reveal that Stalin was seriously considering suing for peace and had even organised a 'getaway' train to take him to safety. -
Pearl Harbor
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan achieved a long series of military successes. In December 1941, Guam and Wake Island fell to the Japanese, followed in the first half of 1942 by the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. Thailand remained officially neutral. Only in mid-1942 were Australian and New Zealander forces in New Guinea and British forces in India able to halt the Japanese advance.
