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Japanese Invasion of China
Ended Sep. 9, 1945.
The Japanese wanted to take over more land so they could gain more power. So they decided to take Manchuria along with Chinas key ports. The U.S. told them to stop or they would declare war on them. They did not listen over the years and Japan left the league of nations so they could do what they wanted to do.
://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/sino-japanese-war -
Rape of Nanking
Ended March 1938
In a period of 6 weeks Japanese forces murdered hundreds of thousands of people being civilians and soldiers in the city of Nanking. Between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assulted and left on the streets. The Japanese did this because they were fearful of losing them in battle.
http://www.history.com/topics/nanjing-massacre -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Ended Oct. 6 1939
Germany planned to take Poland to give the German people living space. The Soviet Union and Germany signed a nonaggression pact to share Poland between the two. Hitler planned on invading Poland on Aug. 26 but on Aug. 25 he delayed the attack because he found out Britian had signed a treaty with Poland to help them if they are attacked.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland
http://www.dw.com/en/remembering-the-start-of-wwii/a-17891588 -
German Blitzkrieg
Ended Apr. 1941. Germany tried to avoid a long war by using stratgies by defeating their opponents in short campains. They soon came up with a new strategy called Blitzkrieg, it reqiured soldiers to have offencive weapons such as tanks, planes, and artillery. Germany did succecfully take Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005437 -
Fall of Paris
Ended Jun. 25 1940 Parisians woke up to German accented voice telling them that they had an 8p.m. curfew. That evening German soldiers occupied the city while the frech government trying to hold on. Paul Reynaud asked Roosevelt for some aid to help out. 2 million of the people have fled knowing the Germans would be coming with tanks and the gestapo to arrest, spy, and interrogations.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/101331060339103494/ -
Operation Barbarossa
Ended Jan. 7, 1942. Moscow is open for Germany to take but the weather got to the soldiers who didnt have any winter clothes or enough supplies to last. Hitler didnt want to be like Napolean and fail trying to invade the Soviet Union. The soldiers retreated away from the Soviet Unions threats. Barbarossa had failed, and Germany confronted a two-front war that it could not win.
www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa
www.rt.com/op-edge/268717-operation-barbarossa-ww2-ussr-hitler/ -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese war planes flew over Pearl Harbor just a little before 8 a.m. and they managed to destroy battleships, naval vessals, and hundreds of airplanes. It took a total of two hours for it to happen. The Japanese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. The day after President Roosevelt declared war on Japan after more than two years into the conflict.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor -
Wannsee Conference
The top 15 ranking Nazi pary and government officials gathered to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." They gathered in a villa in a Berlin suburb of Wannsee. Heydrich informed and secured support from gov. ministries and other agencies intrested in the "final solution"
http://www.britannica.com/event/Wannsee-Conference
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477 -
Battle of Midway
Ended Jun. 7, 1942. It happened 6 months after the attack of Pearl Harbor. After advancements of decoding the U.S. was able to counter Japans planned attacks. This victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. The battle of Midway is considered the turning point of the war for the pacific theater.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3296390/posts -
Battle of Stalingrad
Ended Feb. 2, 1943. Its known as one of the bloodiest battles in history and one of the greatest in the Soviet Unions Patriatic War. Its concidered a turning poin on the eastern front and one of the most crucial engagments of WWII. The victory of the Soviet was a great humiliation for Hitler. Hitler had become distrustful to his generals while Stalin gained confidence.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Ended May 16. 1943. The German soldiers murdered or deported 300,000 jews. The jews were either put into treblinka killing center, forced labor-camps or murdered. 2 jewish resistance groups came together to fight off the German soldiers. The group figured out ways to delay deporting them and found ways to hide is small shelters and bunkers.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188 -
Operation Gomorrah
Britian bombers raided Hamburg, Germany as payback for them losing 167 civilians that July. More than 1,500 german civilians died in Britians first raid. To make matters worse for Germany the U.S. started bombing the nothern part of Germany including 2 bombings in Hamburg during daylight hours. The bombing destoryed thousands of buildings and industrial and munitions plants. www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article -
D-Day
156,000 British, American, and Canadian forces landed on 5 beaches along a 50 mile stretch of the coast of France’s Normandy region. This invasion was one of the largest military assults in history.The invasion was set for June 5 but the weather was bad and delayed them 24hrs. This invasion confused and delayed the Germans drastically. At first Hitler thought it was a distraction and failed to give them help
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
http://www.army.mil/d-day/ -
Battle of the Bulge
Ended Jan. 25, 1945. The American units were caught of gaurd by the Germans wanting to split the Allied groups in Northwest part of Europe. The American soldiers fought desperatly for days trying to hold on. It was the costliest action ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 deaths.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_the_Bulge.jpg -
Operation Thunderclap
It was under discussion for quite sometime. The purpose of operation thunderclap was to bomb the eastern most parts of Germany. The air defences had little substance because the Nazi regime had failed them. Operation Thunderclap didnt happen because Churchill had promised to do more to support the Soviet forces moving west into Germany.
http://ww2orc.tripod.com/id15.htm
http://ww2today.com/13-february-1945-operation-thunderclap-raf-start-firestorm-in-dresden -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Ended Mar. 26. 1945. Iwo Jima had roughly 23,000 japanese soldiers on the island. They formed elaborate caves, tunnels, dugouts and underground installations. It was hard for the American soldiers to find the Japanese while fighting because they were all hiding. The Americans somehow figured out to kill them all. there was 1,083 prisoners 2 of them did not surrender until 1951.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/focus-on/iwo-jima.html -
Battle of Okinawa
Ended Jun. 22, 1945. Its the last and the biggest Pacific island battle of WWII. The japanese used multiple suicide missions creating a kamikaze. They changed their tactics and didnt use as many ships. Bothe of the cammanding generals died in the battle.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE Day
On this Day Germany finally let down there arms. Britian and American soldiers celebrated and hung up flags and banners of victory. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West but were stopped by the Russians. The Russians took aproximately 2 million prisoners before and after Germanys surrender.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe
http://rememberingwwii.weebly.com/08-may-1945---victory-in-europe-day.html -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The U.S. became the first and only one to use atomic machinery during the war. America dropped a bomb on Hiroshima killing 80,000 people and more later from wounds and ratiation 3 days later another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing 40,000. Japan surrendered a few days later.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/world/asia/did-us-have-to-drop-atomic-bombs-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki.html?_r=0 -
VJ Day
On this day it is officially declared that Japan has officially surrendered. Japan surrendered several months after Germany did. Americans have been waiting for this day to come since Pearl harbor. VJ Day celebrations slowed down after a while of not wanting to offend the Japanese. Japan is now one of Americas closest allies today.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
https://www.emaze.com/@AOLQICWW/VJ-Day-