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Japanese invasion of china
The japaneseattacked thecity of Nanking, China. This killed 300,00 citizens. The reason they invaded them was beacuase theu lacked resources. Japan thought by doing this it woukd make them potential leaders and more like the US. As a result, China lost their capital. -
Germany's invasion of poland
The invasion of Poland was one of Hitler's first steps in his plan. on September 1, 1939 Germans bombed polish airfields. Warships and u-boats attacked Naval forces. He was hoping to colonize the area and enslave the Slavs. This was the offical start of WWII. -
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German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a german word meaning, "lightening war". It was a military tactic used to disorganize enemy forces by mobal forces and firepower. It was tested in the invasion of Poland and in 6 weeks Germans took down the forces of four countries. They continued to use this tactic to cruch other forces. -
Fall of paris
Germans invaded France and said everyone had curfew at 8:00pm. After cerfew Germans cut off Allied units to the main land. Once they got past the US, the british and french knew they were targets. Britian fled back leaving France to fend for themselves. Germans launched case red, attacking the French military that wasnt that strong at the moment. Germany one and a armistist split the counrty,Germany had control over the north,west, and some parts of the southeast but France still owned the axis. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler's army invaded a front from North Cape to the Black Sea. They were know as the best army until Barbarossa. They took 600,000 prisoners and were determined to enslave the entire Slavic population and kill the jews. The longer the Germans stayed the weather got colder and evrything froze and the soviet union planned a counter attack and defeated the Germans. -
Wannsee Conference
The Nazi officals met in july of 1941 to discuss the "Final Solution" to the "Jewish problem" they had in their country. At this meeting they made up the plan to fix this "problem". Never planded on killing anybody but the thought of concentration camps were mentioned. Months after the nazi officals were killing up to 1,000 jews every day. -
Pearl harbor
Japanese fighter planes attacked pearl harbor near Honolulu. It lasted only 2 hours but destroyed 20 American vessels, 8 battleships and over 300 airplanes.This killed over 2,000 soldiers and saliors. Japan and the US had disagreed with the invasion of China and put and oil embargo on Japan. After Pearl Harbor the US offically entered the war. -
Bataan Death March
In April, Japanese had caputred over 76,000 Allied soilders. The Japanese had moved Camp O Donell 80 miles across Bataan, Philipines and forced soldiers to walk all the way there. They took their wepons and told them to start walking. During the 3 day march they were starved and given no water. Those who fell behind were killed. Months later the remaining soilders were rescued and the Japanese general was killed. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
In April of 1943, the Jews of a Poland ghetto staged a revolt. Once the news spread to other concentration camps they started to revolt too. Hitler sent tanks to "liquidate" the ghetto while resistant fighters managed to fight the germans. The guards raised the building and destroyed bunkers and jews hiding escaped. By May 16, Ghettos were finally under Nazi control again. -
Operation Gomorran
On this day, British bombers raid Germany. This was revenge for Germany attacking them. More than 1,500 Germans were killed in the first raid. American soldiers also remember this as Blitz week. After the attack this greatly effected Hitler, he refused to go to any burned or damage cities. The Nazis wanted to come to terms with defat. -
D-Day
AKA Operation Overlord. On July 6 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces landed on the coast of the Normanday reigon. Allies conducted a "deception campaign" to mislead Germany. The Allies succesfully overthrown the beaches and set up a base full of supllies. There was over 2,00 american casualties and 4,000 troops lost their lives. Allies prepared to raid Germany, weeks later they surendered and Hitler commited suicide. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was Germany's last attempt to drive the Allies off of Europe. Hitler attempted to split the allies by a Blitzkrieg thrust.Germany used over 200,000 troops, 1,00 tanks to break through US lines. Americans were caught off guard because of the bad weather and coldness.General Patton's succesful maneuvering of a army provieded defense for the Alllies. At the end Germany and the Allies came to a draw. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
America invaded Iwo Jima because of their need for a base in Japan. The US landed in the island in February, 1945. 23,000 Japanese fought from caves, dugouts, and, tunnels. The Us attacked by prepairing air and naval bombardment. The used 6,800 tins if bombs and 22,00 shells. Only 5,900 Americans died. The US defeated Japan and raised the US flag on their territory. -
Operation Thunderclap
Allies began to raid Dresden. They strategically planed the attack before doing it because of how close the Germans were to surrendering. The allies tried to crash Nazi war machines. They argued about why they would raid Dresden because it was a beautiful city and the Allies agreed it was because it was a major communticaton center for the Germans. They dropped more than 3,400 tons of explosives by 800 aircrafts into the city. the Allies left 8 square miles of Dresden burning for days. -
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Battle of Okinawa
After the battle of Iwo Jima the japanese came back for more. They attacked the US from the air and sea. THey were determined to make it impossible for the US to win, so determined some people say they were commiting a one way suicied from the air. The battle took place in a well populated area. 100,000 civilians died. 7,374 US soliders died and 763 aircrafts were destroyed. As a result after the war both US and Japanese generals died. -
Liberation of concentration camps
Dachau was one of the first ever concentration camps. The first year they held 5,00 people hostage. On April 28 some guards abandoned the camp. On the 29th the camp was liberated by the US 45th infantry.They killed 30 guards and found 30 railcarts full of bodies. Once liberated, the cities around Dachau were fourced to bury all the dead bodies. Over the years Dachau had held over 160,000 stages. -
VE day
On this day German troop finally surrendered. Great Britan and the US celerbrated victories, they put out flags and hung banners.Documents that said they surrendered were signed in Berlin. 1 million Germans attempted mass exodus during this time but Russains stoped them and held some captive. 600 soviets were killed before final surender. Germans relased more than 13,000 british POWs. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
On August 6, Americans dropped the worlds first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It destroyed 90% of the city and killed 80,000 people instanly. Later the bomb killed thousands more from radiation. 3 days later another american atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing 40,000. Emperor Hironito said his country surrendered on August 15. VJ celebrations started in Allied countries. Offical surrender agreements were signed on September 2, 1945 on a US battleship. -
Potsdam declaration
To offcially end the war, Japan had to go to the Potsdam conferance. They had to sign a decleration that stated the terms of unconditional surrender. Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Chaing Kai-Shek all atteneded. Harry Truman ordered a halt to the atomic bombing and Japan signed the declaration ending the war. -
VJ day
Alos know as: Victory over Japan
On August 15, Japan surrendered. Offical surrender documents were signed on September 2 on the U.S.S. missouri. Japan freed 6 years worth of hostilies. All the pictures taken on the days showed relief and joy from soldiers and loved ones. This was offically the end of WWII! Over the years celebrations died out due to the US worrying Japan wouls be "offended". Even though it's not celebrated it was still a victorious day for the United States.
