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Japanese Invasion of China
In 1937, the Japanese claimed to have been provoked by the Chinese at the Marco Polo Bridge. The real intentions were to retrieve Manchuria's natural resources in order to build up their empire. Using this as an excuse, the Japanese launched an all out invasion of China using the conquered Manchuria as a launching base for their troops. By the end of 1937, all of the major cities in China were captured by the Japanese, and, remarkably, as well as the major communication systems of the nation. -
Rape of Nanking
This event took place as a result of the Japanese's invasion of China. The 150,000 Japanese soldiers who took Nanking were given permission to murder and rape on a massive scale, and this was done for their recreation. An estimated 300,000 Chinese had been killed after a period of up to six weeks, but the Chinese decided to fight back by forming the 'United Front'. Though there were 15 million casualties, the Chinese forced the Japanese to surrender. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. -
German Blitzkrieg
Due to the use of machine guns, mobility during warfare was nearly impossible,but the arrival of armored tanks and combat aircraft changed that and allowed the style of blitzkrieg to be implemented. The German Blitzkrieg was the successful offensive tactic of rapidly advancing armored forces and massive air support towards their enemy. This changed the way all warfare, especially in WWII, was looked at because there were now more methods of attack. -
Operation Barbarossa
This massive invasion of the Soviet Union consisted of three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks. Operation Barbarossa was the German codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. It was to be the turning point in WWII and the fortunes of the Third Reich, and in turn its failure seemed to be the eventual overall defeat of Nazi Germany and it forced them to fight a two-front war against a coalition. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack of Pearl Hrabor will be infamous. On this day the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The attack on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives were lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. -
Wannsee Conference
Presided over by Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and Security Service, Heydrich called fourteen men representing the governmental and military branches most involved in using the practical aspects of the Final Solution.The Wannsee Conference was not called to decide the fate of European Jews but to clarify all points regarding their demise. -
Bataan Death March
The surrendered Filipinos and Americans were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando. The men were divided into groups of about 100, and the Bataan Death March usually took each group about five days to complete. It is believed that thousands of troops died due to being starved, beaten, and bayoneted. Survivors were taken to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation. -
Battle of Midway
In May 1942, Isoroku Yamamoto sought to draw the US Pacific Fleet into a battle where he could overwhelm and destroy it. To accomplish this he planned an invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for attacking Hawaii. Using decrypted Japanese radio intercepts, Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to counter this offensive. On June 4, 1942, US aircraft attacked and sunk four Japanese carriers, forcing Yamamoto to withdrawal. This marked the turning point of WWII in the Pacific. -
Battle of Stalingrad
After the defeat of the German Army they were in full retreat. Ironically, the German Sixth Army needed no involvement in Stanlingrad. Army Groups A and B were well on their way to the Caucasus, when Hitler ordered an attack on Stalingrad. Many say it would've been unwise to have left a major city unconquered as you advanced. But, some believe that Hitler ordered the taking of Stalingrad due to his hatred of Joseph Stalin. Stalingrad was Russia’s centre of communication and manufacturing. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The German authorities deported or murdered around 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. SS and police units deported 265,000 Jews to the Treblinka killing center and 11,580 to forced-labor camps. The Germans and their auxiliaries murdered more than 10,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during the deportation operations. The German authorities granted only 35,000 Jews permission to remain in the ghetto, while more than 20,000 Jews remained in the ghetto in hiding. Deporation seemed inevitable for many. -
Operation Gomorrah
Conceived by Winston Churchill and Arthur Harris, Operation Gomorrah called for a coordinated, sustained bombing campaign against the German port city of Hamburg. The campaign was the first operation to feature coordinated bombing between the RAF and the US Army Air Force, with the British bombing by night and the Americans conducting precision strikes by day. On May 27, 1943, the operation was authorized to move forward. The night of July 24 was selected for the first strike. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle contained some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces which landed on five beaches of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. This was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required much planning. Before this, the Allies conducted a large-scale campaign to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. This battle resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War Two. The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies in two in their drive towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Unspeakeable conditions in the Nazi camps were seen, where piles of corpses layed. After the liberation of these camps the full scope of these horrors were exposed to the world. The small number of survivers, resembled skeletons due to the demands of forced labor and food shortage, compounded by months and years of maltreatment. Many were so weak that they could hardly move. Disease remained a very evident, many of the camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. -
Battle of Okinawa
Beginning in April of 1945, over fifty years ago on an island in the Pacific, American and Japanese men fought and killed each other as never before. Caught in the crossfire between these warring powers were the native inhabitants of Okinawa. The battle's significance has been lost despite the unprecedented events that occurred during those eighty-two days. -
Operation Thunderclap
The broad goal of this was to capture central England and northern Wales. The operation involved up to 120,000 American soldiers, aerial support, naval blockades and bombardments and took almost nine months to complete, despite the comparatively small distances being travelled. The operation is generally regarded as a success because the units were able to gain control of the train tracks between Birmingham and northern EWA bases, cutting off crucial supplies, and it was fought on two fronts. -
VE Day
On Mar. 7, 1945, the Western Allies—whose chief commanders in the field were Omar N. Bradley and Bernard Law Montgomery—crossed the Rhine after having smashed through the strongly fortified Siegfried Line and overran West Germany. German collapse came after the meeting (Apr. 25) of the Western and Russian armies at Torgau in Saxony, and after Hitler's death amid the ruins of Berlin, which was falling to the Russians under marshals Zhukov and Konev. The unconditional surrender of Germany was sign -
Potsdam Declaration
Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman met in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to August 2, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. After the Yalta Conference Stalin, Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt had agreed to meet following the surrender of Germany, which turned out to be on May 8, 1945, to determine the postwar borders in Europe. Although they were committed to fighting together in the Pacific, the lack of a common enemy led to difficulties of European reconstruction -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during war when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of WWII, many argue that it also ignited the Cold War. On August 6, 1945, Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The blast immediately killed 80,000 people, and three days later the second bomb dropped killed 40,000. A few days later, Japan surrendered. -
VJ Day
History.comDecember 7, 1941 was the day of a gutting aerial attack towards the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. Angered by the event that had taken place, the U.S. immediately declared war which became one-sided, in favor of the U.S., and the thousands of bombs that the U.S. unleashed onto the Japanese caused the surrendering of Japan to the Allies, and in turn it ended World War II. Since then, this day has been known as "Victoryover Japan Day," or formerly known as "VJ Day."
