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German invades poland
Hitler's troops invaded from north, south, and west. Poland awaited backup from Britain and France, but received very little. This marked the beginning of World War II. -
Battle of Britain
Operation Sea lion was Germany's strategy for attacking Britain. The German Luftwaffe would attack the Royal Air Force. The UK used radar to figure out where the Germans would attack from. While the UK lost 1,000 planes, the Germans lost 1,700. The Germans bombed everything they could, but ultimately radar saved the UK from falling to Germany. -
Germany invades USSR
Germany attacked Russia in June of 1941. Hitler sent three armies into Russia to the north, east, and south. Hitler would not let his men surrender, and most of them died during the brutal winter and from starvation and disease. 91,000 men surrendered to the USSR in 1943, but only 5,000 would ever return to Germany. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. The first wave was the main attack to take out ships and airfield. The second wave they would finish off whatever was left. The objective was to prevent US from influencing Japan's war effort in southeast Asia. This attack led to FDR asking congress to declare war on Japan on December 8,1941. -
Japan takes over Philippines
Since the Japanese won the Philippines, after the 3 month war they took most of our troops and civilians and made them march nearly 70 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to Camp O'Donnelluntil, they died or were killed. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was the turning point of the war in Europe. It ended any realistic plans of Hitler dominating Europe. Soviet troops forced Nazi armies to retreat toward Germany. -
Allies win North Africa
The British had been fighting the Germans and Italians in North Africa since 1940. Forcing Germany out of North Africa would provide the Allies with an opportunity to invade Italy. -
D-Day
The D-Day invasion was officially called Operation Overlord and involved landing 21 American divisions and 26 Polish, British, and Canadian divisions on a 50-mile stretch of beaches in Normandy, France. The Allies created a fake army of wood and cardboard tanks and ships to convince the Germans that the invasion would come to Calais and not in Normandy. Hitler sent his divisions to Calais and the Allies invaded France. This gave the Allies a foothold in Europe. -
Victory in Europe Day
Hitler's "thousand year reich" or the third reich ended, lasting only 12 years. On May 7, Germany surrendered in a French schoolhouse that had acted as Eisenhower's headquarters. Americans celebrated Victory in Europe Day. FDR passed a few weeks prior and Harry S. Truman would see the US through the war. At this point, the end of the war was close in sight. -
Atomic Bomb is dropped
After relentlessly bombing Japan, they would still not surrender. Truman decided to use the atomic bomb to spare the American lives that would have been lost should we have chosen to invade Japan on foot. On August 6, 1945, US pilots dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The USSR declared war on Japan three days later, and the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese finally surrendered.
