-
Japan's Invasion of China
On this night, Chinese and Japanese troops exchanged fire near the Lugou (Marco Polo) bridge, an access-route to Beijing. What began as a sporadic fight soon escalated into a full-scale battle in which Beijing and Tianjin fell to Japanese forces. Due to Japan's better armed and organized army, China was unable to resist. Japan's invasion of China was due to their desire to be an imperial power, as well their need for resources for World War II.
[http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history] -
The Rape of Nanking
On this day, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. Between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted during the attack, giving its' name. Nanking, the capital of Nationalist China, was left in ruins.
[http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm] -
German Blitzkrieg
German "Blitzkrieg" is a term meaning "Lightning War." It is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces. It's successful execution results in short military campaigns, which saves human lives and limits the use of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1940.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg] -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
On this day, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish arm was defeated within weeks of the invasion. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939. Britain and France, standing by their guarantee of Poland's border, had declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring living space for the German people.
[https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070] -
The Fall of France
This was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries (the Netherlands and Belgium) during World War II. German forces proceeded to defeat the Allied forces in a series of operations, eventually causing the conquest of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris] -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, beginning on June 22, 1941. The operation was driven by Adolf Hitler's desire to conquer Soviet territory as outlined in "Mein Kampf" in 1925.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa] -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Habor, in the territory of Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor] -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of officials of Nazi Germany, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. The purpose of the conference was to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the execution of the final solution to the Jewish population, whereby most of the Jews of the German-occupied Europe would be deported to Poland and most likely murdered.
[https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477] -
The Bataan Death March
After the United State's surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese on April 9, 1942, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65-mile march to prison camps. Thousands perished under the supervision of harsh Japanese guards on this journey.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march] -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a naval battle in the Pacific between June 4-7 of 1942. One of Japan's main goals during World War II was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in East Asia. Japan hoped to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing the region.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway] -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad occurred between July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. It was the successful Soviet defense of the city Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning point of the war in favor of the Allies. It remains one of the bloodiest battles in history, with military and civilian casualties of nearly 2 million.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad] -
Operation Gomorrah
On this day in 1943, British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany, by night while Americans bombed it by day in its own "Blitz Week." Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn.
[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched] -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Normandy landings were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front.
[http://www.history.com/news/landing-at-normandy-the-5-beaches-of-d-day] -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the code for a cancelled operation planned in August 1944 but shelved and never implemented. The plan involved a massive attack on Berlin in the belief that would cause 220,000 casualties with 110,000 killed, many of them key German personnel, which would shatter German morale. However, it was later decided that the plan was unlikely to work.
[http://ww2orc.tripod.com/id15.htm] -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luzembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces off guard. The United States took the most of the attack and received the highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's forces.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge] -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the U.S. Marines landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima] -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties—including 14,000 dead.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa] -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day was the public holiday celebrated on May 8, 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World war II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It therefore marked the end of World War II in Europe.
[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe] -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
On this day, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more suffered from radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender on August 15.
[http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki] -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made – the afternoon of August 15, 1945, in Japan, and, because of time zone differences, to August 14, 1945 – as well as September 2, 1945, when the signing of the surrender document occurred, officially ending World War II.
[http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/September/vjday.htm]
