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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan really wanted to gain more land to fuel their mainland, so they decided china would be perfect to invade. Japan invaded parts of korea, manchuria, and eastern china by moving them up river and continuously bombing them. this resulted in ttensions rising all over the world.
source: our book
picutre source: hubpages.com -
rape of nanking
the japanese continued on their march after their victory in shanghai to the city of nanking. this city was almost completely defensless and its citizens were left to the mercy of the japanese army. the result of this atrocitiy ended up with around 200,000 to 300,000 people killed.
source:http://www.history.com/topics/nanjing-massacre
picture source: historyonair.com -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
1.5 million german troops invade Poland on Sep 1, 1939. German declares that it was a supposed defensive action, but the rest of the world doesn't believe in this excuse. Hitler planned on invading Poland to create more space for his new and perfect race. After this battle, Poland was splt between Germany and Russia and many Poles and Slavs were enslaved as a result.
source;http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland
picture source: ushmm.org -
German Blitzkrieg
Germany did not want a long war, so they employed a tactic called blitzkrieg in which the forces would create a narrow breach in the enemies defense. This allowed the Germans to quickly advance and encircle the enemy until they surrender. This tactic allowed for the quick capture of important countries, such as France, Belgium, and Norway. source: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005437
picture source: ww2today.com -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler decided to invade Russia with his massive armies to try and eliminate the threat in the east. However, the Russians were not taken aback by this move and were prepared to fight back. The German forces pushed all the way up to Moscow, but were forced to retreat due to the combination of determined Russians and unfavorable weather. This caused a two front war and caused havoc for Germany.
source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbaro
picture source: theatlantic.com -
Pearl Harbor
Due to Japan being angry at the U.S. for trade embargos and the lack of resources on the mainland, japan decides to suprise attack the Hawaiian naval facilities at pearl harbor. The japanese thought that if they were able to defeat the pacific fleet, then they would have free reign over the pacific islands.
source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor
picture source: pearlharboroahu.com -
Wannsee Conference
At this conference, Hitler gave the orders for mass executions of the jews. Hitler called this meeting to publicly announce that he would leave Reinhard Heydrich in charge of the operation. He also used this meeting to increase the annihilation of all jewish people. source: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477
picture source: britannica.com -
bataan death march
the japanese captured american and filipino troops at the bataan peninsula after the attack on pearl harbor. the prisoners were harshly mistreated and many often died on the march to san fernando. this resulted in angry americans and the prisoners were later revenged in 1945 by douglas macarthur.
source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
picture source: britannica.com -
Battle of midway
the japanese commander wanted to crush the american ships that had survived pearl harbor. the commander planned to surpirse the americans and draw them into a trap, but the messages were intercepted and the americans surprise attacked the japanese. this resulted in the war ending in the pacific.
source:http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway
picture source: britannica.com -
Battle of stalingrad
the germans are deep into germany and are desperately wanting to end the eastern front by siezing parts of russia. But, when the germans tried to capture the major city of stalingrad, they were stopped by some very determined russians. this resulted in the germans being pushed back and losing the eastern front.
source:http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad
picture source: wikipedia.org -
operation gomorrah
British aircraft retailiated against the german blitzkriegs by dropping 2300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg, Germany. This bombing caused the moral of german military personnhel, civilians, and even Hitler himself to plummtet. A new form of radar jamming was employed by dropping strips of aluminum to confuse enemy radar.
source:http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched
picture source: ghostofelberry.wordpress.com -
allied invasion of italy
the italians are getting fed up with fascist italy and want to make peace with the allies. however benito mussolini and germany wouldnt let this happen. eventually the allies reached rome and and captured it, leading to the capturing of benito mussolini. this resulted in italy joining a secret alliance with the allies and dispelling germany from italy.
source:http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland
picture source: wikipedia.org -
D-Day
The allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France The allies wanted to attack and break the German hold on the west part of europe to crumble their defenses. Since the allies stormed the beaches and took back france, they were able to take back control of europe and stop the Germans from unleashing their new advanced weapons.
source: http://www.secondworldwarhistory.com/d-day-the-allied-invasion-of-france.asp
picture source: dday.org -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler wanted to retailiate agianst the allies and gain back important land. He employed his usual tactic of blitzkrieg to try and blast through the Ardennes to Antwerp. The germans were increasingly desperate with each day, but thanks to George s. pattons defence, the germans were pushed back and eventually defeated entirely.
picture source: angelfire.com
source; http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Operation Thunderclap
In operation thunderclap, the allies bombed the city of dresden. Although this bombing was not mandatory, and was actually considered debatable, it took out many industries that the germans had. despite the facilites not being war related, the bombings still packed a huge punch to the german economy.
source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-dresden
picture source: wikipedia.org -
Battle of Iwo Jima
the allies were in need of a base near the japanses coast to allow for easier access to japan. the japanese were heavily dug in. they fought in a series of trecnhes and network of tunnels which caused the problems for the allies by not allowing them to see the enemy. . the capturing of this island allowed for the more available use of bombers to bomb the mainland of japan.
source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
picture source: en.wikipedia.org -
Battle of okinawa
the U.S. made one final huge push in capturing the last pacific island of okinawa. The u.s. attacked to gain key strategic military bases to be used for sea and air. this resulted in the japanese taking huge risks and implementing a new tactic with kamikaze planes. this new tactic proved to be very useful, but japanese still ended up losing the island.
source:http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa
picture source: 2eyeswatching.com -
VE day
this was the day that the germans finally laid down their arms and surrendered. the germans had finally realized that they could not win the war and wanted to spare there losses. they also wanted to avoid being taken prisoner by the soviets. this resulted in the war being almost completely over and many prisoners of war to be released.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe
picture source: bbc.co.uk -
dropping of the atomic bombs
a massive bomb, called the atomic bomb, was dropped on nagasaki and hiroshima. the president harry s. truman wanted to do this to try and minimalize as many american casualties as possible. his plan worked and the japanese were forced to surrender, but terrible causualties and after affects occured shortly after for the japanese.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima
picture source: trumanlibrary.org -
VJ day
this day is very similar to VE day in that it was essentially the same thing, except the japanese surrenduring unconditionally. the japanese surrendered because hirohito claimed that the bomb was "new" and "cruel" and that the continued use of it would destroy human civilization. this resulted in world war II being completely and utterly over.
source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
picture source: wikipedia.org
