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Blitzkrieg
German term for "lighting war". Blitzkrieg was a strategic war plan that the Germans used to invade Poland. 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.
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Period: to
WWII
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Battle of France
Germany attacked in the west on May 10, 1940. Initially, British and French commanders had believed that German forces would attack through central Belgium as they had in World War I, and rushed forces to the Franco-Belgian border to meet the German attack.
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Battle of britain
For the Germans, 13 August 1940 marked the start of their Battle of Britain.The German intention was to probe British defences to see if they could direct equal resources against widely separated attacks. They saw only moderate success. Southampton experienced some damage and the only airfields to suffer, Eastchurch and Detling, were Coastal Command stations which left British fighter defences unimpaired. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/9-important-dates-in-the-battle-of-britain -
Lend lease
Lend-Lease Act provided U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. It authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.” By allowing the transfer of supplies without compensation to Britain, China, the Soviet Union and other countries http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/lend-lease-act -
Germans invade Soviet Union
Operation Barbosa was the biggest war operations the Germans had done in WW2. With 134 divisions at full fighting strength and 73 more divisions for deployment behind the front, German forces invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, less than two years after the German-Soviet Pact was signed. Soviet leadership had refused to heed warnings from the Western Powers of the German troop buildup along its western border. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005164 -
Operation Barborossa
On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. https://www.britannica.com/event/Operation-Barbarossa -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, and was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and over 300 airplanes. (http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor) -
Aftermath of Pearl Harbor
President Roosevelt addresses Congress and asks for a declaration of war against Japan. FDR famous line in his speech “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” This speech is widely known and it proposes the sorrow America is feeling about this attack and that it should be never forgotten. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Bataan Death March
the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war from Saysain Point, Bagac, Bataan and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac, via San Fernando, Pampanga, where the prisoners were loaded onto trains. The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. https://www.britannica.com/event/Bataan-Death-March -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining Ghetto population to Treblinka. A total of 13,000 Jews died -
Liberation of the concentration camps
As the Allies advanced across Europe at the end of the Second World War, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners. The soviets were the first to finish off liberating the last concentraton camps that remained. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. .https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/liberation-of-the-concentration-camps -
D-Day
On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of the Bulge
Last German offensive invasion on the western front. Hitler used his blitzkrieg tactic and tried to separate the allied forces. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennesforest in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Battle of iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima represented to the Americans the pinnacle of forcible entry from the sea. The huge striking force was more experienced, better armed and more powerfully supported than any other offensive campaign to date in the Pacific War. http://www.history.com/news/the-battle-of-iwo-jima-begins-70-years-ago -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The last major event for the United states. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The bomb was known as "Little Boy", a uranium gun-type bomb that exploded with about thirteen kilotons of force. At the time of the bombing, Hiroshima was home to 280,000-290,000 civilians as well as 43,000 soldiers.
