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Germany invades Poland
On this day, 1.5 million German troops attacked Poland from the land and air. Adolf Hitlers main intention on doing this was to regain lost territory and essentially rule Poland. The German invasion was characterised by very early bombings to destroy the enemies air forces, communication lines and rail roads. This was followed by a massive land invasion and once the German forces had smashed their way through, infantry swarmed in, picking off any remaining resistance. This was the start of WWII -
Britain & France declair war on Germany Pt 2
Britain were under strict orders to not harm any German civilians. -
Britain & France declair war on Germany Pt 1
On this day, in an attempt to counter Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation Poland, declare war on Germany. Despite this anouncment, the first attack was not against the Germans, rather the Germans attacking the British ocean liner 'athenia'. This ship was sunk by a German U-30 submarine. out of the 1100 passengers on board, 112 lost their lives. In response to this, Britian only simply dropped 13 tons of anti-Nazi propaganda leaflets. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain Pt 1
On the 10th of May, Winston Churchill was called up to be the British prime minister and replace Neville Chamberlain after he lost the confidence of the House of Commons. In 1938, Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement along with Adolf Hitler. This agreement gave Czechoslovakia over to German conquest and bringing Chamberlain what he promised which was 'peace in our time'. However in September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland which broke that peace. Chamberlain declaired war against Germany but -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain Pt 2
showed himself to be very unequipped in the task of saving Europe. Then, after British forces failed to prevent the Germans from taking over Norway in April 1940, the Conservative Party lost a lot of faith in Chamberlain. On May 10, Hitler invaded Holland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. On this same day, Chamberlain had officially lost all trust from the House of Commons and Churchill was elected. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The Dunkirk Evacuation was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in France. French, British and Canadian troops were trapped between the German forces and the English Channel. These troops appeared to have no way of escaping. By using every single boat they had available to them, Britain sailed to Dunkirk to rescue the soldiers. 338,226 soldiers had been rescued in 860 boats. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers Pt 2
Italy was the first country to leave the Axis alliance. 6 weeks after the leaders part of the Italian Fascist Party eliminated of Benito Mussolini, Italy surrendered to the Allies on September the 8th, 1943. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers Pt 1
During WWII, there were two main major alliances: the Axis and the Allies. The 3 countries apart of the Axis alliance were Germany, Japan and Italy. All 3 of these countries had something that they had domination over. Germany had domination over most of continental Europe. Italy had domination over the Mediterranean Sea, and Japan had domination over East Asia and the Pacific. On May 22 1939, Italy and Germany both signed the 'Pact of Steel' which formed the Axis alliance with military access. -
France signs armistice with Germany
France surrendered to Germany. A war saint of WWII, Marshal Henri Petain, was delegated Prime Minister of France and hit a truce with Germany to keep up peace in the partitioned country. -
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Battle of Britain
German and Britain air forces battled in the air over the UK. This battle is recorded as the largest ongoing bombing campaign. The battle ended when Germany failed to gain air superiority over Britain despite month trying. Because Britain won, they had saved the country from a ground war which they would've probably lost and proved that an air battle alone could be used to win an important battle. -
Tripartite Pact signed
On this day, the Axis forces, of which were Germany, Italy and Japan, were commenced. The Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin. This pact was an agreement so that if any of those countries were ever under any sort of attack/threat that they would help each other out. -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was planned to be the invasion of Great Britan in 1940. The reason Operation Sea Lion never took place was because during WWII, Germany lost the Battle of Britain and due to that Hitler no longer cared about that and was more focused on their upcoming attack on Russia rather than Britain. -
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Siege of Tobruk
The Siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days. Australian troops were involved in the Siege of Tobruk and were part of the Allied powers. They dug trenches and ran through crevices in the ground and split up to get to their destination to spread themselves out. In the end, the Allied powers won the battle. -
Operation Barbarossa
On this day, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This was the largest military operation ever, which involved around 3 million Axis troops and 3500 tanks. Germany invaded the Soviet Union under Hitlers orders, and the Soviet Union fought back under Stalin's orders. It was mostly a ground battle. Despite being the ones who caused the attack, Germany lost the battle. The Soviet Union were able to drive the Germans away and by the time Winter had set in, German attack operations were abandoned. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
On this very day, the United States was essentially brought into WWII. Following a Japanese dive bomber, 360 war planes flew into the US naval base in Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed many of the US's sea and air battle craft. As a result, 2400 Americans were killed and around 1000 were injured. The day after, Britain and US declared war on Japan. Because of this, Germany and Italy declared war on the US 3 days later. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
The day after the Pearl Harbor incident, President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan. President Franklin Roosevelt gave a 10 minute speech which ended with a massive round of applause and clapping. Within an hour, the declaration had been signed. Franklin Roosevelt wore a black armband in recognition of those killing during the Pearl Harbor incident. -
Japan take Singapore
Japan had the same intention as Germany, invade heaps of countries and expand its empire. Once Singapore had surrendered, this clearly showed how Japan fought, through a combination of pure speed and brutality. It also showed the world that the Japanese army was one that was very powerful and had fearless soldiers. -
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Battle of Midway
The United States was able to defeat Japan despite Japan being the ones to try and ambush them. Due to this win, it allowed the US to move into an attacking position. The US inflicted permanent damage on the Japanese navy. The battle took place in the north-central Pacific Ocean. -
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First Battle of El Alamein
The British had succeeded in bringing Rommel into a defensive position. But Rommel then retaliated with large-scale air and tank attacks forcing Britain to retreat into Egypt and as a result of that a large amount of supplies were left behind. But the Allied powers weren't finished there. British, Indian, South African, and New Zealand troops battled Rommel which put Rommel back on a defensive stand. This was a turning point in the war in North Africa. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a very successful defensive move by the Societ Union. They were able to protect the city of Stalingrad from the Germans. This is considered to be one of the most bloodiest battles in history. This was a massive turning point in the war because it turned most things around in favour of the Allies. -
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Second Battle of El Alamein
Despite the Allies winning the first battle, Churchill was still certain that they could win and concerned with the progress in the Western Desert. On the 2nd of November Rommel informed Hitler that his army faced defeat. Hitler didn't listen and the battle ended the war for the Western desert and the Allied powers had won again. -
D-Day Landings Pt 2
By dawn on the 6th of June 1944, the Allied troops had already started their invasion. They had captured and secured many places that Germany had occupied. This had essentially destroyed Hitlers plans. -
D-Day Landings Pt 1
Originally, D-Day was supposed to take place on the 5th of June 1944, just one day before it actually took place, but due to bad weather conditions, it was delayed and needed to take place the next day. D-Day was an attack against Germany from the Allied troops. Because Hitler was aware that they could've been under attack, he set up the necessary things to help prevent it. However, the Allied troops carried out massive acts of deception days before the actual attack to confuse them. -
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Battle of the Bulge
Hitlers main objective here was to split the Allied powers in North-West Europe by using the 'surprise blitzkrieg thrust'. Its purpose was to drive them towards Germany to destroy them. Hitler believed that his 3 armies would be able to take down Canada, Britain and America. At first the Germans were winning the battle, however in the end the Germans lost the battle losing 100,000 from either death, injured or captured. -
Mussolini captured and executed
Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were captured, shot and killed by Italians part of an armed group. They attempted to escape to Switzerland but failed as they were captured. After the defeat of the Axis powers, Mussolini needed to consider the options he had available. He didn't want to be captured by neither the British or the Americans so he attempted to go to Switzerland, a neutral country. He made it all the way to the Swiss border until he was discovered and shot dead. -
Hitler commits suicide
On this day, German dictator Adolf Hitler committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and then shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Hitler was warned by an officer that the Russians were only a few days off invading and that he should consider evacuating. However Hitler, and his wife Eva, chose suicide instead and they were found dead in his bunker on the 30th of April 1945. -
German forces surrender
On this day, German High Commander General Alfred Jodl officially signed the surrender of all German forces to the Allied powers. This had effectively taken Germany out of the situation completely and they were left with essentially nothing as Adolf Hitler had committed suicide only a week before this. -
V.E. day
V.E. day was the public holiday celebrated on the 8th of May 1945. This was a time to celebrate Germany's unconditional surrender on the 7th of May. Also on this day, more than 13,000 British prisoners were released and sent back to Great Britain. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Pt 1
On this day, the US became the first and only nation to ever use anything remotely atomic during the war. After being warned by Albert Einstein that Nazi Germany was starting to look into nuclear weapons in the 1940s, the US began to create an atomic weapon. By the time they had created and tested the bomb, Germany had already surrendered. However, the war against Japan still went on. In an attempt to save American lives and bring the war to a 'speedy end' President Harry S. Truman ordered for -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Pt 2
the new weapon to be used against Japan. Once the bomb had been dropped, the blast had instantly killed over 80,000 people. Many more died in the following weeks as a result of radiation poisoning and wounds. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
On this day, the Soviet Union had declared war against Japan as they sent more than 1,000,000 Soviet soldiers into Manchuria to take on the 700,000 Japanese army. Japan weren't too worried about the Soviet Union, however they surprised them with their very strong invasion of Manchuria. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Pt 2
The US stated that another bomb would be ready to be dropped on the 17-18th but that wasn't necessary. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Pt 1
Just 2 days after the US had dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, they dropped another one on Nagasaki. The US's intentional plan was to get Japan to surrender after they had dropped the first atomic bomb. Because they hadn't yet surrendered they then proceeded to drop another one. Due to the hills surrounding the city, the bomb didn't do as much of a destructive job as the first one did. The number of people killed is between 60,000 and 80,000. -
Japanese surrender - End of WWII
On this day in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allied powers, bringing WWII to an end. Japan's surrender was highly inevitable. With the Japanese navy and air force being destroyed as well as the two Japanese cities being bombed, it was only a matter of time before they surrendered. The US instantly accepted Japan's surrender and later that day everyone met at Tokyo Bay to sign saying that Japan had surrendered. -
United Nations is born
The main purpose for the creation of the United Nations was to fix everything that went wrong during the war. Now that the war was over, maintaining peace was what the United Nation was responsible for. Countries including United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China each made up the security council. Winston Churchill had said for the United Nations to contain in the service of creating a new, united Europe.
