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Invasion of Poland
The German invasion of Poland began at 4:45 a.m when the German troops opened fire against Poland, thus initiating World War II. It started a week after Germany and the Soviet Union signed peace.The Soviets invaded Poland on September 17 following the Molotov-Tōgō agreement.The invasion ended on October 6 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the Border Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
German offensive to the east
Through the tactic of blitzkrieg, Germany defeated Poland (attacked in September 1939), Denmark (April 1940), Norway (April 1940), Belgium (May 1940), the Netherlands (May 1940), Luxembourg ( May 1940), France (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and Greece (April 1941). It was closed by the joint forces of the United States and Great Britain in 1945, remaining inactive from the mid-1940s until the Battle of Normandy in June 1944. -
Invasion of the USRR
It was carried out through the operation Barbarroja led by Hitler this operation opened the European Eastern Front. The name of the operation is a tribute to Federico I Barbarroja whose name is linked to the German nationalism of the XIX century. Operation Barbarossa meant a heavy blow to the unprepared Soviet forces, which suffered heavy losses and lost large tracts of territory in a short time. However, the arrival of the Russian winter ended with the German plans to end the invasion in 1941. -
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese bombed the US naval base in Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), it began at 7:48 a. m., local time, and was carried out by 353 Japanese aircraft2 that included combat fighters, bombers and torpedo boats that took off from six aircraft carriers.2 The eight US battleships were docked at the port, and four of them sank. . Of these eight, two were refloated and four repaired, so that six were able to return to service later, during the war.It also sank or damaged three cruisers,three destroyers,etc. -
American victory at Midway
The Battle of Midway was a naval confrontation that took place in the Pacific Ocean between the United States and Japan, six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which had marked the beginning of the war in the Pacific. The result of the battle was a decisive victory for the Americans, causing the Japanese to lose 4 aircraft carriers and a cruise of their fleet, not counting the nearly 200 naval pilots, in the attempted attempt to occupy the Midway atoll. -
Allied landings in North Africa
The Germans continued their offensive. But this was answered with a strong reaction from these, who had retreated to El Alamein. With this action the British sought to definitively dislodge the Axis troops from North Africa. After the Allies planned an Anglo-American invasion of North West Africa, Morocco and French Algeria, territory nominally in the hands of the French government of Vichy. Initially it had been proposed to land between the border of Algeria and French Tunisia. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
It was a decisive confrontation between the Nazi Germany and the Soviet armies for the city of Stalingrad. It is considered as the bloodiest in the history of the humanity. Intense urban combats were fought within the city. In November 1942, a Soviet counter-offensive would catch the 6th German Army, which would be defeated a hundred days later. Stalingrad meant the end of the German hopes of capturing the Caucasus and the Volga and the death of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides. -
Italy surrenders
The General Giuseppe Castellano was admitted to speak with the Allied diplomats as official representative of Badoglio in order to establish the conditions for the surrender of Italy. Initially, the Allies were satisfied with the proposal of surrender of Italy. The military campaign against the Axis forces seemed to have gained strength after the successful invasion of Sicily, and a defeat by Italy was considered only a matter of time. -
Allied landings in Normandy
The Allies focused on France occupied by the German army, planned a series of landings in the Normandy area. The Germans knew that they planned a landing and put defenses along the beaches but they did not know the exact position and they did not react in time and they did not have tank support during the first hours. The objective would be to liberate Occupied France. Finally the victory was achieved on the beaches but leaving thousands dead on both sides. -
Germany surrenders
When Germany surrendered to the United States and the Soviet Union ends the Second World War. This was due to the successful advance of the Soviet army in German territory and because Hitler, seeing that the war was lost, committed suicide and Marshal Keital, whom Hitler put in command, signed the German surrender. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The president of the United States ordered nuclear attacks against the Japanese Empire. One was on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima with which 166,000 people died and 130,000 were injured. The other occurred three days later in Nagasaki where 80,000 died. Among the victims, 15 to 20% died from injuries or illnesses attributed to radiation poisoning. Since then, some other people have died of leukemia and various cancers attributed to exposure and the radiation released by the bombs. -
Japan surrenders
After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 14, 1945 accepted the unconditional surrender in accordance with the conditions imposed by the main allied countries in World War II although the formal surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, a board of the USS Missouri ship in Tokyo Bay, officially ending the Second World War and beginning the cold war.