World War II
Last Updated      1/27/2008     1/26/2008      1/13/2008

For the second time in the 1900s the world was at war.
The Allied Powers were Great Britain, France, and later, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
The Axis Powers were Germany, Italy, and later, Japan.

Blitzkrieg
Germany develops the Blitzkrieg, lighting war.
Airplanes first bomb cities, roads, airfields.
Airplanes machine gun soldiers and civilians.
Tanks roll through wiping out all resistance.

Poland
1 September 1939, Germany invades Poland.
3 September 1939, the United Kingdom issues an ultamatium.
Germany does not reply.
Britain, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany.
Later that day by France declares war.
Soon afterwards, South Africa, Canada and Nepal also declared war on Germany.
Immediately, the UK began seizing German ships and implementing a blockade.
France nor England were willing to launch a full attack on Germany.
8 September 1939, Germans reach Warsaw.
17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
6 October 1939, Poland surrenders.

Baltic States
The Soviets begin occupying the Baltic States.
12 March 1940, Finland gives concessions to the Soviets
April 1940, Germany gains control of Denmark and Norway.
In England, Churchill replaces Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister.

France
10 May 1940, Germany invades France.
France and Britain planned to fight a northern war, while holding the Maginot line.
Germany attacks the middle splitting the Allies in two.
May 26-June 4 1940, over 330,000 troops evacuated from Dunkirk.
10 June 1940, Italy attacks France in the Alps.
France was overwhelemed by the blitzkrieg.
22 June 1940, France signs an armistice with Germany.
The Germans occupy Paris.
The Germans set up a government in France, the Vichy France.

Battle of Britain
Hitler prepares to invade Great Britain.
Great Britain still controlled the English Channel.
Late summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain, the air war begins.


Hitler tries to bomb England.
Goering originally targeted airfields and radar stations.
He switched to bombing cities.
This allowed England to rebuild their bases.
Germany did not gain air superiority.
The invasion of England was postponed.

Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic lasted the duration of the war.


The British used convoys to protect merchant ships.
Using French ports, the submarines were able to increase their range.
The British used 50 US destroyers to help their fleet.


Germany increased submarine production and developed the "wolf pack" technique.
The German surface navy had succeses and loses.
The Germans lost the Graf Spee and the Bismarck.
Hitler put his fleet on the defensive to protect Scandanavia from invasion.
May 1941, the British captured a German coding machine.
Summer of 1941, the Soviet Union joins the Allies.
February 1942, German ships slipped out of France and made it back to Germany.
Made the English navy look bad.
Inventions of radar and radar detecting equipment went back and forth.
December 1942, the Germans do not sink a ship of an Arctic convoy.
Erih Raedr is replaced by Karl Donitz as supreme commander of the navy.


May 1943, 25% of German submarines were lost.
December 1943, the Germans loose their last battle cruiser Scharnhorst , in the Battle of North Cape.
Allied production, such as the Liberty ships improved antisubmarine tactics.
Using sea route patrols withlong range attack aircraft led to increasing U-boat losses.
This meant more supplies were getting through. and more supplies getting through.

War in the Mediterranean and Africa
England needed to control the Suez Canal.
June 1940, Italy besieged Malta.
June 1940, Italy attacks Egypt.
July 1940, Britain attacks the French fleet so the Germans cannot use it.
France is unhappy.
August 1940, Italy invades Somaliland.
September 1940, Britain fails to capture French West Africa.
Italy attacks Greece.
Novemebr 1940, Britain captures French Equitaorial Africa.
12 November 1940, Britain attacks the Italian fleet at Taranto.
December 1940, British expel the Italians from Egypt.
January 1941, the Italians are pushed west across Libya.
Greek army pushes the Italians out of Greece.
February 1941, Hitler sends troops to North Africa.
April 1941, Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
Mid April 1941, Rommel pushes the British back into Egypt.
British invade Iraq to control the oil.


End of April 1941,  the Germans have captured Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete.
8 June 1941, the British invade Vichy controlled Syria and Lebanon.


Britain looses 1/2 of their tanks ain Operation Battleaxe.
Late August 1941, Britain and the Soviets invade Iran to secure oil.
18 Novemebr 1941, Operation Crusader pushed Rommel back to his starting point.
21 January 1942, Rommel pushes Britain back to Tobruk.
May 1942, Rommel overuns the British at the Battle of Tobruk.
Rommel is halted at El Alamein.
Montgomery takes over Allied forces in Africa.
October 1942, Montgomery pushes the Germans back.
November 1942, Allied forces land in Vichy controlled Northwest Africa.
Germany responds by taking the rest of mainland France.
May 1943, Rommel's troops leave Africa.
July 1943, the Allies invade Sicily.


3 September 1943, the Allies invade Italy.
The Italians sign an armistice.
Mussolini is arrested.
Mussolini is rescued by German special forces and created a German Client Stae.
From October 1943-mid 1944, Allies fought against defesive lines built to slow them down.
In May 1944, lines at Monte Casino and Anzio are breached.
The Allies could have surrounded the bulk of the German army.
4 June 1944, instead the Allies enter Rome.
August 1944, the Allied forces are divided.
One-half is ent to southern France.
The other moves north up Italy.
25 Arpril 1945, the Italian Social Republic is overthrown.
Mussolini, his girlfriend, and other officials are captured and executed.
Fighting continues in Italy unti Germany surrenders.

War in Europe
22 June 1941, Hitler ignores treaty with Russia, he attacks Russia for resources.

Army Group North
German Army Group North, in East Prussia, was to secure the Baltic states and seize Leningrad
The Germans attacked with 600 tanks.
The Soviet Union counter-attacked with 300 tanks.
It took four days for the Germans to surround and destroy the Sovet tanks.
The Panzers crossed the Dvina and neared Leningrad.

Army Group Centre
German Army Group Centre, in Poland, was to capture Moscow.
The 2nd and 3rd Panzer armies attacked from the south and the noerth.
They encircled the Soviet troops at Bialystok.
27 June 1941, 2nd and 3rd Panzer armies meet up at Minsk.
32 Soviet infantry and eight tank divisions were encircled and destroyed.
Soviet soldiers numbering 135,000 were killed or wounded.
290,000 were captured, while another 250,000 managed to escape.

Army Group South
German Army Group South, in southern Poland and Romania, was to secure the oil fields in the Caucus.
Axis soldiers struck at the junction of three Soviet armies.
The 1st Panzer broke right through trying to capture Brody.
26 June 1941, the Soviets counter-attack with 1,000 tanks.
The Germans won , but the Soviets inflicted heavy losses on the Germans.
The last tank force in the south was spent.

Smolensk
3 July 1941, Hitler allows the panzers to advance.
6 July 1941, the attack with 700 tanks.
The German airforce wipes out the tanks.
26 July 1941, the 2nd and 3rd Panzer armies trap three Soviet armies.
The Germans catured 300,000 prisoners.
Hitler was now only 200 miles from Moscow.
He turned his attention to the north and to the south.
He wanted to capture Leningrad and the oil fields.
16 September 1941, Sovirt armies in Kiew are surrounded.
A savage battle lasted 10 days.
The Germans captured 600,000 prisoners.
To defend Moscow Stalin only had 800,000 men.

Leningrad
8 September 1941, the city was surrounded.
The Germans besieged the city for 900 days.
The 3 million citizens refused to surrender.
By the winter of 1941–42 there was no heating, no water supply, almost no electricity and very little food.

Moscow
2 October 1941, Operation Typhoon, the drive for Moscow.
The Germans punched through the first line of defense.
The 2nd panzer army returning from the south attacked from behind the Soviet defenses.
The Germans captured 663,000 prisoners.
Stalin had 90,000 and 150 tanks to defend Moscow.
15 November, 1941, the Germans resume their attack.
22 November 1941, Soviet troops attack and defeat the 2nd Panzer army.
The 4th Panzer army was 15 miles from the Kremlin when the Russian winter hit.
The Germans were not prepared for this.
Frostbite and disease had caused more casualties than combat.
Dead and wounded had already reached 155,000 in 3 weeks.
Some divisions were now at 50% strength.
The bitter cold had caused severe problems for weapons and equipment.
Weather conditions grounded the Luftwaffe.
27 Novemeber 1941, the Germans were at the end of their supplies.
5 December 1941, Soviet General Zhukov pushed the Germans back 200 miles.
The invasion of the Soviet Union had cost the Germans over 250,000 dead, 500,000 wounded and most of their tanks.

Second Battle of Kharkov
6 January 1942, Stalin orders a counter-offensive.
March 1942, the Germans have stabilized their lines.
May 1942, Soviets try to take Kharkov, in Eastern Ukraine.
Five days later, the 6th army, encircles the Soviet armies trying to take Kharkov.
70,000 Soviet troops were killed, 200,000 captured and only 22,000 managed to escape.

Operation Blue
28 June 1942, the German offensive begins.
Hitler broke up the Army Group South into Army Group A and Army Group B.
Army Group A which was ordered to attack towards the Caucasus oil fields.
Army Group B was ordered to capture Stalingrad and guard against any Soviet counter attacks.
23 July 1942, German 6th Army take Rostov.
9 August 1942, 1st Panzer reaches the Caucus Mountains.
10 August, 6th Army cleared the west side of the River Don of Soviets.

Stalingrad
The Germans attempt to take Stalingrad.
The Soviets realized the German goal was the oil fields.
Stalin sent troops to the oil fields.
Zhukov assumed the command of the defense of Stalingrad.
23 September 1942, the main factory complex was surrounded.
German artillery was within range of the quays on the river.
The Soviets evacuated wounded and brought in reinforcements from there.
Ferocious street-fighting, hand-to-hand conflict of the most savage kind now ensued in the ruins of the city.
Stalingrad was a turning point in the war.
The Soviets were building u troops along the flanks.
19 November 1942, Operation Uranus, with twin attacks the Soviets encircled the 6th Army.
Hitler would not allow them to try and breakout.
Soviets attack Army Group Center.
The Soviets destroyed the oil fields.
December 1942, a relief coulum tried to relieve the 6th Army, but thery only got within 50 miles.
2 February 1943, Hitler promote Paulus to Field Marshall.
No Field Marshall had ever surrendered their troops or been taken alive.
the 6th Army surrendered.
Of the 300,000 strong 6th Army, only 91,000 survived to be taken prisoner.
Only 5,000 men ever returned to Germany after the war.
This was to be the greatest, and most costly, battle in terms of human life in history.
Around 2 million men were killed or wounded on both sides, including civilians.
Axis casualties estimated to be about 850,000 and 750,000 for the Soviets.

Third Battle of Kharkov
The Germans retake Kharkov after the Soviets overextended themselves.

Battle of Kursk
4 July 1943, Germans assenmble the greatest concentration of firepower during WWII.
The Soviets built earhwork defenses.
The Germans attacked from the north and the south.
The Battle of Kursk became the biggest tank battle of the war.
The Germans did not have any reserves.
The Germans could not stop the Soviet counter-attack.
The Soviets captured Kharkov following their victory at Kursk

Battle of the Lower-Dnieper
August 1943, Hitler agreed to a general withdrawal to the Dnieper line.
September-October, the Germans found the Dnieper line impossible to hold as the Soviet bridgeheads grew.
Early November, the Soviets broke out of their bridgeheads on either side of Kiev.
They recaptured the Ukrainian capital.
The Soviet advance continued along the railway line until the 1939 Soviet-Polish border was reached.

D-Day


1944 June 6th, D-Day under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower begins.
85-90% of German troops were in the east.
Germany had only 400,000 troops to repulse the landing.
Only 50,000 were in the Normandy area.
The Germans did not launch a counter attack.
Hitler thoughtbthe landings were a decoy.
26 June 1944, captured te deep water port of Cherbourg.
It would be a month before the port could be used.
Germans had mined the harbor and destroyed the port facilities.
9 July 1944, British and Canadiand take Cane.
23 July 1944, Americans breakout from western end of Normandy.
Hitler counter-attacked.
His troops lost their cover and were easy targets for aircraft.
The Americans encircled the German 7th Army and the 5th Panzer.
50,000 German soldiers were captured.
100,000 escaped.
The British and the Canadians broke through the German lines and advanced 600 miles..
15 August 1944, Allies in Corsica invade the French Rivera.
They then link up with the forces from Normandy.
19 August 1944, the French resistance in Paris rose up against the Germans.
August 1944, Allied forces retake Paris.
The Allies experienced shortages all along the front.
October 1944, Americans take first German city, Achen.



Operation Market Garden
September 1944, Operation Market Garden.
The plan was to land paratroopers near bridges on the Rhine River.
They would hold the position, and wait for the armour to cut through enemy lines to reinforce them.
Then they would cross into Germany.
The plan was conceived and led by British General Montgomery.
It included British, American, Polish, and Canadian forces.
Although the plan encountered some initial success, many of the bridges were blown up.
Then the advancing armoured columns ran into delays.
The British 1st Airborne wee holding the last bridge.
They were wiped out.

Canadian Success
Late Novemeber, the Canadians were ordered to clear out the entrance to Antwerp's port.
Canada was the only country to accomplish all of their D-Day objectives.

Battle of the Bulge
Hitler had been planning a counter attack to take Antwerp.
Taking Antwer would split the Allies in two and deny them needed supplies.
He launched the attack in the Arddennes in southren Belgium.
Bad weather grounded the American  reconissance aircraft.
Part of the German attack broke through the thin American lines and dashed for the River Meuse.
At Bastogne, the 101st Airborne was surrounded, but held out.
Patton's 3rd Army turned around at attacked the rear of the southern German flank.
The weather cleared, and the Americans air power was unleashed.
1 January 1945, Germans attack Allied airfields.
The Germans destroyed 465 planes, but lost 277 of their own.
The Allied loses were replacd in days.
The Germans were not able to launch an air strike again.
The German attack ground to a halt.
By the end of January, the Germans were oushed back to their starting positions.
Many German troops were caught in the bulge and forced to surrender or retreat.
March 1945, Allies cross the Rhine at the Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen.
Late March, Operation Victory, landed paratroops on the east bank of the Rhine.
The British fanned out to the northeast toward Hamburg.
They were moving on to Denmark and the Baltic Sea.
4 April 1945, the 1st and 9th Armies encircled the Germans.
German Army Group B, commanded by Field Marshall Walther Model was trapped.
This included the 5th Panzer Army, 7th Army and the 15th Army.
300,000 German soldiers became prisoners of war.
1945 April, Allied forces join together at the Elbe River.

German armies were now caught.
The Soviets were in the east.
The British, French, and Canadians were in the west.

Germans and Hitler realize they cannot win.
1945,  Hitler kills himself, his body is burned.
1945 May 7, Germany surrenders
1945 May 8, War in Europe is over.

War in Asia and the Pacific
War in the Pacific was fought at the same time as the war in Europe.
At first Japanese forces were victorious everywhere.
They conquered the Philippines, Indochina, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Burma, Thailand, and the Dutch East Indies.
The Japanese took over much of China and Southeast Asia.

Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941, Japanesse attack Pearl Harbor.
Most of the Pacific fleet is destroyed.
USA enters war on side of Allies.

Battle of Midway
1942 June, a sea and air battle took place at Midway Island, the Battle of Midway.

Island Hopping
Next three years,  USA island hops across the Pacific.

Atomic Bomb
1945 August 6, atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
It destroyed the city and killed 100,000 people.
Thousands died later of radiation poisoning.
Bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
75,000 people were killed.
1945 August 14 Japan surrenders.
1945 September 2, the peace treaty was signed aboard the USS Missouri.

The Aftermath of War
Allied armies find concentration camps.
Nazi carried out genocide on 6 million Jews.
Six concentration camps with poison gas chambers were built.
The camps also had cremation ovens to burn dead bodies.
This program was known as the Holocaust.
The Nazis used slave labor in factories and on farms.
Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians, gypsies and the mentally ill were exterminated.
Japanese had killed people in countries they had conquered.
Prisoners of war died because of poor treatment from the Japanese.
Allied governments put German and Japanese leaders on trial for war crimes.

Making the Peace
1945, United Nations approved by 50 countries.
The responsibility of the UN was to prevent war.
They would also provide money, medical care, and better education to poor countries.
After the war, Germany was divided into four zones: USA, Great Britain, France, Soviet Union.
German territory returned to countries from WWI.
Soviet Union acquired Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Occupied Japan
USA occupied Japan for 7 years.
The Japanese military lost power.
Japan became a democracy under General Douglas MacArthur.
Japanese women were given the right to vote.
Trade unions were allowed.
The secret police was abolished.
Large farms were divided and sold to farm workers at low prices.
Japan worked to build a strong economy rather than a strong military.

Bibliography
Greenblatt, Miriam, and Lemmo, Peter. Human Heritage A World History. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

"World War II." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 27 June 2008.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II.