Nazi German troops invaded Poland triggering the start of WWII. In response to Nazi aggression, Great Britain and France declared War on Nazi Germany. Therefore, to justify the invasion, Nazi supporters accused Poland of mistreating and abusing germans living in Poland. They also accused Poland of planning, with Great Britain and France, to surround and divide Germany. The Schutzstaffel (major military organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany) with the German military, staged a fake attack on a German radio station. The Germans made up a lie and accused Poland of this attack. Hitler then used the action to launch a “retaliatory” campaign against Poland. 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/invasion-of-poland-fall-1939

On May 8th, 1945, WWII in Europe was over. Germany surrendered to France and Berlin. Once word got out to the entire world of their surrender, joyous crowds gathered in the streets to celebrate, clutching newspapers that declared Victory in Europe.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/end-world-war-ii-1945

Later in the year, US President Harry S. Truman announced Japan’s surrender, ending World War II. This news spread quickly and celebrations were all over the USA. On September 2, 1945, formal surrender documents were signed aboard the USS Missouri, designating the day as the official Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day).

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/end-world-war-ii-1945

The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and their allies landed on D-Day.

https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/world-war-ii-d-day-invasion-normandy#:~:text=The%20D%2DDay%20operation%20of,the%20beaches%20of%20Normandy%2C%20France.

During WWII, the United States dropped a deadly atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb that was dropped was named "Little Boy." It was a gun-assembled fission bomb that was dropped and blown up at an altitude of 1,900 ft, releasing almost 15,000 tons of TNT. Due to this, at least 70,000 people were killed instantly, people who were near were blasted and their shadows were left on concrete, people who looked directly at the explosion immediately had the mushroom shaped cloud imbedded in their eyes and went blind. This bomb destroyed two-thirds of the city and impacted Japan's decision to surrender.

https://www.britannica.com/event/atomic-bombings-of-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki

Three days later, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped another bomb, but this time, they aimed for Nagasaki, Japan. This bomb killed an estimated 40,000 people. Due to this, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced the country's surrender in WWII on August 15, 1945.

https://www.history.com/articles/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki

The US navy base in Pearl Harbor was attacked suprisingly by hundreds of Japanese planes. Due to the attack, more than 20 ships and 300+ planes were destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. One day after the attack, the president at the time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, declared war on Japan.

https://www.history.com/articles/pearl-harbor

Imperial Japanese Army forces brutually tortured, murdered, raped thousands of people, including soldiers and innocent civilians in Nanjing, China. These events are known as the Nanjing Massacre or even Rape of Nanjing, because more than 10,000 of women and young girls were sexually assaulted and raped. It took decades for the city of Nanjing and its citizens to recover from the traumatizing and savage attacks from the Japanese.

https://www.history.com/articles/nanjing-massacre

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC). They trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, they flew more than 15,000+ individual sorties in Europe and North Africa during WWII. Their excellent performances have helped them earn more than 150 distinguished flying crosses and helped them encourage the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces.

https://www.history.com/articles/tuskegee-airmen

The Nazi Party were also known as the National Socialist German Workers' Party, had grown into a massive movement and controlled Germany through totalitarian means from 1933-1945, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. The Nazi Party promoted German pride, anti-semitism, and disagreed and expressed their disagreement with the treaty of versailles. Hitler became the chancellor of Germany and his Nazi government obtained dictatorial powers. After Germany's loss in WWII, members of The Nazi Party were outlawed and convicted of warcrimes related to the holocaust.

https://www.history.com/articles/nazi-party

Adolf Hitler was the fascist dictator of Nazi Germany during the years before and during World War II. He is the most famous dictator of the 20th century, he rose to power in Germany following World War I and hatred in Germany for the Treaty of Versailles. He is remembered today for his actions in carrying out aggression during World War II and the main events of the Holocaust.

https://www.history.com/articles/adolf-hitler

Nearly 200 military aircraft were lost in the Great Lakes during World War II. Most of these accidents happened in the lower part of Lake Michigan, where Navy pilots were training for carrier takeoffs and landings. The Army also experienced losses of pilots and aircraft in Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron. Numerous foreign pilots, such as French and Norwegian exiles who were training in North America, were also lost over water. While some of the World War II aircraft that crashed in the Great Lakes have been recovered, the majority remain undiscovered.

https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/18aviatorsdown/history.html

Nazi Germany secretly dispatched an expedition to Antartica, aiming to establish a whaling station to secure whale oil. Which is a critical component for producing margarine and other fat-based products and reducing reliance on imports. The mission explored and claimed an area named New Sawbia, conducted extensive aerial surveys, and planted German flags along the coast.

https://www.history.com/articles/hitler-nazi-secret-expedition-antarctica-whale-oil

During the war, German propaganda emphasized the skillfulness of the German army and went against the British and allied armies, who were depicted as butchers and cowards or brave but misguided. Russian troops were presented as dehumanized beasts and killers who attacked without fear of death.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-propaganda/#:~:text=During%20World%20War%20II%20German,attacked%20without%20fear%20of%20death.

Annelies Marie Frank was a Jewish German diarist. Her and her family had hid from the nazis in their secret annex in Amsterdam for 2 years and wrote her experiences in her diary she got as a birthday gift from her father Otto Frank. Later on, somebody had snitched and told nazi cops about their hidding place and were all caught. She and her family were all taken/deported to Auschwitz. Later, she was exiled to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with her sister Margot. There was a lack of food, it was cold and wet, and there were contagious diseases. Anne and Margot contracted typhus. In February 1945, they both died owing to its effects, Margot first, Anne shortly afterwards. 

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/who-was-anne-frank/

The Auschwitz camp was essential to the nazis plan for the "Final Solution." Auschwitz consisted of 3 camps, including a killing center. More than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, most of them being Jews. Jews who were not sent to the gas chamber to die were put to forced labor. The Auschwitz complex was distinct from other Nazi killing centers because it comprised not only a concentration camp and a labor camp but also featured large gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau, specifically built for the mass extermination of European Jews.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/auschwitz

During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the creation of Japanese internment camps. From 1942 to 1945, the U.S. government forced people of Japanese descent, including American citizens, to live in these isolated camps. This happened because of fear and suspicion after the Pearl Harbor attack, and today, it is seen as one of the worst violations of civil rights in American history.

https://www.history.com/articles/japanese-american-relocation

In early 1942, a dental surgeon named Dr. Lytle S. Adams sent a letter to the White House with an idea for a weapon he believed would wreak havoc on Japan. He got inspiration from a trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Adams proposed attaching incendiary devices to bats and dropping the winged weapons from airplanes.

https://www.history.com/articles/weird-weapons-world-war-ii

Some of Germany’s so-called “wonder weapons” didn’t work as well as expected. One example was the Windkanone (“wind cannon”), an anti-aircraft weapon that didn’t use bullets but instead fired blasts of compressed air to try and take down enemy planes. Although tests showed it could easily break a wooden board from 200 meters away, when it was finally used on a bridge over the Elbe, it turned out to be a complete failure.

https://www.history.com/articles/weird-weapons-world-war-ii

The purpose of them transitioning factories of peacetime into manufacturing plants for weapons and military equipment for war. The second goal was to spread materials like metal, essential for producing weapons, vehicles, and equipment needed by military forces. For example, the Lionel toy train company started producing items for warships, including compasses, and Ford Motor Company producing B-24 Liberator bombers.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/2128446/during-wwii-industries-transitioned-from-peacetime-to-wartime-production/

Neutral countries like Spain, whose civil war had just ended at the beginning of World War II, sent troops to the Russian front to help German armed forces. However, Portugal also granted access to the British to its bases in the Azores.

https://www.history.com/articles/neutral-countries-world-war-ii

The Manhattan Project conducted the first atomic bomb test, known as the Trinity Test, at the Alamogordo Bombing Range in New Mexico. This test successfully demonstrated the functionality of the plutonium implosion design and provided crucial data on nuclear explosions

https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/trinity.htm

The Holocaust was the organized persecution and mass murder of 6,000,000 Jewish people in Europe by Nazi Germany and their allies. The Holocaust was an evolving process that took place all through different parts of Europe.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust

The British SOE came up with a creative spy gadget that inspired the fictional character James Bond. Their idea was to hide deadly explosives inside dead rats. The plan was for SOE agents to place these explosive rats near German factories and trains, hoping that enemy soldiers would try to attack the rat, causing it to explode. Though, the plan didn't work because the Nazis seized their shipment of dead rats.

https://www.history.com/articles/weird-weapons-world-war-ii

Many jews in nazi-occupied europe created or joined partisan groups to resist German forces and their allies. The groups took place in countries like France, Belgium, and many more, engaging in irregular warfare, insurgency, or subversion. Despite facing significant challenges like having limited weapons and training, hostile environments, and the constant threat of nazi terror, these jewish partisans played an important role in opposing nazi operations.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/armed-jewish-resistance-partisans