See Inside The Second World War

1 First strike The German Army invades Poland in 1939 with around 1.5 million soldiers using a devastating new tactic of warfare called 'Blitzkrieg' which means lightning war. 2 Atlantic terror By June 1940, Allied ships travelling to Britain across the Atlantic Ocean were being targeted for destruction by German submarines, known as U-boats. 3 War in the sky Bomber planes were used to fight the war from the sky. They flew together in groups on dangerous missions into enemy territory. They dropped bombs on railways, factories and cities. The largest and most advanced aircraft was the American bomber, the B29 Superfortress. 4 Blitzed cities From September 1940, German bombers attacked British cities through a series of nightly air raids known as the Blitz. It lasted for nine months and caused the deaths of thousands of people. 5 Firepower Armies developed powerful tanks to fight their enemies. In July 1943, around 6,000 tanks were used in the battle between German and Russian troops near the town of Kursk, in Central Russia. 6 In the Pacific The Allies battled against Japanese forces for control of the South Pacific using powerful aircraft carriers. These aircraft carriers had powerful rotating cannon and short range machine guns. They held over 100 aircraft and had around 3,500 crew on board. By 1944, the aircraft carriers faced threats from Japanese Kamikaze pilots. 7 D-Day On June 6, 1944, around around 150,000 allied troops stormed the five beaches of Normandy, in German-occupied France. It was called D-Day and it was the biggest invasion i history. 8 Final months From June 1944, the German army had been pushed back through Europe by Allied troops from the West and by the Soviets from the East. The Soviets reached the Germany's capital, Berlin by April 1945. The Germans surrendered to the Allies on May 2, 1945. On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies after two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. German and Japanese leaders were later tried for 'war crimes'.