Second World War (1939–1945)

Key facts

Started when Germany invaded Poland in 1939.
Dunkirk evacuation (1940) rescued over 300,000 troops.
Britain won the Battle of Britain (summer 1940); German night-bombing ("the Blitz") then destroyed much of Coventry and badly damaged London.
Japan bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in December 1941, bringing the USA into the war; that same year Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
D-Day: Allied forces landed in Normandy, France, on 6 June 1944, and went on to defeat Germany by May 1945.
The war with Japan ended in August 1945 after the USA dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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