After years of appeasement failed to satisfy German ambitions, it invaded Poland on Aug. 31, 1939, and defeated it by Sept. 27. After a six-month break in fighting, Germany quickly defeated Denmark and Norway before conquering Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to Germany. Hitler then turned his sights toward Britain, but its Royal Air Force held off the German attack. Germany then attacked Eastern Europe and broke its non-aggression treaty and invaded the Soviet Union.

Japan had begun to conquer lands in Asia even before World War II. When the United States cut off vital supplies for Japan’s war effort, it attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, causing America to declare war on Japan and Germany. After early losses in Pacific sea battles, the Allies won victories at The Battle of the Coral Sea and at Midway, turning the tide of war in their favor. 

In North Africa, the United States and Britain won a decisive victory. The Nazis suffered further setbacks when the Russians took advantage of the winter to defeat the Germans at Stalingrad and followed with other defeats of German troops. The Allies then invaded Italy, but the Nazi defeat was sealed when, on June 6, 1944, the Allies landed at Normandy in France. The Allied forces pushed the Germans east as the Soviet Union pushed German troops west. The two sides met at Berlin where Germany surrendered.

Meanwhile, the Japanese held off allied forces until President Truman decided to end the war quickly with the atomic bomb. Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 120,000 nearly instantly, and the Japanese surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945. Overall, more than 40 million people died in the war, including about 405,000 Americans. Of that number, about 670 were from St. Louis, Lake, Cook and Carlton counties.

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