On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese launched an attack on Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. With the devastating attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares war on Japan and its allies, Germany and Italy. The U.S. Navy and Japanese Navy would have another engagement at the Battle of Midway one month later. The U.S. Navy codebreakers deciphered Japanese communications about planning an attack on Midway. With information about the attack, Adm. Chester Nimitz developed a plan to stop the Japanese invasion. On June 6, 1944, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and the Allies launch Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. The beach landing at Normandy is one of the largest amphibious assaults in history. The invasion took place on five beaches with 156,000 troops. With the Germans being driven out of northwestern France and Paris, the Allied forces claim victory in Normandy. Mounting his last major offensive on Dec. 16, 1944, Adolf Hitler and the German troops attempt to split the Allied forces. The Battle of the Bulge lasts for six weeks, causing more than 100,000 casualties for the U.S. Army. As the Allies make advances from the west and the Soviet forces close in from the east, Nazi Germany surrenders on May 8, 1945, marking VE Day. Capturing the island of Okinawa gave the Allied forces a tactical point to launch attacks on the Japanese mainland. Wanting to end the war, President Harry Truman dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, with a second bomb being dropped on Nagasaki three days later. World War II ended with the surrender of Emperor Hirohito and Japan on Aug. 14, 1945. On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan signed its formal surrender, marking VJ Day and the official end of the war.
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