On April 1, 1933, the Nazis instigated their first action against Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish-run businesses.

The Battle of Kursk involved as many as 6,000 tanks and is remembered as the greatest tank battle in history.

After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation. The American, British and French zones were grouped together as West Germany, and the Soviet zone became East Germany.

The Battle of Okinawa, which lasted from April 1, 1945 through June 21, 1945, was the last major battle of World War II. Fought on the island of Okinawa, it was part of an offensive leading up to the invasion of the main islands of Japan which was aborted when the Japanese surrendered in August, 1945. Counting civilians, more than 200,000 Japanese died during the Battle of Okinawa. About 15,900 U.S. soldiers were killed.

The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.

Very little went as planned during the landing at Omaha. However, small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won.

In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the disabled for persecution. Anyone who resisted the Nazis was sent to forced labor or murdered.

SS soldiers were known to use gay men for target practice, aiming their weapons at the pink triangles their human targets were forced to wear.

Alan Turing played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic; it has been estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by more than two years and saved over fourteen million lives.

The first atom bomb was successfully tested at New Mexico's Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range on 16 July 1945.