World War II

1
World War II

• Major Battles and Events

2
Blitzkrieg - Lightening War

• German attack on Poland
• September 1, 1939 - first blitzkrieg
• Successful military strategy for Germany -
  airplanes and tanks supported by infantry

3
Battle of Britain - the Blitz

• German air bombing campaign of Britain
• September 1940 - May 1941
• Bombings targeted major British cities,
  especially London
• Hitler called off raids, allies learned Hitler
  could be stopped

4

• From 1935-1937, the U.S. passed a series of
  Neutrality Acts (They were practicing
  isolationism!)

5
March 1941- Tobruk, Libya

• Rommel is sent by Hitler to defeat British forces
• By June of 1942, he suceeded

6
Battle in the Balkans

• Bulgaria, Romania Hungary fall to Germany with
  barely any resistance
• April 1941- Hitler invades Yugoslavia (11 days)
  Greece (17 days).

7
Summer 1941- USSR

• Germany turns on USSR and begins attack June 22-
  OPERATION BARBAROSSA
• Soviets practices scorched-earth policy
• September- Leningrad under siege

8
December 7, 1941 - a date that will live in
infamy

• Japanese attack on U.S.
• Pearl Harbor Naval base, Hawaii
• The next day, U.S. declared war on Japan, becomes
  involved in World War II

9
Bataan Death March

• April, 1942
• Philippines
• 56,000 - 75,000 American and Filipino POWs
  marched north by Japanese

10

• Forced to march 60 mi while being beaten by
  Japanese soldiers.
• Many were buried alive if they did not move fast
  enough
• Japanese organizers of March were executed by
  Allies in 1946

11
Doolittles RaidApril 1941

• Bombed the Japanese home islands (including city
  of Tokyo)
• Proved that Japan was vulnerable

12
Battle of Coral SeaMay 4-8, 1942

• The Japanese were advancing to the South
• U.S. Naval carriers used aircraft to stop them

13
Battle of Midway

• June 3-6, 1942
• U.S. v. Japan
• Midway Island, in the Pacific
• The U.S. were outnumbered 4-1 in ships and
  planes, but they won
• Turning point of war against the Japanese

14
Guadalcanal August 1942- February 1943

• First major offensive of the Allies vs. Japan

15
Battle of Stalingrad

• Germany v. USSR (Soviet Union)
• August 23, 1942 - February 2, 1943
• The Russian winter set in
• The Germans couldnt survive the elements (same
  mistake Napoleon made!)

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• Germany surrendered to Soviets, Germans were
  pushed back west
• Turning point on Eastern Front

17
Battle of El Amin

• October 1942
• Germany is defeated by Britain
• Led to the 1943 surrender in N. Africa

18
D-Day - Operation Overlord

• U.S, Canada, Britain v. Germany
• June 6, 1944
• Beaches of Normandy, France (Sword, Juno, Gold,
  Omaha, Utah)
• France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg
  liberated from Nazi occupation

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• 3,000 American soldiers alone died
• July 25- Allies finally cut a hole in German
  defense
• August 25- Allies march into Paris, victorious.

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Battle of the Bulge

• U.S., British v. Germany
• December 16, 1944
• Belgium
• Last major German offensive of World War II
• Allies push the Germans back

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• April 30/May 1, 1945- After swallowing poison,
  Hitler shoots himself
• May 2- Germany surrenders
• May 7- U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower accepts
  Germanys unconditional surrender
• May 8- surrender is officially signed
• V-E Day

22
Battle of Iwo Jima

• U.S. v. Japan
• February 19 - March 26, 1945 (36 days)
• Bloodiest
• battle of WWII
• Americans
• took the island
• from the
• Japanese

23
Battle of Okinawa

• U.S. v. Japan
• April 1 - June 22, 1945
• Okinawa - Pacific Island
• Largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater
• After long, bloody battle, U.S. took the island
• Last battle of WWII

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• Invading Japan may have cost the U.S. the lives
  of about 500,000 soldiers.
• FDR had died in April before the Allied victory
  against Germany
• President Truman sent a warning to Japan to
  surrender, but Japan did not reply.

25
Hiroshima

• August 6, 1945
• Site of 1st atomic bomb drop on Japan
• 73,000 dead
• 114,000 total (radiation and after effects)

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Nagasaki

• August 9, 1945
• Second atomic bomb dropped
• 37,500 killed
• Japan surrendered, September 2, 1945 to U.S.
  General MacArthur.

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Nuremberg Trials

• Nuremberg, Germany
• Trials of Nazi war criminals
• Began in 1946 - last trial2009
• Some sentenced to prison, some executed (hung)
  and bodies burned in oven at concentration camps

28

• The nations that came together wanted to make
  sure that crimes against humanity like the
  Holocaust would never happen again.
• June 1945 The formation of the United Nations
  (U.N.)
• Intended to protect its members against aggression