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North African Campaign
Hitler sent General Rommel to reinforce the Italians. He won several battles and he was nicknamed "Desert Fox." The Germans pushed into Egypt and threatened the Middle East. The German army retreated after the British won a victory at El Alamein. Rommel left for Europe after British and Americans landed in North Africa -
Office of Price Administration
The Office of Price Administration stabilized prices and rents. Companies would cut back on the production of goods that did not have a certain profit. The OPA allowed rationing. They had ration books of coupons that had a certain number of points. Red and Blue ration tokens were issued during WWII to make change for ration coupons. Many goods were unavailable to Americans. Almost 90% of retail food prices were frozen. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japenese bombed Pearl Harbor to try to gain control of the Pacific. The Japenese needed economic independence. To get that, they needed oil and rubber from the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya. The Japenese wanted to destroy the aircraft carriers, which was one of their main goals. They destroyed more than 300 airplanes. 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the attack. -
Production for War
The government set up a war production board. It quit the production of civilian consumer goods. Companies made goods for the war. Armed forces decided what companies would manufacture military items such as guns or ammo. The WPB rationed gasoline, metals, rubber, paper, and plastics. -
The idea of the Victory Garden
The Victory Garden was a vegetable garden that people had for their home. It replaced farm produce sent to feed the soldiers. People in cities, and suburbs were planting tomatoes, peas, and radishes in backyards, empty parking lots, and playgrounds. Victory Gardens produced one third of the countries vegetables. More than 20 million Victory Gardens were planted. The program made a difference. -
Italy's Invasion
General George Patton invaded a large island in Sicily with British troops. Mussolini's people were beginning to lose faith in him. He was arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III. The Germans freed Mussolini and brought him to northern Italy. Allied troops threatened to take Rome. The Allied put their forces behind enemy troops but the Germans blocked off the beach and trapped them. -
D-Day
About 156,000 landed on five beaches along a heavily fortified coast. General Dwight Eisenhower was the commander of Operation Overlord, the code name for D-Day. Because of the weather, planes were not able to bomb the bunkers. They didn't want to bomb the beach by accident so they played it safe, but they missed the bunkers by miles. The troops were pinned down on the beach. More than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives. -
Battle of the Bulge
Germany counterattacked Belgium and Luxembourg. His attack pushed the U.S. First Army back and created a bulge. Small units were cut off from the American army. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle in Western Europe during WWII. American forces crossed the Rhine River and moved to Berlin from the west. -
Battle of the Atlantic
United States tried to send supplies to Britain to keep Britain alive. German U-Boats attacked ships that sailed with supplies. The United States entered the war when the U-Boats started attacking U.S. merchant ships. The Americans sank nearly 175 ships. The U-Boats sankover 1,000 Allied ships. -
The Atomic Bomb
President Roosevelt organized the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. Scientists were able to split the nucleus of the uranium atom and they had to figure out what would cause a chain reaction to make it explode. The bomb created a crater in the Earth when it was dropped. It shattered windows 125 miles away with a blinding light. The hydrogen bomb, or the thermonuclear bomb was made after the atomic bomb and it was much bigger.
