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Battle of the Atlantic
The German U-Boats were called Wolf Packs, they hunted in groups and often attacked at night. The United States and the Allies, defeated the Axis Powers which depended largely on control of the seas. Aircraft flying over the convoy helped spot prowling U-boats in the ocean below. These airplanes used radar to detect U-boats. The new Allied aircraft protected convoys from the air. Another success was the breaking of Germany's code system, which was called Enigma. By war's end, some 70 percent of -
Battle of the Atlantic
the Germans who had served on a submarine were dead. The Atlantic belonged to the Allies. -
Battle of Britain
In the summer and fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. -
Battle of El Alamein, Egypt
Italian forces based in Libya tried to drive the British from their stronghold in Egypt. The Italians were beaten badly and driven backwards. Hitler was forced to send troops to support the Italians in early 1941. At the head of these forces was the famed German general Erwin Rommel. The Battle of El Alamein, fought about the same time as the Battle of Stalingrad, the British handed the Germans a major defeat. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans attacked Stalingrad in August 1942. In some of the bloodiest fighting in the history of warfare, the Soviets refused to let Stalingrad fall. In the fighting that followed, 250,000 Axis soldiers were trapped by Soviet forces. Hitler had suffered a stunning defeat. Stalingrad marked the beginning of Germany's in the Soviet Union. Hitler's forces suffered losses of some 2 million, and the Soviets paid an even higher price, 12 million soldiers. Millions of civilians also died. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In Leningrad alone, as many as 800,000 civilians perished before the siege there was finally lifted in January 1944.Yet the Soviet Union had survived. -
Operation Torch
The commander of Operation Torch was a U.S. lieutenant general named Dwight D. Eisenhower. The plan called for American forces to invade the North African countries of Morocco and Algeria in November 1942. Allied forces turned east to fight the Germans. Some 20,000 Americans were killed or wounded in the six months of North Africa fighting. Allied leaders prepared to cross the Mediterranean and knock the Italians out of the war. -
Invasion of Sicily/Italy
The Allies took Sicily a few weeks later. Taking part in the fighting were the Tuskegee Airmen. This was a segregated unit of African Americans, the first ever to recieve training as pilots in the U.S. military. Allied forces from the south fought their way to Anzio and freed the trapped soldiers. By then, from 25,000 to 30,000 Allied soldiers had been killed or wounded. The battle at Anzio, did not end the fighting in Italy. It continued for a year. Some 300,000 Allied troops were killed there. -
Operation Overlord
Operation Overload was the code name for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe in World War II, starting with the D-Day landings. The Allies had to assemble huge numbers of troops, weapons, and other equipment necessary for an invasion. Eisenhower commanded the mission and chose General Omar Bradley to lead the American troops. The top British commander was Bernard Montgomery.The Allies were able to destory some rocket-launch sites, but fears of these dangerous weapons forced the Allies onward. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans launched a surprise offensive of their own. The Battle of the Bulge referred to the bulge in the Allied battle lines created by the German advance. Surrounded by Germans, shivering in below-zero temperaturesand low on supplies, the Americans clung to survive and they survived. On December 26, troops led by Lieutenant General George S. Patton arrived to provide relief for the American force. The victory at Bastogne helped blunt the German offensive. -
Battle of the Bulge
It also became a symbol of American strength and determination. By the end of January 1945, the bulge created by the German offensive had been rolled back. The Allies set their sights on Germany and the defeat of Hitler. Victory was close at hand. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
Fifty-five feet under the chancellery, the shelter contained 18 small rooms and was fully self-sufficient, with its own water and electrical supply. He left only rarely and spent most of his time micromanaging what was left of German defenses. Warned by officers that the Russians were only a day or so from overtaking the chancellery and urged to escape to Berchtesgarden, a small town in the Bavarian Alps where Hitler owned a home, the dictator instead chose suicide.He swallowed cyanide capsules. -
VE Day!!
V-E Day was called Victory in Europe Day. It was the date when the Allies celebrated victory in Europe World War II. As the news of Hitler's death spread, fighting came to a halt. Berlin surrounded on May 2. Karl Donitz, who had taken over as Germany's leader following Hitler's death, agreed to a surrender on May 7. The surrender was to take effect on May 8.
