Key American Battles of WWII

  • Pearl Harbor

    Pearl Harbor
    The Japanese attacked the US at Pearl Harbor by bombing them. They did this so the US wouldn't interfere with military actions they had planned for other countries.
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    Key American Events of WWII

  • Battle of Coral Sea

    Battle of Coral Sea
    Key battle out in the Pacific against the Japanese. American and British fleets stopped the Japanese offensive on Australia. The Allies destroyed one carrier and damaged one other carrier along with several aircraft.
  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway
    An important battle where the US defeated the Japanese Navy attack on MIdway causing irreparable damage on the Japanese. The Japanese attacked because they where trying to eliminate the US as a strategic power.
  • Battle of El Alamein

    Battle of El Alamein
    Was two battles fought in Egypt. Thanks to British Lt. Gen. Bernard Montgomery and his Eighth Army, shifted the momentum of the war for the first time from the Axis powers to the Allies.
  • Battle of Guadalcanal

    Battle of Guadalcanal
    The US fought against the Japanese to take an airfield thats the Japanese were building that would put them within bombing distance. We took it away from the Japanese and made our own airfeild.
  • Manhattan Project

    Manhattan Project
    Was a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada.
  • Invasion of Italy

    Invasion of Italy
    Was the Allied landing on mainland Italy by General Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group. Following the defeat of the Axis Powers in North Africa, there was disagreement between the Allies as to what the next step should be. The operation followed the successful invasion of Sicily during the Italian Campaign.
  • Operation Overload ; D-Day

    Operation Overload ; D-Day
    Was the phase in the Western front of World War II that was fought in 1944 between German forces and the invading Allied forces. The campaign began with Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944 (commonly known as D-Day), among the largest amphibious assaults ever conducted when nearly three million troops crossed the English Channel and ended on August 25, 1944, with the liberation of Paris. Was significant because it was the turning of the tide along the western front.
  • Battle of Leyte Gulf

    Battle of Leyte Gulf
    Known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar. US troops invaded the island of Leyte as part of a strategy aimed at isolating Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia.
  • Battle of the Bulge

    Battle of the Bulge
    German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor.
  • The Yalta Conference

    The Yalta Conference
    Was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the US, the UK, and the SU, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe.
  • Battle of Iwo Jima

    Battle of Iwo Jima
    The US captured the island Iwo JIma from the Japanese. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields, to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. The Japanese defeat was assured from the start.
  • Battle of Okinawa

    Battle of Okinawa
    Was the largest assault in the Pacific War of World War II. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused Japan to surrender just weeks after the end of the fighting at Okinawa.
  • V.E Day Victory in Europe

    V.E Day Victory in Europe
    To mark the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, thus ending the war in Europe.
  • V.J. Victory Over Japan Day

    V.J. Victory Over Japan Day
    Is a name chosen for the day on which Japan surrendered, effectively ending World War II. On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleship USS Missouri.