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German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German word for "lighting war". Blitzkrieg was a military tactic designed to disorganize enemy forces through the use of firepower and mobile force. The Germans tried out Blitzkrieg for the first time when they were invading Poland, but it failed. They successfully went through with Blitzkrieg when invading France, The Netherlands and Belgium. Blitzkrieg was the plan that let the Germans take control over Europe for 2 years. -
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Fall of Paris (Battle of France)
The Fall of Paris is when Germany invaded France and the lower countries. At this point Europe had been at war for only 9 months and Germany wanted to expand. They had a plan of attack named Case Yellow which bypasses the strong French frontier defenses and advance on. After days of fighting the French resistance finally collapsed. On June 22 the Second Armistice was signed by France which resulted in a division, Germany would take over the north and west. -
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Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was a code name used by the Nazis for their planned invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion included over 3 million troops, three thousand tanks, and led a distance of over two thousand miles making it one of the most bloodiest battles of the war. The Germans had severely underestimated its opponent and failed this invasion. This is one of the largest military operations in history resulting in thousands and thousands of casualties. This loss set the germane back. -
Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941 is the day the American naval base Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese managed to destroy 20 American naval vessels, over 300 aircraft's and kill over 2,000 american soldiers. This attack led to president FDR declaring war on Japan and entering us into WWII. To get revenge we dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March took place on April 6, 1942. It was the day 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced by the Japanese to march 65 miles to prison camps. The march was made in extreme heat and were beat by the Japanese guards. The reason this happened is because the day after pear harbor the Japanese took over the Philippines and the US and Filipino troop tried to take back the Philippines together and it ended when a US general surrendered his troops. -
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Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway happened 6 months after pear harbor where the US defeated Japan in one of the more intense naval battles of WWII. The United Stated was able to counterattack Japans second ambush of its few remaining ships and aircraft's. This was the battle that demonstrated the potential powers of our Navy. Lots of people see the Battle of Midway was the turning point for the Pacific Theater and others see it as just a battle. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the battle in which the successful soviet defense in the city of Stalingrad, Russia from the Nazi Germans. The Germans saw Stalingrad as an essential of their campaign into Russia. They felt if they took it over they could take all of Russia over. The Germans showed up expecting an easy fight, but to their surprise the Russians had built up their defenses. This was one of the bloodiest battles throughout history, resulting in 2 million casualties. -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah was launched when British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany at night and during the day Americans took over. The British troops dropped over 2,500 tons of incendiary bombs on the town of Hamburg and the American troops carried out two raids the following day of the bombings. This operation burned out the city of Hamburg and many surrounding cities. -
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Allied Invasion of Italy
In order for the British and Americans to fully take over the Nazi Germans and Mussolini they decided to go and invade Italy. In order for them to get to the main land they had to go through the island of Sicily. They panned on coming and attacking from the France boarder. When they overtook Sicily, Italy secretly agreed to the surrendering terms from the Allies, so no big battle was fought. -
D Day
D Day or Normandy Landings was where allied allied armies invaded the beach of Normandy, France to fight the Nazi Germans. The allied forces sent in over 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft's. By the end of the day the allied forces had gained a foot-hold on the continent. The result of this was more than 9,000 allied soldiers killed but more 100,000 soldiers began the march to defeat Adolf Hitler. -
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Liberation of Concentration Camps
The Liberation of Concentration camps happened over about a 6 months period. The first camp was liberated was Majdanek by Soviet Soldiers and that was on July 23, 1944. The largest Concentration camp the Soviet soldiers liberated was Auschwitz, there they found only a few thousand people still alive but many many mass graves. In the following months Soviet and US forces liberated many more camps. The liberation of these camps helped efforts to end the war once and for all. -
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Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bugle was the Germans last major campaign of WWII. Adolf Hitler attempted/wanted to split the allied armies in Northwest Europe by a surprise blitzkrieg. On December 16, 1944 three German armies launched the deadliest battle of the war in the west. American troops were apart of the allied armies in the west. This battle lasted until January 25, 1945. The result of the battle was over 100,000 casualties of the US Army. -
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Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was where the US Marines made their first foot strike on the Japanese Islands of Iwo Jima and eventually captured it. It was attacked by 3 marine divisions and defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese troops. The Japanese fought from dug outs, caves and trenches which made it hard on our marines going in. We lost over 6,00 and had over 17,000 wounded. -
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Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last and biggest battle in the Pacific of WWII. It involved 287,000 US troops and 130,000 Japanese troops. At stake were airfields vital to invading Japan. Because it was the last battle of the Pacific islands it made it that much of a big deal. It resulted in 100,000 casualties of the Japanese and 50,000 for the allies. -
VE Day (Victory in Europe Day)
VE Day was the day the public celebrated the mark of the formal acceptance by the allies of World War Two of Nazi Germany's surrender. This was significant because it was the day that WWII ended in Europe. -
VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day)
VJ Day was the day Japanese representatives surrendered unconditionally while abroad the USS Maine, effectively helping end WWII.
