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Battle of France/Miracle of Dunkirk
Made up of two parts: Fall Gelb & Fall Rot
Miracle of Dunkirk: evacuation of allies from northern France to Britain
Became biggest evacuation in military history
Resulted in the death of 36,000 allies
German forces conquered France and defeated the allied powers with a French surrender. With the French collapse came the destruction of the balance of power in Europe in which strategies for Hitler's defeat were thrown out the window; big turning point in the war
May 10, 1940 – Jun 25, 1940 -
Battle of Britain
1000 British planes were shot down in the battle
1800+ German planes were destroyed
The British kept fighting against their attack so Germany began bombing big cities
Blitz was German's series of bombings on London
British ended up winning even though Germany had more planes. Marked the first defeat of the German which showed them to be beatable for the first time; the battle was done solely by air forces and without this battle, today's Britain would be so different
Jul 10, 1940 – Oct 31, 1940 -
Battle of Leningrad
One of the longest/bloodiest sieges in the history of war
900 days until German retreat
Driven by Hitler's want to take Leningrad: the heart of the Soviet Union
Citizens of the cities fought hard for German retreat at the cost of thousands of lives
Became a thorn in Hitlers side; could've used time and resources elsewhere. The passion and suffering of the citizens in Leningrad inspired the Soviet war effort which impacted other operations along the eastern front
Sep 8, 1941 – Jan 27, 1944 -
Battle of Stalingrad
Resulted from Hitler invading Soviet Union without a declaration of war
Started with German bombing of the Volga River
Soviets hid all over the city attacking German soldiers
40,000 Soviet civilians died
The air was hot and smelly from the bombings and dead bodies. Germany never recovered from their defeat here, in which they did not progress any farther into eastern Europe; German morale was lowered and army was weakened which opened them up for their eventual defeat
Aug 23 1942–Feb 2 1943 -
Operation Torch
First time America and UK worked on an invasion together
Allies planned to send 120,000 men, 500 aircrafts, and several warships to Northern Africa
Churchill was involved with the Americans in working out the details of Operation Torch
Took 2 days for the French surrender; all towns invaded became under Allied control
480 allied troops killed; 720 injured. It opened up second front for the allies giving access to Italy and showed first major American/UK victory
Nov 8, 1942 – Nov 10, 1942 -
D-Day
The “D” actually only stood for Day
Casualties were not as bad as expected (about 10,000 casualties)
D-Day was the start of Operation 'Overlord', the allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France.
It was and still is the largest air, naval, and land operation in history
Hitler slept through announcement of the invasion, and no one would wake him up. It was the first time allied troops threatened German control of Europe; gave allies access to western front of Nazi occupied Europe
June 6, 1944 -
Battle of the Bulge
Was also known as the Ardennes Offensive
Turned into the largest battle fought along the western front in WW2
Hitler's generals didn't think the attack would be a good idea
There were undercover German's in US Uniforms who messed with a lot behind allied lines
First time the US desegregated the army. The German's loss at this battle showed their last hope of victory to be destroyed; showed how German's defeat made the end come sooner in which Hitler's plan backfired
Dec 16, 1944 – Jan 25, 1945 -
Battle of Berlin
Hitler tried moving German army into Berlin where the soviets were bombing
81,000 Soviet Union soldiers were killed
92,000 German soldiers were killed
The city of Berlin was destroyed by the soviets bombs with nearly 22,000 civilian death
Poland soldiers fought with the soviet union in this battle. Being the last major WW2 battle, it showed German's surrender after so much fighting and death; lead to Hitler committing suicide, ending his rule, and the world war
Apr 16, 1945 – May 2, 1945
