US History - World War II (1944-1945)

D-Day

Jun 6, 1944

D-Day Info Allies invade France through the Invasion of Normandy. The attack was a success. The intial invasion was an attack on Northern France. Then we attacked parts of Italy then moved onto Southern France.

Japanese Perimeter Loss

Jun 13, 1944

Americans successfully pushed Japanese out of main bases in the Pacific. This retreat left good air bases for the United States. These bases could be used to set up attacks on Japanese islands.

Operation Bagration

Jun 22, 1944

Bagration Wiki Operation Bagration was an offensive stragety led by Soviet Russia. The missions ended up being a success. The operation almost completely got rid of the German Army Group Centre.

Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive

Jul 13, 1944

The Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive was a plan to push the Germans out of Ukraine and East Poland. The missions were a success for the Red Army. These victories were huge for the war, but they are usually forgotten because of the greater success of Operation Bagration

German retreat from Yugoslavia

Sep 7, 1944

Red Army troops moved into Yugoslavia. They forced a German retreat from Yugoslavia, Albania, and Greece. The Germans did this so they could have more time to set up for an attack and not lose too much ground.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Oct 23, 1944

The Battle of Leyte Gulf started with the US invasions of Leyte Island. They did this to cut off Japanese resources. The Japanese, becoming frustrated, started attacks on the US fleet. The Red Army won the Leyte Gulf in the biggest naval battle in history.

Yalta Conference

Feb 4, 1945

This was a Red Army meeting, hosted by Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill. The meeting was to plan a way of bringing Europe countries back together. The meeting was held in Livadia Palace in Yalta.

Ruhr Pocket

Mar 7, 1945

The Battle of Ruhr Pocket was one of the final battles of World War II. It took out the Western Front of the Nazis. Over 300,000 Nazi soldiers were taken captive.

Roosevelt Out, Truman In

Apr 12, 1945

President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12. He was soon to be replaced by Harry Truman. Truman was able to end World War II.

Firebombing Japan

Apr 18, 1945

From April to August, the Allies bombed many different islands of Japan. The bombings destroyed tons of land and even killed close to 900,000 Japanese people. The early bombing raids led to the idea of nuclear war on Japan.

Mussolini Dead

Apr 28, 1945

Benito Mussolini was headed to Switzerland to board a plane. The plane was to escape to Spain. But he was stopped by Italian partisans.

Germans Surrender in Italy

Apr 29, 1945

After falling back to Italy, the Germans surrendered the war. A total surrender would be confirmed the next day. Although Germany had now surrendered there was still Japan.

Suicide of Adolf Hitler

Apr 30, 1945

Hitler Wiki While in his Fuhrerbunker, Hitler commited suicide. His wife Eva also commited suicide by ingesting cyanide. Then, with Hitler's instructions, men took their bodies and burnt them in a garden.

German Instrument of Surrender

May 7, 1945

This was the the treaty that ended World War II. It was signed from many different representatives from both sides. This date is now known as Victory in Europe Day.

Nuking Japan

Aug 6, 1945

Nuking Wiki After the bombing raids of Japan cities, we decided to take it a little further. In order to make Japan surrender, we issued the atomic bombs. After dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered. This ended World War II.