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Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii that got a surprise attacked by the Japanese forces. Japanese fighter planes flew over the base and managed to destroy or damage almost 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolph Hitler had attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg attack through the Ardennes to Antwerp. American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance. As the Germans came deeper into the Ardennes the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge. The Allies defense lead to the neutralization of the German counteroffensive although there were heavy casualties. -
D-Day
D-Day was when American, British, and Canadian forces took Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. t was major because it greatly weakened German forces. Before D-Day the Allies had a deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American attack of Iwo Jima was because of a need for a base near the Japanese coast. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. Despite difficulty the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. Getting this island was key to helping American defenses. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
The Allied forces had went through all the concentration camps trying to save people. They found many dead bodies throughout the camps and tried to provide aid to the survivors but many of them were too weak and over half of the survivors still died despite extensive care. -
Operation Thunderclap
Series of Allied firebombing raids begins against the German city of Dresden which killed as many as 135,000 people. It was one of the most destructive bombing of the war. It included Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II and it was one of the bloodiest. The Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops came to the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push to Japan. It was a part of a plan called Operation Iceberg in order to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands which included Okinawa. -
VE Day
This marks the day when German defenses finally surrendered. This was major because it was the defeat of the Nazis. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
United States became the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 which killed over 80,000 people immediately. Many more died in the following weeks from wounds and radiation poisoning. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki which killed nearly 40,000 more people. A few days later Japan had announced its surrender. -
VJ Day
The day that Japan announced its surrender which effectively ended World War II.
