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World War II
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German Invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded their Polish neighbors. It only took a few weeks for the Germans to defeat the Polish army. German forces with over 2000 tanks and 1000 planes advanced to Warsaw, Poland after defeating the Polish army at the border. After being heavily shelled and attacked, Warsaw surrendered on September 27, 1939. This is significant because it sparked the start of WW II. -
Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940 German forces prepared for the invasion of Britain, code named "operation Sea Lion". This invasion planned to include thousands of bombings, and attacking military bases and civilians of Great Britain. Around 20,00 British citizens were killed. The majority of the battle being fought in the skied above Great Britian, each side lost about 1,500 aircrafts. Despite all this, British forces help strong. They would not surrender. Hitler eventually called off Operation Sea Lion -
Battle of Britain 2/2
because Britain would not give in. They held strong and refused to surrender. This battle is significant because if Hitler had gained control of Great Britain the allied forces may not have been able to win the world war. It also brought hope to the allies because before this battle, with France defeated and the U.S not in the war, it looked as if Hitler would prevail. -
Operation Barbarossa- Russia 2/2
Operation Barbarossa was significant beause it was the first step in Hitler's plan to gain control of Russia. Had he been able to do this, the outcome of the war would have been much different. -
Operation Barbarossa- Russia
In June, 1941 Hitler and 4.5 million troops broke the nonagression pact and inavded the Soviet Union In the Balkan mountains, Russia was struck hard and by surprise. Stalin, who was in power in the Soviet Union at the time, ignored the warnings sent from hs advisors. After one day of frighting over 1000 Soviet aricrafts were destroyed and suffered staggering losses in soldiers. The Germans were able to fight there way into Russia 300 miles. -
Battle of Moscow
The battle for Moscow was nicknamed "operation typhoon" by the Germans. Germany felt to make operation Barbarossa a success they needed to capture the capital of Russia, Moscow the capital of Russia, was vital to capture according to Hitler. He believed that once the "heart of Russia" was captured, the entire nation would collapse. The Germans came to a halt when the brutal Russian winter hit. The army wass not equipped nor clothed for these conditions. At the start of the battle, the Russians -
Battle of Moscow 2/2
had communication problems. Many Russian fighters had to face tanks without air or artillery support. Finally, the Russians prevailed. This victory was key because if Moscow had been captured then all of Russia would have most likley fell the Hitler and the Axis members, which would have changed the war entirley. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad is considered a turning point in World War 2 by many people. Hitler gave strict orders to General Paulus to take the oil fields in Caucasus. To do this they had to capture the whole city of Stalingrad. The Russians were not planning on letting down easy. They wanted to defend the city that was named after their leader. Stalin told his solidiers "not a step backwards", meaning this time they would not retreat. The Russian army ended up surrounding the city and attacking -
Battle of Stalingrad 2
attacked the Germans from all sides. Finally, going against Hitler's strict word, General Paulus surrendered. This battle was important because it was the start of the German downfall. The significance of this battle is that the Germans lost many men and equipment that they were never able to replace. It also gave Russia and the Allies some much needed momentum. -
Battle of Kursk 2/2
This battle was significant because it was the first summer victory of the Red Army. It added the the momentum that was built in after the victory of Stalingrad. -
Battle of Kursk, Russia
The batle of Kursk was codenamed "Operation Citadel" and was an offensinve attack made by German forces. At its peak the battle involved as many as 6000 tanks, 2 million fighting men, and 4000 tanks. The goal of the Germans was to pinch of an area of land on the eastern front and them send some forces to come around the side to completley gain the territory and capture 5 Soviet armies. The Russians defeated the Germans, but ended up loosing 200,000 troops. -
D-day
Also known as "Operation Overlord", D-day was the invasion of the German controlled French beaches of Normandy by the Allied forces. Allied forces had accumlated in the British Isles. These forces were the largest amount of men and materials that had ever been assembled to launch an attack. General Eisenhower made the decision to launch the attack on June 6 despite the bad weather that day. The beaches of Normandy France were bombed constantly by British and American aircrafts and naval forces. -
D-day 2/2
D-day is significant because it was the attack that paved the way for Hitler's defeat. It was the start of the allies liberating Europe from Hitler's rule and the beginning of his downfall. -
The Battle of the Bulge
This battle was the last mainly offensive attack of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Hitlers plan was to split the allies as they approached Germany, and essentially split the forces into two which would destory their ability to supply themselves. Hitler hoped this attack would break up the alliance he deemed weak and unstable. The attack ended up mainly being on American forces and was known as the "Ardennes Offensive". Hitler wanted to surround and cut off many American and Canadian armies. -
The Battle of the Bulge 2/2
After a long period of stalement, and the lack of German fuel, the allies prevailed. This was the largest battle the Americans fought in World War II and 80,00 men were killed, wounded and captured. This battle was significant because Germany already short on resources before the war, was now lacking neccesary items and soliders. If they hadn't lost so many men, the could have later used them against the Allies. -
Battle of Berlin 2/2
the capital with bombs and various attacks. The city surrendered on May 2nd, 1945. This battle was significant because Hitler had been defeated in Europe and World War II was now over in Europe. -
Battle of Berlin
This was the last battle of World War 2 fought in Europe. This battle was fought mainly between the retreating Germans and the Russians who were advacing with steady momentum towards Berlin. The Russians came with double the amount of soldiers and military equiptment then the Germans. The amount of Russian soldiers reached over 2 million at times during this battle. The number of deaths were high for both sides, but it was obvious that Berlin could not hold out forever. Russia kept pounding the -
Bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
The American bomber dropped the first atomic bomb, that had been created in the Manhattan Project, on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima Japan. This bomb took out 90% of the entire city. Initially, the bomb killed 80,000 people, but thousands more would later die of exposure to radiation. On the 9th of August, American bombers dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. This bomb killed about 40,00 people. These bombing were significant because they forced Japan to surrender in World War II.
