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German Blitzkrieg (1939-1940) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg means lightning war and was used to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of penetrating deep into enemy lines and taking out enemy firepower. In World War II the Germans used the Blitzkrieg military tactic.This will preserve lives and reduces the amount of artillery being used. -
Operation Barbarossa (1941) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa
Germany invaded Russia with over 3 million soldiers, but they underestimated the Russians resolve. The Germans were ill prepared for the the Russian weather and supplies were woefully inadequate. Hitler thought he was invincible and was determined to conquer the world, and exterminate the Jews. Barbarossa failed and Germany was faced with a two-front war they could not win. -
Pearl Harbor (1941)
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels and airplanes. For a while, the USS was unhappy with Japan’s aggression toward China. The Japanese govt. wanted to expand their territory and take over its import market. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians. Around 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the attack, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Bataan Death March (1942) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
The Japanese invaded the Philippines. Around 75 thousand Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps. They were subjected to harsh treatment, many suffered and died in the intense heat. In 1945, the US and Filipino forces recaptured the Bataan Peninsula, and Manila was liberated shortly after. Japanese General Masaharu in the Philippines was tried for war crimes. -
Battle of Stalingrad (1942) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a military campaign between the the Axis Powers and Russian forces. This battle was one of the longest, largest, and bloodiest battles. Hitler wanted to invade Stalingrad because it was where important goods and artillery were produced, and for propaganda purposes. This gave Russians a special need to protect it. During the battle, around 2 million people were killed or wounded, including thousands of civilians. The battle was a turning point for the Allied forces. -
Wannsee Conference (1942) https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution
Nazi officials gathered together to solve/ make a plan to get rid of the Jews to cleanse the cities. (“Final solution of the Jewish question”) The Jewish population was increasing and they believed that their blood was impure. They had to do something before they began to revolt against them. This event would lead to the Holocaust. -
Battle of Midway (1942) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US defeated the Japanese in one of the most decisive naval battles. Chester Nimitz solved the Japanese fleet codes. The Japanese were left vulnerable while their carriers were refueling their planes. The US was able to sink 4 of the Japanese fleet carriers and 322 planes. The Battle of Midway was the turning point of WW2. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion - 1944) https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/wars-and-battles/d-day
The Allied Forces (Britain, France, America, and Canada) attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. Western Allied efforts wanted to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi Germany.The Allies won and gained victory which became the turning point for WWII. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs (1945) http://www.ushistory.org/us/51g.asp
Truman demanded Japan to agree to “unconditional surrender” or else suffer “prompt and utter destruction”. After Japan ignored Truman, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the Battle of Okinawa, the United States finally successfully tested the first atomic bomb. Truman decided to use the atomic bomb on Japan to avoid a land invasion and save American lives. Around 250,000 Japanese died as a result of the devastating bombs and Japan finally surrendered. -
Battle of the Bulge (1945) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge
In 1945, Hitler ordered a counterattack on Allied troops in Belgium, but it crippled Germany by using up reserves and demoralizing its troops.Germans launched the last major offensive of the war in order to attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. This battle brought an end to the German army which ended the war in Europe sooner than expected. -
Battle of Okinawa (1945) https://www.britannica.com/topic/Battle-of-Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of WWII and the bloodiest one resulting in an Allied victory. The capture of Okinawa was part of Americas three-point-plan to winning the war in the East. It was the largest landing in the Pacific theater during WWII and resulted in the largest causality death rate of 100,000 Japanese forces and 50,000 Allies. -
Battle of Iwo Jima (1945) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
The US wanted to use Iwo Jima as a staging facility for a potential invasion of mainland Japan. The Japanese used gorilla warfare to withstand the brutal US invasion. Vastly outnumbered, the Japanese managed to battle for 5 weeks. In some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II, 21,000 Japanese forces were killed, as were almost 7,000 Marines. In the end, the US was unable to use Iwo Jima as a WWII staging area. -
VE Day (1945) https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe
This date marked the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. After Germany lost many of its armed forces at the Battle of the Bulge, Germany had nothing left but to surrender. This ended the war in Europe. (It was the Soviet Union that went into Berlin FIRST, and found Hitler’s body.) -
VJ Day (1945) https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
After the bombs dropped on Japan. It destroyed major cities and many lives were lost. President Harry S. Truman called again for Japan's surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” President Harry S. Truman attacked and forced Japan to surrender to end the war. Japan surrendered and World War II ended. -
Liberation of concentration camps (1945) https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation
As Allied and Soviet troops moved across Europe against Nazi Germany, they encountered concentration camps of Nazi crimes. Liberators began to free everyone from the camps and showed the horrors that took place within the camps to the world. People from these camps were liberated to free them from the Nazi’s after the war came to an end. This led to the Nuremberg Trials. Nazis were hunted down one by one to bring them to justice for what they had done.
