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Attack on Pearl Harbor
-It was a Japanese surprise attack on America
-This coincided with Germany and Italy declaring war on the US as a part of the axis powers.
- There were 2,553 US casualties including the USS Arizona and other war ships.
-Their main way of attacking was bombing using planes, but they also torpedoed on boats and submarines. (Ultimately drug the US into the war.) -
Battle of Stalingrad
-The Germans most offensive push into Russia.
- Josef Stalin named this city, (Stalingrad) after himself because it was the most powerful city in Russia and was not supposed to be defeated.
- The Axis powers lost 900 aircraft, over 500 tanks and 6,000 artillery pieces during the battle. The Soviet Union sustained over 1.1 million casualties during the battle.
- This battle lasted 6 long months of hard fighting and many deaths amongst not only Russians and Germans, but also their allies. -
Operation Overlord/D-Day
- Largest human invasion in history.
- The Americans attempted to storm Normandy beach which was German occupied Western Europe.
- This was a big turning point in the war because it was a major battle and gave the US a lot of momentum in the war.
- A total of 150,000 allied soldiers landed and stormed the shores along with 5,000 vessels and a total of 30,000 vehicles alongside them.
- it marked the start of a long and costly campaign to liberate north-west Europe from Nazi occupation.
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Iwo Jima
- It was a between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945. -The Battle of Iwo Jima resulted in the death of 18,844/22,060 Japanese soldiers stationed there as well as about 7,000 marines. -.American forces invaded the island on February 19, 1945, and the ensuing Battle of Iwo Jima lasted for five weeks.
- Iwo Jima was targeted by the Americans as part of the Allies' "Island Hopping" strategy to take over islands, one by one.
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Battle of Berlin
-The Battle of Berlin resulted in the surrender of the German army and the death of Adolf Hitler (by suicide).
- It was the final battle in ww2 because the surrender of Germany meant that the Axis powers no longer had the power.
-Around 81,000 Soviet Union soldiers were killed and another 280,000 were wounded. Around 92,000 German soldiers were killed with another 220,000 wounded.
- This battle saved a lot of people because with the death of hitler, the concentration camps were liberated. -
Hiroshima/Nagasaki
-The US dropped 2 nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities,
-The bombs were nicknamed little boy (hiroshima) and (fat man) nagasaki.
- There were five Japanese cities on the US's initial hit list and Nagasaki was not one of them.
- Hiroshima had a total of 135,000 casualties and Nagasaki had around 64,000.
-This was a big statement in the war because the US was the first to ever use the nuclear bomb and it was a shock to the whole world, knowing the amount of power it had.