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Blitzkrieg in Poland
Blitzkrieg means a sudden attack using a lot of firepower to damage as much as possible, as quickly as possible. This is what happened to Poland. Germany signed a noaggression pact with Soviets on 8-23-1939. On 9-1-1939, Hitler Blitzkrieged Poland and on 9-17-1939 Russia attacked Poland from the east. By the end of September, Poland had fallen to Germany. -
Battle Of Britain
France fell in only 35 days. Operation Sea Lion was in affect which is when Germany's Luftwaffe would attack. In July 1940, the United Kingdom lost 1,000 planes but Germany lost 1,700. Germany bombed everything that they could. United Kingdom used radar to figure out where they would be attacking, which saved the UK from falling to Germany. -
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was the United States Navy's main Pacific base. Japan sent 6 aircraft carriers, 360 airplanes (28 ships in all and several submarines). Japan attacked in two waves. The first wave was the main attack which was ships and airfield. The second wave was finish off whatever was left. The objective was to prevent the US from infulencing Japan's war effort in Southeast Asia. -
Battle Of Coal Sea
May 1942, Japan moved to take New Guinea. The US sent two aircraft carriers to fight. On May 7-8 we fought but the ships never actually saw eachother it was a plan engaged battle. The battle was drawn but Japan called off their attack of New Guinea. It shifted momentum to the US for the first time. -
Battle Of Midway
In May 1942, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto sought to draw the US Pacific Fleet into a battle where he could destroy it. To accomplish this, he planned an invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for attacking Hawaii. On June 4, 1942, US aircraft flying from USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown attacked and sunk four Japanese carriers, forcing Yamamoto to withdrrawl. Turning point in WWII in the Pacific. -
Allies Invade Italy
January 1943, allies said that this would be the only way war would end. Attacked island of Sicily first which gave allies complete control of Western Med. it also paved way for invasion of Italy, and it ended the rule of Mussolini. On Sept. 3, 1943, Italy surrendered. Five weeks later, Italy declared war on Germany and the fighting in Italy continued until 1945. -
D-Day
D-Day Video Dday is when the Allies (Britain, Canada, and the United States) invade Normandy, France. Commanded by Eisenhower. It is also known as "Operation Overload". They land at the five beached code named Utah, Sword, Omaha, Juno, and Gold. This event marks the end of the beginning for Germany. -
Hitler commits suicide and Germany army surrenders
Hitler was in a bunk underground with his soon to be wife Eva Hitler. He got bad news that the Germans were going to surrender because they ran out of ammunition. He also heard that they were going to come for him and try to kill him so he thought suide was his only option. Hearing that Mussolini was hung with his mistress in the time square, Hitler didnt want that embarassment so him and Eva commited suicide. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945 an atomic bomb named Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion was huge, the city was destroyed, and tens of thousands of people were killed. The bomb was dropped by a plane named the Enola Gay which was piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbetts. The bomb itself was over 10 feet long and weighed around 10,000 pounds. A small parachute was on the bomb in order to slow its drop and allow the plane time to fly away from the blast zone. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
Despite witnessing the terrible destruction of the bomb on Hiroshima, Emperor Hirohito and Japan still refused to surrender. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, another atomic bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Again the devastation was horrible and had a lasting affect which lead to the surrender of Japan.
