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On Sunday Dec. 7, 1941 the United States was surprised by a Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Causeing lots of damage to the American Naval Fleet. The attack lasted a few hours and it was a day that will "live in infamy".
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A Japanese force on its way to attack, thereby pressuring his opponents into making mistakes. The Battle of the Coral Sea was an inportant Allied victory.
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Took place early in June 1942. Seeking to crush th U.S. Pacific Fleet, Japan launched a two-pronged attack. One unit seized two of the Aleitian Islands, near Alaska. Americans and Japanese clashed June 3-6 U.S. fighters, divebombers, and torpedo planes sank four Japanese aircraftcarriers and shot down many enemy planes. The U.S. victory proved crucial. Japan lost ships, planes, and a number of skilled pilots.
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The Allies hold firm against Rommel and his Panzers, only to enact a counter-offensive that sends the Axis forces packing from North Africa. In the first Battle of El Alamein beginning on July 1st, 1942, German General Erwin Rommel tried in vain to attack the Allied defensive positions with his Afrika Corps (and Italian allies), yielding tremendous losses to his army forces.
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The United States launched its first major offensive. In August 1942, american marines waded ashore at Guadalcanal, in the Southern Islands. Six desparate months they clung to a toehold around the airport.
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With North Africa secured and Sicily—the stepping stone to Italy—conquered, the Allied forces launched their invasion of Italy on 3 September 1943. It began with British forces skipping across the Strait of Messina to Calabria. A few days later, more British and American forces landed several hundred miles to the north at Salerno.
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Victory in the Atlantic and air assaults on Germany paved the way for Operation Overlord, the long-awaited Allied invasion of German-occupied France. U.S. Army chief of staff and key Allied strategist Geogre C. Marshall led the planning.
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Decisive air and sea battle of World War II that crippled theJapanese Combined Fleet, permitted U.S. invasion of the Philippines, and reinforced the Allies’ control of the PaThe battle was precipitated by a U.S. amphibious assault on the central Philippine island of Leyte on October 20.
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The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16th 1944. Hitler had convinced himself that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was not strong and that a major attack and defeat would break up the alliance. Therefore, he ordered a massive attack against what were primarily American forces. The attack is strictly known as the Ardennes Offensive but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the Allied front line.
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In early 1945, with World War II in Europe drawing to a close, Franklin Roosevelt (United States), Winston Churchill (Great Britain), and Joseph Stalin (USSR) agreed to meet to discuss war strategy and issues that would affect the postwar world. Dubbed the "Big Three," the Allied leaders had met previously in November 1943, at the Tehran Conference. Seeking a neutral site for the meeting, Roosevelt suggested a gathering somewhere on the Mediterranean.
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U.S. MArines attacked the island of Iwo Jima, just 750 miles from Tokyo-and met strong resistance. Despite a U.S. victory being nearly certain, Japanese forces fought as fiercely as ever. This battle lasted six weeks. It ended on March 28, 1945.
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Okinawa was the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific campaign and the last major campaign of the Pacific War. More ships were used, more troops put ashore, more supplies transported, more bombs dropped, more naval guns fired against shore targets than any other operation in the Pacific. More people died during the Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Casualties totaled more than 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing,
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Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) was on May 8th 1945. VE Day officially announced the end of World War Two in Europe. On Monday May 7th at 02.41. German General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender document that formally ended war in Europe. Winston Churchill was informed of this event at 07.00.
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Little Boy was one of the four nuclear weapons produced by the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. It was the first atomic bomb ever used in combat. On 6 August 1945, the US plane Enola Gay dropped Little Boy approximately 1,800 feet over Hiroshima, Japan, with a force equal to 13,000 tons of TNT. Immediate deaths were between 70,000 to 130,000
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The world's third atomic bomb, Fat Man, a plutonium implosion device explodes over Nagasaki, Japan. It has a yield of approximately 20 kilotons TNT. Some 35,000 to 40,000 persons die immediately, and a total of some 75,000 persons die from the bombing by the end of 1945.
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In the morning of 2 September 1945, more that two weeks after acceping the Allies terms, Japan formally surrendered. The ceremonies, less than half an hour long, took place on board the battleship USS Missouri, anchored with other United States' and British ships in Tokyo Bay. It was an extensively photographed occasion, and, despite overcast weather, generated many memorable images.
