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Operation Overlord an invasion of France that forced Germany to fight on two fronts. By 1944 more than 1.5 million american soldiers, 12000 airplanes, and 5 million tons of equipment had been sent to England. On June 6, 1944 troops all over landed on Frances coast with code names such as Utah and Omaha. Utah Beach was a success but Omaha was not as successful causing many more casualties. After reinforcements and a long day the invasion was a success but it was only the beginning of the end. -
The Allies advanced towards the German Border amd Hitler wanted to make one last stand of winning the war by cutting off supplies coming through Belgium. A lot of snow and cold weather were two factors that caused the Americans to be surprised by this attack. General Patton was sent to the rescue and eventually forced the Germans to halt their march toward Antwerp. Due to the high casualties and lack of resources the Germans started to withdraw.
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In November of 1944 American planes flew over Tokyo and dropped bombs on the city. The planes however did not hit intended targets due to the long trip and lack of fuel. So they decided that it was nessecary to get a closer island and decided on Iwo Jima. On February 16 of the next year more than 60000 marines landed on the island and took out Japanese bunkers using flamethrowers and explosives. Although the battle was a success more than 6800 soldiers died that battle. -
The original bombs failed to destroy intended targets so General Curtis Lemay ordered the bombers to bomb with napalm bombs which were bombs that would start fires once it hit the target. The firebombing of Tokyo killed 80000+ people and more than 250000 buildings. By the end of the war 67 Japanese cities were firebombed. -
Firebombing caused major damage to Japan in 1945 but still, the country was not ready to surrender. An invasion many believed was the only way that Japan would surrender, officials chose Okinawa. On Easter morning of 1945, the first US troops landed on the island. The battle lasted about 3 months and finally the American troops overwhelmed the Japanese but still Japan refused to surrender -
At the end of the Battle of the Bulge the Soviet Union was 35 miles from Berlin. They kept pushing forward while the Americans were attacking from the west. The Americans reached the Rhine River which was German's last line of defense before Berlin. Eventually both the Americans and the Soviets made it to Berlin and ultimantely was the reason Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April 30,1945 and then on May 7 the Germans accepted terms of surrender. The next day became known as V-E day. -
After the capture of Okinawa, the Japanese emperor Hirohito urged his government to end the war, and many officials agreed to surrender on one condition that Hirohito would stay in power. The public in America blamed Hirohito for the war and wanted him removed but President Truman went against public opinion and knew that the United States was close to testing a new weapon that would force Japan to surrender.
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Leo Szilard a Jewish physicist found out that the Germans learned to split a uranium atom which he predicted would cause a huge release of energy. He sent a letter to Albert Einstein and then be sent one to President Roosevelt explaining what he found out. Roosevelt made a committee to help work on making an atomic bomb. The project was codenamed the Manhattan Project and the first step of making it was the breakthrough of the making of the atomic reactor. Those people soon made the atomic bomb. -
Before the bomb was created the government debated on how to use it. There was debate but finally when the bomb was ready to be used the government decided to bomb Japanese cities. There was a warning before though but Japan refused to surrender so two atomic bombs were dropped on two cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs nicknamed "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians and gave plenty more permanent disorders. Finally, Japan surrendered. -
After the Japanese surrendered the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union created the International Military Tribunal to punish those responsible for war crimes. Twenty-two German leaders were punished: 3 were innocent, 7 were prison sentences, and 12 were sentenced to death. Lower-ranking leaders continued and led to 24 more executions and 107 prison sentences. However, the Japanese trials charged 25 leaders, 18 with prison sentences the others to death. Hirohito was not punished.