American world war ii senior military officials, 1945

World War 2

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    Battle of the Atlantic

    Battle of the Atlantic, in World War II, a contest between the Western Allies and the Axis powers for the control of Atlantic sea routes. For the Allied powers, the battle had three objectives: blockade of the Axis powers in Europe, security of Allied sea movements, and freedom to project military power across the seas. The Axis, in turn, hoped to frustrate Allied use of the Atlantic to wage war.click here for more information
  • Fall of France

    Fall of France
    Between 9 May and 22 June 1940, a remarkable German assault on north-west Europe, known as the Battle of France, resulted in the capture and subjugation of not only France but three other countries Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium. It also witnessed the retreat of the British Army and its evacuation home from Dunkirk controlled from Dover Castle and other western French ports. It was a dark time in the history of Europe.
  • Air war over Japan

    Air war over Japan
    The first attack on Japan by American airmen in World War II was on 18 April 1942. In an extraordinary feat, they flew sixteen twin-engine B-25s off the carrier Hornet about 688 miles west of Japan and hit Tokyo and other nearby targets before heading for landing in China. This isolated raid, led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, came less than five months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • Battle or Coral Sea

    Battle or Coral Sea
    This four-day World War II skirmish in May 1942 marked the first air-sea battle in history. The Japanese were seeking to control the Coral Sea with an invasion of Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea, but their plans were intercepted by Allied forces. Although both sides suffered damages to their carriers, the battle left the Japanese without enough planes to cover the ground attack of Port Moresby, resulting in a strategic Allied victory.
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    Battle of Midway

    The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II. click here for more information
  • Battle of Guadalcanal

    Battle of Guadalcanal
    Battle of Guadalcanal, (August 1942–February 1943), series of World War II land and sea clashes between Allied and Japanese forces on and around Guadalcanal, one of the southern Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific. Along with the naval Battle of Midway (June 3–6, 1942), the fighting on Guadalcanal marked a turning point in favor of the Allies in the Pacific War.
  • Marshall Island Campaign

    Marshall Island Campaign
    The Marshall Islands Campaign (31 January-22 February 1944) was the first time that the Americans captured pre-war Japanese territory, and was made up of two main parts - Operation Flintlock, the conquest of Kwajalein and Operation Catchpole, the conquest of Eniwetok. The invasion of the Marshall Islands was one of the earlier American war aims in the Pacific, but it soon became clear than the existing Allied bases were too far from the islands.
  • Invasion of Sicily and Italy

    Invasion of Sicily and Italy
    The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian Campaign.
  • Battle of Normandy

    Battle of Normandy
    Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings.
  • Yalta conference

    Yalta conference
    Yalta Conference was a meeting of three World War II allies: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The trio met in February 1945 in the resort city of Yalta, located along the Black Sea coast of the Crimean Peninsula.
  • Battle of Okinawa

    Battle of Okinawa
    The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army.
  • Surrender of Germany

    Surrender of Germany
    The German Instrument of Surrender was the legal document that effected the extinction of Nazi Germany and ended World War II in Europe.
  • Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

    Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.click here for more information
  • Surrender of Japan

    Surrender of Japan
    The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced by Japanese Emperor Hirohito on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. click here for more information