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Battle of Britain
From July 10 to October 31 1940, the German Airforce and the RAF (Royal Air Force) fought over air superiority over England. The German airforce bombed the ships in the English Channel and the coastal towns and the two air forces had plane fights. Germany's reason for this battle was to destroy the RAF and break the British strength. The English won the battle and this was the first defeat of the Germans. It also prevented Hitler from envading Great Britain. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa took place on June 22 1941. This was Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. This attack is the largest invasion in the history of warfare. Waht happend was the Germans blitzkreiged the European port of the USSR. It was Hitler's desire to conquer the Soviet Union and their reasorces of oil and land was what made Germany invade Russa. In the end Hitler failed to capture the Soviet Union and this was the beginnning of the pivotal phase in deciding the victor of World War II. -
Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 am on Oahu, HI. the Japanese naval pilots bombed the U.S. port of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese sent two waves of planes that attacked from both the west and east of the island. The Japanese did this because they wanted to take out the majority of the U.S. Navy and because the U.S. had stopped any natuaral reasorces from being traded. The U.S also froze the Japanese finances in U.S banks. This action resulted in the U.S declaring war on Japan and entering World War II. -
Bataan Death March
The General Douglas MacArthur was the commader of the troops that fought in the the Battle of Bataan. On April 9, 1942 though, the American troops surrendered. The Japanese then forced their American prisoners to march 60 miles to a prison camp in the Phillipenes. This took place because the Japanese had captured about 76,000 that all needed to be transfered to the camp. Also becasue of the U.S.'s surrender, the Japanese treated the mericans poorly and about 71% made it to the camp. -
Operation Overlord
On June 9 1944, General Eisenhower led the Allied forces at the battle of Normandy or Operation Overlord. The porpuse of this invasion was to sweep the Germans out of Frances. The French and U.S. troops fought along the English Channel and Normandy puahing through the Germans and deafeting them. The aallied forces succseded when they arrived in Paris. This was the turning point to winning the war in Europe and was the beginning of the end. -
Battle of the Bulge
From December 16, 1944 to January 25 1945, Germany fought against the Allied Forces in Belguim along the allied lines. What happened was that the Germans pushed back or put a bugle into the allies lines, away from Germany. This was an act of desperation from Germany to stall the Allies from getting farther into Germany and forcing them to surrender. This battle was the last offensive attack from germany in World War II. -
Yalta Confrence
From Febuary 4 to the 11 1945 the leaders President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin met together at the Livadia Palace in Yalta Russia to disciss the re-establishment of Europe. It was decided that the USSR would join the war against Japan, Germany was to be disarmed, and Eastern Europe would be ruled by Stalin. This also split Europe into the countries it is today. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
From Febuary 19 to March 26, 1945, the U.S. and Japan fought over the island Iwo Jima. They fought over the island because capturing Iwo Jima, for the U.S., was part of a three-point plan to winning the war in the Pacific. Also the location of Iwo Jima, that when the U.S. captured the island, they had an advantage when attaching Japan. When the U.S. captured Iwo Jima, it was the first step to defeating Japan because Iwo Jima was so close to Japan it was a key part of winning the war. -
"Victory in Europe" Day
On May 7 1945, Germany surrendered due to the lack of a leader because Aldof Hitler commited suicide. Both Hitler and the Germans new that they had lost, therefore Germany surrendered. May 8 1945 was declared "V-E Day" in Berlin by the allied forces. This ended World War II in Europe. -
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
On August 6 and 9 1945, the American bomber, the Enola Gay dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The United States were forced into doing this because the Japanese were refusing to surrender. This resulted in 110,000 people dying and Japan was forced to surrender, which ended World War II. -
"Victory in Japan" Day
V-J Day is short for Victory in Japan day because on August 15, 1945 Japan agreed to surrender. What forced Japan to surrender was the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. Japan surrendering meant that America had won the war in the Pacific and the World War II in the Pacific ended.
