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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain went from August 1940- October 1940. Great Britain and Germany were in a battle against each other in Britain. Germany had conquered most of Europe and he only major country left was Great Britain. Germany wanted to invade Great Britain but first they needed to destroy Great Britain's air force. Germany bombed Great Britain trying to destroy their air force and preparing for invation. The British ended up defeating the Germans because they had a radar. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler was scared that the Russians would expand towards central Europe. Hitler also wanted to control the Soviet wheat and oil fields. In Western Russia, on June 22, 1941, Over 4 million soldiers of the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union. They used 600,000 vehicles and 750,000 horses. It was led by Hitler. The Germans were defeated because the Russians counter attacked. Soviets were reacting to the war until winter came. Since the Germans were not prepared, the Soviets could push them away. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japan bombed the US in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, HI on December 7, 1941. Japan was upset that the US had stopped trade with Japan and froze money assets of Japan in US banks. Japan bombed the US military/ naval base in Oahu, HI. 2,400 US dead, 2 US ships sunk, and multiple planes and ships were destroyed. The US declared war on Japan and joined WWII. -
Bataan Death March
The Japanese couldn't take care of all their prisoners because they had no food for them and they needed to move them 55 miles. The Japanese marched their prisoners to a camp but they killed many on the way and didn't give any of them food or water. There were 72,000 people. America was angry and the people who held the march were guilty for war crimes. Quote: "I shall return" said Douglas MacArthur. "I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil." -
Operation Overlord
The Germans were expanding their land, and the US and Britain wanted to stop/slow down the expanding of Germany. The allied forces also wanted to take over Germany. In Normandy, France the allied forces attacked the German forces with huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, thousands of planes dropping bombs, and thousands of warships bombing the beach. The allied forces won over the Germans and when it was over, 150,000 troops had landed in Normandy. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans wanted to split the British and American line in half. So on December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945 in Belgium Luxembourg, Germany broke through the US lines and the Americans were not ready, so the Germans killed thousands of American troops. The US won and this was the largest battle fought by the US. -
Yalta Conference
President FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin needed to figure out who owned which countries. Also Germany had to surrender and would be split into occupied zones. On February 4-11, 1945 the heads of government got together to discuss the post war reorganization of Europe. At the end, they reorganized Europe. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The US wanted a place to put their armies so that they could attack Japan easier. So, on February 19-26 and March 26, 1945 the US attacked Iwo Jima, Japan. 30,000 marines landed on the shores of Iwo Jima. The US thought that their bombs had killed the Japanese, but really the Japanese was making underground tunnels so that when the US came on shore, they could attack. Even though many US soldiers were killed, after 36 days of fighting, the US finally won. -
V-E Day
The Germans surrenderes in Europe and rejoiced. The war in Europe was finally over. -
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
The US wanted Japan to surrender but Japan didn't, so on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The US killed around 200,000 and only half died on the first day, but the rest died from injuries or radiation later on. -
V-J Day
Japan surrendered. The World War was over! YAY!
