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Battle of Britain
(Summer & Autum of 1940) June 18, 1940, Churchill gave a speach saying the Battle was about to begin. It began mid-July. Germany attacked the shipping on the English Channel and coastal towns and defences, then the airfields and radar cases. Soon, they became frustrated from Britain's resilience and gave up. They attacked because they wanted Britain's land for its resources, such as their oil. Hitler didn't try to invade again, instead focusing on the Soviet Union. -
Operation Barbarossa
(Planning started Dec. 18, 1940. Lasted Jun.-Dec. 1941) The USSR was attacked by around 4.5 mil. Axis troups. It was the largest invasion in the history of warfare. They did it because Hitler wanted to stop communism in the USSR, take land, and use the Soviet people for labor. For a while it had looked like Germany was going to take over Russia completely, but the Red Army managed to rally from the surprise attack and counter-attack, then drive the German troops back to Germany. -
Pearl Harbor
(Sunday, 7:55am) Japanese naval pilots bombed the US port of Pearl Harbor, in Oahu, HI. It happened to take out the majority of the US army, plus we froze their American assets. After this happened, the US joined the war. -
Bataan Death March
The Imperial Japanese army transfered 60-80,000 Fillipeno and American POW's to Camp O'Donnel. It happened in Balagna. They moved the people because General MacArthur was ordered move his command from to Australia, and left thousands of his troops behind without supplies. The troops surrendered to Japan. MacArthur had a famous quote: "I shall return." Thousands of POWs were killed to make the US "aware". -
Operation Overlord
160,000 Allied tropps landed along a 50mi stretch of the Normandy beach to fight the Nazis out of France, because Hitler had conquered France and the Allies wanted it back and to end WWII and stop the Nazi tirade through Europe. They got France back, placing British and American troups in the West, and with Russia attacking Germany from the East, they finished the war a year later. -
Battle of the Bulge
(Dec. 16, 1944-Jan. 25, 1945) German offences launched through Belgium, France, and Luxemborg. The Germans wanted to split the Brittish and American line of defence/offence in half, then encircle and destory four Ally armies. It was the largest/bloodiest battle the US fought in WWII. The Germans lost, and lost many men and equiptment. -
Yalta Conference
(Feb. 4-11, 1945) Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill met in a Russian town on the Crimea Peninsula to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of Europe. They agreed to form the UN, on how to divide Berlin, and Stalin agreed to fight Japan. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
(Feb. 14-Mar. 26, 1945) The US fought for and captured the Island of Iwo Jima - it was one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific. America had the goal to gain control over the Japanese Islands so they could cut down the amount of land the Japanese had control over with the plus that there was an airforce base. It decreased the amount of time the Enola Gay and other planes had to stay in the air when bombing. Iwo Jima was captured, then the US continued their island hopping to attack Japan. -
V-E Day
The Allies accepted Germany's surrender. Germany surrendered because their armies collapsed. Because of this, WWII officially ended. The surrender was signed in Riems, France on the 7th, and confirmed in Berlin, Germany on the 8th. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
(Aug 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Aug 9, 1945 on Nagasaki) The name of the plane was the Enola Gay. America dropped an atomic bomb on the Jap. Island Hiroshima, then on Nagasaki. America had hoped it would end the war with Japan. It was the first nuclear weapon to be dropped, and the war ended. -
V-J Day
Japan surrendered. On September 2nd, 1945, they gave a formal surrender on the USS Missouri. This happened because of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - they weakened Japan drastically, so they gave up. This ended WWII for good.
