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*Germany uses blitzkrieg to overpower Polish army
*Britain & France declare war on Germany
*Make it to Warsaw (capital of Poland) in less than a month
*Germany begins enforcing racial policies
*Jews had to wear white armbands with blue Stars of David
*Expelled 1000s of Poles and replace them with Germans -
*Japan attacked the US naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii
* Japans goal on this surprise attack was to destroy the Pacific fleet so that America would not be able to fight back making it easier for Japan to spread across the South Pacific.
*The Japanese fleet descended onto the base at 8 am on that Sunday managing to destroy 20 American Naval vessels, 8 battleships, over 300 airplanes, more than 2,400 Americans died
*No Fleet carriers were destroyed(very important)
* U.S enters the war -
*Naval battle in the Pacific theater between U.S Navy and Japanese Navy
*Japan wanted to control midway to extend their defense perimeter
* Japanese had 4 aircraft carriers involved while America only had 3
* No ground fighting just fighting in the air with planes
*America was outnumbered and out strengthened but still pulled off the victory
*Turning point in the Pacific war -
*American, British, and Canadian forces were sent to land on 5 beaches of France Normandy region
*General Dwight Eisenhower was commander of this operation
*Paratroopers were behind enemy lines prior to the invasion after being scattered all over
*4,000 troops were killed in this invasion
*Heavy German resistance was ready when the invasion occurred
*Turned the tide against Nazi’s, Germany no longer was in northwestern France -
*Between the U.S and Japanese
*Iwo Jima held 3 airfields that were crucial for the Japan army.
*American forces invaded which led to bloodiest fighting of the war
* 7,000 American troops were killed compared to almost all 21,000 of Japanese soldiers being killed
*The tough terrain made It hard for the American troops to travel and easier for Japanese artillery to hit them -
*Last major battle of WW2
*The invasion of Okinawa was a part of operation Iceberg
* Okinawa was the last stop before reaching Japan
*Okinawa had an air base that if America was able to control it would make it easier for them to reach Japan with bombings and planes
*Hacksaw ridge was on top of a 400 ft cliff that American troops had to climb before getting into the fight
* Lead to the end of WW2 putting Japan in striking distance after controlling Okinawa -
*America detonated two atomic bombs with 1 on City of Hiroshima and 1 on City of Nagasaki
*Killed around 226,000 people
* Bombs names were “fat Man” and “little boy”
* These bombs destroyed the cities and left them in shambles
*Apart of the Pacific war
*Manhattan project
*Japan surrendered resulting in the end of the war