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Name____________________
Date_________________
WWII Begins!
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April: As the Nazis began their conquest of Western Europe; they invaded ______________,
_____________, Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg and now move into France. Italy attacks France
from the south.
Miracle at Dunkirk
Over ______________ French Troops were successfully evacuated out of France.
Navy ships were hastily gathered and sent to the port of Dunkirk. Troops waited their turn to be
evacuated.
At the port, ships and beaches came under increasing aerial attack, small civilian boats were sent
across to help take men.
France Falls
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In May 1940, the Germans attacked France. The French army was caught off
guard. Although both armies were about equal in strength in terms of troops
and tanks, the Germans had superior numbers of aircraft and an invasion plan.
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The blitzkrieg sent French forces into a confused retreat, and as the Germans
marched into ______________ on June 14, the French government collapsed.
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United States and Neutrality
The United States is sympathetic to the Allies but _______________________ control the Congress.
Roosevelt’s (FDR’s) Fireside Chats assure that the U.S. will remain _________________.
________________: The U.S. will sell arms to Allies for cash only and goods had to be picked up!
The War in Great Britain
June 1940: _______________: Winston Churchill promises that Britain will never surrender. Great
Britain is aided by the new technology ______, which is used to detect enemy planes. After months
of bombing and not being able to break the British, Hitler gives up on his plan to defeat the British.
March 1941: _______________: The U.S. lends weapons to Britain who agrees to pay later.
Nazis Invade Russia: Operation Barbarossa
June 1940: Hitler double crosses Stalin and invades the USSR, breaking the _______________. The
Russian winter stalls the German advance.
The Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and Churchill set goals for the postwar world in the ________________. Some of the
terms include: That no country seeks territorial gain, the support of the right of people to choose their
own government and establish a system of world security. It also warned Germany that the U.S.
Would not remain _______ for much longer.
Turning Point: Stalingrad
During the fall and early winter of 1941, German armored divisions had advanced toward
___________________ at a rapid pace, capturing hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops.
But by the first week of December, snow began falling, and temperatures plunged to -40° C (-40° F).
The German soldiers, not dressed for winter weather, were freezing and losing their will to fight.
Their equipment also ____________, becoming useless. The _________________________ finally
accomplished what its military had failed to do: It halted the German offensive.
American relations with Japan
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The United States refuses to sell oil and scrap metal to _______.
December 7: Japan bombs the U.S. naval base at ____________, Hawaii, wiping out battleships,
aircraft carriers, planes and killing 1500 Americans.
December 8: The U.S. declares war on Japan and thus enters the war on the side of the Allies.
Japanese Aggression
- Seized Hong Kong and Malaya
- Took Burma (between China and India)
- Captured the Philippines
- Conquered Singapore and the Dutch East Indies
(islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Celebes)
Turning Point: Pearl Harbor
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft initiated a surprise attack
on the United States Pacific Fleet at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor. The Japanese
hoped to cripple the _____________________, which they perceived as
the principal threat to victory in a war against the United States. Within a
few hours the Japanese had destroyed four battleships and damaged four
more, including the ______________________ (pictured), destroyed other
naval vessels and a large number of combat aircraft, and killed and
wounded many American naval and military personnel.
United States Declares War
On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin
Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan.
Roosevelt called December 7th “a date which will live in _________________________.”
War in the Pacific
Led by Douglas McArthur, the United States began an ______________________ campaign that would
push the Japanese back to Japan.
Turning Point: Midway
The Battle of Midway was a
victory for American forces and
marked a turning point in the
__________________ during
World War II. The battle was
fought in the waters off the
Midway Islands in June 1942
between United States land-and
carrier-based planes and
Japanese carrier-based planes.
The Japanese lost four aircraft
carriers, two cruisers, and three
destroyers. The Americans lost
the aircraft carrier ___________
and one destroyer.
Atlantic Theater: Invasion of Africa
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German Forces had been moving across the North African desert under the command of
_____________________ (nicknamed the “Desert Fox”). North Africa was considered the gateway
to Italy.
1. Allies launch “_____________________________” - a surprise attack on German troops. Led by
American General _____________________________
1. Results: ______________________________________________
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On 17th August 1943, General George Patton and his troops marched into Messina. The capture of the
island made it possible to clear the way for Allied shipping in the Mediterranean. It also helped to
undermine the power of __________________ and Victor Emmanuel III forced him to resign.
Results: By September 1943, Allied forces defeated Italian forces. In 1945, Mussolini attempted to
escape to Switzerland, only to be captured and executed by Communist Italian partisans. His body
was taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a petrol station for public viewing.
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Liberation of Sicily and Italy
Turning Point: D-Day Operation Overlord
On June 6, 1944, a force of about 152,000 Allied soldiers from the
__________________________________________ stormed the
beaches of Normandy in northern France, where they were supported
by about 23,000 paratroopers.
D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion at
Normandy took the Germans by surprise, because they expected an
invasion from the narrowest part of the English Channel. The Germans
fought the invasion fiercely, but by the end of the day, all five beaches
were secured by the Allies.
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge which lasted from December 16, 1944 to January 28, 1945 was the largest
__________ battle of World War II in which the United States participated. More than a million men
fought in this battle including some 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British.
At the conclusion of the battle the casualties were as follows: 81,000 U.S. with 19,000 killed, 1400
British with 200 killed, and 100,000 Germans killed, wounded or captured.
Yalta Conference
In February 1945 the leaders of the Allied powers, known as the
______________, met at Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula to discuss Allied
military strategy in the final months of World War II.
Battle of Berlin
•Soviet Union takes over Berlin. The Soviets
sustained 305,000 dead; the Germans sustained as
many as 325,000, including civilians.
•On April 30, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun, took cyanide and shot himself.
VE Day
VE Day marks the day of the Allies’ victory in Europe during World War II.
After 3½ years of war, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally in 1945.
War in Pacific Battles On!
_____________________, which in Japanese means “divine wind,” were suicide squadrons
organized by the Japanese air force in the last months of World War II. Pilots flew their aircraft, loaded
with explosives, directly into U.S. naval vessels.
Kamikaze pilots, sacrificing their lives in a last-ditch effort to stop the American advance, sank about
________________.
Battle of Iwo Jima
In March of 1945, American marines gained control of the tiny, but
strategically located, island of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima is just 660 miles from
Tokyo. This victory came after losing more than
______________________ more soldiers than they had ever lost in a
single battle.
Harry Truman
When Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman came into office. The
European war was coming to an end, and he was left to concentrate on the war in the
Pacific. The only obstacle that the United States needed to overcome was
_________________________. Although much of the Japanese naval fleet and air force
had been destroyed by Allied raids, their ancient _________________ tradition
prevented a surrender. Therefore, an Allied victory would create extremely high
casualties; military advisors predicted that an invasion of Japan would cost over
____________________ American lives. This fact put Truman in a very difficult
position.
Atomic Bomb
On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped the first atomic
bomb on Hiroshima, a Japanese city and military center. The blast destroyed 68
percent of the city and damaged another 24 percent. An estimated _______________
people were killed or reported missing, according to U.S. estimates, and thousands
more were made homeless. Sixteen hours after the attack, U.S. President Harry S.
Truman’s report of the event was broadcast to radio listeners.
Three days later, on August 9th, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
Over 20,000 people died instantly. In the successive weeks, thousands more
Japanese died from the after effects of the _______________ exposure of the blast.
VJ Day
Japanese officials formally ________________________ to the
Allies on September 2, 1945, aboard the United States battleship
Missouri. Japan's surrender brought an end to World War II
(1939-1945).