Download WWII Battles

WWII Battles
European
Theater
Nazi army
Invasion of Poland
 Germany – Nazis led by Hitler
 Hitler blitzkrieg into Poland and takes it
over
 September 1, 1939
 Official start of the war in Europe
Fall of France

Germany invaded from the North and pinned down
400,000 British and French troops on their march toward
Paris
 Italy entered on Germany’s side and invaded France from
the south
 France surrendered its country to Germany
 Charles de Gaulle
 Fled to England
 Set up a government in exile
Battle of Britain
 Germany launched a naval and air war at the
same time
 Constant bombing by German planes every
night for months
 Britain’s Royal Air Force fights them off and
Hitler stops the attack, but still bombs the
cities
 Did not lose Britain – basically a tie
Battle of the Atlantic
 Try to cut off supplies to Britain and the Soviet
Union.
 U-boats blowing up supply ships.
 In 7 months destroyed 681 Allied ships
 Allies started using convoys to protect ships and
sonar to find U-boats and blow them up
 US increased shipbuilding
 140 ships per month
 Allies win
 Turning point of the war on the water
Battle of Stalingrad
 Hitler invades Stalingrad.
 Nightly air raids started almost every building on fire
 Ready to give up, Stalin said NO!!
 Weeks of hand to hand combat
 Germans controlled 9/10 of what was left of the city
 However during the winter Soviets cut off German supplies.
 Germans starved, froze, and surrendered
 Soviet Union wins
 1,100,000 Soviets died
 Soviet army began to move west towards Germany
North Africa - Operation Torch
 Invasion of Axis controlled North Africa by
Allies.
 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower - Allied leader
 Gen. Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox) - Axis leader
 Allies win
 Importance - Allies controlled North Africa
EISENHOWER
ROMMEL
D-Day – June 6, 1944
 Largest land, sea, air invasion
 Beaches of Normandy, France.
 Gen. Eisenhower head general
 3 million British, US, and Canadian troops
 Gen. Omar Bradley – in battle
 Gen. George Patton – in battle
 Allies win
 Importance - Freed France
Battle of the Bulge
 Germans attempt to break Allied lines in
Germany.
 Month long battle
 Huge German losses
120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assault guns, 1,600
planes
 Allies win
 Importance - Last counter attack for Axis.
 Germany back on their heels
Pacific
Theater
Pearl Harbor – Oahu, Hawaii
 Emperor Tojo of
Japan
 Surprise attack on
America’s pacific
fleet
 Importance
 Causes US to
declare war on
Japan
Japan’s Kamikaze pilots
 Crash their plane to
destroy a target
 Ultimate devotion
to country
 Highly respected
and honored
Battle of the Coral Sea
 Took place among airplanes only
 Allies win
 Importance - 1st stop of a Japanese invasion
Battle of Midway
 Japan tries to invade Midway island.
 US finds out it was next
 We stomp them destroying 4 aircraft carriers,
a cruiser, and 250 planes
 Allies win
 Importance - Turning point in the Pacific.
Avenged Pearl Harbor
Iwo Jima
 6,000 Marines died taking the island but only
200 Japanese survived
 Allies win
 Importance - Critical to reach Japan
Battle for Okinawa
 Kamikaze attacks.
 7,600 Americans killed. Japan lost 110,000
 Allies win
 Importance - Last island to control before
mainland of Japan
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
 Dropped Nuclear bomb on each city
 No choice but to surrender
 Allies win
 Importance - Ended the war in the Pacific