Transcript WWII Europe 3/1/13 - Lapeer Community Schools

WWII Europe
• Operation Overlord= D-day June 6th 1944
• Allied forces under the command of General
Eisenhower attack German held France
• 175,000 troops in 3 phases (Airborne,
Bombers, Infantry) take the coast of
Normandy with heavy casualties
• With Success, Allies had Germany surrounded
and start the march toward Berlin
Europe Continued
• Battle of the Bulge= Hitler’s last effort to win
the war. Nazi forces push a bulge in the Allied
line after terrible weather and fighting the
Allies win and push on toward Berlin (Jan.
1945)
• May 2 Hitler commits suicide in his bunker
• May 8th 1945 = VE Day “Victory in Europe”
Pacific WWII
• US wins the Battle of Midway (turning point
in war) and starts to go on offensive
• Battle of Guadalcanal- Marines win key
victory and start the process of Island hopping
towards mainland Japan
• Difficult battles such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa,
Marines take and inflict huge losses but move
towards mainland of Japan (Island Hopping)
Pacific cont.
• President Truman (took over after FDR died)
decides to use atomic bombs on Japan, to
save lives that would be lost in a land invasion.
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings cause
massive destruction/death and finally Japan
surrenders (VJ Day Aug.15 1945)
The Manhattan Project:
Los Alamos,
NM
Major General
Lesley R. Groves
Dr. Robert
Oppenheimer
I am become
death,
the shatterer
of worlds!
Tinian Island, 1945
Little Boy
Fat Man
Enola Gay Crew
Col. Paul Tibbets & the A-Bomb
Hiroshima – August 6, 1945
©
©
©
70,000 killed
immediately.
48,000 buildings.
destroyed.
100,000s died of
radiation poisoning &
cancer later.
The Beginning of the
Atomic Age
Nagasaki – August 9, 1945
© 40,000 killed
immediately.
© 60,000 injured.
© 100,000s died of
radiation poisoning
& cancer later.
Japanese A-Bomb Survivors
Hiroshima Memorials
V-J Day (September 2, 1945)
Japanese POWs, Guam
V-J Day in Times Square, NYC