Transcript Major Battles of World War Two

Major Battles
of WWII
Mr. Blais
America in the World
• This Soviet city became a
KEY battleground of the war
in Europe because it controlled
access to the Volga River and
the oil rich Caucasus region in
the south.
• The Soviets and Germans
fought here from the summer
of 1942 through February 1943
• The longer the fight went on
the more intense it became.
Both sides fought hand to hand
and house to house in an
attempt to take the city (Utterly
destroying the city in the
process)
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
• With the help of the winter chill
the Soviets managed to halt the
German advance and a strategic
counterattack allowed them to
capture much of the freezing
German army
• This Soviet victory came at a high
cost for both sides.
• Soviets had 1.2 Million casualties
with almost 500,000 dead
• The Germans had 800,000
casualties including almost
100,000 POWs
• Stalingrad was destroyed BUT for
the first time in over four years
the German army had been
defeated in battle
• From this point forward Germany
would continue to lose territory to
the Allies
Battle of Normandy (D-Day)
• D-Day took place on June
6, 1944 and it would take
two more months to capture
all of Normandy
• D-Day was the largest
amphibious landing in
history. It included:
• 5,000 ships
• 1,000 planes
• 100,000 troops
• This entire effort was
designed to give the Allies a
foothold in Western Europe,
something they hadn’t had
in over four years
Battle of Normandy (D-Day)
• Stubborn German resistance
made this fight extremely
difficult.
• Allies had over 10,000
casualties on the first day,
Germans lost around 5,000.
• Loses would reach into the
hundreds of thousands over
the next two months.
• With the Allied victory at
Normandy the Germans
were now forced to fight on
two fronts, which would
lead to their collapse in less
than a year.
Battle of the Bulge
• By the end of 1944 the Allies
had pushed the Germans all the
way back to their own western
border.
• As winter set in Germany
prepared for one last all out
offensive in hopes of forcing
the Allies to settle for peace.
• On December 16, 1944
200,000 German soldiers and
1,000 German tanks attacked
the Allied front in the border
region between Belgium,
Germany, and Luxembourg
• Initially this surprise attack
was an overwhelming success.
Battle of the Bulge
• Within seven days the
Germans had split the
American and British
Armies, plus they had
created a 70 mile wide and
50 miles deep bulge in the
Allied line.
• Luckily for the Allies the
101st Airborne Division
stubbornly held on to the
key city of Bastogne,
keeping its important
crossroads out of German
hands and effectively
slowing the entire German
advance.
Battle of the Bulge
• With help from another American
Army to the south the Allies stopped
the German advance and over the
next month retook all the land the
Germans had taken from them.
• Over this month of fighting the
Germans had suffered almost
100,000 casualties and the Allies
had suffered almost 80,000.
• But by January 25, 1945 the Allies
were right back where they had
started over a month earlier.
• This battle effectively marked the
end of Germany.
• Most of their 1,000 tanks were
destroyed, they lost over half of
their effective fighting force and
within four months the entire war in
Europe was over! [5/8/45 V-E Day]
Battle of Midway
• After the attack on Pearl Harbor
the Japanese had clear control
over the western Pacific Ocean
• On June 4, 1942 they attacked
Midway Island in the Central
Pacific
• This island was crucial to the
Japanese because of its
proximity to Hawaii (only 1,000
miles away), it would help end
American influence in the
Central Pacific, and it would be
an opportunity to take out the
few aircraft carriers America
had in the Pacific
• Japan sent over 75 naval
vessels, including 4 aircraft Battle
carriers, to attack and take
Midway Island.
• Unfortunately for the Japanese,
the American naval force
(About 50 ships, including 3
aircraft carriers) had discovered
the Japanese plan to attack
Midway and was lying in wait
just north of the Island.
• Once the Japanese launched
their planes to attack Midway,
the American carriers set their
trap in motion and launched
their planes against the
unsuspecting Japanese carrier
force.
of Midway
Battle of
• The Japanese carriers, caught
Midway by surprise, were all severely
damaged in the ensuing battle.
• By the end of the battle
America successfully
defended Midway island,
sank all four Japanese
carriers, and only lost one
carrier of their own
[Yorktown]
• This was crucial to the war
effort because only six
months after Pearl Harbor the
Americans dealt the Japanese
a crushing naval defeat, which
helped lessen the strength of
Battle of Guadalcanal
• From the summer of 1942
through February of 1943
American and Japanese forces
fought of the island of
Guadalcanal in the south
Pacific
• The Japanese wanted the
island as an air base that they
could use for their future
invasion of Australia
• The U.S. needed this island to
protect Australia (One of their
only allies in the Pacific) and
to keep trade routes between
Australia and the U.S. open
Battle of Guadalcanal
• For months land forces fought on
the island while naval battles
ensued off the coast as each side
tried to reinforce and supply their
troops on the island.
• American forces on the island
slowly gained the upper hand and
forced the Japanese to leave the
island by the beginning of 1943.
• This marked the first time in the
war that America had defeated
the Japanese on land and
officially marked the beginning
of Japanese decline as they
would continue to lose land to
American forces for the rest of
the war.
Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• These were the last two
battles of the Pacific War.
• Both of these islands were
part of the Japanese home
islands and the only two
home islands America
would ever take.
• Because this was Japanese
soil, the defenders made
these islands as
impenetrable as possible.
• These islands would cost
the Americans dearly
Battle of Iwo Jima
• The Marines landed on Iwo Jima
(an 8 square mile island) in
February of 1945 and it took them
more than a month to conquer the
island.
• The Japanese jammed 22,000
defenders on to the island and they
were heavily dug in.
• All the Japanese defenders died on
that island except for 200 that
were taken prisoner.
• The Japanese caused over 25,000
American casualties in just over a
month and clearly demonstrated
that they would rather die than
surrender
Battle of Okinawa
• The Battle of Okinawa was
fought from April to June of
1945.
• The Japanese jammed almost
115,000 defenders on to this
island and over 100,000
would die on the island.
• The airfields taken on
Okinawa (and Iwo Jima)
would be crucial on later
bombing raids of Japan
V-J Day
• The lessons learned on Iwo
Jima and Okinawa, that the
Japanese would rather die than
surrender, led our government
to drop two Atomic Bombs on
Japan in hopes of ending the
war.
• The first one was dropped on
8/6/45 on the city of Hiroshima
• The second was dropped three
days later on Nagasaki
• The Japanese finally signed
their official surrender on
9/2/45 [V-J Day]
• WWII was now OVER!