Transcript WWII Battles

Battles of World War
II
European and Pacific Fronts
War in Europe
 #1. El Alamein
 #2. Casablanca
 #3. Stalingrad
 #4. Sicily / Italian campaign
 #5. D-day / Invasion of Normandy
 #6. Battle of the Bulge
 #7. Elbe River
#1. El Alamein
 Date: Nov. 1942
 Location: North Africa – Egypt, near the Suez
Canal.
 Details: British General Montgomery defeated
the German tank specialist Erwin “Desert Fox”
Rommel and pushed the Nazi army westward.
This battle allowed the Allies to keep control of
the Suez canal and dictate the flow of ships into
the Mediterranean Sea.
#1. El Alamein
British General
Montgomery
Nazi tank commander
Erwin “Desert Fox” Rommel
#2. Casablanca
 Date: Nov. 1942
 Location: North Africa – Morocco
 Details: Part of Operation Torch; this battle
placed the best United States tank general,
George Patton on the ground in North Africa. His
tank forces began to push Nazi troops/tanks
eastward back toward Tunisia. This action along
with British General Montgomery push from the
Suez canal liberated North Africa from the Nazis.
#2. Casablanca
U.S. Tank General George
Patton
Operation Torch
#3. Stalingrad
 Date: August 1942 – Feb. 1943
 Location: Russia
 Details: Major battle of World War II in which Nazi
Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for
control of the city of Stalingrad. Marked by
constant hand to hand fighting and disregard for
civilian casualties, it is among the bloodiest
battles of the war. And it is the turning point in
the war for the Soviet Union.
#4. Sicily / Italian Invasion
 Date: July 1943.
 Location: Sicily & Italy
 Details: Patton invaded Sicily. Took the island in
30 days and moved onto mainland Italy. Italy
removed Mussolini from power, yet Nazi forces
evacuated him to northern Italy. Allies progress
slowed due to Nazi reinforcement. Slow, fierce
fighting until May 1944.
#5. D-day / Invasion of
Normandy
 Date: June 6, 1944 (know this date)
 Location: France
 Details: Called Operation Overlord, designed by
Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D.
Eisenhower. It was the largest amphibious land
attack in history. Launched from G.B. 150,000
troops crossed the English Channel and landed
on the beaches in Normandy, France. Fierce
fighting to liberate France, and get them back
on the Allies side in the war.
#6. Battle of the
Bulge
Date: December 1944
Location: Belgium & Luxembourg
Details: Germany launched a
“final push” towards France. This
counterattack pushed back
Allied forces, but reinforcements
sent to the battle stopped the
German advance. It was the
largest battle in Western Europe
during WWII. After, Nazi leaders
recognized the war was lost.
#7. Elbe River
 Date: April 25, 1945
 Location: Germany
 Details: Soviet troops moving
from the east met with
American troops moving from
the west. This event
symbolized the liberation of
all of Europe from Nazi
control.
 April 30, 1945 – Hitler commits
suicide.
 May 8, 1945 – German
surrender (V-E Day)
Pacific Front
1941-1945
War in the Pacific
 #1. Coral Sea
 #2. Midway Island
 #3. Leyte Gulf
 #4. Iwo Jima
 #5. Okinawa
 #6. Hiroshima
 #7. Nagisaki
#1. Coral Sea
 Date: May 1942
 American navy engaged superior Japanese fleet
north of Australia.
 5 day battle – cost both sides over half their
planes
 Battle was a draw – but it stopped Japanese
expansion into Australia.
#2. Midway Island
 Date: June 1942
 Fought entirely from the air (same as Coral
Sea)
 U.S. sunk 4 Japanese carriers; destroyed 250
planes and killed skilled Japanese pilots.
Devastating blow to Japanese navy.
 U.S. broke Japanese codes before attack to
aid in the victory.
 Stopped Japanese expansion toward Hawaii.
#2. Battle of Midway
#3. Leyte Gulf
 Date: October 1944
 Part of U.S. “island hopping” campaign
 Greatest naval battle of World War II
 Japanese first used kamikazes (suicide planes)
 U.S. will liberate the Philippines
#4. Iwo Jima
 Date: February 1945
 Heavy casualties: 4,600 U.S. ;
20,000 Japanese
 U.S. used the island as a
base from which to bomb
Japanese cities ( 650 miles
from Tokyo)
 Mount Suribachi – Pulitzer
Prize photo that inspired the
Iwo Jima Memorial in D.C.
#5. Okinawa
 Date: April 1945
 Last and largest amphibious operation in the
Pacific.
 Bloodiest and most sustained fighting of the war.
 350 miles from Japan, U.S. hoped to stage an
attack on mainland Japan from this location.
Death of a President
April 1945
Manhattan Project
U.S. Army began atomic bomb project in 1942.
Headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer.
First bomb was successfully tested in July 1945 in New Mexico
#6. Hiroshima
 August 6, 1945
 B-52 Bomber, Enola Gay
dropped an atomic
bomb on Hiroshima,
Japan
 Order was given by Harry S.
Truman
 Bomb was codenamed Little Boy
 Within the first two to four months
of the bombings, the acute
effects killed 90,000–166,000
people in Hiroshima.
#7. Nagasaki
 August 9,1945
 B-29 Bomber, Bockscar
dropped atomic
bomb, Fat Man.
 Within the first two to four
months of the bombings,
the acute effects killed
60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki.
 This bomb forced the
Japanese to surrender.
Victory in Japan
Official surrender took place on the
USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.