Transcript Major Battles of World War II

Major Battles of World War II
The Battle of Britain
• Summer-Fall 1940
• Britain vs. Germany
• Germany blitzkrieglightning war
* Significance: Use of
radar helps British
hold off Germans
The Battle of The Atlantic
• January 1939-1943
• Atlantic Ocean off the
British coast
• Germans sank 87 US
supply ships
• Tonnage War: British
required more than a
million tons of food &
material per week to
survive.
• Significance: British use
sonar to defeat Germans
Pearl Harbor
• December 7, 1941
• Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• US vs. Japan
• 2500 Americans killed
Significance: U.S. declares
war on Japan – Dec. 8th
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping
giant…”
- Admiral Yamamoto (Pearl Harbor)
The Battle of Stalingrad
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July 1942 –Feb. 1943
Stalingrad, Russia
Russia vs. Germany
Germans break NonAggression Pact
• Casualties: 1.5 million
• One of the turning
points of WWII
• Significance: German
defeat allows Russians
to move toward Berlin
The Battle of Coral Sea
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May 1942
South Pacific
U.S. vs. Japan
First Japanese air
defeat
• Significance:
Prevented
Japanese takeover
of Australia
The Battle of Midway
• June 1942
• Midway Island,
Pacific
• U.S. vs. Japan
• Air/Sea Battle
• Significance: Turning
point in the Pacific
Island Hopping to
Japan is U.S.
strategy
Midway Atoll, several months
before the battle. Eastern
Island (with the airfield) is in
the foreground, and the
larger Sand Island is in the
background to the west.
The Battle of Guadalcanal
• Aug. 7th, 1942 –
Feb. 9th, 1943
• Operation
Watchtower
• Solomon Islands,
Pacific
• Significance:
protect convoy
routes be/ U.S. &
Australia
Operation Torch
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November 1942- June 1943
North Africa: Morocco/Algeria
Supreme Commander: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower
German retreat to Tunisia
Allies invade Sicily
Significance: Italy surrenders June 4, 1944
Allied troops hit the beaches near Algiers, behind a
large American flag (left).
D-Day: Operation Neptune/Overlord
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June 6, 1944
Normandy, France
Britain/U.S. vs. Germany
Largest amphibious invasion of all-time
- 130,000 troops
- 195,700 naval personnel
- 5 Sections: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno,
Sword
• Significance: Liberation of France from
German occupation
D-Day
Video Clip: Saving Private
Ryan
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
• October 1944
• U.S. vs. Japan
• Largest naval/air
battle of WWII &
History
• Organized
kamikaze attacks
• Significance: Japan
driven out of
Philippines
The Battle of the Bulge
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December 1944
French/German border
Allies vs. Germans
Officially named Battle of Ardennes by U.S.
Army
“Bulge” was initial incursion of Germans
into Allies’ line of advance
Germans defeated in land battles
19,000 Americans dead – 41,493 wounded
– 23,554 captured or missing
Significance – Death Camps liberated &
Nazis never recover from defeat
Battle of the Bulge
V-E Day
• May 7-8, 1945
• Europe
• Significance:
Unconditional
surrender of
Germany
*** Hitler committed
suicide in April
Battle of Iwo Jima –
Operation Detachment
• Feb-March 1945
• U.S. vs. Japan
• US victory: 6,000
Marines - only 200
Japanese survived out
of 20,000+
• Siginificance: U.S.
took most heavily
defended Japanese
base
Iwo Jima
U.S. Marine Corps
Memorial in Arlington
National Cemetery based
on the famous photo by
Rosenthal
U.S. flag over Mount
Suribachi
Battle of OkinawaOperation Iceberg
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June 1945 (last battle of WWII)
Okinawa, Japan
“Typhoon of Steel” in Japanese
Objective: Seize island only 340 miles
from Japan (island hopping-land,air,sea)
• Fighting in caves/bunkers
• 30 US ships sunk by kamikazes
• High casualties: 100,000 Japanese –
50,000 Allies (mostly US)
Battle of Okinawa
Hiroshima
• August 6, 1945
• U.S. drops atomic
bomb on Japan
- Little Boy
dropped by B-29
bomber Enola
Gay
- Casualties:
90,000-140,000 +
several hundred
thousand due to
radiation
Nagasaki
• August 9, 1945
• U.S. drops atomic
bomb on Japan
- Fat Man
dropped by B-29
bomber
- Casualties:
73, 884 + several
hundred thousand
due to radiation
Mushroom cloud from the
nuclear explosion over Nagasaki
rising 60,000 feet into the air on
the morning of August 9, 1945
V-J Day
• August 15, 1945:
Official end of WWII
- Emperor Hirohito
accepted terms of
Potsdam Declaration
• Formal signing took
place @ Tokyo Bay
on battleship USS
Missouri on
September 2, 1945