Chapter 25, Section 2
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Transcript Chapter 25, Section 2
The Battle of the Bulge
By 1944, Americans liberated Paris, Brussels, and Holland
Americans cross into Germany
At first Americans are pushed back, but the General
Patton moves his entire army of 250,000 soldiers from
Western France
One of the largest battle in Western Europe
Nazis now realized the war was lost for them
Bombing of Dresden
February 1945 – British and American bombers
attacked the city of Dresden in Germany
25,000 people killed, many civilian refugees
displaced by the Soviet advance
Many critics claim that the bombing was
unnecessary since civilians were the target
Others claim it was necessary because Dresden had
suburban factories and was a junction of major rail
and telephone lines
War Ends in Western Europe
Fighting between German and Soviet forces from 1941-1945
was the greatest conflict ever fought on a single front
13.6 million Soviets and 3 million Germans were killed –
2/3rds the total dead for WWII
Soviets want to capture Berlin, Germany’s capital
Rather than fleeing Berlin, Hitler commits suicide
Germany surrenders
V-E Day (Victory in Europe) May 8, 1945
The Yalta Conference
Before the end of the war, FDR, Churchill, and
Stalin met at Yalta in the Soviet Union to plan for a
post-war world:
Split Germany into 4 zones
Berlin would be divided
Stalin promised elections in his territories and promised to
enter the war against Japan
Pacific Battles
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
Battan Death March
Hours after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese bombed American
airbase in the Philippine Islands
US troops surrendered at Bataan Peninsula
2000 escaped to Manila Bay
About 76,000 Filipinos and Americans became
POWs
Japanese marched these POWs to a railroad
junction
At least 10,000 died during the 6-12 day march
Douglas MacArthur
Commander of Allied forces in the Pacific
Doolittle’s Raid
In spring of 1942, Allies began to fight back against
Japanese
16 bombers attacked Tokyo and other Japanese cities
Pearl-Harbor-style air raid over Japan
Did little in terms of damage, but was the morale
boost the Allies needed
Battle of Coral Sea
1st naval combat
carried out entirely
by the aircraft
Americans bombed the
enemy forces more than
70 miles away
It prevented that
Japanese from
establishing the bases
they needed to bomb
Australia
Battle of Midway
Japanese hoped to destroy
what remained of the Pacific
Fleet (what they didn’t get to
at Pearl Harbor)
Fought entirely from the air
US destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft
carriers and sunk 250 planes
This was a devastating blow to
Japanese naval power
Removed the immediate
Japanese threat to Hawaii
After this battle, there were
no more Japanese offensive
operations