Transcript Major Battles/Events of WWII

MAJOR BATTLES/EVENTS OF WWII
BATTLE/EVENT ORDER
• Escape from Dunkirk: May 1940
• Battle of Britain: July-September 1940
• Battle of Wake Island: December 1941
• Battle of Coral Sea: May 1942
• Battle of Midway: June 1942
BATTLES CONTINUED…
• Battle of Guadalcanal: August 1942- February 1943
• Battle of Stalingrad: September 1942-1943
• D-Day: June 6, 1944
• Battle of the Bulge: December/January 1944/45
• Dresden Bombing : February 1945
• Iwo Jima: February/March 1945
• Battle of Okinawa: April-June 1945
ESCAPE FROM DUNKIRK (MAY-JUNE 1940)
• Operation Dynamo
• Constantly bombed by the German Air force
• Desperate attempt to rescue equipment and personnel
before Hitler took all of France.
• Used every type of boat possible from military to fishing
to evacuate
• Significance: Rescued ~340,000 soldiers, the majority
being from the French military (also included Belgian
soldiers and British Expeditionary Forces, saved the
allied war effort (BEF)
BATTLE OF BRITAIN (JULY-SEPTEMBER 1940)
•
German attempt to control the English Channel and send an
invasion force into England
•
Germans had superior numbers, British had better equipment,
primarily RADAR, which they used to detect oncoming
German attacks
•
British fighter planes destroyed the German bombers and
without them, the Germans could not destroy key targets
(RADAR stations/airbases)
•
Significance: Turned Hitler away and he was never a
serious threat to England for the duration of the war
BATTLE OF WAKE ISLAND (DECEMBER 8-23,
1941)
•
U.S. territory that Japanese wanted to take for strategic
reasons
•
U.S. military base was not fully constructed when the
Japanese arrived
•
Fought and repelled the Japanese numerous times losing all
of the fighter aircraft in the process
•
Marines finally forced to surrender. Japanese held the island
for the remainder of the war
•
Significance: Despite the loss, proved Americans could
withstand the might of the Japanese military
BATTLE OF CORAL SEA (MAY 7-8 1942)
•
Using recently learned intelligence, the U.S. fleet sailed to
meet the Japanese and stop them from invading Port Moresby
•
Despite superior numbers, the Japanese were held to a
standstill
•
While not technically a victory for the United States (due to
ships sunk) it was seen as one because the Japanese invasion
was stopped for the first time
•
Significance: This battle combined with Midway turned
the tide in the Pacific from Japanese to American control
BATTLE OF MIDWAY (JUNE 4-7, 1942)
•
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto launched an attack on Midway
Island in an attempt to draw the U.S. fleet into the open to
be destroyed and return air/sea superiority to the Japanese
•
American intelligence thwarted the Japanese plans by
getting American carriers to Midway before the Japanese
•
Japanese lost their superiority when the Americans sank four
of their carriers, to three American carriers sunk
•
Significance: U.S and Japanese fleets equal from this
point onwards, a major turning point for the United
States in the Pacific theater
BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL (JULY 1942)
•
Operation Watchtower- American plan to invade Guadalcanal
as well as the nearby islands.
•
Guadalcanal was the last line of defense before the Japanese
were able to attack Australia
•
Marines stormed the island, but Japanese dug in and refused
to surrender
•
Japanese lost 25,000 men to the American 1,500
•
Significance: Allowed Americans to go on the offensive for
the first time
BATTLE OF STALINGRAD (SEPTEMBER 1942FEBRUARY 1943)
• Hitler decided that the city needed to be attacked and sent
his troops in to take it
• Stalin decided that it had to be saved and set the bulk of
his military up defending it
• Germans were initially successful, but unable to fully
capture the city
• Russians counterattacked and eventually trapped the
Germans and stopped them from retreating
STALINGRAD CONTINUED…
• Germans were forced to endure the winter with
little to no supplies. Eventually the German
commanders realized that it was impossible to
fight on and both major commanders
surrendered
• Significance: Very significant because it
ended the German offensive in Europe and
ensured the Germans did not have an
adequate defensive force to stop the Russians
once they went on the offensive
D-DAY (JUNE 6, 1944)
• Operation Overlord: Plan to invade Europe
• More than 160,000 men landed on the beaches of
Normandy, France.
• Used more than 13,000 aircraft and 5,000 ships
•
http://www.army.mil/d-day/
• More than 9,000 Americans killed in the invasion
• Significance: Gave the Allied Forces the foothold in
Europe they needed to eventually defeat Hitler
BATTLE OF THE BULGE (DECEMBER1944 –
JANUARY 1945)
• 200,000 German troops and 1,000 tanks attacked the
American lines in the Ardennes forest to break through
• His goals: Split the allies in two and capture badly needed
supplies, mainly gas and oil
• 600,000 Americans fought and managed to stop the
German offensive once and for all
Significance: Last major German offensive
DRESDEN BOMBING (FEBRUARY 1945)
• Combined allied bombing effort that killed between
35,000 and 135,000 people
• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/bombing_of_dresden.htm
• Created a massive firestorm that killed additional people
• Public outrage occurred because it was a city full of
refugees and other civilians. There were no formal
military targets there that anyone is aware of
• Significance: Bombing is thought to have been a
warning to Stalin and warn him what the allies were
capable of in case he decided to extend the Russian
borders
IWO JIMA (FEBRUARY-MARCH 1945)
• Site of “Flag Raising,” which inspired the Marines on
the island as well as Americans everywhere who had
doubted the cause
• Island became an emergency landing area for B-29
bombers that were damaged
• Significance: Strategically necessary to provide an
appropriate base of operations needed to bomb and
eventually invade Japan
OKINAWA (FEBRUARY 1945 – JUNE 1945)
• Necessary to take to allow bombers with shorter distance
capabilities a secure landing/refueling/rearming site
• One of the bloodiest battles in World War II due to more
than 250,000 soldiers and civilians being killed on the
Japanese side alone.
• Significance: Demonstrated the fighting will of the
Japanese and made American commanders realize
that to invade Japan would incur an enormous loss of
life. That realization led to the first and only atomic
bombs ever to be used for military purposes in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.