WWII: Battlefronts 1939-1945

1
WWII Battlefronts 1939-1945

• Two Theaters Europe and Pacific

2
Strategies

• Allies unified in their goalsget Hitler in
  Europe and then turn to the Pacific
• Had General George Patton controlling efforts in
  Africa
• Allies attacked Italy, overthrew Mussolini and
  removed Hitlers helpnew govt declared war on
  Germany
• Russia wanted Allies to set up western front in
  France so Germany was fighting a two-front war

• Axis Germany, Italy and Japan had their own
  goals only shared common enemies
• Main goal prevent American war materials from
  getting into Europeu-boats patrol seas (wolf
  packs) but radar use will level the playing
  field

3
War in Europe Stalingrad

• Germany had attacked Russia and he wanted
  Stalingrad for the oil fields
• Hitler would not admit defeat even though his
  troops were surrounded
• Turning Point of War In Europe because it ended
  any plans Hitler had for domination

4
Operation Overlord (D-Day)

• Plan to invade German occupied France to create
  two-front war for Germany led by General Dwight
  D. Eisenhower
• D-Day when Allies hit Germany on the beaches of
  Normandy
• Now Germany fought a hopeless two front war with
  Allies closing in on Germany

5
Battle of the Bulge

• Germanys counterattack to D-Day
• An attempt to separate British and American
  troops that only pushed Hitler further back into
  Germanydefeat would come soon
• Ends war in Europe
• V-E (Victory in Europe) Day
• Hitler commits suicide on April 30, 1945
• 7 days later Germany surrender on May 7th

6
War in Pacific Midway

• Japan was trying to conquer all of Asiaturned
  its sights to the American naval base at Midway
• American Admiral Chester Nimitz knew of these
  plans and dealt them the most decisive defeat of
  the warturning point of war in the Pacific
  because it ended the Japanese advance

7
Island Hopping

• Americans captured some Japanese-held islands and
  ignored others in a steady path to Japan
• Deadly process when Japanese kamikazes
  deliberately crash their planes into American
  ships

8
Iwo Jima

• 36 day campaign in the process of island hopping
  to obtain the 5 mile island of Iwo Jima
• US Marines plant the American flag on Japanese
  territory symbolic of American successes and
  later victory over Japan

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The Atomic Bomb Ends the War

• Albert Einstein split atoms and it created large
  amounts of energyFDR creates the Manhattan
  Project (but bombs are tested in Arizona) to
  develop the atomic bomb for military use
• led by J. Robert Oppenheimer not realizing its
  potential and future impact on war would be so
  devastating

10
V-J Day

• President Harry Truman ordered for two atomic
  bombs to be dropped on the Japanese cities of
  Nagasaki and Hiroshima
• Emperor Hirohito surrendered and Americans
  celebrated V-J (Victory in Japan) Day
• WWII was over
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hi
  roshima_and_NagasakiAnnouncement_of_the_bombing_i
  n_audio

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Holocaust

• The Nazis attempt to kill all Jews (genocide)
• Hitlers Final Solution to the Jewish problem was
  to exterminate all Jews
• 6 million total
• Concentration/death camps warehoused Jews until
  extermination
• After war, America helps liberate (free)
  remaining Jews