World War II began on September 1, 1939 When Nazi Germany lead by Adolph Hitler invaded Poland 4EAGermany Invades Poland-France and Britain Declares War - YouTube Allies- Great Britain, France, and Russia and later the United States Axis Powers- Germany, Italy, and Japan Russia would begin the war on the side of the Axis Powers After conquering Poland Germany attacked Belgium, Holland, and France and by the end of 1940 controlled all of mainland Europe dWwio8http:// dWwio8 Belgium and Holland invaded pf0chttp:// pf0c France invaded

The United States entered World War II December 8, 1941 This happened after Japan bombed pearl harbor on December 7, kEhttp:// kE Declaration of War SpeechDeclaration The U.S. also declared war on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941

On June 6, 1944 the Allies lead by the U.S. invaded Normandy, France in the first effort to take back Europe Pictures from Normandy This attack was planned and lead by ally general and Texan Dwight D. Eisenhower iY Eisenhower’s speech This attack was the beginning of the allies starting to win the war After D-day Germany would have no more major military victories OQ D-day newsreel

The Soviet Union, United States, and Great Britain slowly pushed toward Germany in order to capture Berlin In April of 1945 allied forces had entered Germany In May of 1945, with Hitler dead, Germany would be forced to surrender Y Churchill announces surrender Q7o The War is Over k Russian celebration parade

On June 4-7, 1942 just six months after Pearl Harbor the U.S. won its first major battle in the Pacific capturing Midway Island This is considered to be the turning point in the Pacific during World War II WMw Battle of Midway By March of 1945 the U.S. controlled the Pacific except the mainland of Japan On August 6, 1945 an airplane named the Enola Gay dropped the first ever atomic bomb, Little Boy, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima AE first A-bomb On August 9, 1945 the second atom bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki These two attacks would force the Japanese emperor to surrender thus ending World War II

On August 15, 1945 the Japanese surrendered bringing an end to the 7 year world war The official surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, ZI&feature=related Truman read surrender 5WM surrender papers are signed

Over 30 Texans would receive the highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor The most decorated soldier of WWII was Audie Murphy form Farmersville, Texas who received 33 military awards for his bravery in Europe Johnnie Hutchins also received the Medal of Honor for steering a ship out of the way of an oncoming Torpedo, he died still holding onto the steering wheel African American and Texan Doris Miller manned a machine gun at Pearl Harbor and was later killed in action

3Zk Audie Murphy Interview