World War II

The War Begins  Germany Invades Poland  To avoid the bloody, trench warfare of World War I, the Germans adopt a style of war using mechanized attacks depending on fast moving tanks, artillery, trucks, and dive-bombers. This type of warfare was called blitzkrieg, or lightning war.

Partition of Poland  Britain and France declare war on Germany, but Poland fell so fast, they could do nothing to help it.  By the end of September, Germany and the USSR divided Poland.

“Sitzkrieg” As France and Britain mobilize for war, Germany conquers Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland.

The War Expands  The French had built a defense called the Maginot Line on the border with Germany.  The Germans attack France through the Netherlands and Belgium in April 1940 bypassing the Maginot Line.

Dunkirk  338,000 Allied troops had to be evacuated from the port of Dunkirk to keep from being captured by the Germans. They were shipped to Great Britain.  June 14, 1940, Paris falls to the Germans and France surrenders. The Germans occupied the northern 2/3 of France. The southern part of France was led by Henri Petain and was called Vichy France. It was allied to Germany.

The Battle of Britain  The Germans tried to use its Luftwaffe (air force) to drive the British to surrender.  The RAF was able to force Hitler to give up his plans of invading Great Britain.  Radar aided the British defenses.  After an attack on Berlin, the Luftwaffe switched targets from air bases to cities. –This allowed the RAF to rebuild and defeat the Luftwaffe.

The Balkans, North Africa and Southeast Asia Romania, Greece, and Yugoslavia are defeated by German and Italian forces – Hitler sends General Erwin Rommel to help Italy take over North Africa – Japan takes over French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia).

The Invasion of the USSR  June 1941, Germany invades the USSR  The Germans are able to drive deep into Russian territory before being stopped 25 miles from Moscow and at Stalingrad.  In November, an early winter storm stopped the German advance. As winter progressed, the Soviets counterattacked the Germans who were not prepared for winter fighting.

Operation Barbarossa The German Invasion of The Soviet Union

The End of US Neutrality  The Lend-Lease program - “Arsenal of democracy”  US ships were being sunk by German U-boats.  December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 300 Japanese planes make a surprise attack on American bases. “A date which shall live in infamy.”  Congress declares war on Japan. Germany declares war on the US.  Japan defeats the US forces in the Philippines –Bataan Death March

Photo Courtesy of Courtesy of Photo from the movie “Pearl Harbor”

Major Allied and Axis Powers AlliesAxis Great BritainGermany FranceItaly USSRJapan United States China

The Big Four meet to discuss strategy. “Germany First”  US – Franklin D. Roosevelt  USSR – Joseph Stalin  Great Britain – Winston Churchill  China – Chiang Kai-shek  China would be mostly overrun by Japan, so for the rest of the war, the “Big Three” met.

Turning Points in the War  North Africa – El Alamein, Egypt. Aug. 31,  British General Bernard Montgomery (Monty) defeats German General Erwin Rommel’s (“The Desert Fox”) Afrika Korps depriving Germany of the oil in the Middle East.

El Alamein

Turning Points in the War  The Eastern Front – Stalingrad, USSR. Jan. 31,  Soviet Gen. Georgy Zhukov defeats German Friedrich Paulus. Paulus wanted to retreat to avoid the disastrous defeat, but Hitler would not allow the retreat.

Turning Points in the War The Pacific – Coral Sea and Midway.  Coral Sea – May 7-8, American aircraft carriers fight Japanese in the first naval battle in history that opposing ships never saw each other. The battle kept the Japanese from invading Australia and was Japan’s first defeat in the war.  Midway – June 4, U.S. intelligence had cracked the Japanese code. The U.S. set a trap for the Japanese Navy. It almost backfired, but the battle ended up giving the U.S. Naval superiority in the Pacific.

Winning the War  British and American forces defeat the Axis in North Africa then invade Italy, the “Soft Under-belly of Europe”  “Island-hopping” – US forces drive back the Japanese in bloody island fighting. US Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester Nimitz  The USSR pushes back the Germans from the east.

Winning the War  D-Day – June 6, American and British forces under Allied Commander U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower invade Normandy in northern France against Rommel’s “Atlantic Wall” and drive into Germany.

D Day: The Invasion of Normandy

Winning the War  The Germans make a desperate counter attack at the Battle of the Bulge, Dec , but allied forces were able to fight back. The battle did stop the allied advance until February.  Germany surrenders May 7, 1945.

Battle of the Bulge: Bastogne

Defeating Japan The Battle of Leyte Gulf – Largest sea-air battle in history. US planes destroy most of Japan's fleet, US is able to retake the Philippines. Iwo Jima and Okinawa – US destroys Japanese air bases and can bomb Japan Mount Suribachi

Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima

The End of the War  Near the end of the war, the Japanese use kamikaze pilots to try to stop the American advance toward Japan.  Japan surrenders September 2, 1945 after atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hiroshima after the bomb

Thomas Ferebee Thomas Wilson Ferebee was born in Mocksville, NC, as the third of eleven children. In 1935, at age 17, he attended Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC. After training for a small position with the Boston Red Sox and not making the team, he joined the Army. A knee injury kept him from service in the infantry but he was accepted into flight training. - Wikipedia Bombardier Thomas Ferebee with the Norden Bombsight on Tinian after the dropping of Little Boy.

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