TIME LINE OF EVENTS AND KEY BATTLES OF WW II

DUNKIRK: THE FALL OF FRANCE.  The advancing German Army trapped the British and French armies on the beaches around Dunkirk. 330,000 men were trapped here and they were a sitting target for the Germans. A flotilla of small boats was used and all of the soldiers were successfully evacuated to England.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN  In August of 1940 Hitler ordered Luftwaffe to begin bombing British cities in the hope of crushing British morale. But Winston Churchill, the new prime minister, refused to give in. “We shall fight on the beaches, he vowed. “We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall never surrender.” Using the new technology of radar, the RAF was able to detect and destroy some 2300 of German aircraft. Hitler canceled the invasion.

AMERICA’S RESPONSE TO W.W.II The United States went from isolationism, turning a blind eye to neutrality, not supplying warring countries with military aid to Lend-Lease Act which allowed the United States to lend or lease supplies to Britain and other nations fighting the Nazis. Convoys soon began moving across the Atlantic.

PEARL HARBOR  Japan was also quickly building an empire. After conquering much of China in the 1930s, Japanese forces moved into Southeast Asia. Japanese military leaders planned a large-scale attack to destroy the U.S. naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.  At 7:55 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

UNITED STATES RESPONSE TO PEARL HARBOR  In just a few hours, the Japanese sank or damaged all of the battleships anchored at Pearl Harbor. More than 2400 Americans were killed. Almost 200 airplanes were destroyed.  President Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy [disgrace].”  Congress voted to declare war on Japan. Germany then declared war on the United States. Less than 25 years after entering World War I, the United States joined the Allies in another global war.

WAS JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR SUCCESSFUL ?

KEY BATTLES  Battle of Stalingrad: by 1942, Axis armies had driven deep into Soviet territory. German forces hope to take over the key industrial city of Stalingrad.. Joseph Stalin was determined to hold on to Stalingrad at all costs. His tenancies paid off, but at a high price. Germans began to run out of supplies, and not used to Russia’s harsh winters thousands of of Germans froze or starved to death. In January 1943 the German commander at Stalingrad defied Hitler and surrendered to save his remaining troops. The Battle of Stalingrad became the turning point of the war.

D – DAY INVASION  In 1944, Allied forces were ready to undertake the invasion of France. Under the command of General Eisenhower, the Allies carefully planned the landing.  On June 6, 1944-known as D-Day-more than 155,000 American, British, and Canadian troops crossed the English Channel. They landed on five beaches at Normandy, in western France. Troops at four of the beaches quickly overcame German opposition.

BATTLE OF THE BULGE  Allied forces pushed eastward, but on December16, 1944, Germans counterattacked in Belgium. Hitler poured his remaining reserves into the attack. Bad weather grounded Allied Aircraft for the week of the battle. The allowed German troops to create a “BULGE” in the American lines.  Fighting in Northern Europe’s coldest winter in 40 years, American forces won the Battle of the Bulge.

FDR DIES President Roosevelt dies of a stroke April 12, 1945 His Vice President, Harry Truman, becomes president and faces many difficult decisions as the war in the Pacific rages on.

V-E DAY: VICTORY IN EUROPE – MAY 8TH, 1945 When Germany surrendered to the Allies, officially ending the war in Europe, wild celebrations took place all over the world – but Americans still had another war to fight – in the Pacific Theatre, against Japan. Many predicted a long war.

WAR IN THE PACIFIC 6 thousand causalities at Iwo Jima, 12 thousand causalities at Okinawa.

MT. SURIBACHI ON THE ISLAND OF IWO JIMA

ENDING THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC Two Plans: 1.Plan one, invade Japan. They estimated that the invasion could result in more than 1 million death. 2.Plan two, use a new weapon, atomic bomb. 3.The decision was a difficult one for President Truman to make. One could cause greater casualties for American Soldiers, and the other would bring enormous devastation to Japan.

VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC  Truman dropped the bombs