1. Major Battles of WWII

2. Things to remember…
The Pacific & European Theaters were going on at the SAME time
Fighting was going on BEFORE the United States joined the war

3. Battle of Britain August-October 1940
-Germany sent thousands of aircraft to attack British targets
Hitler’s plan = destroy Royal Air Force (RAF) to make it possible to invade
-Germans failed
British had new technology
-radar
British air defenses = more effective than other countries’

4. -German planes began bombing British ports & cities, including London
London Blitz
September 1940
-German planes began bombing British ports & cities, including London
-Hitler attacked civilians = tried to break the will to fight; demoralize
-fires often worse than bombs
57 straight nights
people took shelter in the Underground (subway)
children evacuated to countryside/north
bombing continued, but British refused to give in
early 1941
-Hitler called off his plans to invade Britain

6. Battle of Stalingrad
On April 5, 1942, Hitler ordered his Armies to Stalingrad, Soviet forces would be completely cut off from their own oil supply.
Operation Uranus: The Red Army secretly began to mobilize one million troops, 14,000 heavy guns, 979 tanks, and 1,350 aircraft to attack the Germans

7. The German Blitzkrieg stalled in Stalingrad
German troops were prepared for Summer fighting, not the harsh Russian winters
The Germans lost 147,000 men and 91,000 were taken prisoner.
The Red Army lost 500,000 men in the battle.
Stalingrad was the first battle where the German Army surrendered (Feb., 1943)

9. Battle of Midway June 1942 Most important navel battle of the Pacific
Turning Point in the War: Major Victory for US American Intelligence broke Japanese military codes,
planned sneak attack against Japanese battle plan of Midway Atoll.
First Allied Victory

11. Battle of Guadalcanal August 1942 – February 1943
1st Offensive Victory of the Allies
1st territory taken from the Japanese
part of the Allied strategic plan to protect the convoy routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand
Allies move from being defensive to being offensive in taking islands from Japan

13. D-Day
D-Day does not stand for Doomsday, it was a code word for the specific operation
June 6, 1944: 5,000 ships and landing-crafts carried 5 Allied divisions to the French coast
The landings took place along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
At the first 48 hours, over 160,000 men landed
Airborne & amphibious assault
Decoy operations to distract German Forces

16. Battle of the Bulge
December, 1944: Was the last major offensive by the German Army.
Battle was primarily Ground infantry, Armored vehicles and planes.
Goal was to split British & American lines in half
Allies caught by surprise
Allies won with reinforcements & air attacks

18. Over a million men: 500,000 Germans, 600,000 Americans and 55,000 British.
100,000 German casualties, killed, wounded or captured.
81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed.
1,400 British casualties 200 killed tanks lost on each side, 1,000 German aircraft.
Largest & bloodiest battle for most of the soldiers in WWII

19. Battle of Iwo Jima February 1945 – March 1945
Great tactical importance - two airfields on the island
‘softened up’ by bombing raids for more than two months before the actual amphibious assault (actually hurt the allies in the long run)
The bulk of the amphibious attack was done by Marines (2,400 casualties on the 1st day)
Very difficult to take control of because Japanese would not surrender & jungle fighting
Finally ended after one month of fighting

22. Battle of Okinawa April – June 1945
Largest amphibious assault in Pacific
Plan was to use Okinawa as base of operations when invading Japanese mainland
Kamikaze suicide attacks
Highest number of casualties of any WWII engagement
Many civilians killed, wounded or committed suicide
Allied victory

25. The Pacific Theater

26. European Theater