1. Topic 3: World War II Battles and Strategies
Europe & north africa
Pacific islands

2. Sides and Strategies
The Allies: Britain, Soviet Union (USSR), & the US
The Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, & Japan - All Totalitarian regimes

4. Strategies: Europe
The Allies’ Strategy in Europe - Defeat Hitler First - Most of the resources were put into Europe
Germany’s Strategy in Europe: Defeat the USSR quickly and defeat Britain using bombs and U-boats before the US can enter the war. (Germany easily beat France in 1939)

5. Strategies: Pacific
The US Strategy in the Pacific - Island hopping - Attacking islands close to Japan and jumping over fortified islands and cutting off their supply lines.
Japan’s Strategy: After Pearl Harbor, Japan hopes to conquer Southeast Asia and the Pacific quickly
Japan's War in the Pacific (39:00-49)

7. Turning Points: Battles
A) El Alamein (Egypt) Germany was poised to take Egypt and the Suez Canal which would have given them access to the oil fields in the Middle East and even attack the USSR from the South, but the British defeat them in a desert battle (Operation Torch).

9. B) Stalingrad (August 1942 – February 1943)
B) Stalingrad (August 1942 – February 1943). Germany wanted to seize Russian oil fields and capture Stalingrad. They are stopped by the brutal winter. German troops surrender to the Soviet Union due to starvation and cold. It was the turning point in the Eastern Front.

12. Turning point of the war in the Pacific
June 1942
Japan targeted Midway Island to get the whole US fleet in one place and destroy them.
The smaller US fleet attacked Japanese aircraft carriers and was successful
Turning point of the war in the Pacific
Battle of Midway

13. D) Normandy, France (D-Day June 6th 1944) - The Allies land in German-occupied France. There are heavy causalities for the US and its Allies, but the liberation of Western Europe begins
vid clip
beach landing

15. 1944 – 6/6 – attack on the coast of Normandy15

17. 17

18. Allied soldiers push into Paris and free France
Soviet army closes in on Germany from the east
US & British forces advance from the west

19. American soldiers toast to victory in Paris.

20. The Battle of berlin begins in April 1945
Hitler commits suicide that month
Germany surrenders in May

21. Battles of Iwo Jima & Okinawa

22. E) Iwo Jima & Okinawa (1945) - Though the Island Hopping victories are costly, American troops get closer to Japan – The Japanese soldiers fight heroically and many commit suicide rather than surrender

24. Dropping the atomic bomb would be the quickest end to war
F) The atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki (1945) -President Truman is told that an invasion of Japan might cost a million lives.
Dropping the atomic bomb would be the quickest end to war
Dropped on 2 Japanese cities: Hiroshima & Nagasaki
About 140,000 Japanese civilians are killed in the blasts. More die from radiation later
Japanese leaders surrender to the US.

26. Nagasaki:
Before
and
After
the Bomb
Panoramic