World War II Summaryhttp://library.thinkquest.org/10927/sumww2.htmThe Second World War was the most deadly, destructive and consequential war in history. Seventeen million military personnel died in the war. Civilian deaths in the Soviet Union and China alone totaled 30 million.Causes of the war can be traced back to the end of World War I. Germany, Italy, and Japan suffered deep economic problems. Inflation was rampant. However, by the late 1920s, economic order was being restored. This trend reversed when the United States entered the Great Depression. The citizens of what would be the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) supported nationalistic organizations which offered hope in the face of these problems. These organizations soon gave birth to tyranny, however. Totalitarian dictatorships arose in the Soviet Union, Japan, Italy, and Germany; these were led by Josef Stalin, Emperor Hirohito, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler, respectively. These leaders seized power by promising reform through unity. Under the dictatorships, however, terror reigned. Dictators used secret police, threats, imprisonment and even executions to eliminate their opposition.Some consider the start of World War II to be Japan's invasion of Manchuria, a region in eastern China. Japan continued to demonstrate aggression, effectively conquering eastern China by 1938. Italy, meanwhile, conquered Ethiopia in 1936. Germany, in 1938, united Austria with itself. There was essentially no stopping this aggression, since the League of Nations lacked the power to enforce its treaties. (The League had been formed after World War I as an international forum for disputes.) In 1936, German and Italy allied. Japan joined in 1940, forming the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.During this time, Spain was in civil war. General Francisco Franco led the rebellious army Nationalists against Spain's government. Hitler and Mussolini supported the revolution. The Spanish Civil War divided the world into those who supported Nazism and Fascism, and those who were against it.Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain held several meetings to restore peace. They agreed that if Hitler took Czechoslovakia, he would not try to acquire more territory. Hitler defiantly broke his promise by invading Poland 11 months later, on September 1, 1939. Germany's blitzkrieg (lightning war) quickly overcame the large, but poorly equipped Polish Army. The blitzkrieg relied on speed and surprise. It was carried out flawlessly. Britain and France pledged their support for the Allied cause, but stood by while Hitler swallowed Poland. Journalists dubbed this the Phony War. German forces then conquered Denmark and Norway, seizing vital ports. Following these invasions, Chamberlain resigned. He was replaced by Winston Churchill on May 10, 1940. Germany, on the same day, created another blitzkrieg, immediately taking Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The French hoped to hold off the aggressive Germans by use of the Maginot Line, a strip of defense along the French-German border. It proved futile, however, as the Germans simply proceeded around it and into France. The blitzkrieg once again made its appearance, this time beginning on June 5. It proved effective once more. The French signed an armistice on June 22. France had fallen.In a massive air war, the Luftwaffe, the German air force, began to mount assaults on British RAF (Royal Air Force) stations. By September 1940, Germany thought it had destroyed the RAF, so it proceeded to bomb London. This series of attacks on Britain's capital was known as the Blitz. Great Britain remained great, however, and survived Germany's most destructive efforts. Germany halted its air efforts in May 1941.Meanwhile, British forces in North Africa were fighting to repel the invading Italians. Britain managed to keep Italy out of Egypt and pushed them back to Libya. In the beginning of 1941, the Afrika Korps, led by General Erwin Rommel, was sent to help the Italian forces. Rommel's crafty methods eventually earned him the famed moniker, "The Desert Fox." Britain held on. In May of 1941, Britain had regained control of northern Africa. In March and April of 1941, the Germans quickly captured Yugoslavia and Greece. When British soldiers retreated to the island of Crete, Germany orchestrated the first ever airborne invasion, dropping thousands of paratroopers who quickly took the island. These conquests were an error on Hitler's part, however. Hitler had been planning to invade the Soviet Union for some time. But, with the delays, he would now have to fight an extended, bitter winter war.Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, began on June 22, 1941. The Soviets soon suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. The invasion went well for the Germans. This lasted briefly however. Instead of taking Moscow, Hitler opted for a dual-flank approach, sending some forces north to Leningrad, and some south towards the Black Sea. Meanwhile, the harsh weather began. October rains caught the Germans in mud. In early December, as German troops began to march into Moscow, winter began. Temperatures fell to -40. The German advance stopped as abruptly as it began.Germany's battleships struggled to cut off Allied sea supply routes. But British task forces managed to destroy the bulk of Germany's battleship fleet. The largest such attack was against the German Navy's pride and joy, the Bismarck. A fleet of British warships surrounded and sank the Bismarck in May of 1941. However, the Germans still had a trick up their collective sleeve: the U-Boat. For two years, U-Boats sank every Allied supply ship they could find. But long-range torpedo bombers, warship escorts of supply ships, and the new Allied technology of sonar curbed the threat of the dreaded Unterseeboote.President Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped to win the war by supplying Allied nations with the weapons they needed, rather than sending the United States into war. The Lend-Lease Act gave 38 nations about $50 billion in U.S. aid.Japan, stuck in China, decided to cut off vital Chinese supply lines from Southeast Asia. Japan entered and controlled northern Indochina. The U.S. responded by cutting Japan's supply of American goods. Japan wanted to return to its expansion plans, so it turned on the one force that could stop it: the United States Navy. On December 7, 1941, a Japanese task force attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii. They sank four battleships, and destroyed nearly 20 aircraft. The next day, the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain declared war on Japan.The Soviets, in December 1941, recovered and pushed the Germans back 100 miles outside of Moscow. In Spring 1942, the Germans marched towards oil reserves in the Caucasus. Hitler ordered the capture of Stalingrad. A five-month battle ensued. The Soviets, in a counter-attack, captured and killed 300,000 German soldiers, stopping Germany's eastward march.In 1941, Allied defeats stopped in Europe. In eastern Europe the Soviets prevented the German advance in eastern Europe. Soviets defeated the Germans in a battle at Stalingrad in 1943. The allies were soon on a roll. They won battles in Africa and forced Italy to surrender in 1943. In 1944, the Allies prepared for an invasion in northern France.Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met together in 1943 in Teheran, Iran to discuss the strategy and plans behind the invasion. They talked to each other about a British and American large-scale attack, called Operation Overlord, on the beach of Normandy along the northern coast of France. This attack was to be known as the D-Day Invasion. It will have been the largest seaborne invasion in history. Hitler laughed and said his forces could resist any attack on the coast. The invasion would deploy Allied soldiers ashore on five beaches under the code names of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The Germans were not sure what beach the Allies were going to attack so they built a chain of fortifications along the coast called the Atlantic wall. Hitler left General Rommel in charge to strengthen there defenses. Rommel put up barbed wire, he mined the water, and concentrated his troops near the Calais, the narrowest part of the English Channel. On June 6th, 2,700 Allied ships carrying 176,00 soldiers led by General Dwight Eisenhower crossed the English channel. Paratroops were dropped off behind enemy lines to capture bridges and railroad tracks. D-Day caught the Germans by surprise. Germans fought fiercely, but did not win the battle. The Allies built a temporary harbor, to receive supplies, and a pipeline across the British Channel for oil. Near the end of June, about a million troops had accumulated in France.The Allies advanced slowly in the beginning. The Americans fought and capture Cherbourg on June 27, and the British and Canadian forces fought and captured Caen on July 18. The Allied forces had finally reached open country.On July 25, 1944 bombers blasted a hole in the German front near St-Lo. Lieutenant General George Patton plowed through the gap and exterminated the Germans from northwest France. Patton ordered his army toward Paris. On August 19, 1944, Parisians heard the news and rose up against the German troops occupying Paris. The German troops in Paris were ordered by Hitler to destroy Paris, but they delayed and the Allies reached Paris on August 25th to liberate France. Slowly, the Allied forces moved toward Germany. The German Generals knew they were beat and tried to tell Hitler, but he brought together his remaining forces for one last attack at the Ardennes Forest (Belgium & Luxembourg). He won this Battle of the Bulge, however, in two weeks, the Americans stopped the German advance near the Meuse River (Belgium). Meanwhile, the Soviets had slowly pushed back the Germans after the Battle at Stalingrad. The Soviets were producing and importing war supplies from Britain and America, preparing for another offensive by the Germans at Kursk. The Soviet forces waited for them with tanks, mines, anti-tank guns and aircraft; completely obliterating the oncoming German troops and tanks. The rest of the 3,000 German tanks were ordered to retreat during the battle. The Soviet forces, then, moved toward Leningrad. They defeated the Germans there and move onward to Poland. When they reach the outskirts of Warsaw, Stalin refused to come to Polish aid resulting in a German onslaught of 200,000 Polish soldiers. Afterwards, the Soviets entered in and destroyed the Germans in 1945. Another series of Soviet troops began to move towards Hungary crushing all German forces in their path. Soviet troops reached Budapest and drove the German forces out in February of 1945. After their strong advance, the Soviets had occupied almost all of eastern Europe.The Allies began their final assault in 1945. Soviet forces were advancing from the East to Berlin, British and Canadian forces came from the North, and American and French forces neared central Germany. In all, the Allies had almost surrounded the Germans. Prior to closing in on the Germans, those Allies passing through previously occupied areas were terrified at the sights at the concentration camps. Hitler committed suicide before the Allied forces took Berlin. On May 7, 1945, Colonel General Alfred Doenitz, Hitler's replacement, signed a declaration of unconditional surrender, ending the war in Europe.In the PacificThe war with the Japanese was a personal vendetta for the U.S., after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Japan won several early victories including: taking over Hong Kong, Guam, and Wake Island, defeating the British in Singapore, the Battle of the Java Sea, and the conquest of the Philippines. MacArthur's troops were ordered to Australia after leaving the Philippines in March 1942. On April 9, about 75,000 exhausted troops on Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. Most of them were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps, but most of them died. This march was called the Bataan Death March. After the Philippines were captured, Japan moved toward India and Australia.In 1942, there were 3 events that helped turn the tide on the Japanese. One of them was the Doolittle raid in which 16 B-52 bombers surprised Tokyo with minor bombing. The 2nd event was the Battle of the Coral Sea which halted the Japanese attack on Port Moresby. The 3rd event was the Battle of Midway, in which Japan sent a large fleet to capture one of the Hawaiian islands, but the Americans intercepted the plan and prepared for a surprise attack. The battle began on June 4, 1942 when the Japanese bombed the island of Midway. Old U.S. bombers launched bombers on Japanese warships, but most of them were shot down. Next, American dive bombers dropped down on Japanese aircraft carriers while they were refueling. The e Japanese had lost 4 aircraft carriers and at least 200 planes along with many skilled pilots. Japan had only sunk 1 U.S. aircraft carrier and shot down 150 planes. The Battle of Midway was a clear victory for the Allies.Meanwhile, the Allies battled to regain most of the islands in the Pacific. In 1942, MacArthur attacked New Guinea with a series of brilliant operations, but fighting continued until 1944. On August 7, 1942, marines invaded Guadalcanal. This attack caught the Japanese by surprise, but they fought strong. This battle proved to be one of the most vicious campaigns in WWII. By February 1943, Japan left Guadalcanal. In 1943, Allied military leaders canceled the invasion of Rabaul; instead, they bombed it. After beating back the Japanese, the Allies finally liberated the Philippines in 1944. Superiority in air and sea combat enabled the Allies to move onto Japan itself.Allied forces first attack Iwo Jima. The marines landed on February 19, 1945. The marines successfully won the battle, but with a struggle. Okinawa was the next stop. Japan sent kamikazes to attack the marine landing force, but they still defeated Japan at Okinawa.On August 6, 1945 due their refusal to give into the US's ultimatum, the B-29 American bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, America dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, after Japanese leaders failed to respond to the first bombing. On September 2, 1945, Japan finally gave in and signed a statement of surrender ending WWII.TimeLine of WWII

1939August 23-24The Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact is signed in Moscow.

August 26Hitler postpones the invasion of Poland at the last second after hearing that Britain and Poland have signed a formal alliance.

September 1Germany invades Poland without a declaration of war, marking the beginning of World War II.

September 3Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany.

September 4The Royal Air Force (Britain) begins its first attacks on German warships.

September 5The U.S. announces its neutrality.

September 10Canada declares war on Germany.

September 29The Soviet Union and Germany announce their Treaty of Friendship.

November 30The Russo-Finnish War begins after Soviet threats escalate into an invasion of Finland.

1940February 11Germany and the Soviet Union sign a further economic and trade agreement.

March 13Despite promises by Britain and France to send help, Finland signs the armistice with the Soviet Union.

April 9Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

May 7British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns after support in the House of Commons declines.

May 10Germany invades Belgium and the Netherlands. Winston Churchill becomes the new British Prime Minister.

May 26British forces begin to fall back to Dunkirk (France) and soon begin to evacuate.

June 4German troops storm Dunkirk, capturing the city and the remaining French soldiers.

June 10Italy declares war on France and Great Britain.

June 22France signs an armistice with Germany.

July 10The Battle of Britain begins.

1941January 29 - March 27 Secret talks between British and American representatives produce the ABC1 conclusion code stating that in the event of war with Germany and Japan, Germany should be defeated first.

April 6Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia.

April 13The USSR and Japan sign a five year Neutrality Agreement.

June 22Germany invades the Soviet Union.

June 26Finland declares war on the USSR.

September 8German troops complete the Leningrad blockade.

December 7At 0755 hours, the Japanese, led by Admiral Nagumo, begins its attack on Pearl Harbor, the main base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

December 8The U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. China declares war on Germany, Italy, and Japan. Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Free French, and Yugoslavia declare war on Japan.

December 11Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.

December 19The Selective Service Act is amended requiring all men ages 18-64 to register and those 20-44 liable for military service.

1942February 19 General Eisenhower is appointed to Chief of the War Plans Division of the U.S. Army General Staff.

May 8The Americans notch a strategic victory after forcing the Japanese to abandon their attack on Port Moresby.

June 5-7The Americans successfully defeat the Japanese in the Battle of Midway.

August 7U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal.

August 25Hitler gives orders to capture Stalingrad.

October 7Britain and the United States announce that a United Nations Commission is to be setup to investigate the Axis war crimes.

October 23Britain attacks the Axis powers at El Alamein in Egypt.

November 8Allied troops land in Algeria and Morocco.

1943February 2The last Germans surrender at Stalingrad.

February 18The Sixth Army of America becomes operational and is led by General Walter Krueger.

April 18Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, is killed when his plane is shot down by Lightning fighters.

May 12-25Churchill meets Roosevelt in Washington for the Trident Conference which discusses the cross-Channel invasion called D-Day.

May 13Axis forces in northern Africa surrender.

July 4Germany opens an assault near Kursk (Soviet Union).

July 10Allied forces invade Sicily.

July 16Roosevelt and Churchill issue a statement calling for an Italian surrender.

July 25Mussolini is relieved of his command by the king and is arrested. Marshal Badoglio takes over for Mussolini.

September 3 Italy secretly surrenders to the Allies.

September 9Allied troops land at Salerno (Italy).

November 20 U.S. forces invade Tarawa.

November 30General Alexander Vandegrift is appointed commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps as of January 1, 1944.

December 24-29Announcements in London and Washington reveal that General Dwight Eisenhower is to be the Supreme Allied Commander for the D-Day Invasion. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and Air Marshal Leigh Mallory will lead the air and naval forces.

1944January 8-11Mussolini tries and convicts many members of the Fascist Grand Council. Afterwards, he executes those who were convicted.

January 11Roosevelt asks Congress for a national service law to prevent strikes and fully use the whole of America's workforce in the war effort.

April 1-30U.S. bombers drop 43,500 tons of bombs on European aircraft factories, meanwhile other Allied Air Forces bomb targets in Belgium, France, Germany, and Belgrade.

April 28Secretary to the United States Navy, Frank Knox, dies.

May 1-31The primary efforts for the Allies center around preparations for the Normandy invasion.

June 1The BBC transmits the first code message warning the French Resistance that the invasion is imminent.

June 5The second message warning of the invasion is broadcast to the French Resistance.

June 6D-DAY----> Allied troops land in Normandy to begin the invasion in northern France.

June 19-20 A U.S. naval force defeats the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

July 20An assassination plot aimed at Hitler fails.

July 18 Japan's Prime Minister Tojo resigns.

October 20 The Allies begin landing in the Philippines.

October 23-26 The Allies defeat Japan's navy in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.

December 16 The Germans strike back at U.S. troops in the Battle of the Bulge.

1945March 16 U.S. marines capture Iwo Jima.

April 30Hitler commits suicide in Berlin.

May 7Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies in Reims, France ending World War II in Europe.

June 21 Allied forces capture Okinawa.

August 6 An atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.

August 8The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.

August 9An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.

August 14 Japan agrees to surrender unconditionally.

September 2 Japan signs surrender terms aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE Medium and Heavy Machine GunsGreat Britain.303 caliber Vickers. Reliable, water cooled medium machine gun. Tripod mounted. Well-designed.

United States.30 caliber Browning M 1917. Effective weapon, but heavy. Well suited for continuous rapid fire.

Soviet Union 7.62 mm Model PM 1910. Heavy, but equipped with a wheeled mounting. It could be fitted with runners for use in snowy conditions.

GermanyMG 42. Belt-fed, reliable general-purpose gun. Worked well even in adverse conditions. Fired over 1000 rounds per minute.

Italy6.5 mm Fiat-Revelli Modello 1914. Air-cooled, causing frequent heat problems. Had to be oiled during operation. Poor design.

MortarsGreat BritainLight, very accurate. Could fire a 36-ounce bomb 500 yards.

United States81 mm M1. Heavy, but long range and powerful.

Soviet UnionPM 40. Light, short range. Could only be fired at two angles.

Germany50 mm GrW 34. Heavy, long range. Well-built and tough.

Italy45 mm Modello 35 Brixia. Light, short-medium range. Weak bomb.

Heavy TanksGreat BritainMark II Matilda II. 24mph top speed. Well armored and well armed. Carried a four-man crew

United StatesM28 Pershing. Heavy, powerful. Armed to the teeth. 2500 were built. Well protected, powered by a potent 500 horsepower Ford engine.

Soviet UnionT-35. Three large guns, up to seven machine guns.

Biographies of Major Military and Political Leaders in World War II

(1874-1965) Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was perhaps the most famous British Prime Minister. Churchill also excelled as a Nobel Prize recipient, a historian, an artist, and war reporter. His determination and heroics are the characteristics that were prevalent in WWII. He played a major role in setting up the D-Day Invasion. During the Invasion, he chose to walk up and down the streets during raids, inspected coastal fortresses, and injured enemies. After the war, Churchill served as Prime Minister for a second time from 1951-1955. In 1963, Congress made him an honorary U.S. citizen. On January 24, 1965 Sir Winston Churchill died after suffering from a stroke nine days earlier."Beware...an Iron Curtain has descended upon the continent."

(1890-1969) Dwight David Eisenhower led the Allied forces in Europe during WWII. In 1915, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In September of 1941, he was promoted to brigadier general. In June of 1942, he was named as Commander of U.S. forces in the European Theater. In February 1943, after steady promotions, Eisenhower received his fourth star. Eisenhower was responsible for planning Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy. A few months later, he was promoted to the newly established rank of General of the Army, receiving a fifth star. He got a hero's welcome on his return to the States. He was elected President in 1952."OK, let's go!"

(1901-1989) Hirohito was Japan's emperor from 1926 until 1989. His reign name was Showa. As emperor, he opposed the militarism during the 1930's, but his advisers kept him out of conflict with the militarists. Hirohito suffered as result of his silent reign. His advisors talked him into decisions that led to WWII. After the war, he was never charged with war crimes like other high ranking officials in the Japanese government. In 1989, Hirohito died while still in reign."I cannot but swallow my tears...and accept the Allied Proclamation."

(1889-1945) Adolf Hitler was the German dictator from 1933 to 1945. His actions have forever scarred the face of humanity. As a dictator, he initiated several forms of propaganda and gave many promising speeches that German citizens began to believe. After changing Germany's mindset, he built up a vast military and put up concentration camps. Hitler began filling the camps with Jews, gypsies, and others deemed "inferior." By the war's end, 6 million Jews had been slain along with 5 million others. Hitler, who by 1945 refused to listen to advisers, killed himself on April 30."Have no pity! Act brutally!"

(1880-1964) MacArthur was born in Arkansas on January 26, 1880. In 1910, he graduated from West Point, earning one of the highest academic records in the school's history. In World War I, he was named chief of staff of the 42nd Division. He also served in France. In 1930, he became the Army's chief of staff. He became frustrated however: due to the Great Depression, he was not able to update and modernize. In July of 1941, FDR named him Commander of U.S. forces in the Far East. He led the successful defense of the Philippines, for which he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. In October of 1944, he became a five-star general. For six years after the war, be oversaw the Allied occupation of Japan. He also led the U.S. Far East Command from 1947 to 1951."Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

(1883-1945) Benito Mussolini ruled Italy for 21 years under his fascist form of government. He was born in Dovia, Italy, and graduated from a teaching school wherein after he taught elementary school. He fulfilled his military requirements in 1904, and afterwards, returned to teaching until 1908. In 1919, he founded his fascist political group in Milan. By 1922, his party had amassed great power and support to the point when King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini in charge of the Italian government. Benito soon began his dictatorship by erasing all political parties except for the Fascist. He took over Ethiopia from 1935-1936, and during WWII in 1940, he invaded France. In 1943, he was overthrown by the Fascist Grand Council and imprisoned, but later rescued by the Germans. In 1945, after being fleeing, the Italian underground found him at Lake Como and shot him.II Duce

(1882-1945) Franklin Delano Roosevelt served America as President for an unprecedented 12 years by being elected to four terms of office. He brought America out of the Great Depression by pushing the ideas of his New Deal through legislature. His most distinguished quality was his vigor as a public servant. He fought hard for better jobs, a better economy, and had faith in the public. Roosevelt also brought us into World War II by declaring war on Japan. He gave the go-ahead for the study of the atomic bomb. He died on April 12, 1945." The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith. "

(1879-1953) Joseph Stalin was the infamous dictator of the USSR from 1929-1953 who used fear to rule. His communist rule was contagious during his reign, spreading to a total 11 countries before his death. His most notable achievement was the way he transformed the Soviet Union into an industrial and military powerhouse. His overall character invited many people to dislike him even his friends. He exhibited no remorse for his actions or brutality, but continued to betray his allies and his people. He had Soviet history rewritten in some cases to make himself appear far greater in past events. In 1953, Stalin died and his body was placed next Lenin's in Red Square in Moscow. Stalin's new history portrayed him as Lenin's chief assistant.

(1884-1972) Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president of the U.S. after 83 days as a Vice President along Franklin Roosevelt. He was forced into suddenly during WWII when Roosevelt died. During the first couple weeks of office, the Allies declared a victory in Europe. Then over in the Pacific, Truman decided to unleash the power of the atom when he gave the okay to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His use of the bomb successfully ended WWII. After WWII, Truman faced other problems including the Korean War and the Cold War which he helped combat with the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Point Four Program, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He is most noted for his straightforward attitude and blunt language."The responsibility of great states is to serve and not dominate the world."