Important Events and Turning Points of World War II
By: Jared Carter & Hannah Jones
Holocaust
Date: March 20, 1933 to April 29, 1945 The Holocaust was a Nazi controlled operation, which involved the extermination and control of anyone they deemed unworthy including Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, and the disabled. The Nazis used concentration camps to contain and regulate their prisoners in an extremely hostile and brutal living space. In these camps there was everything from a crematoria to a camp center where daily hangings occurred. On arrival, men and women prisoners were separated from each other and put through selection. During this process any and all valuables were immediately taken as seen in the image of hundreds of wedding rings snatched from the women’s hands. This shows how little rights and freedom the Germans allowed the Jews and other prisoners to have. They were forced to work daily in the camps and on surrounding sites and if they were not deemed suitable for the Nazis they were sent to the crematoria. This devastation and destruction continued for 12 long years until American forces finally discovered the concentration camps and freed the prisoners. |
Invasion of Poland
Date: September 1, 1939 The invasion of Poland was one of the first attacks by the Germans and the start of the Nazis hostile takeover of utter destruction. After the Treaty of Versailles in World War I, Germany’s land was divided among European countries, Poland being one of these. Therefore, Germany attacked Poland because they wanted to reclaim their stolen land as well as choose a country that was easy to take over in order to benefit their rise back to power. The invasion only lasted a few weeks before it ended with the surrender of Poland. After the surrender, Poland was to be split up between the Germans and the Soviets in the German-Soviet Pact, while Poland sat defenseless and broken. |
Pearl Harbor
Date: December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was an attack on the U.S. Navy fleet by the Japanese due to the fact that Japan thought that attacking the U.S. would be an easy win and provide them with abundant land and resources. The attack was on a Sunday which left the Navy in a state of unexpected chaos and panic. The Japanese sent several waves of bombs, which destroyed 20 American naval vessels and 200 airplanes in a matter of only two hours. One of these Naval vessels was the USS Arizona and on this ship is where more than half of the casualties occurred from four Japanese bombs. A day after the attack, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan and the U.S. officially entered WWII. |
Battle of Midway
Date: June 7, 1942 After Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were still hoping to completely eliminate the U.S. Japan did not know the full extent of America’s strength yet and completely underestimated them in this battle. Japan thought that after the Battle of the Coral Sea where they severely damaged the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, America would not be able to recover and would not have any strong defense. Much to their surprise the U.S. was able to repair it in 72 hours and won the battle because they discovered the Japanese before the Japanese discovered them. This battle allowed the Allies to gain an initiative on how to plan and control the rest of the war in the Pacific. |
Battle of Stalingrad
Date: July 17, 1942 Stalingrad was a major transportation route between the Caspian sea and the Russians and was the gateway to an oil rich region. This was one of the first major battles that Germany lost and made it so that they could not conquer the east. This came from the fact that in Stalingrad the Germans could not use their normal tactics of using tanks and artillery. This was because of the Soviets maintaining an enclosed and tight battle field which constricted the Germans movement. Therefore the German troops had to fight for themselves and take risk of being hit from supporting fire. During the battle 841,000 German casualties there would only be one more offensive attack at the battle of Kursk which would end in another disastrous defeat. |
Operation Overlord (D-Day)
Date: June 6, 1944 Operation Overlord was British and U.S. forces attacking German troops in France and commenced with the Normandy landings. It was necessary to take Northern Europe because the majority of the German army was in France. Within three months there were 3 million Allied troops in France and in August had forced the Germans to retreat. After this battle, the war would end within a year. |
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Date: Hiroshima- August 6, 1945 Nagasaki- August 9, 1945 After Pearl Harbor the Japanese thought that the U.S. would give up, much to their surprise the next day the U.S. declared war on Japan. Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the names of the two areas that were bombed by the americans with the first atomic bombs. These bombs killed thousands of people both civilians and troops. Because of this within a week Japan announced their surrender quoting “a new and most cruel bomb”. The bombs that were used were named “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” and can be seen in the picture to the left. The were used because Japan refused to surrender and the U.S. wanted to create the biggest blow to the army as they could. The “Fat Man” was used against Nagasaki and the “Little Boy” was used against Hiroshima in the attack that would soon end the war for Japan. |