WWII Europe

• Operation Overlord= D-day June 6th 1944• Allied forces under the command of General

Eisenhower attack German held France• 175,000 troops in 3 phases (Airborne,

Bombers, Infantry) take the coast of Normandy with heavy casualties

• With Success, Allies had Germany surrounded and start the march toward Berlin

Europe Continued

• Battle of the Bulge= Hitler’s last effort to win the war. Nazi forces push a bulge in the Allied line after terrible weather and fighting the Allies win and push on toward Berlin (Jan. 1945)

• May 2 Hitler commits suicide in his bunker • May 8th 1945 = VE Day “Victory in Europe”

Pacific WWII

• US wins the Battle of Midway (turning point in war) and starts to go on offensive

• Battle of Guadalcanal- Marines win key victory and start the process of Island hopping towards mainland Japan

• Difficult battles such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Marines take and inflict huge losses but move towards mainland of Japan (Island Hopping)

Pacific cont.

• President Truman (took over after FDR died) decides to use atomic bombs on Japan, to save lives that would be lost in a land invasion.

• Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings cause massive destruction/death and finally Japan surrenders (VJ Day Aug.15 1945)

The Manhattan Project:Los Alamos,

NM

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer

I am become death,

the shatterer of worlds!

Major GeneralLesley R. Groves

Tinian Island, 1945

Little Boy Fat Man

Enola Gay Crew

Col. Paul Tibbets & the A-Bomb

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

© 70,000 killed immediately.

© 48,000 buildings. destroyed.

© 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.

The Beginning of theAtomic Age

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

© 40,000 killed immediately.

© 60,000 injured.© 100,000s died of

radiation poisoning& cancer later.

Japanese A-Bomb Survivors

Hiroshima Memorials

V-J Day (September 2, 1945)

Japanese POWs, Guam

V-J Day in Times Square, NYC