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http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/287123/The-Most-Controversial-Decision-The-Atomic-Bombs/

On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”

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Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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The Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted from September 1939 until the defeat of Germany in 1945, was the war’s longest continuous military campaign. During six years of naval warfare, German U-boats and warships – and later Italian submarines – were pitted against Allied convoys transporting military equipment and supplies across the Atlantic to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. This battle to control the Atlantic shipping lanes involved thousands of ships and stretched across thousands of perilous square miles of ocean

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Battle of the Atlantic

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The dawn that followed the dark and frigid night of December 15, 1944, was foggy, dreary, and foreboding to the troops of the VIII Corps in their positions along the front line between Echternach and just south of Konschau in Belgium, a distance of approximately 75 miles, facing the defensive structures the Germans called the Siegfried Line.  It had been a quite sector since early October, and the American front was thinly held, with three infantry division on the line and an armored division in reserve.  But it would have been "thinly held" if it had twice those troops, consisting as it did of widely separated strong points connected generally by a few motorized patrols.

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Battle of Bastogne

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The actions of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Graignes incident (better known as the Battle of Graignes) south-west of Carentan, played a part in the successful capture of Carentan and the Battle of Bloody Gulch.

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The Battle of Bloody Gulch

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Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, and again Congress reciprocated. More than two years into the conflict, America had finally joined World War II.

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Battle of Pearl Harbor

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The Battle of Stalingrad, which saw Hitler’s major push for dominance on the Eastern Front, was marked by terrible losses on both sides. The Russians alone had over a million men wounded or killed. Barring their inability to conquer Moscow in the previous year, the war had generally been progressing well for the Germans up until this point, with valuable successes in North Africa and Europe. However, previously unseen brutality and crippling losses devastated the German offensive and severely dented their confidence. Once their Romanian and Italian allies had been eliminated, the Germans found themselves surrounded in Stalingrad, vulnerable and starving in the rubble to which the Luftwaffe had reduced the city. Some would argue that the Germans never fully recovered from this most destructive of battles — one of the bloodiest of all time.

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Battle of Stalingrad

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The last major offensive of the war in Europe, the Battle of Berlin saw the fall of the German Army, the suicide of Hitler and the beginning of the end of the Second World War. The inexorable push of the Soviet army westwards saw them advance as much as 25 miles a day before stopping just 35 miles east of the German capital. The Red Army then proceeded to attack the city from the east and south, while a third group devastated German defenses from the north. The relentless Soviet army marched ever onwards, causing widespread panic in the already depleted German defenses (bolstered by inexperienced Hitler youth members) and, following fierce and bloody fighting, took the Reichstag on the 30th of April 1945, more or less signaling the conclusion of the war.

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Battle of Berlin

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Soviet Russia’s successful defense of their capital against the German forces who sought to capture it in 1941 was a major turning point in the war. Hitler believed that if he could capture Moscow, the spirit of the Red Army war machine would be crushed and they would be at the Germans’ mercy. However, due to a combination of fierce and strategically well-executed Russian resistance (bolstered by reinforcements from the east) and a terrible winter with temperatures down to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (–30°C) and colder, the Germans were destined not to take Moscow. Losses were massive on both sides. The Soviets suffered at least 650,000 casualties (perhaps many more) while in just twenty days of fighting the Germans are believed to have lost around 155,000 men — a mark of the devastation they suffered here.

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Battle of Moscow

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The selection of a site for the largest amphibious landing in history was one of the biggest decisions of World War II. Allied planners needed a sheltered location with flat, firm beaches and within range of friendly fighter planes based in England. Most important was a reasonable expectation of achieving the element of surprise. Five beaches, code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, on the northern coast of Normandy, France, met all the criteria and were chosen as invasion sites.

On the evening of June 5, 1944, more than 150,000 men, a fleet of 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles, and 11,000 planes sat in southern England, poised to attack secretly across the English Channel along the Normandy coast of France. This force was the largest armada in history and represented years of training, planning, and supplying. Because of the highly intricate Allied deception plans, Hitler and his staff believed that the Allies would be attacking at the Pas-de-Calais.

In the early morning of June 6, thousands of Allied paratroopers landed behind enemy lines, securing key roads and bridges on the flanks of the invasion area. As the sun rose on the Normandy coastline, the Allies began their amphibious landings, traveling to the beaches in small landing craft lowered from the decks of larger ships anchored in the Channel. The attack on four of the beaches went according to plan. But at Omaha Beach (see large map), between Utah and Gold, the bravery and determination of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division was tested in one of the fiercest battles of the war.

Surrounded at both ends by cliffs that rose wall-like from the sea, Omaha was only four miles long. To repel the Allies at the water’s edge, the Germans built a fortress atop the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc overlooking Omaha from the west. They dug trenches and guns into the 150-foot bluffs lining the beach and along five ravines leading off it. As Allied troops waded into the surf, many were cut down as the doors of their landing craft opened. The survivors had to cross more than 300 yards across a tidal flat strewn with man-made obstacles. Winds and currents pushed landing craft into clumps as the men moved ashore. As a result, soldiers ran onto the beach in groups and became easy targets. Of the more than 9,000 Allied casualties on D-Day, Omaha accounted for about one-third. Allied planners had hoped that the forces at Omaha would advance 5 to 10 miles after 24 hours of fighting. Stiff German resistance, however, stopped the invaders cold on the beach. Progress inland was excruciatingly slow and painful. The Allied forces reached their first day goal (dotted blue line on the large map) only after more than two days of bloody fighting. Although many died, the Allies eventually took control of the beach and fought their way inland

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Artifact 9

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Operation Compass was the first major campaign of the war in the Western Desert. Beginning in December 1940, British troops pushed the Italians out of Egypt and drove them back across Libya. Relying on superior mobility, the British troops in Operation Compass were able to encircle and destroy the Italian Tenth Army.

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Dashing Through the Desert: Operation Compass

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The Battle of Gazala was fought May 26 to June 21, 1942 during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. Attacking, Panzer Army Afrika engaged British and Free French forces along the Gazala Line. Breaking the Allied position, Gen. Erwin Rommel drove them back into Egypt.

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World War II: Battle of Gazala

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Operation Torch was launched November 8, 1942, and saw British and American forces land in North Africa. During Operation Torch, troops came ashore at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. Meeting mixed resistance from the Vichy French, the Torch landings saw the Allies establish a position in western North Africa.

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Artifact 12

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From February 13 to February 15, 1945, during the final months of World War II (1939-45), Allied forces bombed the historic city of Dresden, located in eastern Germany. The bombing was controversial because Dresden was neither important to German wartime production nor a major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians—estimated at somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000–were dead.

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Bombing of Dresden

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Part of the plan of the Empire of Japan during World War II was to capture Guam. By March of 1941, the Empire of Japan was already flying photo reconnaissance over the island. By September of that year, the plans for an invasion of Guam were completed. The US government did not think it would be practical or possible to defend the island of Guam if the Japanese attacked it. Even with the low priority given to Guam, small steps were taken to increase its defenses. By December 8th of 1941, George McMillin received notice about the Pearl Harbor attack. By 8:27 the same day, the Japanese were already attacking the Piti Navy Yard, the Marine Barracks and Libugon Radio Station as well as Panamerican Hotel and the Standard Oil Company. The USS Penguin, which was the largest vessel for the US Navy at the time, was sunk. By December 10th, the Marines surrendered after some resistance. The official surrender came from Governor McMillin at 6 pm that day. The toll of the Battle of Guam hit the Guam Insular Force Guards which saw 4 killed as well as 22 wounded. The US Marines reported 5 killed in addition to 13 wounded while the Navy reported 8 killed. For the Japanese side, only one naval soldier died in action while 6 were wounded. After the surrender, Pfc Kauffman was killed by Japanese troops. Back in 1938, the Navy asked for permission for new fortifications on Guam but the proposal was rejected.

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Battle of Guam

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Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.

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Battle of Midway

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As early as Jul 1941, the Russians knew the Germans were going to breach their defenses and threaten Moscow. On 3 Jul, Lenin's body was moved from Moscow to Tumen to prevent German capture or destruction. Little over two weeks later, on 22 Jul, 127 German bombers raided Moscow, even lightly damaging the Kremlin. As a response, Moscow residents were ordered to build mock houses on Kremlin's grounds and paint the distinct roof of the building in order to blend it in with the rest of the city. Streets were also barricaded in preparation of a German attack. Moscow was proud, however, aided by Joseph Stalin's propaganda machine. One such example was the 7 Nov parade in celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution, where Russian soldiers marched straight through Red Square toward the battlefields to the west.

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Battle of Moscow

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Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties—including 14,000 dead. Return to

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Battle of Okinawa

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Artifact 19

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Artifact 20

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Artifact 21

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Artifact 22

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Artifact 23

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