World War II

Italian Campaign

Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the invasion of Sicily and the campaign on the Italian mainland until the surrender of German forces in Italy in May 1945.

Resistance

Among the most notable resistance movements were the Polish Resistance, including the Polish Home Army, Leśni, and the whole Polish Underground State; the Soviet partisans,[a], the Italian Resistenza led mainly by the Italian CLN; the French Resistance, Yugoslav Partisans, the Belgian Resistance, the Norwegian Resistance, the Greek Resistance and the Dutch Resistance.

Guadalcanal

During 1942-43 it was the scene of the Guadalcanal Campaign, and saw bitter fighting between Japanese and US troops; the Americans were ultimately victorious.

P.O.W. Japan

During World War II, it has been estimated that between 19,500 and 50,000 members of the Imperial Japanese military surrendered to Allied combatants prior to the end of the Pacific War in August 1945.[1] The number of Japanese soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who surrendered was limited by the Japanese military indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death, Allied combat personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners,[2] and many Japanese soldiers believing that those who surrendered would be killed by their captors.[3][4]

North Africa

During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch) and Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign).

Genocide

Genocide is the systematic destruction of all or a significant part of a racial, ethnic, religious or national group. Well-known examples of genocide include the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Nanking Massacre, and more recently the Rwandan Genocide and the Bosnian Genocide.

P.O.W. Germany

Members of the German military were interned as prisoners of war in the United States during World War I and World War II. In all, 425,000 German prisoners lived in 700 camps throughout the United States during World War II.

Air war and strategic bombing

Strategic bombing during World War II was the sustained aerial attack on railways, harbors, cities, workers' housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory during World War II. Strategic bombing is a military strategy which is distinct from both close air support of ground forces and tactical air power.[13]Strategic bombing during World War II began on 1 September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and the Luftwaffe (German air force) began bombing cities and the civilian population in Poland in an indiscriminate aerial bombardment campaign.[15] As the war continued to expand, bombing by both the Axis and the Allies increased significantly.

Post-War Allied Occupation

The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II asserted governmental authority over all territory of the German Reich which lay west of the Oder-Neisse line, having formally abolished the German government of Adolf Hitler. (See 1945 Berlin Declaration.) The four powers divided Germany into four occupation zones for administrative purposes.

Imperial Japan

The Empire of Japan (大日本帝国/大日本帝國 Dai Nippon Teikoku?, literally "Great Japanese Empire")[4] was a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, empire and world power that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan.[2]

Midway

a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.[6][7][8] Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondo near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable.[9

Stalingrad

a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe.

Submarine Warfare

consists primarily of diesel and nuclear submarines using torpedoes, missiles or nuclear weapons, as well as advanced sensing equipment, to attack other submarines, ships, or land targets. Submarines may also be used for reconnaissance and landing of special forces as well as deterrence. In some navies they may be used for task force screening. The effectiveness of submarine warfare partly depends on the anti-submarine warfare carried out in response.

German Home Front

discernibly characterized by both its wartime economy; an economy led by the Nazi-driven industrial production of war materiel, and that of an existence under the continued uncertainty and terror imposed by the Allied bombing campaign. It is in the convergence of these two physiognomies which comprise the thesis for this research paper. Nearly all other attendant attributes of the German home front can be traced back to these two characteristics and their relationships will be highlighted here

Australia in the War

entered World War II shortly after the invasion of Poland, declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces, whose military units fought primarily in the European theatre, North African campaign, and the South West Pacific theatre

Fascist Italy

era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government. The fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed the political and intellectual opposition, while promoting economic modernization, traditional social values, and a rapprochement with the Catholic Church. "

Bataan

famous in history as one of the last stands of American and Filipino soldiers before they were overwhelmed by the Japanese forces in World War II. The Bataan Death March was named for this province, where the infamous march started. This is also the location of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant located in the Municipality of Morong.

Japanese Internment

forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000[2] people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens.[3][4] The U.S. government ordered the removal of Japanese Americans in 1942, shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.[5]

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

in the Pacific War during World War II.[12][13] The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland. major battle in which the United States Armed Forces landed and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The American invasion, designated Operation Detachment, had the goal of capturing the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields (including the South Field and the Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands.[2] This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.

The Home Front

informal term for the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system of their military. Military forces depend on "home front" civilian support services such as factories that build materiel to support the military front. Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in combat, except when the fighting happened to reach their dwelling places.

Blizkreig

is an anglicised term,[Notes 1] describing a method of warfare whereby an attacking force spearheaded by a dense concentration of armoured and motorized or mechanized infantry formations with close air support, breaks through the opponent's line of defense by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders, using speed and surprise to encircle them.[1

Japanese Blitzkreig Banzai

is the term used by the Allied forces to refer to Japanese human wave attacks mounted by infantry units. This term came from the Japanese cry "Tenno Heika Banzai" (天皇陛下万歳?, "Long live the Emperor"), shortened to banzai, specifically referring to a tactic used by Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War. Banzai charges had some successes at the ends of battles by overcoming soldiers unprepared for such attacks.

China

it was invaded by Imperial Japan, specifically in Manchuria.

Yugoslavia Partisans and Chetniks

most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement, often compared to the Polish resistance movement, albeit the latter was an exceptional, non-communist autonomic movement.[8][9] The Yugoslav Resistance was led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia[10] during World War II. a World War II movement in Yugoslavia led by Draža Mihailović, an anti-Axis movement in their long-range goals and engaged in marginal resistance activities for limited periods.[1] They also engaged in tactical or selective collaboration with the occupying forces for almost all of the war.[2]

Battle of Britain

name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces,[9] and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date.

Soviet Russia

signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on 23 August 1939. In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol that divided territories of Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland into German and Soviet "spheres of influence",

Normandy Invasion (D-Day)

the invasion by and establishment of Western Allied forces in Normandy, during Operation Overlord in 1944 during World War II; the largest amphibious invasion to ever take place. D-Day, the day of the initial assaults, was Tuesday 6 June 1944. Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on that day came from Canada, the Free French forces, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the weeks following the invasion, Polish forces also participated, as well as contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the Netherlands.[4] Most of the above countries also provided air and naval support, as did the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force,[nb 1] and the Royal Norwegian Navy.[1]

Pearl Harbor

was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, in the United States Territory of Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.