HIST 208 Test 4 History of WWII UNL

Op. CORONET

(1 Mar 1946) Part of Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of Japan in March 1946, made unnecessary by the Japanese surrender in August 1945

Op. OLYMPIC

(1 Nov 1945) Operation Downfall was the codename for the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II.

Emperor Hirohito — Hirohito's surrender speech

(15 Aug 1945) "Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should We continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization."

The Surrender of Japan

(2 Sep 1945)

Mussolini executed

(28 Apr 1945)

Hitler's suicide

(30 Apr 1945)

Hiroshima

(6 Aug)

Nagasaki

(9 Aug)

Tokyo raid

(9-10 Mar 1945) The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on Saturday, April 18, 1942, was an air raid by the United States of America on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on the island of Honshu

Battle of Berlin

(Apr-May 1945) The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European theatre of World War II.

The Warsaw Uprising

(Aug-Oct 1944) The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. 50,000 Home Army

The Yalta (ARGONAUT) Conference

(Feb 1945) The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held from February 4 to 11, 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea, USSR.

The Potsdam (TERMINAL) Conference

(Jul 1945) ww2dbaseThe last of the major conferences during WW2 was held at Potsdam, code named Terminal. Immediately west of Berlin, President Truman was given a chance to tour the ravaged German capital while he waited for Stalin's arrival (the Russian leader was a day late). The meeting was held at the undamaged Cecilienhof Palace. Stalin's late arrival gave Truman's scientists one extra day to work on the Manhattan Project, and that one extra day seemed to be just enough for Oppenheimer's team to give Truman the resulted he wanted: On the same day that the leaders met at Potsdam, a successful atomic detonation was achieved at New Mexico's desert of Alamogordo under the code name Operation Trinity. By this point, the Americans had learned that Japan wished to end the war, partly by Japan's unrealistic pleas for Moscow to mediate a peace settlement between Japan and the Allied powers. However, the Americans also understood that, if war could not be stopped, many in Japan were prepared to fight to the bitter end, and the losses on both side would be tremendous should landings on the home islands become necessary. Understanding this about Japan, at Potsdam Truman made sure that Stalin would hold true to his promise that Russia would declare war on Japan three months after the surrender of Germany despite the news of the successful test atomic explosion; Truman was keeping his options open.

the 21st Bomber Command created

(Nov 1944)

Yugoslavia

(Oct 1944) defiance of Hitler (Mar 1941) b. fierce anti-Nazi resistance! c. Mihailović (Chetniks) v. Tito (Partisans) d. Tito's power increased (with GB, USSR), but Chetniks strong in Serbia e. Tito eliminated Chetnik influence f. held down 35 Axis divisions in Yugoslavia!

Bulgaria

(Sep 1944) hough part of Axis, Bulgaria in the war for itself resisted much of Hitler's advances, especially regarding the Jews (little anti-Semitism; ~1% pop.) pressured by Soviets to fight Germany (8 Sep)

Battle of the Bulge

(mid-Dec 1944) The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front towards the end of World War II in the European theatre. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armoured forces on the Western Front, and they were largely unable to replace them. German personnel, and later Luftwaffe aircraft (in the concluding stages of the engagement), also sustained heavy losses.

Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz

(new Führer)

Okinawa

1 Apr-22 Jun 1945 As the U.S. forces prepared to make land, little did Higa realize that he was to witness and participate in "Operation Iceberg," the bloodiest and most bitterly fought battle of the Pacific War where almost 240,000 American, Japanese and Okinawan lives were lost and the island of Okinawa left devastated and ravished.

Iwo Jima

19 Feb 1945 The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February - 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the U.S. Marines landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

"V-E Day"

8 May 1945

Op. VERITABLE

Feb Operation Veritable was the northern part of an Allied pincer movement that took place between 8 February and 11 March 1945 during the final stages of the Second World War

Romania

Ion Antonescu (self-styled Mussolini) & Iron Guard Aug 1944: turned against Germany!

Op. MARKET-GARDEN

MARKET: airborne troops to seize bridges across eight water barriers b. GARDEN: British XXX Corps push across barriers to Arnhem problems: poor planning, spectacularly poor intelligence, poor operational execution d. disaster for the Allies: needless heavy casualties

Hungary

Miklós Horthy feared USSR b. Stalingrad! c. negotiated with Allies; Nazis invaded (Mar 1944) d. extermination of 400,000 Jews at Auschwitz (Mar- Jul 1944); after 3 months, international pressure on Horthy to stop further deportations succeeded e. armistice negotiations with USSR (Oct 1944) f. Horthy jailed; Nazi-sponsored "Arrow Cross" g. Soviet-sponsored government formed (Dec 1944) h. siege of Budapest (Nov 1944-Feb 1945)

Op. COBRA

Operation Cobra was the codename for an offensive launched by the First United States Army seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy Campaign of World War II.

Op. DOWNFALL

Operation Downfall was the codename for the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II.

Op. ANVIL/DRAGOON

Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944, during World War II. Operation Anvil was a British military operation during the Mau Mau Uprising where British toops attempted to remove Mau Mau from Nairobi and place them in Langata Camp or reserves.

Op. OVERLORD

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings

Op. Uranus

Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet 19-23 November 1942 strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe and at the late stage of the war, Volkssturm

US Beaches British Beaches Canadian Beaches

US: Utah, Omaha British: Sword, Gold Canadians: Juno

Arrow Cross

was a national socialist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which led a government in Hungary known as the Government of National Unity from 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945.