HUSH WWII Vocab (singapore side)

VJ-Day

"Victory over Japan day" is the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which was initially announced on August 15, 1945

Iwo Jima

1945. Critical island to the U.S. because it had a base from which heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan. Big death toll. U.S. took over.

Bataan Death March

April 1942, American soldiers were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps by their Japanese captors. It is called the Death March because so may of the prisoners died en route.

Normandy

Beach in France Allies Invaded, Codenamed Operation Overlord, it was the long awaited Allied invasion of France and the opening of the Second Front during World War II. The initial invasion began on June 6, 1944.

Atomic Bomb

Bomb that changed the world, ended WWII in Japan, created a nuclear arms race between U.S. and Soviet Union

Hiroshima

City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.

Stalingrad

Fought during the winter of 1942, it was the first major Soviet victory of World War II and a turning point for the Allies. It claimed more lives than any other singles conflict in the War but prevented the Nazis from capturing Russia and was a crucial factor in their eventual defeat.

Heinrich Himmler

German Nazi who was chief of the SS and the Gestapo and who oversaw the genocide of six million Jews.

Dwight Eisenhower

He was the U. S. general who led the attack in North Africa in Nov. of 1942.He was the master organizer of the D-Day invasion in Europe (June 6, 1944). He ran for the Republican ticket in the 1952 and 1956 elections and won. He was very well liked by the public.

The Final Solution

Heinrich Himmler was leader of this Nazi Germany's plan in 1942 to execute the systematic genocide of European Jews during WW2 resulting in Holocaust

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and crashed them into American ships.

July Bomb Plot (1944)

July 1944; failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia; plot formulated by the German resistance.

Kursk

July 5 to 12, 1943 - German forces defeated by the Soviets in the greatest tank battle of WWII.

D-Day

June 6, 1944 - Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.

Battle of the Coral Sea

May 1942; Amer. and Australia stopped Japan's advance ; Allies intercepted the Japanese fleet as it attempted to take more territory; fought entirely by carrier-based planes

VE-Day

May 8, 1945; victory in Europe Day when the Germans surrendered

Auschwitz

Nazi extermination camp in Poland, the largest center of mass murder during the Holocaust. Close to a million Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and others were killed there.

The SS

Nazi organization under Hitler that committed severe violence and hateful crimes

Omaha Beach

One of five landing sites for Overlord; American forces; most difficult of five sites; ultimately successful, but bloody

Singapore

Originally held by British as part of colony of Malaya; largely Chinese population; British attempted to create invulnerable naval base; captured by Japanese during World War II; emerged after war as independent port.

Alamogordo

Site of testing for atomic bomb in 1945, and one of the four research and production sites of the Manhattan Project.

Guadalcanal

Site of the US's first invasion of Japanese held territory. In August 1942, the Japanese attacked the American forces with our four savage attacks and were repulsed, with horrendous losses on both sides.

Yalta

When FDR, Churchill, and Stalin meet; they agreed to wage war on Japan, to divide Germany into 4 equal parts, on the big 5's veto, and to hold free elections for the liberated countries

Okinawa

The U.S. Army in the Pacific had been pursuing an "island-hopping" campaign, moving north from Australia towards Japan. On April 1, 1945, they invaded Okinawa, only 300 miles south of the Japanese home islands. By the time the fighting ended on June 2, 1945, the U.S. had lost 50,000 men and the Japanese 100,000.

Bataan Peninsula

The forced march of 100,000 American soldiers by Japanese forces after three months of fighting. Thousands died during the march by gunshot or beheading, others were killed less pleasantly (disembowelment and the like)

George Patton

U.S. army general who directed the campaign in North Africa, led the Third Army out of Normandy and assisted with the Battle of the Bulge in WW II

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman.

Battle of Midway

U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II.

Saipan

US defeat of a division of the imperial Japanese navy in Mariana islands → Lead to many civilian suicides because they thought the America soldiers would kill them anyways (Suicide Cliff)

Chester Nimitz

United States admiral of the Pacific fleet during World War II who used aircraft carriers to destroy the Japanese navy (1885-1966)

George Marshall

United States secretary of state who formulated a program providing economic aid to European countries after World War II. The Marshall Plan provided massive American economic assistance to help Europe recover from the war.

Battle of the Bulge

World War II battle in December 1944 between Germany and Allied troops that was the last German offensive in the West.

Leningrad

a Russian city was surrounded and supplies cut off, the civilians and soldiers still fought eventually making the Germans surrender

V2

a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp.

B -29/ Enola Gay

a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber that was flown by the United States in WWII and the Korean War; the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb to be used in war by the United States Army Air Forces in the attack on Hiroshima, Japan on 8/6/1945.

Warsaw Uprising (1944)

a struggle by the Polish Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi German occupation during World War II. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army reached the city. The Soviet advance stopped short, however, while Polish resistance against the German forces continued for 63 days until the Polish surrendered on 2 October.

Island Hopping Campaign

a tactic used by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan. The idea was to bypass the Japanese and instead concentrate the limited Allied resourced on important islands that were not well defended. The allies used submarine and air attacks which weakened the Japanese. It had an element of surprise and reached Japan more quickly.

the Atlantic Wall

an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by the Germans under Erwin Rommel in 1942 until 1944 along the western coast of Europe to defend against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland from Great Britain.

Amphibious Invasion

an invasion using naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore; primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain; form of commando insertion by patrol boats, zodiacs, and mini-submersibles.

ME 262

an opertional jet made by Germans. 600 mph, 10 min of fuel. A Bomber. the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft.

Firebombing of Tokyo

bombing of Tokyo by the United States Army Air Forces; took place during the Pacific campaigns of WWII and included the most destructive bombing raid in history (1942-1945).

Manhattan Project

code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II

Battle of Berlin

final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II; before the battle was over, Hitler and many of his followers committed suicide

the "Second Front"

proposed Anglo-American invasion of France to relieve the Soviets, who were fighting a German invasion of the USSR; originally scheduled for 1942, it was not delivered until D-Day in June 1944. This was a divisive issue in Soviet relations with the United States and Britain during the war and after.

Nagasaki

site of 2nd Atomic Bomb, killing 40,000+ Japanease citizens

Infantry Division

soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars; divisions with a majority of infantry units.

Tarawa

the first island the Allies captured in their attempt at "island-hopping", the bloodiest amphibious attack up to that time, 1943

Battle of Leyte Gulf

the largest naval engagement in military history in which Japan lost most of its remaining sea power and the ability to defend the Philippines. First of the suicide attacks by Japanese pilots

Potsdam

the place at which the three allied leaders, Truman, Stalin, and Atlee, met to discuss the distribution of Germany and the ultimatum that they would issue to Japan demanding thier immediate surrender

Armored Division

the use of tanks as opposed to infantry soldiers and giving motorization to support units (proved unwieldy in combat); mixture of tanks and infantry soldiers.