World War II Italy March 23

World War II

Italy • March 23, 1919 Benito Mussolini formed the basis for the Fascist Party • Oct. 28, 1922 March on Rome; Mussolini took power in Italy

Soviet Union (USSR) • 1922 Soviet Union formed under V. I. Lenin • 1924 Lenin died; Trotsky and Stalin vie for power • 1928 Stalin began forced industrialization (Five Year Plan) • 1929 Stalin became dictator • 1932 -1933 Famine created in the Ukraine and other Soviet satellites

Germany 1919 -1923 • Weimar Republic • Social and political unrest • Military occupation of western regions of Germany • Economic hardships • Freikorps

Adolf Hitler • Born near Linz, Austria on April 20, 1889 • Early life • Enlisted in the German army in 1914, and served throughout WW I. Decorated with the Iron Cross. • Remained in the army after the war. • Sent to spy on small German Worker’s Party (DAP)

Hitler • 1920 Changed name of the party to the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) • Nov. 8 -9, 1923 Beer Hall Putsch • Hitler spent 5 months in prison for his role in the putsch. • Mein Kampf

Nazi Rise to Power 1925 -1933 • 1925 Restructuring of the NSDAP • SA • Legal election. • 1929 Great Depression • By 1930 Nazis were the second largest party in Germany • Jan. 30, 1933 Hitler became chancellor

Nazis in Power 1933 -1934 • Feb. 27, 1933 Reichstag fire • March 23, 1933 Enabling Act • SS Heinrich Himmler • June 30, 1934 Night of the Long Knives • Aug. 2, 1934 Hindenburg died; Hitler in sole power.

Road to war 1935 -1939 • 1935 Versailles Treaty renounced; Germany began rearmament • March 13, 1936 Rhineland reoccupied • Spanish Civil War 19361939 • March 1938 Austria annexed • Sept. 28, 1938 Sudetenland • March 1939 Czechoslovakia annexed

War • Aug. 23, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact • Sept. 1, 1939 Poland invaded • Sept. 3 Britain and France declared war • Sept. 17 Soviets invaded eastern Poland • Sept. 27 Poland surrendered

Poland 1939

Western Front 1939 -May 1940 • Sept. 1939 - April 1940 Phony War • April 1940 Wehrmacht invaded Denmark and Norway • May 1940 Belgium and the Netherlands invaded • May 10 France invaded through the Ardennes Forest • May 26 OPN DYNAMO • June 22 France surrendered

Battle of Britain • Began July 10, 1940 after Churchill declined to negotiate peace • First battle fought entirely in the air • Luftwaffe 2800 planes Royal Air Force 700 • Radar and command control stations • Sept. 7 Beginning of the Blitz. • Oct. Luftwaffe switched to night bombing.

Balkans 1940 -1941 • Oct. 28, 1940 Italy invaded Greece • April 1940 British troops arrive in Greece • April 1941 Yugoslavia and Greece overrun by Wehrmacht • May 20 -June 1 Battle of Crete

OPERATION BARBAROSSA JUNE 22, 1941 • 116 divisions (14 motorized), 19 panzer divisions, 9 support divisions • Set for April, but postponed until June due to Greek and Yugoslav operations • June 22 Invasion • 2000 Soviet planes destroyed in 1 week • Siege of Leningrad Sept. 1941 -Jan. 1944

Russia Oct. - Dec. 1941 • Georgy Zhukov appointed head of the Red Army • Oct. 19 Moscow declared under siege • Russian winter • Dec. 5 Russian counteroffensive • Germans driven 40 miles from Moscow

Russia 1941

Japan 1937 -1941 • July 28, 1937 Japan invaded China • US declared an embargo on Japanese war material • Sept. 27, 1940 Japan joins the Axis powers • Yamato and Musashi

Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941 • Pearl Harbor attacked by aircraft from 4 carriers • Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, California sunk • 18 damaged ships total, 188 aircraft, 3581 US service personnel and civilians killed • Japanese losses totaled 50 men and 30 aircraft • US declared war on Dec. 8; Dec. 11 Germany and Italy declared war on US

Pearl Harbor

US and Japanese Naval Power

Pacific War 1942 • The Philippeans fell to the Japanese on May 6, 1942 • Bataan Death March • April 18 Doolittle Raid • May 2 -7 Battle of the Coral Sea • June 4 -6 Battle of Midway • Aug. 7 - Feb. 7, 1943 Battle of Guadalcanal

1942 Pacific

Pacific Losses 1942 • • • Battle of the Coral Sea May 7 -8 US: 1 carrier, 66 aircraft, 543 men killed Japan: 1 carrier, 77 aircraft, 1074 men killed Battle of Midway June 4 -7 US: 1 carrier, 147 aircraft, 307 men Japan: 4 carriers, 1 cruiser, 272 aircraft, 3500 men Gaudalcanal August 7 -February 9, 1943 US: 1600 killed, 4200 wounded Japan: 23, 000 killed, 1000 prisoners

Battle for Africa 1924 -1943 • Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel • Aug. 13 Bernard Montgomery • Oct. 23 - Nov. 5, 1942 • Nov. 8, 1942 OPN TORCH • May 7, 1943 Germans defeated in Africa

Russia 1942 -1943 • Spring 1942 German Sixth Army began a drive to Stalingrad • Aug. 19 First attacks on Stalingrad • Fierce house to house fighting • Nov. 19 Russian counteroffensive encircles German Sixth Army • Hitler orders Sixth Army to hold its ground • Dec. 23 relief attempt ends in failure • Feb. 3, 1943 Von Paulus surrendered • Germans resurgent • July 5 -23, 1943 Battle of Kursk

Russian Front 1942 -1943

Eastern Front Losses Sept-July 1943 • Battle of Stalingrad Sept. -Jan. 1943 • Germans 207, 000 killed or wounded, 93, 000 taken prisoner • Soviets 480, 000 killed and missing • Battle of Kursk July 5 -13, 1943 • Germans 50, 000 killed 323 tanks destroyed • Soviets 177, 880 killed 1614 tanks destroyed

Italy 1943 -1944 • July 9 - Aug. 7, 1943 OPN HUSKY • Sept. 3, 1943 Italy surrendered • Winter 1943 - May 11, 1944 Battles for Monte Cassino • Jan. 22, 1944 Anzio • June 4, 1944 Rome captured

Air Warfare 1943 -1945 Europe

Tanks of World War II 1944 Western Front

Battle for France 1944 • • June 6 D-Day July 3 OPN Cobra July 20 Bomb Plot Aug. 19 -25 Battle for Paris • Sept. 17 -25 OPN MARKET-GARDEN • Dec. 16 -Jan. 25, 1945 Battle of the Bulge

1944

1944 Pacific • June 15 Saipan • June 19 -20 Battle of the Philippean Sea “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” • July-Sept. Guam and Peleliu fell to US • Oct. 23 -26 Battle of Leyte Gulf

1945 Europe • Jan-April Russians push into eastern Europe • Feb. 4 -11 Yalta Conference • March-April US and British forces cross the Rhine into Germany • April 22 Russians reach Berlin • April 25 US and Russian troops meet at Torgau • April 30 Hitler committed suicide • May 2 Berlin surrendered as did Germans in Italy • May 7 -8 VE Day

1945 Europe

Europe 1944 -1945 • • • Battle for France June 6 -August 25 Allied: 43, 000 killed, 172, 000 wounded Germans: 509, 000 killed, wounded and captured OPN Bagration June 22 -August 29, 1944 Germans: 350, 000 killed wounded and captured Soviets: 178, 000 killed, 587, 000 wounded Battle of the Bulge Dec. 16 -Jan. 16, 1945 US: 81, 000 killed wounded or captured Germans 100, 000 killed wounded or captured Battle of Berlin April 16 -May 2, 1945 Germans: 500, 000 killed wounded or captured Soviets: 81, 000 killed, 272, 000 wounded

1945 Pacific • Jan. 9 US troops land in the Philippeans • Feb. 19 -Mar. 26 Battle of Iwo Jima • April 1 -June 23 Battle of Okinawa • Aug. 6 Hiroshima • Aug. 9 Nagasaki • Sept. 2 VJ Day

1945 Pacific

Pacific 1945 • • • Iwo Jima Feb. 19 -March 26 US: 6, 821 killed 19, 217 wounded Japan: 20, 867 killed, 1, 083 captured Okinawa April 1 -June 30 US: 12, 000 killed, 36, 000 wounded Japan 107, 539 killed, 23, 764 sealed in caves or buried, 10, 755 captured

Nazi War Crimes The Holocaust • 1935 Nuremburg Laws • Nov. 9, 1938 Kristallnacht • 1940 -1945 Ghettos and mass deportations to eastern Europe • 1941 -1943 Einsatzgruppen • Jan 20, 1942 Wannsee Conference • 1942 -1945 Concentration Camps • Auschwitz, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen • Nov. 14, 1945 -Oct. 1, 1946 Nuremburg Trials

Nazi Atrocities

Holocaust

Aftermath of World War II • Allies • 14, 000 military deaths • 36, 000 civilian deaths • 6, 000 Jews murdered by Nazis • Axis • 8, 000 military deaths • 4, 000 civilian deaths • 72, 000 total deaths for all of World War II