Key Battles In The Second World War

The battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the eastern front of world war two where Nazi Germany and all of its associates fought the Soviet Union over control over the city of Stalingrad. The battle of Britain was a large scale battle in which the Britain’s fought the Germans to protect the UK.

Stalingrad - Site of critical World War II Soviet victory that reversed Germany's advance to the East. In late 1942, Russian forces surrounded the Germans, and on Feb. 2, 1943, the German Sixth Army surrendered. First major defeat for the Germans in World War II.

Okinawa, Japan was the site of the largest amphibious battle of World War II. The Battle of Okinawa resulted in the death of over 12,000 American and 100,000 Japanese soldiers, which lasted from late March through June 1945. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the main reasons President Harry Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The main reason for the bombing was to put a stop to the American death toll. Approximately two months later on August 6, 1945, the massive nuclear weapon was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb destroyed about four square miles of the city and also caused the death of 65,000 Japanese citizens. Because of this bombing, the Japanese government surrendered a week later.

On August 6, 1945, “Little Boy” the first atomic bomb, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima and three days later, “Fat Man” a second bomb, was dropped on Nagasaki, resulting in the untimely death of over 20,000 people. This was done as an offensive and retaliation by the United States of America, whom had feeling of revenge and an unwavering desire to end an ongoing war as quickly and decisively as possible, against the Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, this took place right after a demand for an unconditional surrender of the Japanese by the Allied leaders by means of a Potsdam Declaration, in late July 1945, was flatly rejected by Japanese leaders. Thus resulting in the use of these atomic bombs being authorized by President Truman.

While the Battle of the Bulge was starting the Soviets were also fighting the Germans on the other side of Germany. Whenever the Allied forces invaded Normandy on D-Day the Germans were forced to fight on two sides.

On August 6, 1945 when President Truman decided to bomb Hiroshima with the bomb nicknamed “little boy” causing over 6 percent of the city to be leveled out and causing 70,000 civilians casualties. But the real question was if this act was necessary. The evidence points out that yes it was a necessity to stop another war from beginning. The united stated targeted two major military and industrial cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) to stop an invasion of Japan. Which Truman knew would cause “Okinawa from one end or japan to the other” and his assumptions were very legitimate. The Japanese took the initiative to try and start a new war with the united states with the bombing of the Pearl Harbor, to try and destroy the military and air forces, but while doing that in a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking,

On September 3rd, 1942, Germans reach the outskirts of Stalingrad expecting not much of a fight. Russia, however brought a bigger fight than Germany was expecting. During the winter, as Germany blew Stalingrad to rubble, they were running short on food and ammunition. Germans were also freezing as well as hungry. Approximately, 150,000 Germans were killed during this battle.

The Battle of Stalingrad was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (present day Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R during World War II. The battle for Stalingrad was fought between the Soviet Union and the Axis of Germany, Romania, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943. The major parts of the battle occurred in Eastern Europe in present day Ukraine and into the Soviet Union up to the Volga River which splits the city of Stalingrad. The battle of Stalingrad only occurred because of Adolf Hitler’s hatred for Soviet President Joseph Stalin and the city being named after him.

On June 22, 1944, Soviet forces opened a major offensive defending the center of the eastern front in western Belorussia.

Evidence to support this claim states, “Despite resistance in parts – such as a Kursk – they were in retreat on the Eastern Front from February 1943 on.” (Trueman). This quote states how the battle was a huge defeat for the Germans. Once the Germans surrendered inside of Stalingrad, they started retreating from the U.S.S.R. The Soviets, reached Berlin on April 16,1945, when the Battle of Berlin began.

Out East, the Soviet Army, after some early setbacks, however they began to steamrole the aggressive Germans with a taste of their own medicine. They pushed the Soviet Nations, from the awaken war. This along with large stockpiles of tanks, and aircrafts.While the Soviet Military grew. the Germans Military seemingly shrank. On May 1st German General approached Soviet General Charilen. He waived the surrender flag. They surrendered the following

The German Army never fully recovered from the beating it took in Russia around Moscow and elsewhere during the winter of 1941-42 when it suffered over a million casualties. For a time, the entire Eastern Front had teetered on the verge of collapse as division upon division of well-equipped Russians materialized seemingly out of nowhere and attacked.

The German Luftwaffe controlled the skies, and Hitler’s Army Group South (B) had encircled much of Russia ground forces within Stalingrad. Unfortunately for Hitler, his mistrust of intelligence left him unprepared for the military tactic employed by Russian military leaders. The Soviets, unlike during the Battle of Moscow, had not placed all of their forces within the initial defense of Stalingrad. Rather, on October 11, 1942, German SIGINT assets reported a “comprehensive regroupment of Soviet forces between the Don and Volga” (Thomas, 1987). The early German intelligence reports concerning a large force mustered north of Stalingrad proved accurate, much to the dismay of Hitler and his senior military leadership. The Soviet military had changed course between its defense of Moscow and its defense of Stalingrad; in the latter case, the Soviets decided to withhold the majority of their forces until after the initial German onslaught concluded. Now an army divided geographically between multiple objectives, the German Army Group South (B) could not sustain its advance following initial victories surrounding Stalingrad. The German Luftwaffe proved ineffective as well in routing out a sizeable bunkered enemy force as a result of prior fortifications made by the Russians. What Hitler believed to be an easily won objective turned into nearly 10 months of face-to-face combat throughout the sprawling city

The German invasion of Russia was code named Operation Barbarossa. It proved to be the biggest and one of the fastest military operations in human history. The Germans made rapid advances and stormed into important territories. However they had not calculated two factors. The Russian winter, that was so harsh that no foreign military could successfully endure it for a long time, and the Russian leader Joseph Stalin, who was much tougher a man and much ruthless a leader than even the Fuhrer of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler

During World War II, the battle of Stalingrad began in the city of Stalingrad, Russia and was fought between August of 1942 and February of 1943. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad It is still considered today to be one of Russia’s greatest battles in which the Russian army defended itself from invasion by the German army. This battle essentially stopped Germany’s determined advance into Russian territory. This marked a huge turning point in the war for the Allies. It was a very important war because it crippled the German offensive as well as destroying much of its army.