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Miracle at Dunkirk
Between May 5 and June 4, 1940, 140,000 Belgian and French soldiers and 198,000 British soldiers were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk to England. This enabled Britain to keep fighting in the war. It also encouraged the 250,000 British and French soldiers to escape across the channel within the next three weeks.
info- https://www.hoover.org/research/miracle-dunkirk
https://www.britannica.com/event/Dunkirk-evacuation
image: http://frogstorm.com/daily/the-miracle-of-dunkirk -
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad lasted from September 8, 1941- January 27, 1944. After the Nazis had seized the Soviet Union, they surrounded the city of Leningrad. In order to evacuate citizens, the Soviets used an ice and water road across Lake Ladoga. The Red Army was able to drive off the Nazis after 900 days. It resulted in the death of over 1 million Soviet civilians.
info- https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/siege-of-leningrad
image- https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Leningrad -
Battle of Stalingrad- soldiers.https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was fought between German and Russian forces in the city of Stalingrad, one of Russia's most important industrial cities. It was fought between August 1942 and February 1943. The citizens were not evacuated because the Russian troops thought their presence would give them an advantage. Although facing heavy loss, by February 1943, Russia had regained Stalingrad and captured nearly 100,000 German -
Battle of Midway https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway
The Battle of Midway took place between the U.S. Navy and Japanese Navy 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S victory depleted Japan's hope to neutralize the United States. Yamamoto, the commander of the Japanese Navy, sought out to replicate the attack on Pearl Harbor with a surprise attack on the Allied base at Midway Island. The U.S had begun to break the Japanese communication codes and were able to find out weeks before about the planned attack. -
D-Day
156,000 American, British, and Canadien troops landed and invaded a 50 mile stretch of the coast of the Normandy region in France. By the end of August 1944, northern France had been liberated. In the following spring, the Allies had defeated the Germans.
info: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
image: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/d-day-allies-invade-europe -
Battle of Iwo Jima https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima https://www.britannica.com/topic/Battle-of-Iwo-Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought between the U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan. U.S. forces invaded the island of Iwo Jima, located 750 miles off the coast of Japan. The battle lasted for five weeks. Only about 200 of the original 21,000 Japanese soldiers survived; 7,000 U.S. soldiers died. As soon as the Americans invaded the island, they were met with challenges such as deep sand dunes which were hard to walk stably on. This led the U.S. to rethink further war strategies. -
Tokyo Fire Raids
The United States launched a new offensive against Japan. They dropped 2,000 tons of bombs on Tokyo in 48 hours. Nearly 16 square miles of Japan were incinerated and between 80,000 and 130,000 civilians were killed. In order to increase the bomb load capacity of the planes, the planes did not carry any guns. This also increased the speed of the planes
info: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/firebombing-of-tokyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1945) -
Battle of Okinawa https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa
This was the last major battle of World War I. More than 180,000 U.S Army and Marine Corps invaded the island of Okinawa to make the final push towards Japan. The Americans knew that securing the airbases on Okinawa was necessary in order to launch a successful invasion of Japan. The Japanese, however, had moved to the inwards, making it effortless for the U.S. to get ashore. The U.S. then was able to quickly secure the Kadena and Yontan airfields.
