jan 1, 1939 - (Topic 7.13):Fighting the War

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D-Day:
• D-Day was a major turning point in World War II. It was the day when Allied forces, including U.S. soldiers, landed on the beaches of Normandy in France.

• The goal was to open up a second front in Europe to fight Germany, as the Soviet Union had been fighting Germany alone on the Eastern front. This invasion helped weaken Germany and started pushing them back.

• The success of D-Day helped the Allies gain control of France and move toward Germany.

Island Hopping:

• The United States used a strategy called “island-hopping” in the Pacific to defeat Japan. Instead of attacking every island in the Pacific, the U.S. focused on capturing key islands that were important for airstrips and military bases.

• This strategy helped the U.S. avoid attacking heavily fortified islands that would have caused too many casualties. It also allowed them to get closer to Japan without fighting on every island.

• Island-hopping was key to winning the war in the Pacific and getting the U.S. closer to Japan’s main islands.

Atomic Bombs:

• The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945. One was dropped on Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki. This was done to force Japan to surrender and end the war.

• The bombings caused massive destruction and killed many people, but they also helped avoid a full-scale invasion of Japan, which would have resulted in even more deaths.

• The use of atomic bombs ended the war quickly but sparked debates about whether it was the right thing to do.

Causes:

• D-Day and island-hopping were necessary because the Allies needed to fight Germany on two fronts and defeat Japan, which was expanding across the Pacific.

• The atomic bombs were used to end the war with Japan quickly, after many battles in the Pacific that caused a lot of destruction and loss of life.

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