Who: Americans and Japanese

What: 60,000 Soldiers stormed to Okinawa, the final battle before an invasion of mainland Japan.

Why: The objective was to secure the island, thus removing the last barrier standing between U.S. forces and Imperial Japan. With Okinawa firmly in hand, the U.S. military could finally bring its full might upon the Japanese, conducting unchecked strategic air strikes against the Japanese mainland

Sources: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/battle-of-okinawa

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1945/battle-of-okinawa.html

• When: December 7 1941

• Where: Pearl harbor Hawaii

• Who: the Japanese army against the military base stationed at pearl harbor

• What: The Japanese imperial army launched a surprise air-raid attack on the u.s. naval base of pearl harbor.

• Why: Japan hoped to greatly weaken US naval strength and strategically capture vital supplies.

Significance: The attack on pearl harbor was the turning point of the war that was a major contributor towards the U.S entering the war.

• Source:

  • https://www.history.com/articles/pearl-harbor

  • https://www.defense.gov/multimedia/experience/remembering-pearl-harbor/

• When: 1939

• Where: King Edward's School, Birmingham, England

• Who: The six triple eight was the first all-black all-female battalion to be sent overseas during world war two

• What: Their job was to help deliver mail to the soldiers to help boost morale and help win the war they were tasked to label, sort, and clear millions of pieces of mail including letters, photographs, and gifts that had been left in warehouses for months, even years.

• Source:

  • https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/6888th.htm

  • https://www.thenmusa.org/articles/a-different-kind-of-victory-the-6888th-central-postal-directory-battalion/

• When: June 6 1944

• Where: Normandy, France

• Who: The allies committed 39 divisions to the Battle of Normandy: 22 American, 12 British, 3 Canadian, 1 Polish, and 1 French, totaling over a million troops.

• What: D-day or operation OVERLORD was when the allied forces launched a surprise attack on the shores and beaches of Normandy France.

• Why: Operation OVERLORD aimed to liberate Nazi-occupied Western Europe by forcing the Germans to fight on a second front, and ultimately help ending the war in Europe.

• sources:

  • https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-europe/operation-overlord.html

  • https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/d-day-and-normandy-campaign

• Auschwitz was a concentration camp that was located in Poland during world war II. It is estimated that at least 1.1 million people were murdered in Auschwitz during the 5 years of its existence. The camp itself played a major role in the holocaust. As the holocaust is known as one of the world greatest atrocities ever calming over 11 million lives.

• Source:

  • https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/auschwitz-and-shoah/the-number-of-victims/

  • https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/

• Fought near the western front of Egypt between October 23 and November 4 1942, El Alamein was the turning point of the North African campaign During world war two.The Axis powers of Italy and Germany suffered a decisive defeat by the British Army.

• Sources:

  • https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-5-minute-history-of-the-battle-of-el-alamein

  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff5_second_alamein.shtml

• When: December, 13, 1937

• Who: The Japanese against the civilians of Nanjing.

• What:

  The Japanese invaded, looted, and took control of Nanjing the capitol of Jiangsu; a province in east china

• Why:

  The Japanese wanted to exploit other countries resources because they had none. They also wanted to gain more territory and spread their militaristic propaganda throughout Asia.

• Sources:

  • https://sfi.usc.edu/collections/nanjing-massacre

  • https://www.history.com/articles/nanjing-massacre

  
  

• Josephine baker was a french and american singer dancer and performer. She was very popular during the jazz era and she was most known for her crazy and unique dances. Josephine baker was also an advocate for anti-racism. She turned to espionage during the second world war and became a french spy, using her fame to get information form the axis powers.

• Sources

  • https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/siren-resistance-artistry-and-espionage-josephine-baker

• When: July 16 1945

• Where: Los Alamos, New Mexico

• Who: J. Robert Oppenheimer

• What: The atomic bomb

• Why: The atomic bomb was created by the U.S. shortly after the attack on pearl harbor. It was created partly out of intelligence reports that Nazi Germany might acquire one first but also partly because the U.S. hoped that it would end the war in Japan.

• Sources:

  • https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature Stories/Story/Article/3464967/army-general-and-physicist-helped-usher-in-the-atomic-age

  • https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/decision-drop-atomic-bomb

• When: August 6 1945

• Where: Nagasaki Japan

• What: An atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki japan by the U.S.

• Why: The U.S. wanted the Japanese to surrender

• Who:The U.S. and the Japanese

• Sources:

  • https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/non-proliferation/hiroshima-nagasaki-and-subsequent-weapons-testin

  • The Bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945

    The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

    https://www.nationalww2museum.org › war › articles

• When: February 10, 1943

• Who: Vesta Stoudt

• What: Duct tape

• Why: Vesta stoudt took notice of a problem with the ammunitions packing and came up woth a solution to open the packing quicker saving time and lives. The duct tape was used for other things as well

• Sources:

  • https://www.jnj.com/our-heritage/vesta-stoudt-the-woman-who-invented-duct-tape

  • https://www.ppmindustries.com/en/news/long-history-duct-tape

• Who: Enrico Fermi

• Where: Manhattan, New York

• When: born September 29, 1901, died November 28, 1954

• What: Enrico Fermi was a physicist who was one of the chief architects in The Manhattan Project. He was the main contributor of building the first nuclear reactor.

• Sources

  • https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enrico-Fermi

  • https://www.britannica.com/event/Manhattan-Project

• When: March 22, 1941

• Who: Charles DeBow Jr., Benjamin O. Davis Jr., George "Spanky" Roberts, Mac Ross, and Lemuel Custi

• Where: Tuskegee, Alabama

• What: The first group of black pilots to become apart of the AFF and helped fight in the war in parts of north Africa and Europe.

• Sources:

  • https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/tuskegees-first-five/

  • https://www.pbs.org/articles/who-are-the-tuskegee-airmen

Who: Americans and Japanese

What: 250 Allied warships lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The flags of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China fluttered above the deck of the Missouri. Just after 9 a.m. Tokyo time, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on behalf of the Japanese government.

Why: Japan surrendered because of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sources: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/surrender-of-japan#:~:text=On%20September%202%2C%201945%2C%20Japanese,Truman.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/september-2/japan-surrenders

Who: Benito Mussolini (Italy) and Ethiopia

What: Ethiopia, one of only two independent African nations at the time, was invaded on Oct. 3, 1935 by Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini. The Italians committed countless atrocities on the independent African state. Poisonous gas, aerial bombardment, flame throwers, and concentration camps were all employed.

Why: A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Rejecting all arbitration offers, the Italians invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935.

Sources: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/ethiopia-invaded/ https://www.britannica.com/event/Italo-Ethiopian-War-1935-1936

• When: 1942–1945

• Where: Manhattan

• What: The Manhattan Project was a U.S. government research project that produced the first atomic bombs.

• Sources:

  • Manhattan Project - National Park Service

    National Park Service (.gov)

    https://www.nps.gov › mapr › learn › manhattan-project

  • Manhattan Project | Definition, Scientists, Timeline ...

    Britannica

    https://www.britannica.com › event › Manhattan-Project

Who: Great Britain and German Air Force

What: After a nearly four-month air campaign waged over England, Britain's Royal Air Force and Navy respond to heavy bombing attacks from Germany's Luftwaffe air force, including “the Blitz,” in an attempt to destroy the RAF before invading.

Why: Germany wanted to gain air superiority over the UK

Source: https://www.history.com/articles/world-war-ii-battles-timeline#Battle-of-Britain-July-10-to-October-31-1940 https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Britain-European-history-1940

-Holocaust survivor, author, Nobel Peace Prize winner

-Elie was 15 when he was captured by the Nazis and sent away to a concentration camp in Poland

-He is the most famous for his book, Night, which describes his experiences in the Holocaust

TCi Textbook, Pages 426-427

• When: 1942

• Where: Eastman Kodak a film company

• Who: Dr. Harry Wesley Coover

• Why: Super glue was accidentally created while attempting to make clear plastic gun sights for Allied soldiers.

• Sources:

  • https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2021/07/30/how-world-war-ii-led-to-the-invention-of-super-glue/

  • https://www.galliumlaw.com/sticking-it-to-the-axis-the-surprising-discovery-of-super-glue-during-wwii

When was it made: 1942

Sources: https://www.history.com/articles/weird-weapons-world-war-ii

Who: John Randall and Harry Boot

Why: To understand this gadget.

Purpose: Generate high-powered microwaves.

Sources: https://spectrum.ieee.org/magnetron

• When: 1936-40

• Where: Antarctica

• Who: Adolf Hitler and The Third Reich

• Why: The Nazis wanted to reduce their dependency on other countries so they began to search for ways to save their money and find ways to stretch their resources.

• Sources:

  • https://www.history.com/articles/hitler-nazi-secret-expedition-antarctica-whale-oil

  • https://www.coolantarctica.com/Community/antarctic-mysteries-hitlers-secret-base.php

• In 2007, the Nanjing-born artist Zhang Yubiao used sketches to depict some of the victimized relatives of the Nanjing Massacre survivors, completing a total of 33 portraits. “What Does the Nanjing Massacre Have to Do with Me” is an oil painting that was created in 2017.

• Gerda Weissmann Klein is a Holocaust survivor, she lived for six years under Nazi rule, including three years in concentration camps, before being liberated by an American soldier who later became her husband in 1946.

• sources:

  • https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/id-card/gerda-weissmann

  • https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/fall-2005/here-to-tell-my-story

• Edith Hahn Beer was an Austrian Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by hiding her Jewish identity and marrying a Nazi officer. There was a movie made in 2003 about her.

• Sources:

  • https://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Officers-Wife-Survived-Holocaust/dp/006293158X#:~:text=Edith%20Hahn%20Beer%20(January%2024,and%20marrying%20a%20Nazi%20officer.