Topic 3: World War II Battles
and Strategies
EUROPE & NORTH AFRICA
PACIFIC ISLANDS
Sides and Strategies
 The Allies: Britain, Soviet Union (USSR), & the US
 The Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, & Japan - All
Totalitarian regimes
Strategies: Europe
 The Allies’ Strategy in Europe -
Defeat Hitler First - Most of the
resources were put into Europe
 Germany’s Strategy in Europe:
Defeat the USSR quickly and
defeat Britain using bombs and
U-boats before the US can enter
the war. (Germany easily beat
France in 1939)
Strategies: Pacific
 The US Strategy in the Pacific - Island hopping -
Attacking islands close to Japan and jumping
over fortified islands and cutting off their supply
lines.
 Japan’s Strategy: After Pearl Harbor, Japan
hopes to conquer Southeast Asia and the Pacific
quickly
Turning Points: Battles
A) El Alamein (Egypt) Germany was poised to take
Egypt and the Suez Canal which would have given
them access to the oil fields in the Middle East and
even attack the USSR from the South, but the British
defeat them in a desert campaign (Operation Torch).
B) Stalingrad (August 1942 – February 1943).
Germany wanted to seize Russian oil fields and
capture Stalingrad.
They are stopped by the brutal winter. German
troops surrender to the Soviet Union due to
starvation and cold. It was the turning point in the
Eastern Front.
Siege of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Midway
 D) Normandy, France (D-Day June 6th 1944) - The
Allies land in German-occupied France. There are
heavy causalities for the US and its Allies, but the
liberation of Western Europe begins

beach landing
https://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=2368
3:00 (Col Moore) 5:43 (Anderson)
Battles of Iwo Jima & Okinawa
 E) Iwo Jima & Okinawa (1945) - Though the Island
Hopping victories are costly, American troops get
closer to Japan – The Japanese soldiers fight
heroically and many commit suicide rather than
surrender

(Civ @ War 39-50) (HF 37:00-41:15)
 F) The atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki




(1945) -President Truman is told that an invasion of
Japan might cost a million lives.
Dropping the atomic bomb would be the quickest
end to war
Dropped on 2 Japanese cities: Hiroshima & Nagasaki
About 140,000 Japanese civilians are killed in the
blasts. More die from radiation later
Japanese leaders surrender to the US.
Nagasaki:
Before
and
After
the
Bomb
Panoramic