Test 3 Review Essays - Military History By Country, Military

Test 3 Review Poland Blitzkrieg- On 1st September 1939, German forces invaded Poland. Blitzkrieg was now put into practice. A form of warfare used by German forces in World War II. In a blitzkrieg, troops in vehicles, such as tanks, made quick surprise strikes with support from airplanes. These tactics resulted in the swift German conquest of France and Poland in 1940 (see fall of France).Blitzkrieg is German for "lightning war." The Third Reich-The Third German Empire, established by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Evacuation of Dunkirk-German motorized columns broke into France through southern Belguim, split the Franco-British forces;. British withdrew their troops but not their equipment and French was taken over by the Nazis. Dates: May 27, 1940 - Jun 4, 1940 1940 France Surrenders(Compiegne)- April 1940, ending the "phony war." Hitler then moved on to the Netherlands and Belgium. By late June 1940, France was forced to surrender. When France surrendered, Americans realized that England was all that stood between Hitler controlling all of Europe. Battle of Britain- an aerial battle fought in World War II in 1940 between the German Luftwaffe (air force), which carried out extensive bombing in Britain, and the British Royal Air Force, which offered successful resistance. Jul 10, 1940 - Oct 31, 1940 Eva Braun-A minor movie star in the 1930s, Eva Braun became Hitler's mistress and married him the day before they committed suicide in the underground bunker at the end of WWII. Operation Barbarossa-The codename for Hitler's attack on Russia, despite the Russo-German Non-aggression Pact. Hitler's reasons for attacking Russia include: Lebensraum; Resources (oil in the south and coal and food in the north); Russia had Europe's largest concentration of Jews; Crusade again Communism. Russian armies retreated slowly, "scorching the earth" as they did to deal with Napoleon. Communist Guerilla bands harassed the invaders. Pearl Harbor(12/7/41)- 7:50-10:00 AM, December 7, 1941 - Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100. In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering World War II. USS Arizona-Battleship sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Almost half of the Americans killed during the attack were on this ship. The ship remains in commission despite having been sunk. A memorial to the soldiers and sailors who died at Pearl Harbor floats above the wreckage of the ship. Dwight D. Eisenhower-Nicknamed "Ike", was a General of the Army (five star general) in the United States Army and U.S. politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953-1961).As President, he oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, kept up the pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race, enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. Concentration Camps-a penal camp where political prisoners or prisoners of war are confined (usually under harsh conditions) Normandy 6/6/44- June 6, 1944, In the first 24 hours, 150,000 allied troops landed on the beach of Normandy. An additional million waded ashore in the following weeks, and allies reached inland in July, arriving in Paris by August. By summer's end British secured Belgium and the Americans recovered France and Luxembourg. 12/44 Battle of Bulge-AKA Battle of the Ardennes started on December 16, 1944. planned by the Germans was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis's favor. The "bulge" refers to the salient the Germans initially put into the Allies' line of advance. the most bloody of the comparatively few European battles American forces experienced in WWII, the 19,000 American dead Island Hopping-The Americans would bypass heavily fortified islands and starve and bomb the smaller surrounding ones to push the Japanese back. The focus of the Americans became defending the islands in Alaska. Guadalcanal-Where a struggle of terrible ferocity developed and continued for six months, inflicting heavy losses on both sides. In the end, however, the Japanese were forced to abandon the island-and with it their last chance of launching an effective offensive