Major Battles During WWII Events that Changed the Course of the War

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1 The Battle of Britain Major Battles During WWII Events that Changed the Course of the War With all of Europe under its control, as the last hold out The English Channel is only at the most narrow point Hitler was not far from his Hitler began planning a of Britain but first he needed to clear the skies over the English Channel before he could attack The German Air Force, or Lutwaffe set out to (RAF) from the skies in July, 1940 Wave after wave of German Messerschmitts, Heinkels and Stukas flew across the English Channel They spread out over Britain to their bombing targets which were: Slowly, the RAF planes were At one point every fighter plane Britain had was in the air If the Germans had launched a full attack, there would have been Suddenly, German in August 1940 the RAF made a surprising bombing raid against Berlin (Germany s Capital city) The Germans were and responded by British cities in revenge The plan was to the civilian population into but the plan Bombs rained down on London day and night so people moved into they rebuilt and became not weaker

2 German raids on London allowed RAF fighters like Spitfires and Hurricanes to September 15, German planes blacked out the skies over England but the RAF was ready When the day was over the Hitler called off the attack 2 days later The Battle of Britain was won about 80 from Canada The Dieppe Raid By 1941, the Soviet Union was the Hitler in mainland Europe The Russian leader, pressed the Allies to open a to ease the pressure If the Allies attacked Hitler in France, the Russians might get The British knew they to fight the Germans in Europe and win but their allies put pressure on them to attack The British in France that would satisfy the Russians, Americans and Canadians It could also and would help when later On August 19, 1942 soldiers traveled in landing crafts to the heavily fortified Their goal was to capture the town, destroy the port facilities and airport, and The key to their victory was When the first Canadians hit the beach, the The Germans had during the night and some ships had become lost and arrived late to the raid

3 The raid, which was supposed to be at night, didn t start until The Canadians landed and faced a town completely fortified with Many land craft were blown right out of the water Only a few soldiers actually reached the town after landing When it was all over, had been taken prisoner There were two major reasons why the attack failed: 1. Attacked a 2. by air and sea before attack Leaders now understood that were needed to break the Germans in France Battle of the Atlantic The and most important battle of WWII Since Britain is an island its people and armies needed supplies brought across the Atlantic Ocean As soon as Hitler had control in continental Europe he acted to to the rest of the world Before the war even started, German U-Boats had where the convoy would travel The Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Merchant Marine (civilian sailors) had the critical job of to and from Britain German U-Boats hunted convoys in groups called wolf packs By 1941, the Wolf Packs were sinking Allied ships than they could be built

4 Eventually, sailors got better, stronger and better warships were built and the Canadian of the convoys By 1943 the tide was turning as more ships got past the Wolf Packs and more U- Boats were sunk got to Britain The Italian Campaign July 1943, Canadian, American and British troops caught the Germans and Italians by when they landed in Sicily (Italy) The Allies had placed a dead body where they knew the Germans would find it it had fake papers saying the Allies planned to Sicily fell after and in September the Allies landed in Southern Italy When the Allies invaded Southern Italy, Mussolini and he was executed Italians but Hitler sent German troops to occupy Italy and continue fighting Gradually, the Allies fought their way One of the fiercest battles was for the port of which finally fell after Canadians had died The Germans were not ready to give up, deciding to fight Canadians became experts and fighting from street to street The Invasion of Normandy: D-Day By June 1944, the Germans knew of occupied France was coming they didn t know The Allies made it look like they were planning to attack the French port of

5 The put up empty tents, on the British side across from Calais German spy planes reported the buildup and the perfectly The Germans were surprised when the Allies launched on June 6, 1944 on the French beach of Normandy The invasion force included American, British and Canadian troops with tanks, trucks, guns, soldiers and other equipment There were battleships and aircraft The invasion stuck the Normandy beaches at different locations which were code named: The Canadians landed at Though the Germans were surprised, their But by the end of the Day the Allies had taken the beaches and began marching inland to liberate Europe After landing in Normandy, Canadian troops advanced northeast across northern France and Belgium and into the Netherlands There, they were involved in some of the of the war as they pushed the German army further and further back The Germans that held back the ocean from the low lands making movement extremely difficult As the Canadians advanced and liberated Dutch cities, families came out of their homes and Finally, on May 5, 1945 the Germans in the Netherlands surrendered this marked the of Hitler s control of Europe