The End of the War

The D-Day Invasion: June 1944

By 1944, the Americans were in Italy and the Russians were in Poland.  The German empire was contracting.  The last country that remained was France.

• June, 1944, the Allied Invasion of France = D-Day; the largest invasion in the history of man.  More than 1.5 million soldiers arrived on the shores of northern France at a place called Normandy.  The fighting was fierce and the German resistance was impressive but the overwhelming numbers of Americans, British, and Canadians were able to overcome the resistance and push the Germans back.  

• About 10 months later, in May of 1945, the Americans/British/Canadians were at the Rhine River - Germany's western border.  The Russians were East of Berlin.  It was only a matter of time.  Hitler knew the end was near.  On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker (underground hideout) in Berlin.  

• On May 8, 1945 - the Germans surrender unconditionally.  The war in Europe is over. 

The United States was able to contract the Japanese empire with the Battle of Midway, 1942.  This was followed by more victories including:

• Battle of Iwo Jima - where the US raised the American Flag after an intense battle.  From Iwo Jima, American planes can hit mainland Japan.

• Battle of Okinawa - the closest island to mainland Japan.

Japanese culture is different than European culture.  It was apparent that the Japanese will not surrender and it is conceivable that they will fight to the last man.  An invasion of Japan would have cost millions of lives.  In April of 1945, Americans successfully tested the first Atomic Bomb in Arizona.

•   President  Harry Truman, who became President after the death of Franklin Roosevelt, warned Japan and asked for their surrender.  Japan refused.

• On August 6, 1945 the US dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima - about 80,000 people were killed in less than a second.  The Japanese still would not surrender.

• August 9, 1945 the US dropped another bomb on the city of Nagasaki - killed about 50,000 people.  

• On August 10th the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and began to invade the island from the north.  

• On August 14, Emperor Hirohito declared the Japanese surrender.

• On September 2, 1945 - the Japanese officially surrendered on board the USS Missouri to the allied powers (pictured above).

World War II was over.