World War II 1941 1945 Players Axis Expansion

World War II (1941 -1945)

Players

Axis Expansion: Japan, Germany, Italy areas of occupation in red (map)

Axis Powers 1942 – Areas of occupation in red.

Chronology • 1933 Hitler elected Chancellor of Germany • 1939 Germany invades Poland; Italy invades Albania • 1939 Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand declare war on Germany • 1940 Italy joins Germany • 1941 US & Britain declare war on Japan Germany declares war on US • 1942 Air Attack on Germany • 1943 -44 Allied push into North Africa & Sicily • Sept 1943 Italy surrenders • June 1944 D-Day at Normandy • May 1945 VE German surrenders • Aug 1945 A-Bombs dropped on Japan • Sept 1945 VJ Japan surrenders

Japanese Holdings in Pacific – from Korea south to Dutch East Indies, approaching Australia

Allied Pacific Plan was to begin at the southernmost extension of Japanese holdings and push north. Southernmost point was the Solomon Islands where its airstrip made Guadalcanal most significant.

Guadalcanal – photos

Burials in Pacific were many in 1942

Axis Powers 1942 – note the expansion of German to the south and east.

Stalingrad, a Russian city on river Volga Important for trade and communication, for shipping resources to the north. Also, it was named after Stalin, and its capture would have beem a blow to Russian morale.

Eastern Front in September – notice the movement of German attacks to the east at all points: Latvia, Belorussia, and Ukraine, down to the Black Sea and Crimean.

Attack on Stalingrad – arrows mark the line of Germany’s attack on the city.

German fighting into (left map) and surrounded out of (right map) Stalingrad. Arrows above mark the attacks of the Russian counter-offensive movements in the south and around Stalingrad.

WWII Toll (Europe) • • Total Deaths % Prewar Pop US 500, 000. 4 France 810, 000 1. 9 Germany 6, 805, 000 9. 5 Russia 20, 000 10. 4% Overall dead: 52, 199, 262