American Soldiers (Garrett)
A boy that was 19 years old had to go to the army. He had never been any where outside of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. He had been training for 2 months. Then he boarded a troop ship. Once he got on the ship he sailed to Europe and joined the fight. He was shocked of how quickly his life had changed. He said, “It seemed unreal. All of a sudden, there you were right in the thick of it and people were dying and you were scared out of your wits.” That is what he said. Over 16 million Americans served during World War II. Like Robert most of them had never been far from where they lived before. Now they were in war in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and on the islands of the Pacific oceans. The only way to talk to there families is by letter. Many of the soldiers were children of immigrants. That was a great advantage. In any group of soldiers 1person at least spoke German, Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, or Japanese. It was helpful when they were fighting all over the world. The soldiers had another advantage it was the Navajo language. The people that use it are known as “Code Talkers.” Their language is a secret code that can not be broken. Only about 30 people in the world know how to speak it. It is all in memory. The people who spoke that language took part in many battles against Japanese Forces. They could send messages under heavy fire, and it would be faster than code machines. This helped people not get killed and win battles.

Major Turning Points (Micah)
The beginning of 1942 the axis powers continued gaining territory around the world. In Asia the Japanese forces captured the Philippines and fewer other islands on the Pacific Ocean. In Europe, the German army went hundred of miles into the Soviet Union. Through the years, however, the allies were able to win several major wins. These wins became Major Turning Point in the war. The Battle of Midway was a major turning pointing the war V.S. Japan. The Japan destroyed many American ships in Pearl Harbor. Now it hoped to all of the American ships in the Pacific Ocean in one major battle. Both of them choose to fight at the Midway Island, a small island located in northwest of Hawaii. In May 1942 a fleet of Japanese ships began to move east in the Pacific Ocean. Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the American Naval Forces in the Pacific, knew that Japan was planning a very good attack. But Japan didn’t know were to attack would be. American code-breakers told him it will be at the Midway. Working at a place in Pearl Harbor, the code-breakers cracked Japanese codes and secrets messages sent by Japan’s war planners. A special expert code-breaker name Joe Rochefort he was in charge of this effort. Rochefort was able tell the American Naval commanders what Japan was planning. These are the words he said “We could tell them what was going to happen, such things as where the Japanese aircraft carriers would be.” The knowledge was very useful, but still the American sailors and American pilots still had to fight the battle. On June 3 the American fighting pilots saw a Japanese fleet. The flying planes called the “dive bombers,” the navy pilots destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and many other ships and planes. After the Battle of Midway Japan’s navy was no longer stronger enough to continue to capture the island in the Pacific Ocean. The United States began to win the territory of Japan. A second major turning point came in the Soviet Union. You will read that Germany invaded the Soviet
Union in 1941 this was one of the biggest invasion of the country by another in the history of the world. German forces quickly fought to go to the major cites of the Soviet Union. One of Hitler’s main goals was to go get and capture the industrial city of Stalingrad. The Soviet army fought there best to make the Stalingrad. By the summer of 1942 the city was completely destroyed by guns and bombs. The General Vasily Chuikov of the Soviet Troops in Stalingrad said, “The streets of the city are dead.”


Victory in Europe (Reese)
By the time it was the spring of 1944, the Soviet Army had forced all of the Germans out of the Soviet Union. The Axis forces in North Africa and Italy were also defeated by the Allied Powers. But the War was just beginning. All of the Allies knew they were going to have to invade the German-controlled Western Europe. Although, the Germans knew it too, and they were getting prepared. The American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of all Allied forces. He chose the coastal region of Normandy, France, to be the location for the Allied invasion. During the night of June 5, 1944, an invasion force of 175,000 soldiers and also 6,000 ships sailed from Great Britain toward the coast of France. The date of the invasion, of D-Day, would be June 6. It would be the largest invasion by sea in the world’s history. Normandy was reached on the morning of June 6, by the Allied forces. British, Canadian, and American soldiers jumped from boats and began wading up to the land. Facing deadly blasts from German guns, Allied soldiers fought their way onto the beach. The invasion cost many lives, but it was a success. By the night of June 6, the Allies had captured the beaches of Normandy. “Right here was history in the making,” wrote an American soldier named Eugene Lawton. “Events taking place that kids will be reading about in the future at their schools.” The Allied troops began battling their way toward Germany. The Allied forces liberated after town from German control. Finally in Dec. 1944, German forces made one final attack. This attack, which was called the Battle of the Bulge, turned into the biggest battle ever fought by the U.S Army. Both sides of the battle had suffered big losses, but American General George S. Patton helped lead the Allied forces to triumph.



Victory in Asia (Josh)
After the U.S. got back from Europe they celebrated that win. But the bad news is they still battling a Japanese army. Then one of the American general thought of a new plan. Before they stared fighting they did their new plan they had formed. Now after they did that they stared fighting again. The Japanese didn’t know what they did about their plan. So now that plan was a successes they have closer bases and shorter to to go fight and more attacks on Japan. On February 1945 the U.S. stared battling Iwo Jiama, Japan. General Holland Smith called the fighting on Iwo Jiama and he said “the toughest the Marines ran across in 168 years”. So they begin to fight and there were nearly 50,000 Americans killed during that fight. So the Japanese surrender so that means they were defeated.

The Holocaust



The Costs of War (Reese)
In all the history of the world, World War II was the bloodiest of all the wars in history. Somewhere between 40 & 50 million soldiers and civilians too died in that war, and more then 400,000 U.S.A soldiers were killed. Lots of the most important cities of Europe & Asia were left in ruins. The only other war in history with more killed American soldiers then World War II was the Civil war. The world now needed a new rebuild all over. The U.S was the first to start this process. But the threat of a new kind of weapon had also emerged, the atomic bomb. Lots of people thought that it was now possible to build more powerful and deadlier weapons then ever before.

Key Terms:

1. concentration camp
2. Holocaust
3. Battle of Midway
4. Battle of Stalingrad
5. Battle of the Bulge
6. Dwight D. Eisenhower
7. Goerge Patton
8. Harry S. Truman
9. Anne Frank