World War II Final Exam

  1. Operation Sea Lion
    Was the planned land invasion of Britain. It called for 160,000 German soldiers to land on southeast coast of England. Goering did not approve of plan because he did not believe it would work. In spring of 1940, the German navy opposed the plan which led to Hitler overruling the opposition with Fuhrer Directive 16 which set sea lion in motion
  2. Afrika Korps
    nicknamed desert foxes. were the German troops who aided the Italians in Africa under the command of Erwin Rommel. They would push the allies back 100 miles, but could not get the British out of tobruk naval stronghold. Allies counter attack and push the Germans by to the original front line by May 1942. In summer of 1942, Rommel counter attacks and takes tobruk and pushed all the way into Egypt
  3. Battles of El Alamein
    in the 1st battle, British finally stop the German advance giving them a new hero, Bernard Montgomery. In the second battle, the Germans are stopped again but it is the beginning of the end for the German defeat in Africa and marks the last German offensive in Africa
  4. General Montgomery
    become top British general for the rest of the war following 1st battle of Amiens. Very outspoken.
  5. Operation Barbarossa
    largest operation in the history of warfare to date. Over 4.5 million axis troops invade the Soviet Union along an 1800 mile front in a 3 pronged attack striking at st. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev. It was a military, political, and ethnic cleansing campaign that sought to rid world of communism, Slavs, and everything Hitler hated
  6. Operation Typhoon
    it was the planned attack on Moscow; one German army would attack from the north and one from the south. When the Russians came out,
  7. Mukden Incident
    a region coveted by Russia, china and Japan. Japan puts emperor Puyi on the Manchurian throne. Puyi was last emperor of china who was suppose to act as a Japanese puppet.  league of nations opposes it , so Japan leaves the league of nations. Japanese soldiers frame the Chinese with the destruction of the railroad giving Japan their reason to invade and take over Manchuria.
  8. Rape of Nanking
    was a mass murder and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanking. During this period, hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. Widespread rape and looting also occurred. Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people of the 600,000 Nanking populations were killed.
  9. Hideki Tojo
    General in Japan who becomes prime minister. On November 29, 1941, he issues the point of no return and says if U.S. does not give into Japanese demands, then Japan will attack U.S.
  10. Pearl Harbor
    base of the U.S. pacific naval fleet just north of Honolulu. The Japanese success rested on total surprise coupled with the British and Soviets providing the Americans no aid. Japanese believed if you hit the U.S. hard they would come to the bargaining table. The U.S. had broken Japanese code and new they planned to attack just no idea where, and despite radar picking up Japanese planes incoming, the U.S. thought they were B-17 bombers from L.A. Japan attacks on December 7, 1941 killing 2000 Americans.
  11. Bataan Death March
    Japanese decide to march U.S. soldiers 70 miles to U.S. base. The U.S. soldiers were poorly fed and in need of medical attention, if they fell to the ground, they were killed. Out of the 75,000 that surrendered, 15-20,000 died during the march. When the camp was liberated only 511 remained alive in the camp.
  12. General MacArthur
    commander of the U.S. forces in Philippines who was ordered by Roosevelt to leave Philippines a few weeks prior to the U.S. defeat there. MacArthur vowed to return.
  13. Battle of Midway
    complete U.S. victory and Japanese disaster. The U.S. was waiting on Japanese, and in first 45mins of battle, U.S. sinks 3 Japanese aircraft carriers and two hours later the fourth sinks. As a result of midway, Japan is never able to launch an offensive again.
  14. Island Hopping
    New U.S,. policy after Midway and Guadalcanal. no skipping, go from island to island and take every single Japanese occupied island.
  15. Case/Operation Blue
    It was a two pronged attack towards the Soviet rich oil fields as well as an attack on Stalingrad. The plan called for an all out assault in south near black sea towards oil rich areas of Soviet Union. Hitler needed oil and wanted to deny its use to the Russians. The plan was almost cancelled when German plane carrying plans was captured over Soviet territory, but Stalin calls plans fake.  Hitler abandons initial plan and sends 3/4 of force to north towards Stalingrad. The city held no military significance and was simply seen as offensive for holding Stalin's name.
  16. General von Paulus
    was given the responsibility of taking Stalingrad. he was the commander of the German 6th army. he was promoted to field marshal during Stalingrad to encourage him. of his 300,000 troops, 91,000 surrendered and 40,000 more would die before reaching Siberian prison camps.
  17. General Zhukov
    he'd organized the successful defense of Moscow in 1941, and now was charged with defending Stalingrad.
  18. General Eisenhower
    was given overall command of U.S. and British troops in North Africa. Did not want to engage the French stationed there so he contacted the French and told them to stand down when allies land.
  19. General Mark Clark
    huge asshole, was given the responsibility of meeting with the French government to secure the allied landing in north Africa. French gave mixed  signals leaving Eisenhower in doubt but decided to go ahead anyways
  20. Operation Torch
    occurred November 8, 1942. 75,000 U.S. and British soldiers land in three different places in North Africa. The Western task force was the largest with 35,000 men and was led by George S. Patton. In one day, Patton takes Casablanca. French open up fire, and U.S. return causing the French to immediately cease fire. The fighting was very sporadic and not really a resistance.
  21. Operation Fortitude
    the fake invasion from Dover to Calais. The allies create an entire army of paper planes and tanks. Patton is given command of the fake army and uses 10-15,000 soldiers to pose as 1.5 million by wearing different uniforms
  22. Operation Market Garden
    very risky operation, if it fails it'll be a disaster. The idea was to open a small corridor to a city in the Netherlands which gave access to Germany. Montgomery proposes the British take an infantry through, but eventually it is decided that U.S. and British paratrooper's will land behind German lies and take bridges to open up road. Ultimately it fails because bridges weren't taken and corridor was too narrow to fit many troops through
  23. Warsaw Uprising
    60,000 members of the polish home army take up arms against the Germans. it becomes a street by street battle for Warsaw. 1st few days it isn't going well, but soviets offer zero help to poles. Soviets wanted home army to be destroyed bc there would be no anti communist army left in Warsaw in the future. Very few members of uprising survive, those who did were sent to Siberia.
  24. Battle of the Bulge
    aka operation watch on the Rhine. plan was to attack U.S. through Belgium forest. It was a heavily wooded area and not ideal for an attack. Plan was to hit U.S. hard and push them back into Belgian port. Ultimately it fails, the Germans cant resupply bc of U.S. air superiority and cannot replace losses. Allies suffer 70,000 casualties and Germans suffer 200,000.
  25. Battle of Leyete Gulf
    has the distinction of being the last battle in history where battleships actually engage in fighting against one another. 1st time Japanese use suicide bombers as a coordinated attack.
  26. Kamikaze
    suicide bombers who were not air force of naval personnel but mostly off the street volunteers. The believed if they did this for Japan they would be enshrined in the Yasukini, one of the holiest sites in all of Japan.
  27. Iwo Jima
    uninhibited island where Japanese built two air strips and had 21,000 soldiers. 160, 000 U.S. troops land on the island. Japanese have an intricate defense system built in there and kill over 7,000 marines and took U.S. a month to take the mountain. Only 200, of 21,000 Japanese force willingly surrendered.
  28. Okinawa
    Over 100,000 Japanese troops and civilians inhabit the island. U.S. fears citizens will fight also. Over 500,000 U.S., Canadian, and British troops land on island. it takes two months to take island and U.S. suffers 13,000 killed and 30,000 casualties. 94% of Japanese troops die there and half of the Okinawa civilians die.
  29. Yalta Conference
    last wartime meeting that included Roosevelt. Churchill is concerned that FDR has been very giving and will give up post war world to Soviets. FDR and Stalin meet a lot and kind of push Churchill out. Some say FDR say U.S. and Soviets as the worlds super powers and the British as not. Stalin agrees to France being involved in post war Germany. Germany will share responsibility for war, but not alone in the guilt. U.S. an British agree that countries bordering Soviet union can have governments friendly to Soviets but U.S. says you must allow free elections.
  30. Operation Downfall
    drawn up operation to invade the island of Japan. Mostly American, but Russians, British, and Canadians would help. It was very detailed, taking months to plan the 3 wave attack with an estimated 3 years to defeat Japan. The plan is cancelled when Truman asks for the casualty estimate and it is too high. It is believed that decision led to the dropping of the bombs.
  31. Nuremberg Laws
    It essentially stripped Jews of their citizenship. it was a racist chart to determine how or if someone was Jewish. it defined who a Jew was, what they could and could not do, and set a basis for how the Nazi's would treat Jews for the next decade
  32. Kristallnacht
    It was a night of state sponsored terror that claimed 91 Jewish lives in November of 1938 following the assassination of a lower level German diplomat Ernst von Roth. It is translated as crystal night or night of the broken glass. Thousands of Jewish shop, homes, and synagogues were attacked and had glass broken.
  33. Reinhard Heydrich
    Himmler's right hand man is handed the Jewish problem. He is the architect of the holocaust and comes up with a solution to the Jewish problem. He would be murdered by Czechs and in response the S.S. would kill 5000. The codename for the killing of Jews in German occupied Poland would be called Operation Reinhard
  34. Auschwitz
    biggest and most famous death camp in Poland. Located in southern Poland, one million Jews were killed there from all over Europe
  35. Wannsee Conference
    The place where the Nazi's decide mass murder of the Jews is the ultimate goal
  36. Final Solution
    the codename given for the systematic killing of all European Jews.
  37. Nuremberg Trials
    set to begin November 20, 1945. the guidelines for trial were set in august of 1945 in the allies meeting and drafting the London Charter. Charter set up structure of trials, each alli would have 2 judges, one sitting as an alternate and one acting. Over 200 german war criminals were tried in nuremberg. Germans claim allies have to right to try them, but in surrender papers, they gave up political power to allied control counsel giving them control over Germany. They could only try people for crimes after the wars start.
  38. Operation Overlord
    was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day. A 12,000-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving almost 7,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June; more than three million troops were in France by the end of August
  39. Atlantic Wall
    was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1945 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.
  40. Battle of Stalingrad
    Nazi Germany fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in the southwestern Soviet Union. The battle was marked by constant close-quarters combat and lack of regard for military and civilian casualties. It is among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million. The heavy losses on the German army make it the most strategically decisive battle of the whole war. After the Battle of Stalingrad, German forces never recovered their earlier strength and attained no further strategic victories in the Eas
  41. Battle of Coral Sea
    naval battle in the Pacific between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval  The battle was the first in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other. Although a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, the battle would be a strategic victory for the Allies. Japanese expansion was turned back for the first time, and two Japanese carriers were unable to participate in the Battle of Midway
  42. Battle of Britain
    campaign waged by the German Air Force against the Britain during the summer and autumn of 1940. The purpose of the battle was for the German air force to gain air superiority over the British and to force Britain into an armistice. German failure to do so, prevented any threat of a mainland invasion of the British isles. The battle is still to date  the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign
Author
cbraswe1
ID
217858
Card Set
World War II Final Exam
Description
a test over World War II in Europe, Pacific, and Africa
Updated