Final Flashcards
operation bagration june 20 1944
soviet offensive against german forces
intention was to attack the germans from the west with the normandy landings and the east with the russian offensive
what was the situation surrounding the battle of kursk
soviets had advanced into German occupied territory in Eastern Europe and created a salient
Germans planned to attack the salient from the north and the south
the attack failed
why is the battle of kursk important
largest tank battle in history
marked the end of german offensive capabilities on the eastern front and cleared the way for soviet offenses in 1944
COSSAC
cheif of staff to the supreme allied commander tasked with a cross channel invasion into German occupied europe
frederick morgan
operation overlord
joint cross channel amphibious invasion of normandy launched by american british and canadian troops
why was operation overlord important
it marked the beginning of allied recapture of europe
what were the mulberries
artificial harbors built by the allies on the beaches of normandy after d day
what was the purpose of the mulberries
to offload massive amounts of supplies for the allied invasion of nazi occupied germany
festung europa
fortress europe
hitler had reinforced France in preparation of the upcoming allied landing
when was operation overlord
june 6 1944
operation dragoon
second allied invasion of france in august of 1944 in cooperation with the French expeditionary forces to invade southern france
why was caen a key stratigic point for the allies (2 points)
it was a communications and transportation hub
the allies also wanted to use it as a base for aircraft
what occurred at Hamburg
Allied firebombing created a firestorm that killed nearly 30,000 civilians
why was Hamburg targeted
it was Germany’s second largest city and the producer of Uboats and warships and home to multiple oil refineries
Dresden
fire storm that sucked in people from 2 miles away
what was the purpose for attacking dresden and what is the source of the controversy
porcelain center
soviet pressure to slow down german supplies heading east
considered to be rather unecessary
what was the practice of window and why did the allies do it
the allies dropped tons of tinfoil strips from their bombers to confuse german radar
who was arthur bomber harris and what did he do
RAF bomber commander
orchestrated the major bombing campains against germany after d day
strong proponent of carpet bombing
whats the difference between carpet bombing and precision bombing
carpet bombing destroys everything and everyone in a city
precision bombing is focused on a stratic point
what occured at the second schweinfurt raid
americans launched a bombing raid against german ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt Germany but the accompanying fighters could only fly half the journey with them
German Ju-88s forced american bombers to break formation
the americans experienced high bomber losses to basically no german losses
what was the lesson of the schweinfurt raid
allied attacks into germany needed to be accompanied by fighter support
what were the german v-1 2 and 3
early cruise missiles
jet propelled bombs
what was the norden bomb site and why is it important
it was how bombers aimed their bombs
helped the allied bombers hit their targets
what were vergeltung waffen
revenge weapons used after the allied assault on Europe against civilian populations
the V1 V2 and V3 were steadily larged land based rockets launched against british civilian populations
what was the goal of the vergeltung waffen
to hurt british morale and inflict revenge for the acts against German civilians
what role did the bocage country of France play in the war
allied advances in Normandy were slowed by thick hedge rows and wooded areas
the hedges acted as natural barriers and aided German defense of occupied territory for weeks after D-Day
what was significant about the city of marseilles
It was a major French port city in the south of france
what was Cherbourg
a major French port city
why was Cherbourg a necessary target
the mulbery ports simply could not keep up with ability of a modern established port and the allies needed a constant flow of supplies
why was the capture of Cherbourg difficult
the germans had dug into an established fort on high ground
when was the liberation of paris
august 25 1944
what was the wolfs lair plot of july 20
a german assassination attempt against adolf hitler
who was Klaus von Stauffenburg
chief conspirator in the wolfs lair plot of july 20 1944
delivered the bomb to the conference room himself
falaise pocket and gap
allies encircled a very large portion of the german troops and captured or killed a very large number of germans
it paved the way for the liberation of paris
who was general omar bradley
general of american troops during operation cobra and at falasie pocket
what was operation cobra
after the beachhead was established at normandy, operation cobra was the plan to reach out and attack more of france
what was the plan of operation market garden
to use airborne brigades and infantry backup to seize 8 bridges on the holland german border at the rhine river
after the attack allied forces would be in place to attack the german ruhr and then drive to berlin
what occurred at arnhem and what was the associated operation
german forces repelled allied attack and operation market garden failed
what was field marshal bernard montgomerys single thrust strategy
instead of a wide invasion of germany montgomery favored a single thrust strategy in the form of operation market garden
explain the battle of the bulge
hitlers last great gamble and the last big german offensive of the war
it was a german surprise attack coming from the ardennes forest
during the battle of the bulge, what occured at bastogne
the 101st airborne held the city throughout the german offensive
during the battle of the bulge, what occured at bastogne
the 101st airborne held the city throughout the german offensive and protected key supplies such as gasoline
what caused the failure of the german battle of the bulge
gasoline shortages
allied air supremacy
bridge at remagen
germany had attempted to blow every bridge but the bridge at remagen was still operational and the allies were able to cross the bridge into germany
antwerp was the destination of what operation
battle of the bulge
fuhrerbunker
where hitler committed suicide
what were the repective paths of Douglas MacArthur and general nimitz
MacAruthur would work in the south pacific in new guinea and the philippines
nimitz would work in the central pacific
what was significant about rabul and where was it located
it was a major air and naval base with natural barriers to protect itself in new guinea
rabul new guinea was considered the what of the pacific
gibraltar
what was significant about port morseby and where was it located
port morseby was located on the southern side of papua new guinea and would have been the launching point for a japanese invasion of Australia but the Austrailians repelled the attack
what was the goal of operation cartwheel
take islands and establish airstrips around rabul to cut off supplies and launch attacks agaisnt rabul
what was significant about the battle of the Philippine sea
largest carrier battle in history
eliminated the japanese ability to conduct large scale aieral naval warfare for the rest of ww2
what was the great marianas turkey shoot and what battle is it associated with
the battle of the philipine sea
US pilots obliterated 100s of aircraft to very low comparative american losses
why was the battle of the philippine seas such an overwhelming american victory
american pilots had much more experience
the US Hellcat was a far superior fighter to the japanese zero
what was significant about the battle of leyte gulf
it was the official entrance of the US into the Philippines
largest sea battle in history
first time large scale kamakazi attacks were used
battle for manila
marked the official US control of the Philippines
site of largest urban warfare of the pacific theatre
outside of the mark of control of the philipines, what is important about the battle for manila in the philippines
Americans freed pows trapped in manila
japanese murdered civilians
americans treated filipinos that helped the japanese very badly
what was the burma road and why was it built
it was the supply route from Burma into China
it was built because flying supplies over the Himalayan hump was largely unsatisfactory
why were the mariana islands important targets
the islands of tinian guam and siapan were large enough to launch b-29 bombers from to attack mainland japan
why were US submaries so effective
the japanese never employed a convoy system
what was the effect of US submarines
they cut off 95% of japanese shipping by the end of the war
what was significant about Iwo Jima
the Japanese would fight to the death and would employ suicidal charges before surrender
what was significant about Iwo Jima
the Japanese would fight to the death and would employ suicidal charges before surrender
it was also important as a fall back base for bombers returning from mainland japan
what was the trigger for the use of the atomic bomb
okinawa
why was okinawa the trigger for the use of the atomic bomb
okinawa was the sight of mass suicide charges
it was clear the US would lose up to 1 million men in an invasion of mainland japan
what was decided at the tehran conference
stalin calls for the opening of a second front
what was decided at the yalta conference
the nature of post war europe
what was decided at the potsdam conference
the us would call for an unconditional surrender of japan
what were the four categories of crimes at the nuremberg trials
The crimes charged before the Nuremberg courts were crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes.
what was the role of deception in the landings at normandy
the germans thought that the attacks would occur later and in different locations
what was operation body guard
the plan for deception around the allied landings at normandy
where did the nazis think the allied landings would occur
calais france, southern france and norway
why were the landings at omaha beach so difficult
allied bombardment had largely missed
the 101st airborne had missed
hitler had fortified all of europe into a fortress
why were the landings at the other beaches relatively easier compared to omaha beach
less troop presence
more effective artillery
less of geographic advantage for german troops
