Wwii

Explain US and Allied wartime strategies, including the major battles of Midway, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Battle of the Bulge. What two battles do you think should be added to the list and why?

The Battle of Midway was by far the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign during WWII. Prior to Midway, the Japanese were the naval might of the eastern hemisphere. That all changed, however, after commander Chester W. Nimitz of the US Pacific Fleet countered a Japanese ambush, led by Commander Isoroku Yamamoto of the Japanese Combined Fleet, with the help of US codebreakers, who intercepted Japanese messages and determined the date and location of the Japanese surprise attack. The skirmish resulted in the Japanese losing four vital fleet carriers, a heavy blow to the Japanese war effort. From that point on, the US would always be one step ahead of Japanese retaliation.

Contrary to popular belief, D-Day was not the turning point of WWII. The credit for that accomplishment belongs to the USSR, when they beat back the Germans in Eastern Europe almost a year before D-Day, in Stalingrad. On June 6, 1944, when the combined forces of Britain, Canada, France, and America came at the Nazis from Western Europe, the war in Europe was over. Germany, already struggling in its fight against Russia, now had to divert its resources and energy from one front and fight on two. My research also yields that, unknown to most, D-Day delayed Germany's plans to test atomic bombs. Another interesting point came up in my research: D-Day may have prevented the Soviets from dominating Europe, if they'd been allowed to completely overpower the Germans, with no Allied resistance waiting in the west.

Iwo Jima was a vital victory for the US in the Pacific. The island was strategically important as an air base for fighter escorts supporting long-range bombing missions against the mainland of Japan. It could serve as an emergency landing strip and a place to refuel and...