1. Decisive Battles of World War II
WORLD HISTORY READERS
Level 5-⑧
Decisive Battles of World War II

2. The Beginning of World War II
A war plane over the Egyptian pyramids.
What was World War II?
It was the biggest war in history, and it was fought on multiple continents.
World War II bombers take to the sky.
How long did it last?
It lasted from 1939 to 1945.

3. The Nazis What happened in 1933 in Germany? How did the war start?
Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz
German soldiers at a rally before the war
What happened in 1933 in Germany?
A party called the National Socialists (Nazis) came to power.
How did the war start?
The leader of the Nazis, Adolf Hitler
What did they believe?
What did
the Nazis do?
The Nazis wanted to occupy Poland and Russia, so they invaded Poland. In response, Britain and France both declared war on Germany.
The Nazis believed white people were better than others. They especially thought they were better than Jewish people.
They killed about 6 million Jews during the war. It was called the Holocaust.

4. The Battle of Britain What happened during the Battle of Britain?
A German bomber plane over London
Fighter planes duel over Britain.
Germany flew countless planes and dropped numerous bombs over Britain during the summer and autumn of Part of this was the London Blitz—when German bomber planes flew over London and dropped bombs on the city day and night.
What was significant about the Battle of Britain?
It was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces.
Who won the battle?
The British sent fighter planes to shoot down the bombers. Planes had deadly duels in the skies. They climbed high into the sky and dove through the clouds to attack each other.
How did the British respond?
The British

5. Airplanes in War What were the German planes like during the war?
Spitfires flying past the clouds
What were the British planes like during the war?
A Bf-109 climbing
The Germans flew a fighter called the Bf-109. It was arguably the best fighter in the world at that time.
The British flew two different planes—the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The Hurricane was out of date, but it could be repaired easily. The Spitfire was faster than the Hurricane, and it turned more easily.
How did the British have an advantage over the Germans with radar?
Radar was a new technology using radio signals. It allowed the British to find German planes in the sky from far away and surprise them.

6. The Battle of Stalingrad –Ⅰ
Russian troops preparing to cross the river to Stalingrad
Stalingrad during the battle
When did the Germans invade Russia?
What happened when they invaded?
1941
What happened in Stalingrad?
The Soviet city of Kiev, along with 600,000 Soviet soldiers, was captured. By October of that year, 3 million Soviet soldiers were prisoners of war. But Stalin, the Russian leader, would not give up.
The Germans began a massive attack in Soldiers fought each other in the city’s buildings. Bombs fell from the sky. Soon the city was in ruins.

7. The Battle of Stalingrad – Ⅱ
German prisoners after their capture
What was the Russian General Georgy Zhukov’s plan?
His plan was to surround the Germans in Stalingrad. While the Germans attacked Stalingrad, the Russians surrounded the city. They trapped more than 250,000 Germans inside who could not escape.
What did Hitler do?
What happened?
How many people died during the battle for Stalingrad?
He told his soldiers to stay in the city. He planned to send another army to save them.
The German soldiers in Stalingrad had no food or other supplies, and they started to freeze and starve. In February 1943, the German soldiers surrendered.
More than 2 million people

8. Attack on Pearl Harbor Yes.
When did the Japanese attack US ships at Pearl Harbor?
Three US ships on fire at Pearl Harbor
What happened?
A computer generated image of a Japanese aircraft carrier and fighter planes
Early in the morning on December 1, 1941
More than 2,000 people were killed, and 19 ships were destroyed or damaged. But the Japanese had made a mistake. Most of the US aircraft carriers that could carry fighter planes and bombers were not in Pearl Harbor during the attack.
The USS Arizona on fire
What happened the next day?
Were the Americans surprised?
The US declared war on Japan.
Yes.

9. The Battle of Midway When was the Battle of Midway? What happened?
The Pacific Ocean, showing Midway Atoll in the center of the map
When was the Battle of Midway?
A Japanese ship after having been bombed by the US
What happened?
June, 1942
The Japanese planned on surprising the Americans, but they didn’t know that the Americans were able to listen to their messages. Instead, the Americans surprised the Japanese fleet.
What did the Japanese plan to do?
US planes attack a Japanese ship during the Battle of Midway.
How long was the battle?
Three days
They planned to invade Midway Atoll (part of the Hawaiian Islands), capture it, and use it as their own military base.
Who won?
The United States

10. D-Day: Landing on the Beaches
US soldiers landing during D-Day
How were things by 1944?
When did it happen?
The Allies were winning in the Pacific and Europe. However, they still needed to land on the European continent and march into Germany so they could end the war.
June 6, 1944
Saint Lo, France in 1944
One of the D-Day beaches, Omaha Beach
What happened at Normandy?
Was it successful?
The Allies landed on the beaches and attacked. It was the largest military landing ever attempted. Over 130,000 Allied soldiers rushed up the beaches as the Germans shot at them.
Yes, but many people died. Within weeks, more than one million Allied soldiers had landed in France.

11. The End of the War When did the war in Europe officially end?
How did the US get Japan to surrender?
The Hiroshima bomb cloud rising
At midnight on May 8, 1945
In August of 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered shortly afterwards.
How did the world change after WWII?
How many people died during WWII?
From then on, the US became a superpower.
At the end of WWII, country borders were redrawn. Germany was divided into four zones and controlled by the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.
About 4% of the world population

12. Vocabulary be in ruins phr. bullet n.
(of a building or city) to be badly damaged so that most of it has fallen down
bullet n.
a small metal object that is fired from a gun

13. Vocabulary civilian n. disapprove v.
a person who is not a member of the armed forces or the police
disapprove v.
to think that something or someone is bad, wrong, etc.

14. Vocabulary massive adj. radar n. being very large in degree or amount
a system that uses radio waves to find the position and movement of objects, for example planes and ships, when they cannot be seen

15. Vocabulary shrink v. torpedo n. to become smaller
a long, thin bomb that travels underwater in order to destroy ships