this is the schematic for the me262 the first oprashnle jet firghter













this flat top ship is the kaga navle ship






















and
these are some jap navel ships























this is a pitcher of some f6fs planes to help the ground troops on iwo jima

Operation Overlord; Normandy

Operation Overlord, Normandy (also known as D-Day: the first day of any military operation) has come to be the greatest single Allied operation of World War II.

Operation overlord was the code name for the invasion of northwest Europe during World War II by allied forces. The operation began with the Normandy Landings on June 6th 1944 (D-Day). Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on June 6th, and more than 3 million troops had landed by the end of August.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Operation Overlord

On June 6, 1944, D day, the day of invasion for Overlord had come. The U.S. First Army, under Gen. Omar N. Bradley, and the British Second Army, under Gen. Miles C. Dempsey, established beachheads in Normandy on the French channel coast. The German resistance was strong, and the footholds for Allied armies were not nearly as good as they had expected. Nevertheless, the powerful counterattack with which Hitler had proposed to throw the Allies off the beaches did not materialize, neither on D day nor later. Enormous Allied air superiority over northern France made it difficult for Rommel, who was in command on the scene, to move his limited reserves. Moreover, Hitler became convinced that the Normandy landings were a feint and the main assault would come north of the Seine River. Consequently, he refused to release the divisions he had there and insisted on drawing in reinforcements from more distant areas. By the end of June, 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles were ashore in Normandy.

http://www.history.com/content/worldwartwo/the-allies-triumph

Women in the War Effort

When the United States finally joined the Allie's, they realized the vast responsibility in front of them. Not only were they fighting to reinforce European countries, but they were also waging a war against Japan. This task would require thousands of men to fight over seas. However, the countries that they were aiding were in no condition to assist them with resources of any kind. With no one left at home to make ammunition and other supplies, the government launched a campaign to the women of America to join the war effort.

This first image on the left is an example of the propaganda that was plastered everywhere across America, from magazine articles to posters in store windows.

The image on the right was created by Lawrence Wilbur in 1944. This poster was especially motivating to women because despite the fact that the woman in the picture is working and has a job, she isn't compromising her femininity and beauty. Like the first one, the poster suggests that women should get war jobs for the men that they write to weekly and pray for daily.
"We Can Do It" and Rosie the Riveter would go down in history as one of the most famous of all WWII propaganda. For the campaign to the women of the country it would become the most recognized of all posters across the country. The original was produced by Westinghouse for war production. this picture depicts the strength and beauty and brawn of the women who were already working. it encouraged women all over the country to help. "We Can Do It"!

America's sweetheart became another of the poster girls for the women worker efforts. In this poster we see Miss America working at a typewriter. This image was produced by the Royal Typewriter Company

The picture to the left shows us that women not only were taking care of things on the home front, they were in the military as well.

http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIHomefront.htm

This link will take you to a list of links to articles about women and all their roles in WWII.
http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets5.html

This link talks about the role of women in the Army Corps.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/himwomenworkers.htm
This is a link to a news cast, that was broad casted during the war, by a women about working women.

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvetsalso.html

This link is about women's role in the air force as pilots and manufacturers

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~cg3/outline.html
This link goes to an essay that focuses about how life for women changed during and after the war.

Question and Answers

Q: True or False; Women only worked at home during WWII.

A: False; They also served over seas in the military.

Q: Was propoganda effective in recruiting women in the war?

A: Yes, it played to women's sympathy and persuaded them to join the home front forces!

Q: Did the women's role change after the war?

A: Yes, women were no longer considered as only homemakers, they had jobs and helped society. They also became more respected.

Clarissa Keate and Sarah Robison

Navajo Code Talkers

Here is a photo of Eight Code Talkers. John Goodluck is in the bottom row, second from right In A league of their own, the Navajo code talkers were a substantial necessity for the fight to win WWII. Because of a lack of alphabet,symbols,and an unwritten language, it made deciphering impossible for the Japanese.At the beginning of the war, there were only 30 non Navajos who could speak the language, and not all of them were fluent. Phillip Johnston was one of those who spoke fluently, a veteran of WWI, he grew up on a Navajo reservation. He was the mastermind of using Navajo for coding.Unlike other codes that took hours to decode, the Navajo code took mere minutes. This idea was vital to making a congruent code.

Pfc. Preston Toledo and Pfc. Frank Toledo, in the Marine artillery division, decode in their native tongue.

(Pictured here are Cpl. Henry Blake,Jr.,and
Pfc George H. Kirkof code talkers on the battle front
relaying secret orders over the
battle field)



Here is an overview article about the Navajo code talkers.




Here is an poster of the names of all the Code talkers
http://http//www.lapahie.com/NavajoCodeTalker_Poster_Lg.cfm











Q.N.A

Q-Who Came up with the idea of using Navajo as a code?
- Philip Johnston.

Q- Why was the code successful?
-Lack of alphabet, symbols, and an unwritten language.

Q- Who was the code meant to fool?
- The Japanese.




Summary
The Navajo code talkers, were one of the main reasons that U.S secrets stayed that way. WIthout any form of alphabet the Japenese, had the worst time trying to decode the messages.

The Navajo Code Talkers

The Navajo Code Talkers were a vital part of World War II. Without them the war may have had a drastically different outcome. The Code Talkers were a group of Navajos put into six different military divisions whose simple job was to speak their own language. They used their own language and transformed it into a code that would never be broken by any code breaker. The idea to use the Navajo language was presented by Philip Johnston, a World War I veteran who lived among the Navajo when his was a missionary to them. Johnston came up with the idea when he saw in a newspaper that a Louisiana division was trying to develop an uncrackable code. Johnston promoted the idea of utilizing the Navajo language to the government, but they unsure of the idea because the Japanese had sent people over to study Cherokee and Choctaw languages, but they forgot the Navajo language.

(A primary source of a picture of Philip Johnston with a Navajo Code Talker during the 1940's)

Philip Johnston's reasons for promoting the use of the Navajo language was because it was an unwritten language and was extremely complex to anyone without extensive training in the language. The Navajos created a system of messaging by sending messages of seemingly unrelated Navajo words. However, those words would translate to ant, apple, axe, etc. Then the first letter of each word they translated to would correspond with a letter of the English Alphabet (ex. the Navajo word Wol-la-chee would translate to ant which would correspond with the letter A.)

Below is a link to a primary source of their language, a Navajo Code Talker Dictionary revised in 1945:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-4.htm

The first Navajo code talkers were a group of 29 who developed the language while attending boot camp. The whole entire dictionary of their code had to be memorized during camp.

During the war, the ranks of the Navajo code talkers exceeded 400 during 1942-1945. They were credited with saving numerous lives and helping to bring about a quick end to World War II.

( Primary source of World War II Navajo code talker in 1943 using a walky-talky.)

The strength of the Navajos' code was unparalleled. The code was nearly so unbreakable that it baffled even the most skilled Japanese code breakers. Because of that code the outcome of the war was drastically different and the Navajo Code Talkers were honored for their great service in the war.

(Pictures of Navajo Code Talkers exchanging code. Click Above to view top picture primary source. Click Below to view bottom picture primary source.)

Links to Secondary Sources

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2008-featured-story-archive/navajo-code-talkers/index.html


http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-2.htm


http://www.bingaman.senate.gov/features/codetalkers/


http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/


http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/navajacode.htm

Quiz Questions

1. Who promoted the idea of using the idea of using the Navajo language as a code?

2. When did the Navajo code talker units serve in the war?

3. How many different divisions did the Navajos serve in?

Answers

1. Philip Johnston

2. 1942-1945

3. Six

island hopping campaign in the pacific

The picture above is of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb in 1945.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1671.html
http://historywwii.glogster.com/Island-Hopping-Campaign/
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/pacific-battleground.htm
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/aam/ah20060217c
http://www.pacificwarmemorial.org/Pages/AboutUs.htm
http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/wapa/guides/offensive/sec3.htm
http://www.marines.mil/units/marforcom/iimef/22ndmeu/Pages/WWIIMarineRaiderspeakstoBLT32.aspx
https://fhswolvesden.wikispaces.com/Island-Hopping+in+the+Pacific
Island Hopping: Island hopping was a strategy used by allies to capture islands one after another until Japan came in range of American bombers. The United States hopped to many islands including:
Guadalcanal/Solomon:1942-1943
Buna/Gona:1942-1943
New Georgia:8/5/1943
Bougainville:attacked 11/1/1943
Gilbert Islands:end of 1943
Marshall Islands:attacked 1/31/1944
Philippines:attacked 7/5/1944
Iwo Jima/Okinawa:attacked 2/19/1945
Hiroshima:attacked 8/6/1945

These islands are just some of the important battles that happened from 1942-1945. The island hopping campaign was lead by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

Zoot Suit Riots

38st Gang

Zoot Suit Riots

By Tyson Brittain

and Orlando Carreno

Originally the zoot suit cultures was initially an african american youth fashion, wery connected to the jazz culture. The zoot suit was abdopted by a generation of mexican american kids, who made it their own.The Zoot Suit Roits was when Tensions Between Serivicemen Stationed in the southern california and los angeles community. A group of white sailer went a bet up a group of young latinos.
The 38st gang was the group that had it the hardest becaused the lived the closets. Any one with a zoot suit was the ones that the service men were attacking and killing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Suit_Riots

America and the Holocaust

The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.
During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority, the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.





















Nazi concentration camps, 1933-1939

European Jewish population distribution, ca. 1933

Major ghettos in occupied Europe

Extermination camps in occupied Poland, 1942

================================================

Jewish Family Testimony

The family lived in Wieluń – Bolków village, Poland, and had 5 boys and 4 girls. The family was a very rich and prosperous. They owned a windmill, cattle and horses flock, farm, land and forests. Their house was of 4 floors. They even owned a telephone which was very rare at that time. All the villagers of Bolków worked for them. All of this was ruined and many members of the family murdered during World War II.

The father of the family was named Daniel. His father name was Abraham. Daniel died on January 1939 in Bolków Poland.

The mother of the family, Daniel's wife, Brana, was from the nearby village of Sknyńńo. She was the daughter of Dawid & Adela Berkowicz (a cousin of Daniel). She was deported during the war from Bolków to the Lututów ghetto in Poland. In August 1942 she was deported to the Chelmno extermination camp, where she was murdered.

1. The firstborn was Ruben - Jakob, who was born around 1900. He was deported from Bolków to the Łódź ghetto. In 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz - Birkenau, and from there to other German forced labor camps, along with his brother Abramek. He had a wife Brucha who perished in Auschwitz. He survived. He returned to Poland after the war, he re-married there, and immigrated to Israel in the 1950's. He died in 1967, in the Six Days War.

2. The second son was named Berek. He escaped to Russia in 1940 with his wife Helen, who passed away in Russia. He stayed there for 4 years. Then he left Russia to return to his home in Poland. He married in Łódź, had 2 girls. He moved to Israel with his family, and after a few years left for Brazil. He passed away in the year 2000, in Brazil.

3. The first daughter and third sibling of the family was named Ruth, born in 1911. She lived in Piotrków Trybunalski. She worked for the Germans in a factory during the war. In 1944 the Germans broke into her house, a German officer shot her, and left her husband Allo Berkowicz, and her 9 year old son, named Zygmuś ("Zalman" in Yiddish), in the house, later to be deported to Auschwitz - Birkenau. By some twist of fate, Meyer (who is Ruth's brother), worked in a documentation job "schreiber", that documented all of the incoming people into the camp, and when they were transported to the camp, Meyer found them in the list, and for the next 8 days, Meyer came in hiding to feed this beautiful and talented boy with an extra piece of bread or some soup. On Yom Kippur, 5705 (September 26, 1944), Meyer came to feed the boy, but the boy declined, because he said to him that tomorrow the Germans will cremate all of the boys, himself included and he doesn't need the bread anymore... That night, on the eve of Yom Kippur, 2000 children were murdered, including Zygmuś. The following day, Meyer went to feed the boy, only to be faced with an empty block.

4. The second daughter and fourth sibling of the family was named Dwora - Dorka (Dora). She was married to Goldbart and had 2 children. She was deported with them along with her mother, Brana, to the Lututów ghetto, and along with her mother, they were all deported to their death to Chelmno.

5. The third daughter and fifth sibling, Esther, got married at the start of the war. She fled with her husband Dawid Berkowicz, her husband's father and her husband's brother to Russia. She was in Russia for many years, under severe, inhospitable circumstances, where she had 2 children. At the end of the war, she returned to her home town in Poland, only to leave it after 2 weeks, in order to move to Germany as a middle station to their final destination of the US and is alive to this day. Esther Berkowicz wrote a book about her war experiences and her family.

6. The third son and sixth sibling of the family, Meyer, was suspected of sabotaging the family mill, and was sent to a German prison in Papenburg, at the German - Dutch border. There were no Jews in this prison, but because Meyer didn't look like a Jew, he was able to survive. In the winter 1941 - 2, he was released from jail, and was sent to pave roads for the German army in Wielun, under extreme conditions of cold weather. In 1942 he was deported to the Lodz ghetto, which was highly inhospitable in terms of human condition. During his 2 year "residence" in the ghetto, he worked for the Germans in order to scavenge for goods that the Jews left in their homes in the ghetto. He also met 3 of his brothers, Ruben, Abraham, and Zalman in the ghetto, and lived with them, along with 3 other people in a 1 room flat, he also met his future wife, Esther Ankielewicz in the ghetto. In 1944, the liquidation of Lodz occurred, and Meyer left in one of the last transports to Auschwitz - Birkenau for around 3 months, where he worked as a documenter of incoming people, and then from there to Braunschweig, Germany, where he worked in a car factory until his liberation, by the US army. Still in Germany, he joined the Israeli army, and immigrated to Israel along with Esther and his daughter Tzipora, in 1949 and is alive to this very day.

7. The fourth daughter and seventh sibling of the family, was named Adela, born in1921. In 1942 she received forged Aryan documents that claimed that she was Polish, and not Jewish, as was her husband, Jakob Jablonski. They escaped to Germany in order to work there, until the liberation by the Soviet army.

8. The fourth son and eighth sibling of the family, Abram "Abramek", born in 1924. During the war he was transported to the Łódź ghetto in 1942 till 1944, after which he was transported to Auschwitz - Birkenau for a couple of months, after which he was Germany to do slave labor in various labor camps, along with his brother Ruben. In August 1945, after liberation and surviving the Nazi concentration camps, he desired to visit his old home in Bolków and see if there remain other survivors from the family. When he came to his house, he was greeted by a Polish man who used to be a housekeep for the Berkowitz family, and made himself the owner of the house after the family was deported. The Polish man, former worker of the Berkowicz family, greeted Abramek very warmly, because he thought that all of the family was murdered and he was the only one left. During that night, the Polish man murdered Abramek, in order to keep the property to himself. Today, he is buried in the Jewish graveyard in Łódź, killed at the age of 19, by Polish hands, after surviving the ghettos, Auschwitz, and other German forced labor camps…

9. The fifth son and ninth sibling of the family, Zalman, was deported from Wieluń in 1942 to the Łódź ghetto, along with Meyer, Ruben and Abramek (Esther Ankielewicz was there as well). He remained there until 1943. One day, he was unexpectedly taken by the German army, at the young age of 14, and was never to be heard from again. There are some who claim that he was taken to Auschwitz in order to be a guinea pig in an experimental testing of the cremation technique.

For more testimonies visit: http://www.zchor.org/testimon/testimon.htm

Last updated January 1^st, 2009

================================================

QUESTIONS

-Could the US have done more to prevent the Holocaust from happening?

-How was the holocaust hidden from the allied powers until the end of the war?

-What were the living conditions like?

-What was the main reason the Nazis comited such things (mainly the Holocaust)?

==============================================
Links:

The Story of Oscar Schindler

Schindler's List

Holocaust Horrors

Amon Goeth, Nazi Butcher

Teaching the Holocaust through Stamps

Reach and Teach Worldwide Holocaust Education Group

The Netherland's Association of Slave Laborers-WWII

The Liberation of Mittlebau Dora Concentration Camp

Images of the Holocaust

The Holocaust Album

Auschwitz Endstation Vernichtung

An Auschwitz Alphabet

The Holocaust Glossary

Holocaust Picture Exhibit

Alleged NaziCriminals

====================================

Holocaust Time Line

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

This is one of the pictures of the dresden bombing.

Dresden bombing, on the 13th of febuary 1945, arthur harris, decided to bomb Dresden, the population at first was 650,000 people, durring this war 35,000 people were killed. jerman sources argued that 100,000 were killed, the aircraft the night of the bombing made 1600 acres get blown up.

The practice came to prominence during the Second World War with the use of large numbers of unguided gravity bombs, often with a high proportion of incendiary bombs, to effect indiscriminate bombing of the target region - either to destroy personnel and/or materiel, or as a means to demoralize the enemy (see terror bombing). The high explosive bombs were often on timers and used to intimidate or kill firemen putting out the fires caused by the incendiaries. This, in high enough concentration was capable of producing a firestorm effect.
Initially, this was effected by multiple aircraft, often returning to the target in waves. Nowadays, a large bomber or missile can be used to create the same effect on a small area (an airfield, for example) by releasing a relatively large number of smaller bombs. (WICKAPEDIA)

BERLIN - The Allied firebombing of the eastern German city of Dresden in 1945 killed no more than 25,000 people — far fewer than scholars' previous estimates running as high as 135,000 — a special commission has found.
The team of a dozen experts, including university professors, archivists and military historians, said Wednesday that four years of research so far has confirmed 18,000 deaths and showed that police and city administrators at the time believed there were about 25,000 victims of the bombing.
Since the end of World War II, scholars have varied in their tally of people killed by waves of British and U.S. bombers on Feb. 13-14, 1945. Some estimates have run to 135,000 or more. In his 2005 book on the bombing, British historian Frederick Taylor argued the real toll was between 25,000 and 40,000.(msnbc)

New Weaponry of WW2: How it Made it Easier

During WWII we fought by trench warfare. It was a hard life for soldiers. They had lice, rats, water logging, and had to sleep in trenches. Now that new weapons came into WWII it has been easier for soldiers, and it helped us win! With all this new technology it helped us in a huge way. We had more ways to attack people for axample, the new bombs, and we could fire missiles through airplanes. New weapons have changed our way of living and fighting.

• Bolt-action Rifles- This was a common weapon used by the soldiers. It was very accurate and shot up to a half mile. This was then later replaced.
  


• Sniper Rifles- This was the best weapon even today. It was very accurate and shot with long range.
  


• Semi-Automatic Rifles- This was a basic weapon that shot very fast, so that they could make a lot more shots in one sitting.
  


• Sub Machine Guns-This was a handy weapon that was very cheap to make. It was a small gun, light weight, but not very accurate.
  


• Assault Rifles-This weapon was used the second half of WWII. This had a rang that was longer than needed.
  


• Pistols-These weapons were not for military use. They had a short range.
  


• Light Machine Guns-This weapon was light enough to be carried by one soldier. You could also carry ammuntion for it, because of its light weight.

• Hand Grenades- It was the first weapon, that allowed the soldiers to have a personal attack on their enemies.
  


• Light Mortars-this is a light weight weapon martars, that self carried quick responces.
  


• Flamethrowers- This was a short ranged weapon, that killed people by fire.

This is a WW2 soldier with an assortment of weapons they used during the war. He is with american weapons and he is an american soldier. He is in Springfield Armory NHS Archives, US NPS. This is another primary source because it was taken in the time period in which the war was going on.




This picture, is a WW2 U.S. Navy Bomber that is in flight. It is a primary source because it was taken in the time period of the war. It was taken in 1943 in Aleutian Island, Alaska. This was taken by Horace Bristol.

This is a picture of a German V2 rocket that was used during the war but it was captured on Sept. 6, 1947. It was fired from the USS midway. It is a primary source because this rocket was used during the war. We can learn that the Germans had successful rockets and we can guess that it was used against GB or the U.S.

This is a picture of a flamethrower being used. Even though this picture does not contain any dates of when it was taken, we know that it was during the World War Two, because of the clothing he is wearing. This weapon obviously was usufull, because it not only is used by the Americans, in this picture it is used by a Canadian soldier in battle. It seems very effective, dangerous, it is also very heavy.

QuIz QuEsTiOnS:

1. What are 3 WW2 weapons?

A: Airplanes, Flame Thrower, and Sniper Rifle, etc...

2. What weapon was really cheap to make?

A: The Sub Machince Gun

3. What is one way the new weapons help us win the war?

A: We had airplanes to fire missles at our enemies, etc...

http://www.newberry.k12.sc.us/mchs/WWIIWeapons.htm

http://www.2worldwar2.com/infantry-weapons.htm

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-weapons/enemy_ww2.htm

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-weapons/enemy_ww2.htm

http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/WW2Timeline/newweapons.html

http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/fandom/quiz_weapons.html

Operation Torch

Near Algiers, "Torch" troops hit the beaches behind a large American flag "Left" hoping for the French Army not fire on it., 11/08/1942

Troops leaving on a boat to go to Africa on November 8, 1942.

Operation torch was the British-American invasion of Friench North Africa during World War Two.

It began on November 8, 1942 and was originally called Operation Gymnast.
America wanted to land in Europe to take some pressure from German forces off of Russia.
British leaders believed that this would end in disaster and it would be a better idea to invade North Africa in order to clear Axis Powers from the area, improve naval control and prepare for the attack on Europe. The Axis powers surrended at 18:00 on November 12.






The Allies siezed all the key points and airports.
(November 9, 1942)





(above) Driven by Stalin, American troops storm northern French Africa in an attempt to open a second front (Nov. 9, 1942)

links:www.internet-esq.com/ussaugusta/torch/
This link is a secondary source because it does not
have that good of info. from world war 2.
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/operation_torch.htm
This link is also a secondary source because it does
not have information from world war 2.
www.combinedops.com/Torch.htm
This is a secondary source because it gives a lot of
information on world war 2 but it is not real info. from
WWII.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Torch
This is a secondary source because it gives good info.
but it is not straight from WWII.
www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-7-2002-29827.asp
This is also secondary for not having a diary or letter
from somebody in WWII.
freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~memoirs/torch.htm
This is a Primary source because it is written by somebody who
was there and involved in the war.


Quiz
1) What part of North Africa was Invaded?
French North Africa

2) What was the date that it all started?
November 8, 1942

3) Who was succesful?
The Allies

Citations:
Www.wikipedia.com
Www.wikimedia.com
Www.google.com

The Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge: The Ardennes Offensive
By

Tori Somerville & Armando Ramirez

"It was, without a doubt, the greatest American battle of the Second World War and it will, I believe, always be considered as a great American victory." ~ Winston Churchill

(#1 German Soldiers trooping past a demolished half-track vehicle in 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge)

Summary:

The Battle of the Bulge is remembered, even today, as the bloodiest battle for the United States military, and one of the biggest in all of WWII. Though it lasted just over a month, from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945, more than 80,000 American soldiers where killed, injured, or captured by German forces.

(#2 American soldiers examine a few of the dead)

It began when the German military set out on their "Ardennes Offensive", a offensive strategy that was composed in complete secrecy and executed with full force, surrounding American and British troops. According to John Kline, a WWII veteran, "...nowhere did the American troops give ground without a fight." (http://drizzle.mm.com/user/jpk/battle.htm)

(#3 A map showing the progress of the German Military before the American's formed a successful counterattack strategy)

It is known as the Battle of the Bulge because the initial German attack was able to press into the American and British forces, having an offensive "bulge" into US ground until they were held back as America got its footing. (See http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/maps/wwii/essay1.html for a visual interactive map of how the Battle of the Bulge occurred)

(#4 American soldiers hunkering down in the Ardennes Forest for a defensive against German Troops during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944-1945)

The Germans goal was to break American lines and get through to the Meuse River. Their hopes to end the United States charge into Germany were short-lived though as American troops held off German tanks and military long enough for armored divisions to come to their aid. (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10006178)

The conclusion of the Battle of the Bulge was quick in coming. American and British troops quickly organized counterattacks on the German forces and pushed them back until they were actually behind their initial starting point. In the end, the Allied Powers managed to press in on the Germans from three sides, and open the path to Bastogne. Due to German losses, which were a staggering 100,000 men, they were forced to fall back and never accomplished their goal of regaining land in Western Europe.

(#5 Soldiers in the Ardennes Forest,
awaiting german troops with a 57mm AT gun)

The Ardennes Offensive caused near-irrepairable damage to the German Military. They lost 800 tanks, and some 1000 aircraft in total. Though originally meant to regain the West, in the end all Hitler gained by his attack on the Americans and British was a few months delay as they focused themselves on the battle rather than other focuses in the war. Though the losses were great on American as well, Germany lost more equipment and men than America in total, which helped give America a more even advantage in later battles against Germany.

Quiz Questions:

1. When did the Battle of the Bulge take place?


2. What was the German's name for the Battle of the Bulge?


3. How many American soldiers were injured, killed, or lost in the Battle of the Bulge?


4. Why is it known as the Battle of the "Bulge"?


5. What was the German's main objective when they attacked the Americans and British at the Battle of the Bulge?
   
   

Answer 1: From December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945
Answer 2: The "Ardennes Offensive"
Answer 3: 80,000+ soldiers
Answer 4: Because of the German's progress in their assault, as a bulge into the American lines
Answer 5: To reach the Meuse River

Source Citation and Evaluations:

1. http://drizzle.mm.com/user/jpk/wardiary.htm

This is a Primary Source, a war diary, written by Sergeant John P Kline. The link leads to a compilation of his diary entries, letters, documents, and pictures from WWII. Sergeant Kline is a war veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was later taken prisoner by Germany. Because of it's origins and depth and detail, I do believe that this is an accurate source.

2. http://drizzle.mm.com/user/jpk/battle.htm

This is a Secondary Source. Though it was written by Sergeant Kline (The War Diary Guy), it is merely a list of statistics about the Battle of the Bulge and a short summary written by him. I think it is accurate and a good source for research, but it is not a Primary Source.

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge

This is a Secondary Source with a Primary Source in it (Picture #4). Because it is Wikipedia, it can have both accurate information and information that is not as believable. The author(s) got all their research from other sources, but anyone can change it. But, based on the length of the article, and how it goes over every single aspect of the Battle of the Bulge, and the citations for the source of the information, I believe that Wikipedia in this case is quite reliable.

4. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10006178

This is a Secondary Source, from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is an online informative article about the Battle of the Bulge. It is basically a very simple overview, just covering the basics. But because it comes from a National Museum, I think it is reliable information.

5. http://www.worldwar2history.info/Bulge/

This is a Secondary Source and it might or might not be very reliable. It is put together by supposed historians, and the site has been under development since 2001. It it just an overview of the Ardennes Offensive, but is from a less reliable source.

6. http://www.strictly-gi.com/page132.html

This site is composed of many Primary Sources, including Picture #5. There are pictures taken during the Battle of the Bulge and testimonies and diary expcerpts from war veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. Based on the website, which was actually put together for military collectors, information seekers, and even battle re-enactors, I think it may be a less reliable source as sources go.

7. http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/the-battle-of-the-bulge-timeline.htm

This is both a Primary Source and (mostly) a Secondary Source because, while the information that it is sharing it from a secondary source, it has pictures (Picture #1) and pictures taken during the actual Battle of the Bulge and during WWII in general. The source is a site by Discovery that focuses on all aspects of information, so WWII is just a small part of it. It is probably reliable.

8. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/maps/wwii/essay1.html

This is a reliable Primary & Secondary Source. Coming from the Library of Congress website, it is an interactive day-by-day of how the Battle of the Bulge commenced. The maps are real (as far as I could find) maps, and the dialogue that explains the maps is the secondary part of it. It's very helpful in seeing how the bulge happens.

9. http://www.olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1944bulge.php

A very very good, Secondary Source. The site is a site focusing on the Army, including it's history. It goes over the Battle of the Bulge very well. This site has a picture taken at the time of the battle, but overall the source is just another informational tidbit. It is reliable.

10. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bulge/index.html

The items that we used and found helpful off this site, mainly pictures, were all Primary Sources of people, places, and events during the Battle of the Bulge. The pictures were very good, detailed, and there were plenty of them. The site also has a timeline. It is a good site for information and Primary Source Pictures.

11. http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_Cont.htm#toc

This site is a Secondary Source. It is a book written by Hugh M Cole who has been in the US Military and studied military history since the 1930's. The source is reliable since he was alive during WWII and is also a military historian from the University of Minnesota. The book was written in 1964.