WWII: European Theater During a time of war, the military uses the term “theaters” to refer to a specific geographical area. WWII had two theaters: European and Pacific. The European Theater was broken up into the Western and Eastern Front because the European Theater was so big. Battle/Date What happened? Importance Germany invades Poland, Sept. 1, 1939 -1st use of “Blitzkreig” Beginning of WWII -Polish Army defeat in a matter of weeks -Britain and France declared War on Germany to honor their agreement to protect Poland’s borders Germany invades France, May 10-22, 1940 -3 days after Germany invades Britain is now the only France, the Germans break member of the Allies in through the lines of defense Europe and the invasion also -German Army captures Paris helped strengthen the Nazi -French government agrees to hold over Europe disband Army and turn over all Jews to Germany Battle of Britain, July 1940 -Air Raids by Germany against London & other major cities First defeat of Hitler’s -Germany wanted to destroy the military forces Royal Air Force(RAF) & force Great Britain to surrender -Germany believed they couldn’t carry out an assault on Great Britain until the RAF was taken down Battle of Stalingrad, -Germany invaded the Soviet Turning Point of the Eastern Begins August 1942, Ends Union and bombed the city of Front of the war: Soviet Union February 1943 Stalingrad beings to push Germany back -Soviet Union sent 1 million well supplied soldiers to Stalingrad -Germany moves into city and was unable to receive food and supplies. They were forced into hand-to-hand combat and surrendered D-Day, June 6, 1944 -Paratroopers invaded the coast of Normandy, France and were Turning Point of the Western followed by a landing by the Front of the war: Great Britain marines and U.S. began to push -After sustaining heavy losses, Germany back Allied forces gained control of the coast Battle of Midway, June -U.S. surprise bombing on Turning point of war in the 1942 Japanese cities Pacific: America begins to -Japan sent all of their military push Japan back to Midway to launch attack on US Fleet -U.S. Fleet was waiting for the Japanese to show up -US defeated the Japanese in battle .