In 1938 Hitler and the Nazi Party invaded Czechoslovakia. Europe was terrified of Hitler and his war machine but there was nothing they could do. The countries of Europe told him that he could keep Czechoslovakia as long as he didn't invade any more countries. Well in 1939 He did it again when he invaded Poland. The countries in Europe still sat by telling him to stop. The final straw was drawn when on June 4th 1940 Hitler invaded France. England, France, Poland, Russia, Australia, Denmark and all of the other Eastern European countries he would later invade, declared war on Hitler. But where was the United States? Well we were 4,000 miles away telling ourselves that it was none of our business. Well on December 7th 1941 it did become our business.
The War on Two Oceans
On December 7th 1941 a Japanese Naval Force was sent out with a mission. Their mission was to cripple and destroy the United States Naval Fleet on Pearl Harbor. 2 Waves of aircraft launched from 6 Japanese Carriers totaling 350 fighters and bombers were sent out to destroy the fleet. Two Battleships one Minelayer and two destroyers were damaged beyond repair. The Japanese lost 29 aircraft 5 midget submarines and 65 men killed or wounded. The United States Naval Fleet on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was destroyed. 10,000 American and Pilipino troops fighting in the Philippines were pushed back to the Baton Peninsula. With they're backs to the seas and no Navy to save them they were forced to retreat. Under orders and against his wishes General Macarthur was forced to retreat to Australia with few men. The remaining troops in Baton fought for 6 months with limited ammo, food and water. After 6 months of fighting without re-supply, the American and Pilipino troops surrendered. The Japanese took them on a long march. Any men that stepped out of line were bayoneted or shot. Very few men made it to the POW camps. The march became known as The Baton Death March. After hearing of the news President Roosevelt declared war on Japan and Germany. This was going to be a struggle because now the United States was fighting a war on two oceans.
England
The United States sent over General Eisenhower and all the branches of the Military. From the Air-Force to the Marines to the Navy to the Army they were all there. They did not immediately engage the Germans. They worked on a plan secretly called Operation Overlord. This plan was to invade France and liberate the people of France. The United States bombed the Port of Calais and Normandy to keep the spot of the landing a secret. For two whole years they trained for amphibious landings. In 1943 they began they're initial battle on the front of North Africa. They sent in British and American troops to fight off the German and Italian solders in Northern Africa. They made great progress when the liberated Tunisia and went all the way west. They would have broken through to the Suez Canal if the Germans and Italians weren't re-enforced and re-supplied. It was a long battle and eventually The Allies broke through to Libya and forced the Germans and Italians to retreat back into Sicily. But the Allies wouldn't follow them for another year.
Russia
In 1942 the Russians began a massive assault to take back Stalingrad. Hundreds of thousands of Russians had already died and now 500,000 Russian soldiers were storming into Stalingrad. The Germans fired at them with machine-guns and only 1 out of every 10 Russians soldiers had a weapon! The Russians used rockets and artillery to crush the men trapped inside the now encircled Stalingrad. Hitler had ordered his men to fight to the death and promoted Friedrich Paulus to Field Marshal. Hitler expected him to commit suicide. Instead of committing suicide Friedrich Paulus surrendered to the Russians making him the first Field Marshall in history to be captured. Hitler was furious. Now that the Russians had Stalingrad back they could now advance toward Germany and take back Eastern Europe.
Italy
In 1943 The Allies began they're initial assault on Fortress Europe by invading Sicily. The 82nd Airborne would be used for the first time as an airborne regiment and the first airborne drop behind enemy lines. Then just before the break of dawn the Navy dropped off 50,000 troops onto the beaches of Sicily. They secured the beach-head and pushed through and liberated Sicily. The Italians were re-supplied by German airdrops but some of the drops were off target and half of the supplies landed in Ally hands. As they moved into Italy the Germans would no longer support Italy. Hitler was saving his men up for the defense against France that would come the next year.
