October 2019 / Issue 10 / Volume 2
WW2'S END
1939-1945
Myles
B
June 5th
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS Leading to the end of ww2 Boom, Boom, it was May 30th 1942 and the Brits had launched a thousand plane raid on the city of Cologne, Germany. 1,500 tons of straight out bombs rained down for 90 minutes. People ran, blood was spilt, buildings fell to their death, people tripped over each other! Screams filled the narrow streets of what once a beautiful city. Pure Chaos! But for the allied forces desperate to end Hitlers reign, this was just the beginning. There were a few significant groups and events that led to the end of ww2. WW2 was the most The White Rose bloody time period in history claiming up to 80 million lives. In 1942, Hans Scholl, a Hitler an evil dictator from Germany wanted the world to only be medical student attending the Aryan race as a result he went after jews and tried to The University of Munich, eliminate their race. Although Hitler was very successful killing Sophie his sister, Will Graf up toThey were nazi resistance groups, The British bombing of and Alexander Schormell cologne on May 30th 1942, and the battle of Normandy on June founded one of the most 6th 1944. influential resistance groups during ww2, they called it the Nazi resistance groups White Rose movement. One played a huge role in the ending WW2. Despite the major risks of the very few German of being caught by police some people and groups tried to resist groups that publicly spoke nazis. Resistance ranged from small crimes such as stealing Nazi out against the genocide. The license plates, taking hats off nazis, or defacing nazi posters, group expanded to students however some resistance groups took it a step further by shooting all over Germany. The group nazis, blowing up nazi trains, and sometimes even attacking distributed papers speaking german bases. Unfortunately many resistance groups and out against the nazis. After individuals were arrested and jailed or put into concentration the nazis defeat in camps. Their were 3 key things resistance groups did to help end Stalinguard, members of the ww2, the first was attempting to assainitate Hitler and the nazis. White Rose distributed There where many assassination temps on Hitler, one of the pamphlets urging students to more notable was was carried out by a group of military officers. rebel. However in the next After the soviet unions important victory at stalingard in 1943, month a school janitor caught the tides looked to be turning against the Germans. A serious them with the pamphlets and attempt at taking Hitlers life was plotted by German military betrayed them to the officers. The attempt was carried out in 1944, Hitler escaped the Gestapo. Soon later Hans, bomb with a few minor injuries. The 4 collaborators were Sophie and Probst were immediately shot, and 200 others were also killed in suspicion of executed ending the being involved. Assassination attempts liked these ultimately help movement. to keep nazis and Hitler on their toes and to show other Nazi
Nazi Resistance groups
supporters that Hitler was nowhere near invisible. The second way Resistance groups helped put an end to ww2 is by speaking
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out against it. Very few groups publicly pro tested the nazi genocide however a group called the white rose did. Groups like the White Rose protests helped to turn people against Hitler and also peeled Hitlers supporters away from him. According to www.ushmm.org “Hans, Sophie, and Christoph were outraged that educated Germans went along with Nazi policies. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets and painted slogans like "Freedom!" and "Down With Hitler!" on walls of the university.” The
A map of the allied forces movements during the battle of Normandy
A photo showing the aftermath of the cologne bombings
final way Resistance groups helped put an end to ww2 was by blowing up resources. Many Resistance groups blew up German trains which where crucial in transporting resources and soldiers to different areas. Some resistance groups even blew up tanks which where another key part of Germans fighting.
British-Cologne bombing Another key event in the ending of WW2 was the British bombing of cologne. On May 30th 1942, the British launched a 1000 plane raid on Cologne, Germany. 1,500 tons of bombs rained down on the city of Cologne that day. Their are 3 key things that this bombing did to help end ww2. The first key thing was the fatalities. 469 people were killed, 45000 Germans left homeless. Causing chaos in Germany. The next key thing was this bombing for the first time brought the war to Germany. The majority of the war had been fought on the territory of other countries. However, after this attack the war had finally been fought on German territory. From this day on the war was fought on German soil, which helped prevent innocent civilian losses. The last key thing that this bombing did to help end ww2 was knock out German resources. The chemical and machine tool industries were completely done. according to
history.com “The chemical and machine tool
industries, the main targets of the raid, were rendered useless.” This
was one of the most important events in ww2 history because it was a key event in the end of ww2.
The Battle of Normandy The final key event in
Jewish nazi resistance fighters.
the ending of ww2 was the Battle of Normandy (June 1944August 1944). The Battle of Normandy was one of the most famous events of ww2, but it was also one of the most important. 156,000 British, American, and Canadian forces landed on 5 beaches in a 50 mile stretch. These beaches were some of the most heavily guarded by nazis. This invasion was one the biggest amphibious assaults in history. Before The Battle of Normandy 2
their was a large deception campaign about where the attack was being launched. This battle played a key role an ending ww2. Their are three reasons to support this. The first reason is that the allied forces liberated France of nazis. This got the allied forces closer too Germany and gave them a clear path to the nazis and Germany. Next the Battle of Normandy eliminated significant numbers of nazi soldiers. The estimated amount of German fatalities during The Battle of Normandy is between 4,000 to 9,000 men. This was a big blow for Germany, nazi forces were significantly weakened. Lastly since the Allied forces had occupied France Hitler was not able to send troops to build up his Eastern front against soviet troops. This made it easy for soviet troops to continue on and get to Germany. According to
history.com “The Normandy Landings have been called the beginning of the end of the war in Europe.�
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE Nazi resistance groups, the British bombing of Cologne, and the battle of the Normandy all played significant roles in the end of WW2. Nazi resistance groups blew up German resources and helped turn people against the nazis. The British bombing of Cologne destroyed the machine and tools industry and The Battle of Normandy liberated German troops in France and provided a clear route to Germany for the allied forces. What do you think had a major impact on ending ww2, did we leave anything out of our list?
An illustration of what the Battle of Normandy looked like
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SOURCES CITED "Resistance inside Germany." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 04 June 2017. "Jewish Resistance." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 04 June 2017.
History.com Sta. "D-Day." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 04 June 2017.
"Brits Bombard Cologne in Operation Millennium." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 04 June 2017.
Photos map of battle of normandy
Cologne bombing aftermath
Nazi Resistance Fighters
Battle of Normandy illustration
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