THE SECOND WORLD WAR

(A) D-Day The best known D-Day was June 6, 1944, during World War II, when Allied forces landed in Normandy, France. In the early morning of June 6, thousands of Allied paratroopers landed behind enemy lines, securing key roads and bridges on the flanks of the invasion area. As the sun rose on the Normandy coastline, the Allies began their amphibious landings, traveling to the beaches in small landing craft lowered from the decks of larger ships anchored in the Channel. The attack on four of the beaches went according to plan. But at Omaha Beach between Utah and Gold, the bravery and determination of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division was tested in one of the fiercest battles of the war. (B) The Holocaust The Holocaust was the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of other people leading up to and during the Second World War. The killings took place in Europe between 1933 and 1945. They were organized by the German Nazi party which was led by Adolf Hitler. Most of the victims were killed because they belonged to certain racial or religious groups which the Nazis wanted to wipe out. This kind of killing is called genocide. The Nazis also killed large groups of people who they thought were inferior. (C) Victory Day Victory Day finally arrived on May 8, 1945 after fierce efforts by the allied forces. The previous year British, Canadian, and U.S. troops invaded Normandy, and began to drive the Nazis out of France. At the same time, the Soviets were launching their own counter-offensive. Seizing their advantage, the Soviets advanced into Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. By 1945, the German defenses had begun to collapse. The Soviet army occupied the eastern one-third of Germany. Eventually, the allies surounded Berlin. On April 30, Adolf Hitler commited suicide. Germany surrendered soon after. (D) The Treaty of Versailles After WWI, the League of Nations made Germany sign the Treaty of Versailles. Germany didn’t have any choice whether to sign it or not. Some people think that the treaty made Germany suffer too much. Many people thought (especially Germans) that the German people were forced to suffer because of what was in the peace treaty.