1. Why VE and VJ
Brought Hope

2. The Battle of the Bulge
• By the end of 1914, Hitler
knew he was losing badly.
The Germans launched
one last offensive which
became known as the
Battle of the Bulge.
• Initially, Germany broke
through the Allied Lines
(creating a small “bulge”
hence the battle’s name),
the Allies came back for a
win and drove the
Germans back.
Members of the NC National Guard
At the Battle of the Bulge!

3. VE Day
• Soviets from the East
and Americans/British
to the West entered
Germany.
• Germany surrendered
on May 7, 1945.
• By this point, Hitler
was dead…..or was he?

4. Back East….
• The US continued Island Hopping closer and closer
to Japan.
• The last two major battles were Iwo Jima and
Okinawa.

5. The Decision
• The Japanese had
trained their people to
fight to the death.
• Americans knew this.
• To stop a potentially
costly invasion of the
mainland, President
Truman dropped the
first atomic bomb on
Hiroshima on August 6,
1945 and bombed
Nagasaki three days
later.

6. VJ Day
• Shortly after the
bombings, Japan
announced it would
surrender.
• Officially, this took
place on September 2,
1945.
• The war officially
ended then, though
some Japanese would
continue fighting for a
while afterwards.

7. The Worst Was Just Coming Out
• Throughout the war, the Holocaust had been carried
out by the German Nazis, claiming the lives of more
than six million Jews and numerous others.
• It is the worst genocide (mass killing) in modern
times. Unfortunately, it was not the last.