World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict. It began as the joining of what had initially been two separate conflicts, with the first beginning in Asia in 1937 (the Second Sino-Japanese War) and the other beginning in Europe in 1939 (the German and Soviet invasion of Poland).
The war split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", which erased the distinction between civil and military resources and resulted in the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.
The Allies won the war, and as a result, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the world's leading superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The self-determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself began moving toward integration.
The
Warsaw Uprising (
Powstanie Warszawskie) was a
World War II struggle by the
Polish Home Army (
Armia Krajowa) to liberate
Warsaw from
German occupation. The Uprising began on August 1, 1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion,
Operation Tempest. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army would reach the city. The Soviet advance stopped short, however, while Polish resistance against the German forces continued for 63 days (until
October 2).The Uprising began at a crucial juncture as the
Soviet Army was approaching Warsaw. The Uprising's chief objective was to drive the German occupiers from the city, helping with the larger fight against the Axis. Secondary political objectives were to liberate Warsaw before the
Red Army arrived, so as to underscore Polish
sovereignty, and to undo the Allied division of
Central Europe into
spheres of influence.
Polish authorities were to reappear in liberated Warsaw and challenge the
Soviet puppet government that was to rule Poland.
The
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine
heavy bomber aircraft developed for the
U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against
Douglas and
Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both the other competitors and more than met the Air Corps' expectations. Although Boeing lost the contract due to the prototype's crash, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered thirteen B-17s. The B-17 Flying Fortress went on to enter full-scale production and was considered the first truly mass-produced large aircraft, eventually evolving through numerous
design advancements, from B-17A to G.The B-17 was primarily employed in the daylight precision
strategic bombing campaign of
World War II against
German industrial, civilian and military targets. The
United States Eighth Air Force based in
England and the
Fifteenth Air Force based in
Italy complemented the
RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in
Operation Pointblank, to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for
Operation Overlord. This machine was nicknamed the "Flying Fortress" because of its eight machine guns and three cannons.
The naval
Battle of the Eastern Solomons (also known as the
Battle of the Stewart Islands and, in Japanese sources, as the
Second Battle of the Solomon Sea (第二次ソロモン海戦), took place on August 24–August 25, 1942, and was the third
carrier battle of the
Pacific campaign of
World War II and the second major engagement fought between the
United States Navy and the
Imperial Japanese Navy during the
Guadalcanal Campaign. As at
Coral Sea and
Midway, the
ships of the two
adversaries were never in direct
visual range of each other. Instead, all of the attacks by either side were carried out by either carrier or land-based
aircraft.After several damaging
air attacks, the
naval surface combatants from both the
United States of America (U.S.) and
Japan withdrew from the battle area without either side securing a clear victory. However, the U.S. and its
allies apparently gained a greater
tactical and
strategic advantage from the battle than Japan because the
Allied forces suffered fewer losses than the Japanese, who lost a significant number of aircraft and experienced
aircrews.
Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi (辰口 信夫, Tatsuguchi Nobuo), sometimes mistakenly referred to as
Nebu Tatsuguchi (August 31, 1911 – May 30, 1943), was a
surgeon in the
Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during
World War II. He was killed during the
Battle of Attu on
Attu Island,
Alaska on May 30, 1943. A devout
Seventh-day Adventist, Tatsuguchi studied medicine and was licensed as a
physician in the United States (US). He returned to his native
Japan to practice medicine at the
Tokyo Adventist
Sanitarium, where he received further medical training. In 1941, he was ordered to cease his medical practice and conscripted into the IJA as an acting medical officer. In late 1942 or early 1943, Tatsuguchi was sent to Attu, which had been occupied by Japanese forces in October 1942. The
United States Army landed on the island on May 11, 1943 intending to retake the island from the Japanese. Throughout the resulting battle, Tatsuguchi kept a diary in which he recorded the events of the battle and his struggle to care for the wounded in his field hospital.
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