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.
Hispanic Americans in World War II fought in every major battle in the
European Theatre, from
North Africa to the
Battle of the Bulge, and in the
Pacific Theater of Operations, from
Bataan to
Okinawa. According to the
National World War II Museum, between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the
Armed Forces during WWII, out of a total of 10,420,000, comprising 2.3% to 4.7% of the Armed Forces. The exact number is unknown as, at the time, Hispanics were integrated into the general
white population census count. Separate statistics were kept for
African-Americans and
Asian-Americans.On December 7, 1941, when the United States officially entered the war, Hispanic Americans were among the many American citizens who joined the ranks of the
Army,
Navy and
Marine Corps as volunteers or through the
draft.
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
Battle of Savo Island, also known as the
First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the
First Battle of the Solomon Sea (第一次ソロモン海戦, Dai-ichi-ji Soromon Kaisen), took place August 8 – August 9, 1942. It was a
naval battle of the
Pacific Campaign of
World War II, between the
Imperial Japanese Navy and
Allied naval forces. The battle was the first major naval engagement of the
Guadalcanal campaign.In the battle, a Japanese warship task force surprised and routed the Allied naval force, sinking one
Australian and three
American cruisers, while taking only moderate damage in return. The Japanese force consisted of seven cruisers and one
destroyer, commanded by
Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. In response to Allied
amphibious landings in the eastern
Solomon Islands, Mikawa brought his task force down
New Georgia Sound (also known as "the Slot") to attack the Allied amphibious fleet and its screening force. The screening force consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen destroyers, commanded by
British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley VC, but only five cruisers and seven destroyers were actually involved in the battle.
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