Marianas Turkey Shoot

Over the years the U.S.A. has won or been one of the winners of nearly every war she was in. Not only that she has often showed great superiority over her enemies. This was also displayed in the second world war when America and her allies completely conquered Germany and Japan. One of the greatest examples of American superiority in World War 2 was the Battle of the Philippine Sea, also known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot". This took place on June 18-20, 1944 making today the 65th anniversary of this battle. In a nutshell the battle went like this. The American forces kept taking island after island so the Japanese high command decided to counter-attack. The American high command had cracked the Japanese code so they knew the Japanese plans and lined up their carriers and battleships for the defense. The Japanese launched planes off of their carriers and nearby Guam to attack the American fleet. The Americans launched their fighters and shot down most of the attacking Japanese planes and then began to attack in return. By the end of the battle around 600 Japanese planes had been shot down and five ships had been sunk while only 120 American planes were shot down, most of who's crews were saved. This amazing victory was mostly because the American aircrews and naval crews were far more trained than the Japanese crews. The American planes were also of much better quality than the Japanese planes. The Grumman F6 was particularly good.
Ok now for some pictures.


The American fleet.















Fighter contrails.





















The Grumman F6, the plane that helped the Americans win the battle.





















An F6 landing on the USS Lexington.



































A Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber.






















Anti-aircraft fire covers the sky as a Japanese plane goes down in flames.

D-day

Today is June 6. That makes today the 65th anniversary of D-day. On June 6, 1944, 156,000 men from the United States, Britain, Canada, France and Poland landed on the Normandy beaches, on the northern coast of Nazi-occupied France. Over 4,400 men died. But this was the beginning of the end for Hitler. From Normandy the Allies pushed through France, Beligum, Holland and eventually into the heart of Germany itself, which forced their surrender. Here are some pictures.

These are Canadian troops coming ashore on Juno Beach.















Sorry I was going to put more pictures on but the computer won't let me. Maybe I'll try again later.