World War II Index/Glossary of Terms

World War II Index/Glossary Home Page

Bock's Car

The name of the B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945.

Bougainville

An island in Papua New Guinea in the Pacific. Taken by the Allies late in 1943 to early in 1944.

Bloody Ridge

The name given to a site on Guadalcanal in the Pacific where Marines fought hard on two nights in April 1942.

Brazil

This South American nation declared war on Germany and Italy in August 1942.

Battle of Britain

The German bombing of Britain in late 1940. The British defended themselves from the air in what Winston Churchill called their "finest hour." The powerful German Luftwaffe failed to crush British morale.

Bulgaria

This Eastern European nation signed the Tripartite Pact in March 1941, becoming part of the Axis. In September 1944 the USSR invaded Bulgaria, and shortly thereafter Bulgaria declared war on Germany.

Buna

An area of southeastern New Guinea, an island nation in the Southwest Pacific, just north of Australia. Australian and U.S. Army forces under MacArthur fought back the Japanese at Buna on January 2, 1943.

Burma

East Asian nation invaded and occupied by the Japanese in 1942. It was strategically important to the Allies because the only supply route to China was over the "Hump" of the Himalayas. Retaken by the Allies in 1944.