WORLD WAR IIAMERICA AT WARCh 18

1941 - 1945

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

How did Roosevelt mobilize the armed forces?

In what ways did the government prepare the economy for war?

How did the war affect daily life on the home front?

PREPARING FOR WAR

President Franklin D. Roosevelt-fireside chats First peace time draft Sept 1940 Increased defense spending Selective Training and Service Act—

required all males ages 21-36 to register for the military service

MILITARY

GIs- abbreviation of ‘Government Issue’, name for those in the service

More than 16 million Americans served They were in the swamps, hot deserts, and

evil seas Front line soldiers daily struggled to stay

alive Dreamed of home Fought to preserve freedoms

NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE MILITARY

Code Talkers/Wind Talkers- Navajo Marines who operated radio waves.

Needed a code that the enemy couldn’t crack Based on Navajo language Key in many battles

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE MILITARY

Tuskegee Airmen-first African American flying unit

At first officials limited African Americans to supporting rolesCooks, drivers, garbage pick up

After 1942 – gave opportunities to fight.Separate unitsTuskegee Airmen

WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

Personnel shortage allowed women into all positions EXCEPT combat.

Women worked as clerks, typists, airfield controllers tower operators, mechanics, photographers, drivers.

Some towed practice targets for antiaircraft gunners.

DIVERSITY

300,000 Mexican Americans 1 Million African Americans 25, 000 Native Americans 350,000 Women

Segregation 1944 heavy casualties forced integration in

units

PREPARING THE ECONOMY FOR WAR

Other Allies production of war goods was down

Bombs destroyed a lot of factories Japan controlled much of the Pacific which

cut off precious raw materials Rubber, oil, and tin

WAR PRODUCTION

War Production Board (WPB)- supervised the switch from producing peacetime products to war goods

Office of War Mobilization: James F. Byrnes Superagency in the centralization of resources Assistant president

Even Ford Motor company switched

WAR PRODUCTION

Henry Kaiser’s new production technique for shipbuilding Cut time needed to build one ship from 200 days

to 40 Liberty ships—large and sturdy merchant

ships which carried supplies or troops (designed by Kaiser)

Cost-plus system: the government paid businesses (who made war goods)

PRODUCTION TOTALS

1944 American production levels doubled those of all Axis nations put together

1945300,000 planes80,000 landing craft100,000 armored cars and tanks5,600 merchant ships6 million rifles, carbines, and machine

guns41 BILLION rounds of ammunition!

WARTIME WORK FORCE

Unemployment vanished with war production They earned more money; wages rose 50%-

(adjusted for inflation) “Not a day passes but you’ll hear somebody

say to a worker who seems to be slowing down, ‘there’s a war on, you know!’”

WORKFORCE

Mostly women workers“There’s a war on, you know!”Rosie the Riveter

Why?

FINANCING WAR

Federal spending increased from $8.9 billion per year (1939) to $95.2 billion (1945)

GDP doubled U.S. spent about $321 billion (1941-1945)

ten times amount spent on WWI

PAYING FOR THE WAR

Higher taxes paid 41% of the cost of war Treasury Department-buy war bonds

$186 billion—total war bond sales

Went further into debt!1940 – deficit spending made the US debt

$43 billion.1945 - $259 billion in debt!

HOME FRONT

Almost everyone had someone in the military Relied on the radio for war news End of the depression raised people spirits

Population grew by 7.5 million between 1940-45

30-million people moved. Soldiers moved Families of soldiers moved People moved to take jobs

HOME FRONT: SHORTAGES AND CONTROLS

Goods were limited Metal that made zippers went to make guns Rubber tires for army trucks not bicycle

wheels. Nylon stocking vanished b/c nylon was

needed for parachutes Those who found the ration rules confusing

or complained they would be asked “Don’t you know there’s a war on?”

FOOD SHORTAGES

Between troop needs and enemy stopping supply lines.SugarTropical fruitsCoffeeChocolate

The military needed vast amounts of food Gas was rationed

OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION (OPA)

When demand is greater than supply prices go up-inflation

OPA was to control inflation by limiting prices and rents

OPA assigned point values to sugar, coffee, meat, butter, caned fruit, and shoes

RATION BOOKS

Ration books of coupons were given to last a month

Goods were given a certain amount of points Once points/coupons were used up you had

to wait for the next ration book or trade with neighbors

Based on family size Took into account distance and needs of

farmers

POPULAR CULTURE

With less goods available—turned to entertainment

Books and magazines Bought recordings of popular songs (‘White

Christmas’) Baseball games Women in baseball Went to the movies every week (60% of the

population)

PUBLIC SUPPORT

Need to maintain morale Wanted citizens to participate in war effort Office of War Information

Created poster/ads to stir American patriotic feelings

CIVILIANS DUTIES

Blackouts Older men: join the Civilian Defense effort Kids: Scrap metal drives Recycling Women:

Grow Victory GardensKnit scarves and socks for the warRoll bandages for the Red Cross

SLOGANS

“Play YOUR Part” “Conserve and Collect” “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do

without”

NORTH PLATTE CANTEEN

December 25, 1941 – April 1, 1946 Served sandwiches, coffee, cookies and

cakes to 6 million servicemen during stops.

RETAKING EUROPE: QUESTIONS(SECTION 2)

Where did Americans join the struggle against the Axis?

How did the war in the Soviet Union change from 1941 to 1943?

What role did air power play in the war in Europe?

Why did the invasion of Western Europe succeed?

What events marked the end of the war in Europe?

RETAKING EUROPE (SECTION 2)

Roosevelt and Churchill meet August 1941 Declared principles to guide them in the war:

Atlantic Charter They didn’t want territory They didn’t want any territory changes Each group of people can choose own

government Final destruction of Nazi tyranny All nations must stop using force

THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

Brits desperately needed Atlantic trade routes

Allied trade ships were attacked by U-boats (submarines)

Allied formed convoys Wolf Packs

20 U-boats that hunted enemy convoys in packs.

Took out 175 allied ships in 1942 alone.Some in sight of the US coastline.

HOW TO STOP WOLF PACKS?

SONAR: underwater sound equipment (sort of worked)

175 Allied ships sunk in June 1942 Long range sub hunting aircraft-worked Better depth charges Cut off U-Boats from their ports in Germany

and France.

THE MAJOR PLAYERS OF THE ATLANTIC WAR; WESTERN FRONT; EUROPEAN THEATRE

Churchill – Prime Minister of England Roosevelt – US President Josef Stalin – Chairman of Soviet Union

PLAYERS FOR THE FASCISTS

Hitler – Germany Mussolini - Italy

THE GENERALS: ALLIES

Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower (1890 – 1969)

Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces

Excelled atStaffing issuesDiplomacy

THE GENERALS: UNITED STATES George Patton : 1885 – 1945. As a boy knew he wanted to

be a hero. LOVED war. Early on realized the potential

for tanks. Did NOT have good diplomacy

skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh9S1Hk975U

THE BRILLIANT NAZI GENERALS Rommel “The Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel (1891 – 1944) Great tank commander Used surprise and bold

moves. Was NOT a member of the

Nazi party

THE NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN

February 1943: US had their butts kicked by the Nazis.

May 1943: US came back, defeated Nazis and took 240,000 German and Italians prisoners.2000 ended up in POW camps in Nebraska.

Roosevelt and Churchill met again to decide strategy

INVASION OF ITALY: START RETAKING EUROPE

7th Army under Patton took Sicily and the English started to invade the mainland of Italy.

Mussolini’s Fascists turned against him.

Nazis rescued MussoliniSet him up in a Puppet Government in

northern Italy

THERE IS STILL MORE…

Battle of Anzio and Cassino trapped Americans and English and went from January – May 1944.

Allies v. German Nazis April 1945 Italy was in Allied control.

ITALY: END OF MUSSOLINI

Finally after heavy fighting complete surrender by Italy

Caught by the Italians as he tried to leave Italy and escape to Germany.

Ended by the Italians.

WAR IN THE SOVIET UNION

The Germans advance in Russia 1941 – 1942.

Germans quickly gained control Blitzkrieg Nazis were first greeted as liberators

by the ethnic nationalities in Russia.They hated Stalin.

SOVIET UNION

Nazis turned on the local people.ExecutionsForced labor

People engaged in guerrilla actions against the Nazis.

Stalin had the army destroy everything

SOVIET UNION

Guerrilla Warfare Scorched Earth Policy Stalin BEGGED Roosevelt and Churchill to

invade Western Europe to take some pressure off the Red Army.

S.U. weapon: Winter

BATTLES

Battle of Stalingrad September 1942 – January 1943

FirebombingShellingWinter counter attack by S.U.

Turning point in the eastern war German Surrendered

“Completely cut off, the men in the field grey just slouched on, invariable filthy and invariable louse-ridden, their weary shoulders sagging, from one defense position to another. The icy winds of those great white wastes which stretched for ever beyond us to the east lashed a million crystals or razor-like snow into their unshaven faces, skin now loose-stretched over bone, so utter was the exhaustion, so utter the starvation”

German infantryman Dec 1942

BATTLE OF STALINGRAD

Jan 31, 1943: 90,000 surviving Germans surrendered, Germany lost 330,000 troops at Stalingrad Soviet losses not known: estimated 1,100,000

Nazis lost their holdings in Russia. Siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg today)

THE ALLIED AIR WAR

Carpet BombingScattering large number of bombs over a

wide area40,000 died in one day in Hamburg,

Germany B-17s Flying Fortress

Bombed: aircraft factories, railways, plants, bridges, cities

INVASION OF WESTERN EUROPE

Time to go after the Nazis in Germany. Allies are going to invade Europe but where? D-Day

D-DAY: WHY JUNE 6TH?

Rommel’s wife’s birthday!Took the chance he would go to be with

her.He took the bait!

D-DAY (OPERATION OVERLORD) June 6, 1944 some 4,600 invasion craft

left England for France. 1,000 RAF aircraft dropped 23,000

paratroopers in France D-Day: day the invasion of Western

Europe began

D-DAY

150,000 Allied troops and equipment came ashore along 60 miles of Normandy coast

Largest landing by sea in history Germans resisted-a lot But half million men came ashore

“It seemed like the whole world exploded. There was gunfire from battleships, destroyers, and cruisers. The bombers were still hitting the beaches… As we went in, we could see small craft from the 116th infantry that had gone in ahead, sunk. There were bodies bobbing in the water, even out three or four miles.”

-Lieutenant Robert Edlin

D-DAY OMAHA BEACH

Killing Zone 12 major resistance nests that reigned fire

down over every inch of the beach. IF they made it to the beach.

D-DAY: OMAHA

If you made it to the beach If you made it across the beach You had to climb up a cliff to reach the

Germans.

D-DAY UTAH

Landing was hard – currents. Trouble happened later. Hedgerow fighting

D-DAY 3,000 American, British

casualties 2,000 German casualties By the next week 500,000

Allies were in France.

LIBERATING FRANCE

Patton used a Blitzkrieg to blow a hole through the Germans to advance out of Normandy.

Then pushed on towards Paris With French Resistance they

liberated Paris August 25, 1944.

BATTLE OF THE BULGE December 1944 Germans cut off part of the

American army from the main group. German attacked and pushed back U.S. army Forming a bulge in the Allied line

Patton did an amazing movement in winter of troops to save the American forces. 600,000 GI soldiers involved 80,000 killed, wounded 100,000 Germans killed

THE WAR IN EUROPE ENDS

Difficult fighting in France between Germany & S.U.

More than 9 million soldiers were fighting on the eastern front

Horrific costs: 11million Soviets and 3 millions Germans killed

GERMANY SURRENDERS

Crossing the Elbe River Hitler stayed in Berlin as Soviets surrounded He committed suicide on April 30, 1945 May 8, 1945: Germany surrenders V-E: Victory in Europe.

YALTA CONFERENCE

FDR, Churchill, Stalin met to discuss the peace.

Plan was to divide German territories and Berlin into four zones, each controlled by an Ally: England, US, France, Russia. Repair the economy Rid the zone of Nazis Hold free elections Get out after repairs are done.

YALTA

Stalin didn’t keep to the agreement.Punished the GermansStole what was left of the economyDid NOT hold free elections.

Put puppet communist regimes in.