Chapter 12

America in WWII

Allies vs Axis

Great Britain

France

US

USSR

The Big Four:

+ many others

Germany

Italy

Japan

I. Mobilizing for War

US = Arsenal of Democracy

A. Converting the Economy

1. Industrial power: US = 2X production of

Germany/5X of Japan

2. US fought & won a 2-front war against 2

powerful military empires - forcing each to

surrender unconditionally

a. US expanded war production May/June

1940 - Fall of France

b. Although still neutral, Americans willing to

build up defenses Arsenal of Democracy

3. Govt incentives for quick production

a. cost-plus contracts: fast production =

higher profits

b. Reconstruction Finance Corporation

(RFC): funneled $ to key industries

- to cover cost of converting to war

production

c. by summer 1942- all major industries

& 200,000 + companies converted to

war production

4. GNP rose dramatically

- 1939 = $88.6 B; 1944 = $198.7B

5. Depression over! 17m jobs added!

- even underemployment!

Depression Over!

B. American Industry Gets the Job Done

1. Role of Auto Industry

a. auto industry best for mass production

& produced about 1/3 of all military

equipment manufactured during the war

b. US mobility outclassed the enemy - auto

industry produced jeeps +2 ½ ton truck -

moved troops & supplies quickly.

(Germans relied on animal transport)

us

Them

c. Willow Run - Ford Motor Co.

Instead of mass producing cars,

produced B-24 (Heavy Bomber)

- new airplane every 63 minutes

Willow Run was the embodiment

of American ingenuity,

perseverance and productivity.

Here are some of the statistics:

· 488,193 parts

· 30,000 components

· 24 Major subassemblies

· Peak production = 25 units/day

· 25,000 initial engineering

drawings

· Ten model changes in six years

· Thousands of running changes

· 34,533 employees at peak

· 100% Productivity

provement

2. Liberty Ships

a. basic cargo ship of WWII

b. welded instead of riveted - hard to sink

- could get back to port for repairs &

back to service

Photograph of a

Liberty ship in the

water immediately

after launching from

the J.A. Jones

Construction

Company shipyard,

Brunswick, Georgia,

1943-1945?]

3. War Production Board (WPB): organized

the shift of the economy to wartime

production

- ex. factories that made nylon hose,

now made nylon parachutes

a. set priorities & production goals

b. allocated natural resources

C. Building an Army

1. Selective Service & Training Act 1940

a. 1st peacetime draft in US history

b. many volunteered, but 9.9m drafted

2. You’re in the Army Now

a. "GI" govt issue - became nickname for

any US Soldier “GI Joe”

b. basic training provided sense of unity,

"sense of kinship“ – this proved

invaluable during combat

One of Time Magazine’s most

important people of the century: The American GI

3. Segregation in the Military

a. black Americans faced many forms of

discrimination – opportunities grow

throughout the war though. At first:

1) whites did not train w/ blacks

2) blacks used separate facilities

3) blacks in same unit under white officers

4) blacks often out of combat, into

construction & supply unitsKeesler Field's first class of Negro airplane mechanics graduated August 1944. Physical fitness and markmanship were stressed at the Basic Training Center during the last six months of 1944. Class 68 of Section U established a physical fitness record during the late summer of 1944 when it attained an average physical fitness score of 71.5%. All the members of this pre-aviation cadet class qualified with the carbine and the average score of the class in

pistol marksmanship was 67.

4. Pushing for Double V

a. despite racism in US, probably worse

under Hitler so blacks support war effort

b. National Urban League Goals

1. push for black participation in all aspects

of war effort

2. plan for post-war US with more

freedom/equality for blacks

c. Double V campaign - victory over

Hitler abroad/ victory over racism in US

d. FDR orders military to recruit blacks &

to allow blacks in combat

d. Tuskegee Airmen – combat fighter

pilots in Army Air Corps - fought in Italy

e.1943 - military bases integrated (military

not completely integrated until 1948)

Tuskegee Airmen Black and white soldiers at a US base

in Italy during World War II.

6. Women join the Armed Forces

a. Army enlists women - not for combat,

but to free up men for combat!

b. 200,000 in military

c. WAC - Women's Army Corps

d. 68,000+ nurses in Army & Navy

7. Americans Go to War

a. not well trained at 1st, most had no prior

military svc

b. Sloppy image - yet performed well in

battle - fewest combat casualties among

the Allies

II. Life on the Homefront

A. Women & Minorities Gain Ground

1. Women in Defense Plants

a. wartime labor shortage - married

women recruited for industrial jobs

b. Rosie the Riveter - posters used to

recruit women - for the war effort

c. 2.5 m women in war production

industriesRosie the Riveter

2. African Americans Demand War Work

a. A. Philip Randolph- Civil Rights Activist

– March on Washington Movement)

threats lead to FDR's

Executive Order 8802 June 1941

- no discrimination for defense

industry jobs from race, creed,

color or nat'l origin

b.Fair Employment Practices Committee

established

- investigate unfair hiring practices (1st

civil rights agency created since

Reconstruction)

3. The Bracero Program

a. launched due to a farm labor shortage

in SW

b. gov’t contract labor program that brought in

migrant farm workers from Mexico

B. Migration during WWII

1. Many Americans move from the industrial

northeast to the southwest.

a. New industrial region emerges:

The Sunbelt

b. Overtime, former industrial

northeast becomes a Rustbelt

2. The 2nd Great Migration

a. The Great Migration that began in WWI

resumes

b. many black Americans move from the rural

South to cities in search of higher-paying

wartime industrial jobs

C. Racial Issues during WWII

1. 2nd Great Migration: led to rising racial

tensions in industrial cities

a. race riots breakout

b. worst riots occur in Detroit, June 1943

2. Zoot Suit Riots

a. In Southern California, there were racial

tensions + rising juvenile delinquency in the

Mexican-American community

b. Tensions erupted into riots when Zoot Suits became popular with Mexican youth

1) The problem with Zoot Suits? Took lots of fabric.

2) while others were wearing “victory suits”

(suits tailored using less fabric), those who

wore Zoot Suits were seen as unpatriotic

and unsupportive of the war effort

c. tensions eased after Los Angeles bans the

Zoot Suit

Zoot Suit vs Victory Suit

3. The “Enemy Aliens”

a. b/c of fear that immigrants (not yet US

citizens) of German, Italian, and Japanese

descent would help the enemy, they were

required to register with gov’t and submit to

fingerprinting

b. some German and Italian “enemy aliens” were

held in camps, others faced curfews or travel

restrictions

4. Executive Order 9066

a. applied to people of Japanese ancestry living

in West Coast states

b. arguing that relocation was necessary for nat’l

security, 100,000 + moved to internment

camps where most stayed for the duration of

the war

c. families forced to sell their homes, businesses,

and their belongings below market value

d. Constitutional Issues regarding Executive

Order 9066

1) Korematsu v. US (1944): Supreme court

ruled that Executive Order 9066 did not

violate people’s rights b/c the restrictions

were based on “military necessity” and not

on race

2) Hirabayashi v. US (1943): Supreme Court

upheld the conviction of a Jap.-Am for

breaking curfew – said curfew was within

congressional and presidential authority

3) 1988: Congress passed a law, paying

$20,000 in reparations to living relocation

camp internees

D. New Gov’t Agencies in WWII

1. Office of Price Administration - set

ceilings on rent, prices, wages &

operated a rationing program (lots of

black market activity though) - to control

inflation

1) rationing - limited availability of

products to make sure enough for

military use (meat, sugar, gas,

rubber etc)

Rationing

2. War Labor Board - tried to keep workers

happy - seized uncooperative

companies, promoted better wages,

conditions, (avg weekly wage = $43.39!)

3. Office of War Information- – responsible for

spreading propaganda to gain support for the

war effort

a. Largely done through poster campaigns

b. Encouraged men to join military/women

to work in war industry; warned citizens

about improper actions during wartime

E. Patriotism leads to volunteerism

1. victory gardens

2. scrap drives - collected spare rubber,

tin, aluminum

3. oil drives - collected bacon grease,

meat drippings in exchange for extra

ration coupons - oils used in explosives

Victory Gardens

Scrap Drives

4. Paying for the War

a. WWII cost ~ $250 m /day

b. Spent $321B - 2X what we had spent in

first 150 yrs as a nation

c. 41% from taxes

d. 59% from borrowing - E bonds

Bond Drives

Disney propaganda

5. The Flying Tigers (active before US entry into WWII)

a. Officially, the 1st American Volunteer

Group of the Chinese Air Force

b. Began training in Burma before US

entry into the war to defend China

against Japanese aggression

6. The Civilian Air Patrol (CAP)

a. conducted anti-submarine patrols and

warfare, border patrols, and courier services

b. During WWII, flew 24 m miles, found 173

enemy U-boats, attacked 57, hit 10 and sunk

two

c. By the end of the war, 64 CAP members had

lost their lives in the line of duty

III. The Early Battles (1942)

A. Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO)

1. Taking on the Japanese Navy

a. Admiral Chester Nimitz – commander of

US Navy in Pacific ( From Fredericksburg, TX!!)

b. What the Japanese missed at Pearl

Harbor ? The aircraft carriers!!!

c. But difficult to stop Jap. advance in SE

Asia

2. Dec. 1941 – few hrs after Pearl Harbor,

Japan attacks US airfields in Philippines –

invades 2 days later

a. US & Filipino troops led by Douglas

MacArthur retreat to Bataan peninsula

- FDR orders MacArthur to evacuate –

his promise to Filipino people?

I Shall Return!!

- April 1942: 78,000

American and

Filipinos surrender to

become POWs

of Japan

b. Bataan Death March

- 65 mi march to Jap. POW camp

- sick, tired, starving – thousands die

c. Corregidor – fell to Japan May 1942

Bataan Death March

This picture, captured from the Japanese, shows American prisoners using

improvised litters to carry those of their comrades who, from the lack of food or

water on the march from Bataan, fell along the road.� Philippines, May 1942

3. The Doolittle Raids – April 1942

a. US wanted to bomb Japan, but carriers

couldn’t get close enough to launch

short-range bomber planes

b. Solution? Use medium range B-25s

c. These could take off from carrier, but

couldn’t land – plan to land in China

d. Led by Lt. James Doolittle, 16 B-25s

took off from USS Hornet – bombed

Japan!

e. Results?

- little damage to Japan

- morale in US improved!

- Japan changes strategy – prepares

for assault on Midway

Raids in Cartoons

4. The Battle of Coral Sea - May 1942

a. Jap. plan to cut off US supply line to Australia by capturing s. coast of New Guinea

b. US had broken Jap. Navy code

c. Sent USS Yorktown & Lexington to defend New Guinea

d. all out airstrikes against e/o from carriers

e. Lexington sunk, Yorktown damaged

f. But Jap. called off invasion of N.Guinea

g. US supply lines stayed open!

Battle of Coral Sea

USS Lexington explodes on May 8,

1942, several hours after being

damaged by a Japanese carrier air

attack.

5. Battle of Midway – June 1942

a. US code-breakers learned of Jap. plan to

attack Midway

b. Nimitz orders ambush of Jap. fleet

c. US outnumbered ~ 4 – 1, but sunk 4 Jap.

carriers, shot down 38 planes

d. Jap. forced to retreat

e. Turning point: stopped the Jap. Advance

in the Pacific!!

Battle of Midway June 1942

Battle of Midway

SBD "Dauntless" dive bombers

from USS Hornet (CV-8)

approaching the burning Japanese

heavy cruiser Mikuma to make the

third set of attacks on her, during

the early afternoon of 6 June 1942.

Battle of Midway

Midway is an atoll, a ring of

coral island. Total land area = 3

sq. miles

Turning point in the Pacific

– Japanese offensive

stopped!

B. The European Theater of Operations

(ETO)- Early 1942: US strategy was to take a

defensive stance in the Pacific

- Agreed with European Allies to adopt a

“Europe First” policy

a. USSR (Stalin) urged US to open 2nd

western front in Europe

- to take pressure off USSR

(doing most of fighting!)

b. Brits (Churchill): US & Brits not

ready for lrg invasion of Europe

- focus attack on periphery

c. FDR orders invasion of N. Africa

1. The North African Campaign 11/42-5/43

a. Operation Torch – US/Brit operation

b. Germans & Italians held much of North

Africa (NA). Vichy French (German-

friendly French) held Morocco, Algeria

Threatened Brit controlled

Egypt & Suez Canal (Egypt

needs Suez Canal - water link

btwn Brits Asian colonies &

Med. Sea – a big shortcut!)

Operation Torch

c. German forces led by Erwin Rommel

(the Desert Fox)

d. Brits halt Germans push east at Battle

of El- Alamein (Egypt)

e. Allies capture French North Africa. All

French North African territories (except

Tunisia) then aligned themselves to the

Allied side

f. US forces under Patton push east and

trap Germans btwn US and Brit forces

g. German forces in North Africa surrender

h. ~ 350k German & Italians killed or

captured

i. paved the way for future Allied invasion

of Sicily and mainland Italy (Europe’s

soft underbelly)

2. Battle of the Atlantic

a. Allied convoys vs. German U-Boats and other warships

b. Dates: 1939-1945

c. Military Branch: Navy + Air Corp + Civilians

d. Germany’s plan

1) aim to prevent food & war material from reaching Brits and USSR

2) patrol US coastal waters in U Boats“wolfpacks” – sunk 1.2 tons of shipping, 360 ships including oil tankers

e. US response?

1) cities dim lights, blackout curtains,

drive w/o lights

2) built 1st long pipeline from TX – PA

3) convoys !

- cargo ships travel in grps

escorted by destroyers

4) New technology: radar, sonar, depth

charges

5) by spring 1943, Allies in control of

Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic

Problem?

Solution!

Convoy vs U-Boat

3. Battle of Stalingrad 1942

a. German Plan?

- to destroy USSR economy

- key to capture oilfields, farms, and

industry

- by capturing Stalingrad, Germs thought

USSR would be cut off from resources

needed to stay in war

b. The battle

- constant bombing & artillery fire

- sniper activity

c. Result?

- Nov. 1942: USSR surrounds Germans –

9000 surrender

d. Significance?

- turning point! Stopped German offensive

on their eastern front

Battle of Stalingrad

German vs.

Soviet Forces

IV. Later Battles (1943-45)

A. ETO: Going after the Italians and Nazis

1. The Plans: as decided in Jan 1943 at

the Casablanca Conference. FDR and

Churchill agree to…

a. escalate bombing of Germany

b. demand unconditional surrender

c. Attack Sicily – the soft underbelly

of Europe

Europe’s Soft Underbelly

2. Strategic Bombing Campaign: The

Air War

a. goal? To bomb select military

targets to disrupt German war

production capability

b. Brits bomb by night, US bombs

by day

Bombs Away!

Strategic Bombing Campaign

B-24s from

the 450th

Bomb group

based in

Italy on a

bomb run

Bomb Damage: Berlin

Bombing the Ploesti

Oil Refinery

Romania Aug 1943

Effects of

Allied Air

Bombing

3. Striking at Italy: the Soft Underbelly

a. July 1943: Invasion of Sicily

b. DUKW – new amphibious truck –

brought supplies and artillery to

soldiers on the beach

c. Invasion successful – Germans

evacuate w/in 8 days of invasion

DUKW bringing

in supplies to

Seventh Infantry

troops in Sicily

Europe’s Soft Underbelly

d. Sept 1943: After Sicily lost -

Mussolini out!

- king arrests Mussolini and new Italian

gov’t begins to negotiate with Allies for

surrender (9/8/43)

e. US invades in south at Salerno

Invasion of Italy

f. Germany, fearing loss of Italy, seizes

Northern Italy and Rome – attacks US

forces at Salerno – rescues Mussolini

from prison and puts him back in

power

g. May 1944: after 5 mos. of fighting,

Allies break through German lines at

Anzio and Cassini in northern Italy

h. June 4, 1944: Allies capture Rome

- but Germans still held strong in

the north of Italy

Allied Liberation of Rome

June 4, 1944

4. Tehran Conference

a. Nov/Dec 1943: Tehran, Iran

b. FDR (US), Stalin (USSR), Churchill (Gr. Brit)

c. Leaders agreed to…

1) Stalin agreed to an offensiveagainst Germany when Allies invade France

2) FDR & Stalin agreed to break up Germany to eliminate future threats

3) Stalin pledged to help US defeat Japan after defeat of Germany

4) Accepted idea of int’l peace org after war

Tehran Conference

Left to right: Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston

Churchill on the verandah of the Soviet Embassy in Tehran during

the Tehran Conference.

B. Opening a 2nd front in Europe

1. Operation Overlord

a. codename for invasion (liberation) of France

b. US Gen Eisenhower put in command

2. Planning Operation Overlord

a. Hitler expected Allied invasion & had fortified the coast of France

b. Allies biggest advantage? Surprise – Germans didn’t know when or where the Allies would land

US Gen.

Dwight D.

Eisenhower =

Supreme

Commander

Allied Forces

WWII France

c. “Operation Fortitude”– Mission?

To deceive Germany – convince

them that the invasion would take

place at Pas-de-Calais (actual

target = Normandy)

Intended Invasion

Point

Deceptive

Invasion Point

1) used captured German spies to relay phony invasion plans

to Germans

2) broadcast misleading radio reports

3) created a “dummy” invasion force, the 1st US Army Group

(FUSAG),near Dover, England

- made sense as it was narrowest pt of English Channel

- to make it even more believable, Gen Patton put in command of FUSAG

Gen. George Patton

Although the use of fraud is detestable, yet in

the combat of war it is praiseworthy and

glorious. And a man who uses fraud to

overcome his enemy is praised, just as much

as he who overcomes his enemy by force

Machiavelli 1531

An inflatable dummy tank, modeled after the Sherman Tank

Dummy RAF Bomber

3. The intricacies of Operation Overlord

a. invasion had to begin at night to hide ships crossing English Channel

b. low tide had to be at dawn so gunners bombarding coast could see their targets

c. paratroopers had to be dropped behind enemy lines by night – but needed moonlight so they could see where to land

d. Most important? Needed good weather! (storms would ground planes, high waves

would flood landing craft)

4. Invasion Day = D-Day June 6, 1944

a. ~ 7000 ships + 100,000 soldiers + 23,000 paratroopers + fighter planes etc. = largest invasion force in history!

b. Code names for landing beaches in Normandy: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno - US forces on Omaha

Beach faced greatest losses (2500 KIA/WIA)

c.end of the day June 6, 1944: invasion successful! US, British, and Canadian troops had secured a foothold on the beaches of France! (Germans thought this was a diversion –thought “real” invasion was yet to come at Calais)

d. Military significance? Opens a western front in Europe – Germans nowbeing squeezed by the Allies from the east, west, and south (Italy)

See opening scene

of “Saving Private

Ryan” for realistic

portrayal of the

fight for Omaha

Beach

Read: “ A Day

for Heroes” in

textbook pg

638-9)

Great Reagan speech about D-Day:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganddayaddress.html

C. Driving the Japanese Back

1. Strategy? Island Hopping Campaign

led by Adm. Chester Nimitz

a. advance through Pacific by hopping from one island to another – getting closer and closer to Japan and using each captured island as a base for capturing the next – the rest, cut off from resupply, would no longer pose a threat

b. needed to be close enough to use our heavy bomber airplanes against Japan prior to a full-scale invasion

Island Hopping Campaign

2. Taking back the Pacific – Island by

Island

a. Nov 1943: 1st hop? Tarawa

1) geographic problem: atoll

- water not deep enough

over coral reef to allow

landing craft to come

ashore – troops had to

wade ashoreTarawa is an atoll, a flat-topped submarine mountain capped by coral. Most atolls,

have a wide, shallow lagoon ringed by low coral islands. The only island of

consequence at Tarawa was one with an airfield. The plan was for Allied ships to

stand offshore in deep water and send landing craft into the lagoon. The landing craft

would go as far in as possible and discharge troops.

2) Soldiers wading ashore were raked by Japanese gunfire – only 1 in 3 made it ashore

3) Casualties would have been lower w/ greater use of LVT (Landing Vehicle Tracked) or Amphtrac (amphibious tractor) – only 1 ashore at Tarawa

- boat with tank tracks

- could cross reef & bring troops onto beaches

amphtrac

Tarawa

• Japanese losses: only 1 Japanese officer, 16 enlisted men, and 129 Korean laborers survived out of the original force of 4,690

• American losses: 978 killed and 2,188 wounded

• Americans outraged at the carnage

• Efforts made to improve communications systems, pre-invasion bombardments, and coordination with air support

• Led to widespread use of amphtracs

b. Feb 1944: Marshall Islands

1) all troops ashore on

amphtracs

2) marines capture Kwajalein &

Eniwetok atolls

3) far less US casualties

c. June – Aug 1944: The Mariana

Islands

1) to be used as base for B-29

(heavy bomber) – could fly

farther than any other plane in

the world – could bomb

Japan!!

2) US captured Siapan, Tinian &

Guam by Aug 1944

3) enabled US to bomb Japan

few months later

Island Hopping Campaign

Mariana Islands #3

(June-Aug 1944)

Marshall Islands #2

(Feb 1944)

Tarawa #1

(Nov 1943)

3. Retaking the Philippines – led by Gen

Douglas MacArthur

a. Aug 1942 +: began with attack

on Guadalcanal (Philippines)

b. Oct 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf

1) largest naval battle in history

2) MacArthur returns to

Philippine soilGen Douglas

MacArthur

“People of the Philippines, I have returned. By

the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand

again on Philippine soil”

3) first time Japanese used Kamikaze attacks

4) Japanese casualties

- 80,000 killed, less than 1000 surrendered

c. March 1945: Manila (capital of Philippines) captured by US troops

- city in ruins

- 100,000 Filipino civilians dead

d. Japanese retreat north – still fighting in Aug 1945 upon Japanese surrender

Battle Leyte Gulf

USS White Plains

attacked by

kamikaze plane

V. The War Ends

A. The Third Reich Collapses

1. Closing in on Germany

a. D-Day successful, but hedgerows

in France were an obstacle to

further advancement

- built to fence in cattle & crops,

Germans used them to defend

their positions

- broke through in July 1944

- Paris liberated Aug 25, 1944!

The French Hedgerows

Hedgerow: row of shrubs or trees surrounding a field, often on a dirt wall

Tech. innovations helped

turn the tide in Normandy.

A Sherman tank is

equipped with a hedgerow

cutter made of materials

from German beach

obstacles. Invented by Sgt.

Curtis G. Culin (2nd

Armored Div.), the “rhino”

device aided our tanks in

hedgerow combat.

The French Hedgerows

Hedgerow = tank traps

Liberation of Paris

Aug 25, 1944

US soldiers march down the

Champs Elysees after the

liberation of Paris

2. Battle of the Bulge – last German

offensive of WWII

a. By winter late 1944, Allied forces

closing in on Germany

- British & US from west; USSR

from east

b. Dec 1944: Germans launch

surprise counteroffensive

1) raced west to cut of Allied

supplies coming through

Belgium

2) created a huge bulge in the

Allied lines, thus the name

3) Allies regroup and drive

Germans back

3. The War Ends in Europe

a. Feb 1945: USSR troops had reached Oder River (just 35 miles east of Berlin)

b. March 1945: US troops cross into Germany from the west (bridge)

c. April 1945: USSR takes Berlin

d. April 30, 1945: Hitler kills himself

- Admiral Doenitz offers to surrender to Americans & Brits but keep fighting USSR

- Eisenhower demands unconditional surrender!

March

1945

US troops

cross the

Rhine

River into

Germany

The execution of Mussolini, his

mistress and other fascists April 1945

4. May 8, 1945: V-E Day

Victory Europe!

- Germany surrendered

unconditionally May 7, 1945

B. Japan is Defeated

1. Iwo Jima

a. Nov 1944: US bombs Tokyo

1) B-29s from US base in Marianas

2) Problem? Marianas too far –led to bombing inaccuracy

3) Solution? To capture island closer to Japan where B-29s could refuel. US military planners choose Iwo Jima (750 mi from Japan)

b. Feb 1945: 60,000 US marines land on Iwo Jima w/o air cover

1) rugged volcanic terrain

2) Japanese defended from network of caves & concrete bunkers connected by tunnels

c. Iwo Jima captured

- 6800 US marines KIA

- 21,570 Japanese KIA (less than 1000 survived); 12,000 still MIA History Channel: Shootout Iwo Jima

Part 1

US forces landing

on Iwo Jima

Battle of Iwo Jima

The flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi

Iwo Jima Today

Now called Iwo To

Sulphur sublimates around

hot gas vent on Iwo Jima.

Field of view is about 20

inches (50 cm) wide. Iwo

Jima is Japanese for

"Sulphur Island

Suribati-

yama from

the ENE

(invasion

beach)

2. Firebombing Japan – begins March 1945

a. US drops napalm-filled bombs

1) pro? explode + start fires: if target missed, fire could still hit the target

2) con? Increased civilian casualties

b. Result? By June 1945, Japan’s 6 most important industrial cities had lost almost ½ their urban area to firebombing

3. April 1945: Invasion of Okinawa

a. Why Okinawa? Only 350 mi from

Japan! Thus close enough from

which to launch a full scale invasion

b. Why were we planning an

invasion? Despite the horrifying

effects of the firebombing campaign

on Japan, the Japanese showed no

signs of surrender

c. 300,000 US troops poured ashore

1) bloodiest island fight of the

Pacific

1) 12,000 Americans KIA

2) 110,000 Japanese KIA

d. June 22, 1945: Okinawa

captured

1) provided US w/ more

airbases from which to

bomb Japan

2) firebombing continues

4. Terms for Surrender

a. After Okinawa, Japanese consider surrender

1) the sticking point? US demands for unconditional surrender

2) Japanese want to keep their emperor, but Americans largely blame the emperor for the war and want him removed

b. Truman continues to demand unconditional surrender

Emperor

Hirohito

5. The Manhattan Project

a. 1939: German scientist Albert

Einstein, a refugee in the US,

signs a letter to FDR

1) informs him that German

scientists had split the uranium

atom

2) b/c enormous energy is

released in the process,

potential for extremely

powerful bombs to be

constructed

Albert Einstein

b. Manhattan project: the American

program to build an atomic bomb

1) team led by J. Robert

Oppenheimer

2) July 16, 1945: detonated

the 1st atomic bomb near

Los Alamos, NM

6. The Decision to Drop the Bomb

a. Truman faced a harrowing

decision. What were the

options?

1) Don’t use it – launch a full

scale invasion of Japan

- but US casualties

projected at ~ 1 million!!

& high Japanese civilian

casualty rate projected also

2) Invite the Japanese for a

test viewing

- but we only had 2 more

President Harry

S. Truman

3) Warn them about it

- did this. Truman sent a

letter declaring that if

they didn’t surrender,

they would face “prompt

and utter destruction.” -

still no surrender

4) Use it

- but indiscriminate civilian

casualties

b. Truman’s decision? Use it

1) considered the bomb a

military weapon

2) believed he should use

every weapon available to

save American lives!

President Harry Truman's approval for the atomic attacks: A handwritten note by President Harry Truman approves the wording of a statement he plans to issue after the first atomic bomb is dropped on Japan. Sent in reply to a cable from Secretary of War Henry Stimson, the message reads, "Release [the statement] when ready but not sooner than August 2." The Allies' demand for unconditional surrender, sent to Japan on July 26, 1945, was rejected.

c. Aug 6, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan

1) bomb named “Little Boy”dropped from B-29, Enola Gay

2) Result?

- 80,000-120,000 killed

- 63% of city destroyed

- but still no surrender

3) warning leaflets dropped to warn civilians of more to come unless Japan surrenders

After bomb

on

Hiroshima,

US dropped

leaflets

written in

Japanese.

The

translation:

d. Aug 9, 1945: Atomic bomb

dropped on Nagasaki, Japan

1) USSR declared war on Japan

2) bomb named “Fat Man”

3) Result?

- 35,000 – 74,000 dead

7. Japanese surrender

a. Aug 15, 1945: Japan surrendered

b. V-J Day Victory Japan!!!

- formally celebrated Sept 2,

1945 the day the surrender

treaty signed aboard USS Missouri

Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri

World War II Military Deaths

As a percent of total

Military vs. Civilian Deaths

Wow

WWI vs WWII

What factors do you think contributed to this drastic difference ?

C. Building a New World

1. Creating the United Nations April 25, 1945

a. goals of the United Nations (UN)?

1) To keep peace throughout the world.

2) To develop friendly relations between nations.

3) To work together to help people live better lives, to eliminate poverty, disease and illiteracy in the world, to stop environmental destruction and to encourage respect for each other's rights and freedoms.

4) To be a center for helping nations achieve these aims.

b. UN organization

2. Summer 1945: The Nuremberg Trials

a. To hold government and military

officials accountable for their

actions

- many German leaders of Nazi

Germany prosecuted, some

executed

b. Similar trials took place in Tokyo

- did not prosecute the emperor

Nuremberg Trials