Transcript battle of stalingrad

THEATERS OF WAR
1. THE PACIFIC- US, Great Britain, Australia &
New Zealand vs. Japan
2. EUROPE & NORTH AFRICA
a. Eastern Front- Soviet Union vs. Germany,
Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary & Romania.
b. Southern Front- US, Britain & Australia vs.
Germany & Italy (N. Africa & Italy)
c. Western Front- US, Britain, Canada, France
vs. Germany (Invasion of Normandy- greatest
land-air-sea military operation in history.)
HOW TO CARRY OUT THE WAR
1942: Debate on how and where to attack the Axis nations.
1. American General Admiral Ernest King & General
Douglas MacArthur*Focus on Japan
2. Churchill & FDR*Germany & Italy
3. General George Marshall & General Dwight
Eisenhower*Invade France across English Channel (Soviets Favored)
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
Submarine raids on the US east
coast
• First 4 months of 1942=87 ships sunk
• 681 sunk after 7 months
Convoys organized for mutual protection
BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
• Germans trying to seize
the oil fields of the
Caucasus Mtns.
• Capture Stalingrad
a. Volga River
b. Ordered to stand and
fight to the last man!
• February 1943- Germany
surrenders with 91,000
left of their 330,000 men.
– USSR lost 1.25 million
OPERATION TORCH
• 2 PHASES:
1. Invasion of North Africa
A. 1st allied breakthrough
a. Opened the Mediterranean Sea to Allied
shipping.
b. Exposed Southern Europe for
attack.
2. Invasion of Italy
a. From the captured areas
of N. Africa, Churchill
wanted to knock Mussolini
out of the war and open the
“Soft Underbelly” of Europe.
b. July 1943, Allied Forces
made a successful
Invasion of Sicily.
1. results in the
overthrow of
Mussolini.
2. Hitler reclaimed
and placed
Mussolini back to
power.
APRIL 28, 1945: Mussolini
disguised as German soldier is
shot by Italian partisans and
hung in Milan Square.
OPERATION TORCH
C. Allied assault continued onto the mainland of
Italy to Salerno (Sept. 1943)
1. Days before Salerno the new
government surrendered to the allies.
However Hitler orders German troops to
resist the allied advance.
2. German forces in Italy did not surrender
until the war was almost over in 1945.
156,000 Allied troops from The
United States, The United Kingdom,
Canada,Free France and Norway
5,000 ships and landing craft
50,000 vehicles
11,000 planes
United States – Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar
Bradley
The United Kingdom – Bernard Law
Montgomery, Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Arthur
Tedder, Miles Dempsey, Bertram Ramsay
Germany – Erwin Rommel, Gerd von
Rundstedt, Friedrich Dollmann
By June 11, with the beachheads firmly secured, more than
326,000 troops had crossed with more than 100,000 tons of
military equipment.
Numbers represent total killed, wounded,
missing or captured
United States – 6,603 (1,465 killed)
United Kingdom – 2,700
Canada – 1,074 (359 fatal)
Germany – Estimated between 4,000 – 9,000
ENDING OF THE WAR IN
EUROPE
•
October 1944A. Americans capture first German town, Aachen.
B. Hitler responds with surprise counter attack.
*breakthrough Allied lines and retake Belgium
(demoralize the Allies)
• BATTLE OF THE BULGE
German troops launch last counter offensive.
A. It was successful in bending the Allied line, but it did not
break.
B. After one month the Germans had been pushed back and
little would have changed.
*Germans lost: 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, 1,600
planes.
By early 1945, the Allied Forces were squeezing down on Germany.
THE FALL OF NAZISM
• By April 25, 1945 the Soviets had stormed Berlin
• April 29, In his underground headquarters, Hitler marries
Eva Braun.
*later the same day he writes his suicide note.
Blames the Jews for starting the war and his
Generals for losing it.
• April 30th- Hitler shoots himself and his wife swallows
poison. In accordance with orders, bodies are carried
outside, submerged in gasoline, and burned.
• 1 week later, Eisenhower accepts the Unconditional
surrender of the Third Reich. May 8, 1945.
Japanese Advances
• After Pearl Harbor, Japanese conquer an empire
that had dwarfed the 3rd Reich
•
Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, half of China, Formosa, The Dutch
East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands, and parts of the Aleutian chain.
Japanese Advances
• Philippines
a. 80,000 Filipino and American troops hold out
against 200,000 Japanese troops for 4 months.
b. With over half either killed or wounded,
MacArthur forced to abandoned.
c. Pledges to the Filipino people “I shall return.”
d. Japanese dazzled by their success. Destroy
myth of White supremacy in Asia.
e. Emperor Hirohito now controls 1/7 of the globe150 million new subjects.
US Retaliation
• Doolittle Raids
a. April 18, 1942- B-25
bombers take off from the
aircraft carrier Hornet
b. Swept over Tokyo and
4 other Japanese cities.
Targeted: factories, steel mills,
oil tanks, and military targets.
c “We started to doubt that
we were invincible.”
Battle of the Coral Sea
• Early May, 1942
a. American and Australian fleet intercept
Japanese strike force heading for Australia.
b. Established a new type of naval warfare.
c. All fighting done from carrier based
airplanes- opposing ships never saw each
other or exchanged gunfire.
d. Japanese lose fewer ships, but run out of
fuel. Allies claim victory.
e. First time Japanese are turned back.
Battle of Midway
• June 1942- Admiral Chester Nimitz learns
that a fleet of over 110 ships was heading
towards Midway.
• After Midway they could continue onto
Hawaii and finish what they had started.
• Outnumbered 4-1, Nimitz prepares for
surprise attacks.
• Orders planes into the air multiple times
and, “inflict maximum damage.”
• Results were devastating:
– 4 irreplaceable aircraft carriers
– 1 cruiser
– 322 planes
The Americans had, “avenged Pearl Harbor.”
Island Hopping
• Pacific war covered vast distances
• Japanese dug in on hundreds of Island
• MacArthur planned to leapfrog Japanese
strongholds, and seize less-well-fortified
islands.
• Once taken over, build air fields on them
and use air power to cut supply lines
• “Our strongholds were starved out.”
Land Invasions
• August 1942
a. 19,000 marines storm Guadalcanal
in the Solomon Islands.
b. After 6 months of fighting the
Japanese abandoned the Island of Death
c. Japans first defeat on land
Kamikaze
• Kamikaze- “divine wind” refers to a legendary typhoon that saved
Japan in 1281 by destroying a Mongol invasion.
• Philippines- 424 kamikaze pilots sunk 16 ships and damaged 80
more.
• Despite damage done by the kamikazes, Leyte Gulf was a disaster
for Japan:
3 days of battle the Japanese lost:
-3 battleships
-4 aircraft carriers
-13 cruisers
-almost 400 planes
• Philippines have been retaken. “People of the Philippines I have
returned.”
• With the Imperial Navy crippled, Allies turn towards Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima
“an ugly, smelly glob of cold lava squatting
in a surly ocean.”
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Most heavily defended spot on earth.
20,700 Japanese troops were entrenched in tunnels and caves
The Battle for Okinawa
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As the nation mourns Roosevelt's death, Truman and the military plan
for a ferocious battle on Japans last defensive outpost.
Desperate, the Japanese unleash:
-1,900 kamikazes, sinking 30 ships, damaging 300 more and killing 500
men.
Ashore, the Allies face stiffer competition than on Iwo Jima
Allies lose 7,600 men. Japanese lose 110,000 men
The Battle for Okinawa was a chilling foretaste of what lie ahead for
the final invasion of mainland Japan
Churchill estimates invasion would cost- 1+ million Americans, and
another 500,000 Brits.
Is there a better alternative?