Transcript The War Front - White Plains Public Schools

World War II: The War Front
US History: Spiconardi
The Belligerents
Allied Powers
Axis Powers
• United States of America
• Germany
▫ Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Great Britain
▫ Winston Churchill (Prime
Minister)
• France
▫ Charles de Gaulle
• Soviet Union (USSR)
▫ Joseph Stalin
• 45 other countries
▫ Adolf Hitler
• Italy
▫ Benito Mussolini
• Japan
▫ Emperor Hirohito
▫ Tojo Hideki (General & Prime
Minister)
• Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria
Fighting on several fronts
• The U.S. faced the difficulty of
fighting on three continents
▫ Europe, Africa, and Europe
• FDR & the Allies decided on a
“Europe first” plan of attack
▫ They would concentrate on
Japan later
• U.S. with very little support
fought against the Japanese
• US and Great Britain fought in
Northern Africa and attacked
German controlled areas in
Europe from the air
• Soviets fought a land war
against Nazis in Eastern Europe
The Pacific
• Island Hopping
▫ The US military
decided on establishing
a line of military bases
▫ Attack Japanese weak
points first, then go
after strongholds
▫ The goal was to
eventually invade
Japan
The Pacific
• Bataan Death March
▫ In 1942, Japan invades
the Philippines and takes
American and Filipino
prisoners of war
 POWs
 65 mile march
 Insufficient rations
 Thousands shot, clubbed,
and starved to death
US would commit
many of the same
atrocities against
the Japanese in
battles. The
racism and hatred
led to
unspeakable
actions in the
Pacific Theater.
The Pacific
The Pacific
The Pacific
Iwo Jima
Okinawa
• 6,821 Americans dead
• 12, 513 Americans killed
▫ 19,217 wounded
• 19,000 Japanese dead
▫ There were 21,000 Japanese
soldiers on the island
▫ 38, 916 wounded
• 110,000 Japanese killed
▫ Perhaps upwards of 150,000
Japanese civilians killed
Europe and North Africa
• A second front?
▫ Stalin wanted Great Britain & the US to invade northern
Europe in order to take pressure off the USSR
 By 1942, Hitler had advanced deep inside the Soviet Union
 Soviets had already lost over 1 million lives
▫ FDR promises Stalin an invasion of France by the
end of 1942, but…
 Churchill convinces FDR to focus on Mediterranean and
Africa
Europe and North Africa
• The Italian Campaign
▫ Allied forces invade Italy in July of
1943
▫ Two weeks later the King of Italy
dismisses and arrests Mussolini
 Hitler later rescues Mussolini
▫ Italy surrenders, but German troops
in Italy continue to fight
• Mussolini’s Death
▫ In 1945, Italian communists find
Mussolini attempting to flee Italy
▫ He and his mistress are shot and
their bodies are displayed in Milan
Europe and North Africa
• D-Day (June 6, 1944)
▫ Under the command of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Allied forces
invade the beaches of Normandy to liberate France from Nazi
occupation
▫ This allowed the Allies to take back Belgium and march towards
Berlin, Germany
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
V-E Day (May 8, 1945)
• Hitler realizes the end is in sight
as Soviet forces are advancing
on Berlin in April of 1945
▫ Hitler commits suicide on April 30,
1945
▫ Germany surrenders on May 2, 1945
▫ Sign instrument of surrender on
May 7, 1945