Transcript WWII Americans at War

WWII
Americans at War
1941 - 1945
The G.I. War
“Government Issue”
term for all soldiers
sailors and aviators.
G.I. Joe?
Created in 1942 by Army Cartoonist.
Became common term for Soldier and
a popular series of books, comics,
movies and toys.
Diversity in the Armed Forces
300,000 Mexican Americans
1 million African Americans
350,000 Women
25, 000 Native Americans.
NativeAmericans in the Military
US needed a code that the
Japanese couldn’t break.
Used unwritten Native
American languages that
Japanese knew nothing
about.
Wind Talkers / Code Talkers
Mostly Navajo
African Americans in the Military
At first limited African
Americans to supporting
roles
Cooks, drivers, garbage
pick up
After 1942 – gave
opportunities to fight.
Segregated units (like
WWI)
Tuskegee Airmen
Double V Campaign
V stands for Victory.
The “Double V”
Campaign - a goal for
African Americans to
defeat racism overseas
(Hitler/Hirohito) and
racism at home in the
U.S.
Women in the military
Personnel shortage allowed women
into all positions EXCEPT combat.
Clerks, typists, air traffic control, mechanics,
photographers, drivers.
Towed practice targets for anti-aircraft gunners.
WAAC / WAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps)
WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency
Service) Navy
Enlisting Public Support
“Office of War Information”
- like Comm. Public Information in WWI
Writers and artists created posters and ads that
stirred Americans’ patriotic feelings.
How do you gear up for a war?
Boost defense spending from
2 to 10 billion
Encouraged enlistment
Selective Service and
Training Act
First Peacetime Draft
Preparing an Economy for War
Because of the New Deal –
the government had huge
power over the economy.
War Production Board –
• Convert peacetime
industries to produce war
materials.
• Like W.I.B. in WWI.
“Arsenal of Democracy”
American economic power was
AWESOME!
By 1944 American production
levels doubled those of all the
Axis powers combined.
1945
300,000 planes
80,000 landing craft
100,000 armored cars and tanks
6 million rifles
41 BILLION rounds of ammunition!
Wartime Work Force
War production ended all
“Depression” unemployment.
Wages rose by 50% between
1940 – 1945.
Many women workers
Rosie the Riveter
“There’s a war on, you know!”
Financing the War
1939 – US govt.
spending was $8.9
billion.
1945 – US govt.
spending was $95.2
billion!!!!
How did we pay for the war?
41% paid for by higher taxes
War bonds.
Loan your money to
government.
• Pay back date with
interest for the loan.
• Like WWI
How did we pay for the war?
Went further into debt!
1940 – deficit spending made the US
debt $43 billion.
1945 - $259 billion in debt!
Shortages
Zippers
Rubber
Nylon stockings
Anything that had
metal, rubber or nylon
was needed for the
war.
Food Shortages too
Between troop needs
and enemy stopping
supply lines.
Sugar
Tropical fruits
Coffee
Chocolate
OPA! : Office of Price Administration
When demand is greater than
supply prices go UP!
INFLATION!
OPA set price limits.
Sugar
Coffee
Meat
Canned food
Shoes
Gas
Ration Books
Coupons with certain
values allotted goods
for the month.
Based on family size
Did consider distance
and needs of farmers
Motto
“Play YOUR Part”
“Conserve and Collect”
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do
without”
What civilians were encouraged
to do:
Older men: join the Civilian
Defense effort
Kids: Scrap metal drives
Women:
Grow Victory Gardens
Knit scarves and socks for the
war
Roll bandages for the Red
Cross
The Major Players of the Atlantic War;
European Theatre of Operations (ETO)
Churchill – Prime
Minister of England
Roosevelt – US
President
Josef Stalin –
Chairman of Soviet
Union
Players for the Fascists
Hitler – Germany
Mussolini - Italy
The Atlantic Charter
August 1941 – Roosevelt/Churchill – Goals of Alliance
There would be no enlargement of territories.
Freedom of people to choose their government
Final destruction of the Nazis.
But where do we start from???
Battle of the Atlantic
How to get supplies to
the British?
Use our economic power
Wolf Packs
20 U-boats that hunted
enemy convoys in packs.
Took out 360 ships in
1942 alone.
Some in sight of the US
coastline.
How to combat the Wolf packs?
Long range sub
hunting aircraft
SONAR
Better depth charges
Cut off U-Boats from
their ports in Germany
and France.
Liberty Ships – easy to
make and repair.
The Allied Air War
B-17 Flying Fortress
B- 24 “Liberators”
Bombing of Axis Industry.
Destroy their economy
Carpet Bombing
Ex.40,000 died in one day in
Hamburg, Germany
Fire Bombing – Dresden –
Firestorms - 40,000 dead
The Generals: Allies
Dwight “Ike”
Eisenhower (1890 –
1969)
Supreme Commander
of the Allied Forces
Excelled at
Staffing issues
Diplomacy
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.
The Generals: Allies
England’s Field
Marshal Montgomery
–
Not a particularly
great general – but he
made sure people
thought he was great.
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 War in the Soviet Union
“Great Patriotic War”
Germans advance in
Russia 1941 – 1942.
Operation Barbarossa.
Blitzkrieg tactics
The War in the Soviet Union
Nazis greeted as
liberators by Russians
who hated Stalin.
But THEN Nazis turned
on the local people.
Executions
Forced labor
Russians engaged in
guerrilla war against
Nazis.
Russia’s BEST weapons
The Russian winter
Many men
“Scorched earth” Tactics
Important Soviet Battles
Siege of Leningrad (St.
Petersburg today)
3 years long!
one of the longest and
most destructive sieges
of major cities in
modern history
the second most lethal
in WWII
Important Soviet Battles
Battle of Stalingrad
“Turning Point”
September 1942 – January 1943
Most lethal siege of a city in history.
Battle of Stalingrad
Nazi 750,000 killed,
missing or wounded
91,000 captured
Total: 841,000 casualties
Russian 478,741 killed or
missing
650,878 wounded and sick
40,000 civilians dead
Total: 1,129,619
casualties
Nazis begin to lose their
holdings in Russia.
Russia Asks for Help!
Stalin wanted
Roosevelt and
Churchill to invade
Western Europe
Take pressure off Red
Army.
Repeat WWI “Two
Front” war
The North Africa Campaign
Feb. 1942: US had
their butts kicked by
the Nazis - Kasserine
Pass.
May 1942: US came
back, defeated Nazis
in Tunisia
240,000 German and
Italian prisoners.
Nazis lose in North Africa
El Alamein 23
Oct – 4 Nov
1942 Egyptian
coastal city
Allies win - a
major turning
point in North
Africa
Invasion of Italy: Start Retaking
Europe.
“Soft Underbelly”
U.S. General Patton took
Sicily and the English started
to invade the mainland of
Italy.
Political Change in Italy
Mussolini’s Fascists
turned against him in
1943.
Nazis rescue
Mussolini but he’s
caught by Italian
Communists as he
tried to escape to
Germany.
Killed in 1945
It sure wasn’t over yet!
Battle of Anzio and
Cassino trapped Allies
from January – May 1944.
Allies v. German Nazis
April 1945 Italy was in
Allied control.
Invasion of Western Europe: DDay
June 6, 1944 some
7,000 invasion craft
left England for
France.
• 100,000 soldiers
Largest Armada in
History
1,000 aircraft dropped
23,000 paratroopers in
France
D-Day: Why June 6th?
Weather – Tides
prevented earlier attack.
Flat open beaches in
Normandy – land a lot of
people at once.
Coincidence - Rommel’s
wife’s birthday!
D-Day: Largest landing by sea in
history
Gold
Juno
Sword
Omaha
Utah
D-Day: Utah Beach
Landing was difficult –
currents – but little
resistance.
Trouble happened later.
Hedgerow fighting
D-Day: Omaha Beach
Killing Zone
12 major resistance points could fire down over
every inch of the beach.
Steep cliffs to climb
D-Day Casualties
Over 2,000 American
(Omaha)
9,000 total Allied
2,000 German
BUT
By the next week 500,000
Allies were in France.
Liberating France
Patton used Blitzkrieg to
blow a hole in Germans
and advance out of
Normandy.
Liberated Paris August 25,
1944.
The Battle of the Bulge:
Germany fights back
Dec 1944 Germans cut off
part of the American
army.
Patton’s amazing
movement in winter saved
the American forces.
600,000 GI soldiers
involved
80,000 killed, wounded
100,000 Germans killed
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/amme
m/collections/maps/wwii/es
say1.html
The War in Europe Ends
Stalin’s Red
Army
approaching
Germany from
the East.
British,
American and
French
approaching
from the West.
The War in Europe Ends
Russia was out for
revenge for Nazi
atrocities committed
against them.
24 MILLION dead
Russians.
Crossing the Elbe River
April 25, 1945
US and Russian troops
joined up and pushed
on into Berlin
Russians given the
honor of capturing
Berlin.
Germany Surrenders: V-E Day!
April 30, 1945: Hitler
commits suicide.
May 8, 1945:
Germany surrenders
V-E: Victory in
Europe.