Transcript Americans in WW2 Section 1 “Early Difficulties”

Americans in WW2
Section 1 “Early Difficulties”
Axis Advantages
Germany and Japan:
•Both had secured the areas that they had invaded
•Both were prepared for the war: airfields, ships, barracks,
training areas
•Germany- German economy was based on military
production
•Japan had a military-led government
Chapter 18 Section 1
Allies Advantages
1. The Axis forces were spread over a huge area
2. The Germans had not defeated either the British or
the Russians and had to fight on two fronts
3. The Russians had a HUGE army
4. The United States had a tremendous production
capacity
Chapter 18 Section 1
Mobilizing for War
A Production Boom
1940 (before Pearl Harbor):
• 22,000- workers producing weapons
WW2 Ended the Great Depression
1943: 486,000 workers
Produced:
• 300,000 aircraft
• 88,000 landing craft
• 147 aircraft carriers, 215 submarines, 5,200 merchant
ships, 952 warships
$Personal Impact of War Production$
Workers at Home
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Unemployment dropped from 14.6% to 1.2%
Earnings nearly doubled
4,000,000 people moved to where the jobs were
Even with less workers the US food production
soared
• People primarily moved to the Pacific and Gulf
coasts, Midwest and West
Government Expansion
Mobilizing for war meant the government needed to
expand by 300% from 1940 to 1945
*Two huge government agencies directed the war effort*
1. War Production Board (1942)- The WPB converted existing
factories and built new ones for war production. It also
assigned raw materials to industry from factories and homes
2. Office of War Mobilization(1943)- The OWM coordinated all
gov’t agencies involved in the war effort. It also coordinated
the production and distribution of civilian goods- try buying a
pair of nylons in 1944 or a new car
Directing the Economy
To pay for the war the gov’t took a very active
role in the economy
• 9 Times as many Americans had to pay taxes- many more
medium to lower income taxpayers
• Borrowed lots of money- mainly from War Bonds
• War bonds also reduced some inflationary pressure- people
spent their excess money on war bonds rather than on the
few goods available
• Office of Price Administration- (OPA) Which set prices on
consumer goods and rationed items like gas, tires and food
items. The OPA also froze wages
Raising an Army
1. Summer of 1940- Called the National Guard to
active duty
2. Passed the Selective Service Act (draft)
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Originally required all males ages 21-35 to register
Later this went to ages 18-45
The number of soldiers went from about 450,000 to
12,000,000-2/3’s drafted, 1/3 were volunteers
3. Women volunteered also–
WAAC’s, WASP’s and WAVES- around 300,000 total
War in the Pacific
After Pearl Harbor the Japanese took over the Philippines,
Burma, Borneo, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Midway Island
Early on the Japanese seemed invincible and on 2/27/42 they
crushed an allied naval force in the Battle of the Java Sea.
The Philippines
US General Douglas MacArthur was in charge of the Philippines
and he was outnumbered and out gunned. He had to retreat
to the Bataan Peninsula. In a battle of attrition the US lost
and Mac was ordered to flee to Australia-”I shall return”
10,000 of the 70,000 prisoners perished during the “Bataan
Death March
Halting the Japanese Advance
The Battle of the Coral Sea
The Japanese wanted to take Australia and US Pacific Fleet
Admiral Chester Nimitz ,along with some British ships,
intercepted them and in fierce fighting one Japanese carrier
was sunk and another damaged by airplanes
The Battle of Midway
After breaking their codes we ambushed the Japanese fleet
and sank 4 carriers and shot down a bunch of planes- the
Japanese navy never recovered
Guadalcanal
The battle took more than 6 months and was horribly vicious.
The turning point was the US Naval defeat of the Japanese
European and Mediterranean Theaters
The Axis powers were in control of most of Europe
and German U-Boats had a stranglehold in the
Atlantic- More than 500 ships were sank off the US
coast alone
North Africa
Italian forces first invaded North Africa in 1940 and the British
pounded them. Hitler sent the Afrika Korps in with the
brilliant general Erwin Rommel. British general Bernard
Montgomery eventually defeated them at the Battle of Al
Alamein. The Germans wanted to control the Suez Canal and
the Mideast oil fields.
European and Mediterranean Theaters
Continued
Stalingrad
The German troops had rampaged through Russia after
their initial assault in 1941. They had captured grain
field and laid siege to important cities like Moscow
and Leningrad. Their most important goal was
Stalingrad- a rich oil field. The Russians refused to
surrender and in late January of 1943 the Russians
surrounded the Germans and took out about
200,000 German soldiers. This caused a HUGE
momentum shift from which the Germans never
recovered.