Transcript Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

The U. S. Enters the War
1941-1942
The Pacific Theater Begins
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• Sunday Dec. 7, 1941 (7 AM)
• Japan was looking for a “decisive battle” - the knock out
blow
• We knew that Japan was planning an attack, we just
didn’t know where.
Pearl Harbor
• 2403 killed, 1178
wounded, 200
planes destroyed,
18 warships sunk
or heavily
damaged
(including the
battleships
Arizona, Utah, &
Oklahoma)
• The U. S. aircraft
carriers were at
sea and weren’t
attacked. Uh oh
for Japan!
• US Declares war
on Japan Dec.
8th, Germany
and Italy declare
war on the US
December 11th,
1941.
Flying Tigers in China
• Even before the Pearl Harbor was attack, American
airmen volunteered to go help the Chinese fight the
Japanese.
• These pilots were not flying on the behalf of the U. S. but
were mercenaries.
Pappy Boyington (left) was a
Medal of Honor fighter pilot who
overcame prejudice he faced as a
bi-racial American to fly for the
Flying Tigers.
At the same time as Pearl Harbor,
the Philippines is invaded by the
Japanese.
General Douglas MacArthur –
forced to evacuate but promises
to return to the Philippines
Bataan Death March
 76000 Americans and
Filipinos were taken
prisoner and forced on
the Bataan Death
March.
 Over 10,000 died on
the march, and
another 15,000 died in
captivity.
 The captives were
being marched to a
prison camp.
NEW FORMS OF FIGHTING
•
•
•
•
*Jungle Terrain
*Amphibious Landings
*Naval Power/Air Power
*Up against the philosophy of
BUSHIDO (fight to the death) and
SEPUKKU (death before surrender)
JAPAN RULES THE PACIFIC
Japanese victories:
 Pearl Harbor,
 Wake Island,
 Clark Air Force Base,
 Guam,
 The Philippines,
 Hong Kong,
 Singapore,
 Dutch East Indies,
 Malaysian Peninsula
Allied War Strategy
• FDR & Churchill agreed to focus on Europe first before dealing with
the Japanese.
• In reality, the U. S. would fight both the Germans & Japanese
simultaneously.
• The two leaders agreed on a set of war aims for the war and after its
completion that was known as the Atlantic Charter.
• After the war, the Atlantic Charter would become the basis for the
United Nations.
The eight principal points of the Charter were:
1. no territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom;
2. territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned;
3. all peoples had a right to self-determination;
4. trade barriers were to be lowered;
5. there was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare;
6. the participants would work for a world free of want and fear;
7. the participants would work for freedom of the seas;
8. there was to be disarmament of aggressor nations, and a postwar common
disarmament.
U. S. Pacific Commanders
• General MacArthur –
commander of U.S. forces
in the Southwest Pacific;
led Allies through New
Guinea & the Philippines.
Admiral Nimitz commander or U. S.
forces in Southeastern
Pacific; led Allies through
Solomon Islands
BATTLE OF CORAL SEA – May 1942
• *IMPORTANCE: Save New Guinea to save Australia.
• Carrier-based planes do most of the fighting.
• RESULT: We lose the Lexington but win the battle.
BATTLE OF MIDWAY-JUNE 3-6, 1942
• THE TURNING POINT
OF THE PACIFIC
• We break Japanese
Naval code
• the attack is June 4th.
• Nimitz sends carriers
to Midway in a surprise
attack on the Japanese
Navy
• Japan loses four
aircraft carriers, 250
planes, and suffers its
FIRST LOSS.
• U. S. loses aircraft
carrier Yorktown
GUADALCANAL - AUGUST 7,1942
• “ISLAND OF DEATH”
• *Japanese airbase is being built, and needs to be taken
out.
• Start of the island hopping campaign to secure air
fields closer to the Japanese mainland for strategic
bombing.
GUADALCANAL
• *After 6 months
of fighting the
Japanese, we
learn what the
war in the Pacific
will be like…
Banzai attacks
will leave 36,000
Japanese dead
on Guadalcanal
alone.
America Enters War versus the
Germans
Atlantic War
 German U-Boats prowled the Atlantic Ocean and wreaked
havoc on American shipping. No where was safe.
 Ships were often sunk in sight of the American coast!
• Wolf Packs
ruled the
Atlantic,
sinking 175
ships in June
1942 alone.
• The US
countered with
the convoy
system and
anti-U-boat
planes.
Operation Barbarossa – the attack
on Russia
• Hitler breaks the NonAggression Pact with
Stalin and invades Russia
on June 22, 1941.
• German generals plead
with Hitler to not attack
U. S. S. R.
• The generals tell Hitler the
army isn’t ready.
• Hitler had previously told
the army they would have
until 1943 to prepare.
• This will be the biggest
military attack of all time.
Almost 4 million German
soldiers invade.
Operation Barbarossa
• Hitler is so confident of
another quick victory, he
doesn’t issue his army
winter clothing.
• Much of western Russia is
overrun, but the Russians
do not allow Moscow or
Leningrad to be captured.
• Stalin and the U. S. S. R.
join the Allies.
• Stalin immediately begins
begging FDR and
Churchill to open a second
front.
Einsatzgruppen
•
•
•
•
This is to be a different conflict. This will be a war of extermination. Hitler’s
goal is to erase Soviet, Russian, Slavic, and communist culture from the
face of the Earth. This means killing every Russian and destroying all
Russian cities.
The will be no military rules for this invasion. Hitller wants his soldiers to
become barbaric.
This is what he has been getting Germans ready to do since 1933.
Hitler creates Einsatzgruppen (Special Action Groups) to go in to Russia to
accomplish this goal.
North Africa
• The Nazis relieved the
Italian Army, who was
losing ground to the Allies.
• General Rommel (the
Desert Fox) commanded
the Afrika Corps.
• Germans were stopped at
El Alamein in November
of 1942 by the British from
taking over Egypt (1st
German loss).
• Afrika Corps basically was
disbanded and Rommel
was brought back to
Germany.
• Hitler didn’t care about
North Africa anyway.
•Operation Torch – America
Invades North Africa November
1942. (General Marshall’s plan)
•It took us so long (11 months
after war started) to begin fighting
because we weren’t sure we
could go toe to toe with the
Germans.
George Marshal –
Chief of Staff of the
Army
•The Nazis pushed back the Allies
until the arrival of the General
Patton who whipped American
troops into shape.
•Eventually, the U. S. would use
their success in North Africa as a
springboard to invade Italy in
1943.
General Patton
Allied Air War
• Allied bombing began pounding German
factories and cities
Precision Bombing vs. Carpet bombing
Percision Bombing
•Done to strike small individual
targets like factories or bases.
•Attempt to limit casualties.
Carpet Bombing
• Massive casualties and devastation of
some German cities.
• Done to destroy the will of the Germans
to fight.
Stalingrad – Sept 1942 to Jan 1943
• City in southern Russia where Germany’s advance was halted in the
east.
• Turning point in the European Theater. 330,000 German casualties,
1.1 MILLION Russians.
• Hitler wanted to destroy the Russians at “Stalin’s City”. He
overextended his forces to take over a meaningless military target.
• Stalingrad was 1377 miles from Berlin. Hard to resupply!
• Fighting was in the rubble, house to house.
Bloodiest battle in human history.
Stalingrad War
Memorial
•Stalin lured the Germans into
fighting in the rubble of the city
where the Germans couldn’t use
blitzkrieg tactics.
•Then he trapped the German
Army.
•Hitler would not allow surrender.
Said Germans would either win
or die trying.
•The Germans would never win
another battle during the war.
•Over 900,000 Germans were
never heard from again.