Transcript World War II

1943
• Allies seize the initiative
Kursk
• After 1942 Russian Winter offensive
• Spring and summer belonged to Germans
• Salient – Russians knew the Germans
would go after it and fortified the salient
• Hitler delayed the attack so that production
of Panther and Tiger tanks could be
delivered
German Tiger Tank
Russian T-34 Tank
Note the sloped frontal armor.
German Panther Tank
American Sherman Tank
• The battle of Kursk was the largest tank
battle in history.
• The Germans had about 2,000 tanks and
the Russians had about 3,000
• The Russians dug trenches and laid
hundreds of thousands of land mines
• They also brought up thousands of pieces
of artillery
• The Germans had about 900,000 troops in
the area and the Russians had about 1.3
million.
• Germans attacked but made little
headway.
• Once the Germans had worn themselves
out in the attack, the Russians counter
attacked and never stopped.
• Significance – this was the last major
German offensive in the East. Germany
had spent its best troops and equipment
and been beaten – it was only a matter of
time.
Soft Underbelly of Europe
• Churchill (Prime Minister of England)
wanting to avoid the bloodshed England
experienced in WWI didn’t want a head on
attack of Germany through France.
• He convinced the US to attack the
periphery of the Axis.
• Churchill called Italy the “Soft Underbelly
of Europe” – by this he meant that it would
be easier to attack the Italians because
they were tired of fighting.
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Operation Husky – Invasion of Sicily
July – August complete conquest of Sicily
Invasion of Italy
Sep Italy Surrenders
Germans seize Rome and control of Italy
• Fighting in difficult/mountainous terrain
• Germans would withdraw to next
defensive position
• The fighting in Italy would last to the end of
the war in 1945.
• “Soft Underbelly?”
Bomber Offensive
• Since America couldn’t wasn’t prepared to
invade Europe when it entered the war, it
was looking for a way to have an impact.
• Strategic bombing seemed the answer.
• American Daylight Precision Bombing
• English Night Bombing
American B-17 Bomber
This one is actually in Mesa!
Maybe you saw it at the prom last year.
American B-24 Bomber
• Bombing was less accurate than hoped –
7% of the bombs dropped landed within
1,000 ft of the target point
• Bombers faced attacks from German
fighters and anti-aircraft artillery commonly
called flak.
• Hamburg Raid – 8 days and 7 nights,
firestorms, killed 42,000 and wounded
37,000
• Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOxfp
WaCdQ
• The combination of high explosive bombs
and incendiary bombs create something
called fire storms.
• They were like fire tornadoes that roared
through the city.
• Temperature 1,500 degrees
• Winds of 150 mph
• Reaching a height of over 1,000 ft
• Schweinfurt Raid – Ball bearing factory
• Black Thursday (Oct 43) - 291 B-17, 60
shot down, over 1/5
• End of unescorted missions
• The bombing missions would continue
until the end of the war. They would only
bomb targets within range of fighter cover.
• The human cost is surprising, the
American 8th Air Force lost more men than
all the Marines in WWII.
American P-51 Mustang – Long Range Fighter
Pacific
2 plans
• McArthur and SW Philippines route
• Nimitz and Central Pacific/China route
American
General
Douglas
McArthur
American Admiral Chester Nimitz
Nimitz – Central
Pacific Drive
McArthur – South Pacific Drive
• Island Hopping – US strategy in the Pacific
Theater
• US would capture islands that had airfields
or harbors and bypass or “hop” over
heavily defended islands.
• They could then isolate and ignore any
Japanese on islands they didn’t take
Rabaul
Tarawa
• An invasion is one of the most complex of
all military operations.
• It takes vast amounts of planning and
coordination
• Invasions usually began with a preliminary
bombardment.
• This involved airplanes bombing and
battleships lobbing huge shells at the
defenders.
• Next the troops would climb over the side
of their transport ship and get into the
landing craft
• This was a specialized boat called a
Higgins Boat (named after the
manufacturer)
• Finally, the troops would unload on the
shore (hopefully)
• Often troops had to wade in waist deep
water for 100’s of yards before they made
it to the beach.
• They were under attack the whole time for
enemy mortars and machine guns.
• Tarawa was heavily defended by an elite
group of Japanese troops.
• The Marines suffered massive casualties
• Japanese fought almost to the last man
• See video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ce-hreP-w
Japanese Casualties
Strength of Japanese
Garrison, 20 Nov. 1943
Prisoners of War
(Japanese) taken
Prisoners of War (Korean
laborers) taken
Escaped
Total Alive at end of battle
Total number enemy killed
on Tarawa
4,836
17
129
0
146
4690
Marine Casualties
Officers
Enlisted
Killed in action
47
790
Wounded-killed
2
32
Died of Wounds
8
82
Missing, presumed
dead
0
27
Wounded, missing
dead
0
2
Wounded in action
110
2,186
1
14
168
3,133
Combat fatigue
Subtotal