Transcript World War II: Pacific & European Theaters

The Major Battles
of the Second
World War
Pacific Theatre
European Theatre
After Pearl Harbor
• The situation for the US
seemed bleak
• Japanese soldiers captured the
Philippines (Dec, 1941- May,
1942)
• Bataan Death March – 75,000
American and Filipino POWs
forced to march up the Bataan
Peninsula- terrible treatment
by the Japanese and
conditions killed 7,000 of the
men
• Japanese continued to expand
their control over Southeast
Asia and the Western Pacific
Doolittle Raid
• April, 1942
• Retaliatory raid on
Japan
• Dropped bombs on
Tokyo, killing 50 and
damaging about 100
buildings
• Mostly just a morale
boost for public
relations
• d
Battle of Coral
Sea May 7-8, 1942
• First American Victory in
the Pacific
• Fought only with planes
flying from aircraft
carriers
• Somewhat a draw, but the
Japanese had to call off
attack on New Guinea,
which could have given
them access to Australia
• Hope at last!
Battle at Midway June, 1942
• Considered the Turning
point for America in the War
in the Pacific
• Huge Victory for American
navy under the leadership of
US Commander Chester
Nimitz
• Nimitz had the Japanese
plans (thanks, Navy
codebreakers!)
• Sank 4 Japanese carriers
• Japanese lost most of their
experienced pilots
Island Hopping
Strategy
After Midway, the US Navy went on the offensive in the Pacific,
using a new strategy: Island Hopping - Capture some islands and
ignore others on the way to Japan. Two of the last two Pacific
Battles – Iwo Jima and Okinawa (March and April, 1945)- were
some of the deadliest of the war.
"The President of the United States
ordered me to break through the Japanese
lines and proceed from Corregidor to
Australia for the purpose, as I understand
it, of organizing the American offensive
against Japan, a primary objective of
which is the relief of the Philippines. I
came through and I shall return."
- General Douglas Mac Arthur, American
Commander-in-Chief South West Pacific
Mac Arthur
Strategic Bombing
• From Okinawa, and other
Pacific bases, the US could
bomb Japanese home islands
• Goal: Destroy the enemy’s
ability to make war by
bombing factories, bases,
farms, shipyards, etc.
• The US did this to several
Japanese cities, including
Tokyo (March, 1945),
creating much death and
destruction (more than the
Atomic bombs will).
Manhattan Project
• Under the leadership of General Leslie
Groves and physicist J. Robert
Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project
built the atomic bomb and tested it on
July 16, 1945.
• August 6 and 9, 1945, Truman ordered
the use of the atomic bomb on two
cities in Japan (Hiroshima and
Nagasaki), effectively ending the
Second World War with the August 15
surrender of Japan.
• What were the pros and cons of using
the bomb?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The European Theater
• The USSR had suffered several terrible defeats
since the Germans invaded in June, 1941.
• The German army besieged Leningrad in 1941 (a
siege that lasted for three years) and Stalingrad in
1942.
• From the moment that the US entered the war
Stalin begged for a second, Western front to take
some of the pressure off of the Soviet Union.
• The Allies (GB and US) decided instead to take
on:
1) the Germans U-boats in the Atlantic - success by
mid 1943
2) German and Italian forces in North Africa Eisenhower and Patton led Allied forces to a win over
Erwin Rommel’s forces in May, 1943
3) an Invasion of Italy, starting in Sicily in July, 1943 Italy officially surrendered in Sept., 1943, but fighting
continued in Italy, with the Germans fighting the Allies
in Italy into 1945.
Patton
Eisenhower
“I like to believe that people in the long run are
going to do more to promote peace than our
governments. Indeed, I think that people want
peace so much that one of these days governments
had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
- Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight D.
Eisenhower
“No bastard ever won a war by
dying for his country. He won it
by making the other poor dumb
bastard die for his country.”
-Charismatic American General
George Patton
Stalingrad
• In the meantime, the Soviets were on their own in the East…The Battle of
Stalingrad (and the siege of Leningrad) raged on.
• The fighting in Stalingrad included house-to-house fighting. Millions of
Soviet soldiers and civilians were killed or captured, but Soviet resistance
and the brutal Russian winter of 1942/43 defeated the Germans, who
surrendered (91,000 troops) on January, 1943.
• Stalingrad was the farthest eastern point of the German army’s advance into
the USSR…a major turning point in the war…from Stalingrad, the Soviet
army went on the Offensive, and the Germans retreated.
Battle at
D-Day
June 6, 1944
• Finally a second front…
• Preceded by non-stop saturation bombing (by the British) of
German cities and strategic bombing (by the Americans) of
German political and industrial centers, starting in early 1942
• A phony invasion setup had been created to fake out the
Germans.
• D-Day is the name given to the landing of 160,000 Allied
troops (using 11,000 planes and 4,400 landing craft and
ships, and 448,000 tons of ammunition) in Normandy,
France, on June 6, 1944. D-Day, the first day of the Invasion
of France (“Operation Overlord,”), involved five separate
landings by American, British, and Canadian troops and was
commanded by General Eisenhower. Stiff German resistance
resulted in nearly 10,000 Allied casualties, but the Germans
were ultimately unable to repel the Allied forces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrN
XesmcLG8&safe=active
Battle of the Bulge
December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945
• By the end of August, 1944, all of
Northern France was under Allied
control and Eisenhower began to prepare
for the invasion of Germany
• As the Americans and British closed in
on Germany in December, 1944, the
Germans counter-attacked with one last
major offensive launched through the
densely forested Ardennes mountain
region of Belgium, and France and
Luxembourg
• Called the Battle of the Bulge because of
the bulge in American battle lines, it was
nearly a German success, but Allied
forces hung on through brutal German
assaults, until the winter skies cleared
and Allied bombers could attack German
positions.
• While the Allies advanced on Western Germany and
northward, up the Italian Peninsula, the Soviet Army
marched on the Eastern German border.
• On April 28, 1945, Mussolini was captured and executed.
• Hitler took his own life on April 30.
• The Soviet Army captured Berlin on May 2.
• Germany formally surrendered on May 7, 1945 (“V-E Day”).
• FDR had died on April 12, and Harry S. Truman
would have to see the US through the rest of the
war.
• When Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, the war
was over (“V-J Day”).
Victory