Transcript Invasion of Italy

The End of the War
1943-1945
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
•Dwight D. Eisenhower
was made the
commander of U. S.
troops in 1942.
•His first move is to
create an invasion plan
for Europe.
•He chooses Italy first
before France hoping
to knock Italy out of the
war.
Invasion of Italy
• July of 1943
• Began with the invasion of
Sicily
• Led by General Patton
• Mussolini is fired and the Fascist
Party is outlawed.
• Italy surrenders in Sept. of 1943, but the
Germans fight on in Italy against U. S. &
British forces.
Invasion of Italy
• German resistance is stiff.
• Mussolini is put in power by
Germany in Northern Italy.
• The U. S. never totally roots out
German resistance.
• Eventually, the Italian people
hunt down Mussolini and blame
him for the destruction of their
home.
• They kill Mussolini, drag him
through the streets, and hang
him up for display at a gas
station.
• The U. S. loses many
thousands of soldiers more than
anticipated.
• Italy scares U. S. officials about
casualty numbers that an
invasion of France will cost.
Tuskegee Airmen
• From the segregated
Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama
• First African American
pilots to fly in WW2.
• Units were segregated.
• Escorted U. S. bombers
to targets.
Victories are piling up in the
Pacific:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Solomon Islands
Gilbert Islands
Marshall Islands
Caroline Islands
Mariana Islands
US soldiers were
shocked at the
practice of seppuku,
kamikazes, and no
surrender.
• U .S. Politicians were
shocked at the huge
loss of life.
Navajo Code Talkers
• Navajo Indians used in the Pacific
• Code was never broken by the Japanese
• Navajo were always paired up with a white soldier with orders to kill
them if they were about to be captured by the Japanese.
Sample
code words:
• Tank = turtle
• Machine gun = sewing machine
• Bomber = pregnant airplane
Operation Overlord “D Day”
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
was made the Supreme
commander
• Create a 2nd front, and a
beachhead in France
• Eisenhower’s most
trusted General, Omar
Bradley, made
commander of 1st Army
which led the way onto
the beaches at
Normandy.
D-Day Invasion – Normandy
Beach, Northern France
Invasion took 2 years to plan
because it had to be perfect.
It could not fail.
About 10,000 Allied deaths; 2500 American
deaths.
• Largest amphibious
landing in history
(150k men in the 1st
wave)
• Hitler thought it was
a decoy and
delayed
reinforcements
• Invasion was a
success partially
due to the huge
intelligence scam
put on the Germans
and French
Resistance fighters.
SAIPAN - JUNE 15, 1944
• 153,000 Marines
vs. 30,000
Japanese
• We need Saipan to
bomb Japan (1200
miles away).
SAIPAN
• The Japanese chose
death over surrender.
Soldiers and Civilians
jump over the cliffs to
their death.
BOMBING JAPAN - 1944
• We are now in position
to bomb Japan.
• * Most bombs were fire
bombs. Most of
Japanese structures
were made of wood &
paper.
• * Japan will receive
160,830 TONS of
bombs.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
and the Battle of the Philippines
October 1944
• MACARTHUR RETURNS!!!
• Largest naval battle in history.
• 280 ships fought each other
over 3 days.
• First kamikazes appear.
• last major battle that the Japan
can launch.
• Japan will use whatever it has
left to fight to the death.
• Victory at Leyte leads to the
Battle of the Philippines.
• 80,000 Japanese die
• 100,000 Filipino civilians
KAMIKAZES
• Last attempt
to turn the
war. Attacks
would last
the rest of
the war.
• Scares U. S.
sailors.
• There is little
defense.
• He had been stationed on Lubang
Island in the Philippines when it
was overrun by U.S. forces in
February 1945. Most of the
Japanese troops were slain or
captured, but Onoda and several
other men holed up in the jungle.
The others were eventually killed,
but Onoda held out for 29 years,
dismissing every attempt to coax
him out as a ruse. Finally the
Japanese government located his
commanding officer, who went to
Lubang in 1974 to order Onoda to
give up. The lieutenant stepped
out of the jungle to accept the
order of surrender in his dress
uniform and sword, with his rifle
still in operating condition.
Hiroo Onoda
In Northern France
• Fighting proved difficult; the Germans had been getting ready since
1940.
• Swampy countryside and the hedgerows on the sides of roads made
northern France difficult to root out the Germans.
• After 6 weeks, Allied forces liberated Paris.
• The Germans had one last attack….
French Hedgerow
Liberating Paris – Aug 1944
Battle of the Bulge
• Last major
German offensive
(counter attack)
• Largest battle of
the war in
Western Europe.
• Signaled the end
of the war for
most Nazis
101st Airborne Division is trapped at
Bastogne, France.
•Brutal Cold
•Lack of food, water, shelter, warm
clothing, medical supplies, weapons.
•Situation almost appears hopeless where
101st would have to consider surrender.
•General Patton to the
rescue!
•Patton marches his 3rd
Army 100 miles in the
snow in three days to
rescue the U.S. troops.
IWO JIMA & OKINAWA…
The last two…
• *600 Miles from Japan, great bombing bases.
Battle of Iwo Jima
• February 19th –
March 26th
1945
18,500
Japanese KIA
6,800 American
KIA; 25,000
wounded
Battle of Okinawa
April 1st – June 22nd 1945
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
110,000 Japanese killed
12,500 Americans killed
100,000 civilians died in the fighting.
Japanese were fighting until the death (no
surrender)
Japanese soldiers were forcing civilians to
strap explosives to themselves to be
blown up while surrendering.
Convinced American politicians and
military that an invasion of the home
islands of Japan would be the bloodiest
conflict that the U. S. would be involved in
during WW2.
Maybe another way to end the war can be
found….
Yalta Conference , February 1945
• Germany is divided
into occupied
zones
• Stalin promises
– Enter the war in the
Pacific vs. Japan
– Hold free elections
in occupied
territories
Last Days of the War in Europe
•U. S. forces faces less and less
resistance the further into Germany
they travel.
•U. S. Government urges General
Eisenhower to race toward Berlin to
capture as much of Germany as
possible before the Russians took
too much.
•Once Ike saw the Nazi death
camps, he moved the U. S. forces
south into Bavaria.
•He left Berlin to the Russians.
•He knew what the Russians were
doing to the Germans.
•Ike wanted the Germans punished.
Germany Surrenders
• Hitler commits suicide
as Berlin is
surrounded
• Germany surrenders
on May 8th, 1945
known as V-E Day.
• FDR died about a
month before.
MANHATTAN PROJECT
• After taking office,
Truman learns of a secret
project: the atomic bomb
Manhattan Project
• Most expensive war project.
• Led by physicist Robert Oppenheimer
• Scientists were conflicted about the use of
the bomb on Japan.
• Tested in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945.
• An invasion of the Japanese home islands
scheduled for November 1945 and April
1946 could cost millions of lives.
DID TRUMAN HAVE OPTIONS?
• Could he use as a
bargaining tool? (End
war or we will…)
• Demonstrate the
bomb in Tokyo bay,
then ask for Japanese
surrender?
• Invasion of Japan?
• Use bomb to save
lives?
POTSDAM CONFERENCE-JULY 1945
• Allies discussed postwar rule of Germany
and Japan.
• Truman demands that
Stalin allows all
eastern European
countries to have free
democratic elections
(self determination)
• Stalin agrees but will
never live up to the
bargain. He wants a
buffer zone between
the U. S. S. R. &
Germany.
•Truman hints about A-bomb to Stalin.
•Stalin already knows about bomb from his
spies in New Mexico.
• Truman decides to use
the bomb to save
American lives.
• It will also save millions
of Japanese lives.
• TRUMAN WARNS
JAPAN OF
DESTRUCTION AND
ASKS FOR
SURRENDER, NO
REPLY FROM JAPAN.
• Japan probably
wondered what else we
could do to them after
firebombing their cities.
Col. Paul Tibbits
Friendship Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan: the Enola Gay’s aiming point for bomb.
HIROSHIMA - AUGUST 6TH, 1945
90,000 to 140,000 Dead
NAGASAKI - AUGUST 9TH, 1945
40,000 to 70,000 Deaths
AUGUST 14, 1945
• V-J Day
• Formal
Surrender
September 2,
1945-aboard
the U.S.S.
Missouri in
Tokyo Bay,
formal
surrender is
signed.
Aftermath…
• 55 million
soldiers and
civilians died
• 30-50 million
from the Soviet
Union alone
(unknown total)
• U. S. S. R.
loses the most
lives of any
country.
• 405,400
American dead
• 670,000 more
Americans
wounded