Transcript The War Ends

The War Ends
Chapter 25 Section 5
Battle of the Bulge
• Hitler’s last desperate offensive
• Goal – to cut off Allied supplies coming
through Antwerp, Belgium
• December 16, 1944 – the attack b/g
• Germans caught the US by surprise
• As German troops raced west, their lines
bulged outward
• Battle of the Bulge
The Bulge 2
• Germany wanted to capture the town of
Bastogne where several important roads
converged
• US troops raced to Bastogne, arriving just b/f
German troops
• Germans surrounded the town and demanded
surrender
• The Germans were denied
• Eisenhower ordered Patton to rescue the
surrounded US troops
The Bulge 3
• Patton’s troops slammed into German lines
at Bastogne
• Allied aircraft b/g hitting German fuel depots
• By Christmas Eve the Germans were forced to
halt
• Two days later Patton’s troops broke through to
Bastogne
• January 8, 1945 German troops b/g to
w/draw
Hitler Dies
• Allies into Germany
• Soviets forces attack Germany’s eastern border
• US forces attacked Germany’s western border
• Hitler hides in his bunker in Berlin
• April 30, 1945 he put a pistol in his mouth and
pulled the trigger
• Hitler’s secretary carried his body outside and
doused it w/ gasoline and set it on fire
• Hitler chose Karl Doenitz as his successor
V-E Day
• Doenitz tries to surrender to the US and
British while continuing to fight the Soviets
• Eisenhower insisted on unconditional surrender
• May 7, 1945 – Germany surrendered
unconditionally
• May 8, 1945 was declared V-E Day
• Victory in Europe
Battle of Iwo Jima
• February 1945 – 110,000 US Marines landed
on Iwo Jima
• US takes control of the island and its airfields
• 6 US Marines raise US flag on top of Mount
Suribachi
• US soldiers
• 6,821 US soldiers died; 19,189 were wounded
• Japanese soldiers
• Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers, only 1,083
survived to be taken prisoner
The Flag Raisers
Firebombing in Japan
• B-29’s drop bombs filled with napalm
• Napalm – jellied gasoline
• The bombs would not only explode, but they
would start fires as well
• Very controversial b/c the fires would also kill
civilians
• It was the quickest way to destroy Japan’s war
production
• Tokyo firebombing killed over 80,000 people
and destroyed more than 250,000 buildings
Okinawa
• April 1, 1945 - US troops landed on
Okinawa
• Largest amphibious assault in the Pacific
campaign of WWII
• Allied lost 50,000 lives
• Japan lost over 100,000 lives
• Estimated 40,000 – 150,000 civilian lives
lost
Terms for Surrender
• The US demanded unconditional surrender
• Many Japanese leaders were willing to
surrender w/ one condition
• The emperor had to stay in power
• The Manhattan Project – the codename for
the American program to build the atomic
bomb
Dropping Little Boy
• Truman b/l it was his duty to use every
weapon available to save American lives
• August 6, 1945 – a B-29 bomber named
Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb
named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima
• B/w 80,000 and 120,000 people died instantly
• Thousands more died later from burns and
radiation sickness
Dropping Fat Man
• August 9, 1945
• The Soviets declare war on Japan
• US dropped the second bomb called “Fat
Man” on Nagasaki
• It killed b/w 35,000 and 74,000 people
• August 15, 1945 – Japanese emperor
ordered his govt. to surrender
• V-J Day – victory in Japan
Building a Post-War World
• The United Nations
• Each member would have a representative
• Each member would have one vote
• The UN would also have a Security Council
of 11 members
• 5 countries would be permanent members
• US, Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union
• These 5 would each have veto power
The Enemy on Trial
• International Military Tribunal (IMT)
• Created by the US, Britain, France, and the SU
• Nuremberg trials – the IMT tried German leaders
suspected of committing war crimes
• Similar trials were held in Tokyo for the
leaders of wartime Japan
• The emperor was not indicted b/c the Allies
feared any attempt to put him on trial would lead
to an uprising by the Japanese