Transcript WWII: BEGINNING OF THE END

WWII: BEGINNING OF
THE END
DAY 7
(1943-1945)
TODAY’S OBJECTIVES
• Summarize the Allies’ plan for winning the war in
Europe and the Pacific.
• Identify events in the war in Europe and the
Pacific.
• Describe the Allied offensive against the Nazis in
Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.
INVASION IS COMING!!
 ALLIED AIR FORCES BEGIN ROUNDTHE-CLOCK BOMBING OF GERMAN
INDUSTRIAL & TRANSPORTATION
CENTERS
 PROBLEM: NEEDED TO DEFEAT
HITLER ON GROUND
 ALLIES PLAN GREATEST AMPHIBIOUS
ATTACK IN HISTORY: D-DAY
 JUNE 6, 1944: 176,000 TROOPS
CARRIED ON 5,000 VESSELS INVADE
NORMANDY, FRANCE
PLANNING: OPERATION OVERLORD
 1941: ATTACK ON PEARL
 US SET SIGHTS ON DEFEATING “GERMANY
FIRST!”
 EUROPEAN MASSIVE INVASION
 JAN. 1943: CASABLANCA CONFERENCE
 FDR, CHURCHILL – STALIN WAS NOT INVITED
 BEGAN THE PLANNING OF “OPERATION
OVERLORD”
 A TRUE SECOND FRONT WOULD BE OPENED
 A TENTATIVE DATE WAS SET: MAY 1944
 ATTACK ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL FROM
ENGLAND TO FRANCE
 TWO LOCATIONS OF INVASION WERE DISCUSSED
1. PAS DE CALAIS
2. NORMANDY
POSSIBILITIES OF TWO CHOICES
 PAS DE CALAIS:
 SHORTEST ROUTE
 QUICKEST TIME
 DUE TO THIS: GERMANS
HAD HEAVILY DEFENDED
THIS AREA
 ATTACK WOULD HAVE TO
BE LAUNCHED FROM
PORTS THAT COULD NOT
HANDLE VOLUME OF
CRAFT

NORMANDY:
• DISTANT WAS AN ISSUE –
LONGER ROUTE
• PORTS ALSO LACKED IN
SPACE
• GERMAN DEFENSE WAS
WEAKER
• AERIAL SUPPORT WOULD
HAVE MORE “DEAD FLYING”
TIME
Normandy was chosen due to the lack of German
defenses
PAS DE CALAIS
NORMANDY
ENVISION OF COMMANDERS
 5 BEACH ATTACKS – EA. BY A
NATIONALITY (“AMPHIBIOUS”)
 TWO AMERICAN BEACHES: UTAH
AND OMAHA
 18 DIVISIONS (1000+ MEN)
 2 AIRBORNE DIVISIONS
 6,000 SHIPS
 13,000 VEHICLES
 GOAL: CAPTURE CHERBOURG
 DATE WAS PUSHED BACK TO
JUNE, 1944
 “D-DAY”: DAY OF DAYS
PERSON OF INTEREST:
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
 SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER OF INVASION FORCE
 ALONG W/ A NUMBER OF OTHER HIGHLY TRAINED, EXPERIENCED
LEADERS – GOOD MIX
 INCLUDED GEN. OMAR BRADLEY
DECEPTION AND SECURITY
 MONTHS BEFORE: THE US
DECEIVED GERMAN
INTELLIGENCE
 IDEA: MAKE GERMANY THINK
INVASION WAS REALLY COMING IN
SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN
NORMANDY
 OPERATION FORTITUDE: MAKE
THE GERMANS THINK THE
INVASION WAS COMING AT PAS
DE CALAIS
JUNE
TH
5
WEATHER
 FULL MOON REQUIRED
 JUNE 4TH HAD UNFAVORABLE WEATHER
 HIGH SEAS, WIND, LOW CLOUDS
 JUNE 5TH: WEATHER WAS BETTER
 INVASION COMMENCED FROM S.
ENGLAND
 PARATROOPERS JUMPED FIRST
BEFORE BEACH ASSAULT BEGAN
“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward
which we have striven these many months. The eyes of
the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of
liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In
company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the
German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny
over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for
ourselves in a free world.”—Eisenhower, Letter to U.S.
Army
OVERLORD AIRBORNE ASSAULT
AIR ASSAULT: EARLY AM 1:00AM
 MADE OF 2 DIVISIONS
 101ST
 82ND
 TASK: SECURE THE FLANKS OF THE
LANDINGS IN THE COTENTIN PENN.
 SECURE 4 EXITS LEAVING UTAH
BEACH (CAUSEWAYS)
 LINK UP W/ BEACH FORCES AND
CREATE A “UNITED” FRONT

OVERLORD –
AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT
 OVERLORD WAS THE
CODENAME FOR THE DDAY INVASION
 PLAN:
 BRITISH FORCES
TAKE SWORD AND
GOLD BEACHES
 CANADIAN FORCES
TAKE JUNO BEACH
 US FORCES OMAHA AND UTAH
BEACHES
BEACHES
 D-DAY: JUNE 6TH, 1944
 BEACH ASSAULT: EARLY
MORNING 4:00AM
(“H-HOUR”)
 OMAHA: US FORCES MET THE
GERMAN 352ND INFANTRY
DIVISION (ONE OF THE BEST)
 UTAH: CAUSALITIES WERE THE
LIGHTEST OF ANY BEACH (197
OF 230,000)
ACROSS THE ENGLISH
CHANNEL
STORMING THE BEACHES
TAKING COVER ON THE BEACHES
RESULTS
 10,000 ALLIED SOLDIERS
WERE DEAD
 100,000 HAD MADE IT
ASHORE
 W/IN DAYS AND WEEKS:
SUPPLIES WERE BEING
UNLOADED AT UTAH AND
OMAHA BEACHES AND
TRANSPORTED INLAND
ISLAND HOPPING
• COUNTER OFFENSIVE – CAPTURE KEY ISLANDS AND AIR
SPACE
• USE ISLANDS AS BASES FOR FUTURE ATTACKS
• FOUNDED BY ADMIRAL CHESTER NIMITZ
• USED TO CUT JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES BY CAPTURING KEY
ISLANDS
BATTLE OF THE GUADALCANAL
• FIRST ALLIED OFFENSIVE BEGAN IN AUGUST, 1942
• 19,000 TROOPS STORMED THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
• BATTLE LASTED 6 MONTHS – BECAME TO BE KNOWN AS “THE
ISLANDS OF DEATH” – FEB. 1943
• UNLIKE ANY FIGHTING U.S. HAD EVER SEEN – DESCRIBED AS
“HELL”
• GROUND, AIR AND SEA BATTLE
RETURN OF MACARTHUR
• US CONTINUED TO “LEAPFROG”
ACROSS THE PACIFIC FOR THE
NEXT YEAR
• OCTOBER, 1944: ALLIED TROOPS
CONVERGED ON PHILIPPINE
ISLANDS – LEYTE ISLAND
• LED BY GENERAL DOUGLAS
MACARTHUR AND ADMIRAL
CHESTER NIMITZ
• MACARTHUR STATED, “PEOPLE OF
THE PHILIPPINES, I HAVE
RETURNED.”
BATTLE OF THE LEYTE GULF
• October 1944: Japan threw their entire fleet
into the battle
• Began a new tactic – kamikaze (suicide
planes)
• Pilots would intentionally crash their
bomb-laden planes into Allied ships and
other targets.
• Philippines: 424 kamikaze pilots sunk 16
ships and damaged 80 more
• 3500 Americans were killed but the Allies
took back the Philippine Islands
• Japan lost 49,000 troops and the defense
against an Allied invasion – US could launch
invasion from Philippine bases

Island of
Leyte
• MACARTHUR TURNED HIS SIGHTS ON
THE ISLAND OF IWO JIMA – FEB AND
MARCH, 1945
• “SULFUR ISLAND” – CRITICAL TO THE US
AS A BASE
• COULD TAKE OFF HEAVILY LOADED
BOMBER FROM THERE TO JAPAN
• 4.5 MILES LONG & 2.5 MILES WIDE –
MT. SURIBACHI (HIGHEST POINT –
SOUTHERN TIP)
• MOST DEFENDED SPOT IN THE PACIFIC
– 27,000 TROOPS ENTRENCHED IN AN
ENDLESS STRING OF CAVES – LT. GEN.
KURIBAYASHI
• 35 DAYS – “OPERATION DETACHMENT”
• GOAL WAS TO TAKE THE TWO
AIRFIELDS ON THE ISLAND
BATTLE OF IWO
JIMA
•
3 DAYS PRE-INVASION: 6 US BATTLESHIPS
CONTINUALLY BOMBED THE ISLAND – FIRST WAVE
WAS INEFFECTIVE THOUGH.
•
THE MAJORITY OF THE INVADING US TROOPS WERE
MARINES
•
FEB. 19TH: FIRST DAY OF LANDINGS
• DESPITE HEAVY CASUALTIES, THE US TROOPS
HAD CUT THE ISLAND IN HALF BY THE END OF THE
DAY (2,400)
•
FEB. 20TH: ALLIES ATTACKED MT. SURIBACHI
• MET “FANATICAL” DEFENSES (SUICIDE TROOPS)
•
TOOK THE MOUNTAIN AFTER 3 DAYS OF FIGHTING:
FEB. 23RD
• RAISED THE AMERICAN FLAG (TWICE) AT THE
PEAK
•
MARCH 26TH: LAST JAPANESE TROOPS SURRENDER
•
6,891 AMERICAN TROOPS WERE KILLED
•
OF 22,000 JAP. TROOPS, ONLY 220 SURRENDERED
(THE REST WERE KILLED)
IWO JIMA
FLAG IS RAISED AT IWO JIMA!!
•
THE ALLIED INVASION DEPENDED ON
CAPTURING MT. SURIBACHI.
• STANDS 546 FEET
•
AMERICAN MARINES CAPTURED THE PEAK ON
FEB. 23, 1945
• 4 DAYS AFTER THE START OF THE BATTLE
• AN AMERICAN FLAG WAS RAISED
• A PICTURE WAS SNAPPED BUT IT WASN’T A
HUGE DEAL
• THE FLAG WAS SMALL AND HARD TO SEE
•
THE FIRST FLAG WAS THEN REPLACED BY A
SECOND FLAG BY 6 MARINES
• A PICTURE WAS SNAPPED BY US
PHOTOGRAPHER JOE ROSENTHAL
•
THE PICTURE TURNED INTO AN ICONIC AND
ALMOST CELEBRITY IMAGE
•
ROSENTHAL RECEIVED THE PULITZER PRIZE
FOR THE PHOTO
Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley (†), Michael Strank (†),
Rene Gagnon, John Bradley, Harlon Block (†)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m9j7dHFbsBU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMx_W2XSnhQ
TODAY
•
BOTH FLAGS SIT IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF THE MARINE CORPS
•
3 SURVIVING MEN + ROSENTHAL HAVE ALL
PASSED
•
IMAGE NOW REPRESENTS THE MARINE
CORPS IN A MONUMENT AT ARLINGTON
NATIONAL CEMETERY IN WASH. D.C.
•
THE MEDAL OF HONOR IS THE HIGHEST
MILITARY DECORATION – GIVEN TO SOMEONE
WHO TAKES A RISK ABOVE HIS OWN LIFE IN
THE CALL OF DUTY
• USUALLY AWARDED POSTHUMOUSLY
• IWO JIMA SAW 27 MILITARY PERSONAL
RECEIVE THE MEDAL OF HONOR (14
POSTHUMOUSLY)
Medal of Honor Iwo Jima Video
• 30% OF THE 82 MEDAL OF HONORS GIVEN
OUT!!
BATTLE OF OKINAWA
• APRIL 1945: AMERICA TROOPS INVADED THE
ISLAND OF OKINAWA
• 1,900 KAMIKAZE PILOTS SUNK 30 SHIPS AND
KILLING ALMOST 5,000
• LAND FIGHTING WAS FIERCER THAN IWO
JIMA
• JUNE 21: JAPAN SURRENDERED THE ISLAND
• 7,600 ALLIED MEN & 110,000 JAP.
SOLDIERS DIED
• CONTROL OF OKINAWA GAVE THE ALLIES A
“JUMP OFF” POINT FOR THE INVASION OF
JAPAN
• PRESIDENT TRUMAN WILL DECIDE ON
ANOTHER TACTIC BESIDES INVASION…