Transcript WWII Americans at War

WWII
Americans at War
Chapter 18
1941 - 1945
How do you gear up for a war?
Boosted defense
spending from $2
billion to 10 billion.
Encouraged
enlistment.
Selective Training and
Service Act
All males 21 – 36.
The GI War
“Government Issue”
Applied to all soldiers,
sailors and aviators.
Diversity in the Armed Forces
300,000 Mexican
Americans
Million African
Americans
25, 000 Native
Americans.
350,000 Women
NativeAmericans in the Military
The US needed a code to
communicate that the
Japanese couldn’t break.
US intelligence bet the
Japanese never bothered
to learn about Native
American languages.
Wind Talkers / Code
Talkers
Mostly Navajo
African Americans in the
Military
At first officials
limited African
Americans to
supporting roles
Cooks, drivers,
garbage pick up
After 1942 – gave
opportunities to fight.
Separate units
Tuskegee Airmen
Women in the military
Personnel shortage
allowed women into
all positions EXCEPT
combat.
Clerks, typists, air
traffic control,
mechanics,
photographers, drivers.
Towed practice targets
for anti-aircraft
gunners.
Preparing an Economy for War
With Japan controlling
the Pacific the US was
cut off from VITAL
raw materials
Rubber
Oil
Tin
Preparing an Economy for War
Thanks to the New
Deal – the government
had tremendous power
over the economy.
WPB War Production
Board –
• Convert peacetime
industries to produce
war materials.
 Cars to building
bomber planes
Preparing an Economy for War
By 1944 American
production levels doubled
those of all the Axis
powers together.
1945
300,000 planes
80,000 landing craft
100,000 armored cars and
tanks
6 million rifles
41 BILLION rounds of
ammunition!
Wartime Work Force
War production ended
any lasting Depression
unemployment.
Wages rose by 50%
between 1940 – 1945.
Mostly women
workers
“There’s a war on, you
know!”
Rosie the Riveter
Financing the War
1939 – US govt.
spending was 8.9
billion.
1945 – US govt.
spending was $95.2
billion!!!!
How did we pay for the war?
41% paid for by
higher taxes
Urged people and
businesses to buy war
bonds.
Loans of your money
to government.
• Pay back date with
interest for the loan.
How did we pay for the war?
Went further into
debt!
1940 – deficit spending
made the US debt $43
billion.
1945 - $259 billion in
debt!
Daily Life on the Home Front
Practically every family
had someone in the war.
30-million people moved.
Soldiers moved
Families of soldiers moved
People moved to take jobs
BUT the population grew
by 7.5 million 1940 –
1945.
Double the rate of the
1930s.
Shortages and Controls
Workers were making
$$$$
But there was really
nothing to spend it on.
Shortages
Zippers
Typewriters
Rubber
Nylon stockings
Anything that had
metal, rubber or nylon
was needed for the
war.
Food Shortages too
Between troop needs
and enemy stopping
supply lines.
Sugar
Tropical fruits
Coffee
Chocolate
OPA: Office of Price
Administration
When demand is
greater than supply
prices go
UP!
INFLATION!
Had to limit prices.
OPA decided the prices for
Sugar
Coffee
Meat
Butter
Canned food
Shoes
Gas
Ration Books
Coupons with certain
values allotted goods
for the month.
Based on family size
Did consider distance
and needs of farmers
Popular Culture
Looking for ways to
spend money
Movies
Radio
Books and magazines
Ballgames with female
players
Enlisting Public Support
Office of War
Information
Writers and artists
created posters and
ads that stirred
Americans’ patriotic
feelings.
What civilians were encouraged
to do:
Older men: join the
Civilian Defense effort
Kids: Scrap metal
drives
Women:
Grow Victory Gardens
Knit scarves and socks
for the war
Roll bandages for the
Red Cross
Motto
“Play YOUR Part”
“Conserve and
Collect”
“Use it up, wear it out,
make it do or do
without”
Nebraska Note: The North Platte
Canteen
December 25, 1941 –
April 1, 1946
Served 6-million
servicemen served
sandwiches, coffee,
cookies and cakes
during stops.
Retaking Europe (Section 2)
Roosevelt and
Churchill met in
August 1941 to decide
what the goals of their
alliance would be.
The Atlantic Charter
There would be no
enlargement of
territories.
Freedom of people to
choose their
government
Final destruction of
the Nazis.
Battle of the Atlantic
How to get supplies to
the British?
Wolf Packs
20 U boats that hunted
enemy convoys in
packs.
Took out 175 allied
ships in 1942 alone.
Some in sight of the
US coastline.
How to combat the wolf packs?
SONAR (kinda
worked)
Long range sub
hunting aircraft
Better depth charges
Cut off U Boats from
their ports in Germany
and France.
The Major Players of the Atlantic War;
Western Front; European Theatre
Churchill – Prime
Minister of England
Roosevelt – US
President
Josef Stalin –
Chairman of Soviet
Union
Players for the Fascists
Hitler – Germany
Mussolini - Italy
The Generals: Allies
Dwight “Ike”
Eisenhower (1890 –
1969)
Supreme Commander
of the Allied Forces
Excelled at
Staffing issues
Diplomacy
The Generals: United States
George Patton : 1885
– 1945.
As a boy knew he
wanted to be a hero.
LOVED war.
Early on realized the
potential for tanks.
Did NOT have good
diplomacy skills.
The Generals: Allies
England’s Field
Marshal Montgomery
–
Not a particularly
great general – but he
made sure people
thought he was great.
The BRILLIANT Nazi Generals
Rommel “The Desert
Fox”
Erwin Rommel (1891
– 1944)
Great tank commander
Used surprise and bold
moves.
Was NOT a member
of the Nazi party
The BRILLIANT Nazi Admirals
Admiral Karl Donitz
U boat strategy
Sea mine technology
Ice water instead of
blood in his veins.
The Brilliant Italian Generals
North Africa
In August 1940, a British army had
successfully battled the Italians in Libya &
Egypt.
Hitler sent Rommel and a division.
Rommel drove deep almost to the Suez
Canal.
At the Battle of El Alamein, the British
under Bernard Montgomery won a decisive
battle and started driving Rommel back to
the west.
More on North Africa
Allied troops, mainly American, landed in
Morocco and Algeria.
The Americans under Eisenhower pushed
eastward, while the British chased Rommel
westward from Egypt.
Hitler sent some 20,000 combat troops from
Italy to Reinforce Rommel in Tunisia.
The North Africa Campaign
February 1943: US got
kicked by the Nazis.
May 1943: US came
back, defeated Nazis
and took 240,000
German and Italians
prisoners.
2000 ended up in POW
camps in Nebraska.
Meeting at Casablanca
In January 1943 Churchill and Roosevelt
met at Casablanca, Morocco.
They decided to maintain the approach of
dealing with Germany first.
They agreed to accept nothing less than
unconditional surrender from the Axis
powers.
Invasion of Italy: Start of
Retaking Europe
7th Army under Patton
took Sicily and the
English started to
invade the mainland of
Italy.
Invasion of Italy
Mussolini’s Fascists
turned against him.
Nazis rescued
Mussolini
Set him up in a Puppet
Government in
northern Italy
War in Italy continued
The Fascist Party was disbanded but the
Italians continued to fight the Allies.
In September 1943, as the Allied troops
threatened to overrun the South and take
Rome, Italy’s new government surrendered.
On October 13 the government declared
war on Germany.
The Germans defeated the Italians and
replaced them defending the Italian
peninsula.
Battles of Cassino & Anzio
The Allied offensive moving north against the
Germans was stalled at the town Cassino.
The Allies made a surprise move and landed
behind the German lines at Anzio beach.
The German forces blocked off the beach and
trapped and attacked the allies at Anzio for four
months.
The Allied forces finally broke through at Anzio
and Cassino and joined forces and quickly
captured Rome.
They faced more months of heavy fighting before
the Germans surrendered in Northern Italy in
April 1945.
It sure wasn’t over yet!
The Battles of Anzio
and Cassino, trapped
Americans and
English, and went
from January – May
1944.
Allies v. German
Nazis
April 1945 Italy was
in Allied control.
The End for Mussolini
Caught by the Italians
as he tried to leave
Italy and escape to
Germany.
Ended by the Italians.
The War in the Soviet Union
The Germans advance
in Russia 1941 – 1942.
Blitzkrieg
Nazis were first
greeted as liberators
by the ethnic
nationalities in Russia.
They hated Stalin.
The War in the Soviet Union
Nazis turned on the
local people.
Executions
Forced labor
People engaged in
guerrilla actions
against the Nazis.
Russia’s Fight
Guerrilla Warfare
Scorched Earth Policy
Stalin BEGGED
Roosevelt and
Churchill to invade
Western Europe to
take some pressure off
the Red Army.
Russia’s BEST weapon
The Russian winter
Important Soviet Battles
Battle of Stalingrad
September 1942 –
January 1943
Important Soviet Battles
Siege of Leningrad (St.
Petersburg today)
Began in September
1941 and did not end
until January 1944.
A three year siege.
Inhabitants could only
get supplies over the
frozen lake Ladoga.
About 660,000 died of
starvation and disease
before the Germans
retreated.
Battle of Stalingrad
The first German attack had been stopped by the winter of
1941-42.
The next summer brought a new German invasion aimed at
the oil fields to the southeast.
The Red Army decided to make a stand at Stalingrad on
the Volga river.
After firebombing and shelling, by the Germans, that
lasted four months, the Soviets took up positions in the
rubble and engaged the Germans in house to house
combat, but lost most of the city.
In mid November, taking advantage of harsh winter
weather (winter of 42-43) the Soviets launched a counter
attack. The Germans were surrounded.
On January 31, 1943 the Germans surrendered.
Battle of Stalingrad
330,000 Nazi dead
90,000 Nazi prisoners
taken
BUT
1,100,000 dead Russians
to make it happen.
The Soviets began the
long struggle to regain the
territory lost to the
Germans.
The Allied Air War
By 1943, RAF pilots
had not only defended
against German
attacks, the were
carrying out longrange bombing of
Germany, as well as
Germany’s oil fields
in Romania.
Air War continued
When the Germans
began bombing cities
the British followed
suit.
No longer attempting
to pin point targets,
the RAF began using
carpet bombing,
planes scattered a
large number of
bombs over a large
area.
More Bombing by Airplanes
Allied bombing of Germany intensified with the U.S.
entrance into the war.
With massive raids, the Allies aimed to destroy Germany’s
ability to fight the war.
In the spring of 1943, the Allies stepped up the bombing
campaign yet again in preparation for the eventual Allied
invasion.
On the night of July 28, 1943, firebombing turned
Hamburg in to one huge blaze.
The term “Firestorm” came from Hamburg, where more
than 40,000 civilians were killed.
By 1944, American planes were bombing by day and RAF
planes were bombing by night.
The Invasion of Western Europe
Time to go after the
Nazis in Germany.
But where do we start from???
Invasion of Western Europe: DDay
June 6, 1944 some
4,600 invasion craft
left England for
France.
150,000 soldiers
1,000 RAF aircraft
dropped 23,000
paratroopers in France
D-Day: Why June 6th?
Rommel’s wife’s
birthday!
Took the chance he
would go to be with
her.
He took the bait!
D-Day: Largest landing by sea in
history
Omaha Beach
Utah Beach
D-Day: Omaha Beach
Killing Zone
12 major resistance
nests that reigned fire
down over every inch
of the beach.
IF they made it to the
beach.
D-Day: Omaha Beach
If you made it to the
beach
If you made it across
the beach
You had to climb up a
cliff to reach the
Germans.
D-Day: Utah Beach
Landing was hard –
currents.
Trouble happened
later.
Hedgerow fighting
D-Day
3,000 American,
British casualties
2,000 German
casualties
By the next week
500,000 Allies were in
France.
Liberating France
Patton used a
Blitzkrieg to blow a
hole through the
Germans to advance
out of Normandy.
With French
Resistance they
liberated Paris August
25, 1944.
The Battle of the Bulge:
Germany fights back
December 1944 Germans
cut off part of the
American army from the
main group.
Patton did an amazing
movement of troops in
winter, to save the
American forces.
600,000 GI soldiers
involved
80,000 killed, wounded
100,000 Germans killed
The War in Europe Ends
Stalin’s Red Army
approaching Germany
from the East.
British, American and
French approaching
from the West.
March 1945
The War in Europe Ends
Russia was out for
revenge for Nazi atrocities
committed against them.
18- MILLION dead
Russians.
Russians considered the
capture of Berlin a matter
of honor.
In Berlin the Russians
fought for each house and
street.
Crossing the Elbe River
April 25, 1945
US troops pushing
from the west met up
with Soviet forces
pushing from the East.
Germany Surrenders: V-E Day!
April 30, 1945: Hitler
commits suicide.
May 8, 1945:
Germany surrenders
V-E: Victory in
Europe.
Yalta: Where the Peace went
wrong
FDR, Churchill, Stalin
met to discuss the
peace.
Took place in
February 1945 before
the end of the war.
Built on discussions
from Teheran, in Iran,
at the end of 1943.
Made plans for final
defeat of Germany.
Yalta: Where the Peace went
wrong
Plan was to divide
German territories and
Berlin into four zones,
each controlled by an
Ally: England, US,
France, Russia.
Repair the economy
Rid the zone of Nazis
Hold free elections
Get out after repairs are
done.
Yalta
Stalin didn’t keep to
the agreement.
Punished the Germans
Stole what was left of
the economy
Did NOT hold free
elections.
• Put puppet communist
regimes in.