Transcript The War in the Pacific

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Answer the following questions:
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Who was the fascist leader of Italy?
Who was the leader of England during WWII?
At the Munich Conference, Germany was granted what
territory?
Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with what country?
What three nations were the Axis Powers?
World War II began in Asia when Japan attacked what
country?
England and France declared war on Germany when it
attacked what country?
What is the word for the lightning war of Germany?
What country was bombed on a nightly basis after the fall of
France?
Define appeasement:
& Homefront
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Allies Turn the Tide of War
At this point, Japanese seem unbeatable
Tried to bomb Japan but did little damage but good for
morale: Japan can be attacked
 Japanese begin to believe they are not invincible
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 Battle of the Coral Sea  all in the air, Allies lost more ships,
but stopped Japanese movement south
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The Battle of Midway
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Small island west of Hawaii
Admiral Yamamoto wanted to end U.S. Pacific fleet
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U.S. outnumber 4 to 1
U.S. attacked while most Japanese planes were still on ships
Took out 332 planes, all 4 aircraft carriers, and 1 support ship
Americans have avenged Pearl Harbor
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The Allies go on the offensive
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General Douglas MacArthur wanted to “island-hop”
past Japanese strongpoints
Then got wind of Japanese building a strongpoint on
the island of Guadalcanal
 Act fast before it is completed
 Became a struggle for six months and the Japanese lost
(23,000 men out 36,000 died; became known as the
“island of death”)
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Japan was weakening
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The North African Campaign
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Germany: Erwin Rommel
GB: Bernard Montgomery (“Monty”)
 Monty attacked the Axis by surprise and pushed them back
 led to Operation Torch, led by Dwight D. Eisenhower on
the other side and Rommel was finally defeated
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The Invasion of Italy
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Stalin urged Americans and British to invade France
 FDR and Winston wanted Italy first
 Took over Sicily  which removed Musso from power
 Germany took control of Northern Italy, put Musso back in
power
 He would later be found disguised as a German soldier and
killed
 Fighting in Italy did not stop until May 1945
Gen. Erwin Rommel,
The “Desert Fox”
Gen. Bernard Law
Montgomery
(“Monty”)
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Turning Point at Stalingrad
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Now, b/c summer is back Hitler wanted the oil in
the Caucasus Mountains and Stalingrad for its
industry
Battle began on August 23, 1942
 Nightly raids but Stalin ordered no retreat
 Going to be a mistake like Hitler?
 By November 1942, 90% of city owned by Germans
 Until the Soviets counterattacked
 90,000 frostbitten Germans asked for retreate but Hitler
said no  surrendered
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Now the Germans were on the defensive
German Army
Russian Army
1,011,500 men
1,000,500 men
10,290 artillery guns
13,541 artillery guns
675 tanks
894 tanks
1,216 planes
1,115 planes
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Mobilizing for Total War
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Factories converted their peacetime operations to wartime
production
 Made everything from boots to guns
 Auto factories built tanks
 By 1944  18 million U.S. workers (most women)
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Shortage of consumer goods
 Rationing of scarce items, meat, sugar, tires, gas, soap
 Speed limit of 35mph saved gas and rubber
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Conducted highly effective propaganda campaigns
 One boy in USSR collected enough scrap metal to make
14,000 artillery shells
 Another Soviet family used their life savings to pay for a
tank
 U.S. used pennies and bought government war stamps and
bonds to finance the war.
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Civil rights curtailed by the war
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Government propaganda also had a negative effect
 Racial prejudice towards Japanese-Americans
 Internment camps and loss of property towards the
127,000 Japanese-Americans
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Almost 2/3 of people taken were Nisei, or Japanese
Americans who were native-born American citizens
 Camps were restricted military areas that were away
from the coast, so the “threats” could not aid in an
invasion
 U.S. imprison some 31,275 people it wrongly
considered “enemy aliens(foreigners).”