Transcript WWII (1941-1945)

WWII (1941-1945)
Americans Join the War Effort
Post Pearl Harbor
Americans eager to join
5 million volunteer for military service
Selective Service System
Drafted additional 10 million
8 weeks basic training
Production Miracle
February 1942: The last
automobile for private use
produced
Retooled to produce tanks,
planes, boats, command cars
Mechanical Pencil Factories:
Bomb parts
Bedspread manufacturer: bottle
filling, explosive shell filling
Henry J. Kaiser, Liberty Ships
Cargo carriers, tankers, troop
transports, baby aircraft carriers
Mobilization Scientists
Office of Scientific Research and
Development (OSRD)
Improvements in radar, sonar,
pesticides, “miracle drugs”
Largest Achievement (1941)
Atomic Bomb is possible!
Manhattan Project: 1942
program established to develop
ASAP
Federal Government Takes Control
Office of Price Administration:
Price freeze
Income tax raise
Millions of people now must pay
who never had before
War Production Board
Ration of fuel and materials such
as gasoline, heating oil, metals,
plastic
The War for Europe
and North Africa
Battle in the Atlantic
German Uboats
Beginning of 1942: Hitler sank 87 ships
By the end of 1942: 681 allied ships sunk
Convoys established
Groups of ships travelling together for
mutual protection
Accompanied by aircraft
Turning Point
Liberty Ships out produced number sunk
each month
The Battle of Stalingrad
November 1941: Germans turn South
in Soviet Union the Weather!
Hitler’s Priorities:
Soviet Oil Fields in Caucasus Mountains
Wipe out Stalingrad
August 1942: Germany controls
9/10ths of Stalingrad
Luftwaffe raids
Hand to hand combat
But winter comes again..
Surrender January 31st, 1943
Operation Torch
Led by Dwight D.
Eisenhower
Attack on Axis
controlled North
Africa
Germans trapped in
Tunisia
November 1942May 1943
Italian Campaign
North Africa Won
Only unconditional surrender of
enemies will do
Italy will be the target
Summer 1943: Capture of Sicily
July 25th: Il Duce is stripped of
power
February-May 1944: Bloody Anzio
25,000 Allied
30,000 Axis
The Liberation of Europe
D-Day aka Operation Overlord,
June 6th 1944
3 Million British, American,
Canadians
Normandy (Northern France)
Air and sea bombardment
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
The Liberation of Europe (Cont.)
 7 Days of Fighting
Allies attain 80 mile beach strip
1 million more troops able to land
170,000 vehicles
 St. Lo: massive air raid
 August 1944: Paris is liberated from four
years of German Occupation (Vichy
France)
Belgium and Luxemburg quickly freed
Battle of Bulge
October 1944: Aachen captured
First German town
Hitler reordered his troops to capture
Antwerp, Belgium
December 16th: German tanks make a
bulge and break in the American and
British troops
1 month of fighting irreplaceable
damage
Germans lost 120,000 troops
600 tanks and assault guns
1,600 planes
Unconditional Surrender in Europe
 April 25th, 1945: Soviets storm Berlin
 Hitler retreats to underground HQ
 April 29th
Marries Eva Braun
Final address to the Germany
Blames Jews for starting and Generals
for losing the war
“I die with a happy heart aware of the
immeasurable deeds of soldiers at the
front. I myself and my wife choose to die
in order to escape the disgrace of
capitulation…”
V-E Day: May 8th, 1945
Declaration by General Eisenhower