Transcript World War I and its Aftermath

The Early Battles

Chester Nimitz: commander of the US Navy in
the Pacific.
◦ In the beginning, Nimitz could do nothing to prevent
the Japanese from taking the Philippines and other
Southeast Asia island nations
 Philippines—General Douglas MacArthur promised:
“I came through and I shall return.”
 Bataan Death March—April 9, 1942 78,000 prisoners of
war are made to march 65 miles while sick, exhausted,
and starving (anyone who stopped was shot)

Liberty Ships:
◦ Battle ships and aircraft carriers started to be built
by welding large sheets of metal together to create
the hull of the ship. This made the ships much
stronger than before when the large sheets of metal
were put together with rivets. (When a ship made
with rivets was struck by a torpedo, for example,
the rivets would come apart like a zipper.
Torpedoes hitting a welded ship would make a hole
but the rest of the ship stayed in tact.)

President Roosevelt was searching for a way to raise
the morale of the American people by bombing Tokyo.
◦ The Doolittle Raid
 Tokyo was too far away to launch bombers
 Colonel James Doolittle had the idea of using aircraft carriers and
B-25 bombers
 The bombers could take off from an aircraft carrier, but could not land on
one
 The B-25 bombers would try to land in China after bombing Tokyo

After the Doolittle Raid (Bombing of Tokyo), the Japanese
military decided to attack the last American base in the
North Pacific west of Hawaii—Midway.
◦ Japanese General Yamamoto believed that attacking Midway would
lure the American fleet into battle and enable his fleet to destroy it.

In March 1942, an American team of code breakers had broken
the Japanese Navy’s code for conducting operations.

The code breaking team alerted Nimitz to the attack on
Midway.
◦ Nimitz used this opportunity to ambush the Japanese fleet.
 Midway Island was ready with antiaircraft fire shooting down 38
Japanese airplanes
 US aircraft carriers launched a counter attack catching the Japanese fleet
off-guard with fuel, bombs, and aircraft on the decks of their carriers
◦ Four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk

The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war in
the Pacific that put the Japanese on the defensive

Struggle for North Africa
◦ To give American Troops experience and confidence, Churchill
urged Roosevelt to take back North Africa first—before Europe.
 North Africa was considered less difficult to attack
 It went well for Allied troops at first but…
 At the Battle of Kasserine Pass, Allied troops met the German Army for the
first time and American troops were outmaneuvered and outfought losing
7,000 men.
 General George Patton was then put in command and American troops
were able to push the German Army out of Africa in May 1943.


Spring 1942—Hitler orders an attack on Stalingrad to
take out strategic oil fields, industries, and farmlands
in Southern Russia and the Ukraine—the city of
Stalingrad was the key to destroy the Soviet economy.
When German forces entered the city, Stalin ordered
his troops to hold the city at all costs (retreat=being
shot)
◦ November 23, 1942—250,000 Soviet troops surrounded
Stalingrad, trapping the German Army
 91,000 German troops surrendered (only 5,000 of them survived
prison camp)

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major turning point of
the war—putting the Germans on the defensive.

Explain the purpose of the Doolittle Raid and
the problems military planners had to solve
to make it successful.

Explain the purpose of the Doolittle Raid and
the problems military planners had to solve
to make it successful.
◦ President Roosevelt wanted to bomb Tokyo to raise the
morale of the American people. American planes, however,
could reach Tokyo only if an aircraft carrier brought them
close enough. Unfortunately, Japanese ships in the North
Pacific prevented carriers from getting close enough to
Japan to launch their short-range bombers. A military
planner suggested replacing the carries’ usual short-range
bombers with long-range B-25 bombers that could attack
from far away. Although the B-25s could take off from a
carrier, they could not land on its short deck. After
attacking Japan, they would have to land in China. The raid
resulted in the first American bombs to fall on Japan.