Transcript World War II The War in Europe and The War in the Pacific

Island Hopping
a. August 1942 – September 1945
U.S. forces gained Guadalcanal and some area in
the Solomon Islands.
b. New strategy was adopted by the U.S. Navy,
Marine, and Army divisions – Leapfrogging or
Island Hopping the Japanese Islands U.S. forces
bypassed the most heavily fortified Japanese
posts, captured nearby islands and set up
airfields – then heavily bombed enemy bases.
THE WAR IN THE
PACIFIC
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The Americans did not
celebrate long, as Japan
was busy conquering an
empire that dwarfed
Hitler’s Third Reich.
Japan had conquered
much of southeast Asia
including the Dutch East
Indies, Guam, and most
of China.
BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA
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The main Allied forces in the Pacific were
Americans and Australians.
In May 1942 they succeeded in stopping the
Japanese drive toward Australia in the five-day
Battle of the Coral Sea.
(30) THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY
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Japan’s next thrust was toward
Midway Island – a strategic U.S.
Island northwest of Hawaii.
Admiral Chester Nimitz, the
Commander of American Naval
forces in the Pacific, moved to
defend the Island.
The Americans won a decisive
victory “a turning point” as
their planes destroyed 4
Japanese aircraft carriers and
250 planes.
June 4 - 7 1942, The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the
war – soon the Allies were island hopping toward Japan.
KAMIKAZE PILOTS
ATTACK ALLIES
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In the Battle for the Philippines, 424 Kamikaze pilots sank
16 ships and damaged 80 more.
The Americans continued
leapfrogging across the
Pacific toward Japan.
Japanese countered by
employing a new tactic –
Kamikaze (divine wind)
attacks.
Pilots in small bomb-laden
planes would crash into
Allied ships.
Americans are celebrating V-E Day in New
York City May 8, 1945 while the US forces
begin an attack on Japan.
#4 under Truman…
The Potsdam Conference
July 16-Aug 2, 1945 –
–The Beginning of the end for Japan
Truman (FDR died),
Stalin and Attlee
(Churchill had been
voted out as Prime
Minister).
At the conference - They planned for the end of the war- that Japan
surrender OR face “complete and utter destruction” .
General Douglas MacArthur
Heee’sss Baaack!
Japan, Philippines, Hawaii
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General MacArthur
and the Allies next
turned to the Island of
Iwo Jima.
The island was critical
to the Allies as a base
for an attack on Japan.
It was called the most
heavily defended spot
on earth.
Allied and Japanese
forces suffered heavy
casualties.
IWO JIMA
February 19 – March 26, 1945
American soldiers plant the flag on the
Island of Iwo Jima after their victory.
THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA
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In April - June 1945, U.S.
marines invaded
Okinawa.
The Japanese unleashed
1,900 Kamikaze attacks
sinking 30 ships and
killing 5,000 seamen.
Okinawa cost the
Americans 7,600
marines and the
Japanese 110,000
soldiers.
INVADE JAPAN???
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Okinawa
After Okinawa,
MacArthur predicted
that a Normandy type
amphibious invasion of
Japan would result in
1,500,000 Allied
deaths.
President Truman saw
only one way to avoid
an invasion of Japan.
The loss of life at Iwo Jima and Okinawa
convinced Allied leaders that an invasion of Japan
was not the best idea.
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The
ATOMIC BOMB
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Japan had a huge
army that would
defend every inch
of the Japanese
mainland.
So Truman decided
to use a powerful
new weapon
developed by
scientists working
on the Manhattan
Project – the
Atomic Bomb.
U.S. DROPS TWO ATOMIC
BOMBS ON JAPAN
Remember:
Truman warned
“Surrender or face
complete and utter
destruction.”
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August 6, 1945 – the Enola Gay a B29 bomber dropped Atomic Bombs
on Japan. They dropped a 9,000pound bomb (called Little Boy) with
a destructive power of 20,000 tons
on the Japanese city of Hiroshima –
the mushroom cloud reached
55,000 feet, 60% of Hiroshima
disappeared, 100,000 people died
instantly and many more perished
in later days, weeks, and years
from radiation (140,000 total
estimate killed).
August 9 - Nagasaki (“Fat Man”)
(80,000 estimated killed).
The plane and crew that dropped an atomic
bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
A replication of “Little Boy.
(#5 Truman) 220,000 killed- Forced the Japanese to surrender
August 6, 1945
Atomic
bombing of
HIROSHIMA
August 9, 1945
Atomic
bombing of
NAGASAKI
(#6 Truman) JAPAN
SURRENDERS
•Japan surrendered days after
the second atomic bomb was
dropped - August 14, 1945.
General MacArthur
said, “Today the
guns are silent.
The skies no longer
rain
death . . .the
entire world
is quietly at
peace.”
Formal document signed on the U.S.S. Missouri
with General MacArthur.
(35) September 2, 1945 – official day of surrender
Victory in Japan – V-J Day.
At the White House, President Harry Truman announces the
Japanese surrender, August 14, 1945.
V-J Day Kiss
New York Times Square
Famous
picture of an
American
soldier
celebrating
the end of the
war.
THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN
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Japan was occupied by U.S. forces under the command of
General MacArthur.
During the seven-year occupation, MacArthur reshaped Japan’s
economy by introducing free-market practices that led to a
remarkable economic recovery.
Additionally, he introduced a liberal constitution that to this day
is called the MacArthur Constitution.
a. Total direct and indirect costs of war
may have reached as high as $4 trillion
b. U.S. deaths 400,000
NUREMBERG WAR TRIALS
Herman Goering,
Hitler's right-hand
man and chief
architect of the
German war effort,
testifies at his trial.
He was found guilty
of war crimes but
avoided execution by
swallowing
potassium cyanide.
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The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders on trial
for crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, and war crimes.
The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany.
“I was only following orders” was not an acceptable defense as 12 of the 24 were
sentenced to death and the others to life in prison.
(38) GI BILL HELPS
RETURNING VETS
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What was the biggest post-WWI problem facing
returning war veterans?
…Needing jobs… right?
How does the GI Bill of Rights help this?
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To help returning
servicemen ease back into
civilian life, Congress passed
the Servicemen’s
Readjustment Act (GI Bill of
Rights).
The act provided education
for 7.8 million vets.
Considered the last piece of
New Deal legislation.
Registration Day at Harvard after
the G.I. Bill of Rights.
INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE
AMERICANS
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When the war began,
120,000 Japanese Americans
lived in the U.S. – mostly on
the West Coast.
After Pearl Harbor, many
people were suspicious of
possible spy activity by
Japanese Americans.
In 1942, FDR ordered
Japanese Americans into 10
relocation centers.
Japanese Americans felt the sting of
discrimination during WWII.
WRA Relocation Centers
WRA Relocation Centers
Name
State
Opened
Max. Pop'n
Manzanar
California
March 1942
10,046
Tule Lake
California
May 1942
18,789
Poston
Arizona
May 1942
17,814
Gila River
Arizona
July 1942
13,348
Granada
Colorado
August 1942
7,318
Heart
Mountain
Wyoming
August 1942
10,767
Minidoka
Idaho
August 1942
9,397
Topaz
Utah
September 1942
8,130
Rohwer
Arkansas
September 1942
8,475
Jerome
Arkansas
October 1942
8,497
Location of the 10
Internment camps
Children at the Weill public school in San Francisco
pledge allegiance to the American flag in April 1942,
prior to the internment of Japanese Americans.
Jerome camp in Arkansas
(40) Korematsu vs The U.S.
The Supreme Court Case that
concerned the constitutionality of
Japanese Internment, which
required Japanese-Americans in the
western United States to be
excluded from a described West
Coast military area.
In a 6-3 decision, the Court sided
with the government, ruling that the exclusion order
was constitutional. The opinion, written by Supreme
Court justice Hugo Black, held that the need to
protect against espionage outweighed Fred
Korematsu's individual rights, and the rights of
Americans of Japanese descent. – Remember…
Scheneck vs. the US???
Clear and Present Danger??
U.S. PAYS REPARATIONS
TO JAPANESE
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Today the U.S. is home to
more than 1,000,000
Japanese-Americans.
George “Daddy” Bush
In the late 1980s, President Reagan
signed into law a bill that provided
$20,000 to every Japanese American
sent to a relocation camp
Checks were mailed in 1990 under
George Bush Sr.
“We can never fully right
the wrongs of the past . . .
we now recognize that
serious wrongs were
done to Japanese
Americans during WWII.”
Nearly 59 years after the end of World War II, the National World War II
Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 29, 2004 to
honor the 408,680 Americans who died in the conflict.
The Doolittle Raid, 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the
Japanese home island of Honshū during World War II. It demonstrated that the Japanese
home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack, and provided an expedient means for
U.S. retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The Doolittle
Raid was the only time that United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from
a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission.
The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, with the
North American B-25B Mitchell the airplane selected to carry out the mission. The plan
was to launch them from a carrier, hit military targets in Japan, and fly on to land in
China.
All 16 aircraft were lost on the mission, and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured.
The crews of 14 aircraft, including one interned in the Soviet Union for more than a year,
were recovered and returned to the United States.
Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to cause
the Japanese to doubt their leadership and to raise American morale:
The Japanese had been told they were invulnerable. An attack on the Japanese
homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt
about the reliability of their leaders.
There was a second, equally important, psychological reason for this attack...Americans
badly needed a morale boost.