DDay Room 5 Museum Entrance Battle of Midway

D-Day Room 5 Museum Entrance Battle of Midway Iwo Jima HiroroshimaNagasaki Attomic bombings Welcome to the Museum of WWII Battles/Tactics Museum Curators

Curators Curator’s Office Matthew Flowers Brendan Gibbons Mario Caballero Ben Hill Contact me at [Your linked email address] Return to Entry Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Dr. Christy Keeler. View the Educational Virtual Museums website for more information on this instructional technique.

HiroshimaNagisaki Atomic Bombings Room 1 Return to Entry

D-Day Exhibit Room 2 Return to Entry

Iwo Jima Exhibit Room 3 Return to Entry

Battle of Midway Exhibit Room 4 Return to Entry

Essential Questions Room 5 Return to Entry

Hiroshima August 6 th, 1945 Hiroshima is bombed by the 9, 700 uranium bomb nicknamed “Little Boy. ” This ended up killing over 100, 000 people and radiating tens of thousands more to deadly radiation. http: //www. bbc. com/news/world-asia-pacific 15219730 Return to Exhibit

Little Boy was dropped on a a manufacturing center about 500 miles from Tokyo from a B-29 bomber. It was dropped by parachute at 8: 15 am. It exploded 2000 ft above Hiroshima and was equal to about 12, 000 -15, 000 tons of TNT. It ended up destroying around 5 square miles. atomicheritage. org Return to Exhibit

Nagasaki The United States then dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, Japan because they refused to surrender. This bomb was dropped on August 9 th, 1945 at 11: 02 A. M. It was named Fat Man. The bomb was in a B-29 plane flown by Major Charles Sweeny. Later on August 15, 1945 was V-J day where Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers Linked citation goes here Return to Exhibit

Fat Man was a plutonian bomb that weighed about 10, 000 pounds. It produced about a 22 kiloton blast. This blast went up to 2. 6 square miles. atomicheritage. org Return to Exhibit

Sainte Mere-Eglise American paratroopers are dropped in the strategically important town of Sainte Mere-Eglise on the main road to Cherbourg. Around 1, 000 soldiers regroup close to the town with the intention of capturing it from its the Nazis. After a few hours of fighting it becomes the first town in France to be liberated. But some of the paratroopers never make it this far. They are dropped in the wrong place and drown in the deliberately flooded countryside before they can offload their heavy kit. Linked citation goes here Return to Exhibit

Crocodile Sherman Here you see a Crocodile Sherman tank used in the battle of D-day or Operation Overlord. It was equipped with a flamethrower and front facing turrets. The flamethrower was use full for flushing soldiers out of the trenches. http: //www. bbc. co. uk/guides/zgvyyrd Return to Exhibit

Normandy Invasion Map A map of the Normandy invasion on DDay. The U. S. invasion map on the beaches of Normandy to invade France and cripple German efforts to take over France. The U. S. was aided by Canadian and British forces. The beaches of Normandy were on heavy guard by Germans and the beaches were loaded with mines. 425, 000 people, German and Alied forces were killed or injured on the beaches. https: //worldatwar. abcclio. com/Search/Display/819890 Return to Exhibit

D-day by the Numbers This artifact shows the troops deployed and casualties of D-Day. Many troops were deployed with minimal casualties. The Germans lost many more men than the allied powers. Though it’s true that many brave men died on D-Day, their sacrifices were never forgotten, for they played an important part in the retaking of Normandy… and Europe. http: //www. cnn. com/2014/06/05/opinion/opinio n-d-day-myth-reality/index. html Return to Exhibit

Strategic Location This is a map that shows the reason why Iwo Jima was such a crucial capture in the American Pacific Campaign. The island’s distance from Japan made it the optimal choice for a U. S base, and one of the best options for a launching point for potential invasions and air raids of Japan new that since this was a close island, the U. S would probably try to use the island for this purpose, and defended it vigorously. https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Iwo_Jima Return to Exhibit

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima On February 23, 1945, the Imperial Japanese army soldiers holding the island of Iwo Jima were losing ground to the advancing United States Marine Corps. Upon claiming Mount Suribuchi, the highest point on the island, and thereby most strategic, for the U. S, this famous image of six U. S marines raising the Stars and Stripes was taken. Arguably the most famous image in United States history, the marines, who had been fighting already been fighting for control of the island the mountain for five days, were finally successful in taking this important position. Though three of the six men seen here and many more brave marines would be killed before the end of the battle 31 days later, the capture of this island was a major step in America’s push for Japan, as a base of operations was established here shortly after. http: //www. history. com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-ofiwo-jima Return to Exhibit

Japanese Strategy This is a picture of Japanese General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the leader of the Japanese defense of the Island. He was known to have been a brilliant commander in the Japanese military. Kuribayashi’s strategy was simple… fight the war underground. Prior to the American invasion, defenses were prepared. 1, 500 bunkers were dug for defense, connected by 16 miles of tunnels. Another feature of the plan was to use the old Japanese belief of honorable sacrifice, and have each soldier accept that they weren’t making it back, including the general himself. The one rule here was to kill 10 U. S troops before you were killed, with the hope of demoralizing the U. S military from attacking another Japanese position. Although this strategy was pretty good, it was not enough to defend the island from the brave American marines. Kuribayachi’s cause of death is unknown, but we do know he was KIA on Iwo Jima http: //www. iwojima. com/battlea. htm Return to Exhibit

The Battle On the morning of February 19 th, 1945, the American Navy opened fire on the Japanese beaches. Shortly after, 110 U. S bombers rained down hell from the sky. Then, once again, the Navy’s boats resumed fire. Yet the Japanese were relatively untouched. Their strategy of hiding underground proved to be effective. Eventually, at around 8: 30, the order to land the invasion boats was given. As the marines attempted to land, they were pinned by pillboxes, snipers, and ATAB guns. The constant stream of fire made an orderly landing impossible, and the Japanese position on top of Mount Suribuchi had a clear line of sight to both of the landing beaches. For the next month, 100, 000 men would be fighting on this tiny island not even a third of the size of Manhattan. Eventually, the marines brought in napalm and grenades, which effectively rendered the Japanese’s defensive positions useless. The U. S declared victory on March 26 th, 1945. http: //www. iwojima. com/battle/index. htm Return to Exhibit

Battle of Midway The battle of midway was on June 4 th 1942 where Japanese pilots bombed midway and then America made a counter attack. This was a very decisive battle that only used planes showing how important air battles are. This battle is symbolic to the new ways to fight. It also was one of the most crucial battles in the pacific. It was the first decisive victory for the allies. This made japan really mad. this was a important battle. That allowed us to turn the tables and led us in a path to win the war this was one of the most important battles. http: //www. midway 42. org/ Return to Exhibit

Battle of Midway enemy’s response Japan tried to do a surprise attack to capture midway. They lured the navy away and sent many planes to capture midway and they did this as a surprise attack. But America was ready and defeated japan. Japan lost one of the most decisive battles in the war. Because of this Japan became furious and they beheaded one prisoner and threw the other two overboard alive. But they have lost a major battle that was important for the us. https: //warontherocks. com/2016/06/the-battleof-midway-the-complete-intelligence-story/ Return to Exhibit

Battle of Midway Planes Weapons The battle of midway showed the importance of planes as weapons in this war America used the was a 20 mm m 2 hispano aircraft on the plane to fight japan where japan used type 99 mark 1 and 2 on their planes to fight. This showed how important planes were as a strategy of attack and how powerful they were. The planes were really important in the battle and with it we beat the Japanese and this played a part in winning the war. The planes were really important in this battle. http: //ww 2 history. com/key_moments/Pacific/Th e_Battle_of_Midway Return to Exhibit

Battle of Midway Propaganda was important for the battle of midway. It was important for the whole war. Propaganda was a important system used to have people work harder feel better and be stronger and do some certain actions. Because of propaganda it made more people join the war and work harder for this battle. Once they won this battle they used propaganda to make the soldiers and their families feel better about the war and made them have more faith that they would win. http: //dedicatedtoheroes. blogspot. com/2012/06 /midway-greatest-generation-avenged. html Return to Exhibit

How were Japanese-Americans limited? After Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U. S government was concerned that the Japanese residents of the country, primarily on the west coast, could be spies, or that they would turn on the U. S should the Japanese invade. To put these worries to rest, the U. S built several internment camps further inland, shipping all the Japanese they could find to these new locations. While these camps weren’t nearly as bad as your German death camps of the time, the Japanese were limited. They weren’t allowed to leave the camps freely, and had a strict set of rules they had to follow. They were granted cramped living spaces, and the camps were of course under armed guard, not to mention the rest of the population didn’t trust them. In the end though, the U. S repaid the prisoners later for all the trouble they went through, but it is still debated today wether or not the internment of the Japanese, most of which were citizens was really necessary. http: //jpninternmentcamps. weebly. com/referen ces. html Return to Exhibit

What caused WWII? After Germany’s defeat in WWI, the Treaty of Versailles limited Germany’s capabilities in a variety of ways. Combined with the depression Germany was also suffering from the war, the German people were willing to follow anybody to get their country back in shape. From there, it was kind of chaotic… Germany wanted Poland Austria to reunite the German peoples, and also wanted Poland for this reason. To do this, they had to build up a military, breaking the treaty. Upon attacking Poland, France and Britain declared war. Hitler also hated communists, so he declared war on the Soviets too. Meanwhile, in the west, the Japanese wanted regions of China, something the U. S wasn’t okay with, and Japan didn’t trust the U. S’ growing Navy at the same time. As you can see, there are enough reasons so that it’s no surprise that all-out war was inevitable. https: //www. slideshare. net/multimedialearningll c/causes-wwii Return to Exhibit

How did WWII affect the world we live in today? There are many things that WWII affected on today’s world, but the biggest one is probably the invention of things like this guy… the atom bomb, and nuclear warfare. Shortly after the end of the war, many countries were curious about this weapon that had made the mighty, confident Japan surrender so easily. Soon, the Soviet Union was developing nuclear weapons of their own… and thus the beginning of the Cold War, the rapid stockpiling of nuclear weapons by the U. S and the Soviet Union in preparation of a potential true nuclear war. This greatly effected the national relations of today, and created the great rivalry between the U. S and the “Reds. ” https: //nsarchive. gwu. edu/nukevault/ebb 525 The-Atomic-Bomb-and-the-End-of-World-War. II/ Return to Exhibit

Why did the United States drop atomic bombs? To this day, people still argue whether or not the U. S should’ve dropped the A-Bombs on the cities of Hiroshima (right) and Nagasaki. Though important military targets were hit by the bombs, many civilians lost their lives too, both in the initial blast and from things like radiation poisoning, and the president knew it. So why were the payloads dropped? Truman’s reasoning was that he was saving American lives, and ending the war quickly. But some people believe otherwise, like it was a display of power to the Soviet Union, showing them what the U. S was capable of. Whatever the purpose though, the bombs were dropped, and Japan was forced to surrender. https: //www. rt. com/op-edge/311731 -hiroshimanagasaki-anniversary-atomic/ Return to Exhibit

What role did propaganda serve in the war? One wonders if the war might have had a different result without propaganda. Hitler used it a lot to gain support for his rule from the population. Most countries used it to recruit troops. Some fueled patriotism in the viewers and gave them confidence in support for the war, like in this image here. Some attempted to scare people into believing what the rulers wanted them to believe. Whatever the purpose, propaganda still served a huge, and multiple, roles in the war and definitely effected its result. https: //dirkdeklein. net/2016/07/10/ww 2 propaganda-with-a-slight-difference/ Return to Exhibit

Western Front With the capture of Poland by Germany, the entire world went to war. The Western Front in WWII is probably the most famous. It was fought with a great many troops from a variety of factions… Britain, France, Canada and the U. S. A for the Allies, and Germany and Italy for the Axis (Italy joined the Allies after the fall of Benito Mussolini. ) Things didn’t start out the best for the Allies. Eventually, all of the Normandy region in France was controlled by the Germans. But with the arrival of the Americans in 1944 and the combined assault of the American, British, and Canadian forces on D-Day (June 6 th, 1944), the allies landed in and took back Normandy, with Berlin the next target. Though the Germans did their best to defend the land they had fought so hard for, yet were losing so rapidly, like with attacks such as the Battle of the Bulge, they ultimately failed and surrendered May 7 th, 1945. Japan was next! http: //www. roadmaptolastbesthope. com/volum e. II/student/chapter 6/images-maps Return to Entrance

Pacific War Not the whole war was fought in Europe. Half of the war was fought in the Pacific, mostly between the U. S (Allies) and the Japanese (Axis), though there were a few other smaller groups involved, like the Filipinos, who fought alongside the U. S in their homeland, the Philippines. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U. S wasted no time in its retaliation against Japan. Using a tactic called island hopping, the strategy of only capturing islands you need rather than every island, the U. S pushed across the Pacific as Japanese positions, many famous such as Iwo Jima and Midway, fell one by one. Eventually, the War in the Pacific ended with Japan’s surrender on August 15 th, 1945, with the dropping of atom bombs Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 3 months after Germany’s surrender and ending WWII with an Allied victory. Linked citation goes here Return to Entrance

Eastern Front This map shows various battles on the Eastern front between the Soviet Union (Allied Powers) and the Axis powers. Starting with air raids into Soviet territory up to major armor battles that were very successful for the Axis, the Soviets were continually pushed back into their territory until February, 1943, after a five month battle, when the Soviets were victorious at the now completely ruined city of Stalingrad and destroyed the German 6 th army. The Axis was then pushed all the way back to Berlin, which the Soviets then captured in April, 1945. http: //www. ranker. com/list/a-list-of-all-easternfront-battles/reference Return to Exhibit