WWII Battles 1942 1945 I Overview of Military

WWII Battles 1942 - 1945

I. Overview of Military & Diplomatic Impacts of WWII: • Global & Total War Bring Unprecedented Devastation – New military techniques & technologies • Examples: Aerial “Fire Bombing”, Paratroopers, Amphibious Invasions, Radar, Flame Throwers, Nuclear Weapons – Civilians across the globe mobilized & targeted – 50 million dead/wounded world wide -- 1 million US dead/wounded

World War II Deaths

I. Overview of Military & Diplomatic Impacts of WWII: • New World Order Emerges – U. S. ends isolationism & accepts role as world “superpower” during & after war – Traditional European powers influence diminishes as war progresses – US/USSR power struggle (aka “the Cold War”) begins even before WWII officially ends

3 Main “Theaters” of WWII

II. North Africa Campaign 1942

Gen. George Patton First minute

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander

Italian Campaign - 1943 - 1944

III. European Theater

D – Day June 6 th, 1944

Operation Fortitude

5000 vessels 150, 000 men 30, 000 vehicles Six parachute regiments – over 13, 000 men 300 planes dropped 13, 000 bombs over Normandy in advance of the invasion By nightfall on June 6, 10, 000 Allied soldiers were dead , but more than 100, 000 had made it ashore

Battle of the Bulge -- December, 1944 Casualties: American: 19, 000 killed, 47, 500 wounded, 23, 000 captured or missing German: 67, 200 to 100, 000 killed, wounded/captured/missing 3 min. . 3 min

USSR Battles Nazis on Eastern Front – 1942 – 1944

Casualties at Stalingrad: 700, 000 Axis 1, 100, 000 Soviets

US B-17’s & P-51’s Bomb Germany

Dresden & Hamburg Fire Bombed – Spring 1945

Allies Meets USSR At Elbe River April, 1945 VE Day – May 8 th

IV. Pacific “Theater”

The Battle of Midway June 1942

52: 00 -57: 00

“Island Hopping” Strategy

IV. Pacific “Theater”

Battle of Iwo Jima Feb. /March, 1945

1: 23 -1: 29 U. S. 7000 dead, 19, 000 wounded Japan 20, 000 dead, 1000 captured

“Conventional” bombing devastates Japan in spring/summer 1945 (over 60 cities destroyed) 100, 000 killed in firebombing of Tokyo First 1 -2 minutes

82 -Day Long Battle of Okinawa convinces some American leaders that Japanese leaders will not consider surrender Kamikaze 神風 Attacks (2, 525) 70 U. S. vessels "sunk or damaged beyond repair“ Deaths: Japanese military 77, 166 U. S. military 14, 000 Japanese civilians 149, 000

Harry S Truman Becomes President April, 1945

Manhattan Project Develops Atomic Bomb – Completed July, 1945 J. Robert Oppenheimer – head scientist Employed 130, 000 people & cost $2 Billion ($27 billion in 2011 dollars) Original Target Germany. New Target: Japan

Potsdam Conference – July 1945 – “Big Three” plan end of WWII Japan rejects surrender ultimatum US & UK do not reveal existence of A-Bomb to USSR

Hiroshima & Nagasaki August 6 th & 9 th 1945

30 seconds August, 1945 Hiroshima & Nagasaki suffer Atomic Bomb

Japan Accepts Unconditional Surrender V J Day - September 2, 1945