WWII US ENTERS Americans join the war effort

WWII US ENTERS

Americans join the war effort • 5 million volunteered for military service, still not enough for a war on two fronts, draft was expanded to include an additional 10 million • GI (Government Issue) applied to govt issued uniforms, weapons, supplies but soon described soldiers as well.

Women and Minorities in the Military • Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall pushed for the formation of a Women’s Auxiliary Army Corp (WAAC). • Under bill women volunteering for army would not receive the same rank, pay, and benefits as men doing the same jobs, nor could they make the army a career. • Despite opposition, became law on May 15, 1942 • Minorities: questioned if this was their war to fight, “Why die for democracy for some foreign country when we don’t even have it here” “here lies a black man killed fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man”

Home Front • Across nation factories were converted into war production, • women began to enter the work force b/c all men were off fighting war. • Rosie the Riveter

Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) • developed by FDR to bring scientist into war effort, • made improvements in both radar and sonar • use of pesticides like DDT to fight insects US soldiers were first in history to be relatively free from body lice, developed miracle drugs such as penicillin, • secret development of a new weapon (atomic bomb)

Entertainment • as result of war stimulating economy people finally had money to put back into their pocket, • resulted in spending on entertainment doubling people began to go to the movies every week • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=-wi. Vkd. VPGo. Y

Japanese Americans • After Pearl Harbor, Amer began to qt loyalty of Jap Amer living in Hawaii and west Coast, • feared they were part of master plan for destroying the US, 1942 War department called for the mass evacuation of all Japanese Americans from Hawaii, newspapers whipped up anti-Japanese sentiment by running ugly stories attacking Jap Amer, • Feb 19, 1942 FDR signed an order requiring the removal of people of Jap ancestry from Cal and parts of Washington, Oregon, Arizona, sent to 10 hastily constructed internment camps, most were Nisei (Jap Amer who had been born in this country and were Amer citizens)

Economy • federal govt had to prevent inflation from skyrocketing, Office of Price Administration (OPA) fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods, • Congress also raised income-tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before, left workers with less to spend, • Ration coupons • War Production Board (WPB)

Get Your Ration Cards

S. . t. . r. . e. . t. . c. . h That Food!

Battle of the Atlantic • Hitler ordered submarine raids against ships along Amer coast after Pearl Harbor, • Allies were able to destroy Ger boats faster than they could build them.

Eastern Front and Mediterranean • • Ger invasion stalled in front of Moscow and Leningrad, Ger sent 6 th army south with 2 objectives: 1) seize the rich Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mtn, 2) capture Stalingrad a major industrial center on Volga River, moved on so that they could have complete of Stalingrad, burned most of Stalingrad and had control of 9/10 of city. • Stalin made them defend city no matter what. • SU launched major counterattack, Ger ordered to fight to last man, Ger finally surrendered, SU began moving westward toward Ger

The North Africa Campaign: The Battle of El Alamein, 1942 Gen. Ernst Rommel, The “Desert Fox” Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery (“Monty”)

North African Front • FDR and Churchill launched Operation Torch, an invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower, • Amer troops landed in N. Africa and chased the Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox), Afrika Korp surrender May 1943

Italian Campaign • Allies decided to attack Italy • July 25, 1943 King Victor Emmanuel III summoned the Fascist dictator and prime minister Mussolini to palace and stripped him of his power, King told Mussolini that he is the most hated man in to Italy, Mussolini was quickly arrested and Italians celebrated the end of the war, • Hitler responded by taking control of Italy and reinstating Mussolini as its leader, took 18 months for allies to drive Ger off Italian soil, found Mussolini disguised as a Ger soldier, shot him and hung his body in a Milan square, • http: //www. custermen. com/Italy. WW 2/ILDUCE/Mussolini. htm

Mussolini & His Mistress, Claretta Petacci Are Hung in Milan, 1945 found Mussolini disguised as a Ger soldier, shot him and hung his body in a Milan square, http: //www. custermen. com/Italy. WW 2/ILDUCE/Mussolini. htm

Gen. Eisenhower Gives the Orders for D-Day [“Operation Overlord”] GOAL: take the axis by surprise and pinpointed Normandy peninsula as the focus of the assault,

Liberation of Europe • D-Day, the day of the invasion June 6, 1944, troops landed 60 miles across beach front, Ger were ready for the attack, allies held the beach heads, • On July 25, General Omar Bradley unleashed massive air and land bombardment against the enemy at St. LO giving General George Patton and his Third army the gap needed to advance, • Two days later Fr and Amer troops liberated the Fr capital from four years of Ger control, Sept 1944 allies had liberated Fr, Belgium, Luxembourg, and much of the Netherlands, • During this time FDR was elected to his fourth term in office with running mate Harry S. Truman

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Normandy Landing (June 6, 1944) German Prisoners Higgins Landing Crafts

Battle of the Bulge • October 1944, Amer captured first Ger town, • Hitler reacted with a bold counter attack hoping to disrupt ally supply lines, • Ger captured 120 Amer GI near Malmedy, SS herded Amer troops into a field and mowed them all down with machine guns, 43 survived, • Ger success was due to their ability to keep the allies off guard, some say Amer helped Ger by not taking intercepted messages seriously, • Amer began to fight back, Ger lost massive amount of troops, tanks, and assault guns which they could bounce back from, they had no choice but to retreat • http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/focus/auschwitz/

The Battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s Last Offensive Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 28, 1945

Unconditional Surrender • April 25, 1945 Soviet army stormed Berlin, • Hitler married Eva Braun on April 29 and wrote final address to his people where he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his general for losing it • General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Third Reich, May 8, 1945 allies celebrated V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)

Hitler Commits Suicide April 30, 1945 Cyanide & Pistols The Führer’s Bunker Mr. & Mrs. Hitler

Japanese Advances • Philippines: Amer and Filipino troops commanded by General Douglas Mac. Arthur held out against invading Japs as long as possible. • Eventually told to abandoned the Philippines and said that “I shall return”

Bataan Death March: April, 1942 76, 000 prisoners [12, 000 Americans] Marched 60 miles in the blazing heat to POW camps in the Philippines.

Bataan: British Soldiers A Liberated British POW

US retaliation • April 18, 1942 Colonel James Doolittle took off in carrier Hornet, swept over Tokyo and four other Japs cities blasting factories, steel mills, oil tanks, and military targets before vanishing. • Next day headline “Tokyo Bombed! Doolittle Do’od It”

Battle of Coral Sea Australian and Amer intercepted Jap strike force aimed at Australia. – first time since Pearl Harbor a Jap invasion had been stopped and turned back

Battle of Midway • June, Admiral Chester Nimitz (Amer commander of Amer naval forces in the Pacific) learned from intercepted messages that a Jap invasion force of well over 110 ships was heading to Midway, • force planned to move on to Hawaii to finish the destruction of Amer naval power started at Pearl Harbor, • Nimitz was prepared for a surprise attack, Jap lost four irreplaceable aircraft carriers, cruiser and 322 planes. At Midway the Amer had avenged Pearl Harbor

Battle of Midway Island: June 4 -6, 1942

Gen. Mac. Arthur “Returns” to the Philippines! [1944] • Mac. Arthur wanted to leapfrog Jap strongholds and seize less fortified islands, • continued leapfrogging across Pacific toward Japan. General Mac. Arthur and troops returned to Philippines (where he had left 2 years prior) “People of the Philippines I have returned

Island Hopping • Japs threw everything into the Battle for Leyte Gulf. • Also tested new tactic Kamikaze (suicideplane attack in which Jap would crash their bomb-laden planes into Allied ships) battle was a disaster for Jap, • Amer retook control of the Philippines and liberated the Amer prisoners of war there Kamikaze Pil ots

Island Hopping • then turned to Iwo Jima which was critical to the US as a base from which heavily loaded bombers could reach Jap • after conquering Iwo Jima the only thing that stood b/w Amer and a final assault on Jap was the island of Okinawa • April 12, 1945 FDR had a stroke and died, Harry S. Truman becomes the next president

Battle for Okinawa • Japs last defensive outpost, devastating battle in which many Amer lives were lost (7, 600) Jap lives lost totaled (110, 000) • chilling forecast for what the allies imagined the final invasion of Jap home islands would be like

Manhattan Project • best kept secret of the war, most people involved did not know its ultimate purpose (creation of an atomic bomb) • Group of scientist (headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer) worked in a secret lab in New Mexico to build the actual bomb • The next decision was whether or not to drop the bomb • Dr. Robert Oppenheimer

Manhattan Project • On July 25, 1945 Truman ordered the military to make final plans for dropping the only two atomic bombs in existence, • next day US warned Jap that it faced “prompt and utter destruction” unless it surrendered at once, Jap refused • Aug 6, b-29 bomber named Enola Gay released an atomic bomb (Code name Little Boy) over Hiroshima (an important Jap military center) three days later a second bomb (code name Fat Man) was dropped n Nagasaki leveling half the city, • On Sept 2, formal surrender ceremonies took place on the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. • http: //www. evtv 1. com/player. aspx? aid=&itemnum=5676

Tinian Island, 1945 Little Boy Fat Man Enola Gay Crew

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945 © 70, 000 killed immediately. © 48, 000 buildings. destroyed. © 100, 000 s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945 © 40, 000 killed immediately. © 60, 000 injured. © 100, 000 s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.

Japanese A-Bomb Survivors

It’s Finally Over • On Sept 2, formal surrender ceremonies took place on the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Yalta Conference • Stalin, FDR, Churchill • Feb 1945 • Temporary division of Germany into 4 zones • Stalin promised free and open elections in Poland other Soviet-occupied Eastern European countries

Potsdam Conference • In July 1945, Truman met with GB and SU at Potsdam (Ger) drew up a blueprint for disarming Ger and eliminating the Nazi regime • Ger was divided into four zones, US SU, GB, and FR each occupied and administered one zone, • Berlin (Ger capital) was also divided into four zones, each administered by one of the powers

The Division of Germany: 1945 - 1990

United Nations • April 25 1945, 50 nations met in San Francisco United Nations: created the United Nations, a new international peacekeeping body, based on the principles in the Atlantic Charter, – General Assembly – Security Council • Today, out of 195 countries only 3 are not members of UN – Kosovo – Taiwan – Vatican City •

The Creation of the U. N.

Nuremberg Trails • International tribunal representing 23 nations tried Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg, Ger. 22 Nazi leaders were tried at the first Nuremberg trials, 12/22 were sentenced to death, most of the rest to prison, in later trials nearly 200 more Nazis were found guilty of war crimes. • First the first time in history a nation’s leaders had been legally responsible for their actions during wartime

The Nuremberg War Trials: Crimes Against Humanity

Japan occupation Jap was occupied by US forces under the command of General Douglas Mac. Arthur, • former Jap officials were put on trial, seven including Tojo were sentenced to death, • during 6 year Amer occupation, Mac. Arthur reformed Jap economy

Life as result of war • war triggered marriage boom, marry before soldier went off to war • GI Bill of Rights: provided education and training for veterans, paid for by the federal government, provided federal loan guarantees to veterans buying homes or farms or starting businesses. • Segregation remained the rule in the military – Tuskegee Airmen • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to confront urban segregation in the North. • tensions with Mexican Americans

7 Future American Presidents Served in World War II