World War II

1. Battle for Great Britain2. Eastern Front3. Pacific Theatre

Great Britain Refuses to Give Up Hitler now controls most of Europe and he is ready to attack Great BritainPlans to take out the Royal Air Force and then launch a ground invasion.

Radar gives the Royal Air Force advanced warning of attacks which allows them to destroy many German AirplanesHitler switches to night attacks English wait out their evenings in subways and bomb shelters with no sign of conceding

Hitler gives up his plans for invasion and ends the attack when it becomes obvious that the English will not be easily discouraged

North Africa CampaignMussolini wants to secure the Suez Canal

Moves armies from Libya into Egypt Key to access to middle eastern oil

Britain Pushes back in AfricaQuickly moves 500 miles across N. Africa capturing 130,000 Italian troopsHitler has to step in to save Mussolini Erwin Rommel “Desert Fox”

Commands new tank corp for the Axis powersEventually manages to take the city of Tobruk after several back and forth exchanges Symbol of British resistance falls

Hitler Plots against the USSRNeeds the Balkan states to build bases to launch an invasion Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary choose to cooperate and join the Axis powers

No hope to win a standoff with Germany Yugoslavia and Greece resist

Pro-British Governments Yugoslavia surrenders in 11 days, Greece in 17

Operation BarbarossaHitler invades Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 USSR army has 5 million men but is still unprepared What strategy had the Russians used against Napoleon?

Scorched Earth Policy Use this once again against Hitler's advance

Siege of Leningrad Germans surround and isolate the city City refuses to surrendered even as the population is reduced to eating cattle feed and starvationHitler finally realizes the city will not surrendered and moves on Moscow instead Hitler fails to prepare for the harsh Russian winter

Hitler and WinterGerman troops stuck in Russia in summer gear and with limited supplies Equipment not prepared for cold temperatures

Oil freezes and tanks and trucks become uselessGerman guns not designed to deal with the frost and cold also stick and jam

Hitler REFUSES to retreat completely and orders his generals to dig in

Germans are Stranded!Freezing, Starving, and without any useful equipment the Germans are forced to hold the line Manage to hold out until March of 1943Moscow is saved Germans loose about 500,000 troops in the processHitler does not learn from Napoleons defeat over 130 years earlier.

Japanese Brutality War for the Philippines ends with a Japanese Victory 75,000 American and Filipino troops surrender to the Japanese

Japan now outnumbered by their prisoners Bataan Death march

Force these captives to walk approximately 100 miles to a prisoner of war campRandomly beat POWsTortured to death for falling behind 10,000 soldiers died on the March

Japanese TacticsHeavily fortify the HUNDREDS of small islands all through the Pacific Claim to come as liberators

“Asia for the Asians”Treat the newly conquered populations with severe brutality

Allies on the Offensive1942 send 16 B-52 bombers to bomb Tokyo

Sending the message YOU ARE NOT INVINCIBLE

Allied forces rally to the cause and new hope is in sight

Battle of Coral SeaNEW KIND OF SEA BATTLEFought entirely between the aircraft from the two fleets (Japanese and American/ Australian forces) No definitive winner

Japanese sink more shipsAllies stop the Japanese advancement for the first time

The Battle of Midway Largest fleet ever assembled

Japanese have over 150 ships included the largest battleship ever built

Allies crack a Japanese code that gives advanced warning and begin to plan an ambush

Out numbered by ships and airplanes

Allow Japan to attack the island first and sent the Allied planes out to attack the unsuspecting ships Allies destroy 352 planes and all 4 aircraft carriers TURNING POINT OF THE PACIFIC THEATRE

Allied Strategy in the Pacific Too many islands to take back one by one “Island Hopping”

Strategically take islands throughout the Pacific while ignoring othersTake Islands not as well defended and closer to Japan Hopefully the strongholds would be cut off and eventually weaken

Secret Weapons of WWII: Code Machines and Code Talkers

England had a HUGE advantage during the war because they had a German code machine to decipher intercepted transmissions

Called the Enigma

Secret Weapons of WWII: Code Machines and Code Talkers

Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific Japanese skilled code breakersMarines knew they needed some form of safe communication

Navajo is not a written language, no alphabet, and only approximately 30 people outside of Navajo reservations could fluently speak the language at the outset of the war. Created a dictionary of terms to use for transmissions, memorized the dictionary, and joined their units without any written copy

Battle of Guadalcanal Huge Japanese airbase being builtWant to destroy the base before it is a stronghold Attack with 19,000 marines

Japanese overwhelmed but pledge to fight till the death After 6 months of fighting the Allies finally force the Japanese off the island

23,000 allied casualties36,000 Japanese Casualties

Japanese PropagandaAs the Allies island hopped something was amiss…

Why were the civilian populations killing themselves before the allies were in control?

Japanese had spread rumors about US marinesKept caged gorillas they would watch tear apart prisoners Bayonet babies Etc

Beginning of the End in the Pacific Firebombing of Tokyo and other major cities

Development of the B-29 had a 1500 mile range Bombed major cities with firebombs nightly Flew at higher altitudes to avoid anti-aircraft Less precision, bombed wherever the munitions fell

End of the European Theater America agrees to focus on a Hitler first strategy Invasion of Normandy

June 6, 1944150,000 allied troops storm the beachEisenhower the leader of the allied forces

Heavy fighting ensues but the Allies hold the beach and begin to push the Germans back

End of the European Theatre Battle of the Bulge

Hitler’s last chance to salvage his campaign Allies win the battle and successfully push the Germans back into Germany and continue to pursue the remains of the German military

Soviet Union pushes the Germans out of Russia and enter German territoryHitler is forced into his bunker for the remaining days of his reignSoviets are allowed to enter Berlin first

Manhattan ProjectAlbert Einstein escapes from Germany before the rise of HitlerDiscussions of the uses of Atomic energy begin but many feel an A-bomb is an impossibility Concerned scientists realized that the Nazi would definitely find a way to develop one if this was a possibility (which Fermi and Oppenhiemer believed it was)

Manhattan Project Einstein’s Letter to FDR (1939)1942 the project gets is official start Facilities at Los Alamos, New Mexico and Oak Ridge, Tennessee Complete Secrecy Manage to develop 3 bombs

1 test Fat Man Little Boy

Meanwhile, back in the Pacific Japan had tried to destroy the entire American Fleet in the battle of Leyte Gulf

Destroy the fleet and cut off the troopsBackfired and lost their entire fleet instead

US forces land on the Philippines and General Macarthur declares his return Marines begin the difficult battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa

Iwo Jima Small volcanic Island with airfield and several well defended tunnel systems by the Japanese American Forces storm the island and through intense battle manage to take the island after decimating the Japanese forces (only 1500 of the original 22,000 survived) and sustaining heavy casualties of over 6,000

Iwo JimaUs Marines raising a flag on top of the Volcanic cone on the island “Captured the soul of a nation”

Okinawa 350 miles from the coast of Japan Bloodiest land battle of the war Japan lost 110,000 troopsAmericans lost 12,500Bitter battle that ends with an American victory

Difficult DecisionTruman must now decide whether to risk a costly invasion of Japan or use the most deadly weapon ever created by man Risk loosing 500,000 American soldiers or indiscriminately kill whole Japanese cities

The ScenarioJapan, sensing defeat sends an envoy to the Soviet Union in the hopes of negotiating peace… there is no progressUS sends a warning to the Japanese threatening to rain terror from the sky if they do not unconditionally surrender… Japanese send no reply

The ScenarioTruman decides to drop the bombs

Targets are selected Little Boy is dropped on Hiroshima

Hiroshima Casualties Ground Distance (km)

Killed Injured Population

0-1.0 86% 10% 31,200

1.0-2.5 27% 37% 144,800

2.5-5.0 2% 25% 80,300

Total 27% 30% 256,300

The WarningTruman warns Japan that we will destroy a city every three days if they do not surrender

Partly a bluffWe only had one more bomb

Japan does not surrender after Hiroshima

Nagasaki Fat man is dropped on Nagasaki Another city is decimated Population of the city 164,000

39,000 killed25,000 injured

60% of all deaths from burns

Atomic Bomb ConditionsGround Temperature of 7,000 Degrees FWinds of 980 mphEnergy released equal to 20,000 tons of TNT210,000 total deaths related to the Atomic Bomb

DiscussionDid Truman make the right decision? Why or why not? Take 3 minutes and collect your thoughts. Write 2-3 sentences explaining your stance.