U.S. in World War II
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U.S. in World War II. Objectives Describe challenges & successes mobilizing for war Describe how war impacted Americans at home Summarize how Allies win war in Europe Describe Allied offensive against Japanese Explain why Atomic bomb dropped
U.S. in World War II
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Presentation Transcript
U.S. in World War II • Objectives • Describe challenges & successes mobilizing for war • Describe how war impacted Americans at home • Summarize how Allies win war in Europe • Describe Allied offensive against Japanese • Explain why Atomic bomb dropped • Describe how war affected minorities
Dec. 7, 1941 “Day of Infamy” President Roosevelt Addresses Congress Dec. 8, 1941 Declare war on Japan; Join Allies
U.S. Enters the War • Enlarged Military • 5 million volunteered • Selective Service • 10 million drafted • 8 weeks training • Propaganda
Wartime Production • 1942 - War Production Board • Industries changeover to war materials • 1943 - Office of War Mobilization • Centralized resources-gov’t decides • Ford Motor Co. – B-24 Liberator bombers • Assembly line techniques • Henry Kaiser – mass production • Liberty Ships – production time reduced 200 to 40 days
Wartime Production • Unemployment vanishes • By 1945 • Thousands planes, ships, rifles, tanks, armored cars, etc., being produced • Wages go up • Cost of living goes up • Union membership goes up • Federal debt goes up $43B - $260B
War at Home • Shortages & rationing • Food supply down • Inflation up – Office of Price Administration • Fair distribution of scarce items • Activities • Reading, music, baseball, movies • Abbott & Costello • Birthrate increases • Night time blackout drills • Tin collection drives
War at Home • Victory Gardens supply produce for troops & families • Tomatoes, peas, radishes • Parking lots, playgrounds • Office of War Information - 1942 • Propaganda • Maintain morale and support for war effort • Hire artists – strengthen patriotic feelings • Norman Rockwell – Four Freedoms
Wartime Diversity Issues • 1,000,000 African Americans • 1st supporting roles • Late 1942 – serve in separate units • 300,000 Mexican Americans • 33,000 Japanese Americans • 25,000 Native Americans • 13,000 Chinese Americans • “just carve on my tombstone, ‘here lies a black man killed fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man.’”
Wartime Diversity Issues • Tuskegee Airmen – 1st AA flying unit • Late 1944 – combat units integrate • Philip Randolph • Threatened March on Washington for “right to work and fight for our country.” • FDR issued executive order – Full & equitable participation of all workers in defense industry – “no discrimination of race, creed, color, or national origin.”
Women in the War Women • WAVES - Navy • SPAR • Coast Guard • WAFS • women’s auxiliary firing squadron • WASP • air force service pilots • WAAC (WAC) • Women’s Auxiliary Army Corp.
Women at Home • By 1944 • 6 million workers were women • Myth – women were too slow, not strong enough • Paid 60% of what men make • “Rosie” encouraged women to work “Rosie the Riveter”
Minorities and the War • Despite discrimination – minority groups get chance to show what they can do & see advancement in opportunities
War Strategy Churchill & Roosevelt • Dec. 22, 1941 Whitehouse meeting • Over 3 weeks, Churchill convinced FDR that Hitler was larger threat than Japan • 1st military goal: • Defeat Germany & Italy
Battle of the Atlantic German Wolf Packs – groups of subs • Goal • Cutoff Allied supply lines-food, arms, oil, tanks, planes, etc. • 87 ships sunk in 4 months • 681 in 7 months • Battle went on for years • If Allies didn’t win this “war,” WW2 would have been lost • US Ships, planes help Britain win
Fighting Back – War in Atlantic • Fighting German U-boats, submarines • FDR says “Shoot on sight”
U.S. fights back against U-boats • U.S. Convoys formed • Equipped with radar, sonar • Allows U.S. to find & destroy German U-boats faster then can be built. • 140 Liberty Ships/month
Hitler Attacks Soviets • June 1941 • Hitler attacks Soviet Union • Despite Nonaggression Pact • Invaded over 1,800 miles • Captured 2 million Russian soldiers by Nov. • Germany halted 25 miles outside of Moscow • Russian winter set in • Fierce Russian resistance
Stalingrad & Leningrad • Germans push towards Stalingrad & Leningrad • Deadliest battle in human history • Oil in Caucasus • Bomb, burn • Hand-to-hand combat • Russians want to surrender • Germans hold 90% of city by winter ’42
Soviets to Stalingrad • Winter – advance tanks over ice • Trap Germans in city • Soldiers starve • Want to surrender • Hitler – No! • Jan ’43 surrender • Soviets move toward Germany
Not enough troops to invade France – yet! • Help Britain in N. Africa • Fighting since 1940 • Success in Egypt & Libya • “Soft underbelly of Axis Powers” North African Campaign British General Bernard Montgomery
U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower North African Campaign German General Erwin Rommel
Fighting in N. Africa & Italy • Alliesneed to capture North Arica so they can get into Italy • Very difficult to fight in desert • Hitler sends 20,000 more troops • German General Rommel – called Desert Fox because he’s so good at fighting with tanks in the desert
Fighting in N. Africa & Italy • US loses at KasserinePass • “America losses her battle innocence” • British & US combine forces • By May 1943 - Germans & Italians in North Africa surrender to Allied troops
Fighting in N. Africa & Italy • Allies capture Sicily • Mussolini stripped of power, arrested • “Most hated man in Italy” - Killed • He & mistress hung upside down • Eventually, Allies drive Axis powers out of Italy • Thousands of soldiers die • June 1944, Allied forces won Italian Campaign - Bloody Anzio
Planning for D-Day • Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill meet • Plan to invade France from Southern Great Britain • In preparation for it • Carpet bomb Germany
Planning for D-Day • Carpet bombing of Germany • Dropped 2,697,473 bombs • Killed 305,000 civilians • Damaged 5.5 million homes • Wiped out railroads, bridges, oil fields, etc. • Goal: Stop Germany’s ability to move troops to Normandy beaches once attack starts
Operation Overlord • Goal: Invade NW Europe to reach Germans • General Eisenhower – Supreme Commander • Operation Neptune: Establish a beachhead in Normandy, France -- “D-Day: June 6, 1944” • Troops: British, U.S., Canadian, Polish, Dutch, Belgian, French
Phantom Army • Fake radio messages • Double agents • Phony military base – Dover, England • Buildings, Planes, tanks, jeeps, housing • Made of cardboard, wood, rubber, paper • Led Germans to believe attack would be at Calais • Narrowest point of English Channel
Operation Overlord • 23,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines • Over 150,000 troops land on beaches • Charge enemy lines on open beaches • Massive bombardment, but massive devastation • Chaos – screaming, soldiers hit left & right, bodies everywhere, nothing to hide behind
Results: • Two week duration • Allies held 80 mile strip of beachheads. • Causalities were atrocious
Mulberry Harbor • Artificial harbor built at the beaches • Towed huge concrete ports • Sunk 70 old ships as breakwaters
Beginning of End for Hitler • >4,600 invasion craft and warships • >1,000 bombers hit German defenses • >14,000 aircraft sorties • Took 60 miles of Normandy coast • 12,000 casualties in prep for D-Day • D-Day: 10,000 Allied casualties – 2,500 dead • Total • >425,000 Allied and German troops killed, wounded or missing in Battle for Normandy
Major Victory and Turning Point • Beginning of end for Hitler • Within one year, Germany surrenders • 1 week after D-Day .5 million troops ashore • Late July – 2 million Allied troops in France • French Resistance & Allied forces free Paris - Aug. 25, 1944 • Charles de Gaulle takes over French provisional government
Allies Take Back France • Massive air and land strike against St. Lo. • General Omar Bradley • Broke German line of defense • Led way for . . . • Third Army to reach Seine River • August 25, 1944 • Under U.S. General George Patton & • French resistance fighters • French capital taken back by French • General Charles de Gaulle
Battle of the Bulge • October 1944 • U.S. captured first German town, Aachen • Mid-December German counteroffensive • To recapture Belgian Port of Antwerp • Drive 60 miles into Allied territory • Creates “bulge”
