Download World War II: The Pacific

World War II
(continued):
Europe and the Pacific
Theme: Allied victory and other impacts of
the war
Lesson 18
World War II:
Europe
Strategic Differences
(Review from Lsn 17)
• US favored a cross
channel invasion to
directly attack
Germany
• British preferred an
indirect approach,
attacking through the
“soft underbelly of
Europe”
Winston Churchill
Second Front
• Since July 19, 1941,
Stalin had been
demanding the Allies
open up a second
front to relieve the
German pressure
Russia was facing
• Invading Italy would
help meet Stalin’s
demand
Trident Conference May 1943
• Americans accepted the
strategic goal of
eliminating Italy from the
war but demanded that
the forces involved
consist only of those
already in the
Mediterranean
• Americans and British
also agreed that planning
would begin for a cross
channel invasion in May
1943
The Federal Reserve
Building in
Washington, DC, site
of the Trident
Conference
The Italian Campaign
• Three amphibious
operations
– Sicily
– Salerno
– Anzio
• The Germans
were able to
withdraw from
each and force
the Allies into
slow-moving,
attritional warfare
Rome
Anzio
Gustav Line
Salerno
Sicily
Summary of the Italian Campaign
• Through the summer of 1943 it was an excellent
training ground for Anglo-American forces
• Casualties the Allies inflicted on German ground
and air forces in Tunisia and Sicily were a
significant return on the investment
• “After that point, however, Italy cost more than it
gained.”
– Robert Doughty, American Military History and the
Evolution of Western Warfare
Economy of Force
• One thing the Italian Campaign was costing was LSTs
that were needed for the Normandy invasion
• “Sometimes I think the whole war depends on some
damned thing called an LST.”
– Winston Churchill
Operation Overlord: The Invasion
of Normandy
German Defenses
• Debate between
Rundstedt and
Rommel over
whether to deny
the initial
landing on the
beaches or to
destroy them
with strong,
mobile counter
attack forces
Rundstedt
Rommel
German Defenses: Rommel’s Plan
• Rommel was appointed
commander of Army
Group B in 1943
– Set out to reinforce the
Atlantic Wall in
accordance with the
German doctrine that
called for the
immediate and
absolute defeat of any
Allied landings.
German Defenses
Weakness of Rommel’s Plan
• Atlantic Wall had no
true depth to its
defenses.
– Typical “mile long and
an inch deep”
scenario
• An enemy force that
breached the thin
Atlantic Wall would
face no further
fortified positions of
significance.
German Defenses: Rundstedt’s
Plan
• Rundstedt placed great
reliance on mechanized
reserves that could respond
quickly and flexibly to an
enemy thrust.
– He stationed a newly
created armored
command, Panzer Group
West, near Paris.
– From there, the force could
move, as circumstances
required, toward the site of
an enemy assault in either
the Pas de Calais or
Normandy.
German Defenses: Compromise
• Rundstedt and Rommel
couldn’t settle their
disagreement over which
defensive strategy was best
so they compromised and
combined the two plans
• This resulted in the worst of
both
– Beach defenses not
strong enough to stop
landing; reserves not
strong enough to destroy
the beachhead
Objectives
• Combined Chiefs directed Eisenhower to
“enter the continent of Europe and, in
conjunction with other Allied nations,
undertake operations aimed at the heart of
Germany and the destruction of her armed
forces”
• To do that he would need a beachhead
(Normandy)
• To protect the amphibious forces he would
drop airborne forces inland
The Plan
• Airborne forces would
secure exits from the
beaches to allow the
amphibious forces to
move inland and block
German counterattack
routes to protect
amphibious forces
• Amphibious forces
would secure the
beachhead to allow for
the logistical buildup
and breakout
What Makes the Allied Plan Work
• Mass
• Surprise
• Allied soldier
Mass
Mass: Priorities
• Europe or Japan?
– Europe
• France or Italy?
– France
• Northern France
or Southern
France?
– Northern
– (Operational Anvil
postponed until
Aug 15)
Mass: Logistics
• Massive build up of
forces after initial landing;
huge logistical effort
• Mulberry artificial harbors
and Whale floating piers
Surprise
• “… it is more effective to find out what the
enemy is predisposed to believe and to reinforce
those beliefs while at the same time altering your
plans to take advantage of these reinforced false
beliefs.”
– John Chomeau
•
•
•
•
Fictitious army
Inflatable tanks
Ultra
Weather
Surprise: Fictitious Army
• By spurious radio transmissions,
the Allies created an entire
phantom army, “based” in
southeast England (opposite Pasde-Calais) and alleged to be
commanded by Patton.
– In addition, on the night of the
invasion itself, airborne radar
deception presented to German
radar stations a “phantom”
picture of an invasion fleet
crossing the Channel narrows,
while a radar blackout
disguised the real transit to
Normandy.
Inflatable Tanks
Surprise: Ultra
– Through the top-secret Ultra operation, the
Allies were able to decode encrypted German
transmissions
– Provided the Overlord forces with a clear
picture of where the German counterattack
forces were deployed
Surprise: Weather
• Germans had a false sense of security
about the weather
• Rommel was visiting his wife on D-Day
– “There is not going to be an invasion. And if
there is, then they won’t even get off the
beaches!”
Allied Soldier
The Allied Soldier: Courage
At low tide, the
assaulting troops had to
cross more than 300
meters of completely
exposed beach to gain
entrance to the Vierville
draw.
The Allied Soldier: Initiative
506th PIR Drop Dispersal
The Allied Soldier: Offensive Spirit
• The Germans launched no tactical
counteroffensives against the American
airborne assault.
• American paratroopers gathered in ad hoc
small groups and executed operations in
accordance with the commander’s intent.
– SLA Marshall
The German Soldier: Paralysis
• “… the performance of the Wehrmacht’s high
command, middle-ranking soldiers, and junior officers
was just pathetic. The cause is simply put: they were
afraid to take the initiative. They allowed themselves
to be paralyzed by stupid orders coming from far
away that bore no relation to the situation on the
battlefield. Tank commanders who knew where the
enemy was and how and when he should be
attacked sat in their headquarters through the day,
waiting for the high command in Berchtesgaden to
tell them what to do.”
• Stephen Ambrose
Breakout
Breakout
Breakout and Pursuit
How it Ends
• July 25: Beginning of Operation
Cobra
• Aug 15: Operational Anvil
landings in southern France
• Sept 17: Operational Market
Garden
• Dec 16: Beginning of the Battle
of the Bulge
• Apr 20, 1945: Russians take
Berlin
• Apr 25: Americans and
Russians meet at the Elbe
River
• Apr 30: Hitler commits suicide
Surrender of Germany
World War II:
Pacific
Imperial Japan
(Where we left off on Lesson 13)
• Japan continued to see
the US and others as a
threat to its influence in
Asia and in 1940 the
Japanese began
developing plans to
destroy the US Navy in
Hawaii
• On Dec 7, 1941, the
Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor
– We’ll discuss this in
Lesson 18
In May 1940, the main part of the
US fleet was transferred to Pearl
Harbor from the west coast
Pearl Harbor
• Dec 7, 1941
– “a date which will live
in infamy”
• Americans taken
completely by
surprise
• The first attack wave
targeted airfields and
battleships
• The second wave
targeted other ships
and shipyard facilities
Tactical Damage
• Eight battleships were damaged, with five sunk
• Three light cruisers, three destroyers, three
smaller vessels, and 188 aircraft were destroyed
• 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed
• 1,178 wounded
– 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona were
killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into
the forward magazine causing catastrophic
explosions.
Broader Results
• In spite of the tactical
success, the attack on
Pearl Harbor was an
operational and strategic
failure for the Japanese
– The attack failed to destroy
the American aircraft
carriers, fleet repair
facilities, or fuel reserves
– The “sneak attack”
galvanized American
support for entry into the
war
Fall of the Philippines
• Shortly after Pearl
Harbor the Japanese
made initial landings
on Luzon, then made
their main landings
on Dec 22
• On Dec 24,
MacArthur ordered
his forces to
withdraw to the
Bataan Peninsula
• By Apr Bataan
surrendered
• By early May
Corregidor
surrendered
Douglas MacArthur in his
headquarters tunnel at Corregidor
in March 1942
Centrifugal Advance
• Japanese attacked Malaya, the Philippines, the Dutch
East Indies, Wake, Guam….
• Instead of halting, establishing a defense, and
pressuring the US to sue for peace (the prewar plan), the
Japanese decided to extend their control over the
Pacific, planning operations in New Guinea near Port
Moresby and against Midway (1,300 miles northwest of
Honolulu)
• US achieved a moral victory with Doolittle’s Raid on the
Japanese home islands on April 18, 1942
– Minimal damage but humiliated Japanese high
command and led them to advance the date for their
attack on Midway
Midway (June 3-6, 1942)
• Japanese planned a diversionary attack on the
Aleutian Islands while the main force attacked
Midway to destroy the American fleet
• Thanks to Magic intercepts, US didn’t fall for the
Alaska feint and reinforced Midway
• Americans destroyed four Japanese carriers and
most of their flight crews
• Japanese advance was checked and initiative in
the Pacific began to turn to the Americans
Greatest Extent of Greater East
Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
Twin Drives
• Chief of Naval Operations Admiral
Ernest King favored a drive across
the central Pacific moving toward
Japan over the coral atolls scattered
across the Pacific
– Take advantage of ability to leap
across vast distances
• MacArthur favored an advance
across the South Pacific via New
Guinea and the Philippines
– Meet obligations to Filipinos
– Maintain pressure against the
retreating Japanese
– Protect against a renewed threat
against Australia
Admiral Ernest King
Isolation of Rabaul
Operation Cartwheel
• Became the model for Pacific commanders
throughout the rest of the war
– don’t move island to island; advance by great
bounds using air superiority
– bypass major strongpoints and leave them
reduced to strategic and tactical impotence
– hit Japanese weak spots; avoid frontal assaults;
use deception and surprise
– seize existing airfields and ports and use these
newly acquired bases to support the next leap
forward
Retaking the Philippines
• The invasion of the
Philippines brought
MacArthur and Nimitz’s
twin drives together
• On Oct 20, 1944,
MacArthur attacked Leyte
• By the end of December,
the Allies controlled Leyte
and MacArthur was in
position to attack Luzon,
the heart of the Philippines
“I shall return”
Final Campaigns
• From Feb 19 to Mar 11, 1945
the Marines captured Iwo Jima
• From Apr to June Americans
captured Okinawa
– Total American battle
casualties were 49,151, of
which 12,520 were killed or
missing and 36,631
wounded
– Approximately 110,000
Japanese were killed and
7,400 more were taken
prisoners
– Okinawa showed how
costly an invasion of the
Japanese home islands
would be
Raising the flag
on Mt. Suribachi,
Iwo Jima
Plan to Invade Japan
• US planned to invade
Japan with eleven
Army and Marine
divisions (650,000
troops)
• Casualty estimates
for the operation were
as high as 1,400,000
• Truman decided to
use the atomic bomb
to avoid such losses
Operation Cornet, the plan to take Tokyo
The Atomic Bomb
• In the early 1940s,
America had started
an atomic weapons
development program
code named the
“Manhattan Project”
• A successful test was
conducted at
Alamogordo in New
Mexico in July 1945
J. Robert Oppenheimer and
General Leslie Groves at the Trinity
Site soon after the test
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Hiroshima Aug 6, 1945
– 90,000 killed
• On Aug 8, the USSR
declares war on Japan
and invades Manchuria
the next day
• Nagasaki Aug 9, 1945
– 35,000 killed
• Okinawa had been much
more costly than
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Captain Paul Tibbets piloted the
plane that dropped the bomb on
Hiroshima
Hiroshima, vicinity of ground zero
Surrender
Japan surrenders Sept 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri
Beyond World War II
•
•
•
•
•
Growth of Total War
Holocaust
Post-war impact of the atomic bomb
Expanded roles of women
Cold War (Lesson 19)
Growth of Total War
• Total war describes a war in which nations use
all of their resources to destroy another nation's
ability to engage in war.
–
–
–
–
–
Conscription
Military-industrial complex to include women workers
Unconditional surrender
Civilian targets to include the Holocaust
Rationing, price controls, and other impacts on the
homefront
– More destructive weapons to include the atomic bomb
Holocaust
• Jews were the primary targets of Hitler’s racially
motivated genocidal policies, but Slavs, Gypsies,
homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
communists, and others suffered as well
• Sometime during 1941, the Nazi leadership
committed to “the final solution” of “the Jewish
problem”
– At the Wansee Conference on Jan 20, 1942, experts
gathered to discuss and coordinate the
implementation of the plan to kill all the Jews living in
Europe
Holocaust
• Jews were rounded up and sent to
concentration camps
– The largest was Auschwitz where at least a
million Jews died
• The process was organized and
technologically sophisticated
– Gassing was the preferred method of killing,
but electrocution, phenol injections,
flamethrowers, hand grenades, and machine
guns were also used
Roll Call at Auschwitz
Holocaust
• Victims were subjected
to industrial work,
starvation, medical
experimentation, and
extermination
• Large crematories
were used to hide the
evidence
• Approximately 5.7
million Jews perished
in the Holocaust
Auschwitz crematory
Mass Grave at Bergen-Belsen
Children Subjected to Medical
Experiments in Auschwitz
Survivors of
Ampfing Subcamp of Dachau
Prisoners liberated at Auschwitz
Post-war Impact of Atomic Bomb
• Changed the very nature
of war
– Presented the
possibility of
annihilation of
humankind
• US would come to place
great strategic reliance on
atomic bomb
– War plans emphasized
sudden atomic attack
against USSR to allow
time for conventional
mobilization
15 megaton thermonuclear
device test on Bikini Atoll in
1954
Post-war Impact of Atomic Bomb
• US held atomic
monopoly until 1949
– Huge US-USSR arms
race followed
– Eventually led to
Mutually Assured
Destruction (1967)
• Massive retaliation
strategy (1954) meant
US was prepared to
respond to Soviet
aggression with a
massive nuclear strike
Post-war Impact of Atomic Bomb
• Nuclear
weapons would
prove to not be
a reasonable
option in limited
wars
• We’ll see this in
Lesson 20
(Korea and
Vietnam)
The US considered, but did not use, atomic
bombs in support of the French at Dien Bien
Phu in 1954
Expanded Roles for Women
• The emergencies of war
greatly expanded the
roles of women
• Some served in the
military
• Others replaced men on
factory assembly lines
• Women whose husbands
went overseas acted as
heads of households
Expanded Roles for Women
• From 1940 to 1944
over 6 million women
joined the workforce
filling jobs that had
been exclusively male
• After the war, women
were expected to
return home and
resume their
traditional roles as
wives and mothers
Woman's Day, Oct 1950.
The picture asks, "What more
needs to be said about a woman's
day?"
Next
• Early Cold War
Construction of the Berlin Wall