Download World War II - Springtown ISD

1941-45
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Island-hopping began with the
goal being to carry out roundtrip bombing raids on Japan’s
home islands. Strategy for
the Pacific fight.
May, 1942—Battle of Coral
Sea
First naval battle in history in
which all the fighting was
done by carrier-based
aircraft.
June, 1942—Midway Island
Turning point in Pacific
putting the Japanese on the
defense.
February-March, 1945—Battle
of Iwo Jima
Bloody battle to secure
strategic island.
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General Douglas MacArthur, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
and Admiral Chester Nimitz in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
(1944)
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The “Enigma” codes were cracked and Uboat locations in the North Atlantic pinpointed.
 Sept. 1942 saw the stalling of the Germans at
Stalingrad.
 Now Hitler’s fortunes begin to gradually decline
and defeat seems possible.
 By 1943, Russia had regained about 2/3 of the
motherland from the German invader.
 Badly wants a western front to take pressure off
USSR.

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 Bradley
and Patton
were important
leaders in securing
southern and
western Europe.
US Army Generals Omar
Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower,
and George S. Patton
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 Invasion of Italy
 Overall, this did
“Soft underbelly”
not have an impact on the
overall war effort.
 Germans mount a strong resistance; Mussolini
deposed, and Italy surrenders Sept., 1943
 Casablanca Conference, 1943:
 FDR and Churchill agree to the major
war
aim: Unconditional surrender for both Japan
and Germany.
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SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER GENERAL EISENHOWER SPEAKS
WITH PARATROOPERS JUST BEFORE THEY EMBARK TO JUMP INTO
NAZI OCCUPIED FRANCE
Soviets get their second front.
 Teheran Conference: Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 1943. Big
idea was to launch a 2nd front from both east and
west at the same time!
 Eisenhower was given the overall command of
nearly 3 million men.
 Largest amphibious assault in history begins
eastward march to Berlin.

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 4th
term for FDR-Now much attention on
the selection of who would be the Vicepresident and Harry S. Truman will be
selected.
 May 7, 1945—V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
(Neither FDR not Hitler were alive)
 Victory tainted with the full reality of the
Holocaust revealed.

Hitler’s Final Solution had murdered 6 million
Jews in the death camps.
 European
Theater
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Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during the
initial landings at Leyte, Philippines in October,
1944.




Japan was through as a sea
power and had lost about 60
ships in greatest naval battle.
MacArthur returns to the
Philippines as he said and now
on to Okinawa.
Potsdam Conference, July,
1945 declared that Japan must
surrender or be destroyed.
The Manhattan Project was
originally begun to create a
bomb to be dropped on
Germany.
 Fears of a land invasion on
Japan would result in too
many deaths of young
Americans.
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APRIL 12TH 1945, VICE PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN
TAKES THE OATH TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES
 Truman
had to make the decision to drop
the bomb.
 Hiroshima bombed on Aug. 6, 1945 and
Nagasaki in Aug. 9.

Tokyo sued for peace on one condition: that
Hirohito be allowed to remain on the throne
as a nominal emperor.
 The
formal end came on Sept. 2, 1945
and became known as V-J Day.
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