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Americans in World War II Bell Work • Read page 465. • How were the Atlantic and the Gulf Coasts vulnerable? • What did the Germans start to do? • How did the U.S. respond? War in the Pacific • The Philippines were the major area of conflict between U.S. and Japan in early years of war • General Douglas McArthur: Commander of U.S. and Fillipino troops in the Philippines. • Lost the island to Japanese after retreating to the Bataan Peninsula. • Bataan Death March: U.S. and Filipino soldiers who surrendered were forced to march through terrible conditions where up to 10,000 died. • Battle of Midway: Japan wanted to crush the U.S. fleet in June of 1942 near the island of Midway. The U.S. won even though they were outnumbered. Victory in Europe • By 1942 U.S. help had started to make a difference in Europe. The Allies decided to attack in North Africa. • General Dwight D. Eisenhower – U.S. General in charge of Allied forces in Africa. After several hard fought battles in Algeria and Tunisia Axis powers in Africa surrendered in May of 1943. • Invading Italy –General George Patton led Allied troop invasion of Italy. • Allies captured Rome in June of 1944 making it the first Axis capital to fall. Mussolini shot in 1945. The Atlantic • The German U-Boats had still been sinking many ships. • Sonar – Used sound waves to find underwater targets. Greatly helped Allies defeat the Germans in the Atlantic. Europe • D-Day – June 6, 1944, some 150,000 Allied soldiers landed at Normandy in France. • Heavy casualties by the Allies and slow going but eventually were able to penetrate France. • 2 Million troops had landed by September and they took Paris in August 1944. As Allied troops entered Germany in 1944, came in contact with German Concentration Camps, part of Hitler’s “Final Solution” to eliminate the Jews. • The Battle of the Bulge was Germany’s last attempt at an offensive. U.S. held and eventually Germans were forced backwards. • Race to Berlin – Allied troops pushed toward Berlin in 1945. Overwhelmed, Hitler committed suicide on April 7th and Germany surrendered on May 7th 1945(V-E Day) Victory in the Pacific • Air and Sea power became the key to victory in the Pacific. Utilized technique of leapfrogging. • Philippines –The Allies began the attack on the Philippines in June 1943. • The Battle of Leyte Gulf – The Japanese counter-attacked the Allies at Leyte. The Allies sank 4 aircraft carriers and several other ships. After this the Japanese Navy no longer threatened the Allies. • Allies had several airstrips to launch attacks on Japan from. Air-strikes were carried out against several major cities in Japan to decrease the peoples morale. Tokyo was heavily fire-bombed to weaken spirits. (Military refused to surrender) • Iwo Jima – In February 1945 U.S. Marines attacked the island of Iwo Jima. They met strong resistance. The battle lasted 6 weeks, 20,000 Japanese died as well as several thousand Marines. • Okinawa – April 1945, largest Allied landing of war. Japan had to fight to keep Tokyo out of range of artillery. Launched a counter-attack using mostly planes. The Atomic Bomb • Manhattan Project – Top Secret U.S. program in 1942 to build the first Atomic Weapon. • Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and his team worked at Los Alamos, NM. • They successfully tested their bomb in Alamogordo, NM on July 16, 1945. President Truman met with Allied leaders the next day. • On August 6th, the bomber Enola Gay dropped the first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima killing 75,000 people. 3 days later another was dropped on Nagasaki killing 80,000. Japan surrendered the next day. Officially the war ended on Sep. 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri. Japanese American Relocation • Internment – forced relocation and imprisonment. • In 1942 Japanese Americans who lived on the west coast were ordered to detention camps. (120,000) • Issei – Japanese Americans who had been born in Japan and were not U.S. citizens. • Nissei – Japanese Americans born in U.S. and were citizens. • Hawaii’s population was too large to intern so Martial Law was used until the end of the war. • Many of these people remained imprisoned until 1945 • Office of Price Administration: Set maximum prices on consumer goods and later started rationing scarce resources. • Rationing: Limiting the amount of a certain product to conserve for the war effort. • Ration Items: 1. Gas 2. Tires 3. Coffee 4. Sugar 5. Meat • Selective Training and Service Act: Provided for the first peace time draft in the U.S. history. (Men ages 18 to 45) • Axis Powers 2 big advantages: 1. Germany and Japan had firm control of the areas they invaded. 2. Germany and Japan were better prepared for war. • The Allies 2 hopes: 1. Great production from the USA 2. Huge Soviet military. • U.S. Production: Before the war, the U.S. government employed 22,000 workers. • Three years later there were 486,000 workers. • Production shifted from cars to tanks, airplanes, and ships. • War Production Board: Created in Jan. 1942 to maximize wartime production. Worried about shifting all materials to war production. The Home Front • Office of War Information controlled the flow of war news at home. • Most Americans supported U.S. involvement in WWII. People put stars in their windows for family that served or died in the • Victory Gardens – people grew vegetables in their backyards to help conserve goods for the war effort. Women during the War • Rosie the Riveter – A symbol for patriotic female workers during the war effort. • From 1940 to 1944 the number of women in the workforce increased by 6 million. • Women were still paid less for the same work. • African American women and women over 40 still had a hard time finding work. Discrimination During the War African Americans during the War • The war provided both more discrimination and better opportunities. • Many African Americans moved to the cities for better paying jobs. • A. Philip Randolph – planned a march on Washington D.C. to protest treatment of black workers. • FDR met with Randolph and told him he would out-law racial discrimination in defense plants and government offices. • Hate-Strikes – some white workers staged these strikes to keep black workers out of high paying factory jobs.