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WORLD WAR II INVASION OF THE SOVIET UNION AND PEARL HARBOR Invasion of the Soviet Union • Operation Barbarossa – German invasion of the Soviet Union – June 22nd, 1941 • Hitler hates communism and views the Russian people as just a step above Jews • Has no respect for the Russian army • Orders the execution of Russians wearing the Communist insignia • Attacks with 3 million soldiers and at first the German blitzkrieg is highly effective • German troops and tanks race across the Soviet countryside • The Soviet army has lots of soldiers, but they are poorly trained and equipped • Within six weeks one German army group is 220 miles from Moscow • Expect to win before winter arrives • By winter the Germans are deep into Soviet territory, but have not captured Moscow or Leningrad • As winter sets in, German progress slows and then stops • Were unprepared for the Russian winter • The Germans commit horrible atrocities against the Russian people: murder, torture, cities starved or completely wiped out • The Russians knew this would be a fight to the death and they fought with a sense of desperation Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7, 1941 • Why the Japanese attack • Island nation – need resources and raw materials, so they have an expanding empire • Feel provoked by the U.S. • The U.S. has placed embargoes on resources, such as oil, and has frozen Japanese bank accounts • Other defensive measures due to the Japanese invasion of China • Why Pearl Harbor • Need a quick win • Center for the U.S. Pacific Fleet • Destroy fleet, take colonies, and sue for peace • The attack • Was a two prong attack • Planes bombed airfields and ships at Pearl Harbor in three different waves • Lasted just under two hours • 200 aircraft destroyed all 8 battleships were either damaged or sunk in the harbor • Casualties • 2,403 dead and 1,100 wounded • 1,177 men die aboard the U.S.S. Arizona • At the same time the Japanese attack U.S. colonies of Wake Island and the Philippines • The Philippines fall and General Douglas MacArthur leaves with a promise to returne • Bataan Death March • 70,000 prisoners march towards a distant prisoner camp • Thousands die due to lack of food, water, and violence from their Japanese captors • Many more will die at the prisoner camp • They also attack Hong Kong, Thailand, Burma, Malaya, Guam, and French Indochina • Why fails • Didn’t eliminate the fuel tanks or other ships (didn’t launch the third wave) • All aircraft carriers not in port – they were sent out to sea a week before • Aircraft carriers are crucial to battles at sea since they are able to launch planes • U.S. reaction • U.S. Congress declares war on Japan on Dec. 8 • Three days later Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S. • The U.S. and the Soviet Union are now part of the Allied Powers • Revenge – Doolittle’s raiders bomb Japanese cities • Bring war home to the Japanese War in the Pacific • The Japanese start off with an advantage as the U.S. works to overcome the damage from Pearl Harbor • Battle of Coral Sea – May 1942 • Japanese and Americans meet in battle off the coast of Australia as the Japanese were getting ready to invade British-controlled New Guinea • Both sides lose an aircraft carrier, which hurt the Americans more • Battle of Midway Island – Turning Point * • June 1942 – Japanese want to capture this American military base • Japan wants to lure the Americans into battle and finish what they started at Pearl Harbor by destroying their fleet • The U.S. had broken the secret Japanese code and knew of the attack – U.S. ready and waiting • They destroy four aircraft carriers in five minutes, only lose one of their own • The Americans now have the advantage • Island-hopping = take islands that are not as well defended and cut off supply lines to Japanese strongholds • Bypass strongholds and capture weaker targets, which are then used as bases for the next attack • Will “hop” from one island to another as they advance towards Japan • Battle of Guadalcanal – summer 1942 • Japanese are building an airstrip there • Brutal series of battles that lasts for six months • Thousands of Japanese die or kill themselves to avoid capture • women and children jump off cliffs, soldiers carry out old samurai traditions, suicide charges • Tarawa • It takes the Americans three days to capture the 8 square mile island • 17 out of 5,000 Japanese survive • 3,000 American casualties • From 1942 to 1944 the Allies capture the Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall, Caroline, and Mariana islands • MacArthur returns to the Philippines in fall of 1944 • Battle of Leyte – largest naval battle ever fought • First major use of a new Japanese weapon, the kamikaze attack • Kamikazes = Japanese pilots who load their planes with explosives and deliberately crash into Allied ships, sacrificing their own lives • Battle ends in victory for the U.S. • America recaptures the Philippines • Iwo Jima – Feb. 1945 • Want to capture the island to make the regular bombing raids on Japan easier for U.S. pilots • The Japanese decide to make the Americans think twice about invading Japan • Takes 25 days to capture the five mile island • Approximately 7,000 Americans dead and 20,000 wounded • Out of 21,000 Japanese, only 216 surrender • Fought to the death • Raising the flag • Okinawa • Many casualties, war of attrition • 82 days of combat • Kamikazes sank or damaged 245 ships • U.S. casualties = 75,000, with 12,000 dead • Approx. 120,000 Japanese killed, along with 150,000 Okinawan civilians • Now at Japan’s doorstep