Download End of the War

Class Dialogue – Discussing the Atomic Bombs
• Rationale: Students will debate the decision to drop the
atomic bombs, demonstrating informed opinions
regarding these events.
• Student participation is worth five points.
____ 2 pts. - The students effectively presented the
information, fulfilling the requirements of the assignment,
and were able to be involved in an informed class
discussion.
____ 3 pts. - The students had their stance, for or against,
along with supporting points of information.
Selection from “Unbroken”
• For discussion …
- [1] How did the auxiliary fuel tank make the B-24
such an asset in the Pacific Theater of War?
- [2] Why was the B-24 called “the Flying Coffin?”
- Mechanical difficulties mentioned …
- Training accidents for crewmen …
Pacific Theater of War
Battle of Saipan
- June 15 to July 9 1944
* Can now launch attacks against
Tokyo using new B-29 Bombers, “the
Super fortress”
* These attacks last from
November 17, 1944, and lasted until
August 15, 1945
* Also, now Japanese citizens commit
suicide
Battle of Leyte / Leyte Gulf
- Leyte, 17 October 1944 - 1 July 1945
- Leyte Gulf, Oct. 23-26, 1944
* Invasion of the Philippines
begins, the destruction of
Japanese Navy complete,
and beginning of kamikaze
attacks
Philippines
Campaign
- Jan. to March,
1945
* Largest U.S. force committed
to one battle in Pacific and the
Philippine Islands are reclaimed.
The Raid on Cabanatuan
- Jan. 28 to 30, 1945
- The “Great Raid”
- 511 POW’s, largely from the
Battles of Bataan and
Corregidor to prevent their
execution by the Japanese
The Raid on Cabanatuan
“Paced by two teams of Alamo
Scouts that would leave Guimba
[General Krueger’s Headquarters]
twenty-four hours in advance to
reconnoiter the camp, a force of
more than a hundred Rangers
would march a circuitous route of
about thirty miles (all of it through
Japanese-controlled territory),
sneak up to the stockade under a
cover of darkness, kill some 250
Japanese soldiers inside the
stockade, collect 511 feeble,
bewildered, ill, and in some cases,
immobile prisoners, and shepherd
them back to American lines”
(Breuer, 149 – William Breuer, The
Great Raid on Cabanatuan).
European Theater of War
After D-Day …
• Battle of the Hedgerows – ends on July
25, 1944
• Hobart’s Funnies – many prototypes
used to advance through terrain in
Normandy
Sherman Tank w/
Churchill ARK
Churchill Crocodile Transit
Churchill AVRE
Churchill ARK
Supply Issues – LST & LCVP
LCVP – Landing Craft
Vehicle Personnel
LST –
Landing
Ship Tank
Battle of the Bulge
Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan 25, 1945
- “Operation Watch on the Rhine” –
- Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (in German)
- Battle of the Ardennes
* Final German
offensive in WWII,
with an initially
successful blitzkrieg,
but then after a
successful Allied
counter-offensive,
Germans have few
tanks & planes left
Vistula–Oder
Offensive
- Jan. 12 to Feb. 22, 1945
- Soviet Offensive covers 300 miles
from Vistula River in U.S.S.R. to 43
miles from Berlin
Battle of Berlin
- April 20 to May 2, 1945
- Soviet Union takes Berlin, Hitler
commits suicide, and Germany
surrenders the city
Battle of Iwo Jima
- Feb. to March, 1945
- Establish closer air strips to Japan,
allowing Iwo Jima to be used as a
safe-haven for bombing runs upon
Japan’s major cities.
Battle of Okinawa
- April to June, 1945
- Bloodiest battle in the Pacific
Theater.
- Nothing stopping American
advance.
- Japanese civilian suicides and
kamikaze attacks.
Battle of Okinawa
- April to June, 1945
- Mass Japanese civilian suicides
- Traditional Ideas:
Bushido Code and
“Seppuku”
Conventional Bombing & Potsdam
- Conventional Bombing
Campaign over Japan
- Crazy number of bombs &
destruction
- Potsdam Declaration
** July 26, 1945
- No more “world conquest”
- Occupation of Japan
- Support democracy
- Disarm military
- Prosecuting war criminals - Sustain economy
- Withdrawal once established a
- Threatened “utter
“peacefully inclined and
destruction”
responsible government”
How did WW II really come to an
abrupt end?
• On August 6, 1945 Hiroshima, Japan
• On August 9, 1945 Nagasaki, Japan
• The Atomic Bombs
were never used
before, and have
never been used
since.