Download Station #1: The War begins: Two Fronts

Station #1: The War begins: – the Pacific, Africa and Italy
America would have to fight World War II on two fronts (areas) – in Europe against Germany and Italy, and
in the Pacific Ocean and Islands against Japan.
The war against Japan started poorly for America –
losing island after island as the Japanese started out
very aggressive and American forces were still weak.
However, General Douglas MacArthur was right
when he stated “I will return” as his army was
retreating from the Philippines.
In Europe, the American and British first fought the
Germans in Africa to work their way into Italy. After
6 months, Allied powers fought the Germans and
Italians in a back-and-forth war in the deserts of
Africa, the Germans retreated to Italy. After invading
Sicily (between Africa and Italy); the Americans,
British and Canadians slowly re-conquered Italy.
The Dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini surrendered,
but the Nazis kept fighting to stop the Allies. The
fighting in Italy lasted to almost the end of the war and
was some of the bloodiest fighting of the war, with
320,000 Allies and 658,000 Germans and Italians
dying. However, the Germans were spread out
between Italy, the Russians and the new front in
France in 1944. The Americans could now also free
Southern Europe from their bases in Italy. Benito
Mussolini tried to escape but was captured and killed
by his own people. In 1945, Italy was freed from the
Nazis and returned to its own people.
Allies?
After Hitler invaded Russia, America, England and Russia formed an uneasy
Alliance – because Russia was a communist dictatorship and America and
England were not communist, the two sides did not fully trust each other.
However, to defeat Hitler they put aside their differences. The leaders of the
three countries – Roosevelt, Winston Churchill (England) and Joseph Stalin
(USSR) became known as “The Big Three.” The Americans and British
would fight Germany in the West and South (France and Italy) and the
Russians would push to Germany from the East. It became a race between
the two sides who would capture Berlin (the capitol of Germany first).
Station #2: Turning Points Europe: Battle of the Bulge and D-Day
By the end of 1944, Germany was badly losing the war, but Hitler wanted to make one final push back at
the Allies and try to defeat them instead of retreating into Germany. From December to January 1944-45,
Hitler launched the Ardennes Offensive (also called the Battle of the Bulge) to split the Allies in half, and
then defeat them one at a time, forcing them to surrender. However, American units held firm (when
General Anthony MacAuliffe was told to surrender he replied to the Germans “Nuts!”). The plan started out
working, however, the Germans ran out of fuel in their attack and were pushed back by American General
George S. Patton’s hard fighting men; severely crippling the German army. It was the single bloodiest
battle of the war, as Americans lost 19,000 men – at one point losing 500 men a day.
Although the Americans were losing in the Pacific,
the American army, navy and air-force rebuilt and began
to re-conquer islands. The First turning point of the war in
the Pacific came at the battle of Midway. American and
Japanese navy and planes fought each other over the
Island of Midway from June 4-7, 1942. At this battle, the
Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, which crippled their
ability to wage naval and air warfare in the Pacific. In
1944, with the Russians fighting Germany in the East, and
the Allies also fighting Germany in Italy, the Allies decided
Germany was stretched thin enough to invade France
(where Germany’s largest defenses were). Called
“Operation D-Day,” the Allied powers launched the largest
amphibious invasion (going from sea to land) of all time,
with over 175,000 troops landing from over 5,000 ships on
6 June 1944 and in addition parachuting 24,000 soldiers
into France. On 6:30 A.M., June 6, 1944, the Allies landed
along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into
five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword
Beaches. Americans faced the heaviest fighting attacking
Utah and Omaha beaches and suffered the highest
casualties.
The operation was the largest total allied casualties (killed,
wounded, missing, or captured) which are estimated at approximately 10,000.
However, the Allies were now able to fight their way through France and began liberating the country from
the Nazis – and began pushing the Nazis back into Germany!
Station #3: Turning Points In Japan – Iwo Jima & Midway
In the Pacific, the one of the final islands before Japan was the island of Iwo Jima. The Americans bombed
the island for several weeks and then fought to control the island for almost a month. The island was
considered holy to the Japanese and they fought almost to the last man to defend it. Out of almost 50,000
Japanese soldiers defending the island, close to 48,000 died fighting for the island. Once the Island was
captured, America could now use Iwo Jima as a base to “fire bomb” (using napalm – which explodes into
fires) Japanese cities and hurt their ability to fight the war.
Battle of the Coral Sea
A battle from May 4–8, 1942, in which U.S. naval forces successfully protected the Allied base at
Port Moresby, New Guinea, the last Allied outpost standing between the Japanese onslaught and
Australia. The battle, which caused heavy losses on both sides, was the first naval battle in history
fought exclusively in the air, by carrier-based planes.
Battle of Guadalcanal
A campaign from August 1942 to February 1943 in which U.S. Marines fought brutal battles to
expel Japanese forces from the Solomon Islands, a strategically important island chain in the
South Pacific near Australia.
Battle of Iwo Jima
A battle in February and March 1945 in which U.S. forces took Iwo Jima, a small but strategically
important island off the Japanese coast. During the battle, an Associated Press photographer took
a world-famous photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on the summit of Mt.
Suribachi.
Battle of Midway
A battle from June 3–6, 1942, in which U.S. naval forces severely disabled the Japanese fleet at
Midway Island in the Pacific. Coming close on the heels of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle
of Midway forced Japan into defensive mode and turned the tide of the war in the Pacific theater.
Battle of Okinawa
The last large-scale battle in the Pacific theater, in which U.S. forces invaded the Japanese home
island of Okinawa. The battle was very bloody, killing at least 100,000 Japanese soldiers and
80,000 to 100,000 Japanese civilians.
Station #4– V-E DAY!
After Hitler’s failed last offensive (see Station #5 – Battle of the
Bulge), Germany was invaded by America and England from the
East and Russia from the West. On May 1,1945, Hitler
committed suicide and Berlin (the capitol) was captured May 2.
Germany surrendered on May 7th and the Allies declared Victory
in Europe (V-E Day) May 8th. The War in Europe was over!
In the United States, President Harry Truman, who turned 61 that
day, dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage
less than a month earlier, on April 12. Flags remained at half-staff
for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period, which ended on
May 12.
Massive celebrations of the victory took place in Chicago, Los
Angeles, Miami, and especially in New York City's Times Square
Liberating the Concentration Camps
For over a decade, the Nazis systematically gathered and
exterminated the European Jewish population and other
“undesirable races.” As the Allied Powers moved through
Europe and Germany from East and West, they discovered
the Concentration and Death Camps that the Germans used
to work to death and blatantly kill millions of people.
Helping the freed people was a tremendous task, as they
needed to feed, clothe and relocate these people.
The Allied Powers forced German civilians to come to the
camps to help bury the dead bodies and witness what their
fellow countrymen did to other human beings.
The discoveries of the Death Camps spread world wide and
finally the world was fully exposed to the Holocaust. After the war, United States lawyers and international
lawyers helped to create the Trials at Nuremberg to punish the Nazi war criminals for the actions in the
Holocaust.
The Holocaust would heavily influence the leading to the creation of the Jewish State of Israel.