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World War II
The European & Pacific Theatres
I.
Introduction
What’s happened before the U.S. “officially” joins the fight?
Europe
Hitler takes the Saar (1935)
Rhineland (1936)
Austria (1938)
Sudetenland (1938)
Munich Conference (Munich Pact or Pact of Munich)
Held at Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest”
appeasement
“We have achieved peace in our time”
- Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of Great Britain
Soviet – Nazi non-aggression pact (November, 1939)
Germany invades Poland (September 1, 1939)
World War II begins
Other European nations quickly fall
France Falls – (June, 1940)
1st peacetime draft in American history
Japan
Parts of China conquered by Japan throughout the 1930s
Mukden Incident (1932)
Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) (1937)
US diplomacy during this time?
Neutrality Acts
Destroyers for bases deal
Lend-Lease
Us v. Them
Us
“Allied Powers”
“The Grand Alliance”
Countries
US
The Big Three
GB
USSR
France (The Resistance)
China
Leaders
FDR, then Harry S Truman
Neville Chamberlain, then Winston Churchill,
then Clement Atlee
Joseph Stalin
Charles de Gaulle
Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) for the
Nationalists
Mao Tsetung (Mao Zedong) for the
Communists
Them
“Axis Powers”
Countries
Germany
Italy
Japan
Leaders
Adolph Hitler
Benito Mussolini
General Hideki Tojo
o (Emperor Hirohito)
Other areas in play
The Middle East
Africa
Overall military outlook
• excellent cooperation
• superior industry
• good planning & administration
• superior moral position
Overall military plan
• Conquer Germany First!
• Offensive War
• Why?
• Can’t let Great Britain fall!!
• June, 1941 > Hitler invades the Soviet Union
• America extends Lend-Lease to USSR
• 1st argument between the Big Three > When are you going to open up a 2nd front?
• Hold Japan away from Australia and Hawaii
• Defensive War
II. European Theater
December, 1941 > The US is “officially” involved
1st military action
North Africa (1942)
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
General George S. Patton
“Old Blood & Guts”
Why North Africa?
Strike at the “soft underbelly of Europe”
(3)
July, 1943 > Invasion of Sicily
September, 1943 > Invasion of Italy
(2)
(1)
By the end of 1943, Italy is out of the war
“D-Day” > Invasion of France by the Allies (June, 1944)
Operation Overlord
Normandy Invasion
Beaches landings have code names > Omaha, Utah, etc.
Finally get a second front (Two years after promised…)
Supreme Allied commander > General Dwight D. Eisenhower
November, 1942
> African Invasion
by the US
“D-Day” > Invasion of France by the Allies (June, 1944) [continued]
takes a year to plan
huge production, literally
back checked weather 45 years
use of “talkers”
Native Americans
Navajo
Battle of the Bulge > Last massive effort by Germany (December, 1944)
Largest single land battle in human history
Allied veteran troops on a well-deserved leave
US 101st Airborne saves us
V-E Day > May 8th, 1945
III. Recap & Connection with the Pacific Theatre
Europe Theatre
Pacific Theatre
Goal: V-E
Goal: V- J
Commander: Eisenhower
Commander(s): General Douglass Macarthur
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Admiral William Halsey
Strategy: Massive Battles
Strategy: Island Hopping
Weapons: Rockets
Weapons: Carriers
Submarines
Germany v. Great Britain
IV. The Pacific Theatre
What does every war machine need?
oil > Why?
Indonesia
was called Dutch East Indies
(why not now?)
Hediki Tojo
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
U.S. freezes Japanese assets
Pearl Harbor
“Tora, tora, tora!”
Did FDR know?
Dec. 7, 1941 “A date that will live in infamy”
Submarines
America v. Japan
Philippines
Mid 1942 we break the Japanese code
Coral Sea (1942)
1st in air
Guadalcanal (1942)
1st land offensive
Tarawa (all coral reef) Why would we want this?
Code of Bushido
Midway Islands (1942)
up to this time defensive war in Pacific
Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944)
Kamikaze pilots
1st Target
2nd Target
Iwo Jima (1945)
Okinawa (1945)
Cape Mendenow Since 1942 we’ve been preparing the A-Bomb [we have 3 – thought we’d be using against Germany…]
PLUS! We’ve been continuing diplomacy with primarily “The Big Three”
Diplomacy & Bomb Chronology
Feb. 1945 Yalta
The Big Three
( First time all meet >
April 1945 FDR dead
- In comes Harry S Truman
Teheran Conference - 1943)
Manhattan Project
J. Robert Oppenheimer
director of the Los Alamos Laboratory (New Mexico)
(25th Amendment [1967])
May 8, 1945 V-E Day
May 9, 1945 Truman briefed on A-Bomb’s progress
he’s advised to use w/o warning
July 16, 1945 Test bomb @ Alamogordo, New Mexico
the world's first nuclear test explosion
July 17, 1945 Potsdam Conference
who’s there?
The Big Three
Truman gets word on bomb
July 20 Potsdam Declaration
Aug. 6 Hiroshima
Enola Gay
U.S. Army Air Force Col. Paul W. Tibbets
“Little Boy”
Aug. 7 Russia enters war
Aug. 9 Nagasaki
“Fat Man”
Operation Coronet
Aug. 14, 1945 V-J Day
U.S.S. Missouri
Emperor Hirohito
☺ the war is over…
another begins…