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World War II
Should the British Empire last for a thousand
years,
people would say ‘This was their finest hour.”
-Winston Churchill, 1940
After Shocks of World War I
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Germany resented the
territorial losses and
reparations payments
Italy, one of the
victors, found its
territorial gains far
from enough either to
offset the cost of the
war or to satisfy its
ambitions
Japan, also a victor,
was unhappy about
its failure to gain
control of China
When the “Doughboys” Came Home
United States
disillusioned by the
Europeans' failure
to repay their war
debts, retreated
into isolationism.
1933 - Germany
Hitler had come to power legally in on a platform
of anti-communism, anti-Semitism, and
expansionism
► Preached to German soldiers and Nazi party that
they were a superior race that deserved more than
they had
► By 1938 he had amassed the best-equipped, besttrained army in the world.
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In Violation of the Treaty of
Versailles
► Hitler
built up
Germany’s armed
forces
► Sent troops into the
Rhineland and Austria
► Then seized
Czechoslovakia,
Poland, Denmark,
Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Belgium,
Norway, and France.
1935 - Italy
► Mussolini
took Ethiopia
Address to League of Nations
"I, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia,
am here today to claim that justice which is due to my people,
and the assistance promised to it eight months ago,
when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed
in violation of international treaties.
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
► Hitler
tried out his new
weapons supporting
military rebels in the
Spanish Civil War
(1936-39)
► Aided by Mussolini who
had just seized
Ethiopia in a small war
1937 – Japan Invades Manchuria
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Japan defended its
aggressive militarism on
several grounds, including
 it was "protecting China
from its inner turmoil,"
 Japan's overpopulation
"necessitated" colonization
of other lands,
 its economy lacked adequate
resources of its own and so
needed those of China,
 long-term effect would be to
strengthen all of East Asia,
 and all of the world's
powerful nations had made
similar advances in the past.
The Rape of
Nanking
 With Beijing under siege,
Nanking had been made the
capital of China
 In the autumn of 1937,
Japanese war planes began
bombing Nanking,
concentrating their efforts
on the downtown areas,
which were most densely
populated by civilians.
 Fearing the consequences of
surrender to the Japanese,
Chinese military men donned
civilian clothing and
retreated into the city.
 It was on this day that the
six-week stretch of atrocities
against the civilian
population of Nanking
began.
It is for the crimes against the women of
Nanking that this tragedy is most notorious
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Over the six weeks of the
massacre, in addition to the
murder of about 300,000 civilians,
the Japanese troops raped over
20,000 women, most of whom
were murdered thereafter.
In recognition of these horrifying
acts, the massacre is also
commonly referred to as 'the rape
of Nanking.'
Women of all ages (including
children as young as seven and
elderly women in their seventies)
were violated, many of them
being gang raped or attacked on
multiple occasions.
The Thousand Corpse Ditch
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Some women were held captive so
that the could be repeatedly
abused.
Rapes were committed in broad
daylight, in front of spouses,
children, or other family members,
and with appalling frequency.
The soldiers' usual practice,
officially condoned by high-ranking
officials so as to "avoid difficulties,"
was to murder the women when
they were finished with them.
This was most often done by
cutting off their breasts and/or
disemboweling them with a bayonet
to the abdomen.
Senior officers were not only aware
of these acts, but participated in
them as well.
The Munich Pact
“Peace in our time”
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In 1938 British Prime
Minister Neville
Chamberlain, along with
France and Italy, signed
the Munich Pact with
Hitler.
Gave in to Hitler’s
demands for cession of the
Sudetenland, a Germanspeaking region of
Czechoslovakian
German Armored Division Enters
Poland
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August 1939:
Germany and Russia
sign non-aggression
pact
Germany attacks
Poland, making the
official beginning of
World War II as
France and Britain
were treaty-bound to
come to the aid of
Poland
September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland
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Hitler introduced a new kind of
war called a blitzkrieg, which
means “lightning war.”
Waves of German bombers
targeted railroads which crippled
Polish military mobilization.
Hundreds of tanks smashed
through Polish defenses and
rolled deep into the country.
The Poles fought hard, but on
September 17, the Soviet Union
invaded their country from the
east.
By the end of the month,
Poland had fallen.
Polish Jews
Evicted from Warsaw Ghetto on way to Concentration Camp
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In the summer of 1942, about 300,000 Jews were deported from
Warsaw to Treblinka.
When reports of mass murder in the killing center leaked back to the
Warsaw ghetto, a surviving group of mostly young people formed an
organization called the Z.O.B. which means Jewish Fighting
Organization
Did We Know What was Happening
in the Camps?
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The Z.O.B., led by 23-year-old
Mordecai Anielewicz, issued a
proclamation calling for the
Jewish people to resist going to
the railroad cars.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
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In January 1943, Warsaw ghetto fighters fired upon German troops as
they tried to round up another group of ghetto inhabitants for
deportation.
Fighters used a small supply of weapons that had been smuggled into
the ghetto. After a few days, the troops retreated. This small victory
inspired the ghetto fighters to prepare for future resistance.
France and England initially took no action, until Hitler
invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940.
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They allowed the Danish
government to continue
governing the country, but took
control of Denmark's FOREIGN
POLICY.
Many Danish citizens began a
RESISTANCE movement in
their country.
The Danish people organized a
nationwide effort to smuggle the
Jews by sea to SWEDEN.
Within a two-week period,
Danish fisherman helped carry
7,220 Jews to safety across the
channel to Sweden. The Jews
were safe in Sweden because it
was a neutral country.
Denmark was the only country to stand up
for its Jewish citizens.
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About 500 Danish Jews were
deported from Denmark and
put into the
THERESIENSTADT ghetto
in CZECHOSLAVAKIA.
The Danish government
demanded to be able to talk to
the Danish Jews in the
concentration camp and kept
them from being sent to death
camps.
The Miracle at Dunkirk - 1940
In May, Germany invaded Belgium and
advanced into France
► More than 300,000 troops were
evacuated from Dunkirk and the
surrounding beaches in May and
June 1940.
► At the time the British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill said it
was "a miracle of deliverance".
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England Goes to Aid of France and
Belgium
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Allied forces
underestimated the
strength of Hitler’s
army, which used
tanks and bombers
to smash the Allies
and drive them back
into France.
Overpowered, the
BEF was ordered to
beat a hasty retreat
towards the port of
Dunkirk.
Operation Dynamo
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Troops found themselves stranded without shelter or supplies. They
were also under constant attack from the air. On 26 May, the British
Admiralty responded by launching Operation Dynamo - the evacuation
of the BEF by sea. This enormous rescue mission was led by Vice
Admiral Ramsay, who rounded-up a huge fleet of vessels - from tiny
tugs and barges, to lifeboats and navy destroyers - to send to Dunkirk.
Of the 850 vessels which took part in Operation Dynamo, 235 were
sunk.
The Maginot Line
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Built between 1929 and 1940
To protect France from her longtime
enemy, Germany, and to defend the
traditional invasion routes across her
eastern frontier.
To provide time for the French army to
mobilize and to make up for a shortfall
of manpower predicted for the late
1930s
to provide a place behind which the
French army could hide, a so-called
"Great Wall" of France
French army was caught off guard.
Germans had superior numbers of
aircraft and an invasion plan
The blitzkrieg sent French forces into a
confused retreat, and Germans
marched into Paris on June 14
The French government collapsed.
Was the Maginot Line a Failure?
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Most of its components were
underground, where interconnecting
tunnels stretched for kilometers, and
where, beneath the earth, thousands
of men slept, trained, watched, and
waited for a war that never came.
It was powerful and supposedly
impregnable, yet it failed to save
France from a humiliating defeat in
1940
The truth is that the Maginot Line
served the exact purpose for which it
was built.
It dissuaded the Germans from
attacking across France's eastern
frontier
 it gave the French Army time to fully
mobilize and deploy
 it could have made up for France's
anticipated manpower shortage
 In May 1940 Hitler simply chose to
ignore it.
Battle of Britain, 1940-1941
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Britain held firm, largely
due to the efforts of the
Royal Air Force, or RAF.
Hitler underestimated the
effectiveness of British
radar and their Spitfire
fighter planes.
The Spitfire could
outmaneuver German
Luftwaffe fighters.
Resulted in an English
victory at the Battle of
Britain.
Britain – Running out of Money
► By
1942, Britain was
holding but bogged
down, and the Nazis
had conquered most of
western and central
Europe, half of
European Russia and
much of North Africa.
World
War II At
Home
I address you, the members of
this new Congress, at a
moment unprecedented in the
history of the union. I use the
word "unprecedented" because
at no previous time has
American security been as
seriously threatened from
without as it is today.
Arsenal of Democracy
► The
most important
determinants of its
outcome were industrial
capacity and personnel.
In the last stages of the war, two radically new
weapons were introduced: the long-range rocket and
the atomic bomb.
Air-defense systems in England were greatly
aided by the development of radar
► To
guide interception,
► Also aided by inability
of German fighter
planes to escort their
bombers because of
low fuel capacity.
German U-boat from World War II
(1939-1945)
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Cramped but deadly
warship.
Machinery and
weapons took most
of the space on
board, leaving little
room for
crewmembers.
The snorkel allowed
the U-boat to run its
diesel engines while
submerged,
conserving battery
life and extending
range.
By 1904 Christian Hülsmeyer, a German inventor,
had used radio waves in a collision avoidance device
for ships.
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Hülsmeyer’s system was only
effective for a range of about 1.5
km (about 1 mi).
The first long-range radar
systems were not developed until
the 1920s.
In 1922 Italian radio pioneer
Guglielmo Marconi
demonstrated a low-frequency
(60 MHz) radar system.
Scientists at the U.S. Naval
Research Laboratory in
Washington, D.C., became the
first to use radar to detect aircraft
in 1930.
The U.S. Army operated air surveillance radar
at the start of World War II.
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Mitsubishi Zero
The army also used early
forms of radar to direct
antiaircraft guns.
Initially the radar systems
were used to aim
searchlights so the soldier
aiming the gun could see
where to fire, but the
systems evolved into firecontrol radar that aimed the
guns automatically.
Lockheed P-38 Lightnings
► Flew
as long-range
bomber escorts during
World War II (19391945), protecting
bombers from
intercepting enemy
fighters.
Giant automobile-manufacturing plants shifted to the
production of tanks and other military vehicles.
► Civilian
automobile
production was
completely
halted so that
factories could
manufacture
military
vehicles.
After America’s entrance into World
War II, military production in the
United States increased rapidly.
► Many women took jobs or
volunteered in staffing weapons
factories, earning the nickname of
“Rosie the Riveter.”
► Intense rationing efforts of certain
foods and materials, such as rubber
and metals, were also enacted to
feed America’s war machine.
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“Rosie the
Riveter”
December 7, 1941
“A date which will live in infamy”
► Japanese
attacked
Pearl Harbor
► U.S. President Franklin
Roosevelt asked
Congress for a
declaration of war
against Japan
To Cripple the American Fleet
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Within a few hours they destroyed four
battleships and damaged four more,
including the USS Arizona, destroyed
other naval vessels and a large number
of combat aircraft, and killed and
wounded many American naval and
military personnel.
Captured Japanese photograph taken aboard a Japanese carrier
before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941
"Pearl Harbor, taken by surprise, during the Japanese aerial
attack. USS WEST VIRGINIA aflame." December 7, 1941
Mobilizing for War
► The
War
Productions
Board (WPB)
offered
businesses
lucrative
contracts for
retooling for the
war effort
Business does its
part
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Large commercial farmers also received
incentives for war production
Labor unions offered “no strike pledges”
for the duration of the war
Taxes were raised, bonds were sold and
the general tax based was increased
Japanese forces compiled impressive list of
conquests in remarkable short time!
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By May 1942 the Japanese
stood with open avenues of
attack to both India and
Australia.
However, three events in
1942 helped turn the tide
of the war for the Allies.
First - Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo
The Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo
in April unnerved Japanese officials
who had believed the home islands
were secure.
► After dropping their bombs, mainly on
or near their intended targets,
Doolittle's sixteen B-25B bombers left
Japanese airspace
► One of them, suffering from
excessive fuel consumption, had no
hope of reaching China and so headed
for the closer Soviet Maritime region.
► After landing north of Vladivostok, this
plane and its five crew members were
interned by the then-neutral Soviet
authorities. The crew ultimately
returned to the U.S. by way of Iran.
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Overextended Japanese Naval Forces
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When they attempted to capture more islands to the
south and east to prevent another such raid, the
overextended Japanese naval forces were crushed
by the U.S. Navy at the battles of Coral Sea and
Midway in May and June of 1942.
Island Hopping
in which each island that was captured became the base from which to
attack the next target. Islands that were Japanese strongholds were
skipped; this strategy saved both lives and time
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Japan on the Defense
Allies regroup
Island-hopping strategy used to
reconquer the Pacific.
With their naval offensive
capacity crippled, the Japanese
were forced to adopt a more
defensive posture, while the
Allies had time to regroup and
halt further Japanese expansion
and to formulate the islandhopping strategy used to
reconquer the Pacific.
Flying on to China
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The other fifteen planes, with
their seventy-five men, flew on
toward China, where darkness
forced four to crash-land or
ditch offshore.
With fuel running out after some
fifteen hours of flying, eleven
crews took to their parachutes.
Three men were killed at this
time.
Local residents saved most of
the others and heroically
spirited them through Japaneseheld territory to safety.
The Vengeful Enemy Retaliated
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Viicious ground offensive,
killing tens of thousands of
Chinese over the following
months.
The Japanese also were able
to capture eight men from two
planes' crews.
Three of these prisoners of
war, Second Lieutenants Dean
E. Hallmark and William G.
Farrow and Sergeant Harold A.
Spatz, were executed at
Shanghai in October 1942.
Another, Lieutenant Robert J.
Meder, died in prison more
than a year later.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
The remaining airmen eventually returned
to duty with the Army Air Forces, and
twelve of these lost their lives later in the
war.
► Their leader, Lieutenant Colonel "Jimmy"
Doolittle, was quickly promoted to
Brigadier General and awarded the Medal
of Honor.
► Twenty-three of his men received
Distinguished Flying Crosses. One of the
latter, the seriously injured 2nd Lt. Ted W.
Lawson, wrote a best-selling memoir of the
raid and its aftermath.
► In 1944, this book, "Thirty Seconds Over
Tokyo", served as the basis for a
Hollywood motion picture of the same
name.
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Overextended
Japanese
forces Surrender of
American
troops at
Corregidor,
Philippine
Islands, May
1942.
Bataan
Peninsula
The March of
Death.
Along the March
[on which] these
prisoners were
photographed,
they have their
hands tied behind
their backs. The
March of Death
was about May
1942, from Bataan
to Cabanatuan, the
prison camp."
"This picture, captured from the Japanese, shows American prisoners
using improvised litters to carry those of their comrades who, from the
lack of food or water on the march from Bataan, fell along the road."
Philippines, May 1942.
June 6, 1942 – Battle of Midway
American naval reconnaissance
planes observed a Japanese
armada of some 185 ships
advancing on the Midway Islands.
► On June 4 American fighters and
bombers, sent from Midway
airfields, and three aircraft carriers
attacked the Japanese fleet.
► At the same time Japanese carrierbased planes attacked aircraft
installations on Midway in
preparation for an invasion;
damage, however, was not
sufficient to prevent the American
planes from refueling and taking off
again.
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August 7, 1942 - Guadalcanal
•United States Marines attacked
a small Japanese garrison in the
Solomon Islands.
•The Japanese responded with a
powerful air and sea defensive.
•Six major naval engagements
were fought on or near the island,
with both sides experiencing
heavy losses, before U.S. forces
secured it in February of 1943.
•Here, United States troops land
at Guadalcanal during
amphibious training in 1944.
"These men have
earned the bloody
reputation of
being skillful
jungle fighters.
They are U.S.
Marine Raiders
gathered in front
of a Jap dugout
on Cape Totkina
on Bougainville,
Solomon Islands,
which they helped
to take." January
1944.
"First flag on Guam on boat hook mast. Two U.S. officers plant the
American flag on Guam eight minutes after U.S. Marines and Army assault
troops landed on the Central Pacific island on July 20, 1944."
"Marines of the 5th Division inch their way up a slope on Red Beach No. 1
toward Surbachi Yama as the smoke of the battle drifts about them." Iwo
Jima, February 19, 1945
"Corsair fighter
looses its load of
rocket projectiles
on a run against a
Jap stronghold on
Okinawa. In the
lower background
is the smoke of
battle as Marine
units move in to
follow up with a
Sunday punch."
June 1945.
By the night of June 6, the defeat of the
Japanese was accomplished.
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The victory at Midway
terminated a major
Japanese attempt to
capture the islands as a
possible prelude to an
invasion of Hawaii.
The success of the
operation, only a month
after the important but
indecisive Battle of the
Coral Sea, effectively
tipped the balance of
sea power in the Pacific
Ocean in favor of the
United States.
Col. Paul W.
Tibbets, Jr.,
pilot of the
ENOLA GAY, the
plane that
dropped the
atomic bomb on
Hiroshima,
waves from his
cockpit before
the takeoff, 6
August 1945."
"The patient's
skin is burned
in a pattern
corresponding
to the dark
portions of a
kimono worn
at the time of
the
explosion."
Atomic bomb
survivor.
Intolerance At Home
Colleges, professional
schools, and
businesses barred Jews
entirely or admitted
only a few during this
period.
► The loyalty of
Americans of Japanese
descent became
suspect.
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Quotas enforced during the 1920s limited immigration from
countries with large numbers of Jewish emigrants.
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Through the first half of
the 20th century, towns
and individual
householders barred Jews
from buying real estate by
including restrictive
covenants in property
deeds, a practice known as
“gentleman’s clauses.”
Japanese-Americans were
relocated to “internment
camps”
Internment of Japanese-Americans
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Although 102,000
Jewish refugees
escaping Nazi Germany
were admitted into the
United States before
World War II (19391945), many more
were refused entrance.
As a consequence of
this policy, some died
in German labor and
death camps.
nd
442
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Regimental Combat Team
All-volunteer Japanese
American unit
The 442nd went on to
become the most
decorated unit of its size in
American military history.
Although the 442nd never
had more than 3000
soldiers at any one time,
the unit earned 18,143
medals for valor and 9486
Order of the Purple Heart
decorations, awarded to
soldiers wounded in the
line of duty.
Korematsu v. United States
In 1944 the Supreme
Court ruled that the
evacuation and
internment were
constitutional
► By then, however, the
government had started
to release the internees.
► In 1988 Congress
apologized and voted to
pay $20,000
compensation to each of
60,000 surviving
internees.
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Who’s Who in World War II?
Harry S. Truman
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Truman was the central figure in three
controversial issues concerning the military.
First, he insisted on transferring control and
development of nuclear energy from the
military to the civilian Atomic Energy
Commission and on placing authority to use
the bomb solely with the president.
Second, he persuaded Congress to unify the
armed forces under a civilian secretary of
defense.
Third, Truman ordered the armed forces of
the United States desegregated after
Congress refused to do so.
“The
buck
stops
here.”
"Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during
initial landings at Leyte, “ October 1944
George Catlett Marshall
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U.S. Army chief of staff during
World War II and as secretary
of state from 1947 to 1949.
He authored the European
Recovery Program, also called
the Marshall Plan, to rebuild the
war-ravaged continent.
The plan, which helped check
the spread of communism,
called for the United States to
spend more than $13 billion to
aid European countries.
The plan earned him the 1953
Nobel Peace Prize.
George S. Patton is considered one of the greatest
United States generals of World War II
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His reckless, outspoken manner
gained him friends and enemies
of equal determination.
During the war, Patton led U.S.
troops in Morocco, Tunisia, and
Sicily, then took command of
the Third Army, leading the
troops through the German lines
at Normandy to traverse France.
His toughness on his enemies as
well as his own forces earned
him the name “Old Blood and
Guts.”
General Omar Nelson Bradley
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Commanded United States
ground troops during
World War II (1939-1945)
After the war Bradley
became chief of staff of
the U.S. Army in 1948 and
served as chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff from
1949 to 1953.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Supreme Allied
commander in
Europe during World
War II. He organized
the largest sea-toland invasion in
history, popularly
known as D-Day,
during which the
Allies crossed the
English Channel and
invaded the northern
coast of occupied
France.
Chester W. Nimitz
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Appointed commander in chief of
the Pacific Fleet,
As commander of the Pacific Ocean
Zone, he directed both the Navy
and the Marines
His bold tactics and strategy were
largely responsible for stopping the
Japanese advance at the Battle of
the Coral Sea (May 1942) and the
victorious Battle of Midway (June
1942).
Nimitz also helped to develop the
strategy of island hopping,.
Nimitz was the official U.S.
representative who signed the
Japanese surrender in 1945.
Battle of Stalingrad and Vasili
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In modern history there has
never been a battle so dominated
by snipers, as was Stalingrad,
the 1942 high-water mark of
German conquest in Russia.
By October 1942, the Germans
had seized nine-tenths of the city,
Combatants on both sides
tunneled, scurried, and hid in
the ruins
The premier Soviet sniper at
Stalingrad was Vasili/Vassili/
Zaitsev, who had been a
shepherd in the Ural Mountains.
In his first 10 days of shooting,
Zaitsev killed 40 Germans.
When his tally neared 100, he
became the focus of a Soviet
propaganda campaign as the
living epitome of Russian
resistance.
Zaitsev, keen to the tactics of
German snipers
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Dispatched to Stalingrad was the
commandant of the Sniper School,
Major Koning/Konig to kill Vasili.
Vasili was alerted.
At one point, a communist political
officer excitedly proclaimed that he
could see the German and raised
himself. A bullet struck him.
Though the commissar lay in the
open writhing in pain, his wound was
not serious.
Searched with his binoculars, to see if
the German sniper would
compromise him self by engaging the
medics, purposely wounding rather
than killing,
To test this, Zaitsev slid a glove over
a plank and slowly exposed it. A
bullet smacked through it.
Hero of the Soviet Union.
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The Russian could see that the shot
must have come from somewhere in a
particular rubble pile.
Waiting for the sun to be at his back,
so as not to reflect his riflescope, he
had his spotter raise a dummy’s head
inside a helmet.
He saw a glimmer of scope glare
from beneath a boilerplate. Bang!
The German shattered the dummy’s
head.
Instantly Zaitsev fired, too, but it was
no decoy he hit. The contest was
over; the Reichs super sniper, Major
Konig, lay dead.
Zaitsev eventually was credited with
142-242(varies) kills at Stalingrad.
He received the Order of Lenin and
by the end of the war; he personally
had accounted for 400 Germans and
was declared a record.
Germany invades USSR
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During the fall and early
winter of 1941, German
armored divisions had
advanced toward Moscow
capturing hundreds of
thousands of Soviet troops
But by the first week of
December, snow began
falling, and temperatures
plunged to -40° C (-40° F)
Defeated by the Russian Winter
►
►
►
The German soldiers, not
dressed for winter
weather, were freezing and
losing their will to fight.
Their equipment also
froze, becoming useless.
The Russian winter finally
accomplished what its
military had failed to do: It
halted the German
offensive.
“Not one step backward.”
-Josef Stalin, orders at Battle of Stalingrad
►
The German army had
practically turned its
invasion of Russia into a
rout. But at the end of July
1942, Soviet Premier
Joseph Stalin issued the
order, “Not a step back!”
In the ruins of Stalingrad,
shown here, Soviet
soldiers fought the
Germans building-bybuilding in a savage battle
for the city that lasted for
five months.
By 1942, most of Europe was under
Germany’s control
► Soviet
Union was in
danger of collapse.
► The United States
lend-lease program
helped arm the
Soviets, who fought
the Germans to a
stalemate during the
early part of the war.
The War in Africa
►
►
German leader Erwin
Rommel was genius in
desert-warfare tactics
After his defeat by British
Lieutenant General
Bernard Montgomery in
August 1942, Rommel was
transferred by Hitler to
defend the beaches of
Normandy, against the
anticipated Allied invasion.
North Africa
►
►
►
Free French—French
armed forces formed in
exile by General Charles de
Gaulle
Engaged in several
successful battles against
Axis forces led by German
General Erwin Rommel.
In 1943, after months of
fighting, the Allies were
able to force the final
surrender of German and
Italian troops in North
Africa.
British General Bernard Montgomery
leads invasion of Italy
► After
defeating the
Axis powers in
northern Africa, the
Allies invaded Italy and
pushed north
1943: Mussolini’s government fell
Italy joins the Allies
►
►
►
►
►
►
Italy had lost all of it colonies in
Africa, and most of its army, and
was being invaded.
Mussolini was deposed by a revolt
within his own Fascist Grand Council
Mussolini was arrested, while Italy
attempted to change sides.
Hitler sent German paratroops to
rescue Mussolini from the
mountaintop resort where he was
imprisoned.
When the Germans surrendered in
northern Italy, in April, 1945,
Mussolini was arrested again.
He and his mistress, Clara Petacci,
were removed from the jail and
lynched, by the local Communist
partisans.
In Russia, at Kursk
Largest armored engagement in history
►
►
►
In Russia, at
Kursk, the Soviets
won the greatest
tank battle in
history
Over 3000 tanks
took part in this
battle.
Also included the
most costly single
day of aerial
warfare in history.
The Pacific
Theatre
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
► On
August 7, 1942
United States Marines
► The Japanese
responded with a
powerful air and sea
defensive
► Six major naval
engagements were
fought on or near the
island in 6 months of
fighting
Tehran, Iran
- The “Big Three” 1943
►
►
►
►
►
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
United States president
Franklin D. Roosevelt
British prime minister
Winston Churchill,
to discuss their military
strategy and post-World
War II policy for Europe.
decided to invade France
in 1944, against Churchill’s
recommendations.
August 1, 1943
United States bombs Hitler’s oil fields
► In
Ploieºti, Romania.
► Americans suffered
heavy casualties
during the attack, and
it was not until the
following year that the
Allies completely
destroyed these oil
fields.
June 6, 1944: D-Day
► Began
the Normandy
Invasion — the
largest military
operation in history.
► The Allies landed
130,000 men initially;
and 1 million within a
month, on the coast of
France.
The Battle of the Bulge
Last German offensive of World War II.
► It
was launched at the
end of 1944 in an
attempt to divide the
British and American
forces and retake the
seaport of Antwerp, in
Belgium. Shown here
are German troops.
V-E Day
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/qt/v-eday.html
►
►
May 7, 1945: The
European theater of
W.W.II ended with
Germany's surrender
“BroadWay is 'White Way'
Again - When all the lights
are turned on again in
Times Square, the dazzle
and brilliance convinces all
Broadwayites that V.E. has
been achieved. “
Iwo Jima
►
►
►
Mt. Suribachi, the volcano which is covered with Jap guns.
Naval ships pour tons of shells into the mountain.
The Marines advance uphill as U.S. dive bombers place sticks of
bombs immediately ahead of the Leathernecks.
Forty Percent Casualty Rate
►
►
Jap fortifications
with narrow
entrances and
huge, thick walls
are reduced with
hand grenades.
Marines enact
one of the
stirring scenes in
American history,
the Stars and
Stripes are
planted on
Suribachi, 750
miles from
Tokyo!"
B-29s Rule the Skies over Japan
►
►
►
Super Fortresses roar
into the sky - destination
Tokyo!
They shower tons of
bombs and incendiaries
on the city
Hit factories, steel mills
and docks
Kamikaze
“divine wind”
►
►
►
Suicide squadrons
organized by the Japanese
air force in the last months
of World War II
Pilots flew their aircraft,
loaded with explosives,
directly into U.S. naval
vessels
Kamikaze pilots,
sacrificing their lives in a
last-ditch effort to stop the
American advance, sank
August, 1945
US drops atomic weapons on Japan
► Japanese
industrial
cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
► Japan was convinced
to surrender by this
new weaponry, and
surrendered within
weeks.
August 6, 1945
Hiroshima
► 60,000
to 70,000
people were killed or
reported missing,
according to U.S.
estimates, and
thousands more were
made homeless.
U.S
.
Sixteen hours after the attack,
President Harry S. Truman’s report of the event
was broadcast to radio listeners
.
Japanese Surrender
► September
2, 1945,
aboard the United
States battleship
Missouri.