Download AS-History-3-WWII

WORLD WAR II
OVERVIEW
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Background
Issues and Events
Participants
Military Technology and
Techniques
Military Conduct
The United States Enters the War
In the Pacific
Lessons Learned
US Between Wars
• Good Times in 1920s
– Soldiers returning from WWI with $
– Mass production, cheaper prices = technology to masses
• Products often developed before war, but not affordable by most
• Automobile ( gas stations, motels, highways, etc.), electricity (radio,
record players), plumbing, sewers, urbanization (mass transit,
skyscrapers), finance (banks, insurance)
US Between Wars
• Depression, 1929
– Florida land boom collapses, 1926
• Many bought land w/o ever seeing it, get rich quick!
– Wall Street collapses (stock market), 1929
• Ruined many influential people and destroyed
savings of many more; bankruptcies, factory
closings, unemployment
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Spread around the world, industrialized economies, cities
Drought in Great Plains, Dust Bowl
President Hoover’s efforts were too little and too late
Downward spiral reinforced itself
• Impacts world economies, not just U.S.
– Enabled dictators of WWII to make major gains, set stage
US Between Wars
• Depression not over when WWII starts, 1939
– President Roosevelt began one of most creative periods in
American political history
– Social Security, public works projects, labor unions
– Restored confidence, but not employment
ISSUES AND EVENTS
• German’s nurtured great sense of grievance over
Versailles treaty (Treaty ending WWI)
• Hitler wins election, 1933
– Abolished constitution, persecuted Socialists and Jews
• Japan invades China, 1931
• Italy invades Ethiopia, 1935
• Felt handicapped trying to compete for markets
and raw materials, ok in prosperous times, bad in
depression
• League of Nations powerless
– US excludes itself
– Russia excluded (communism)
PARTICIPANTS
• Major Axis Powers
– Germany, Italy and Japan
– Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Rumania
• Allied Forces
– Great Britain, France, USSR, China and United States
– Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India
– 24 nations
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND
TECHNIQUES
• Land Forces
• Air Forces
• Sea Forces
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND
TECHNIQUES
• Obsolete equipment and few trained pilots
• Land Forces
– Tanks; faster (25 MPH); heavier armor; bigger guns (122mm)
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• Turret mounted guns and much greater reliability
Jeeps, trucks
Traditional roles often reversed, especially in Europe
Infantry; supporting tanks, problem to keep up
Emphasized rapid, sustained movement to penetrate
deep into enemy rear, disrupt C2, and surround forces
– Bypass strong fortifications, left for following infantry
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND
TECHNIQUES
• Air Forces
– Radar, rockets, napalm (jellied gasoline), incendiaries, highexplosive super bombs, atomic bomb
– Tactical airplanes could keep up with rapid moving armor
– Poland and France were classic examples
of fast combined arms operations
– Strategic bombers; B-17, B-24, B-29
• Electric power, ball bearing factories, synthetic oil production
– Fighters; P-38, P-51
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND
TECHNIQUES
• Sea Forces
– Development of naval tactics for aerial warfare
– Anti-submarine warfare
• Technology
– Radar, radio, secret codes
MILITARY CONDUCT
• European Theater
– Initially German desire to unite Germans separated in WWI
– Hitler convinced could threaten smaller countries to
submission and Britain/France wanted peace at any price
– Wanted as little damage as possible, wants gain, not burden
– Austria and Czechoslovakia without fight
– Poland, Sept 1939, formal treaty with Britain/France, M #1
• Blitzkrieg: Conquest of the Continent
– Luftwaffe destroyed enemy air forces, railroads, ammunition
dumps and troop concentrations; usually by surprise
– Tanks, motorized infantry/artillery, aircraft to strike rapidly
– Attempts to retreat or reinforce crushed by air power
– Britain/France declare war, but too weak to help
– France hides behind Maginot Line, Britain a naval blockade
– Hitler didn’t know what to do next????? M #2
MILITARY CONDUCT
• Blitzkrieg: Conquest of the Continent (cont)
– Invades Norway and Denmark to break blockade
• First airborne infantry landings
– Denmark in 1 day; Norway’s capital/principle harbors in 1
day; Norway 2 months
– May 1940, Netherlands, 4 days; Belgium, Luxembourg into
France, 6 weeks
– Over 3,000 aircraft
• The Air Battle for Britain
– Aug 1940 - Oct 1940, continued sporatic raids into 1941
– Loss of 1,400 aircraft since July, unable to continue
– 190,000 tons of bombs, 43k civilians dead, 56k wounded
MILITARY CONDUCT
• War Fronts
– Italy spreads war into North Africa
– Oil rich Middle East and Suez
– Italy defeated in Ethiopia and Libya by much smaller force
from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India
– Germany comes to rescue, 1st of many times
– Except for Malta, Mediterranean belongs to Germans
– Attacks into Greece, Yugoslavia and Crete
– Hitler convinced war with USSR would be quick, M #3
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Decided not to destroy factories
3,300 aircraft, 60%, extremely heavy losses
USSR uses female pilots, 12 kills
Settles into long struggle with large land armies
• Attacks on England Dwindle
– Operations in Eastern Europe, Mediterranean and North
Africa pull forces away from England; defensive war now in
West
THE UNITED STATES ENTERS
THE WAR
• Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Dec 1941
• Allied Strategic Plans
– Germany viewed as greater threat, industrial ability feared
– Europe fighting for more than 2 years and needed relief
– Didn’t think they could fight 2 wars at once (proved wrong)
• European/Mediterranean Campaign
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Strategic bombing
North Africa
Normandy, France into Germany
Sicily into Italy
IN THE PACIFIC
• Japanese Territorial Strategy
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Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Lacked natural resources
Attack Manchuria, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos
US/Britain embargo Japan
Give up expansion or war
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Not sudden irrational act, origins as early as 1931
Predicted by BG Billy Mitchell
Capture Malay Peninsula, Philippines and numerous islands
Weakness was survival of navy and merchant marine
Continued success required destruction of US navy
• Pearl Harbor
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• 55
2 attacks
96 army, 92 navy planes destroyed; 159 damaged
6 army, 36 navy plans got into air
8 battleships, 7 cruisers, 28 destroyers, 5 submarines, 32 others
3 battleships sunk, 1 capsized, 4 severely damaged
3 cruisers, 3 destroyers and a seaplane tender damaged
3rd attack cancelled (fuel storage, maintenance, dry docks)
Missed aircraft carriers and submarines
U.S. civilians killed, mostly from unexploded anti-aircraft shells
3rd Wave Cancelled!
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American anti-aircraft performance had improved considerably
during the second strike, and 2/3 of Japan's losses were incurred
during the second wave. Nagumo felt if he launched a 3rd strike,
he would be risking 3/4 of the Combined Fleet's strength to wipe
out the remaining targets (which included the facilities) while
suffering higher aircraft losses.
The location of the American carriers remained unknown.
A third wave attack would have required substantial preparation
and turn-around time, and would have meant returning planes
would have faced night landings. At the time, no Navy had
developed night carrier techniques.
The task force's fuel situation did not permit him to remain in
waters north of Pearl Harbor much longer since he was at the
very limits of logistical support. To do so risked running
unacceptably low on fuel, perhaps even having to abandon
destroyers en route home.
At a conference the following morning, Yamamoto initially
supported Nagumo's decision to withdraw. In retrospect,
however, Nagumo's decision to spare the vital dockyards,
maintenance shops, and oil depots meant the U.S. could respond
relatively quickly to Japanese activities in the Pacific.
Yamamoto later regretted Nagumo's decision and categorically
stated it had been a great mistake not to order a third strike.
Weapons at Pearl Harbor
Torpedo bomber
ships
Fighter
airfields
Bomber
airfields
IN THE PACIFIC
• U.S. Military Buildup
– Aircraft production dramatically increased
– Private pilot schools established
• Japanese Strength
– Stronger than either British or Americans and British fully
engaged in Europe
– 2.4 M well-trained troops; 3 M reserves; 7,500 aircraft, 400
each month
• Allied Strength
– 350,000 poorly equipped troops; <1,000 aircraft, mostly
obsolete; 90 ships
• Japanese Advances
– Allies pushed back to Australia; Japan occupied all
original plan in March 1942
– Japanese gain air superiority, then invasion
– Allies could not supply forces because of Japanese
control of air
IN THE PACIFIC
• Stopping the Advance
– Battles of Midway and Coral Sea, entirely by airpower
• Island Hopping
– One step at a time, often airfields to support next advance
• The Bombing of Japan
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1st by Doolittle from aircraft carrier in Pacific
Later from China, then Marianas (1,500 miles)
Much of Japan’s industry dispersed into homes
Blanket bombing, incendiary bombs (wood and paper
houses)
– Atomic bombs
• Better State of Peace
– Learn lessons from WWI
• Help defeated people rebuild, not punish
– Marshal Plan (Europe) and MacArthur (Japan)
LESSONS LEARNED
• World War II
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Industrial might won war
Blitzkrieg ( wars of movement, not attrition)
Aircraft Carriers
Airplane becomes dominant weapon
• In the Final Analysis
– Utter futility of war in modern society
• 20 million killed, 4 million civilians
• X3 injured
– No one could win, just not loose
– Only sensible solution was to prevent war, not fight
– Worked to present date on this scale, but limited wars
continued
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• March, 1945
– 100,000 dead
• 6 August, 1945
– 8:15 AM
• 9 August, 1945
– 11:02 AM
• 14 August, 1945
• By August, 60 Japanese cities destroyed
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• March, 1945
Incendiary bomb attack
– 100,000 dead in only 1 raid
• 6 August, 1945
1st atomic bomb
• 9 August, 1945
2nd atomic bomb
• 14 August, 1945
End of War!
– 8:15 AM
– 11:02 AM
• By August, 60 Japanese cities had been
destroyed
ATOMIC BOMB
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Hiroshima
Primary target
Little Boy
2,000 ft in air
several million degrees Celsius vs. 5,000
35% heat, 50% wind, 15% radiation
Almost everything inside 1.5 miles
flattened
Hit mountains and reflected back
Winds did most damage
140,000 dead, 200,000 by end of year
90% destroyed
ATOMIC BOMB
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Nagasaki
9 Aug, 1945; 11:02 AM
Fat Man
1,540 feet in air
2 miles off target, in valley, missed major
part of city
• 70,000 dead; 75,000 injured; 121,000
disease
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• Massive crimes committed against
groups of people
• New word created, 1944
• Germans in Europe
• Japanese in Pacific
Holocaust
• Deliberate extermination of Jews
(Holocaust, originally derived from the
Greek meaning a completely burnt
sacrificial offering to a god. )
• Massive crimes committed against
groups of people (Genocide)
• New word created, 1944
• Germans in Europe
• Japanese in Pacific
HOLOCAUST
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Forced (slave) Labor
Jewish Ghettos
Mobile Killing Units attached to army
Death Camps
6 million Jews
9 to 11 million, best estimate
Maybe as many as 26 million
Even when loosing war, trains to
death camps took priority over troops
and supplies
• Many groups, not just Jews
HOLOCAUST
• An estimated 5 to 6 million Jews,
including 3 million Polish Jews
• 1.8 – 1.9 million Christian Poles and other
(non-Jewish) Poles
• 200,000–800,000 Gypsies
• 200,000–300,000 people with disabilities
• 80,000–200,000 Freemasons
• 100,000 communists
• 10,000–25,000 homosexual men
• 2,500–5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses
Warning: Next slide can be disturbing
HOLOCAUST
• Infamous genocidal war crime committed by the Japanese
military in Nanjing, then capital of the Republic of China,
after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on Dec 13, 1937
• Numerous atrocities, such as rape, looting, arson and the
execution of prisoners of war and civilians
• Executions began under the pretext of eliminating Chinese
soldiers disguised as civilians
– large number of innocent men were intentionally identified
as enemy combatants and executed—or simply killed
– massacre gathered momentum
– large number of women and children were also killed, as
rape and murder became more widespread
– over 200,000, most were had hands tied behind back
– 20,000 (and perhaps up to 80,000) women were raped, their ages
ranging from infants to the elderly (as old as 80)
– Any resistance would be met with summary execution
• Japanese government has acknowledged incident
• In Japan, public opinion over the severity of the massacre
remains widely divided — some Japanese commentators
refer to it as the 'Nanking massacre,’ others use the more
ambivalent term 'Nanking Incident'
Warning: Next slide can be disturbing
Civilians to be buried alive
Bayonet drill
CONCLUSION
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Background
Issues and Events
Participants
Military Technology and
Techniques
Military Conduct
The United States Enters the War
In the Pacific
Lessons Learned