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The War Ends
The Third Reich Collapses
• Well before the war ended the allies
were aware that the Germans were
committing atrocities
• Roosevelt felt the best way to put an
end to the concentration camps was to
destroy the Nazi regime
• To do that they would have to break
out of Normandy, liberate France and
conquer Germany
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D-Day had been a major success,
but the surrounding fields of
Normandy were hedgerows-dirt
walls several feet thick covered in
shrubbery-they were built for
livestock but allowed Germans to
fiercely defend their positions
The battle of the hedgerows ended
on July 25, 1944 when 2,500
American bombers blew a hole in
German lines and American tanks
rushed through
As the Allies broke out of Normandy
the French resistance-citizens who
organized a resistance, staged a
rebellion
On August 25, the streets of Paris
were filled with citizens as the city
was liberated-three weeks later
American troops were only 20 miles
from the German border
Battle of the Bulge
• As the Allies closed in on
Germany, Hitler decided to
stage one last desperate
offensive. His goal was to
cut off Allied supplies
coming through the port of
Antwerp, Belgium.
• December 16,1944 the
battle began with six inches
of snow on the ground and
bitter cold-German soldiers
caught Americans by
surprise-as the Germans
moved west their lines
bulged outward-the attack
became known as the Battle
of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
• Part of the German plan called for the capture of the town of
Bastogne, where several important roads converged. If the
Allies held Bastogne, it would greatly delay the German
advance.
• At this town Germans surrounded the American forces that
refused to surrender-Eisenhower sent Patton to rescue themIn three days-through a snowstorm-Patton’s troops slammed
into German lines-when the weather cleared Allied aircraft
began hitting German depots
• On Christmas Eve out of fuel and weakened by heavy lossesthe Germans were forced to stop their move towards Antwerp.
Two days later Patton’s troops were in Bastogne. The United
States won the Battle of the Bulge and with the German arm
being weakened there was little to stop the Allies from
entering Germany
V-E Day: The War Ends in Europe
• While the Americans and British
were liberating France the
Soviets began a massive attack
on the Germans in Russia. By
the time the Battle of the Bulge
ended the Soviets had driven
Hitler’s forces back across
Poland. By February of 1945,
they were only 35 miles from
Berlin.
• Germany was now under attack
from the East and West. Soon
the Americans would cross the
last line of defense-the Rhine
River and enter the heart of the
Nazi war machine.
The Death of Hitler (?)
• As German defenses
crumbled-Americans closed
in on Berlin.
• Deep inside a Berlin bunker,
Adolph Hitler knew the end
was near. On April 30,
1945, he put a pistol in his
mouth and pulled the
trigger. His secretary
carried his body outside and
burned it.
• The United States ordered
an unconditional surrender.
On May 7, 1945 Germany
surrendered. The next day
May 8, 1945 was declared
V-E Day-the war in Europe
was over
Japan is Defeated
• Sadly Franklin Roosevelt
would not live to see the
defeat of Germany-On April
12, 1945 while vacationing
in Warm Springs, Georgiahe suffered a stroke and
died
• Vice President Harry S.
Truman was now president (
quote pg 767 ). He at once
began making decisions.
Truman would have to make
some of the most difficult
decisions of the war.
Island Hopping in the Pacific
• To defeat the Japanese the United States would
have to take back Japanese controlled islands one
by one. This strategy was referred to as island
hopping.
• Fighting in the Pacific Theater was terrible and
extremely costly. One reason was the terrible
weather conditions-at times weeks of monsoon like
rain, volcanic ash on islands, and thick rainforests.
• On each island we faced an enemy that had been
preparing defenses for years and that refused to
surrender. Often fighting did not end until almost
every Japanese soldier was killed or committed
suicide.
• Islands like Peleliu and Guadalcanal
were death traps. Allied forces would
fight for weeks and months to control
the island only to develop a false sense
of security before fighting would erupt
after short periods of stoppage.
Civilian casualties were high in many of
these locations and soldiers were faced
to make gut-wrenching decisions
during combat.
Uncommon Valor on Iwo Jima
• On November 24, 1944 bombs
began falling on Tokyo for the
first time since the Doolittle
raid. Unfortunately the
bombing was ineffective
because the bombs kept
missing their targets. Japan
was to far away and by the
time the bombers got there
coordinates were inaccurate
due to changes in winds or
navigational errors.
• It was determined that the best
solution was to invade a nearby
island-they chose Iwo Jima
Uncommon Valor on Iwo Jima
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The island was perfectly located,
but was covered with rocky terrain,
caverns, and dozens of caves, as
well as a dormant volcano Mount
Surabachi
The Japanese had built a network of
tunnels on the island and concrete
bunkers
On February 19, 1945- 60,000 U.S.
Marines landed on Iwo Jima. As
the troops left there amphtracs
they sank up to their ankles in soft
ash as Japanese artillery began to
pound the invaders ( quote pg. 768
)
The Marines would crawl inch by
inch, fighting their way with
flamethrowers and explosives
destroying Japanese bunkers-6,800
Marines would die on Iwo JimaAdmiral Chester Nimitz would say “
uncommon valor was a common
virtue”
Firebombing Devastates Japan
• Curtis LeMay-the commander of
the B-29’s-decided to use a
new strategy to help the
bombers hit their targets-they
dropped bombs filled with
napalm-a kind of jellied
gasoline-even if they missed
the fire would spread to the
targets
• The use of these firebombs was
very controversial-the fires
would kill civilians-but there
was seemingly no other way to
destroy Japanese production
facilities-strong winds spread
the fires and thousands
asphyxiated-80,000 would die
and 250,000 buildings were
sestroyed-67 cities were
bombed (quote pg. 768 )
The Invasion of Okinawa
• Despite the bombing by the spring of 1945
there were no signs that Japan was ready to
surrender-It became clear Japan would have
to be invaded
• Okinawa was chosen as the site-Japanese
soldiers took positions in the mountains of
Okinawa-facing constant machine and
artillery fire, American soldiers fought there
way up steep slopes and by June 22, 1945
the island was captured at the expense of
12,000 soldiers
The Terms of Surrender
• Shortly after Okinawa was captured the
emperor urged the government to find a way
to end the war. The problem is that America
was demanding an unconditional surrender.
The Japanese were willing to surrender, but
the emperor would have to stay in power.
Most Americans blamed the emperor for the
war and demanded he be removed. Truman
did not wish to go against public opinion. He
also knew that the United States was
developing a new weapon that would force
Japan to surrender-the weapon was the
atomic bomb.
The Manhattan Project
• In 1939 Leo Szilard, one of
the worlds top physicists,
learned that German
scientist had split the
uranium atom. He believed
that this could release an
enormous amount of
energy.
• Worried that the Germans
were gone to develop a
weapon using this energy,
he asked the worlds most
famous physicists Albert
Einstein to sign his letter to
President Roosevelt warning
that by using uranium-”
extremely powerful bombs
of a new type may be
constructed.”
The Manhattan Project
• Roosevelt responded by setting up a scientific
committee to study the issue. They were skeptic
until they met with British scientists and 1941 that
were already working on the bomb-they were sop
impressed they began to work on building a bomb.
• The American project was called the Manhattan
Project and was headed by General Leslie R.
Groves. After the first nuclear reactor was built at
Chicago University-Groves organized a team of
engineers and scientists to build and test an atomic
bomb at a secret lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico-the
team was lead by Robert Oppenheimer-On July 16,
1945-they detonated the worlds first atomic bomb
near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
• “I have become
death, the destroyer
of worlds.”-from the
Mayan Book of
Death
• J Robert
Oppenheimer
Japan Surrenders
• Faced with such massive destruction
and the shock of the Soviets entering
the war-Japan surrendered-August 15,
1945-V-J Day
• On the other side of the world
Americans celebrated. Quote pg. 771
• The long war was finally over
• Outline the following two topics:
• The Nuremberg Trials
• The Creation of The United Nations