Download WWII Major Battles, Conferences and the Atomic Bomb

WWII Major Battles, Conferences
and the Atomic Bomb
Explicitly Assess Information and
Draw Conclusions
7 Future American Presidents
Views of the World Were Formed
by Their Service in World War II
WW II Memorial in
Washington, DC
Dedicated on April 29, 2004
Women’s Army Air Corps
Pilots
Join the Women’s Army Corps
Important Dates and Leaders
•Hitler invades Poland- Sept 1, 1939
•Pearl Harbor- Dec 7, 1941
•D- Day/ Operation Overlord- June 6, 1944
•FDR’s Death- April 12, 1945
•V-E Day- May 8, 1945
•Hiroshima/ Nagasaki- Aug 6/9, 1945
•V-J Day- Aug 15, 1945
-Pacific: Nimitz, MacArthur
-Europe: Dwight Eisenhower, Patton,
Bernard Montgomery (Brit.)
Pearl Harbor
December 7,
1941
Why did Japan attack the US?
-Economic Reasons
- Military reasons
Decoded Messages?
What were the effects of the attack?
USS Arizona
Pearl Harbor
• US Response
• How successful was
Japan?
FDR “A Date which will live in infamy…”
& Congress declares war
Aircraft wreckage
Arizona Memorial
Where did the Allies attack first? Why?
- Stalingrad ’42*
- North Africa ’42
- Italy Campaign ‘43
- Normandy 6/44
What was the
purpose of the
Second Front?
What effect did
these events have
on the origins of the
Cold War?
Allied Invasion of Italy
Motivation behind Allies pushing
into Northern Africa
• Stalin wanted America and Britain to
create a second front in France
• By doing so, they would relieve the Soviet
Union
• FDR and Churchill disagreed because
they felt they were not ready to make such
a move
• They pushed the Germans out of North
Africa instead and paved the way for an
invasion into Italy
Results of The Italian Campaign
• Greatly weakened the Axis Powers
– Italy no longer was a strong force
accompanying Germany
• Cost Germany a number of resources that
they were planning on sending to Russia
• Gave the Allied Powers access to the
Mediterranean Sea
• Showed strength held by USA and British
Forces
Forcing Axis Forces to
Surrender
• Eisenhower put American troops under the
control of George S. Patton Jr.
• Patton pushed east while British troops
moved westward from Egypt, trapping Axis
forces
• Rommel escaped, but his army didn’t
• May 1943, German and Italian forces
surrendered
Invasion of
Normandy
Difficulties?
Significance?
“Soldiers, sailors and airmen
of the allied expeditionary
force: You are about to
embark upon the great
crusade toward which we
have striven these many
months. The eyes of the
world are upon you. The
hope and prayers of liberty
loving people everywhere are
with you…”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks
to paratroopers before Normandy
D-Day Stats
• An invading army had not crossed the unpredictable,
dangerous English Channel since 1688 -- and once the
massive force set out, there was no turning back. The
5000-vessel armada stretched as far as the eye could
see, transporting over 150,000 men and nearly 30,000
vehicles across the channel to the French beaches. Six
parachute regiments -- over 13,000 men -- were flown
from nine British airfields in over 800 planes. More than
300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal
Normandy immediately in advance of the invasion.
• War planners had projected that 5,000 tons of gasoline would be
needed daily for the first 20 days after the initial assault. In one
planning scenario, 3,489 long tons of soap would be required for the
first four months in France.
• By nightfall on June 6, more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were dead or
wounded, but more than 100,000 had made it ashore, securing
French coastal villages. And within weeks, supplies were being
unloaded at UTAH and OMAHA beachheads at the rate of over
20,000 tons per day.
• Captured Germans were sent to American prisoner of war camps at
the rate of 30,000 POWs per month from D-Day until Christmas
1944. Thirty-three detention facilities were in Texas alone.
“Wild Bill” Guarnere
D-Day
Impressive Numbers
• Was the largest amphibious invasion in world history: 71,000
Americans, 61,000 British, and 21,000 Canadians (soldiers).
• Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces was
Dwight Eisenhower.
• There were 9 battleships, 23 cruisers, 104 destroyers, and 71
large landing craft of various descriptions.
“All war is based on deception”
-Sun Tzu
• Operation Bodyguard/Fortitude-distract Germans from
possibility of landings in Normandy. Two decoy landings
were sent out. (fictional unit; Patton). –wooden tanks etc.
• Allies made Germans believe that they were invading
Calais. Hitler subsequently sent his top tank division to
Calais.
• Deception plan was effective. The Germans were caught
off guard. The Allies still had a lot of hard battling ahead
of them though.
Quote on leadership
• “Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't
even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the
real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for
they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a
warrior, and he will bring the others back.”
― Heraclitus
"As our boat touched sand and
the ramp went down I became a
visitor to hell."
Pvt. Charles Neighbor, 29th Division, Omaha Beach
(D-Day, 6 June 1944)
"Two kinds of people are staying
on this beach, the dead and those
who are going to die. Now let's get
the hell out of here."
Colonel George Taylor, 16th Regimental Commander
on Omaha Beach (D-Day, 6 June 1944)
European Turning Points cont’d
• Battle of the Bulge 12/44
• Battle of Berlin 5/45
• VE Day May 8, 1945
Liberation of Paris
Turning Point
•
Allies put up stiff resistance around Bastogne,
and had the advantage of superior terrain. This
resulted in pushing the German time-table to the
right. As a result, the Allies were able to reinforce
the line using General George Patton’s Third
Army and other units which combined with
improvements in the weather, resulted in the
German offensive failing.
•
“Nuts!”
General Anthony Clement "Nuts" McAuliffe (July 2, 1898 – August 11,
1975) was the United States Army general who was the acting division
commander of the 101st Airborne Division troops defending Bastogne,
Belgium during World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. He is famous for his
single-word reply of "Nuts!" in response to a German surrender ultimatum
The Battle Of Stalingrad
Importance of Stalingrad
• If Germany won Stalingrad, it would also
allow them to get the rich oil fields of
Caucasus
– Vital for producing machinery used by Russian
army
– Very important to moral of both armies
• Germany would use it to enhance ‘Lebensraum’
• Russia wanted to prove Germany was not
invincible
Effects of Stalingrad
- Turning point for both the Eastern and Western
Front
- German troops were stopped during their
progression across Russia
- Forced to retreat
- Unexpected German defeat gave Soviet Union
hope
- Germany lost their old reputation as being
invincible
- Gave hope to Allied Powers
Battle of the Atlantic
“Longest, largest, and most complex
naval battle in history” –Winston
Churchill
• Was the longest continuous military campaign in world war II,
(1939-1945).
• unrestricted submarine warfare
• Was one of the most important campaigns of the war, because
all other theaters depended upon it.
• German U-boats v. Britain's merchant marine.
• Germany sent over 1,000 U-boats to isolate UK and prevent
trade.
• Goal was to force UK out of the war.
• It was a battle which was about the cutting off vital supplies of
food, fuel and raw materials needed to continue fighting.
• Britain needed imports of food, fuel and raw materials from
overseas.
• If Germany isolated the UK then they would be out of the war.
"The only thing that ever really frightened
me during the war was the U-boat peril".
-Winston Churchill
• The outcome of the battle was a victory for the Allies, the Germans
blockade failed.
• 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships were sunk-Allies
• 783 U-boats were sunk.
• America provided Britain with the only tools needed for its success
as Britain’s successful defense ensured that there was a base for
Western Allies to launch a strategic air offense or a land invasion of
the Europe mainland to defeat Germany.
Holocaust Revealed
• Could more have been done by
the US?
• What should be done to the
Nazis? What was done?
At Dachau concentration camp, two
U.S. soldiers gaze at Jews who died
on board a death train.
[Photo Credit: USHMM]
US soldier and
liberated Jew
Victory in Europe
Pacific Campaign
What was the
game plan?
Alternate
Options?
What effect did
the Pacific
Campaign have
on the US?
Significance of
-Guam and
Mariana Islands
-Iwo Jima and
Okinawa
Islands
Island Hopping
• Commonly called Leapfrogging
• Strategy: Attack less fortified but strategically
important islands in the Pacific with the main goal
of driving towards Japan
• The idea was to bypass heavily fortified
Japanese positions and instead concentrate
the limited Allied resources on strategically
important islands that were not well defended
but capable of supporting the drive to the
main islands of Japan.
• One other goal - To defend Chinese market and
the newly acquired Philippines/Guam
• Blue is
Allied
Advance
Pacific
Campaign
Pearl Harbor- Dec. 7, 1941
Japan Takes Islands:
Macarthur (4/42) “I shall Return”
Battle of the Coral Sea- May, 1942
(1st All carrier/ aircraft battle)
Midway- June, 1942
(Turning Point of the Pacific)
Island Hopping 8/43-11/44
Nimitz victories- Marshall, Wake- 1944
Philippines (Leyte Gulf) retaken 1944-45
Iwo Jima 3/45 and Okinawa 6/45
Invasion of Japan/ Unconditional Surrender/
“Secret Weapon”- destruction
WWII Assessment
• What if Japan had not bombed Pearl
Harbor?
• Who was the more fearsome or difficult
Allied opponent – Germany or Japan?
• If you were in the war, where would you
rather have been?
End of the War
A-Bomb, Conferences and
Aftermath
Why were the Allies so much more
successful than the Axis Powers?
• Home front Production
• Collaboration
• Technological Advancement (Atomic Bomb)
What was
the
significance
of each?
Atlantic Charter
Casablanca
Big Three Conferences
Tehran
Yalta
Potsdam
April 12, 1945
• Death of FDR
• The first lady greeted Vice President Harry
Truman, who had not yet been told the
news. A calm and quiet Eleanor said,
"Harry, the president is dead." He asked if
there was anything he could do for her, to
which she replied, "Is there anything we
can do for you? For you are the one in
trouble now."
A-Bomb
- Manhattan Project
- Hiroshima 8/6/1945
- Nagasaki 8/9/1945
Manhattan Project
• The special target committee for the MANHATTAN project
started meeting in April 1945
– They selected the cities that they would be targeting,
including Hiroshima.
• The two primary leaders of the Manhattan Project were
General Leslie Groves and physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Other scientists involved included: Enrico Fermi, Albert
Einstein, and Neils Bohr.
• The construction site was in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
• The Manhattan Project employed over 120,000 Americans.
But the people were not told exactly what they were doing so
they could not ruin the project.
J. Robert Oppenheimer
“We knew the world would not be the same. A few
people laughed, a few people cried. Most people
were silent. I remembered the line from the
Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is
trying to persuade the Prince that he should do
his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multiarmed form and says, 'Now I am become Death,
the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all
thought that, one way or another”
The city of Hiroshima was the target of the world’s first atomic bomb
attack at 8:16 a.m. on August 6, 1945. The cloud rose to over 60,000
feet in about ten minutes. About 30 seconds after the explosion, the
Enola Gay circled in order to get a better look at what was happening.
By that time, although the plane was flying at 30,000 feet, the
mushroom cloud had risen above them. The city itself was completely
engulfed in a thick black smoke.
Hiroshima Clip
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwkyPvl
WPM0
The foreground shows the ruins of the Hiroshima Gas Company
Building (800 feet from the hypocenter). In the center are the ruins of the
Honkawa Elementary School. Source: United States Army - Returned
Materials.
Public Opinion
• In a 1945 Fortune magazine article, only 5% of the
people polled said that the United States should not
have dropped the bomb.
• 54% approved of the bomb.
• 23% wanted the United States to drop more
bombs on Japan before their surrender.
• A specter is haunting this country--the specter of nuclear
energy. As a scientist who worked on the atomic bomb, I am
appalled that the public is so apathetic and so uninformed
about the dangerous social consequences of our
development. There is no secret of the atomic bomb. In my
opinion, in two to five years other countries can also
manufacture bombs, and bombs tens, hundreds, or even
thousands of times more effective than those which produced
such devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This country with
its concentrated industrial centers is entirely vulnerable to
such weapons; nor can we count on, or even expect, effective
counter-measures. Unless strong action is taken within the
near future toward a positive control, this country will be drawn
into an armament race which will inevitably end in catastrophe
for all participants. . . . It is the responsibility of the press to
stimulate public discussion on this vital matter and to educate
the people as rapidly as possible. Where security permits, my
colleagues are eager to help with scientific information. It was
our hope in developing the bomb that it would be a great force
for world cooperation and peace.
•
-Robert R. Wilson, Los Alamos, New Mexico
WWII Assessment
• What factors led the US to drop the Atomic
Bomb?
• What were the results of this action?
• Was the US justified in dropping the
Atomic Bomb?
• Under what conditions would a similar
action be justifiable today?
VJ Day
Effects of WWII
• US
Emerges
as World
Power
• End of US
Isolation
• Beginning
of Cold War
• UN created
Nuremberg Trials
“Iron Curtain” – Winston Churchill
• From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended
across the continent. Behind that line lie all
the capitals of the ancient states of Central
and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin,
Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,
Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous
cities and the populations around them lie
in what I must call the Soviet sphere.”
Creation of United Nations
WWII Assessment
• Effectiveness of FDR as President?
– Successes and Failures
• Did WWII create a Lasting Peace?
• In what specific ways did the Great
Depression and WWII create permanent
change for Americans?