TOPIC: Fighting WWII / End of WWII EUROPEAN THEATER OPERATION OVERLORD. THE D-DAY INVASION The Battle of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day. 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest land and water military assaults in history and required extensive planning. THE PLAN THE EVENT ! Planned by Eisenhower ! D-Day: June 6, 141 ! Surprise attack on Germans in France ! Largest US invasion to date ! Operation Overlord – land at Normandy Beach ! By land and sea THE IMPACT ! Patton’s Army breaks through German lines ! France is liberated ! TURNING POINT: puts Germany on the defensive – opens up two fronts PACIFIC THEATER After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan achieved a long series of military successes. In December 1941, Guam and Wake Island fell to the Japanese, followed in the first half of 1942 by the Philippines. Japan was beginning to control the Pacific, a major threat to the United States. The Allies needed to stop Japan’s advances. The Battle of Midway The turning point of the War in the Pacific came at the island of Midway. A Japanese victory at Midway would prove Japan’s superiority in the Pacific. 1,000 miles northwest of Hawaii, Midway Island was an important strategic objective for the Japanese Navy. With the largest fleet in the Pacific Ocean, their confidence ran high. Control of Midway meant control of the Pacific. However, the United States had cracked Japanese message codes, which allowed the U.S. Pacific Fleet to set up an ambush. Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded a considerable force, including three aircraft carriers to Midway Island. Japanese fighters were met by a strong air and sea response by the U.S. The battle was a decisive victory for the United States that ended the Japan threat to the Hawaiian Islands and the United States mainland. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were basically balanced, and the United States quickly seized the offensive. THE BATTLE WHY IS IT A TURNING POINT? ! The United States beats Japan at the Battle of Midway. ISLAND HOPPING After the Battle of Midway, the United States launched a counter-offensive strike known as "island-hopping," establishing a line of overlapping island bases, as well as air control. The idea was to capture certain key islands, one after another, until Japan came within range of American bombers. Led by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific, Only the Japanese army and the feared kamikaze stood before the Allies and Japan. The Kamikazes were Japanese suicide pilots. They would sink Allied ships by crash- diving their bomb-filled planes into them. Kamikaze pilots launched suicide attacks deliberately crashing their airplanes, loaded with explosives, into enemy targets especially US warships. UNITED STATES STRATEGY JAPANESE STRATEGY ! Island hopping is… ! Kamikazes are… Iwo Jima & Okinawa The first major battle of WWII on Japanese homeland was the Battle of Iwo Jima. The island of Iwo Jima was a strategic location because the US needed a place for fighter planes and bombers to land and take off when attacking Japan. On the first day of the battle 30,000 US marines landed on the shores of Iwo Jima. The first soldiers that landed weren't attacked by the Japanese. They thought that the bombings from US planes and battleships may have killed the Japanese. They were wrong. The Japanese had dug all sorts of tunnels and hiding places all over the island. They were waiting quietly for more marines to get on shore. Once a number of marines were on shore they attacked. After 36 days of brutal fighting, the US had finally secured the island of Iwo Jima. The capture of Iwo Jima brought the US one step closer to Japan. The battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg, took place in April-June 1945. This island, laying just 340 miles from Japan, was crucial to the American war strategy; from there, they could successfully launch bombing raids on the Japanese homeland. It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. On June 21, 1945 the Battle of Okinawa was finally over. The BBC reported: “Okinawa has finally fallen to the Americans after a long and bloody battle. The island will now provide the Americans with an invaluable air and naval base from which to launch a sustained and forceful attack on the mainland. PACIFIC WAR ! Two major islands captured by US: _________________ & _____________________. ! Why was US victory in these locations important? GERMAN SURRENDER In May 1945, before the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific, the European war had come to an end. On May 8th, German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms and surrendered. Millions of people rejoiced in the news that Germany had surrendered, relieved that the intense strain of total war was finally over. In towns and cities across the world, people marked the victory with street parties, dancing and singing. But it was not the end of the conflict, nor was it an end to the impact the war had on people. The Japanese had not surrendered, and the war in the Pacific would rage on. JAPANESE SURRENDER After Okinawa, the next stop for the Allies had to be Japan. President Truman’s advisers had informed him than an invasion of the Japanese homeland might cost the Allies half a million lives. Truman had to make a decision whether to use a powerful new weapon called the atomic bomb, or A-bomb. Most of his advisers felt that using it would bring the war to the quickest possible end. The bomb had been developed by the top-secret Manhattan Project, headed by General Leslie Groves and chief scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Truman first learned of the new bomb’s existence when he became president. After receiving no reply to his threat that "prompt and utter destruction" would follow if the Japanese did not surrender unconditionally, Truman authorized the use of the bomb on Japan. ! On August 6, 1945 an American B-29 bomber named the “Enola Gay” dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The device exploded over the city with a force of 12,500 tons of TNT. “[The city] had been there just a few minutes before . but it was absolutely gone,” said one witness. About 140,000 people were killed instantly or died due to injury or radiation poisoning within months of the blast at Hiroshima. ! Truman called for surrender the day after the bombing at Hiroshima once more, but once more the Japanese government refused. On August 9, about 80,000 people died after the United States dropped a second bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. A total of 210,000 civilians died in the two atomic blasts. ! Six days later, the Japanese government signed an unconditional surrender. World War II was over. END OF THE WAR ! Germany surrendered in __________________ (month) 1945. ! Japan surrendered in ____________________ (month) 1945. ! What did the United States do to force the Japanese to surrender? ! Based on the information, what drove the United States to take this action? Why did they choose to do this? TRUMAN’S DECISION President Truman explained his decision to drop the bomb “The Japanese were self-proclaimed fanatic warriors who made it clear that they preferred death to defeat in battle… I pleaded with the Japanese to surrender in my speech announcing Germany’s surrender, but I was not too surprised when they refused… General George Marshall estimated that we would probably lose 500,000 in taking the two islands… I dropped the bomb on the advice of a committee of top political and military leaders. These advisors said it was necessary if we were to end the war quickly with a minimum loss of American lives. They further recommended that dropping the bomb on a deserted target would not bring an end to the war; dropping it on a Japanese city, they thought, would. My decision was a military one, and we therefore chose as targets cities with strategic significance. After the fire bombing of Tokyo, the Japanese didn’t surrender. After the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they did. I guess I was right after all.” THINK What reasons does Truman give for dropping the atomic bomb? NOTABLE EVENTS DURING WWII ! November 1944: FDR is elected to a FOURTH TERM as president ! April 1945: FDR dies and HARRY TRUMAN becomes President ! 1947: 22nd Amendment limits Presidents to two terms ! The Manhattan Project: secret military project to develop the atomic bomb o Led by Dr. Robert Oppenheimer o July 16, 1945: successful test explosion of an atomic bomb at Alamogordo, NM POSTWAR PLANS ! COST OF THE WAR: o 292,000 Americans dead, 671,000 wounded o Advances in technology (aviation, radar, medical procedures, penicillin, atomic energy) ! US emerges as the most powerful nation in the world ! YALTA CONFERENCE: (February 1945) o Big Three: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin – meet to discuss the postwar world o Stalin agrees to free elections in Poland o Agree to divide Germany into four zones (British, American, French and Soviet) o Agree to establish a United Nations IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE UNITED STATES THE TROOPS COME HOME The assimilation of World War I veterans back to civilian life didn’t go well. With so many men flooding the labor market, many couldn’t make ends meet, even with help from government programs. Congress stepped in and passed the Bonus Act of 1924, which promised veterans a bonus based on number of days served.