hsus_te_ch11_s01_s.fm Page 466 Tuesday, January 13, 2009 4:25 PM Guadalcanal patch ᮣ Step-by-Step WITNESS HISTORY AUDIO SECTION 1 Instruction Spiders as Big as Your Fist World War II placed U.S. soldiers in a dazzling variety of settings, from mountains to deserts to forests to SECTION 1 tropical isles. One marine described the ordeal of Objectives fighting on a Pacific island: As you teach this section, keep students “It was beautiful, but beneath the loveliness . focused on the following objectives to help Guadalcanal was a mass of slops and stinks and them answer the Section Focus Question and pestilence; of scum-crusted lagoons and vile swamps master core content. inhabited by giant crocodiles; a place of spiders as • Analyze the reasons for and impact of the big as your fist and wasps as long as your finger . Allies’ “Europe First” strategy. of ants that bite like fire, of tree leeches that fall, fasten and suck; of scorpions, of centipedes whose • Explain why the battles of Stalingrad and foul scurrying across human skin leaves a track of Midway were major turning points in the inflamed flesh, of snakes and land crabs, rats and bats war. and carrion birds and of a myriad of stinging insects.” • Discuss how the Allies put increasing —Robert Leckie, Delivered From Evil: The Saga of World War II pressure on the Axis in North Africa and ᮡ American marines on Guadalcanal Europe. The Allies Turn the Tide Prepare to Read Objectives Why It Matters The attack on Pearl Harbor brought America • Analyze the reasons for and impact of the into World War II on the Allied side. In 1942, the Allies began to stop Allies’ “Europe First” strategy. the seemingly unstoppable Axis onslaught. Though years of fighting Background Knowledge L3 lay ahead, the most aggressive threat to world peace and democracy in • Explain why the battles of Stalingrad and Have students recall the situation in modern times had been halted. Section Focus Question: How did the Midway were major turning points in the war. Europe and the Pacific when the Allies turn the tide against the Axis? United States entered World War II. • Discuss how the Allies put increasing pres- Using a world map, point out the areas sure on the Axis in North Africa and Europe. of fighting at this stage of the war. Ask Axis and Allies Plan Strategy students to predict how the United Terms and People By June 1942, the Allies were battered but still fighting. As you States would change the course of Dwight Eisenhower strategic bombing have read, British pilots had fought off a Nazi invasion of their the war. George S. Patton, Jr. Tuskegee Airmen island, while at the Battle of Coral Sea, the U.S. Navy had frustrated unconditional surrender Chester Nimitz Japanese plans to extend their domination in the Pacific. Although saturation bombing Battle of Midway the war was not close to being over, the Allies spied signs of hope. Set a Purpose L3 The Axis Powers never had a coordinated strategy to defeat the ½ WITNESS HISTORY Read the selec- Allies. Germany, Italy, and Japan shared common enemies but nur- tion aloud, or play the audio. Reading Skill: Summarize List the ways in tured individual dreams. Hitler wanted to dominate Europe and elim- inate “inferior” peoples. Mussolini harbored dreams of an Italian Witness History Audio CD, which the Allies turned back the Axis advance. empire stretching from the eastern Adriatic to East Africa. Tojo sought Spiders as Big as Your Fist Turning Back the Axis Japanese control of the Western Pacific and Asia. Ask According to Robert Leckie, In Europe In the Pacific The Allies shared more unified goals. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin considered Germany the most dangerous enemy. None felt what dangers did soldiers in the • Battle against U-boats • Pacific face? (mud, muck, and bad in Atlantic Japan or Italy posed a serious long-term threat. Only Germany had • • air; crocodiles, scorpions, and other the resources to bomb Britain, fight U.S. and British navies on the dangerous creatures) ½ Focus Point out the Section Focus Question, and write it on the board. Tell students to refer to this ques- tion as they read. (Answer appears Use the information below and the following resource to teach students the high-use words with Section 1 Assessment answers.) from this section. Teaching Resources, Vocabulary Builder, p. 12 ½ Preview Have students preview High-Use Word Definition and Sample Sentence the Section Objectives and the list of ultimate adj. final; most advanced Terms and People. The ultimate goal of Roosevelt’s New Deal was to end the Great Depression ½ Using the Guided in the United States. Questioning strategy (TE, p. T20), momentum n. strength, speed, or force that keeps increasing have students read this section. As The Allied forces gained momentum after the United States entered World they read, have students list the War II. steps in which the Allies turned back the Axis advance. Reading and Note Taking Study Guide 466 World War II hsus_te_ch11_s01_s.fm Page 467 Friday, December 5, 2008 11:45 AM Atlantic, and invade the Soviet Union across a 1,200-mile front. Thus, although Vocabulary Builder their ultimate goal was to fight and win a two-front war, the Allies agreed to pur- ultimate–(UHL tuh miht) adj. sue a “Europe First” strategy. Until Hitler was defeated, the Pacific would be a final; most advanced Teach secondary theater of war. Why did the Allies decide to concentrate first on the war in Axis and Allies Plan Europe? Strategy L3 Turning the Tide in Europe Instruct The first blow America struck against the Axis was by fulfilling FDR’s prom- ½ Introduce Ask students to find the ise to be the “arsenal of democracy.” American industries turned out millions of term “Europe First” strategy in the tons of guns, tanks, and other supplies—enough to keep the Soviets and British text. Have students predict reasons battling Germany for years. The problem was delivering the supplies. that explain why the Allies would want to concentrate their first Allies Battle U-Boats in the Atlantic Hitler was determined to cut the sea lines between the United States and Europe before American aid could make a efforts in Europe over other fronts in difference. “Wolf packs” of German U-boats patrolled the Atlantic and Carib- the war. bean, sinking more than 3,500 merchant ships and killing tens of thousands of ½ Teach Have students compare and Allied seamen. “The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war contrast the strategies of the Axis was the U-boat peril,” Churchill later wrote. Powers and the Allies for winning Finally, in mid-1943, the Allies began to win the war in the North Atlantic. As World War II. Ask How was strat- in World War I, convoys of escort carriers protected Allied shipping. A new egy of the Axis Powers flawed? invention, radar, helped Allied vessels locate U-boats on the surface at night. (The Axis Powers did not have a Long-range aerial bombers and underwater depth charges allowed Allied forces coordinated strategy to win the war. to sink U-boats faster than Germany could manufacture them. They shared a common enemy but Soviets Turn Back Nazis at Stalingrad Germany had attacked Russia in had different goals for after the war.) June 1941, sending one army north toward Leningrad, a second east toward Mos- Have students predict how the strat- cow, and a third south toward Stalingrad. Although Hitler’s forces penetrated egies of the Axis and the Allies might deep into Soviet territory, killing or capturing millions of soldiers and civilians, affect the outcome of the World Surrender at Stalingrad they did not achieve their main objective of conquering the Soviet Union. Soviet War II. resistance and a brutal Russia winter stopped the German advance. The long Battle of Stalingrad ended in January 1943 with the surrender of ½ In 1942, Hitler narrowed his sights and concentrated his armies in southern Quick Activity Ask students to German troops like these. Of the Russia. His goal this time was to control the rich Caucasus oil fields. To achieve debate how the outcome of World 91,000 prisoners taken by the Soviets, this objective, he would have to capture the city of Stalingrad. War II might have been different only about 5,000 eventually survived had the Allies decided to divide their The struggle for Stalingrad was especially ferocious. German troops advanced and returned to Germany. slowly, fighting bitter block-by-block, focus of their war effort equally house-by-house battles in the between Europe and the Pacific. bombed-out buildings and rubble. Soviet troops then counterattacked, Independent Practice trapping the German forces. Yet Have students begin filling in their Hitler refused to allow his army to tables by listing the ways in which the retreat. Starving, sick, and suffer- Allies planned to turn back the Axis ing from frostbite, the surviving advance. German troops finally surrendered on January 31, 1943. The battle of Stalingrad was the Monitor Progress true turning point of the war in As students fill in their tables, circu- Europe. It ended any realistic plans late to make sure that they summarize Hitler had of dominating Europe. the steps by which Allies turned back Nazi armies were forced to retreat the Axis advance. For a completed ver- westward back toward Germany. sion of the table, see Note Taking Instead, it was the Soviet Union that Transparencies, B-114. now went on the offensive. L1 Special Needs Students L2 English Language Learners L2 Less Proficient Readers Remind students that the battles of Stalingrad and Write each blue head in this section on the board, Midway were two key turning points in World War II.