WWII

America at War

Declarations of War

U.S. declared war on Japan on

December 8, 1941
December 11, Germany and
Italy declared war on the U.S.
Another fatal blunder by Hitler
Germany not obligated to
declare war against U.S.
U.S. did not attack Japan first
Guaranteed that the U.S. would
focus most of its military might
on Germany first, rather than
Japan.
Britain and U.S. decided to focus
on Germany first;
later concentrate on Japan

True Story

The First World War was in its last hours,

millions of soldiers on both sides were dead
and those who fought on knew the end was
near, as did English Private Henry Tandey
who served with the Duke of Wellington's
Regiment.
In September of 1918, on the French
battlefield of Marcoing, he won the Victoria
Cross for bravery, one of many medals the
27 year old would win during the 'war to end
all wars.' As the battle of Marcoing raged,
Allied and German forces engaged in bitter
hand to hand combat. The defining moment
for Private Tandey and world history came
when a wounded German limped directly
into his line of fire.
"I took aim but couldn't shoot a wounded
man," said Tandey, "so I let him go."
Years later he discovered he had spared an
Austrian Corporal named Adolf Hitler.

Hitler himself never forgot that pivotal

moment or the man who had spared him.
On becoming German Chancellor in 1933,
he ordered his staff to track down Tandey's
service records. They also managed to
obtain a print of an Italian painting showing
Tandey carrying a wounded Allied soldier on
his back, which Hitler hung with pride on the
wall at his mountain top retreat at
Berchtesgaden. He showed the print to
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
during his historic visit in 1938 and
explained its special significance.
The Fhrer seized that occasion to have his
personal gratitude relayed to Tandey, which
Chamberlain conveyed via telephone on his
return to London from that most fateful trip.
Henry Tandey left military service before the
start of World War II and worked as a
security guard in Coventry. His "good deed"
haunted him for the rest of his life,
especially as Nazi bombers destroyed
Coventry in 1940 and London burned day
and night during the Blitz.
"If only I had known what he would turn out
to be. When I saw all the people, woman
and children, he had killed and wounded I
was sorry to God I let him go," he said
before his death in 1977 at age 86.

Japanese Conquests in Pacific

U.S. islands of Guam & Wake Island fell
by end of December
Japan controlled Singapore, Dutch East
Indies, SE Asia peninsula,
Hong Kong, and Burma by spring 1942
Philippines taken in March 1942
Australia in their sights

Japanese Resources

Controlled 95% of world's raw

rubber; 70% of tin; 70% of rice.
Oil from Dutch East Indies
fueled Japans war machine
Rice from Vietnam fed Japanese
soldiers
Dominated a total population of
450 million
Played on Asians bitterness of
European colonial rule
"Asia for the Asians"
Forced labor for construction
projects; often abused the
population
Nationalists organized
resistance to Japanese rule (like
Chiang kai-shek in China)

Asia for Asians

US Home Front
Military Mobilization

Selective Service registration

expanded to men 18-65 after
Pearl Harbor
258,000 women enlisted as
WAC's (Women's Army Corp),
WAVES (Women Appointed for
Voluntary Emergency Service)
medical & technical support
cryptography (codes) decoding
By war's end, 16 million men and
women served.
only 72,000 claimed
"conscientious objection"
only 5,500 refused to register;
were jailed
Nearly a million African Americans
served in segregated units.

"Rosie the Riveter"

Over 5 million women joined labor force

during the war
Many work in aircraft, munitions, and
automobile industries.
Propaganda urged women to fill ranks of
the nations assembly lines
Films characterized "Rosie the Riveter" as
an American heroine
Womens magazines and newspapers
discussed the suitability of women's smaller
hands for "delicate" tasks.
Womens wages from industrial jobs
increase
paves the way for postwar consumer
demand.
Despite gains, 1945 average womans pay
was still less than 2/3 that of a male worker
at wars end, pressures increased on
women to return to homemaking rather
than to stay in the work force.

Rosie the Riveter

(2 min stretch break!)

Office of Economic Stabilization

Froze prices and rents at March

1942 levels
Rationing Certificate Plan: buy
cars, tires, typewriters, etc.:
Apply to a local rationing board. If
accepted, you received a
certificate allowing you to buy the
item.
Coupon Plan -- more widely used
Families issued coupon books to
buy of meat, coffee, sugar, gas,
Number of coupons based on
family size.
No coupons, no purchase.
Anti-inflation measures successful
a. WWI cost of living up
170%
b. WWII -- less than 29%

Beginning of National Debt

1941 = $49 billion

1945 = $259 billion
2009 = $11+ trillion
2/5 was pay as we go; 3/5
was borrowed!
New Deal + WWII =
"warfare welfare" state
Govt sold bonds to citizens
Buy now for $100
Govt promises to pay back
$150 after x number of
years
Government needs money
NOW

Manhattan Project1942
TOP SECRET

Established to research all aspects

of building A-bomb.
Formed after Albert Einstein
warned FDR in 1939 that Germany
was working on building a bomb
through nuclear fission.
Conducted at various locations with
scientists from various countries.
Los Alamos, New Mexico -- group
charged with building the bomb
itself
Headed by Dr. J. Robert
Oppenheimer
Trinity -- first test July 16, 1945 in
desert outside Alamogordo, New
Mexico.

US Army tests atomic bomb

Wartime Discrimination

During war years, there was

massive migration of minorities to
industrial centers.
Competition for scarce resources
(e.g. housing) & racial tension in
the workplace.
Violence plagued 47 cities, the
worst example occurring in Detroit.
Detroit Race Riot in June, 1943;
25 blacks dead; 9 whites;
6,000 federal troops needed to
restore order
$2 million in property damage

A. Philip Randolph

Blacks were excluded from well-paying jobs in

war-related industries.
Randolph made three demands of the president
i. Equal access to defense jobs
ii. Desegregation of the armed forces
iii. End to segregation in federal
agencies
March on Washington Movement -- Randolph
proposed a black March on Washington in 1941
if his conditions were not met.
Result: Govt agencies, job training programs, &
defense contractors ended segregation
Randolph dubbed "father of the Civil Rights
movement"
NAACP grew from 50,000 before the war, to
500,000 members by wars end

Executive Order 9066

Interning Japanese Americans
FDR authorized the War Dept. to
declare the West Coast a "war
theater".
110,000 people of Japanese
ancestry forcibly interned.
Pearl Harbor left public paranoid
that people of Japanese ancestry
living in California might help Japan.
1/3 were Issei -- foreign born
rest were Nisei -- American born
usually too young to vote
removal of people of Japanese
ancestry to 10 locations in 7 states
They were given 48 hours to
dispose of their belongings
families received only about 5%
compensaton of their possessions
value.

Japanese Internment

Weather Conditions usually harsh, yet many remained loyal to US

after 1943, 17,600 Nisei fought in US Army.
Relocation became "necessary" when other states would not accept
Japanese residents from California.
Army considered Japanese potential spies.
Represented the greatest violation of civil liberties during WWII.
$105 million of farmland lost
$500 million in yearly income; unknown personal savings.
No act of sabotage was ever proven against any Japanese - American

Camps closed in March, 1946

1988, President Reagan
officially apologized for
US govts actions
approved in principle
the payment of
reparations to camp
survivors totaling $1.25
billion.
In 1990 Congress
appropriated funds to
pay $20,000 to each
internee.

World in 1942

The Grand Alliance

Allied Powers
Coalition of the nations at war
against the Axis Powers
Hitler first: Churchill & FDR
wanted to concentrate on
defeating Germany before giving
Japan higher priority.
Many who were outraged from
Pearl Harbor complained.
Germany posed existential threat
to Britain Japan far away

C. Military Plan:
1. Economic blockades on
Germany & Italy
2. Air attacks on Germany
3. Peripheral strikes in the
Mediterranean
4. Final direct assault on
Germany

Allied Defeats in Pacific

First 6 months, it seemed Allied Powers would
lose the war in Asia and the Pacific
Japanese took Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong,
Singapore, Burma, Dutch East Indies and the
Philippines.
Important Burma Road supply route into China
from India was cut.
Australia in Japanese crosshairs

U.S. loss of the Philippines

20,000 U.S. troops led by
General Douglas MacArthur
withdrew to Bataan, close to
Manila, but eventually
surrendered.
Bataan death march 85-mile
forced march of U.S. GIs who
were tortured and some
eventually burned alive.
MacArthur ordered by
Washington to leave for Australia:
"I shall return (to Philipines)

Assumed command of all

Allied Pacific forces

Doolittle Raid
militarily insignificant raid on Japan in
April,1942
retaliation for Pearl Harbor.
Helped American morale since U.S. had
not yet struck back after Pearl Harbor.
Bombed Tokyo before crash landing in
China

Turning Point: Battle of Stalingrad

(Sept. 1942)
Perhaps most important battle of the war
First major German defeat on land.
Henceforth, German army in retreat from the
east until Berlin occupied by the Soviets in
the spring of 1945.
Stalin never forgave the Allies for not
opening a 2nd front earlier;
USSR had to bear the full brunt of German
invasion.
Churchill opted for North Africa instead.

Images of Stalingrad from their

point of view

Clip
Enemy at the Gates
Scenes 2 & 3
Crossing the Volga and the Suicide
Charge

North Africa -- Operation "Torch"

led by Gen. Eisenhower

British had been fighting German Panzer divisions in North Africa since
1941.
Germans led by General Irwin Rommel (the "Desert Fox")
Nov. 1943, 100,000 Allied troops invaded North Africa in Algeria &
Morocco

Battle of El Alameinsignaled end of German presence in North Africa

Pushed Rommel all the way to Tunisia; massive German casualties.

Clip
WWII Battlefront
Atlantic II
N. Africa

Invasion of Italy

commanded by George C. Patton

July 1943, British and U.S. forces
land on Sicily; victorious within 1
month
Mussolini forced out of power by
officials within fascist party.
June 4, 1944 -- Allies march into
Rome
First capital city freed from Nazi
control
Other parts of Italy remained under
Nazi control until spring 1945.
U.S. military leaders frustrated with
focus on Italy in 1943 as it had little
strategic value; sought opening a
second front in Western Europe
Churchill wanted Italy so FDR
acquiesced; Stalin extremely
frustrated

Allied Diplomacy: Tehran

Conference (Nov. Dec. 1943)

Allies agree to an invasion of Europe

for 1944
Stalin reaffirmed the Soviet
commitment to enter war against
Japan
Allies discussed coordination of Soviet
offensive with allied invasion of France
Disputes over postwar world
Stalin insisted on Soviet control of
Eastern Europe and division of
Germany
Churchill demanded democratic
governments in Eastern Europe and a
unified Germany after the war to
preserve a balance of power in
Europe.
FDR acted as a mediator and believed
he could work with Stalin to achieve a
postwar peace within the construct of
the United Nations (UN)

D-Day (June 6, 1944): Invasion of

Normandy
"Operation Overlord"
Perhaps the wars most
important battle
Commanded by General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
120,000 troops left England and
stormed 5 beachheads at
French Normandy Coast.
800,000 more men within 3
weeks; 3 million total
Demonstrated significance of
Battle of Britain four years
earlier
Casualties during D-Day: 2,245
Allies killed; 1,670 wounded

Significance of Battle
Second front established (to USSRs joy)
August 25, 1st Allied troops enter Paris.
By end of summer, Belgium, France and Luxembourg
liberated

Had Allies failed, Hitler could have focused on Eastern

Front
Or perhaps negotiated a peace with Stalin leaving most of
Europe under Nazi control.

Clip
Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan
Day of Days
Minutes 2 - 11

Invasion of Germany

Pre-invasion bombing
i. Hamburg all but
wiped out in summer 1943
ii. Berlin and other
major cities and targets hit
repeatedly
US employs carpet bombing
and firebombing tactics.
Level entire cities
Especially factories and oil
refineries.
Initial Allied invasion in Sept.
1944 repelled by Germany
Germany held the River Rhine
by mid-September on the edge
of Germany.
Rhine was last major line of
defense to Berlin

Battle of the Bulge

(December 16, 1944)
Biggest land battle the United
States Army has ever been in any
of its wars
Germans launched last major
surprise offensive on U.S.
positions in Belgium and
Luxembourg -- U.S. casualties:
nearly 80,000
General George Patton and his
101st Airborne Division stopped
Hitlers last gasp counter-offensive
By January, the Allies were once
more advancing toward Germany.
Britain & US attacked Dresden with
fire bombs killing 100,000 civilians
& destroying factories and rail
lines.

Battling Bastards of Bastogne

101st Airborne Division
surrounded by Germans
at Bastogne, Belgium
German commander
asks for surrender
American General replies
Nuts
US troops withstand
German artillery barrages
and hold out until Pattons
army breaks through lines
and relieves them

Clip
WWII:Battlefront
Disc 5
Battle of the Bulge

April 1945

U.S. approached Berlin from west while

Soviets came from east.
German resistance in Italy collapsing.
Mussolini caught by Italian resistance and
gruesomely publicly killed by the
masses
Hitler went into bunker under Chancellery in
April
Marries long time mistress Eva Braun
Hitlers loyal companion to the end,
Propoganda Minister Josef Goebbels
commits suicide with his wife and 6 children
Hitler committed suicide with Eva on April
30.
Germany surrendered unconditionally on
May 7, 1945
Allies celebrated V-E Day (Victory in
Europe Day)

Japan Finally Pushed Back

Battle of the Coral Sea
(May 1942)
Entire battle in open seas fought with
aircraft.
Age of battleship sea battles over Now
the Aircraft Carriers rule the seas
Japan prevented from successfully
invading New Guinea and Australia.

Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942)

turning point in the Pacific war
Allies broke the Japanese intelligence
codes
Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers (of 10)--7 of
11 other ships destroyed; 250 planes lost
Significance: Japan no longer had any
hopes of attacking US mainland.
Yet, Japanese- Americans still interned

Clip
WWII Battlefront
Pacific Campaign
The Battle of Midway

Island Hopping
began in 1943
eventually pushed Japanese
forces all the way back to
Japan
Sought to neutralize
Japanese island strongholds
with air and sea power and
then hop on to another island
Battle of Guadalcanal
(Solomon Islands -- August
1942-February 1943)
First Japanese land defeat
after 6 months of brutal
jungle fighting.

Iwo Jima (February, 1945) &

Okinawa (April - June, 1945)

Fighter planes now close enough to bomb Japan (would escort

B-29s coming from the Marianas)
50,000 American casualties resulted from fierce fighting which
virtually destroyed Japans remaining defenses.
Japanese fight by Bushido warrior code of fighting every
battle to the last man
To surrender is considered traitorous which is why American
POWs suffered under brutal, inhumane conditions
Bloodshed influenced the eventual use of the atomic bomb to
prevent further U.S. casualties from ground assaults.
Bombing of Japan resulted in destruction of most major cities
March 1945, 100,000+ die in a single Tokyo raid; 60% of
buildings destroyed

Clip
Fog of War
Lesson #5

Death of FDR
Allies marching on Berlin
FDR elected to an
unprecedented fourth
term in office.
April 12, 1945 -- FDR
died at Warm Springs,
GA (before V-E day)
Vice President Harry
Truman becomes
president

Allied Diplomacy: Potsdam

Conference (July-Aug, 1945)
Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met at Potsdam,
Eastern Germany.
Conference disagreed on most issues; war
alliance beginning to break down.
During conference, Truman ordered dropping of
the atomic bomb on Japan.
Approvals given to concept of war-crimes trials
against Germany and Japan, and the
demilitarization and denazification of Germany

Potsdam Conference
(Mid-July August 1945)
Three allied leaders
(Truman, Stalin, and
Clement Atlee) warned
Japan to surrender or suffer
"complete and utter
destruction.
Japan refused removal of
emperor but showed signs
in secret dispatches it might
be willing to surrender if
emperor remains on throne.
Military advisors warn of
casualties as high as 1
million if U.S. invades
Japan.

Hiroshima

August 6, 1945 -- First atomic

bomb ("Little Boy") dropped on
Hiroshima
80,000 incinerated immediately;
100,000 injured
Countless die later of radiation
sickness or cancer
Bomb dropped by the bomber,
the Enola Gay
Japanese govt still did not
surrender
August 8, Soviet Union entered
the war against Japan as
promised

Nagasaki and V-J

August 9, 2nd bomb ("Fat Man") dropped
on Nagasaki; 60,000 dead
August 14, Japan surrendered
World War II is over.
Sept 2, Japanese formally surrendered
aboard U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
U.S.S. Missouri was at Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941

Clip

WWII: A Complete History

Disc 5
Episode 13
Ch.7

Atomic Debate

The decision to drop the

atomic bomb became
controversial in later few
decades
Most compelling reason for
dropping the bomb was that it
saved countless U.S. lives who
would have had to invade
Japan
may have also saved
Japanese lives since massive
conventional bombing of
Japan continued.

Debate on
Bloody U.S. victories at Iwo Jima and
Okinawa were only a preview of the
horrific carnage that would occur if U.S.
invaded the mainland.
Japan was preparing women and children
to defend Japan as well.
Japan had started the war with a sneak
attack; the U.S. was finishing it.

Before & After

Other Possibilities
Recent scholarship suggests Truman
sought to intimidate Soviet Union in the
post-war world by using the bomb.
Proponents of Trumans decision say this
was not the key issue in Trumans decision;
Ending the war was the overriding goal
Some suggest a demonstration of the
bomb to Japan was a viable alternative.
Yet, U.S. did not know if the bomb would
work
And only two bombs were even available in
August 1945

Still others

Some military officials believed Japan could

be broken by the naval blockade and
continued conventional bombing.
General Eisenhower later lamented bombs
use.
Critics of the decision maintain that Japan
may have surrendered if the emperor had
been allowed to remain on the throne.
The U.S. refused.
After the bombs were dropped, the U.S. let
the emperor remain.
Occupation much easier
Some critics argue that Hiroshima was not a
crucial military target and that civilians were
the target.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been spared of
bombing up until then.
Some critics argue that even if Hiroshima
bombing was somewhat justified, the quick
bombing of Nagasaki three days later was not.
Japan though, had not surrendered yet

Allied Diplomacy: Yalta Conference

(Feb. 1945)

Big Three met to discuss postwar Europe

Stalin agreed to enter Pacific war within 3
months after Germany surrendered
Stalin agreed to a Declaration of Liberated
Europe which called for free elections
Called for a global organization, the UN, to
meet in NY beginning on April 25, 1945
Agreed USSR would have 3 votes in the
General Assembly
The US, Great Britain, Soviet Union, France
and China would be the 5 permanent
members of the Security Council
Germany divided into occupied zones and a
coalition government of communists and
non-communists was agreed for Poland
Poland later surrenders to Communism (the
USSR)

Aftermath

46-55 million dead; 35 million wounded;

3 million missing
About 30 million soldiers died (including
about 405,000 Americans)
25 million civilians
15 million in USSR alone (23 million
combined with military casualties
30 million Europeans lost their
homeland (60% of them German) and
relocated
Massive destruction of cities (4 million
homes in Britain; 7 million buildings in
Germany; 1,700 towns destroyed in
USSR)
By comparison, US lost 5 civilians, all at
once, to a Japanese balloon bomb in
the Pacific Northwest
Damage to U.S. mainland included a
slightly damaged oil refinery in Santa
Barbara and a damaged baseball
backstop.

Holocaust
Six million Jews were
liquidated as part of Hitler's
"Final Solution"
Six million others also
killed including Gypsies,
Homosexuals, Soviet
POWs, physically
handicapped, Jehova's
Witnesses and political
opponents.

US Response

U.S. response to Europes Jews before

and during the war was biased.
"Americanism" of 1920s continued into
1940s with strong anti- Semitism
40% of German immigration quota
between 1933 & 1945 was unfilled while
German Jews tried to get into the U.S.
At a meeting in Canada of most of the
Western Hemispheres govts., the Evian
Conference, the issue of allowing Jewish
refugees to enter their countries was
discussed
Of all nations in the Western
Hemisphere, the Dominican Republic
offered to allow the most refugees
At one point, U.S. forced a ship full of
German Jews that had made it to U.S.
shores to turn around and go back to
Europe.
Many were documented to have died in
Nazi camps.
US civilians were also unaware as to the
existence of any of the death camps