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U.S. in World War II. Objectives Describe challenges & successes mobilizing for war Describe how war impacted Americans at home Summarize how Allies win war in Europe Describe Allied offensive against Japanese Explain why Atomic bomb dropped
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U.S. in World War II • Objectives • Describe challenges & successes mobilizing for war • Describe how war impacted Americans at home • Summarize how Allies win war in Europe • Describe Allied offensive against Japanese • Explain why Atomic bomb dropped • Describe how war affected minorities
Dec. 7, 1941 “Day of Infamy” President Roosevelt Addresses Congress Dec. 8, 1941 Declare war on Japan; Join Allies
U.S. Enters the War • Enlarged Military • 5 million volunteered • Selective Service • 10 million drafted • 8 weeks training • Propaganda
Wartime Production • 1942 - War Production Board • Industries changeover to war materials • 1943 - Office of War Mobilization • Centralized resources-gov’t decides • Ford Motor Co. – B-24 Liberator bombers • Assembly line techniques • Henry Kaiser – mass production • Liberty Ships – production time reduced 200 to 40 days
Wartime Production • Unemployment vanishes • By 1945 • Thousands planes, ships, rifles, tanks, armored cars, etc., being produced • Wages go up • Cost of living goes up • Union membership goes up • Federal debt goes up $43B - $260B
War at Home • Shortages & rationing • Food supply down • Inflation up – Office of Price Administration • Fair distribution of scarce items • Activities • Reading, music, baseball, movies • Abbott & Costello • Birthrate increases • Night time blackout drills • Tin collection drives
War at Home • Victory Gardens supply produce for troops & families • Tomatoes, peas, radishes • Parking lots, playgrounds • Office of War Information - 1942 • Propaganda • Maintain morale and support for war effort • Hire artists – strengthen patriotic feelings • Norman Rockwell – Four Freedoms
Wartime Diversity Issues • 1,000,000 African Americans • 1st supporting roles • Late 1942 – serve in separate units • 300,000 Mexican Americans • 33,000 Japanese Americans • 25,000 Native Americans • 13,000 Chinese Americans • “just carve on my tombstone, ‘here lies a black man killed fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man.’”
Wartime Diversity Issues • Tuskegee Airmen – 1st AA flying unit • Late 1944 – combat units integrate • Philip Randolph • Threatened March on Washington for “right to work and fight for our country.” • FDR issued executive order – Full & equitable participation of all workers in defense industry – “no discrimination of race, creed, color, or national origin.”
Women in the War Women • WAVES - Navy • SPAR • Coast Guard • WAFS • women’s auxiliary firing squadron • WASP • air force service pilots • WAAC (WAC) • Women’s Auxiliary Army Corp.
Women at Home • By 1944 • 6 million workers were women • Myth – women were too slow, not strong enough • Paid 60% of what men make • “Rosie” encouraged women to work “Rosie the Riveter”
Minorities and the War • Despite discrimination – minority groups get chance to show what they can do & see advancement in opportunities
War Strategy Churchill & Roosevelt • Dec. 22, 1941 Whitehouse meeting • Over 3 weeks, Churchill convinced FDR that Hitler was larger threat than Japan • 1st military goal: • Defeat Germany & Italy
Battle of the Atlantic German Wolf Packs – groups of subs • Goal • Cutoff Allied supply lines-food, arms, oil, tanks, planes, etc. • 87 ships sunk in 4 months • 681 in 7 months • Battle went on for years • If Allies didn’t win this “war,” WW2 would have been lost • US Ships, planes help Britain win
Fighting Back – War in Atlantic • Fighting German U-boats, submarines • FDR says “Shoot on sight”
U.S. fights back against U-boats • U.S. Convoys formed • Equipped with radar, sonar • Allows U.S. to find & destroy German U-boats faster then can be built. • 140 Liberty Ships/month
Hitler Attacks Soviets • June 1941 • Hitler attacks Soviet Union • Despite Nonaggression Pact • Invaded over 1,800 miles • Captured 2 million Russian soldiers by Nov. • Germany halted 25 miles outside of Moscow • Russian winter set in • Fierce Russian resistance
Stalingrad & Leningrad • Germans push towards Stalingrad & Leningrad • Deadliest battle in human history • Oil in Caucasus • Bomb, burn • Hand-to-hand combat • Russians want to surrender • Germans hold 90% of city by winter ’42
Soviets to Stalingrad • Winter – advance tanks over ice • Trap Germans in city • Soldiers starve • Want to surrender • Hitler – No! • Jan ’43 surrender • Soviets move toward Germany
Not enough troops to invade France – yet! • Help Britain in N. Africa • Fighting since 1940 • Success in Egypt & Libya • “Soft underbelly of Axis Powers” North African Campaign British General Bernard Montgomery
U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower North African Campaign German General Erwin Rommel
Fighting in N. Africa & Italy • Alliesneed to capture North Arica so they can get into Italy • Very difficult to fight in desert • Hitler sends 20,000 more troops • German General Rommel – called Desert Fox because he’s so good at fighting with tanks in the desert
Fighting in N. Africa & Italy • US loses at KasserinePass • “America losses her battle innocence” • British & US combine forces • By May 1943 - Germans & Italians in North Africa surrender to Allied troops
Fighting in N. Africa & Italy • Allies capture Sicily • Mussolini stripped of power, arrested • “Most hated man in Italy” - Killed • He & mistress hung upside down • Eventually, Allies drive Axis powers out of Italy • Thousands of soldiers die • June 1944, Allied forces won Italian Campaign - Bloody Anzio
Planning for D-Day • Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill meet • Plan to invade France from Southern Great Britain • In preparation for it • Carpet bomb Germany
Planning for D-Day • Carpet bombing of Germany • Dropped 2,697,473 bombs • Killed 305,000 civilians • Damaged 5.5 million homes • Wiped out railroads, bridges, oil fields, etc. • Goal: Stop Germany’s ability to move troops to Normandy beaches once attack starts
Operation Overlord • Goal: Invade NW Europe to reach Germans • General Eisenhower – Supreme Commander • Operation Neptune: Establish a beachhead in Normandy, France -- “D-Day: June 6, 1944” • Troops: British, U.S., Canadian, Polish, Dutch, Belgian, French
Phantom Army • Fake radio messages • Double agents • Phony military base – Dover, England • Buildings, Planes, tanks, jeeps, housing • Made of cardboard, wood, rubber, paper • Led Germans to believe attack would be at Calais • Narrowest point of English Channel
Operation Overlord • 23,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines • Over 150,000 troops land on beaches • Charge enemy lines on open beaches • Massive bombardment, but massive devastation • Chaos – screaming, soldiers hit left & right, bodies everywhere, nothing to hide behind
Results: • Two week duration • Allies held 80 mile strip of beachheads. • Causalities were atrocious
Mulberry Harbor • Artificial harbor built at the beaches • Towed huge concrete ports • Sunk 70 old ships as breakwaters
Beginning of End for Hitler • >4,600 invasion craft and warships • >1,000 bombers hit German defenses • >14,000 aircraft sorties • Took 60 miles of Normandy coast • 12,000 casualties in prep for D-Day • D-Day: 10,000 Allied casualties – 2,500 dead • Total • >425,000 Allied and German troops killed, wounded or missing in Battle for Normandy
Major Victory and Turning Point • Beginning of end for Hitler • Within one year, Germany surrenders • 1 week after D-Day .5 million troops ashore • Late July – 2 million Allied troops in France • French Resistance & Allied forces free Paris - Aug. 25, 1944 • Charles de Gaulle takes over French provisional government
Allies Take Back France • Massive air and land strike against St. Lo. • General Omar Bradley • Broke German line of defense • Led way for . . . • Third Army to reach Seine River • August 25, 1944 • Under U.S. General George Patton & • French resistance fighters • French capital taken back by French • General Charles de Gaulle
Battle of the Bulge • October 1944 • U.S. captured first German town, Aachen • Mid-December German counteroffensive • To recapture Belgian Port of Antwerp • Drive 60 miles into Allied territory • Creates “bulge”