Fighting WWII

1. The ETO and PTO Soldiers from the 2nd ''Dagger'' brigade of the US 1st Infantry Division on a road march during World War II. Fighting WWII

2. The Basics • America enters WWII on Dec. 8, 1941 • FDR and Churchill meet in late December to come up with a strategy to win the war • They knew they could not fight an offensive war on two fronts- Europe and the Pacific- at the same time and be successful • They decided on a strategy of “Europe First” • Concentrate on winning back Europe from the Axis powers and fighting a defensive war again Japan in the Pacific

3. The Axis powers controlled much of Europe and North Africa at the start of 1942. The size of Axis-controlled territory suggests the huge task facing the Allies as they considered strategies for fighting the war.

4. What’s Hitler been doing so far? • Axis powers already: • Failed at conquering Britain • Invaded Soviet Union and overtaken land along the border • Set their sights on Soviet’s Caucasus region • Why did he want this area? • OIL!- already controlled oil fields in Romania but wanted more • Also hoped to prevent Allies from reaching oil in Middle East • In order to do so, Hitler must kick British troops out of Africa (Egypt) • Hitler sent Erwin Rommel and his AfrikaKorps, a tank-based German army division, to join the Italian army already in North Africa. By June 1942, Rommel’s force had taken much of the region and had driven deep into Egypt.

5. Now What? • Now that FDR and Churchill have agreed to focus on Europe first, they must decide where to attack • France? The people would support the Allies, but Germany had a very strong military force present there making invasion very difficult • Italy? Army was fairly weak, so would be a good place to attack, however, sailing through the German U-boat infested Mediterranean Sea would be bad • North Africa? Could serve as a gateway to Europe but was very far from ultimate goal (Germany) so would be difficult to transfer troops/supplies • Soviet Union? Same issues as with N. Africa

6. War in Europe • Also known as the ETO- European Theater of Operations • Where do the Allies go first? North Africa! • Nov. 1942- Allies land in Morocco and Algeria, led by general Dwight D. Eisenhower • British forces were able to defeat Rommel’s troops and push them out of Egypt • The U.S. II Corps: under leadership of George Patton and Omar Bradley, launched a final offensive in May 1943. Axis resistance in the region collapsed, leaving about 250,000 German and Italian soldiers in the hands of the Allies.

7. Where do we go from here? • Italy! Allies cross Mediterranean into the island of Sicily where they met little resistance • The success of the invasion put a scare into Italy’s political leaders. The Fascist Grand Council met on July 24 and voted to restore the king and parliament. Mussolini resigned the next day. Italy soon surrendered to the Allies. Its government signed an armistice in September and declared war on Germany the next month. • Allies success in Italy comes to an end in October when German forces put a stop to American advancement

8. The Allies carefully planned how to free Europe from Axis control. Their strategy called for massive invasions of Axis-held territory. The ultimate focus of the Allied thrust was the German capital of Berlin, where Hitler had his headquarters

9. What about the Soviet’s? • The decision to invade N. Africa had left the Soviet’s alone to fight off the Germans • Battle of Stalingrad: Germans set the city a blaze and Stalin refused to retreat, but was soon surrounded • After two months of fighting, Soviets launched a counteroffensive and were able to encircle the Nazi’s • Which ever German troops weren’t frozen or starved by January of 1943, surrendered to the Soviets and gave up all advancements they had made in the Soviet Union • Casualties: Germany- 200,000/ USSR- 1,000,000

11. Bombs Away! • When Hitler lost the USSR, he only had one source of oil left- Romania • So guess where the Allies decide to bomb? • Precision bombing- used by American pilots in B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to hit specific targets. Flying at high altitude to avoid antiaircraft fire, they dropped bombs on oil refineries, rail yards, factories, and U-boat bases. By the end of the war, Germany’s infrastructure and economy were in ruins. • Saturation bombing- used by British pilots to drops lots of bombs on a large area. The strategy behind the bombing of cities, with its appalling loss of life, was to destroy civilian morale and force a surrender. This strategy turned German cities like Dresden and Hamburg into rubble-strewn graveyards, but it did not bring an early end to the war. • Bombs were dropped on a Polish oil-production facility, just miles away from Auschwitz.

13. D-Freakin’-Day! • Allies wanted to launch an offensive to end the war- Operation Overlord • Eisenhower directed the invasion which consisted of 1,200 warships, 800 transport ships, 4,000 landing craft, 10,000 airplanes, and hundreds of tanks • Plan was to cross English Channel and land in Normandy in northern France • D-Day—the day the invasion began—was June 6, 1944. • Eisenhower sent off his first wave of 156,000 troops • The landing craft unloaded Allied troops on Normandy’s five beaches, while warships provided covering gunfire from offshore. • After the chaos of the landing, the soldiers regrouped. By the end of the first day, the Allies held the entire 59-mile section of the Normandy coast. In July, the American army, under General Bradley, and the British army, under General Bernard Montgomery, began a rapid sweep across France. In August, the Allies liberated Paris. In September, the first American GIs crossed the German border.

14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgs5DgDhsnI&feature=related President Ronald Reagan later described the D-Day invasion of France as the first step in the Allied attempt to “seize back the continent of Europe.” At least 2,500 American, British, and Canadian soldiers died in this effort. Their sacrifices helped turn the tide of the war and end Nazi hopes for world domination.

15. The End is Near- at least in Europe… • As the Allies fought across France, the Soviets were able to continue to push the Germans into Poland • Things came to a halt in December of 1944, when Hitler made plans to attack the Allied lines in the wooded Ardennes region of Belgium, where the American forces were weakest. Eight German armored divisions smashed into the surprised Americans, creating a huge bulge in the American line. Allied air support and quick action by Patton’s Third Army forced the Germans to withdraw by mid-January. The Battle of the Bulge was the last German offensive on the western front • Soviets continued to push through Poland and reached Germany in April of 1945

16. Dates to Remember • April 30th- Hitler commits suicide • May 8th- Germany surrenders, V-E Day • But FDR is not able to celebrate the Allied victory in Europe, he died April 12th His VP, Harry Truman dedicated Victory in Europe Day and its celebrations to Roosevelt's memory, and kept the flags across the U.S. at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period. In doing so, Truman said that his only wish was "that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day."

18. But Let’s Not Forget About the Pacific • After the attack on Pearl Harbor, American forces needed months to regroup • The japanese used this time to gain control of the regions natural resources (oil and rubber) • By March 1942, Japanese had captured British Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam, Wake and the Dutch East Indies • Had invaded but not captured the Phillipines and Burma • The American forces in the Philippines were under control of General Douglas MacArthur and faced harsh resistance along with disease and malnutrition • FDR ordered MacArthur to leave the islands, promising “I shall return” • Bataan Death March- round up of 70,000 American and Filipino prisoners and forced them to march 63 miles from Manila to a POW camp, more than 7,000 died

19. By mid-1942, Japan had taken Southeast Asia and much of the Central and South Pacific. Japan even captured the westernmost islands of Alaska’s Aleutian chain. In August 1943, Allied troops finally pushed the Japanese out of the Aleutians

20. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPlfhVEw-7U

21. Hornet and Doolittle • Discouraged by Japanese victories, Allies decided to target the Japanese home islands • FDR decided that he will launch B-25 bombers off of the Hornet 650 miles off of the coast of Japan • the attack was led by pilot Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, the bombers hit Tokyo and other Japanese cities. Although the bombs did little damage, this surprise attack thrilled Americans as much as it shocked the Japanese. Japan reacted by putting more precious resources into defending the home islands. It also decided to try to destroy the remaining American fleet, a plan that would prove disastrous.

23. What to do in the Pacific