The War Goes Global
Japanese Advances in Asia
Reasons for Attack
• In response to the oil embargo placed on Japan
in 1940 by Britain and the United States, the
Japanese government prepared for war against
the Western powers
• With less than a years oil reserves, the
Japanese decided to respond with force
• Plans to seize the Dutch East Indies, the
Philippines, and British Singapore and Malaysia
were set in motion
December 7, 1941
Japan’s New World Order
• Similar to Nazi ambitions in Western
Europe, the Japanese wanted to establish
a “Greater-South-East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere” under Japanese leadership
• Pearl Harbour
• A task force of 6 Japanese Aircraft
Carriers and other ships cross 3400 miles
in secrecy and attack the American fleet
•
Pearl Harbour
• While laying in port, the Japanese air
forces struck the U.S. navy with 180
planes (bombers and fighters)
• In less than an hour, the U.S. lost over 200
planes, 2000 men, 6 battleships, 3
cruisers and 3 destroyers
• The Japanese lost only 29 planes
December 7, 1941
(S.S. W.Virginia)
Collapse in Malaya and Singapore
• Prior to the war, the British army had stationed
130,000 British, Indian, and Australian troops in
the region
• Against them, 90,000 Japanese troops landed in
Malaysia and quickly captured the British air
fields
• With control of the skies, the Japanese quickly
destroyed the British positions and forced a
retreat to Singapore
• At the end of March 1942, the Japanese
controlled Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya and
the Philippines + 200,000 captured Allied POW
Why such a collapse?
• Due to feelings of racial superiority, the
Allies were unprepared for war with Japan
• When a British general was told of the
landings in Singapore and Malaysia, he
responded by saying “push the little yellow
men off.”
• They felt that the Japanese could not fly
their planes properly because of “the
differences in their eye structures”
Japanese Advance to 1942
1943
The Allies
Strike Back
Africa
• By 1943, with the Americans now fully engaged
in the war, a Europe first policy prevailed at
crushing Germany before Japan
• Prior to 1942, Italian forces had been attacking
British forces in Egypt (200,000 vs. 30,000)
• Italian army was ill trained, and unable to defeat
British with superior numbers
• American and British forces now decided to
push the Germans out of Africa in order to attack
Italy
African Defeat
• With the British approaching from Egypt,
the Americans from North West Africa, the
Germans were squeezed between these
two armies
• While the German and Italian forces put
up fierce resistance, they surrender in May
of 1943
• 275,000 German soldiers surrendered
Into Italy
• Much debate now raged as what to do
next for the Allies
• The Soviet Union wanted a second front to
relieve their troops in the East
• The United States wants a cross channel
invasion into France
• British PM Churchill wanted to attack Italy
and knock them out of the war
• What they received was a difficult fight in
the Italian hills and mountains
• July 10 – 1943
• Allies invade Sicily and capture the island
after a month of heavy fighting
• Two weeks later, Mussolini is removed
from power and imprisoned in N. Italy
• September 3 – 1943
• Allies invade mainland Italy after months
of intensive bombings to force a surrender
• September 8 – 1943
• Italian government surrenders
German Response
• German troops seize control of cities in
north and central Italy, including Rome
• German commander withdraws all troops
from the south and fortifies his positions
around the central mountain region
• Over 300,000 Allied troops and 500,000
Germans would become casualties in the
heavy fighting that would continue until the
German surrender in 1945
Operation Overlord
• June 6, 1944
• Allies began invasion with dropping 5000
pounds of bombs and 21,000 paratroopers
on key areas to secure the night before
• With 5000 ships and 150,000 men, the
Allies land across the channel in France
• With total allied air superiority, the
Germans were unable to launch a serious
counterattack
• The Retreat to Germany had now begun
Post D-Day
• By the next day, over 150,000 Allied were
ashore in Normandy, France
• By D-Day + 20, the Allies had over 1.5
million men in France
• 50,000 German soldiers were killed and
200,000 taken prisoner
• By August 26, General Charles De Gaulle
liberated Paris with his Free French forces
(They had fought in Africa and Italy with
the Allies)
Road to Surrender
• With the Allies now firmly in Western
France, and the Soviets advancing in the
East, the defeat of Germany was now
approaching
• 1944 – Albert Speer (German War
minister)
• Ordered full mobilization
• All women under 50 now mobilized for
production
• All men between 12-50 now in militia
Casablanca Conference
• 1943
• British and U.S. agree to round the clock
bombing of all German targets
• “Systematic obliteration, one by one, of the
centres of German war production”
• British Air Marshall Harris
• Orders “saturation bombing” of large
towns and cities to cause as much loss
of civilian life as possible
Dresden Firestorm
- 35,000 killed
Allied Bombing Effects
•
•
•
•
•
Hamburg – 30,000 dead, 80% destroyed
Dresden – 35,000 dead
Totals: (1943-45)
500,000 German civilians killed
100,000+ children
Battle of the Bulge
• Last German offensive of the war
• 250,000 men and 1000 tanks attempt to
drive a wedge between the British and
American armies
• Ironically, it was through the Ardennes
forest
• Despite early success with newest Tiger II
tanks, the attack failed due to lack of fuel
and Allied air power after 6 weeks
Defeat and Division
January 30, 1945
• Hitler gives his last speech to Germany
• Orders a ‘scorched earth policy’ and urges
a fight to the end
• Privately, he tells his close ministers that
the German people deserve their fate for
‘betraying’ their Fuhrer
The End at Berlin
• When the Western Allies crossed the
Rhine river in March of 1945, over 500,000
Germans surrendered after the Allies
crossed the Rhine River
• While Hitler ordered a fight to the death,
his 1 million soldiers were no match, and
many were now old men and young boys
• Many lacked any training, but were
determined to fight due to stories of Soviet
revenge on civilians
Battle of Berlin
• Mid-April, 1945, Soviet forces surrounded
Berlin with:
• 2.5 million men
• 6000 tanks
• 45,000 artillery guns and rocket launchers
• April 16, 1945: Day 1 of Attack
• Soviets fire more than 1 million shells and
order a full scale bombing raid
• April 21, 1945 – Soviets breach German
defences
• April 30, 1945 – Hitler kills himself
• May 2, 1945 – Berlin surrenders
• May 8, 1945:
• Germany surrenders unconditionally
• War in Europe Ends
Yalta Conference
• February 4, 1945
• Meeting of the “Big Three” - many agreements
made
• Consisted of U.K. P.M. Churchill, Stalin and U.S.
President Roosevelt
• Applied the principal of the Atlantic Charter to
liberated nations
• Poland – boarders and future agreed upon
• There was an agreement that the priority would be the
unconditional surrender of Germany. After the war
Germany would be split into four occupied zones.
• Stalin agreed that France would have a fourth
occupation zone in Germany
• Berlin would be split into 4 zones.
• Germany would undergo demilitarization and
denazification.
• Stalin agreed to enter the fight against Japan after the
defeat of Germany.
• UN was agreed upon