World War II (Overview)
Event
Description
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European
Theater
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Pacific
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The Allies decided to first attack the Axis Powers from the south, in North Africa
and then in Italy.
In 1942 a force composed of U.S. and British troops landed in Morocco and
Algeria and attacked Axis forces from the west while British troops attacked
from Egypt.
The Axis forces were finally driven out of North Africa in May 1943.
The Allied armies next invaded Sicily and then mainland Italy. The Italian
government surrendered, but the German army in Italy continued to put up a
tough fight against the Allied troops. The Allies did not reach Rome until June
1944.
Even after the invasion of Italy, the Allies felt they needed to open up a new
front, or area of fighting, in order to speed up the defeat of Germany.
On June 6, 1944, known as D-Day, the Allies launched a huge invasion of
northwestern France, landing on the beaches of Normandy.
By the end of June, the Allies had begun to push the Germans back. A little
less than three months after D-Day, Allied forces reached Paris, and by
October nearly all of France was free from German occupation.
At the end of 1944, the Allied armies were preparing to push into Germany.
This plan was delayed by a sudden German counterattack, called the Battle
of the Bulge. Still, by early 1945 the British and the Americans had crossed into
Germany as Soviet troops were invading from the east.
Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945.
As the fighting ended in Europe, shocked Allied troops discovered that the
Nazis had undertaken a massive effort to kill all European Jews. During the
Holocaust, as it became known, the Nazis forced people into concentration
camps and executed them, ultimately murdering millions.
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces captured Guam,
most of Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and many other Pacific islands.
Japan was preparing to invade Australia when the U.S. Navy inflicted heavy
losses on the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.
Almost a month later the United States won a much bigger victory in the Battle
of Midway, in which four Japanese aircraft carriers were destroyed. This battle
marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific.
Beginning in 1943, U.S. forces invaded Japanese-controlled islands in the
Pacific, slowly advancing toward Japan itself.
Because the Japanese held so many islands and defended each one so
strongly, the Allies landed on only the islands that were strategically important.
They bypassed other Japanese-held islands, cutting them off from supplies
and reinforcements. This strategy was known as island hopping.
The Japanese navy suffered major blows in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in
June 1944 and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.
Allied forces recaptured the Philippines in Feb. 1945. In the months that
followed, they also took possession of the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The United States finally brought the war in the Pacific to an end by dropping
atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August
1945.
Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14, 1945.
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Oral History: 7 December 1941 - Lieutenant Ruth Erickson, NC, USN
A
B
A
B
A
B
Two or three of us were sitting in the dining room Sunday morning having a
late breakfast and talking over coffee. Suddenly we heard planes roaring overhead
and we said, 'The `fly boys' are really busy at Ford Island this morning. The island
was directly across the channel from the hospital. We didn't think too much about it
since the reserves were often there for weekend training. We no sooner got those
words out when we started to hear noises that were foreign to us.
I leaped out of my chair and dashed to the nearest window in the corridor.
Right then there was a plane flying directly over the top of our quarters, a one-story
structure. The rising sun under the wing of the plane denoted the enemy. Had I
known the pilot, one could almost see his features around his goggles. He was
obviously saving his ammunition for the ships. Just down the row, all the ships were
sitting there--the [battleships] California (BB-44), the Arizona (BB-39), the
Oklahoma (BB-37), and others.
My heart was racing, the telephone was ringing, the chief nurse, Gertrude
Arnest, was saying, 'Girls, get into your uniforms at once, This is the real thing!' I
was in my room by that time changing into uniform. It was getting dusky, almost like
evening. Smoke was rising from burning ships.
I dashed across the street, through a shrapnel shower, got into the lanai and
just stood still for a second as were a couple of doctors. I felt like I were frozen to
the ground, but it was only a split second. I ran to the orthopedic dressing room but
it was locked. A corpsmen ran to the OD's [Officer-of-the-Day's] desk for the keys. It
seemed like an eternity before he returned and the room was opened. We drew
water into every container we could find and set up the instrument boiler.
Fortunately, we still had electricity and water...
The first patient came into our dressing room at 8:25 a.m. with a large
opening in his abdomen and bleeding profusely. They started an intravenous and
transfusion. I can still see the tremor of Dr. Brunson's hand as he picked up the
needle. Everyone was terrified. The patient died within the hour.
Then the burned patients streamed in. The USS Nevada (BB-36) had
managed some steam and attempted to get out of the channel. They were unable
to make it and went aground on Hospital Point right near the hospital. There was
heavy oil on the water and the men dived off the ship and swam through these
waters to Hospital Point, not too great a distance, but when one is burned... How
they ever managed, I'll never know.
Source: Naval Historical Center retrieved from: http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/oral/oralview.cfm?oralid=6
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Lend-Lease Act (1941)
Intro
SEC. 3. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the
President may, from time to time. when he deems it in the interest of
national defense, authorize the Secretary Of War, the Secretary of the
Navy, or the bead of any other department or agency of the
Government -
1
To manufacture in arsenals, factories, and shipyards under their
jurisdiction, or otherwise procure, to the extent to which funds are made
available therefor, or contracts are authorized from time to time by the
Congress, or both, any defense article for the government of any
country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the
United States.
2
To sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of,
to any such government any defense article...
3
To test, inspect, prove, repair, outfit, recondition, or otherwise to place
in good working order...any defense article for any such government, or
to procure any or all such services by private contract.
4
To communicate to any such government any defense information
pertaining to any defense article furnished to such government...
5
To release for export any defense article disposed of in any way...
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=71&page=transcript
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Lend-Lease Act (1941) Summary
Intro
1
2
3
4
5
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Visual
Where Is It?
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What I Think Is the Main Idea of What I am Looking At
Relationships / Connections to the Past or Present
What Do The Symbols / Colors / Patterns Represent?
What Type of Map is It?
Map Analysis
Lend-Lease Act (1941) Summary
Page 5
Causal Chain - Japan Decides to Attack
Japan industrializes causing a need for...
In response, the military of Japan...
Japanese military decided to attack
Indonesia but first decided...
When Japan occupied southern
Indochina...
The United States reacted by...
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“A Day of Infamy” - The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto conceived the Pearl Harbor attack and Captain Minoru
Genda planned it. Two things inspired Yamamoto’s Pearl Harbor idea: a prophetic book and a
historic attack. The book was The Great Pacific War, written in 1925 by Hector Bywater, a British
naval authority. It was a realistic account of a clash between the United States and Japan that
begins with the Japanese destruction of the U.S. fleet and proceeds to a Japanese attack on
Guam and the Philippines. When Britain’s Royal Air Force successfully attacked the Italian fleet
at harbor in Taranto, Italy on November 11, 1940, Yamamoto was convinced that Bywater’s
fiction could become reality.
On December 6, 1941, the U.S. intercepted a Japanese message that inquired about ship
movements and berthing positions at Pearl Harbor. The cryptologist gave the message to her
superior who said he would get back to her on Monday, December 8. On Sunday, December 7, a
radar operator on Oahu saw a large group of airplanes on his screen heading toward the island.
He called his superior who told him it was probably a group of U.S. B-17 bombers that had been
scheduled to arrive that day and not to worry about it.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 that morning. The entire attack took only
one hour and 15 minutes. Captain Mitsuo Fuchida sent the code message, “Tora, Tora, Tora,” to
the Japanese fleet after flying over Oahu to indicate the Americans had been caught by surprise.
The Japanese planned to give the U.S. a declaration of war before the attack began so they
would not violate the first article of the Hague Convention of 1907. But the message was delayed
and not relayed to U.S. officials in Washington until the attack was already in progress, turning
Pearl Harbor into a sneak attack!
The Japanese strike force consisted of 353 aircraft launched from four heavy carriers. These
included 40 torpedo planes, 103 level bombers, 131 dive-bombers, and 79 fighters. The attack
also consisted of two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two
battleships, and 11 destroyers.
The attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 19 U.S.
Navy ships, including 8 battleships. The three aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were out to
sea on maneuvers. The Japanese were unable to locate them and a planned third wave of attack
planes was never launched. The U.S. still had their carrier fleet intact.
The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines in the attack. One Japanese soldier was
taken prisoner and 129 Japanese sailors and airmen were killed. Out of all the Japanese ships
that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor only one, the Ushio, survived until the end of the
war. It was surrendered to the U.S. at Yokosuka Naval Base. When Admiral Yamamoto learned
that his forces had not destroyed the U.S. aircraft carriers or completely destroyed the U.S. fleet,
he feared that the United States, with its enormous industrial potential, would soon recover and
fight back.
Modified from: http://www.nationalww2museum.org
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battleship USS Arizona remains sunken in Pearl Harbor
“A DayThe
of
Infamy”
The
Japanese
with
its crew
onboard. Half of the
dead at
Pearl Harbor were Attack on Pearl Harbor
on the Arizona. A United States flag flies above the sunken
battleship, which serves as a memorial to all Americans who
died
the attack.
piece
of the
Arizona
is displayed
at the
Miller,
a in
steward
on(Athe
USS
West
Virginia,
distinguished
start of the Pacific Galleries)
Dorie
himself by courageous conduct
and devotion to duty during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He first assisted his mortally
wounded captain
anda steward
then manned
a West
machine
gun,
which he was not accustomed to operating,
Dorie Miller,
on the USS
Virginia,
distinguished
himself
by courageous
conduct and aircraft.
devotion to
duty
during
successfully
destroying
two Japanese
He
was
the first African American awarded the
the
Japanese
attack
on
Pearl
Harbor.
He
first
assisted
his
Navy Cross, the service’s highest award, for his actions during the attack.
mortally wounded captain and then manned a machine gun,
which he was not accustomed to operating, successfully
The battleship
USStwo
Arizona
remains
sunken
Pearl
Harbor with its crew onboard. Half of the
destroying
Japanese
aircraft. He
was theinfirst
African
dead at Pearl
Harbor
weretheonNavy
theCross,
Arizona.
A United
States
flag
above
thethe
sunken
American
awarded
the service’s
highest
award,
for flies
his actions
during
attack. battleship,
which serves as a memorial to all Americans who died in the attack. (A piece of the Arizona is
The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines in the attack. One Japanese soldier was
displayed at
the start of the Pacific Galleries)
taken prisoner and 129 Japanese sailors and airmen were killed. Out of all the Japanese ships that
participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor only one, the Ushio, survived until the end of the war. It
was surrendered to the U.S. at Yokosuka Naval Base. When Admiral Yamamoto learned that his
haddid
not destroyed
the U.S.quicker
aircraft carriers
or completely destroyed
the U.S.
fleet, he feared
Unitedforces
States
recover—and
than Yamamoto
could have
imagined.
After only
that the United States, with its enormous industrial potential, would soon recover and fight back.
The
six
months, the U.S. carrier fleet dealt a decisive blow to Yamamoto’s navy in June 1942 at the
Battle of Midway,
sinking
four
Japanese
aircraft
came
the six
three-year
The United
States did
recover—and
quicker
thancarriers.
YamamotoAfter
couldthis
havevictory
imagined.
After only
months,
the U.S.
carrier fleet
dealt
blow
to Yamamoto’s
navy in JuneEmpire
1942 at the
Battle of 1945.
U.S. islandhopping
campaign
and
thea decisive
eventual
defeat
of the Japanese
in August
Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers. After this victory came the three-year U.S. islandhopping campaign and the eventual defeat of the Japanese Empire in August 1945.
Service
U.S. Casualties at Pearl Harbor
Killed
Wounded
Total
Navy
Army
Marines
Civilians
2,008
218
109
68
710
364
69
35
2,718
582
178
103
Total
2,403
1,178
3,581
U.S. Aircraft Damaged at Pearl Harbor
Service
Damaged
Destroyed
Navy
31
92
Army Air Corps
128
77
Type of Ship
Battleships
Cruisers
Destroyers
Auxiliaries
U.S. Ships Damaged at Pearl Harbor
Damaged
Destroyed
Years Repaired
8
2
1942-1944
3
0
1942
4
0
1942-1944
5
1
1942
The National WWII Museuṁ • 945 Magazine St., New Orleans, LA 70130 • www.nationalww2museum.org
Modified from: http://www.nationalww2museum.org
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Roosevelt’s Declaration of War Speech
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives:
Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was
suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation
with its government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu,
the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a
formal reply to a recent American message. And, while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue
the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately
planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has
deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued
peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military
forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have
been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces
attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the
Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning the Japanese attacked
Midway Island.
Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of
yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their
opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense,
that always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their
righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend
ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger
us. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in
grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we
will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday,
December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt - December 8, 1941
Adapted from: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/fdr-infamy.htm
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Roosevelt’s Declaration of War Speech
Roosevelt’s Use of Emotional Words
Roosevelt’s Beliefs on How The U.S. Will Do
Roosevelt’s Use of Evidence
Summarization of the Speech
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Issues:
Mobilization
For War
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Mobilization for War
Issue
Solution
How Will We
Pay For The
War?
How Will
Generate
Weapons?
How Will We
Get Enough
Raw
Materials?
How Will We
Generate
Enough
Food?
How Will We
Regulate
Information?
How Will We
Fill Jobs
Vacated By
Men Who Are
Fighting?
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What?
Main
Job
Created
Office of War
Information
Wanted
Created
Voice
of America
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Allied Powers
Axis Powers
Neutral Nations
Original Graphic
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Opportunities and Obstacles
Who?
Opportunities
Obstacles
Women
AfricanAmericans
American
Indians
Mexican
Americans
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Constitutional Issues of the War
Issue
Issue
Reason Given By the Government
Internment
of Japanese,
German and
Italian
Americans
Censorship
Rationing
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General Eisenhower
What:
What:
When:
When:
Responsibility:
Responsibility:
What:
What:
When:
When:
Responsibility:
Responsibility:
What:
What:
When:
When:
Responsibility:
Responsibility:
What:
When:
Responsibility:
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Operation Torch
Invasion of Italy
Stepping Stones to Victory in Europe
Battle of the Bulge
D-Day
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Geographic Issues With An Invasion of Western Europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings
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D-Day Invasion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings
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D-Day Invasion
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
Since Nazi Germany forced the Allies out of France to Great Britain in the spring of 1940, the Allies had
been planning a cross-Channel assault to retake the continent and defeat Hitler’s Third Reich. By the
spring of 1944 an elaborate plan—code-named Operation Overlord—was secretly in place. The Allies, led
by American General Dwight Eisenhower, faced an enemy determined to keep them from landing
successfully anywhere along the western European coastline. To ensure against such a landing, Hitler
ordered Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to complete the Atlantic Wall—a 2,400-mile fortification made up
of concrete bunkers, barbed wire, tank ditches, landmines, fixed gun emplacements, and beach and
underwater obstacles. Many of these obstacles were specially designed to rip out the bottoms of
landing craft or blow them up before they reached the shore. Others were made to trap soldiers on the
beach where they would be exposed to intense gunfire from fortified positions.
On the eve of June 5, 1944, 175,000 men, a fleet of 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles,
and 11,000 planes sat in southern England, poised to attack secretly across the English Channel along
a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast of France. This force, one of the largest armadas in history,
represented years of rigorous training, planning, and supplying. It also represented a previously
unknown level of cooperation between allied nations, all struggling for a common goal—the defeat of
Nazi Germany. Because of highly intricate deception plans, Hitler and most of his staff believed that the
Allies would be attacking at the Pas-de-Calais, the narrowest point between Great Britain and France.
In the early morning darkness of June 6, thousands of Allied
paratroopers and glider troops landed silently behind
enemy lines, securing key roads and bridges on the flanks
of the invasion zone. As dawn lit the Normandy coastline
the Allies began their amphibious landings, traveling to the
beaches in small landing craft lowered from the decks of
larger ships anchored in the Channel. They assaulted five
beaches, code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and
Sword. The bloodiest fighting occurred at Omaha, where
the Americans suffered more than 2,000 casualties. By nightfall nearly all the Allied soldiers were
ashore at a cost of 10,000 American, British, and Canadian casualties. Hitler’s vaunted Atlantic Wall
had been breached in less than one day. The beaches were secure, but it would take many weeks
before the Allies could fight their way out of the heavily defended Normandy countryside and almost a
full year to reach and defeat Germany in the spring of 1945.
Operation Overlord was not just another great battle, but the true turning point of WWII in Western
Europe. While the U.S. and Great Britain had earlier engaged the Axis powers on the periphery of the
Europe (North Africa, Sicily, Italy), it was not until the invasion at Normandy that they brought on the
beginning of the end for Hitler and his Nazis. Had the invasion failed (Eisenhower was prepared to read
a statement over the radio taking full responsibility if Allied troops were driven from the beaches), Hitler
would have been able to pull troops out of France to strengthen his Eastern Front against the
encroaching Soviets. A second Allied invasion into France would have taken more than a year to mount.
Hitler, meanwhile, would have further strengthened his Atlantic Wall, his newly developed V-1 flying
bombs would have continued to rain down on England from launching pads across the Channel, and the
Nazis’ Final Solution against European Jews might well have succeeded completely.
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Events During World War II - Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge started on December
16th 1944. Hitler had convinced himself that the
alliance between Britain, France and America in the
western sector of Europe was not strong and that a
major attack and defeat would break up the alliance.
Therefore, he ordered a massive attack against what
were primarily American forces. The attack is strictly
known as the Ardennes Offensive but because the
initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the
Allied front line, it has become more commonly known
as the Battle of the Bulge.
Hitler’s plan was to launch a massive attack
using three armies on the Allies which would, in his
mind, destabilize their accord and also take the huge
port of Antwerp through which a great deal of supplies
was reaching the Allies.
Hitler believed that his forces would be able to
surround and cut off Canada’s First Army, America’s
First and Ninth Armies and Britain’s Second Army. On
paper, it was a seemingly absurd plan – especially as
Germany had been in retreat since D-Day, her military
was depleted of supplies and was facing the awesome
might of the Allies. However, Hitler, as commander-inchief of the military, decreed that the attack should take
place.
The battle started with a two hour bombardment
of the Allies lines that was followed by a huge armored
attack with the majority of the German armored might based at the Schnee Eifel. The Germans
experienced great success to start with. Why was this?
•
The Allies were surprised by the attack. They had received little intelligence that such an attack
would take place.
•
Before the attack started, English speaking German soldiers dressed in American uniforms
went behind the lines of the Allies and caused havoc by spreading misinformation, changing
road signs and cutting telephone lines. Those who were caught were shot after a court martial.
•
The weather was also in Hitler’s favor. Low cloud and fog meant that the superior air force of
the Allies could not be used – especially the tank-busting Typhoons of the RAF or Mustang
fighters from the USAAF which would have been used against the German tanks. Though the
weather was typical for the Ardennes in winter, the ground was hard enough for military
vehicles to cross and this suited the armored attack Hitler envisioned.
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Events During World War II - Battle of the Bulge
However, the success of the
Germans lasted just two days. Despite
punching a bulge into the Allies front line,
the Germans could not capitalize on this.
The Germans had based their attack on a
massive armored onslaught. However, such
an attack required fuel to maintain it and the
Germans simply did not possess such
quantities of fuel.
"The Ardennes battle drives home the lesson
that a large-scale offensive by massed
armour has no hope of success against an
enemy who enjoys supreme command of the
air. Our precious reserves had been
expended, and nothing was available to
ward off the impending catastrophe in the
east."
The Germans had advanced 60 miles
in two days but from December 18th on, they were in a position of stalemate. The fighting was
ferocious. The New Year’s period was a time of particularly intensive fighting as the Germans
attempted to start a second front in Holland. This time in the Ardennes coincided with a period of
intense cold and rain and the soldiers on the ground faced very difficult conditions. Trench foot was a
common problem for infantrymen, as was exposure.
By mid-January 1945, the effect of lack
of fuel was becoming evident as the
Germans had to simply abandon their
vehicles. The 1st SS Panzer Division, led
by Lieutenant-Colonel Joachim Peiper, had
to make their way back to Germany on
foot.
The Battle of the Bulge was the largest
battle fought by the Americans in World
War Two. 600,000 American troops were
involved in the battle. The Americans lost
81,000 men while the Germans lost
100,000 killed, wounded and captured.
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Events During World War II - Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the Nazi regime’s deliberate, organized, and statesponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million European Jews.
Holocaust is a word of Greek origin that means “sacrifice by fire.”
Nazi ideology said that Germans were racially superior and that Jews were an
inferior race and a threat to the survival of Germany. Anti-Semitism, or hatred
of Jews, had a centuries-long history in Germany and throughout Europe, but
reached its height during the Nazi era (1933-1945). The Nazis also claimed
that Roma (Gypsies), Slavs (Poles, Russians), and physically and mentally
disabled people were Untermenschen, or sub-human, and could therefore be treated inhumanely. Communists, socialists,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and anyone who publically disagreed with the Nazi regime were also persecuted,
imprisoned, and murdered.
The Nazis came to power in 1933 when their leader, Adolf Hitler, was made chancellor. Hitler rose to power in part by using
Jews as scapegoats (made to bear the blame) for everything that had gone wrong in Germany—the loss of WWI, the Treaty of
Versailles that punished Germany after the war, and the Great Depression. Jews were soon after forcibly removed from civil
service jobs, medicine, the judicial system, and the military. Jewish businesses were boycotted or shut down. The Nuremburg
Laws of 1935 denied Jews their German citizenship, forbade Jews to marry non-Jews, and took away most of their political
rights.
During Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass (November 9, 1938), a violent riot against Jews organized by the Nazis, over
1,440 synagogues were burned, at least 91 people were murdered, countless Jewish businesses and homes were vandalized
and destroyed, and 30,000 Jews were sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and other concentration camps. By this
point it had become very difficult for German Jews to leave Germany because few countries would take them in. At this point,
too, it was difficult, if not impossible, for the world to claim it did not know how Jews were being treated in Nazi Germany.
Once WWII began (September 1, 1939) and the Nazis overran Europe, Jews in conquered countries were herded into ghettos—
walled off sections of a city where the inhabitants lived in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions with a lack of food, medical
services, and heat. Starvation and disease led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the ghettos of Warsaw, Lodz, Vilnius, and
many others. Many Jews went into hiding, often relying on the kindness and bravery of non-Jewish friends. To hide a Jew was
dangerous and to be caught doing so meant prison or even death. Few Jews were able to survive the war by hiding, as most—
like Anne Frank and her family—were found out and sent to concentration camps.
In January 1942, high-ranking Nazi party members met at in the town of Wannsee to discuss “the Final Solution of the Jewish
question.” Hundreds of thousands of Jews were already in Nazi concentrations camps being used as slave labor for the
German war effort. Beginning later that year, the Nazis started deportations from the ghettos and concentration camps to
extermination camps—killing centers in Poland with specially designed gassing facilities, like Auschwitz, Treblinka, and
Chelmno. With the efficiency of the entire German state behind the effort, trains loaded with Jewish men, women and children
rolled daily into these killing centers. Most were sent directly to the gas chambers to be murdered.
There were notable efforts to resist the Holocaust. A number of armed uprisings in the ghettos and camps surprised the Nazis,
but were ultimately put down. Some Jews escaped ghettos and joined partisan movements fighting against the Nazis. Within
the ghettos and camps acts of defiance, small or large, were met with brutality and murder, but occurred all the same.
When the Soviets, Americans, and British began to close in on Germany in early 1945, the Nazis forced Jews on long marches
away from the advancing Allied armies. Hundreds of thousands died of exposure, violence, and starvation on these death
marches. As the Allies moved into Germany and Poland they liberated the concentration and extermination camps and were
horrified by what they found. Although news reports about camps had earlier informed the world of these atrocities, it wasn’t
until the camps were liberated that the full extent of the Nazi crimes against the Jewish people was exposed to the world.
“While not all victims were Jews, all Jews were victims. Jews were destined for annihilation solely because they were
born Jewish. They were doomed not because of something they had done or proclaimed or acquired but because of who
they were, sons and daughters of Jewish people. As such they were sentenced to death collectively and individually…”
—Elie Wiesel, writer, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and Holocaust survivor
The National WWII Museum • 945 Magazine Street • New Orleans, LA 90130 •
www.nationalww2museum.org
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Civilian Deaths Caused By German Concentration/Death Camps
6
4.5
3
1.5
0
Jews
Soviet POWs
Ethnic Poles
Romani
Other
Victims (In Millions) - Estimations Due to Disputed Records
10%
Over 67% of the
Pre-War Jewish
population in
Europe were
killed
4%
17%
49%
21%
Jews
Soviet POWs
Ethnic Poles
Romani
Other
1
0.75
0.5
0.25
0
Auschwitz-Birkenau Trebinka
Belzec
Majdanek
Chełmno
Victims (In Millions) Per Camp - Estimations Due to Disputed Records
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Comparing Europe to Asia
Challenges in Europe
Challenges in Asia
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Events During World War II
Island Hopping
Objective 1
World War II in the Pacific
Main lines of
Allied advances
SOVIET UNION
Maximum extent of
Japanese conquests
uar
Jan
MANCHURIA
Tokyo
Nagasaki
Aug. 9, 1945
Iwo Jima
Feb.–Mar.
1945
BURMA
THAILAND FRENCH
INDOCHINA
Mariana
Islands
PHILIPPINE
ISLANDS
Su
ra
at
m
Java
Celebes
INDIAN OCEAN
Midway
June 1942
Wake
Island
Guam
Philippine Sea
June 1944
Caroline
Islands
New
Guinea
N
W
Gilbert Is.
E
S
0
Coral Sea
May 1942
HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS
Japanese
attack
Pearl Harbor
Dec. 7, 1941
Ma
rs
Bismarck Sea
March 1943
Borneo
Atomic bombings
lands
ll Is
ha
Leyte Gulf
Oct. 1944
Major battles
PACIFIC
OCEAN
JAPAN
Okinawa
Apr.– Jul.
1945
Approximate front line,
March 1945
y 1943
Hiroshima
Aug. 6, 1945
CHINA
Approximate front line,
March 1944
0
Guadalcanal
Aug. 1942 – Feb. 1943
1,000 miles
2,000 kilometers
Source: A World Atlas of Military History
Explain the strategy of “Island Hopping”
●
Pacific Theater: Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor,
Japanese forces captured Guam, most of Southeast Asia, the
Philippines, and many other Pacific islands. Japan was preparing
to invade Australia when the U.S. Navy inflicted heavy losses on
the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.
Almost a month later the United States won a much bigger
victory in the Battle of Midway, in which four Japanese aircraft
carriers were destroyed. This battle marked a turning point in
the war in the Pacific. After this victory the United States began
to push Japanese forces back.
Beginning in 1943, U.S. forces invaded Japanese-controlled
islands in the Pacific, slowly advancing toward Japan itself.
Because the Japanese held so many islands and defended each
one so strongly, the Allies landed on only the islands that were
strategically important. They bypassed other Japanese-held
islands, cutting them off from supplies and reinforcements. This
strategy was known as island hopping.
The Japanese navy suffered major blows in the Battle of the
Philippine Sea in June 1944 and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in
October 1944. Allied forces recaptured the Philippines in
February 1945. In the months that followed, they also took
18
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Events During World War II
Bataan Death March
Only hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December
7, 1941, the Japanese also struck airbases in the American-held
Philippines (around noon on December 8, local time). Caught by surprise,
a majority of the military aircraft on the archipelago were destroyed during
the Japanese air attack. Unlike in Hawaii, the Japanese followed their
surprise air strike of the Philippines with a ground invasion. As the
Japanese ground troops headed toward the capital, Manila, American and
Filipino troops retreated on December 22, 1941 to the Bataan Peninsula,
located on the western side of the large island of Luzon in the Philippines.
Quickly cut off from food and other supplies by a Japanese
blockade, the American and Filipino soldiers slowly used up their supplies.
First they went on half rations, then third rations, then fourth rations. By
April 1942, they had been holding out in the jungles of Bataan for three
months and were clearly starving and suffering from diseases.
There was nothing left to do but surrender. On April 9, 1942, U.S. General Edward P. King
signed the surrender document, ending the Battle of Bataan. The remaining 72,000 American and
Filipino soldiers were taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war (POW). Nearly immediately, the
Bataan Death March began.
The goal of the march was to get the 72,000 captured American and Filipino POWs from
Mariveles in the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell in the north. To do this, the
prisoners were to be marched 55 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando, then travel by train to Capas.
From Capas, the prisoners were again to march for the last eight miles to Camp O'Donnell.
The prisoners were separated into groups of approximately a hundred, assigned Japanese
guards, and then sent marching. It would take each group about five days to make the journey. The
march would have been long and arduous for anyone, but the already starving prisoners were to
endure cruel and brutal treatment throughout their long journey, which made the march deadly.
Without food and water, the prisoners were extremely weak as they marched the 63 miles in the
hot sun. Many were seriously ill from malnutrition, while others had been wounded or were suffering
from diseases they had picked up in the jungle. These things didn't matter to the Japanese. If anyone
seemed slow or fell behind during the march, they were either shot or bayoneted. There were
Japanese "buzzard squads" who followed each group of marching prisoners, responsible for killing
those that couldn't keep up.
Once the prisoners reached San Fernando, they were herded into boxcars. The Japanese
shoved so many prisoners into each boxcar that there was standing room only. The heat and
conditions inside caused more deaths.
Upon arrival in Capas, the remaining prisoners marched another eight miles. When they
reached their destination, Camp O'Donnell, it was discovered that only 54,000 of the prisoners had
made it to the camp. It is estimated that about 7,000 to 10,000 died, while the rest of the missing had
escaped into the jungle and joined guerrilla groups.
Adapted from: http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/qt/Bataan-Death-March.htm
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Events During World War II
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was the most important
naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War
II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months
after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one
month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United
States Navy decisively defeated an Imperial
Japanese Navy (IJN) attack against Midway Atoll,
inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet.
Military historian John Keegan called it "the most
stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval
warfare."
The Japanese operation, like the earlier
attack on Pearl Harbor, sought to eliminate the
United States as a strategic power in the Pacific, thereby giving Japan a free hand in
establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese hoped that another
demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to capitulate in the Pacific War and thus ensure
Japanese dominance in the Pacific.
The Japanese plan was to lure the United States' aircraft carriers into a trap. The
Japanese also intended to occupy Midway as part of an overall plan to extend their defensive
perimeter in response to the Doolittle Raid. This operation was also considered preparatory for
further attacks against Fiji and Samoa.
The plan was handicapped by faulty Japanese assumptions of the American reaction and
poor initial dispositions. Most significantly, American code breakers were able to determine the
date and location of the attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to set up an ambush of its
own. Four Japanese aircraft carriers - Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, all part of the six carrier
force to launch the attack on Pearl Harbor six months
earlier - and a heavy cruiser were sunk at a cost of one
American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. After Midway, and
the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign,
Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were
unable to keep pace in replacing their losses while the U.S.
steadily increased its output in both areas.
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Events During World War II
Objective 1
Island Hopping II
World War II in the Pacific
Main lines of
Allied advances
SOVIET UNION
Maximum extent of
Japanese conquests
uar
Jan
MANCHURIA
Tokyo
Nagasaki
Aug. 9, 1945
K
J
Iwo Jima
Feb.–Mar.
1945
BURMA
I
THAILAND FRENCH
INDOCHINA
F
Guam
Philippine Sea
June 1944
E
Caroline
Islands
Su
Bismarck Sea
March 1943
ra
at
m
Borneo
Celebes
Java
A
INDIAN OCEAN
New
Guinea
B
Atomic bombings
Midway
June 1942
Wake
Island
C
D
N
W
Gilbert Is.
E
S
0
Coral Sea
May 1942
HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS
Japanese
attack
Pearl Harbor
Dec. 7, 1941
Ma
rs
lands
ll Is
ha
Leyte Gulf
Oct. 1944
H
Mariana
Islands
G
PHILIPPINE
ISLANDS
Major battles
PACIFIC
OCEAN
JAPAN
Okinawa
Apr.– Jul.
1945
Approximate front line,
March 1945
y 1943
Hiroshima
Aug. 6, 1945
CHINA
Approximate front line,
March 1944
0
Guadalcanal
Aug. 1942 – Feb. 1943
1,000 miles
2,000 kilometers
Source: A World Atlas of Military History
Map
A
B
C
D
E
F
Battle
Japanese
Casualties
Allied Casualties*
Pacific Theater: Shortly
after the
attack on Pearl Harbor,
Japanese forces captured Guam, most of Southeast Asia, the
Philippines, and many other Pacific islands. Japan was preparing
Wake Island (December 7-23,
1941)Australia when the1153
to invade
U.S. Navy inflicted heavy losses on169
the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.
Almost a month later the United
Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942)
966States won a much bigger
656
victory in the Battle of Midway, in which four Japanese aircraft
carriers were destroyed. This battle marked a turning point in
Midway (June 4-7, 1942)
3057
the war in the Pacific. After this
victory the United States began 307
to push Japanese forces back.
●
Beginning in 1943, U.S. forces
invaded Japanese-controlled
Gilbert/Marshall Islands (11/43-2/44)
17141
8100
islands in the Pacific, slowly advancing toward Japan itself.
Because the Japanese held so many islands and defended each
Truk/Caroline Islandsone so strongly, the Allies landed
?? on only the islands that were 40
strategically important. They bypassed other Japanese-held
islands, cutting them off from supplies and reinforcements. This
Mariana/Palau Islands (6/44-11/44)
63000
9500
strategy was known as island
hopping.
The Japanese navy suffered major blows in the Battle of the
G
Guam (7/44 - 8/44) Philippine Sea in June 194418000
and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in
7700
H
Leyte 10/44 - 12/44)
65000
15000
I
Philippines Campaign
400000
38000
J
Iwo Jima (2/45-3/45)
18844
6821
K
Okinawa
110000
50000
October 1944. Allied forces recaptured the Philippines in
February 1945. In the months that followed, they also took
18
*The majority of the forces in the Pacific consisted of U.S. troops.
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Events During World War II
Manhattan Project
Early in 1939, the world's scientific community discovered that German
physicists had learned the secrets of splitting a uranium atom. Fears soon
spread over the possibility of Nazi scientists utilizing that energy to produce a
bomb capable of unspeakable destruction.
Scientists Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and Enrico
Fermi, who escaped Fascist Italy, were now living in the United States. They
agreed that the President must be informed of the dangers of atomic
technology in the hands of the Axis powers. Fermi traveled to Washington in
March to express his concerns on government officials. But few shared his
uneasiness.
Einstein penned a letter to President Roosevelt urging the development
of an atomic research program later that year. Roosevelt saw neither the necessity nor the utility for such a
project, but agreed to proceed slowly. In late 1941, the American effort to design and build an atomic bomb
received its code name — the Manhattan Project.
At first the research was based at only a few universities — Columbia University, the University of
Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley. A breakthrough occurred in December 1942 when Fermi
led a group of physicists to produce the first controlled nuclear chain reaction under the grandstands of Stagg
Field at the University of Chicago.
After this milestone, funds were allocated more freely, and the project advanced at breakneck speed.
Nuclear facilities were built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. The main assembly plant was
built at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer was put in charge of putting the pieces together at Los
Alamos. After the final bill was tallied, nearly $2 billion had been spent on research and development of the
atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project employed over 120,000 Americans.
Secrecy was paramount. Neither the Germans nor the Japanese could learn of the project. Roosevelt
and Churchill also agreed that the Stalin would be kept in the dark. Consequently, there was no public
awareness or debate. Keeping 120,000 people quiet would be impossible; therefore only a small privileged
cadre of inner scientists and officials knew about the atomic bomb's development. In fact, Vice-President
Truman had never heard of the Manhattan Project until he became President Truman.
Although the Axis powers remained unaware of the efforts at Los Alamos, American leaders later
learned that a Soviet spy named Klaus Fuchs had penetrated the inner circle of scientists.
By the summer of 1945, Oppenheimer was ready to test the first bomb. On July 16, 1945, at Trinity Site
near Alamogordo, New Mexico, scientists of the Manhattan Project readied themselves to watch the detonation
of the world's first atomic bomb. The device was affixed to a 100-foot tower and discharged just before dawn.
No one was properly prepared for the result. Oppenheimer was reported to say at the time, “I am become
death, the destroyer of worlds.”
A blinding flash visible for 200 miles lit up the morning sky. A mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet,
blowing out windows of civilian homes up to 100 miles away. The force of the blast was estimated as exploding
20 kilotons of TNT at the same time. When the cloud returned to earth it created a half-mile wide crater
metamorphosing sand into glass. A cover-up story was quickly released, explaining that a huge ammunition
dump had just exploded in the desert. Soon word reached President Truman in Potsdam, Germany that the
project was successful.
The world had entered the nuclear age.
Adapted from: http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp
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Events During World War II
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the
United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945. The two events are the only use of
nuclear weapons in war to date.
Following a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for
a costly invasion of Japan. The war in Europe ended when Nazi Germany signed its instrument of
surrender on 8 May, but the Pacific War continued. Together with the United Kingdom and the
Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26
July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored
this ultimatum. American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945,
followed by Fat Man over Nagasaki on 9 August.
Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000
people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city
occurring on the first day. The Hiroshima prefecture health department estimated that, of the people
who died on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and
10% from other causes. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns,
radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. In a US estimate of the total immediate
and short term cause of death, 15–20% died from radiation sickness, 20–30% from burns, and 50–
60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians,
although Hiroshima had a sizable garrison.
On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the
Allies, signing the Instrument of Surrender on 2 September, officially ending World War II.
Hiroshima Post Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
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Events During World War II
Post
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
Courtesy of the TrumanHiroshima
Presidential
Library
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Events During World War II
Courtesy of the Truman Presidential Library
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Events During World War II
Courtesy of the Truman Presidential Library
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Allied Powers
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Military (In Millions)
Civillian (In Millions)
Other
Italy
Hungary
Romania
Japan
Germany
Latvia
Burma
Greece
Czechslovika
Lithuania
United States
United Kingdom
France
French Indochina
Yugoslovia
India
Indonesia
Poland
China
USSR
0
Axis Military
6
Axis Civilian
*Statistics are estimates due to gaps in information
Axis Powers
12
18
Allied Military
25%
Axis Military
13%
Axis Civilian
4%
Allied Civilian
Allied Civilian
58%
Allied Military
Deaths - World War II
24
Effects of World War II
Original Graphic - Statistics gathered from various resources located and compiled in en.wikipedia.com
Page 36
Effects of World War II
Who? or What?
Did What?
Ending the
Great
Depression
Rationing
Opportunities
for Women
Opportunities
for Minorities
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Comparing Two Presidents
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Domestic
Leadership
International
Leadership
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Contributions of Military Leaders - World War II
Leader
Role During the War...
Omar Bradley
Dwight
Eisenhower
Douglas
MacArthur
Chester A.
Nimitz
George Marshall
George Patton
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Role Players During the War
Who? or What?
Did What?
Why are they inspirational?
Navajo Code
Talkers
Tuskegee
Airmen
Flying Tigers
Military
Enlistment
Volunteerism
Selling of War
Bonds
Victory War
Gardens
Vernon J.
Baker
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