Unit 6:
Global
Struggles
1931-1960
Chapter 19
Adolf Hitler
A World
in Flames
Francisco Franco
Pearl Harbor
Emperor Hirohito
Benito Mussolini
I. America and the World
A. Between the Wars
- US determined not to be drawn into
another foreign war
- worked for int’l agreements & arms
control
1. 1919: US refuses to ratify Treaty of
Versailles. Why?
2. Problems in Europe
a. Communism in Russia
b. Unrest in Germany
3. Actions taken by US to prevent further
overseas involvement
a. Ended draft
b. 1921: Washington Conference –
1st successful disarmament
conference in US History
c. 5/4/9 Power Treaty – 1920s treaties
aimed at maintaining peace
- 5/4 power treaty – to prevent
hostile actions
- 9 power treaty – to keep China
independent and open to foreign
trade
d. 1928: Kellogg Briand Pact –
pledged to renounce war as an
instrument of national policy. But no
way to enforce it and it didn’t rule
out defensive wars
4. War Debts & Reparations – Europe
couldn’t pay war debts.
a. France & GB owed US
b. Germany owed France & GB
c. Germany couldn’t pay France & GB
d. So France & GB couldn’t pay US
5. 1924: Dawes Plan – US plan to improve
German economy so it could pay - failed
B. The Rise of Dictators
- after WWI, US hoped to aid in the
establishment of democracy throughout
the world. Instead, in the 1920s-30s,
totalitarian gov’ts appeared in Italy,
Germany, and the USSR – ALL used
terror and force to suppress the
opposition
1. Mussolini - Italy (Il Duce)
a. Problems in Italy
1) Scorn for Versailles Treaty –
didn’t get Austrian territory
2) Economy failing, political and
class tensions
3) unemployment, inflation led to
strikes, fear of Communism
b. Mussolini blamed problems on
Communists, corrupt biz leaders &
weak politicians – promised to
restore to Italy the honor, glory &
prosperity of ancient Roman Empire
c. founded Fascist party in 1919
1) Fascism stresses nationalism
and the supreme authority of
the leader
2) believed nations made great by
expanding territory and building
up military
3) nation more important than
Believe, Obey Fight
individual.
Individualism
=
“The function of a
citizen and a soldier
weakness
are inseparable”
4) anti-communist: stood for
protection of pvt property &
middle class; full employment for
industrial workers; social
security; national prestige
5) organized blackshirts – militia
used gang tactics to suppress
strikes & attack leftist trade
unions
Mussolini
with
Blackshirts
1922
Benito Mussolini
Il Duce
2. Stalin Takes Over the USSR
a. Bolshevik Revolution 1917
b. Instituted one-party rule, suppressed
individual liberties, punished
opponents
c. Stalin advocated rapid
industrialization, state control of
farms – his methods caused famine
and starvation. Kept control through
series of purges, killing or
imprisoning political enemies and
possible opposition
Josef stalin
3. Hitler & Nazism
a. political & economic chaos in post
WWI Germany
- Weimar Republic: Democratic,
but weak & ineffective. No
democratic experience
- workers support Communists;
upper class wants return to
monarchy
Von Hindenburg
b. humiliated by terms of WWI
surrender
Terms of Treaty of Versailles
c. blamed probs on Communists,
foreign powers who stripped
Germany of its land & military
abilities at Versailles, and Jews
who controlled world finances
d. Mein Kampf: Hitler outlines his
plan for Germany (from jail1923)
e. Rose to power through Nazi Party
(National Socialist German
Workers Party)
- Nazism = fanatical ideas of
nationalism and German racial
superiority
f. Hitler became President in 1934.
Called himself der fuhrer. Vowed to:
1) rebuild German economy
2) restore lands lost after WWI
3) to rearm Germany (in defiance
of Treaty of Versailles
- Hitler “put in power” by group
of bankers, biz men, generals
Adolf Hitler
4. Francisco Franco - Spain
a. Spanish Civil War 1936 – republican
govt vs fascists
b. Germany & Italy helped arm Franco’s
fascist forces (German arms, weapons,
tactics are battle tested)
c. USSR helped loyalists. GB, France, US
did nothing
d. Democracy lost
Francisco Franco
"Our regime is
based on
bayonets and
blood, not on
hypocritical
elections.“
Francisco
Franco
Ernest Hemingway was moved to write
the following words after witnessing
the treachery and wastage of the
ignominious Spanish Civil War:
"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and
fitting to die for one's country. But in modern
war there there is nothing sweet or fitting in
your dying. You will die like a dog for no good
reason."
Ernest Hemingway
Notes for the Next War
5. Militarists Gain Control of Japan
a. background. 1920s: Japan had close
ties with West, was developing
democratic system
b. But economy suffering – trade deficit,
unemployment etc.
c. Nationalists/Military leaders, some biz
leaders urged return to glory of Japan’s
past with absolute rule by emperor
- Japan destined to dominate East
Asia
- Preached virtues of territory
expansion
d. Why Expand?
1) expanding population
2) economic expansion (defense
contracts)
3) lack of natural resources
e. Sept 1931: military (w/o support of
gov’t) invaded Manchuria, a
resource-rich province of China
f. Japanese civilian gov’t tried to
intervene. Prime Minister and
many other supporters of
democracy assassinated
g. Series of military officers now
serving as PM
h. League of Nations complained –
Japan simply withdrew from L of N
C. America Turns to Neutrality
- America supports Isolationism – the
belief that the US should avoid int’l
commitments that might drag US into
another foreign war
1. The Nye Committee
a. Isolationism grew in popularity. Why?
1) war debt – Europeans weren’t
paying loans
2) belief that US arms
manufacturers influenced WWI
Nye Committee Findings
b. Nye Committee – confirmed that
arms manufacturers made huge
profits
– believed these companies
influenced US decision to enter
war
2. Legislating Neutrality
a. Neutrality Act (1935) – barred sale of
munitions to all belligerents
b. Spanish Civil war (1936) - this
Neutrality Act passed to ban sale of
arms to either side in a civil war
c. Rome-Berlin Axis followed by AntiComintern Act (Japan & Germany agree
to exchange info about commies) –
- thus, Germany Japan, Italy = Axis
Powers
d. Neutrality Act of 1937 – US reaction to
Rome-Berlin Axis – continued ban on
arms sales + “cash & carry” requirement
3. Roosevelt & Internationalism
a. FDR an internationalist – trade btwn
nations creates prosperity & helps
prevent war
b. Japan attacks China again in July
1937 – FDR ok’s sale of weapons to
China
A survivor after intense
bombing during the
Japanese attack on
Shanghai's South
Station. August 1937.
- this he says, is legal, as neither
side declared war
Rape of Nanking
• Btwn Dec.1937 and March 1938 Japanese
troops captured Nanking (then the Capital of
China) and embarked on a campaign of
murder, rape and looting.
• An estimated 250,000 and 300,000 (out of
600,000 total) killed, many of them women and
children.
• # women raped is estimated at 20,000+ w/
many accts of civilians being hacked to death.
• Like other genocides, some refute this atrocity
• (acct by BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/39166.stm)
Rape of Nanking
Japanese soldiers carrying rifles
on their shoulders walk across a
bridge, through a pillared gate,
into the walled city of Nanking,
China.
Chinese men rounded up by the
Japanese, in “Nanking.”
Nuremberg Laws
Chapter 20
America in WWII
Allies
Great Britain
France
US
USSR
The Big Four:
+ many others
vs
Axis
Germany
Italy
Japan
I. Mobilizing for War
US = Arsenal of Democracy
A. Converting the Economy
1. Industrial power: US = 2X production of
Germany/5X of Japan
2. US fought & won a 2-front war against 2
powerful military empires - forcing each to
surrender unconditionally
a. US expanded war production May/June
1940 - Fall of France
b. Although still neutral, Americans willing to
build up defenses Arsenal of Democracy
3. Govt incentives for quick production
a. cost-plus contracts: fast production =
higher profits
b. RFC: funneled $ to key industries
- to cover cost of converting to war
production
- by summer 1942- all major industries
& 200,000 + companies converted to
war production
c. GNP rose dramatically
- 1939 = $88.6 B; 1944 = $198.7B
d. Depression over! 17m jobs added!
- even underemployment!
Depression Over!
B. American Industry Gets the Job Done
1. Role of Auto Industry
a. auto industry best for mass production
of military equipment
b. US mobility outclassed the enemy - auto
industry produced jeeps +2 ½ ton truck moved troops & supplies quickly.
(Germans relied on animal transport)
us
Them
c. Willow Run - Ford Motor Co.
Instead of mass producing cars,
produced B-24 (Heavy Bomber)
- new airplane every 63 minutes
Willow Run was the embodiment
of American ingenuity,
perseverance and productivity.
Here are some of the statistics:
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
488,193 parts
30,000 components
24 Major subassemblies
Peak production = 25 units/day
25,000 initial engineering
drawings
Ten model changes in six years
Thousands of running changes
34,533 employees at peak
100% Productivity
provement
d. auto industry produced ~ 1/3 military
equipment manufactured during the war
e. govt contracts went mostly to lrg
companies - best suited to produce war
goods quickly & in great volume
- in 1940: 100 largest companies
produced 30% of all
manufactured goods.
- In 1945: 70%!
2. Building Liberty Ships
a. basic cargo ship of WWII
b. welded instead of riveted - hard to sink
- could get back to port for repairs &
back to svc
Photograph of a
Liberty ship in the
water immediately
after launching from
the J.A. Jones
Construction
Company shipyard,
Brunswick, Georgia,
1943-1945?]
3. War Production Board (WPB)
- organized the shift of the economy to
wartime production
a. set priorities & production goals
b. allocated natural resources
ex. factories that made nylon hose,
made nylon parachutes
• War Production
Board guidelines
for garment
manufacture 1942
C. Building an Army
1. Selective Service & Training Act 1940
a. 1st peacetime draft in US history
b. many volunteered, but 9.9m drafted
2. You're in the Army Now
a. "GI" govt issue - became nickname for
any US Soldier
b. basic training provided sense of unity,
"sense of kinship"
One of Time Magazine’s most
important people of the century:
The American GI
3. A Segregated Army
a. whites did not train w/ blacks
b. blacks used separate facilities
c. black in same unit under white officers
d. blacks often out of combat, into
construction & supply units
Keesler Field's first class of Negro airplane
mechanics graduated August 1944.
Physical fitness and markmanship were
stressed at the Basic Training Center
during the last six months of 1944. Class
68 of Section U established a physical
fitness record during the late summer of
1944 when it attained an average physical
fitness score of 71.5%. All the members of
this pre-aviation cadet class qualified with
the carbine and the average score of the
class in pistol marksmanship was 67.
4. Pushing for Double V
a. despite racism in US, probably worse
under Hitler so blacks support war
b. Nat'l Urban League goals:
1) promote black participation in all
aspects of war effort
2) plan for post-war US - more
freedom/equality for blacks
c. Double V campaign - victory over Hitler
abroad/ victory over racism in US
d. FDR orders military to recruit blacks &
to allow blacks in combat
5. African Americans in Combat
a. Tuskegee Airmen - fighter pilots in Army
Air Corps - fought in Italy
b.1943 - military bases integrated (military
not completely integrated until 1948)
Tuskegee Airmen
Black and white soldiers at a US base
in Italy during World War II.
6. Women join the Armed Forces
a. Army enlists women - not for combat
(freed up men for combat!)
b. 200,000 in military
c. WAC - Women's Army Corps
d. 68,000+ nurses in army & navy
7. Americans Go to War
a. not well trained at 1st, most had no prior
military svc
b. Sloppy image - yet performed well in
battle - fewest combat casualties
II. Life on the Homefront
A. Women & Minorities Gain Ground
1. Women in Defense Plants
a. wartime labor shortage - married
women recruited for industrial jobs
b. Rosie the Riveter - posters used to
recruit women - for the war effort
c. 2.5 m women in war production
industries
Rosie the Riveter
2. African Americans Demand War Work
a. Philip Randolph's threats lead to
FDR's Executive Order 8802
June 1941
- no discrimination for defense
industry jobs from race, creed,
color or nat'l origin
b. Fair Employment Practices Committee
established
- investigate unfair hiring practices (1st
civil rights agency created since
Reconstruction)
3. Mexicans become Farmworkers
a. labor shortage in SW
b. Bracero Program - contract labor for
finding farm workers - brought in
migrant farm workers from Mexico
c. Other Mexicans brought in to build &
maintain RRs
B. A Nation on the Move
1. Migration - creation of the Sunbelt - S &
W led the way in manufacturing &
urbanization
2. The Housing Crisis
a. many in tents/trailers
b. govt spent $1.2B on public housing,
schools, etc during war
c. 2 m in govt housing during war
Quonset Huts rented out
during a housing shortage
for $32 per month for a
maximum of three years. -1946
3. Racism Explodes into Violence
a. Great Migration resumes - blacks
moving to cities in N & W
b. Detroit race riots June 1943
25 blacks/9 whites killed
4. Zoot Suit Riots
a. S. Calif. - racial tensions + juvenile
delinquency
b. Zoot suits made many white Americans
see Mexicans & Mex-Ams as unpatriotic
- Zoot Suits took lots of fabric. Others
were wearing "Victory Suits" - used
less fabric to save it for the war
c. LA responds to riots by banning zoot
suit
d. Still, many Mex-Ams joined war effort 500,000 in military
Zoot Suit vs Victory Suit
5. Japanese American Relocation
a. Nisei - naturalized or native born JapAm citizens
b. Executive Order 9066 gave 117,000 48
hrs to report for relocation, where some
spent 3 yrs interned
c. Koramatsu v. US okayed it - military
urgency
d. 1988 - compensation program sent
$200,000 to survivors
C. Daily Life in Wartime America
1. Wage & Price controls
a. Office of Price Administration - set
ceilings on rent, prices, wages &
operated a rationing program (lots of
black market activity though) - to control
inflation
1) rationing - limited availability of
products to make sure enough for
military use (meat, sugar, gas,
rubber etc)
Rationing
b. War Labor Board - tried to keep
workers happy - seized uncooperative
companies, promoted better wages,
conditions, (avg weekly wage =
$43.39!)
2. Victory Gardens & Scrap Drives
a. victory gardens ala WWI Victory Gardens
b. scrap drives - collected spare rubber,
tin, aluminum Scrap Drives
c. oil drives - collected bacon grease, meat
drippings in exchange for extra ration
coupons - oils used in explosives
Bond Drives
3. Paying for the War
a. WWII cost ~ $250 m /day
b. Spent $321B - 2X what we had spent in
first 150 yrs as a nation
c. 41% from taxes
d. 59% from borrowing - E bonds
III. The Early Battles
A. Holding the Line Against Japan
1. Planning against Japanese Navy
a. Admiral Chester Nimitz – commander of
US Navy in Pacific ( From Fredericksburg, TX!!)
b. What the Japanese missed at Pearl
Harbor  ? The aircraft carriers!!!
c. But difficult to stop Jap. advance in SE
Asia
2. Dec. 1941 – few hrs after Pearl Harbor,
Japan attacks US airfields in Philippines –
invades 2 days later
a. US & Filipino troops led by Douglas
MacArthur retreat to Bataan peninsula
- FDR orders MacArthur to evacuate –
his promise to Filipino people?
I Shall Return!!
- April 1942: 78,000
American and
Filipinos surrender to
become POWs
of Japan
b. Bataan Death March
- 65 mi march to Jap. POW camp
- sick, tired, starving – thousands die
c. Corregidor – fell to Japan May 1942
Bataan Death March
This picture, captured from the Japanese, shows American prisoners using
improvised litters to carry those of their comrades who, from the lack of food or
water on the march from Bataan, fell along the road.� Philippines, May 1942
3. The Doolittle Raids – April 1942
a. US wanted to bomb Japan, but carriers
couldn’t get close enough to launch
short-range bomber planes
b. Solution? Use medium range B-25s
c. These could take off from carrier, but
couldn’t land – plan to land in China
d. Led by Lt. James Doolittle, 16 B-25s
took off from USS Hornet – bombed
Japan!
e. Results?
- little actual damage to Japan
- morale improves in US 
- morale sinks in Japan 
- Japan changes strategy – prepares
for assault on Midway
Raids in Cartoons
4. The Battle of Coral Sea - May 1942
a. Jap. plan to cut off US supply line to
Australia by capturing s. coast of New
Guinea
b. US had broken Jap. Navy code 
c. Sent USS Yorktown & Lexington to
defend New Guinea
d. all out airstrikes against e/o from
carriers
e. Lexington sunk, Yorktown damaged
f. But Jap. called off invasion of N.Guinea
g. US supply lines stayed open!
Battle of Coral Sea
USS Lexington explodes on May 8,
1942, several hours after being
damaged by a Japanese carrier air
attack.
5. Battle of Midway – June 1942
a. US code-breakers learned of Jap. plan to
attack Midway 
b. Nimitz orders ambush of Jap. fleet
c. US was outnumbered ~ 4 – 1, but sunk 4
Jap. carriers, shot down 38 planes
d. Jap. forced to retreat 
e. Turning point: stopped the Jap. Advance
in the Pacific!!
Battle of Midway June 1942
Battle of Midway
Navy Dive Bombers flying
in Douglass airplanes,
“Dauntless” win the
day!!!
SBD "Dauntless" dive bombers
from USS Hornet (CV-8)
approaching the burning Japanese
heavy cruiser Mikuma to make the
third set of attacks on her, during
the early afternoon of 6 June 1942.
Battle of Midway
Midway is an atoll, a ring of
coral islands. Total land area =
3 sq. miles Midway today
Turning point in the
Pacific – Japanese
offensive stopped!
B. Turning back the German Army
- Early 1942: US strategy was to take a
defensive stance in the Pacific
- Agreed with European Allies to adopt a
“Europe First” policy
a. USSR (Stalin) urged US to open 2nd
western front in Europe
- to take pressure off USSR
(doing most of fighting!)
b. Brits (Churchill): US & Brits not
ready for lrg invasion of Europe
- focus attack periphery
- FDR orders invasion of N.
Africa
1. The North African Campaign 11/42-5/43
a. Operation Torch – US/Brit operation,
but presented to French as only US
b/c anti-British sentiment is high
among many French officials
b. Germans & Italians held much of NA.
Vichy French (German-friendly French)
gov’t hold Morocco, Algeria
Threatened Brit controlled Egypt
& Suez Canal
Operation Torch
c. German forces led by Rommel (the
Desert Fox)
d. Brits halt Germans push east at Battle
of El- Alamein (Egypt)
e. Allies capture French North Africa. All
French North African territories (except
Tunisia) then aligned themselves to the
Allied side
f. US forces under Patton push east and
trap Germans btwn US and Brit forces
g. German forces in North Africa surrender
h. ~ 350k German & Italians killed or
captured
i. paved the way for future Allied invasion
of Sicily and mainland Italy (Europe’s
soft underbelly)
2. Battle of the Atlantic
a. Allied convoys vs. German U-Boats
and other warships
b. Dates: 1939-1945
c. Military Branch: Navy + Air Corp +
Civilians
d. Germany’s plan
1) aim to prevent food & war material
from reaching Brits and USSR
2) patrol US coastal waters in U Boats
“wolfpacks” – sunk 1.2 tons of
shipping, 360 ships including oil
tankers – force oil rationing in US
e. US response?
1) cities dim lights, blackout curtains,
drive w/o lights
2) built 1st long oil pipeline from TX – PA
3) convoys !
- cargo ships travel in grps
escorted by destroyers
4) New technology: radar, sonar, depth
charges
5) by spring 1943, Allies in control of
Atlantic
Battle of the Atlantic
Solution!
Problem?
Convoy vs U-Boat
3. Battle of Stalingrad 1942
a. German Plan?
- to destroy USSR economy
- key to capture oilfields, farms, and
industry
- by capturing Stalingrad, Germs thought
USSR would be cut off from resources
needed to stay in war
b. The battle
- constant bombing & artillery fire
- sniper activity
For Hollywood version of
this battle, see “Enemy at
the Gates”
c. Result?
- Nov. 1942, USSR surrounds Germans –
9000 surrender
d. Significance?
- turning point! Stopped German offensive
on their eastern front
Battle of Stalingrad
IV. Pushing the Axis Back
A. Striking back at the Third Reich
1. Casablanca Conference Jan 1943
- FDR and Churchill agree to…
a. escalate bombing of Germany
b. demand unconditional surrender
c. Attack Sicily – the soft underbelly
of Europe
Europe’s Soft Underbelly
2. Strategic Bombing Campaign
a. air war
b. goal? To bomb select military
targets to disrupt German war
production capability
c. Brits bomb by night, US bombs
by day
Bombs
Away!
Strategic Bombing Campaign
B-24s from
the 450th
Bomb group
based in
Italy on a
bomb run
Bomb Damage: Berlin
Bombing the Ploesti
Oil Refinery
Romania Aug 1943
Effects of
Allied Air
Bombing
3. Striking at the Soft Underbelly
a. Invasion of Sicily July 1943
b. DUKW – new amphibious truck –
brought supplies and artillery to
soldiers on the beach
c. Invasion successful – Germans
evacuate w/in 8 days of invasion
DUKW bringing
in supplies to
Seventh Infantry
troops in Sicily
Europe’s Soft Underbelly
d. After Sicily lost - Mussolini out!
- king arrests Mussolini and new
Italian gov’t begins to negotiate
with Allies for surrender (9/8/43)
e. US invades mainland Italy in south at
Salerno
Invasion of Italy
f. Germany, fearing loss of Italy, seizes
Northern Italy and Rome – attacks US
forces at Salerno – rescues Mussolini
from prison and puts him back in
power
g. after 5 mos. of fighting, Allies break
through German lines at Anzio and
Cassini in May 1944
h. Allies capture Rome on June 4, 1944
- but Germans still held strong in
the north of Italy
Allied Liberation of Rome
June 4, 1944
4. Tehran Conference
a. Tehran, Iran Nov/Dec 1943
b. FDR (US), Stalin (USSR), Churchill
(Gr. Brit)
c. Leaders agreed to…
1) Stalin agreed to an offensive
against Germany when Allies
invade France
2) FDR & Stalin agreed to break up
Germany to eliminate future threats
3) Stalin pledged to help US defeat
Japan after defeat of Germany
4) Accepted idea of int’l peace org after
war
Tehran Conference
Left to right: Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston
Churchill on the verandah of the Soviet Embassy in Tehran during
the Tehran Conference.
B. Landing in France
1. Operation Overlord
- codename for invasion (liberation) of
France
a. Gen Eisenhower put in command
b. Germans led to believe that
invasion will occur at Pas-deCalais (actual target = Normandy)
- narrowest pt of English
Channel
- set up “dummy” invasion force
near Dover (fictitious 1 Army Group, false radio
st
US Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Supreme Commander
Allied Forces
traffic, inflatable tanks, empty tents, Gen. Patton sent there)
- one of most successful deception
operation of the war 
Operation Fortitude
Mission? To deceive Germany – convince
them that the invasion would take place at
Pas-de-Calais
Intended Invasion
Deceptive
Point
An inflatable dummy tank,
modeled after the M4 Sherman
Invasion Point
2. The intricacies of the plan
a. invasion had to begin at night to
hide ships crossing English
Channel
b. low tide had to be at dawn so
gunners bombarding coast could
see their targets
c. paratroopers had to be dropped
behind enemy lines by night – but
needed moonlight so they could
see where to land
d. Most important? Needed good
weather! (storms would ground planes, high waves
would flood landing craft)
3. Invasion Day = D-Day June 6, 1944
a. ~ 7000 ships + 100,000 soldiers +
23,000 paratroopers + fighter planes
etc. = largest invasion force in history!
b. Code names for landing beaches in
Normandy: Utah, Omaha, Gold,
See opening scene
of “Saving Private
Sword and Juno - US forces on Omaha
Ryan” for realistic
portrayal of the
fight for Omaha
Beach
Read: “ A
Day for
Heroes” in
textbook pg
638-9)
Beach faced greatest losses (2500 KIA/WIA)
c.end of the day June 6, 1944: invasion
successful! US, British, and Canadian
troops had secured a foothold on the
beaches of France! (Germans thought this was a diversion –
thought “real” invasion was yet to come at Calais)
d. Military significance? Opens a
western front in Europe – Germans now
being squeezed by the Allies from the
east, west, and south (Italy)
Great Reagan speech about D-Day:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganddayaddress.html
Navies bombed German Gun Batteries from the sea to
weaken German defenses along the “Atlantic Wall”
enabling invasion forces to storm the beaches
C. Driving the Japanese Back
1. Strategy? Island Hopping Campaign
a. advance through Pacific by
hopping from one island to
another – getting closer and closer
to Japan
b. needed to be close enough to use
our heavy bomber airplanes
against Japan
Admiral Chester Nimitz:
Commander of Pacific
Fleet
Island Hopping Campaign
c. Geographic challenge: many islands
= coral reef atolls
- water over reef not deep enough
for landing craft
- soldiers wade to the beach = easy
targets
d. Objective #1: Tarawa Nov. 1943
- 20 ships run aground on reefs.
- soldiers wade to the beach in
shoulder-high water while being
raked by Jap. fire
- only 1/3 marines makes it ashore
- 1000 marines KIA
- highlighted the importance of
amphtrac vehicles
“alligators”
Tarawa
Tarawa
today
e. next target? Marshall Islands Feb ‘44
- all troops ashore on amphtracs
- fewer US casualties
f. next hop? Mariana Islands summer
1944
- goal to secure these as base for
B-29 Superfortress (could fly further
than any plane in the world
- US forces capture Saipan, Tinian,
Guam by Aug 1944
- few months later, B-29s bombing
Japan!
2. Mac Arthur returns to the Philippines
a. Begins w/ invasion of Guadalcanal
Aug 1942 (this last thru early ’44)
b. MacArthur returns to the Philippines
Oct. w/ assault on the Japanese at Leyte
1944 - fulfills his promise, “I shall return”
Gen. MacArthur returns to
the Philippines Oct 1944
c. Battle of Leyte Gulf Oct. 1944
- Jap. attempts to stop invasion at
Leyte results in the largest naval
engagement in history
- 1st time Japanese use kamikaze
attacks
USS St. Louis hit by a
kamikaze off Leyte, Nov.
27, 1944
d. MacArthur’s troops capture Manila
capital of Philippines) Aug. 1945
e. Campaign to recapture Philippines
from Japanese was very bloody
- 80,000 Japanese troop deaths
- only 1000 Japanese surrendered!
- 100,000 Filipino civilians killed
Manila
City Hall
Fallen
Jap.
soldier