World War 2
Chapter 24
US 2
Mr. McLaughlin
US Enters the War
• The US had been preparing for
war even though FDR claimed he
wished to stay neutral
• After the attack on Pearl Harbor,
public opinion quickly changed
and the US entered the war
• Hitler declared war on the US to
force the Americans to fight a
two-front war (only time Hitler
ever “declared war”)
AXIS Strengths
• Germany occupied several
European and North African
countries
• Japan had extended its power
throughout Southeast Asia,
including China
• Germany and Japan had large,
well-trained Armies…neither was
known for their desire to
surrender
ALLIED Strengths
• ENORMOUS Russian Army
• USA production capability
• Axis troops were spread very thin
across the World occupying many
different countries
US Preparation
•Production Boom
•Government Agencies
•Economy
•Army
US Preparation
• Production Boom: US wartime
production quickly ends any lingering
effects of the depression
• Government Agencies: 1. Wartime
Production Board 2. Office of War
Mobilization
• Economy: Increase income tax, Sell
War Bonds, Institute Rationing, Freeze
wages
• Army: (1940)Selective Training and
Service Act (1st ever peacetime draft)
Bataan Death march
• US and Filipino troops were defending the
Philippines
• Gen. MacArthur, realizing he was
outnumbered, ordered an evacuation to the
Bataan Peninsula
• Trapped between the Japanese and the ocean
the soldiers were forced to surrender
• MacArthur left Bataan saying, “I shall
return”
• 70,000 survivors were forced to walk 60
miles, 10,000 died on the march
• Conditions in camps were just as bad,
thousands more died in captivity
• Bataan Survivor
Early Battles in the
Pacific
•Coral Sea
•Midway
•Guadalcanal
Coral Sea
• First Allied victory in the Pacific
• Allies destroy 1 carrier and
damage another
• Significance: Allies stop the
Japanese push toward Australia
Midway
• US had intercepted Japanese
strategy
• Japan planned to attack Alaska to
force US troops to leave Hawaii
and Midway islands unprotected
• US Naval forces are waiting for
the Japanese at Midway
• 4 day battle: 4 Japanese aircraft
carriers are sunk, major hit to the
Japanese forces
Guadalcanal
•First Allied offensive
•Japanese fought extremely
hard, sign of things to
come (refused surrender,
committed suicide instead)
•Allies take the island and
never relinquish it
Early Action in Europe
• German and Italian forces controlled North
Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya)
• Hitler wanted control of the Suez Canal and
advance to the Middle East oil fields
• Hitler’s North Africa commander is Erwin
Rommel aka “Desert Fox”, well respected
German General
• The British pushed the Axis powers back at
the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt to as far as
Libya
• The Allies had won a victory in N. Africa
Stalingrad
• Germany had pushed deep into Russia, threatening
to take Moscow
• Russia fought them back furiously through a difficult
winter
• The two sides clashed at Stalingrad near Russian oil
reserves
• Soviets surrounded the Germans who refused to
surrender, Hitler’s orders
• A brutal winter in 1943 forced the German surrender,
over half of Germany’s most powerful 6th Army
• The Allies had now felt victory in both Africa and
Europe
Quiz 1
1.
Stalingrad
2.
Coral Sea
3.
Bataan
4.
Midway
5.
El Alamein
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
US intercepts Japanese message and
wins major naval battle here, turning
point in Pacific
Site of 87-mile march by surrendered
US soldiers, many die
Site of German surrender, its military
was cut in half
Axis forces, on route to the Suez Canal
and Middle East are forced into a
retreat here
At this Naval battle Japanese forces
are stopped from advancing to
Australia
US Homefront
1.
2.
3.
What was the Office of War Information?
What are Victory Gardens?
What did west coast cities do at night to help the war
effort?
4. Who is “Rosie the Riveter?”
5. Approx how many African-American soldiers served in
WW2?
6. Explain the zoot-suit riots?
7. What is the difference between the “issei” and the
“nisei?”
8. In what states were the Japanese relocation camps
located?
9. What did the US do with Hawaii during the war?
10. What could young Japanese men do to show their
loyalty to the US?
North Africa
• Allies now control Morocco and
Algeria, giving them power over the
Mediterranean Sea
• They use this position to cut off
supplies from Italy
• May 1943, 250,000 Axis troops in Africa
surrender
Italy
• July 1943, Allied Powers invade Sicily
• Italy’s King removes Mussolini as PM but
Mussolini is rescued by German forces and
controls Northern Italy
• Fighting was fierce, Italy signs armistice in
Sept but fighting continues between German
and Allied troops
• German troops did not want to give up Italy,
they do not finally surrender until June 1944
War in Atlantic
• Read 815-816
• How do the Allies combat the German
U-Boats?
• Are they successful?
D-Day! June 6, 1944
• AKA Operation Overlord
• History’s largest naval invasion, D-Day
June 6, 1944
• 160,000 troops landed on the beaches
of France that day, 2 million within 3
months
• 5,000 ships
• Over 1,000 planes
D-Day! June 6, 1944
• Allies bomb German strongholds in
France to weaken them in advance
• Once the invasion begins the Allies
push towards Paris
• Paris is liberated August 25th 1944
• From this point the US and British
forces will drive toward Germany from
the West while the Russians attack
from the East
Battle of the Bulge
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Germany, its back against the wall
begins its final counterattack
Which side had more troops?
Why was it called the Battle of the
Bulge?
How did Gen. McAuliff respond to a
surrender request?
What is the outcome?
Yalta Conference
• FDR, Stalin, Churchill
• They agree to divide and occupy
Germany for years to come
• Stalin agrees to declare war on Japan if
the US needs them
Berlin
• Allies inflict serious damage to German
cities with a series of bombing raids
• 30-60,000 civilian deaths
• Churchill and US are both fearful of
Stalin’s motives and want to win the
“race” to Berlin
• Gen Eisenhower refuses to change his
plans and the Soviets reach Berlin 1st
After Repair
German Theater
April 28th, 1944
Benito Mussolini is killed in Italy
Hitler’s Fate
• Mussolini had been captured and killed
in Italy by Italian rebels on April 28th
• Hitler, with the Allies storming the city
of Berlin commits suicide in his bunker
on April 30th (Eva Braun is with him and
also commits suicide)
• May 7, 1944: Germany officially
surrenders
• V-E Day!!!!!
Island Hopping
• War in the Pacific was largely a
naval conflict, unlike Europe
• Island Hopping: Rather than
recapturing all of the Japanese
held islands, the US would attack
and seize strategic islands that
would lead them to the mainland
War in Pacific
(Key Battles)
• Tarawa
• Saipan
• Leyte Gulf
• Iwo Jima
• Okinawa
Tarawa
•Significance: US gains
control of vital Japanese
airstrip for future landings
•Casualties were higher than
expected, a sign of things to
come
Saipan
• Significance: Decisive US victory
• 350 Japanese planes are
destroyed
• 3,400 US deaths, 16,000
Casualties
• US gains another important
airstrip, close to the main island
of Japan
Leyte Gulf
• Significance: US needed to
recapture the Philippines
• Largest Naval battle in the Pacific
• Japanese lose 4 aircraft carriers
and 3 battleships (Japan’s ability to
fight a naval war is GREATLY
damaged)
• MacArthur made good on his
promise, he had returned to the
Philippines
Iwo Jima
• Significance: 6 week battle was one of
the hardest fought in the war, US
victory placed them just 750 miles
from Japan
• 20,000 Japanese are killed
• Photographer Joe Rosenthal took one
of the most memorable photos in US
Military history after the Marines took
Mount Surabachi
• Iwo Jima (History Channel)
Okinawa
• Significance: Bloodiest, deadliest
battle in the Pacific
• Japanese began using Kamikaze missions
during the battle
• Japanese troops continued to refuse
surrender and fought to the death
• 110,000 Japanese troops were killed
• Okinawa Video
The death of FDR



Franklin D. Roosevelt who had won re-election for
an unprecedented 4th term in 1944 died on April
12th 1945
His Vice President, Harry Truman had been in
office for only a few months when he was forced
to take over
He faced the most difficult decision of the war.
Should he use the Atomic Bomb? What are his
other options?
33rd President, Harry S Truman
Manhattan Project
• Since 1942 the US had been
working on the Atomic Bomb
• The man in charge of the project
was Robert Oppenheimer
• The 1st successful test of an
Atomic Bomb took place in
Alamogordo, NM on July 16, 1945
Hiroshima
• August 6th, 1945, The plane Enola
Gay delivers the 1st Atomic Bomb
to the city of Hiroshima (Bomb was
named “Little Boy”
• Hiroshima was a military target
where the US hoped civilian
casualties would be low
• The initial blast kills 100,000
people instantly
“Little Boy”
“Enola Gay”
Hiroshima Dome
Hiroshima Dome (Today)
65 Years Later
Hiroshima (Present Day)
Nagasaki
• August 9th, 1945
• Japan refused surrender, the US
still not wanting to invade Japan
uses a 2nd Atomic Bomb named “Fat
Man”
• The Japanese were forced into a
surrender, September 2nd, 1945
• V-J Day!!!!!
• Atomic Bomb Movie
Nagasaki
Aftermath of the War
• Truman saved countless American lives by
not invading Japan, however he opened the
door to the Atomic Age
• World War 2 claimed the lives of up to 60
million people or more
• The Soviet Union lost over 20 million alone
• The cost of the war, although impossible to
truly calculate, totals more than $1 Trillion
• Cities across Europe were left in ruins,
millions of homes were uninhabitable
• Millions of children were left orphaned and
thousands were misplaced and left homeless
WW2 YouTube Videos
• War in Europe
• War in Pacific