WWII Combat

Nazi Tide

• Nazi’s had taken Western Europe • Unsuccessful air war with Britain • Nazi’s break Russian nonaggression pact– Armies advance miles into western Russia

• Stalingrad– Offensive would complete conquest of Russia– Russian Casualties 500,000 – German Casualties 300,000– Turning Point

Casablanca Conference

• Churchill and FDR demand unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan– Permanently eliminate

Germany and Japan– Soviets encouraging to

keep fighting – Crushed Hitler’s hope

for negotiation

Europe’s Soft Underbelly• North Africa

– Kasserine Pass in Tunisia – British /US troops push across North Africa forcing the surrender Axis

• Sicily – Allies take island and cause the – Italians push Mussolini out of Power Italian Prime Minister,– Italian Armistice September 3rd 1943

• Invasion mainland Italy – Anzio/Monte Cassino

• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Teheran – 2nd front in Western Europe – Partitioning of Germany – Russia vs. Japan

D-Day Normandy France

• Largest amphibious operation in history June 6th 1944– 2 million troops – 5,000 ships– 11,000 aircraft

• Allies deception / Patton’s Fake Army • Hitler believed the deception and pulled tank

units

Nazi Counter Offensive

• French troops retook Paris August 5, 1944• German Counteroffensive Belgium’s Ardennes

Forest Winter 1944– Americans caught by surprise– Desperate battle– Shortage of fuel– Frozen ground – 70-100,000 US Casualties

Yalta Conference• February of 1945 Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met (Russia)• Terms of Agreement

a. Russia enter war against Japan after Germany defeatedb. Creation of United Nations c. Russia regain territories lost to Japan in Russo-Japanese War plus special rights in Manchuria d. Outer Mongolia recognized as independent natione. Free elections to be held to establish democracies in those nations formerly occupied by Nazig. Germany was to be divided into British, American, French, and

Soviet zones of oc cupation

End of War in Europe

• 1945- US steps up bombing campaign on Germany

• Dresden firebombed – 1,400 Allied planes – City reduced to rubble – 135,000 died

• April- Russians attack Berlin • Hitler’s Suicide• May 7th Germans surrender

Battle of Midway

• June 1942• Japanese Seek to destroy last US carriers• Set a trap at Midway Island• US broke Japanese radio code• US dive-bombers catch Japanese rearming

Guadalcanal

• Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, NE of Australia • 1st of many bloody battles in the Pacific• Island Hopping Campaign– Stepping-stones for eventual invasion of Japanese

main islands– Unnecessary to defeat Japanese on every island – Goal: secure islands so US bombers can attack the

Japanese main islands

Bloody Island Battles• Battle of Tarawa

– 2 mile long and half mile wide island

• 18,000 US Marines vs.

• 4,500 Japanese– 17 Japanese survive,

• US: 2,000 wounded 1,000 died

• Continue Island hopping - Saipan, Guam and Tinian

Island Air Bases

• B-29 Superfortress Bombers– Faster, higher and farther with heavier bomb loads

• March 9-10th 1945: B-29’s bomb Tokyo with Napalm– Gelatinized gasoline- start fires hard to extinguish– 250,000 pounds of Napalm dropped – Japanese homes/buildings made of wood and paper – Estimated 100,000 Japanese die – 1 million homeless – 16 square miles of Tokyo destroyed

The Philippines

• General Douglas MacArthur’s vow

• Battle of Leyte Gulf• Kamikaze suicide attacks– Sank 400 ships – Nearly 10,000 Americans

die• June 1945 recapture of

Philippines complete

Okinawa a Prelude• Japanese Home Territory

– 350 miles from Kyushu– Staging ground for the invasion

• 183,000 Americansvs.

• 77,000 Japanese, 20,000 Okinawans– Battle lasted 82 days– US lost 12,000 – Japanese lost 70,000 – 100,000 to 150,000 civilians– Civilian Suicides– Kichiku - ogre-beasts

Atomic Secret

• April 12th FDR suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died

• The Manhattan Project 1942 • 1st atomic bomb successfully detonated

Alamogordo, New Mexico July 16th

The “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”

• August 6th 1945 • Japanese Industrial city of Hiroshima– 70,000 Japanese citizens vaporized– 100,000 Japanese injured– 98% of the buildings destroyed – 100,000 perished from burns and radiation sickness

• August 9th

• Nagasaki Naval Port– 80,000 people died from blast and radiation

Japan Surrenders

• Hirohito chooses total surrender

• August 14th 1945 fighting in Pacific ends

• September 2nd General MacArthur accepts surrender of Japan