SECTION 1: Mobilizing for Defense

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, they

thought America would avoid further conflict

with them.

The Japan Times newspaper said America

was “trembling in their shoes”

But if America was trembling, it was with

rage, not fear.

After Pearl Harbor 5 million Americans

enlisted to fight in the war.

The Selective Service expanded the draft and

eventually provided an additional 10 million

soldiers.

Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall

pushed for the formation of the Women’s

Auxiliary Army Corps. (WAAC)

Under this program women worked in non-

combat roles such as nurses, ambulance

drivers, radio operators, electricians, and

pilots.

Despite discrimination at home, minority

populations contributed to the war effort.

1,000,000 African Americans

300,000 Mexican Americans

33,000 Japanese Americans

25,000 Native Americans

13,000 Chinese Americans

served in the military. Read 564.

Americans converted their auto industry into a war industry.

The nation’s automobile plants began to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars.

Many other industries also converted to war-related supplies.

By 1944, nearly 8

million workers were

laboring in war

industries . (3X the #

in 1941)

More than 6 million of

these were women

and nearly two

million were minority

workers.

In 1941, FDR created the Office of

Scientific Research and Development

(OSRD) to bring scientists into the war

effort.

Focus was on radar and sonar to

locate submarines.

Also scientists worked on penicillin

and pesticides like DDT.

The most important achievement of the

OSRD was the development of the atomic

bomb.

Einstein wrote to FDR warning him that the

Germans were attempting to develop such a

weapon.

The code used to describe American efforts

to build the bomb was the “Manhattan

Project.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IqKdf6In

_k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru2PWm

GIoB8

Increased war production - decreased

consumer products.

With prices of goods threatening to rise out

of control, FDR responded by creating the

Office of Price Administration (OPA).

The OPA froze prices on most goods and

encouraged the purchase of war bonds to

fight inflation.

Congress raised tax rates and extended the

tax to millions of people who had never paid

it before.

To ensure the troops had ample resources,

FDR created the War Production Board.(WPB)

The WPB decided which companies would

convert from peacetime to wartime

production and allocated raw materials to

key industries.

The WPB also organized nationwide drives to

collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and

cooking fat for recycling into war goods.

Additionally, the OPA set up a system of

rationing.

Households had set allocations of scarce

goods – gas, meat, shoes, sugar, coffee, and

gasoline.

Most Americans accepted rationing as their

contribution to the war effort.

Workers carpooled or rode bicycles.

Families coped with shortages of everything

from tires to toys.

Some chose to buy items from the black

market.

Days after Pearl Harbor, British Prime

Minister Winston Churchill arrived at the

White House and spent three weeks working

out war plans with FDR.

They decided on defeating Hitler first and

then turn their attention to Japan.

After America’s entry into the war, Hitler was

determined to prevent food and war supplies

from reaching Britain and the USSR from

America’s east coast.

Hitler ordered submarine raids on U.S. ships

along America’s east coast.

During the first four months of 1942 Germany

sank 87 U.S. ships.

In the first seven months of 1942, German

wolf packs sank 681 Allied ships in the

Atlantic.

Something had to be done or the war at sea

would be lost.

First, Allies used convoys of ships &

destroyers to transport supplies

Destroyers used sonar to track U-boats.

Airplanes were used to track the U-boats on

the ocean’s surface.

With this improved tracking, Allies inflicted

huge losses on German U-boats.

Hitler wanted to wipe out Stalingrad – a

major industrial center.

The Germans had been fighting in the Soviet

Union 6/41 – 11/41.

Cold stopped them outside of Moscow and

Leningrad. They waited for spring.

In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the

offensive in the southern Soviet Union.

By the winter of 1943, the Allies began to see victories on land as well as sea.

The first great turning point was the Battle of Stalingrad.

Stalingrad was bombed nightly by the Luftwaffe. Nearly every wooden building was burned down.

Stalin ordered that the city be defended no matter what the cost.

For weeks the Germans pressed in on Stalingrad.

Germans conquered Stalingrad house by house using hand-to-hand combat.

By September, Germans controlled 9/10 of the city.

Then winter set in and the Germans were wearing summer uniforms.

The Soviets surrounded Stalingrad with tanks

and cut off German supplies.

Hitler said “Stay and fight! I won’t go back

from the Volga.”

January 31, 1943, the German commander

surrendered.

2 days later, his starving troops also surrendered.

The Soviets lost 1,100,000 soldiers

defending Stalingrad. This was more than

twice the number of deaths the U.S.

suffered in all the war.

“Operation Torch” – an invasion of Axis –

controlled North Africa – was launched by

American General Dwight D. Eisenhower in

1942.

Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oran,

and the Algiers in Algeria.

They sped eastward chasing the Afrika

Corps led by General Erwin Rommel.

May 1943, the last of the Africa Korps

surrendered.

Roosevelt, Churchill, and their commanders

met in Casablanca to determine their next

move.

1) Plan massive invasions of France and Italy.

2) Only unconditional surrender of the Axis

powers.

The Italian Campaign got off to a good start as the Allies easily took Sicily in the summer of 1943.

The Italian government forced dictator Benito Mussolini to resign.

At that point King Emmanuel stripped Mussolini of his power and had him arrested.

Read page 573.

However, Hitler’s forces continued to resist the Allies in Italy.

“Bloody Anzio” – one of the hardest battles the Allies encountered. Fought less than 40 miles from Rome.

Lasted 4 months.

25,000 Allied casualites

30,000 Axis caualties.

Heated battles ensued and it wasn’t until 1945 that Italy was secured by the Allies.

Among the brave men who fought in Italy

were pilots of the all-black 99th Pursuit

Squadron – the Tuskagee Airmen.

The pilots made numerous effective strikes

against Germany and won two distinguished

Unit Citations.

Buffaloes – Another African-American unit to

distinguish itself.

92nd Infantry Division.

In 6 months of fighting they won 7 Legion of

Merit Awards, 65 Silver Stars, and 162 Bronze

Stars for courage under fire.

17 Mexican American soldiers were awarded

the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Company E of the 141st Regiment, 36th

Division – became one of the most decorated

of the war.

Read page 573 at bottom.

Even as the Allies were battling for Italy, they

began plans on a dramatic invasion of

France.

It was known as “Operation Overlord” and

the commander was American General

Eisenhower.

Also called “D-Day”, the operation involved 3

million U.S., Canadian, & British troops and

was set for June 6, 1944.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qeCNg

8fO0

D-Day was the largest land-sea-air operation

in history.

Shortly after midnight – 3 divisions parachuted down behind German

lines.

Followed the next morning by thousands of seaborne soldiers.

Despite air support, German retaliation was brutal – especially at Omaha Beach.

Within a month, the Allies had landed 1 million troops, 567,000 supplies and 170,000 vehicles.

General Omar Bradley – unleashed massive

air and land bombardment against the enemy

at St. Lo.

Provided a gap in the German line in which

General George Patton and his Third Army could

advance.

By September 1944, the Allies had freed

France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

That good news – and the American people’s

desire not to “change horses in midstream” –

helped elect FDR to an unprecedented fourth

term.

In October 1944, Americans captured their

first German town (Aachen) – the Allies were

closing in.

Hitler responded with one last ditch massive

offensive.

Hitler hoped breaking through the Allied line

would break up Allied supply lines.

The battle raged for a month. The Germans had been pushed back.

Little seemed to have changed, but in fact the Germans had sustained heavy losses.

Germany lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, and 1,600 planes.

From that point on the Nazis could do little but retreat.

While the British and Americans moved

westward into Germany, the Soviets moved

eastward into German-controlled Berlin.

The Soviets discovered many concentration

camps that the Germans had set up within

Poland.

The Americans also liberated Nazi death

camps within Germany.

By April 25, 1945, the Soviet army had

stormed Berlin.

In his underground headquarters in Berlin,

Hitler prepared for the end.

On April 29, he married his longtime

girlfriend Eva Braun.

He wrote a last note in which he blamed the

Jews for starting the war and his generals for

losing it.

They next day he gave poison to his wife, his

dog, and then shot himself.

General Eisenhower accepted the

unconditional surrender of the Third Reich.

On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E

Day- victory in Europe Day.

The war in Europe was finally over.

President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E

Day.

On April 12, 1945, he suffered a stroke and

died – his VP Harry S. Truman became the

nation’s 33rd president.

The Americans did not celebrate long, as

Japan was busy conquering an empire that

dwarfed Hitler’s Third Reich.

Japan had conquered much of southeast

Pacific including the Dutch East Indies,

Guam, and most of China.

4/18/42 – Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle

led 16 bombers on a daring raid on Tokyo and

other Japanese cities.

Headlines read “Tokyo Bombed! Doolittle

Do’od It!”

This dampened spirits in Japan and lifted

them in the U.S.

The main Allied forces in the Pacific were

Americans and Australians.

In May 1942 they succeeded in stopping the

Japanese drive toward Australia in the five-

day Battle of the Coral Sea.

For the first time since Pearl Harbor, the

Japanese invasion had been stopped and

turned back.

Japan’s next thrust was toward Midway –

A strategic island northwest of Hawaii.

Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of

American naval forces in the Pacific, moved

to defend the island.

The Americans won a decisive victory as their

planes destroyed 4 aircraft carriers, a

cruiser, and 250 planes.

The Battle of Midway was turning point in

the war.

Soon the Allies were island hopping toward

Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v4I6RGR

W50

First Allied offensive 8/1942

19,000 troops stormed Guadalcanal in the

Solomon Islands.

Guadalcanal was Japan’s 1st defeat on land.

The Americans continued their offensive

across the Pacific toward Japan.

Led by General MacArthur.

Japanese countered by employing a new

tactic – Kamikaze attacks.

Kamikaze attacks – Japanese pilots crashed

their bomb-laden planes into Allied ships.

424 kamikaze pilots went on suicide

missions, sinking 16 ships and damaging

another 80.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was a disaster for

Japan.

Lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers,

and almost 500 planes.

General MacArthur and the Allies next turned to the Island of Iwo Jima.

The island was critical to the Allies as a base from which heavily loaded bombers might reach Japan.

It was called the most heavily defended spot on earth.

Allied and Japanese forces suffered heavy losses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rfsRNeii

ng

In April 1945, U.S. marines invaded Okinawa.

The Japanese unleashed 1,900 kamikaze attacks sinking 30 ships and killing 5,000 seaman.

Okinawa cost the Americans 7,600 marines and the Japanese 110,000 soldiers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiQZV6c-MYA

Play at 5:32

After Okinawa, Mac Arthur predicted that a

Normandy type amphibious invasion of Japan

would result in thousands of Allied deaths.

President Truman saw only one way to avoid

an invasion of Japan.

General Leslie Groves

Leader of the Manhattan Project

J. Robert Oppenheimer –

American scientist involved in the Manhattan

Project.

Best kept secret of the war.

Truman did not even know about it until he

became president.

July 16, 1945 – 1st test of the bomb in

Alamogordo, New Mexico.

July 25, 1945, Truman ordered the military

to make final plans for dropping two atomic

bombs on Japanese targets.

Truman warned Japan 7/26/45 that without

an immediate Japanese surrender, it faced

“prompt and utter destruction.”

On August 6, a B-29 bomber named Enola

Gay released an atomic bomb, Little Boy,

over Hiroshima.

43 seconds later almost every building in the

city collapsed into dust.

Japan refused to surrender.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t19kvUiHvAE

3 days later, a second bomb, Fat Man, was

dropped on Nagasaki.

The city was leveled.

200,000 people died.

Emperor Hirohito was horrified by the

destruction and did not want his people to

suffer any more.

9/2/45 - Japan surrendered aboard the U.S.

battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

In February 1945, as the Allies pushed toward

victory in Europe, an ailing FDR met with

Churchill and Stalin at the Black Sea resort of

Yalta in the Soviet Union.

They were called “The Big Three”

A series of compromises were worked out

concerning postwar Europe.

1) They agreed to divide Germany into 4

occupied zones after the war.

2) Stalin agreed to “free and unfettered”

elections in Eastern Europe.

3) Stalin agreed to join the U.S.in the war

against Japan and to join the United Nations.

The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the

Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders on trial

for crimes against humanity, crimes against

peace, and war crimes.

The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany.

“I was only following orders” was not an

acceptable defense as 12 of the 24 were

sentenced to death, and the others to life in

prison.

Japan was occupied by U.S. forces under the

command of General Douglas MacArthur.

During the seven year occupation, MacArthur

reshaped Japan’s economy by introducing

free-market economy practices that led to a

remarkable economic recovery.

Additionally, he introduced a liberal

constitution that to this day is called the

MacArthur Constitution.

The war provided a boost to the U.S.

economy.

Jobs were abundant and despite rationing

and shortages, people had money to spend.

By the end of the war, America was the

world’s dominant economic and military

power.

Unemployment fell to only 1.2 % by 1944 and

wages rose 35%.

Farmers benefited as production increased

and income tripled.

Women enjoyed economic gains during the war, although many lost their jobs after the war.

Over 6 million entered the work force for the first time.

Over 1/3 of those were in defense plants.

The war created opportunities for women boosting the % in the workforce to 35%.

The war triggered the greatest mass

migrations in U.S. history.

More than a million newcomers poured into

California between 1941-1944.

African Americans again shifted from south

to north.

To help returning servicemen ease back into

civilian life, Congress pass the Serviceman’s

Adjustment Act. (GI Bill of Rights).

The act provided for education for about 7.8

million veterans.

When the war began, 120,000 Japanese

Americans lived in the U.S. – mostly on the

West Coast.

After Pearl Harbor, many people were

suspicious of possible spy activity by

Japanese Americans.

In 1942, FDR ordered Japanese Americans

into 10 relocation centers.

In the late 1980’s President Reagan signed

into law a bill that provided $20,000 to every

Japanese American sent to a relocation

camp.

The checks were sent out in 1990 along with

a note from President Bush saying “We can

never fully right the wrongs of the past….we

now recognize that serious wrongs were done

to Japanese Americans during WWII.”

Nearly 59 years after the end of World War II,

the National World War II Memorial was

dedicated in Washington D.C., on Saturday,

May 29, 2004, to honor the many Americans

who died in the conflict.