victory in europe

VICTORY IN EUROPE

Situation 1943 Allies had invaded

Italy Halted by German

army Soviets began pushing

Germany back across Eastern Front

Allies began massive bombing campaign Industrial centers Cities

Stalingrad German attacks failed

Stiff Soviet resistance Focused attacks

toward oil fields in the South Had to capture key

points Very symbolic

Germany throws huge force into SG Surrounded and

destroyed Beginning of end

Questions Based on the

previous slides’ photos what was the fighting like at Stalingrad?

What was the impact of the battle of Stalingrad?

Allied Bombing Not ready to invade

Germany Will contribute by

destroying German economy

Bomber raids over Germany Important factories Transportation centers Also, bomb cities

Firebombing of Hamburg

Results of Allied Bombing 1.5 million tons of

bombs dropped by U.S. 80,000 Americans lost 10,000 planes lost Many cities mostly

destroyed Cologne 61% Hamburg-50,000 killed

in single bombing 305,000 killed 780,000 wounded 7.5 million homeless

Question Why did the British

and the Americans execute such a massive bombing campaign against German targets?

Was such a strategy acceptable? Why or why not?

Invasion By 1944, U.S. and Britain

ready to recapture Europe Stalin had been

clamoring for such Germany greatly

weakened by Soviets Must attack somewhere

along Atlantic Wall Decided to attack

Normandy Tricked Germany into

thinking attack would come at Calais

Operation Fortitude

D-Day Allied invasion of

occupied France Operation Overlord June 6, 1944 Dwight D.

Eisenhower American, British,

Canadian forces 5 beach heads

Four taken relatively easily

One fiercely fought Omaha Beach

D-Day (cont’d) First 24,000 paratroopers

Disrupt 160,000 soldiers pour

ashore v. 10,000 Germans Nearly 7,000 ships 5000+ American

causalities Mostly at Omaha beach

All objects eventually captured Much longer than hoped

Drive to defeat Germany had begun

Questions: What was D-Day? Why were the

Allies successful? What were the

American beaches?

What beach was the most fiercely contested?

Advance Allies are advancing on

all Fronts From Normandy Eastern Front Southern France

By end of 1944, had mostly pushed Germans back into Germany

Germany was near collapse

Were not quite defeated yet

German Counterattack Saved forces for one

last-ditch effort Drive back the allies in

the West Would attack in the

dead of winter Cut off and destroy

American and British Stock piled resources

for the attack Launched Dec. 16,

1944

Battle of the Bulge Hit American and British hard

Through Ardennes Drove them back

Created a “bulge” in their line Bad weather helped Germans

No air support Germany used all reserves

Men, fuel, etc. Eventually ran out Attack halted by US 3rd Army

Patton Germany had exhausted itself

Questions What was the goal

of the Germans in attacking in late 1944?

Why were they able to obtain early success in the winter of 1944-5?

What eventually resulted in their defeat?

Collapse German army failing on all

fronts Americans cross the Rhine

into Germany Control much of it

Soviets pushing toward Berlin

Germany surrenders May 8, 1945 Wanted to surrender to

U.S. and Brits, not U.S.S.R. Upon occupation, true

extent of Holocaust becomes known

Final ArmyPositions

Questions: Why was Germany

unable to win WWII?

What did the U.S. contribute to the Allied victory?

What did the Soviets contribute?

Who ultimately deserves credit for “winning the war”?

Conclusion of War In Europe

Most destructive conflict in human history Much of Europe

destroyed Bombing and fighting

Tens of millions of casualties Russia 30 million killed Poland over 6 million Germany over 5.5 million

Start of rivalry between U.S. and Soviets

Assignment: As a soldier write a letter describing your

experiences or emotions as the war in Europe ends. Can be focused on: Liberation of a concentration camp Joy the war is over Destruction How you have been received by German

people Fear/worry about being sent to Asia Thoughts on what the future may hold (for

yourself, your country, Germany, or the world)

VICTORY IN ASIA/PACIFIC

U.S. Strategy Focused on 2 main

theatres Central Pacific Southwest Pacific

U.S. Navy would attack C. Pacific Admiral Chester Nimitz

U.S. Army would attack S.W. Pacific General Douglas

MacArthur Overall plan- “Island

Hopping”

Island Hopping U.S. selected key islands

to attack Those too heavily

defended were bypassed

Japan had to defend all of Pacific Would not/could not

know where U.S. would attack

“Finest hour” of the U.S. Marine Corps Had become amphibious

assault specialists

Questions: Why do you think

the U.S. opted for an “island hopping” strategy in the Pacific in World War II?

Why do you think such a strategy ultimately paid off?

Battle of Tarawa First U.S. offensive in the

C. Pacific Nov. 20-23rd, 1943

Needed as an airbase against the Marianas

First heavy causalities suffered in landing Botched landing

All but 17 of 4,836 killed Why?

3,166 Americans casualties For seemingly

unimportant island

Marine General Holland Smith

"Was Tarawa worth it?" "My answer," he said, "is unqualified: No. From the very beginning the decision of the Joint Chiefs to seize Tarawa was a mistake and from their initial mistake grew the terrible drama of errors, errors of omission rather than commission, resulting in these needless casualties." Thought Smith, "[We] should have let Tarawa 'wither on the vine.' We could have kept it neutralized from our bases on Baker Island, to the east, and the Ellice and Phoenix Islands, a short distance to the southeast.

Fighting in the Pacific Very, very brutal as

compared to Europe Racial hatred Japanese valued death

in combat over the disgrace of surrender Also, Americans

typically did not allow Japanese to surrender

Result, fights in Pacific were fights to the death

Questions: Why was the

fighting in the Pacific so incredibly brutal?

Why did many question the value of fighting over islands such as Tarawa?

Southwest Pacific Headquartered in

Australia Attacked toward

the Philippines Guadalcanal Solomon Islands New Guinea Dutch Indies

Very fierce fighting in jungle terrain

Philippines Sore spot for Americans

Had surrender in early 1942 MacArthur was determined to

take back Landed on Leyte Oct. 20,

1944 Filipinos desired and support

American attack Japan lost 350,000 men in

defense Most killed

U.S. lost fewer than 14,000 killed

U.S. had complete superiority Air, sea, numbers, etc.

Battle of Leyte Gulf Largest naval battle in

history Fought Oct. 23-26, 1944

Off Philippines Japanese sent virtually all

of large vessels Destroy and halt U.S.

invasion Last, best Japanese effort

Many ships destroyed Lost dozens of ships, 500

planes, and 10,000 killed Confirmed U.S. control of

Philippines

Questions: Who was the overall

commander of the U.S. forces in the S.W. Pacific?

Why was it important for the U.S. to capture the Philippines?

What were the Japanese hoping to accomplish at Leyte Gulf?

Iwo Jima First attack on Japanese

Home Island Feb. 19, 1945

Extremely fierce fighting 18,000 Japanese

defenders well entrenched Only 216 prisoners taken

American victory was assured

Nearly 20,000 wounded and 7,000 killed

On Marine battle with higher causalities

Question: Why is this image

so famous? What does it

represent? Why would the flag

have been raised on Mt. Suribachi in the first place?

Battle of Okinawa 340 miles from Japan U.S. needed to launch

bombing raids Attack began April 1,

1945 Lasted 82 days

More than 100,000 Japanese defenders killed

U.S. lost more than 50,000 total casualties Most costly campaign of

war for Navy

Okinawa (cont’d) Japanese launched

large scale Kamikaze attacks

Tens of thousands of civilians killed Forced ritual suicide?

Reports of widespread rape Committed by both

sides U.S. victory

Had base to attack Japan

Bombing of Japan Began after 1944

Entrance of B-29 Japan could offer no

effective resistance Mar. 9-10, 1945

334 B-29s launched Destroyed 25% of Tokyo Killed estimated

100,000 Countless more injured 1 million homeless Destroyed 16 sq. miles

Tokyo Bombing

Questions: What are kamikazes? Why did Japan resort

to such savage strategies?

What does the battle of Okinawa show the U.S.?

Why does the U.S. bomb Japanese cities?

Are such actions acceptable?

Operation Downfall Planned Allied invasion of

Japan Japan clearly losing

Refused to surrender Casualty estimates

extremely high More than a million allied

soldiers Tens of millions of

Japanese Expected that Japan

would sacrifice entire population Civilians would fight Would not surrender

Dropping of Atomic Bombs Projected casualties for

invasion made such unappealing

Summer of 1945 U.S. finished developing atomic weapons Bomb that could level an

entire city Aug. 6, 1945- Hiroshima

Approx. 100,000 killed Aug. 9, 1945- Nagasaki

Approx. 70,000 killed Japan formally surrendered

Aug. 15th

War was over

A Japanese report on the bombing characterized Nagasaki as "like a graveyard with not a tombstone standing".

Hiroshima: Before and After

Questions: Why did the U.S.

drop the atomic bombs over Japan?

After dropping the first, why did they drop the second?

Given the alternatives, was this an appropriate decision?

Assignment: One thing that is going to define the Post-

War World is the rivalry that develops between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Given this, how will the U.S. going about “fixing” the problems that must that exist. Start by creating a list of at least 10 problems that exist after WWII and then describe possible solutions to each.