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GC unit 11
Part 1
World War II
The US position
 Still viewed all of this as a “European problem”
– Isolationism
– The Neutrality Acts
– Eventually these were relaxed and we began to aid the
allies
 Lend lease Act
 Destroyers for naval bases
– July 1941 Japanese occupy Indo-China at the expense of the
French (US leads a world wide oil embargo and sent aid to the
Chinese)
 Pearl Harbor December 7th 1941
Hitler’s Conquests in Europe
 Blitzkrieg (Panzer divisions of 300 tanks)
– Infantry and air support
 April 1940 he attacked Denmark and Norway
 Then the Netherlands (2 days) and Belgium (2
weeks)
 Hitler avoided the Maginot Line by invading
France through Luxembourg on June 10th 1940
– The Miracle of Dunkirk: 300,000 saved but all
equipment was lost (DeGaulle and the Free French)
– Germans reach Paris on June 14th 1940 and set up
the Vichy government under Henri Petain
The Battle of Britain
 From August of 1940 until March of 1941 Hitler
bombed England to soften them up for
invasion (15,000 killed in London in 2 months)
– British bomb Berlin and caused the Luftwaffe to
shift focus to London
– Hitler shifts focus to London (allows British industry
to produce)
– RAF used radar and US help to fight off the attacks
– Churchill took power in May of 1940 (good
relationship with FDR and the US)
THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
 WHEN? 1942-43
 WHERE? N. ATLANTIC SEA LANES
 WHO?
– GERMAN U-BOAT FORCE (WOLFPACKS)
– U.S. / BRITISH NAVIES & MERCHANT SHIPS
 WHAT?
– GERMANS ATTEMPT TO CUT OFF FLOW OF SUPPLIES
FROM U.S. TO BRITIAN
– ATTACKS START CLOSE TO U.S. SHORE
– COMBAT EVENTAULLY MOVES FURTHER INTO THE
ATLANTIC
– U.S. USES SONAR & RADAR TO HINDER GERMANS
 RESULTS?
– HEAVY LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES
– BY MID-1943, ALLIES HAVE WON CONTROL OF THE
ATLANTIC
WW II GERMAN U-BOAT
OPERATION BARBAROSSA
THE EASTERN FRONT
 June 22, 1941:
– Operation Barbarossa / Germany invades Russia
– Why?
 Lebensraum: Definition – Living Space for Germans
 Nazi Racial Theories
– Slavic (Russians, Poles, etc.) considered inferior to Germans
– Russia’s Jews needed to be eliminated
– Wanted to force GB to sign a treaty by eliminating an important
potential ally
Resources: Land, Food, Oil
 Communist “threat” / desire to destroy “Bolshevism”
 Hitler’s mistrust of Stalin
STALINGRAD
 When? October 1942 February of 1943
 Where? Stalingrad (Southern Russia)
 Why?
– German attempt to capture / occupy oil fields in S.
Russia
– Then Germans can control important Volga River
supply route
 What happens?
–
–
–
–
–
Aug.-Oct.: German 6th Army seizes Stalingrad
Oct.-Nov.: Russians surround / cut off Germans
Nov.-Feb.: German Army starved / casualties high
Feb: German 6th Army surrenders 91,000 prisoners
***Russian casualties (military & civilian):
1,250,000 (more than US in the entire war)
 STALINGRAD: Turning point in European
Theatre
THE NORTH AFRICAN &
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
 WHEN? Nov.’42-1944
 WHO? ALLIES:
– U.S. FORCES: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
– BRITISH: BERNARD MONTGOMERY
– GERMAN AFRIKA KORPS: ERWIN ROMMEL
 ***ROMMEL: “THE DESERT FOX”
 WHY IMPORTANT?
– CONTROL OF MEDITERRANEAN SEA
– ALLIES THOUGHT IT WAS “SOFT UNDERBELLY” OF EUROPE
 BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN:
– TURNING POINT IN NORTH AFRICA
– BRITISH VICTORY
 RESULTS?
– ALLIES FORCE AXIS TO USE UP VALUABLE RESOURCES
– MUSSOLINI LOSES POWER IN ITALY ; LATER KILLED
– ALLIES CONTROL MEDITERRANEAN
Italy Surrenders
 July 1943 allies invaded Sicily to open a
second front in Europe
– Mussolini had been deposed and arrested in the
Spring of 1943
– Italians surrender to British and US not USSR
– Germans divert troops to bail out Italy, rescue
Mussolini and restore him as the leader in
German controlled N. Italy
OPERATION OVERLORD
 JUNE 6, 1944
 GOAL:
– ALLIED INVASION OF NORTHERN EUROPE
– MASSIVE AMPHIBIOUS & AIRBORNE INVASION
– TO ESTABLISH AN ALLIED ”BEACHHEAD” IN N. FRANCE
 WHO? ALLIES (156,000 TROOPS, 4,000 LANDING CRAFT, 6000
SHIPS, 11,000 PLANES)
– U.S.:
 ARMY AIRBORNE, AIR CORPS, INFANTRY, RANGERS
 U.S. NAVY, U.S. COAST GUARD
– BRITS.:
 ARIBORNE, R.A.F., INFANTRY
 NAVY
– CANADIANS: INFANTRY
– FREE FRENCH: INFANTRY, NAVY
 WHERE? NORMANDY BEACHES, FRANCE
 GERMANS EXPECTED ATTACK TO ARRIVE IN DIFFERENT
PART OF FRANCE
 WHY? GEORGE S. PATTON USED AS “DECOY”
 HITLER WOULD NOT ALLOW REINFORCEMENTS MOVED TO
NORMANDY
OPERATION OVERLORD
THE FALL OF GERMANY
 LATE 1944: GERMANY IS ON VERGE OF
DEFEAT
 DEC., 1944: GERMANS TRY ONE LAST
GAMBLE TO WIN WAR:
– ARMORED / INFANTRY OFFENSIVE IN WEST
– BATTLE OF THE BULGE
– GERMANS LOSE
 CAN’T REPLACE LOSSES
 120,000 KIA/MIA, 600 TANKS, 1600 PLANES
 APRIL, 1945: SOVIETS SEIGE BERLIN
 BATTLE OF BERLIN:
– HITLER COMMITS SUICIDE
– UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
– THIRD REICH HAS ENDED
 MAY 8, 1945: V-E DAY
War in the Pacific
 December 7th 1941 Pearl Harbor US declares
war on Japan
– Japan scores early victories until the Battle of Coral
Sea (1st Naval battle where ships did not see each
other)
– Turning point was Battle of Midway June 6th 1942
 US destroyed 4 Japanese Carriers (Chester Nimitz)
– Island Hopping
– Douglas MacArthur and the Philippines
– Harry Truman (The Manhattan Project)
 Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Aug 1945)
 V-J Day Aug 15th 1945