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Chapter 35. America in World War II, 1941–1945. I. The Allies Trade Space for Time. Now that America was in the war, the question was whether or not the Allies would be able to stand long enough for America to retool itself for war production.
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Chapter 35 • America in World War II, 1941–1945
I. The Allies Trade Space for Time • Now that America was in the war, the question was whether or not the Allies would be able to stand long enough for America to retool itself for war production. • Among America’s tasks were to: feed, clothe, and arm itself, as well as transport its forces to countries all over Europe. • They were also to send food and munitions to its allies, who stretched from Russia to Australia.
II. The Shock of War • Executive Order No. 9066, After Pearl Harbor, Washington feared that Japanese Americans might act as saboteurs for Japan in case of invasion. • The order effected some 110,000 Japanese Americans as they were sent to internment camps (2/3 of which were born in America.) • The war also wiped out many New Deal programs to spend money on the war. • Roosevelt said that “Dr. New Deal” was retiring and “Dr. Win-the-War” was its replacement.
III. Building the War Machine • Massive military orders poured in to the tune of $100 billion in 1942 alone. • This created a huge demand on industry which instantly fixed any idle industrial problems left over from the Great Depression. • Under the direction of the War Production Board (WPB), factories poured out: 40 billion bullets, 300,000 aircraft, 76,000 ships, 86,000 tanks, and 2.6 million machine guns.
Full employment and scarce consumer goods brought on sharp inflation in 1942. • The Office of Price Administration (OPA) eventually brought prices down with extensive regulations. • Rationing held down domestic consumption. • The National War Labor Board (NWLB) imposed ceilings on wage increases. • Threats of strikes began to worry Congress so they passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act in 1943. • This gave the federal government the authority to seize and operate industries if need be. • It also made strikes against any government operated industry a criminal offense.
IV. Manpower and Womanpower • About 15 million men and over 200,000 women were enlisted for noncombat duties during the war. • Many women joined the cause in WWII, the best known were the WACs (Women’s Army Corps), WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and SPARs (U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve)
Even with a work force this size the draft left farmers and factories needing help. • In 1942, The Bracero Program was an agreement with Mexico which brought thousands of Mexican agricultural workers, called braceros, across the border the harvest fruit and grain crops in the West. • Over 6 million women also entered the workforce, half of which had never earned a paycheck outside of the house. • “Rosie the Riveter” was performing tasks from drilling the fuselage of heavy bombers to joining the links for tank tracks. • When the war ended they were in no hurry to put down their tools.
At war’s end 2/3rds of women workers left the labor force, many by force. • While many of them said they quit their jobs voluntarily because of family obligations. • The immediate postwar period saw people rushing to the suburbs and the baby boom, which produced tens of millions of new babies between 1945 and 1960.
V. Wartime Migrations • Southern States received a larger share of the Federal defense contracts, including $6 billion of the federally financed industrial facilities. • Seeds of the postwar “Sunbelt”. • As blacks threatened a march on Washington in 1941 to demand equal rights, Roosevelt issued an executive order banning all discrimination in defense industries. • He then established the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to monitor compliance.
The invention of the mechanical cotton picker in 1944, did the job of 50 people at 1/8 the cost. • The south no longer needed the 5 million black tenant farmers and share croppers. • They headed North in one of the greatest migrations in American history. • Native Americans played a unique role in the war as “code talkers”. • They transmitted messages in their native languages, which boggled the German and Japanese. • Their codes were never broken.
VI. Holding the Home Front • WWII was an extremely expensive war. • The bill amounted to over $330 billion – which was ten times the direct cost of WWI and twice as much as all previous federal spending since 1776. • The income tax was expanded to help pay and the remainder was borrowed. • The national debt went from $49 billion in 1941 to $259 billion in 1945.
VII. The Rising Sun in the Pacific • The Japanese knew right away that they would have to win quickly or lose slowly. • As Japan was attacking Pearl Harbor, they were simultaneously hitting American territories in the Far Eastern i.e. Guam, Wake, and the Philippines. • Seldom, if ever, has so much territory been taken in so little time.
As the Japanese landed in the Philippines, an American force of about 20,000 (supported by a larger but ill-trained Filipino force) held off the Japanese until April 9, 1942. • As MacArthur was ordered to Washington (just before his men were to surrender,) he proclaimed, “I shall return.” • After his men waved the white flag, they were forced on the infamous 80 mile Bataan Death March to a prisoner of war camp. • Conditions of the march were intensely cruel.
VIII. Japan’s High Tide at Midway • As the victorious Japanese threatened Australia after taking New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, they were checked by a an American carrier task force in the Coral Sea. • Japan then moved on to seize Midway Island. • If they were able to take the Island they could launch attacks against Pearl Harbor and potentially weaken the Pacific fleet. • Admiral Chester Nimitz, a naval strategist, put up his smaller fleet against the powerful Japanese invasion force.
On June 3-6, 1942, the Battle of Midway took place. • All of the fighting was done by aircraft and the Japanese finally broke off after losing four vitally important carriers. • The battles of Midway and the Coral Sea successfully halted the Japanese juggernaut.
IX. American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo • In August 1942 America gained control of the Solomons, in an effort to protect the America lifeline to Australia. • U.S. and Australian forces under General MacArthur had been fighting to hold on to the Southeastern tip of New Guinea. • As the scales of war began to tip toward the Americans, the U.S. Navy devastated Japanese supply and troop ships. • By August 1944, MacArthur had fought his way West through the jungle until the held New Guinea.
X. The Allied Halting of Hitler • Hitler entered the war with ultramodern submarine “wolf packs.” • During 1942, more than 500 merchant ships were reported lost – 111 in June alone. • Not until 1943 did the Allies get the upper hand against the U-boat. • New technology enabled the Allies to defend against the U-boats. • Radar, sonar and breaking the “Enigma” codes all played a major role in the defense.
The turning point of the land-air war against Hitler came in late 1942. • The British launched a 1,000 plane raid on Cologne in May, and in August they were joined by the U.S. air force to drop bombs on German cities. • The Germans under Marshal Erwin Rommel – the “Desert Fox” – marched across the North Africa into Egypt, and almost made it to the Suez canal before getting stopped by a joint British and American force. • After getting beat up a bit, the Allies pushed Rommel’s forces back to Tunisia, more than a 1,000 miles away.
On the Soviet front… • By September 1942 the Russians had stalled the German advance at rubble-strewn Stalingrad. • In November 1942 the Russians unleashed a devastating counteroffensive. • Within a year’s time Stalin had regained about 2/3rds of the Russian territory taken by the Germans.
XI. A Second Front from North Africa to Rome • By 1942 Soviet losses were already in the millions. By war’s end their causalities would exceed 20 million. • There is little wonder why the Kremlin pushed so hard for the Allies to open a second front in the West. • FDR was worried that the Soviets would make a separate peace with Germany if they couldn’t hold out (much like they did at the end of WWI.) • FDR promised in early 1942 that he would open a second front by the end of the year… a promise that proved to be impossible to keep.
The British, remembering their losses in WWI, were not interested in attempting a frontal assault against Germany. • They preferred the “soft underbelly” of the Mediterranean. • Facing British opposition to the frontal assault and the lack of resources, the Americans reluctantly agreed to postpone the invasion of Europe. • The Allies began the campaign in Northern Africa that eventually pushed the Dessert Fox back through Tunisia and into Italy. • Mussolini was deposed in late September 1943, and Italy unconditionally surrendered shortly after.
With victory in the North African campaign, the Allies turned to that not-so-soft underbelly of Europe.
XII. D-Day: June 6, 1944 • Preparations for the invasion were gigantic. • Almost 3 million troops with their supplies poured into Britain. • Because the U.S. was providing the majority of the fighting men, Dwight D. Eisenhower was chosen as the overall commander for European forces. • Normandy France, being less heavily defended than other parts of the European coast was to be the invasion point.
D-Day, June 6, 1944, the invasion took place. • The troops hitting the beach faced stiff resistance but were eventually able to overrun the defense. • The German’s were tricked into believing the invasion was happening further North by a fake air drop. • The Allies had already obtained air superiority over France, which enabled them to destroy railroad shipments of reinforcements and bomb gasoline production plants. • After desperate fighting on the beaches, Armored division started to lunge across France, the most notorious was the profane General George S. (“Blood ‘n’ Guts”) Patton.
XV. The Last Days of Hitler • With the Allies making round-the-clock bombings against German cities, industries, and transportation arteries, Hitler staked everything on one last blow. • December 16, 1944, Hitler pushed everything he had against the thinly held American line in the Ardennes Forest. • His objective was to take the port of Antwerp which would give him access to fuel for his armored divisions, while cutting the Allies off from their key supply operation.
Caught off guard, the Americans were driven back, creating a “bulge” in the line… hence the name, “Battle of the Bulge.” • Their advance was checked only by hastily transporting airborne units by truck to the line. • The 101st Airborne, Commanded by General A. C. McAuliffe, became surrounded by the enemy. • After a month of fierce fighting and bombardment the German commander demanded McAuliffe to surrender or be annihilated. The American General responded with one word: “Nuts.” • Not long after General Patton broke through the German lines and relieved the 101st Airborne at Bastogne.
As the Americans pushed the enemy back across the Elbe River and into Germany, they were horrified to find concentration camps stinking of death. • The Nazis engaged in the extermination of Jews and “undesirables” that totaled around 11 million in all. • As the Soviets moved into Berlin in April 1945, the desperate house to house fighting for the city, turned into merciless pillaging and rape. • After the city fell, Hitler killed himself in an underground bunker (April 30, 1945.) • May 7, 1945, what was left of the German government surrendered unconditionally. • May 8th was officially proclaimed V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
XVI. Japan Dies Hard • America submarines began destroying Japanese merchant ships as fast as they set sail. • Destroying about 50% of Japan’s entire merchant fleet. • March 9-10, 1945, massive firebomb raids on Tokyo annihilated the city destroying over 250,000 buildings and taking an estimated 83,000 people. • General MacArthur completed his conquest of New Guinea and headed back to the Philippines.
He brought 600 ships and 250,000 men to the island, and when he stepped on shore he said, “People of the Philippines, I have returned… Rally to me.” • Japan’s navy made one last effort to destroy MacArthur’s fleet at the battle of Leyte Gulf. • It was actually three separate battles, but MacArthur won all three… Japans navy was no more. • The Japanese held up in holes as the Allies attempted to take back the Philippines causing over 60,000 American causalities. • The Philippines were not conquered until July. • As the American’s began to squeeze Japan they needed to take the tiny island of Iwo Jima. • It was needed as an air field for returning bombers that were hitting Japan.
Americans lost over 4,000 men during the 25 day assault. • Okinawa, a well defended Japanese island was next. • Fighting dragged on from April to June, costing over 50,000 American causalities. • During the assault on Okinawa, the U.S. Navy took severe damage from Japanese suicide pilots known as, “kamikazes.”
XVII. The Atomic Bombs • Strategists were planning an all-out invasion of Japan and were expecting to take hundreds of thousands of American casualties. • The Potsdam Conference, held near Berlin in July 1945, President Truman met with Joseph Stalin and the British leaders (which didn’t include Churchill.) • After the conference the leaders issued an ultimatum to Japan… surrender or be destroyed.
The Manhattan Project pushed to create an atomic bomb. • Congress put $2 billion toward the project. • July 16, 1945, experts detonated the first atomic device. • When Japan refused to surrender, the Potsdam threat was fulfilled. • August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. • 70,000 people died instantly and some180,000 people were left killed, wounded, or missing. 60,000 more died soon after from burns and radiation disease.
Two days later, on August 8, Stalin entered the war against Japan (the last day of their deadline given by the Allies.) • August 9, dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. • Result = 80,000 people killed or missing. • August 10, 1945, Tokyo sued for peace as long as hirohito, the son of heaven, be allowed to remain emperor. • Dispite their “unconditional surrender” policy, the Allies accepted this condition on August 14, 1945. • September 2, 1945, was the official V-J (Victory in Japan) Day.
