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World War II America at War

World War II America at War. Ch 18 1941 - 1945. Questions to consider. How did Roosevelt mobilize the armed forces? In what ways did the government prepare the economy for war? How did the war affect daily life on the home front?. Preparing for War.

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World War II America at War

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  1. World War IIAmerica at War Ch 18 1941 - 1945

  2. Questions to consider • How did Roosevelt mobilize the armed forces? • In what ways did the government prepare the economy for war? • How did the war affect daily life on the home front?

  3. Preparing for War • President Franklin D. Roosevelt-fireside chats • First peace time draft Sept 1940 • Increased defense spending • Selective Training and Service Act—required all males ages 21-36 to register for the military service

  4. Military • GIs- abbreviation of ‘Government Issue’, name for those in the service • More than 16 million Americans served • They were in the swamps, hot deserts, and evil seas • Front line soldiers daily struggled to stay alive • Dreamed of home • Fought to preserve freedoms

  5. Native Americans in the Military • Code Talkers/Wind Talkers- Navajo Marines who operated radio waves. • Needed a code that the enemy couldn’t crack • Based on Navajo language • Key in many battles

  6. African Americans in the Military • Tuskegee Airmen-first African American flying unit • At first officials limited African Americans to supporting roles • Cooks, drivers, garbage pick up • After 1942 – gave opportunities to fight. • Separate units • Tuskegee Airmen

  7. Women in the military • Personnel shortage allowed women into all positions EXCEPT combat. • Women worked as clerks, typists, airfield controllers tower operators, mechanics, photographers, drivers. • Some towed practice targets for antiaircraft gunners.

  8. Diversity • 300,000 Mexican Americans • 1 Million African Americans • 25, 000 Native Americans • 350,000 Women • Segregation • 1944 heavy casualties forced integration in units

  9. Preparing the Economy for War • Other Allies production of war goods was down • Bombs destroyed a lot of factories • Japan controlled much of the Pacific which cut off precious raw materials • Rubber, oil, and tin

  10. War Production • War Production Board (WPB)- supervised the switch from producing peacetime products to war goods • Office of War Mobilization: • James F. Byrnes • Superagency in the centralization of resources • Assistant president • Even Ford Motor company switched

  11. War Production • Henry Kaiser’s new production technique for shipbuilding • Cut time needed to build one ship from 200 days to 40 • Liberty ships—large and sturdy merchant ships which carried supplies or troops (designed by Kaiser) • Cost-plus system: the government paid businesses (who made war goods)

  12. Production totals • 1944 American production levels doubled those of all Axis nations put together • 1945 • 300,000 planes • 80,000 landing craft • 100,000 armored cars and tanks • 5,600 merchant ships • 6 million rifles, carbines, and machine guns • 41 BILLION rounds of ammunition!

  13. Wartime Work Force • Unemployment vanished with war production • They earned more money; wages rose 50%-(adjusted for inflation) • “Not a day passes but you’ll hear somebody say to a worker who seems to be slowing down, ‘there’s a war on, you know!’”

  14. Workforce • Mostly women workers • “There’s a war on, you know!” • Rosie the Riveter • Why?

  15. Financing war • Federal spending increased from $8.9 billion per year (1939) to $95.2 billion (1945) • GDP doubled • U.S. spent about $321 billion (1941-1945) ten times amount spent on WWI

  16. Paying for the war • Higher taxes paid 41% of the cost of war • Treasury Department-buy war bonds • $186 billion—total war bond sales • Went further into debt! • 1940 – deficit spending made the US debt $43 billion. • 1945 - $259 billion in debt!

  17. Home Front • Almost everyone had someone in the military • Relied on the radio for war news • End of the depression raised people spirits • Population grew by 7.5 million between 1940-45 • 30-million people moved. • Soldiers moved • Families of soldiers moved • People moved to take jobs

  18. Home Front: shortages and controls • Goods were limited • Metal that made zippers went to make guns • Rubber tires for army trucks not bicycle wheels. • Nylon stocking vanished b/c nylon was needed for parachutes • Those who found the ration rules confusing or complained they would be asked “Don’t you know there’s a war on?”

  19. Food Shortages • Between troop needs and enemy stopping supply lines. • Sugar • Tropical fruits • Coffee • Chocolate • The military needed vast amounts of food • Gas was rationed

  20. Office of Price Administration (OPA) • When demand is greater than supply prices go up-inflation • OPA was to control inflation by limiting prices and rents • OPA assigned point values to sugar, coffee, meat, butter, caned fruit, and shoes

  21. Ration books • Ration books of coupons were given to last a month • Goods were given a certain amount of points • Once points/coupons were used up you had to wait for the next ration book or trade with neighbors • Based on family size • Took into account distance and needs of farmers

  22. Popular Culture • With less goods available—turned to entertainment • Books and magazines • Bought recordings of popular songs (‘White Christmas’) • Baseball games • Women in baseball • Went to the movies every week (60% of the population)

  23. Public support • Need to maintain morale • Wanted citizens to participate in war effort • Office of War Information • Created poster/ads to stir American patriotic feelings

  24. Civilians duties • Blackouts • Older men: join the Civilian Defense effort • Kids: Scrap metal drives • Recycling • Women: • Grow Victory Gardens • Knit scarves and socks for the war • Roll bandages for the Red Cross

  25. Slogans • “Play YOUR Part” • “Conserve and Collect” • “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”

  26. North Platte Canteen • December 25, 1941 – April 1, 1946 • Served sandwiches, coffee, cookies and cakes to 6 million servicemen during stops.

  27. Retaking Europe: Questions(Section 2) • Where did Americans join the struggle against the Axis? • How did the war in the Soviet Union change from 1941 to 1943? • What role did air power play in the war in Europe? • Why did the invasion of Western Europe succeed? • What events marked the end of the war in Europe?

  28. Retaking Europe (Section 2) • Roosevelt and Churchill meet August 1941 • Declared principles to guide them in the war: Atlantic Charter • They didn’t want territory • They didn’t want any territory changes • Each group of people can choose own government • Final destruction of Nazi tyranny • All nations must stop using force

  29. The Battle of the Atlantic • Brits desperately needed Atlantic trade routes • Allied trade ships were attacked by U-boats (submarines) • Allied formed convoys • Wolf Packs • 20 U-boats that hunted enemy convoys in packs. • Took out 175 allied ships in 1942 alone. • Some in sight of the US coastline.

  30. How to stop wolf packs? • SONAR: underwater sound equipment (sort of worked) • 175 Allied ships sunk in June 1942 • Long range sub hunting aircraft-worked • Better depth charges • Cut off U-Boats from their ports in Germany and France.

  31. The Major Players of the Atlantic War; Western Front; European Theatre • Churchill – Prime Minister of England • Roosevelt – US President • Josef Stalin – Chairman of Soviet Union

  32. Players for the Fascists • Hitler – Germany • Mussolini - Italy

  33. The Generals: Allies • Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) • Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces • Excelled at • Staffing issues • Diplomacy

  34. The Generals: United States • George Patton : 1885 – 1945. • As a boy knew he wanted to be a hero. • LOVED war. • Early on realized the potential for tanks. • Did NOT have good diplomacy skills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh9S1Hk975U

  35. The BRILLIANT Nazi Generals • Rommel “The Desert Fox” • Erwin Rommel (1891 – 1944) • Great tank commander • Used surprise and bold moves. • Was NOT a member of the Nazi party

  36. The North Africa Campaign • February 1943: US had their butts kicked by the Nazis. • May 1943: US came back, defeated Nazis and took 240,000 German and Italians prisoners. • 2000 ended up in POW camps in Nebraska. • Roosevelt and Churchill met again to decide strategy

  37. Invasion of Italy: Start retaking Europe • 7th Army under Patton took Sicily and the English started to invade the mainland of Italy. • Mussolini’s Fascists turned against him. • Nazis rescued Mussolini • Set him up in a Puppet Government in northern Italy

  38. There is still more… • Battle of Anzio and Cassino trapped Americans and English and went from January – May 1944. • Allies v. German Nazis • April 1945 Italy was in Allied control.

  39. Italy: End of Mussolini • Finally after heavy fighting complete surrender by Italy • Caught by the Italians as he tried to leave Italy and escape to Germany. • Ended by the Italians.

  40. War in the Soviet Union • The Germans advance in Russia 1941 – 1942. • Germans quickly gained control • Blitzkrieg • Nazis were first greeted as liberators by the ethnic nationalities in Russia. • They hated Stalin.

  41. Soviet Union • Nazis turned on the local people. • Executions • Forced labor • People engaged in guerrilla actions against the Nazis. • Stalin had the army destroy everything

  42. Soviet Union • Guerrilla Warfare • Scorched Earth Policy • Stalin BEGGED Roosevelt and Churchill to invade Western Europe to take some pressure off the Red Army. • S.U. weapon: Winter

  43. Battles • Battle of Stalingrad • September 1942 – January 1943 • Firebombing • Shelling • Winter counter attack by S.U. • Turning point in the eastern war • German Surrendered

  44. “Completely cut off, the men in the field grey just slouched on, invariable filthy and invariable louse-ridden, their weary shoulders sagging, from one defense position to another. The icy winds of those great white wastes which stretched for ever beyond us to the east lashed a million crystals or razor-like snow into their unshaven faces, skin now loose-stretched over bone, so utter was the exhaustion, so utter the starvation” • German infantryman Dec 1942

  45. Battle of Stalingrad • Jan 31, 1943: • 90,000 surviving Germans surrendered, • Germany lost 330,000 troops at Stalingrad • Soviet losses not known: estimated 1,100,000 • Nazis lost their holdings in Russia. • Siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg today)

  46. The Allied air war • Carpet Bombing • Scattering large number of bombs over a wide area • 40,000 died in one day in Hamburg, Germany • B-17s Flying Fortress • Bombed: aircraft factories, railways, plants, bridges, cities

  47. Invasion of Western Europe • Time to go after the Nazis in Germany. • Allies are going to invade Europe but where? • D-Day

  48. D-Day: Why June 6th? • Rommel’s wife’s birthday! • Took the chance he would go to be with her. • He took the bait!

  49. D-Day (operation overlord) • June 6, 1944 some 4,600 invasion craft left England for France. • 1,000 RAF aircraft dropped 23,000 paratroopers in France • D-Day: day the invasion of Western Europe began

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