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WORLD WAR II

WORLD WAR II. OVERVIEW. Background Issues and Events Participants Military Technology and Techniques Military Conduct The United States Enters the War In the Pacific Lessons Learned. US Between Wars. Good Times in 1920s Soldiers returning from WWI with $

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WORLD WAR II

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  1. WORLD WAR II

  2. OVERVIEW • Background • Issues and Events • Participants • Military Technology and Techniques • Military Conduct • The United States Enters the War • In the Pacific • Lessons Learned

  3. US Between Wars • Good Times in 1920s • Soldiers returning from WWI with $ • Mass production, cheaper prices = technology to masses • Products often developed before war, but not affordable by most • Automobile ( gas stations, motels, highways, etc.), electricity (radio, record players), plumbing, sewers, urbanization (mass transit, skyscrapers), finance (banks, insurance)

  4. US Between Wars • Depression, 1929 • Florida land boom collapses, 1926 • Many bought land w/o ever seeing it, get rich quick! • Wall Street collapses (stock market), 1929 • Ruined many influential people and destroyed savings of many more; bankruptcies, factory closings, unemployment • Spread around the world, industrialized economies, cities • Drought in Great Plains, Dust Bowl • President Hoover’s efforts were too little and too late • Downward spiral reinforced itself • Impacts world economies, not just U.S. • Enabled dictators of WWII to make major gains, set stage

  5. US Between Wars • Depression not over when WWII starts, 1939 • President Roosevelt began one of most creative periods in American political history • Social Security, public works projects, labor unions • Restored confidence, but not employment

  6. ISSUES AND EVENTS • German’s nurtured great sense of grievance over Versailles treaty (Treaty ending WWI) • Hitler wins election, 1933 • Abolished constitution, persecuted Socialists and Jews • Japan invades China, 1931 • Italy invades Ethiopia, 1935 • Felt handicapped trying to compete for markets and raw materials, ok in prosperous times, bad in depression • League of Nations powerless • US excludes itself • Russia excluded (communism)

  7. PARTICIPANTS • Major Axis Powers • Germany, Italy and Japan • Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Rumania • Allied Forces • Great Britain, France, USSR, China and United States • Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India • 24 nations

  8. MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES • Land Forces • Air Forces • Sea Forces

  9. MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES • Obsolete equipment and few trained pilots • Land Forces • Tanks; faster (25 MPH); heavier armor; bigger guns (122mm) • Turret mounted guns and much greater reliability • Jeeps, trucks • Traditional roles often reversed, especially in Europe • Infantry; supporting tanks, problem to keep up • Emphasized rapid, sustained movement to penetratedeep into enemy rear, disrupt C2, and surround forces • Bypass strong fortifications, left for following infantry

  10. MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES • Air Forces • Radar, rockets, napalm (jellied gasoline), incendiaries, high-explosive super bombs, atomic bomb • Tactical airplanes could keep up with rapid moving armor • Poland and France were classic examplesof fast combined arms operations • Strategic bombers; B-17, B-24, B-29 • Electric power, ball bearing factories, synthetic oil production • Fighters; P-38, P-51

  11. MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES • Sea Forces • Development of naval tactics for aerial warfare • Anti-submarine warfare • Technology • Radar, radio, secret codes

  12. MILITARY CONDUCT • European Theater • Initially German desire to unite Germans separated in WWI • Hitler convinced could threaten smaller countries to submission and Britain/France wanted peace at any price • Wanted as little damage as possible, wants gain, not burden • Austria and Czechoslovakia without fight • Poland, Sept 1939, formal treaty with Britain/France, M #1 • Blitzkrieg: Conquest of the Continent • Luftwaffe destroyed enemy air forces, railroads, ammunition dumps and troop concentrations; usually by surprise • Tanks, motorized infantry/artillery, aircraft to strike rapidly • Attempts to retreat or reinforce crushed by air power • Britain/France declare war, but too weak to help • France hides behind Maginot Line, Britain a naval blockade • Hitler didn’t know what to do next????? M #2

  13. MILITARY CONDUCT • Blitzkrieg: Conquest of the Continent (cont) • Invades Norway and Denmark to break blockade • First airborne infantry landings • Denmark in 1 day; Norway’s capital/principle harbors in 1 day; Norway 2 months • May 1940, Netherlands, 4 days; Belgium, Luxembourg into France, 6 weeks • Over 3,000 aircraft • The Air Battle for Britain • Aug 1940 - Oct 1940, continued sporatic raids into 1941 • Loss of 1,400 aircraft since July, unable to continue • 190,000 tons of bombs, 43k civilians dead, 56k wounded

  14. MILITARY CONDUCT • War Fronts • Italy spreads war into North Africa • Oil rich Middle East and Suez • Italy defeated in Ethiopia and Libya by much smaller force from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India • Germany comes to rescue, 1st of many times • Except for Malta, Mediterranean belongs to Germans • Attacks into Greece, Yugoslavia and Crete • Hitler convinced war with USSR would be quick, M #3 • Decided not to destroy factories • 3,300 aircraft, 60%, extremely heavy losses • USSR uses female pilots, 12 kills • Settles into long struggle with large land armies • Attacks on England Dwindle • Operations in Eastern Europe, Mediterranean and North Africa pull forces away from England; defensive war now in West

  15. THE UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR • Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Dec 1941 • Allied Strategic Plans • Germany viewed as greater threat, industrial ability feared • Europe fighting for more than 2 years and needed relief • Didn’t think they could fight 2 wars at once (proved wrong) • European/Mediterranean Campaign • Strategic bombing • North Africa • Normandy, France into Germany • Sicily into Italy

  16. IN THE PACIFIC • Japanese Territorial Strategy • Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere • Lacked natural resources • Attack Manchuria, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos • US/Britain embargo Japan • Give up expansion or war • Pearl Harbor • Not sudden irrational act, origins as early as 1931 • Predicted by BG Billy Mitchell • Capture Malay Peninsula, Philippines and numerous islands • Weakness was survival of navy and merchant marine • Continued success required destruction of US navy • 2 attacks • 96 army, 92 navy planes destroyed; 159 damaged • 6 army, 36 navy plans got into air • 8 battleships, 7 cruisers, 28 destroyers, 5 submarines, 32 others • 3 battleships sunk, 1 capsized, 4 severely damaged • 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers and a seaplane tender damaged • 3rd attack cancelled (fuel storage, maintenance, dry docks) • Missed aircraft carriers and submarines • 55 U.S. civilians killed, mostly from unexploded anti-aircraft shells

  17. 3rd Wave Cancelled! • American anti-aircraft performance had improved considerably during the second strike, and 2/3 of Japan's losses were incurred during the second wave. Nagumo felt if he launched a 3rd strike, he would be risking 3/4 of the Combined Fleet's strength to wipe out the remaining targets (which included the facilities) while suffering higher aircraft losses. • The location of the American carriers remained unknown. • A third wave attack would have required substantial preparation and turn-around time, and would have meant returning planes would have faced night landings. At the time, no Navy had developed night carrier techniques. • The task force's fuel situation did not permit him to remain in waters north of Pearl Harbor much longer since he was at the very limits of logistical support. To do so risked running unacceptably low on fuel, perhaps even having to abandon destroyers en route home. • At a conference the following morning, Yamamoto initially supported Nagumo's decision to withdraw. In retrospect, however, Nagumo's decision to spare the vital dockyards, maintenance shops, and oil depots meant the U.S. could respond relatively quickly to Japanese activities in the Pacific. Yamamoto later regretted Nagumo's decision and categorically stated it had been a great mistake not to order a third strike.

  18. Weapons at Pearl Harbor Torpedo bomber ships Bomber airfields Fighter airfields

  19. IN THE PACIFIC • U.S. Military Buildup • Aircraft production dramatically increased • Private pilot schools established • Japanese Strength • Stronger than either British or Americans and British fully engaged in Europe • 2.4 M well-trained troops; 3 M reserves; 7,500 aircraft, 400 each month • Allied Strength • 350,000 poorly equipped troops; <1,000 aircraft, mostly obsolete; 90 ships • Japanese Advances • Allies pushed back to Australia; Japan occupied all original plan in March 1942 • Japanese gain air superiority, then invasion • Allies could not supply forces because of Japanese control of air

  20. IN THE PACIFIC • Stopping the Advance • Battles of Midway and Coral Sea, entirely by airpower • Island Hopping • One step at a time, often airfields to support next advance • The Bombing of Japan • 1st by Doolittle from aircraft carrier in Pacific • Later from China, then Marianas (1,500 miles) • Much of Japan’s industry dispersed into homes • Blanket bombing, incendiary bombs (wood and paper houses) • Atomic bombs • Better State of Peace • Learn lessons from WWI • Help defeated people rebuild, not punish • Marshal Plan (Europe) and MacArthur (Japan)

  21. LESSONS LEARNED • World War II • Industrial might won war • Blitzkrieg ( wars of movement, not attrition) • Aircraft Carriers • Airplane becomes dominant weapon • In the Final Analysis • Utter futility of war in modern society • 20 million killed, 4 million civilians • X3 injured • No one could win, just not loose • Only sensible solution was to prevent war, not fight • Worked to present date on this scale, but limited wars continued

  22. ? • March, 1945 • 100,000 dead • 6 August, 1945 • 8:15 AM • 9 August, 1945 • 11:02 AM • 14 August, 1945 • By August, 60 Japanese cities destroyed

  23. ? • March, 1945 Incendiary bomb attack • 100,000 dead in only 1 raid • 6 August, 1945 1st atomic bomb • 8:15 AM • 9 August, 1945 2nd atomic bomb • 11:02 AM • 14 August, 1945 End of War! • By August, 60 Japanese cities had been destroyed

  24. ATOMIC BOMB • Hiroshima • Primary target • Little Boy • 2,000 ft in air • several million degrees Celsius vs. 5,000 • 35% heat, 50% wind, 15% radiation • Almost everything inside 1.5 miles flattened • Hit mountains and reflected back • Winds did most damage • 140,000 dead, 200,000 by end of year • 90% destroyed

  25. ATOMIC BOMB • Nagasaki • 9 Aug, 1945; 11:02 AM • Fat Man • 1,540 feet in air • 2 miles off target, in valley, missed major part of city • 70,000 dead; 75,000 injured; 121,000 disease

  26. ? • Massive crimes committed against groups of people • New word created, 1944 • Germans in Europe • Japanese in Pacific

  27. Holocaust • Deliberate extermination of Jews (Holocaust, originally derived from the Greek meaning a completely burnt sacrificial offering to a god. ) • Massive crimes committed against groups of people (Genocide) • New word created, 1944 • Germans in Europe • Japanese in Pacific

  28. HOLOCAUST • Forced (slave) Labor • Jewish Ghettos • Mobile Killing Units attached to army • Death Camps • 6 million Jews • 9 to 11 million, best estimate • Maybe as many as 26 million • Even when loosing war, trains to death camps took priority over troops and supplies • Many groups, not just Jews

  29. HOLOCAUST • An estimated 5 to 6 million Jews, including 3 million Polish Jews • 1.8 – 1.9 million Christian Poles and other (non-Jewish) Poles • 200,000–800,000 Gypsies • 200,000–300,000 people with disabilities • 80,000–200,000 Freemasons • 100,000 communists • 10,000–25,000 homosexual men • 2,500–5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses Warning: Next slide can be disturbing

  30. HOLOCAUST

  31. Warning: Next slide can be disturbing • Infamous genocidal war crime committed by the Japanese military in Nanjing, then capital of the Republic of China, after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on Dec 13, 1937 • Numerous atrocities, such as rape, looting, arson and the execution of prisoners of war and civilians • Executions began under the pretext of eliminating Chinese soldiers disguised as civilians • large number of innocent men were intentionally identified as enemy combatants and executed—or simply killed • massacre gathered momentum • large number of women and children were also killed, as rape and murder became more widespread • over 200,000, most were had hands tied behind back • 20,000 (and perhaps up to 80,000) women were raped, their ages ranging from infants to the elderly (as old as 80) • Any resistance would be met with summary execution • Japanese government has acknowledged incident • In Japan, public opinion over the severity of the massacre remains widely divided — some Japanese commentators refer to it as the 'Nanking massacre,’ others use the more ambivalent term 'Nanking Incident'

  32. Civilians to be buried alive Bayonet drill

  33. CONCLUSION • Background • Issues and Events • Participants • Military Technology and Techniques • Military Conduct • The United States Enters the War • In the Pacific • Lessons Learned

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