World War 2 Notes 01 3/16/08

Germany has signed USSR non-aggression pact

Biggest threat to Germany

Signed in '39, followed by invasion of Poland

Angers USSR

War

1939-1940

Sitzkrieg War

"Non-War"

Militarizing, occupying territory, but not invading

Appeases Br and Fr

Summer 1940

Blitzkrieg begins

Western Europe falls

Bombing of Britain

Softening Br

No German foot troops in Br yet

U.S. Response

Cash and Carry

Later, Lend/Lease Act

Draft and Military Preparations

U.S. knew it would go to war eventually

U.S. joins the war after Pearl Harbor

U.S. retaliates quickly

Doolittle Raid on Tokyo

Redesigned 8 bombers to make them lighter

Most are shot down, only three drop bombs on Tokyo

3 surviving planes

1 crashes

2 land in China

1 is captured by the Japanese

The other escaped

Did little effect but helped U.S. philosophy

Sequences of War in Europed

Germany invades Russia, June 1941

Two front war

Hitler is a psychotic fuckhead, bad decision

Bombing campaigns into Germany

Hitler's forces spread thin in a two front war

Stalingrad: Germans retreat Feb 1943

Russian winter cripples forces

Africa: Germany collapses 1943

Rommel effectively leads German forces in Africa

Taken down by Gen. Patton

Sicily: July 1943

Allied forces invade

Italian front bogs down

Allied troops advance slowly

D-Day: June 6, 1944

Battle of the Bulge, 1944/45

Winter, forest

Pivotal battle that allows Allied troops to enter Germany

Bombing of Dresden

Opened by Battle of the Bulge Victory

Worse that atomic bombs

Berlin Falls

V-E Day, May 8, 1945

USSR is sort of an enemy to the other allies

Racing to Berlin

Sequences of War in Asia

Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1944

Bataan Peninsula: Early 1942

Bataan Death March

In Phillipines

Japanese force prisoners on death march

Midway, June 1942

Pivotal battle

Midway between Hawaii and Japan

Matter of inches

One admiral moved his ship 1 degree to the east

Japan bombardment was 1 degree off

U.S. used that to win

Island Hopping Strategy

Move closer and closer to the Japanese mainland

Marines fight in the Pacific, Army/Air Force in Europe

Iwojima, etc

Okinawa, April-June 1945

Fighting Japanese and native Okinawans

Brutal Battle

Opens up Japanese Mainland

Atomic Bombs

Hiroshima, Aug 6

Nagasaki, Aug 9

Supported by 85% of Americans

Fighting in the Japanese mainland would have caused massive casualties

Results

140,000 killed in Hiroshima

70,000 in Nagasaki

U.S. also wants to beat the Soviets to Japan

Wants another buffer zone to the USSR

Strong US Japanese relations continue to this day

Surrender: Aug 15, V-J Day

War Casualties

35 to 60 million deaths

US:

Killed in Combat: 292,131

Other Deaths 115,187

Wounded: 671,801

Prisoners/Missing: 139,709