Toward VictoryChapter 24, Section 4

Ultimately, the Allies were victorious, and after the war, the U.S. took the lead in a new global conflict—the Cold War.

The results of Allies winning World War II

By mid-1942, the Allies had begun to turn back Axis advances in the Pacific, North Africa, and Europe.

But Roosevelt and Churchill did not think their forces were ready for that difficult task.

In 1943, Russia was bearing the brunt of the Nazi assault, and Stalin urged the U.S. and Britain to take the pressure off by invading France.

American and British troops crossed the Mediterranean Sea and took control of the island of Sicily.

However, German troops in Italy continued to fight, and the Allies faced a long struggle before they finally controlled Italy.

July 1943

Fall 1938

Instead, they chose the more realistic goal of removing Italy from the war.

Italy surrendered to the Allies.

In 1944, the Allies under General Eisenhower were ready to invade France.

On June 6, 1944— known as D-Day—more than 155,000 American, British, and Canadian troops crossed the English channel and landed on five beaches at Normandy, France.

Troops at four of the beaches quickly overcame German opposition, but 2,500 American soldiers died fighting the fierce German defense at Omaha Beach.

D-Day was a success, and on August 25, 1944, the Allies liberated Paris.

Allied forces pushed eastward into Belgium.

German troops created a “bulge” in the American lines.

However, since the Germans were short on supplies and soldiers, they failed to break through the lines.

Soon after, the Western Allies entered Germany from the west.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt died of a stroke, and Vice President Harry S. Truman became President.

While the Allied armies advanced on the ground, their planes bombed German industries and cities.

In January 1945, a huge Soviet force entered Germany from the east.

Hitler hid in a bunker beneath the city’s streets, where he committed suicide.

A week later, Germany unconditionally surrendered at Eisenhower’s headquarters in France.

On April 16, Soviet troops began an assault on Berlin.

On May 8, the Allies celebrated

V-E Day, Victory in Europe.

The Battle of Midway halted Japan’s advance in the Pacific, and now the Americans went on the offensive.

American commanders adopted a strategy known as island-hopping.

Americans fought grueling battles as well as hunger and disease until they controlled each island.

Navajo soldiers made a key contribution to the island-hopping strategy.

Using their own language, these code-talkers radioed vital messages from island to island.

The Japanese intercepted the messages but were unable to understand the rare Navajo language.

In January 1945, MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines when army units landed on Luzon and then advanced on Manila.

A month later, the Americans had taken control of the city.

Island-hoppers approached Japan, stopping at Iwo Jima in February and Okinawa in April.

About 18,000 Americans soldiers died securing the two islands.

Japanese kamikaze pilots crashed their planes into

American ships.

These events convinced American leaders that only a full-scale invasion of Japan’s home islands would force a surrender.

During the battles, the Japanese displayed their willingness to die rather than surrender.

U.S. ships bombarded Japan’s coast and destroyed shipping, and Japan faced a food shortage.

By the spring of 1945, after the war in Europe was over, the Americans began bombing Japan.

Yet Japanese leaders still talked of winning the war.

President Truman’s military advisers warned him that an invasion of Japan might cost 500,000 American casualties.

On August 6, an American plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

In July, Truman learned that the U.S. had successfully tested an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert.

Within minutes, more than 130,000 people died.

On August 9, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, and 35,000 people died instantly.

Many more in both cities would die slower deaths from radiation poisoning.

Still, the Japanese refused to surrender.

On August 14, 1945—known now as V-J Day—Japan’s emperor announced that the nation would surrender.

On September 2, 1945, MacArthur formally accepted Japan’s surrender.

World War II was over at last.

It had been the bloodiest war in history, with 60 million dead. Two-thirds of those who died were civilians.

During the war, Hitler tried to annihilate all the Jews in Europe.

Entire families were wiped out in a genocide known today as the Holocaust.

The Nazis also killed millions of Poles, Slavs, Roma, communists, people with physical and mental disabilities, and others.

• Hundreds at a time were killed in gas chambers.

• Others were subjected to torture or horrifying medical experiments.

The Nazis built six death camps in Poland and transported millions of people to them in railway cattle cars.

As Allied soldiers liberated the death camps, they were shocked by the piles of corpses.

The survivors were living skeletons.

For the first time in history, war victors prosecuted leaders of the losing side for war crimes.

In Nuremberg, Germany, Allied judges tried prominent Nazis for starting World War II and for the horrors of the death camps.

Similar trials were held in Manila and Tokyo to try leaders of the Japanese war machine.