WWII Battles1942 - 1945

I. Overview of Military & Diplomatic Impacts of WWII:

• Global & Total War Bring Unprecedented Devastation – New military techniques & technologies

• Examples: Aerial “Fire Bombing”, Paratroopers, Amphibious Invasions, Radar, Flame Throwers, Nuclear Weapons

– Civilians across the globe mobilized & targeted– 50 million dead/wounded world wide -- 1 million

US dead/wounded

World War II Deaths

I. Overview of Military & Diplomatic Impacts of WWII:

• New World Order Emerges– U.S. ends isolationism & accepts role as world

“superpower” during & after war– Traditional European powers influence

diminishes as war progresses– US/USSR power struggle (aka “the Cold War”)

begins even before WWII officially ends

3 Main “Theaters” of WWII

II. North Africa Campaign1942

Gen. George Patton

First minute

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander

Italian Campaign - 1943- 1944

III. European Theater

D – Day June 6th, 1944

Operation Fortitude

300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over

Normandy in advance of the invasion

5000 vessels

150,000 men

30,000 vehicles

Six parachute regiments – over 13,000 men

By nightfall on June 6, 10,000 Allied soldiers were dead , but more

than 100,000 had made it ashore

Battle of the Bulge -- December, 1944

Casualties:American: 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded, 23,000 captured or missingGerman: 67,200 to 100,000 killed, wounded/captured/missing 3 min. 3 min.

USSR Battles Nazis on Eastern Front – 1942 – 1944

Casualties at Stalingrad:700,000 Axis1,100,000 Soviets

US B-17’s & P-51’s Bomb Germany

Dresden & Hamburg Fire Bombed – Spring 1945

Allies Meets USSR

At Elbe RiverApril, 1945

VE Day – May 8th

IV. Pacific “Theater”

The Battle of Midway June 1942

52:00-57:00

“Island Hopping”Strategy

IV. Pacific “Theater”

Battle of Iwo JimaFeb./March, 1945

U.S. 7000 dead, 19,000 wounded

Japan 20,000 dead, 1000 captured

1:23-1:29

“Conventional” bombing devastates Japan in spring/summer 1945 (over 60 cities destroyed)

First 1-2 minutes

100,000 killed in firebombing of Tokyo

82-Day Long Battle of Okinawa convinces some American leaders that Japanese leaders will not consider surrender

Deaths:Japanese military 77,166U.S. military 14,000Japanese civilians 149,000

Kamikaze 神風 Attacks (2,525)

70 U.S. vessels "sunk or damaged beyond repair“

Harry S TrumanBecomes President

April, 1945

Manhattan ProjectDevelops Atomic Bomb – Completed July, 1945

J. Robert Oppenheimer – head scientist

Employed 130,000 people & cost $2 Billion ($27 billion in 2011 dollars)

Original Target Germany. New Target: Japan

Potsdam Conference – July 1945 – “Big Three” plan end of WWIIJapan rejects surrender ultimatum

US & UK do not reveal existence of A-Bomb to USSR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Implosion_Nuclear_weapon.svg

Hiroshima &Nagasaki

August 6th & 9th 1945

August, 1945 Hiroshima & Nagasaki suffer Atomic Bomb

30 seconds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gisei32.jpg

Japan Accepts Unconditional SurrenderV J Day - September 2, 1945