WWII Rages On
U.S. & Allies 1941
• March 1941: The Lend Lease Act – FDR could lend or lease arms & supplies to any country vital to the U.S.
• Hitler orders unrestricted sub warfare• Roosevelt & Churchill meet secretly &
issue the Atlantic Charter – upholds free trade & the right to choose own government
• *serves as Allied peace plan at war’s end
Roosevelt & ChurchillThe Atlantic Charter
December 7, 1941Pearl Harbor
• U.S. knew attack was planned, but did not know where or when…
• Japan sinks or damages 19 ships (8 battleships) in 2hrs.
• Over 2300 Americans killed, 1100 wounded
• FDR declares it “A date which will live in infamy” & Congress declares war
Japan on the Attack
• Japanese had taken French Indochina -1941 (Viet Nam, Cambodia, & Laos)
• Planning to take over European colonies & U.S. controlled Philippines, Guam, & Wake
• FDR cut off oil shipments to Japan
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto designs attack on the U.S. fleet in Hawaii
Japanese Victories
• Guam & Wake fall quickly• 1942 – March on Manila, Philippines – U.S. &
Filipino forces take up defensive on Bataan Peninsula. Philippines fall after 3 months.
• Seize Hong Kong, invade Malaya – Singapore surrenders
• Conquers Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), then Burma
• 1mil. Sq.miles, 150mil people
Allies Strike Back• Doolittle’s raid: 16 B-25 bombers
commanded by Lt. Jimmy Doolittle bomb Tokyo & other Japanese cities – April 18, 1942
• Psych up U.S. – shows Japan can be reached for attack by air
Battle of the Coral SeaMay 7-8 1942
• new naval warfare: Aircraft Carriers
• Allies loose more ships & men – but stops Japan’s southward advance
Admiral Chester Nimitz
• Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
Battle of Midway – June 1942
• Turning Point Battle in the Pacific
• Code breakers learn the Japanese carriers led by Admiral Yamamoto are headed toward Midway (U.S. airbase)
• U.S. planes are able to find fleet and attack
• U.S. destroys 332 planes and all 4 carriers
• Yamamoto forced to withdraw
General Douglas MacArthur
• Commander of Allied Force in the Pacific
MacArthur’s Allied Offensive
• “Island-hoping”: by-pass Japanese strongholds – seize islands that are not well defended & closer to Japan
• Battle of Guadalcanal – U.S. marines stop Japanese from building a huge airbase on the island – August 1942 – February 1943
• 6 mos. of fighting – Japanese lose 24,000 of 36,000 force “Island of Death”
OPERATION OVERLORDD-DAY
• Allies began secretly building an invasion force in G.B.
• Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower – Commander
• Begins on June 6, 1944 at dawn
• Despite heavy losses, Allies hold the beachheads
• Within a month – over a million troops landed in Normandy
• July 25th the United States Third Army – led by Gen. George Patton breaks out
• By Sept., Allies liberate France, Belgium, and Luxembourg
