VICTORY IN EUROPE AND THE PACIFIC24.3

OBJECTIVES

Analyze the planning and impact of D-Day invasion of France

Understand how the Allies achieved final victory in Europe

Explore the reasons that President Truman decided to use the atomic bomb against Japan.

KEY PARTS

Planning Germany’s Defeat D-Day Invasion of Normandy Liberation of Europe Advancing in the Pacific The Atomic Bomb Ends the War

INTRODUCTION

Read section 24.3 Answer critical thinking questions 4&5

PLANNING GERMANY’S DEFEAT

Throughout 1943 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin argued over when they would start a second front in France.

Until they met in Iran and came up with the plan to destroy Germany.

They decided to take over France and march on Germany, and they declared no power on earth can prevent our destroying the German Army.

CONT.

The new mission was called operation Overlord.

This was a joint operation with Canada, Britain and the United States.

This mission involved the most experienced Allied officers in Europe.

General Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander over the entire operation.

CONT..

Operation Overlord involved landing 21 American divisions and 26 British, and small Canadian and Polish divisions on a 50 mile stretch of beaches.

The fleet was the largest ever assembled in recorded history. There were more than 4,400 ships.

The plan dictated striking five beaches in Normandy. (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword)

CONT…

A major part of this plan was General George Patton was in charge of creating a fake army.

He had to create cardboard tanks, fake ships, and fake radio traffic.

The allies were trying to convince the German army that the main attack would come at Calais not in Normandy.

The deception worked, Hitler moved his top tank divisions to Calais.

CONT….

On June 6, 1944 known as D-Day the Allies hit Germany in force.

More than 11,000 plane prepared the way, attempting to destroy German communication and transportation and soften Nazi beach defenses.

Four of the beach heads were taken with relatively low casualties due to light opposition.

CONT…..

But, Omaha beach was a different story, this beach was heavily fortified and had concrete trenches and pillboxes and heavy artillery and minefields everywhere.

It was the American’s job to take this beach, and they did but at a high cost.

As soon as their landing crafts dropped their gates a rainstorm of bullets, shells and death came over the soldiers.

This became known as the “longest day.”

CONT……

For many US Soldiers it was a very short day and their last.

The US Soldiers fought bravely and ultimately overcame the defenses and broke through the lines.

This was due to the training the Americans had and the superior leadership of their commanders.

LIBERATION OF EUROPE

After D-Day Germany faced a two-front war. Rommel and a few other generals tried to

overthrow Hitler and planted a bomb in a conference room and it exploded and killed twenty men but Hitler was not there.

Rommel killed himself via poison so he wouldn’t have to go on trial.

Hitler decided to have a massive counterattack.

CONT.

This was called the battle of the bulge, the largest and most famous tank battle in history.

The counter attack almost worked due to the winter weather, the US bombers were not able to help out the ground forces.

But the weather cleared and US bombers devastated the German positions.

CONT..

The Soviets began pressing from the east and US forces from the west and US and British forces from the south.

Germany was now surrounded and caving in, Hitler at this point had lost almost all control and was a physical wreck, he was strung out on drugs and he ended up killing himself along with his advisors.

Finally on May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered and Americans celebrated V-E day. (Victory in Europe)

ADVANCING IN THE PACIFIC

While the war was raging in Europe US Forces in the south Pacific were making great strides, they were taking back Island by island.

However the Japanese were making it difficult because they would literally fight down to the last man and also they flew 3,000 kamikaze missions trying to destroy US ships.

The fiercest battles was on Iwo Jima more than 23,000 Maries died fighting this battle to take the island.

And the other was Okinawa this caused 50,000 Marine casualties.

CONT.

These two victories allowed full access to Japan.

In a single night in March 1945 US B-29 bombers destroyed 16 square mile of Tokyo and it killed over 83,000 Japanese and injured over 100,000.

This leads to advances in technology as well as better troop training.

ATOMIC BOMB ENDS THE WAR

The Manhattan Project developed the A-Bomb.

This came from scientists learning how to split the nuclei of certain elements, and how much energy was released when this happened.

Albert Einstein wrote a letter that alerted president Roosevelt about the need to proceed with the atomic development.

CONT.

So he gave this the highest priority and gave several billion dollars to the project.

The two leaders of the project were General Groves and Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The location of the site was Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Groves recruited scientist and got the materials needed and built facilities, and maintain security while Oppenheimer constructed the bomb.

CONT..

On July 16, 1945 in a barren are of Alamogordo New Mexico the first atomic bomb was tested.

The flash of light was visible 180 miles away and the sound was heard over 100 mile away.

Watching what occurred, Oppenheimer said, “Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

CONT…

On August 6, 1945 US pilots dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Within two minutes 60,000 of Hiroshima’s 344,000 residents were completely obliterated.

Three days later we dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki killing 35,000.

Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. This was known as V-J day (Victroy in Japan)

(60,000,000 people died in this war)