DAY 7

(1943-1945)

WWII: BEGINNING OF THE END

TODAY’S OBJECTIVES• Summarize the Allies’ plan for winning the war in

Europe and the Pacific.

• Identify events in the war in Europe and the Pacific.

• Describe the Allied offensive against the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.

INVASION IS COMING!! ALLIED AIR FORCES BEGIN

ROUND-THE-CLOCK BOMBING OF GERMAN INDUSTRIAL & TRANSPORTATION CENTERS

PROBLEM: NEEDED TO DEFEAT HITLER ON GROUND

ALLIES PLAN GREATEST AMPHIBIOUS ATTACK IN HISTORY: D-DAY

JUNE 6, 1944: 176,000 TROOPS CARRIED ON 5,000 VESSELS INVADE NORMANDY, FRANCE

PLANNING: OPERATION OVERLORD 1941: ATTACK ON PEARL

US SET SIGHTS ON DEFEATING “GERMANY FIRST!”

EUROPEAN MASSIVE INVASION JAN. 1943: CASABLANCA CONFERENCE

FDR, CHURCHILL – STALIN WAS NOT INVITED

BEGAN THE PLANNING OF “OPERATION OVERLORD”

A TRUE SECOND FRONT WOULD BE OPENED

A TENTATIVE DATE WAS SET: MAY 1944 ATTACK ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL

FROM ENGLAND TO FRANCE TWO LOCATIONS OF INVASION WERE

DISCUSSED1. PAS DE CALAIS 2. NORMANDY

POSSIBILITIES OF TWO CHOICES PAS DE CALAIS:

SHORTEST ROUTEQUICKEST TIMEDUE TO THIS:

GERMANS HAD HEAVILY DEFENDED THIS AREA

ATTACK WOULD HAVE TO BE LAUNCHED FROM PORTS THAT COULD NOT HANDLE VOLUME OF CRAFT

NORMANDY:• DISTANT WAS AN ISSUE

– LONGER ROUTE• PORTS ALSO LACKED IN

SPACE• GERMAN DEFENSE WAS

WEAKER• AERIAL SUPPORT

WOULD HAVE MORE “DEAD FLYING” TIME

Normandy was chosen due to the lack of German defenses

PAS DE CALAIS NORMANDY

ENVISION OF COMMANDERS 5 BEACH ATTACKS – EA. BY A

NATIONALITY (“AMPHIBIOUS”) TWO AMERICAN BEACHES:

UTAH AND OMAHA 18 DIVISIONS (1000+ MEN) 2 AIRBORNE DIVISIONS 6,000 SHIPS 13,000 VEHICLES GOAL: CAPTURE

CHERBOURG DATE WAS PUSHED BACK TO

JUNE, 1944 “D-DAY”: DAY OF DAYS

PERSON OF INTEREST: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER OF INVASION FORCE ALONG W/ A NUMBER OF OTHER HIGHLY TRAINED,

EXPERIENCED LEADERS – GOOD MIXINCLUDED GEN. OMAR BRADLEY

DECEPTION AND SECURITY MONTHS BEFORE: THE US

DECEIVED GERMAN INTELLIGENCE

IDEA: MAKE GERMANY THINK INVASION WAS REALLY COMING IN SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN NORMANDY

OPERATION FORTITUDE: MAKE THE GERMANS THINK THE INVASION WAS COMING AT PAS DE CALAIS

JUNE 5TH WEATHER FULL MOON REQUIRED JUNE 4TH HAD UNFAVORABLE

WEATHERHIGH SEAS, WIND, LOW CLOUDS

JUNE 5TH: WEATHER WAS BETTERINVASION COMMENCED FROM S.

ENGLAND PARATROOPERS JUMPED FIRSTBEFORE BEACH ASSAULT BEGAN

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.”—Eisenhower, Letter to U.S. Army

OVERLORD - AIRBORNE ASSAULT AIR ASSAULT: EARLY AM 1:00AM MADE OF 2 DIVISIONS

101ST 82ND

TASK: SECURE THE FLANKS OF THE LANDINGS IN THE COTENTIN PENN.SECURE 4 EXITS LEAVING

UTAH BEACH (CAUSEWAYS)LINK UP W/ BEACH FORCES

AND CREATE A “UNITED” FRONT

OVERLORD – AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT

OVERLORD WAS THE CODENAME FOR THE D-DAY INVASION

PLAN: BRITISH FORCES

TAKE SWORD AND GOLD BEACHES

CANADIAN FORCES TAKE JUNO BEACH

US FORCES - OMAHA AND UTAH BEACHES

BEACHES D-DAY: JUNE 6TH, 1944 BEACH ASSAULT: EARLY

MORNING 4:00AM (“H-HOUR”)

OMAHA: US FORCES MET THE GERMAN 352ND INFANTRY DIVISION (ONE OF THE BEST)

UTAH: CAUSALITIES WERE THE LIGHTEST OF ANY BEACH (197 OF 230,000)

ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

STORMING THE BEACHES

TAKING COVER ON THE BEACHES

RESULTS 10,000 ALLIED

SOLDIERS WERE DEAD

100,000 HAD MADE IT ASHORE

W/IN DAYS AND WEEKS: SUPPLIES WERE BEING UNLOADED AT UTAH AND OMAHA BEACHES AND TRANSPORTED INLAND

ISLAND HOPPING• COUNTER OFFENSIVE – CAPTURE KEY ISLANDS AND AIR

SPACE

• USE ISLANDS AS BASES FOR FUTURE ATTACKS

• FOUNDED BY ADMIRAL CHESTER NIMITZ

• USED TO CUT JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES BY CAPTURING KEY ISLANDS

BATTLE OF THE GUADALCANAL• FIRST ALLIED OFFENSIVE BEGAN IN AUGUST, 1942• 19,000 TROOPS STORMED THE SOLOMON ISLANDS • BATTLE LASTED 6 MONTHS – BECAME TO BE KNOWN AS “THE

ISLANDS OF DEATH” – FEB. 1943• UNLIKE ANY FIGHTING U.S. HAD EVER SEEN – DESCRIBED AS

“HELL”• GROUND, AIR AND SEA BATTLE

RETURN OF MACARTHUR• US CONTINUED TO “LEAPFROG”

ACROSS THE PACIFIC FOR THE NEXT YEAR

• OCTOBER, 1944: ALLIED TROOPS CONVERGED ON PHILIPPINE ISLANDS – LEYTE ISLAND

• LED BY GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR AND ADMIRAL CHESTER NIMITZ

• MACARTHUR STATED, “PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, I HAVE RETURNED.”

BATTLE OF THE LEYTE GULF• October 1944: Japan threw their entire fleet

into the battle• Began a new tactic – kamikaze (suicide

planes) • Pilots would intentionally crash their

bomb-laden planes into Allied ships and other targets.

• Philippines: 424 kamikaze pilots sunk 16 ships and damaged 80 more

• 3500 Americans were killed but the Allies took back the Philippine Islands

• Japan lost 49,000 troops and the defense against an Allied invasion – US could launch invasion from Philippine bases

Island of

Leyte

BATTLE OF IWO JIMA

• MACARTHUR TURNED HIS SIGHTS ON THE ISLAND OF IWO JIMA – FEB AND MARCH, 1945

• “SULFUR ISLAND” – CRITICAL TO THE US AS A BASE• COULD TAKE OFF HEAVILY LOADED

BOMBER FROM THERE TO JAPAN• 4.5 MILES LONG & 2.5 MILES WIDE –

MT. SURIBACHI (HIGHEST POINT – SOUTHERN TIP)

• MOST DEFENDED SPOT IN THE PACIFIC – 27,000 TROOPS ENTRENCHED IN AN ENDLESS STRING OF CAVES – LT. GEN. KURIBAYASHI

• 35 DAYS – “OPERATION DETACHMENT”• GOAL WAS TO TAKE THE TWO

AIRFIELDS ON THE ISLAND

IWO JIMA• 3 DAYS PRE-INVASION: 6 US BATTLESHIPS CONTINUALLY BOMBED THE ISLAND – FIRST WAVE WAS INEFFECTIVE THOUGH.

• THE MAJORITY OF THE INVADING US TROOPS WERE MARINES

• FEB. 19TH: FIRST DAY OF LANDINGS

• DESPITE HEAVY CASUALTIES, THE US TROOPS HAD CUT THE ISLAND IN HALF BY THE END OF THE DAY (2,400)

• FEB. 20TH: ALLIES ATTACKED MT. SURIBACHI

• MET “FANATICAL” DEFENSES (SUICIDE TROOPS)

• TOOK THE MOUNTAIN AFTER 3 DAYS OF FIGHTING: FEB. 23RD

• RAISED THE AMERICAN FLAG (TWICE) AT THE PEAK

• MARCH 26TH: LAST JAPANESE TROOPS SURRENDER

• 6,891 AMERICAN TROOPS WERE KILLED

• OF 22,000 JAP. TROOPS, ONLY 220 SURRENDERED (THE REST WERE KILLED)

FLAG IS RAISED AT IWO JIMA!!• THE ALLIED INVASION DEPENDED ON

CAPTURING MT. SURIBACHI.

• STANDS 546 FEET

• AMERICAN MARINES CAPTURED THE PEAK ON FEB. 23, 1945

• 4 DAYS AFTER THE START OF THE BATTLE

• AN AMERICAN FLAG WAS RAISED

• A PICTURE WAS SNAPPED BUT IT WASN’T A HUGE DEAL

• THE FLAG WAS SMALL AND HARD TO SEE

• THE FIRST FLAG WAS THEN REPLACED BY A SECOND FLAG BY 6 MARINES

• A PICTURE WAS SNAPPED BY US PHOTOGRAPHER JOE ROSENTHAL

• THE PICTURE TURNED INTO AN ICONIC AND ALMOST CELEBRITY IMAGE

• ROSENTHAL RECEIVED THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR THE PHOTO

Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley (†), Michael Strank (†), Rene Gagnon, John Bradley, Harlon Block (†)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m9j7dHFbsBU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMx_W2XSnhQ

TODAY• BOTH FLAGS SIT IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM

OF THE MARINE CORPS

• 3 SURVIVING MEN + ROSENTHAL HAVE ALL PASSED

• IMAGE NOW REPRESENTS THE MARINE CORPS IN A MONUMENT AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY IN WASH. D.C.

• THE MEDAL OF HONOR IS THE HIGHEST MILITARY DECORATION – GIVEN TO SOMEONE WHO TAKES A RISK ABOVE HIS OWN LIFE IN THE CALL OF DUTY

• USUALLY AWARDED POSTHUMOUSLY

• IWO JIMA SAW 27 MILITARY PERSONAL RECEIVE THE MEDAL OF HONOR (14 POSTHUMOUSLY)

• 30% OF THE 82 MEDAL OF HONORS GIVEN OUT!!

Medal of Honor Iwo Jima Video

BATTLE OF OKINAWA• APRIL 1945: AMERICA TROOPS INVADED THE

ISLAND OF OKINAWA

• 1,900 KAMIKAZE PILOTS SUNK 30 SHIPS AND KILLING ALMOST 5,000

• LAND FIGHTING WAS FIERCER THAN IWO JIMA

• JUNE 21: JAPAN SURRENDERED THE ISLAND

• 7,600 ALLIED MEN & 110,000 JAP. SOLDIERS DIED

• CONTROL OF OKINAWA GAVE THE ALLIES A “JUMP OFF” POINT FOR THE INVASION OF JAPAN

• PRESIDENT TRUMAN WILL DECIDE ON ANOTHER TACTIC BESIDES INVASION…