WWII, Part IV: The Concluding Actions

ALLIES VICTORY IN EUROPE

Battle of the Bulge

• Allies then set their sights on taking Germany• The Allies were moving toward

Germany from the west and the Soviet Union was moving toward Germany from the east

• Hitler tried one last counterattack to split American and British forces and cut off Allied supply lines• Hitler attacked at the Ardennes

Forest, but the 101st Airborne held strong in Bastogne and troops relieved them to turn the tide

Germany’s Unconditional Surrender

• On April 22, 1945, the Soviets had Berlin surrounded• Hitler’s last address, “I myself and

my wife choose to die in order to escape the disgrace of…capitulation. I die with a happy heart aware of the immeasurable deeds of our soldiers at the front.”

• On April 30, 1945, Hitler shot himself after taking poison, and his body was carried out and burned• On May 8, 1945, V-E Day was

declared after Germany surrendered unconditionally

ALLIES GENOCIDE OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

Manhattan Project

• Leo Szilard pushed the creation of the atomic bomb.• He believed the Germans were working

on the Uranium-type bomb• President Roosevelt Created the

Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb before the Germans.• Headed By General Leslie Groves

(military) and J. Robert Oppenheimer (scientists).• Located at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The World’s First Detonated Atomic Bomb

• On July 16, 1945, the first detonated atomic bomb went off near Alamogordo, New Mexico• President Truman could use the bomb for two reasons:• To prevent the invasion of Japan and thus save American lives• To force Japan to unconditionally surrender before the Soviet Union could

occupy Japanese territory

Allies Dropped The Bomb• The Allies threatened

Japan with utter destruction if they did not unconditionally surrender• On August 6, 1945,

President Truman Gives the Go-Ahead to Drop “Little Boy.”• A Uranium-Type Bomb

• Dropped On Hiroshima• Important Industrial City

The Next Bomb Was Dropped

• On August 9, 1945, President Truman Gave the Go-Ahead to Drop “Fat Man.”• A Plutonium-Type Bomb

• Dropped On Nagasaki• Also An Important

Industrial City

Japan Unconditionally Surrenders

• August 15, 1945, V-J Day is Declared for “Victory in Japan”• Americans and Especially

Troops Rejoice

The Devastation of WWII

A Harvest of Destruction

• London, Warsaw, and Berlin lay in ruins• Death Toll• Approximately 72 million people• Separation by person:• 47 million civilians• 25 million soldiers (10 million Soviet soldiers)

• Separation by alliances:• 61 million Allies• 11 million Axis

Postwar Actions• Nuremburg Trials - Nazis leaders

were put on trial for the Holocaust• 22 Nazi leaders were charged, 12

sentenced to death and burned in the ovens at Dachau

• General Douglas MacArthur took charge of the U.S. occupation of Japan• Demilitarization• Trial for War Criminals• Democratization

• Partition of Germany