Ch. 20 The Early Battles The Fall of the Philippines Hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked the Philippines. As the Japanese advanced toward the southern part of the Philippines, US forces commanded by Douglas MacArthur retreated to the Bataan Peninsula.
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Ch. 20 The Early Battles
The Fall of the PhilippinesHours after the bombing of Pearl
Harbor, the Japanese attacked the Philippines. As the Japanese advanced
toward the southern part of the Philippines, US forces commanded by Douglas MacArthur retreated to the
Bataan Peninsula.
• Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate to Australia when it was certain that he and his men would be captured.
• MacArthur’s promise : “I came through
and I shall return”
The defenders of Bataan surrendered
and all 78,000 of them became
Japanese P.O.W’s. Sick, exhausted, and starving they had to march to the prison camp—this became known as the Bataan
• Roosevelt was searching for a way to raise the morale of the American people. He thought bombing Tokyo would do it. But there were no planes available that could reach to Tokyo without stopping. B-52 bombers were decided upon because they could take off from an air craft carrier but they could not land on one. They would land in China instead.
Doolittle’s autobiography:
• The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.
• The Doolittle raids were very successful—not that they did much damage, but it shocked the Japanese. The bombs could have killed the emperor.
• Fifteen of the aircraft reached China, and the other one landed in the Soviet Union. All but three of the crew survived, but all the aircraft were lost. Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three of these were executed
Midway• The Commander of the Japanese naval forces was
Admiral Yamamoto. He decided the planes came from Midway Island. So he decided to capture Midway Island.
• Only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy (USN), under Admiral Chester W. Nimitz commanded the operation
• The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war. • The Japanese would never advance after losing that
battle –they were on the defense and now the Allies were on the offense.
Turning Back the German Army• Joseph Stalin wanted the US to send troops to the
Eastern front—to help him fight off the Germans. • Stalingrad: Hitler was convinced that the only way
to defeat the Soviet Union was to destroy the city of Stalingrad— SU’s important strategic city.
• Epic battle—both sides were ordered to fight to last man. In the end the Soviets were victorious in pushing back the Germans.
• The Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point in the war—Germany on the Eastern front was now on the defense never to advance again.
Northern African and Southern Europe
• Roosevelt wanted to get the US forces into the war right away but Churchill was cautious. Instead he persuaded Roosevelt to send troops into the soft underbelly of Europe and North Africa. The Allied forces with the help of American soldiers had many victories—the Axis forces were now on the defense.
• Both England and the US bombed important cities of Germany—destroying the railroad system, bridges and factories.
Turning Back the German Army
Teheran Conference 1943• They agreed that the British and Americans
would begin their drive to liberate France in the spring of 1944 and that the Soviets would invade Germany and eventually join the war against Japan.
Turning Back the German Army
D-Day
• With the Germans retreating on the East and the South it was now time for the Allies to invade the North.
• To get the majority of the Allies forces on the continent of Europe the decision was made to enter thru France.
• In June of 44, Southern England became a massive army camp of over 3 million troops
• Eisenhower was in charge of the biggest amphibious invasion in history: retake Europe from the Germans—Liberate Europe.
• Every material factor of war was made and shipped—everything from bullets to medical supplies to blood to artificial limps to eyeballs in 5 colors.
• American soldiers could draw on 4 tons of supplies to Japans 2 pounds—no country had ever produced as much as we did
• Over 1.5 million American soldiers, 12,000 airplanes, jeeps and more than 5 million tons of equipment had been sent to England. Only one thing was left to do—pick the date.
D-Day
• Begin at night• Arrive at low tide• Low tide had to come at dawn• Weather had to be good• http://youtu.be/31nt2fsMORU• Saving Private Ryan http://youtu.be/dBffwk-xHu4• Timewatch http://youtu.be/cCABRsxWV9U• http://youtu.be/aLtisgJoy-o band of brothers
Meeting at Yalta 1945• After victory in Europe was achieved,
Germany would be divided into occupation zones, free elections in the liberated countries of Eastern Europe, and the Soviets would enter the war against Japan.
President Roosevelt dies• Roosevelt did not live to see the defeat of
Germany. He died April 12, 1945 after being President for an unprecedented 12 years.
• His vice president, Harry Truman, became president.
Potsdam • After Germany’s surrender, only Stalin
remained as one of the Big Three. They agreed to issue a warning to Japan to surrender unconditionally and to hold war crime trials of Nazi leaders
War in the Pacific—Island Hopping
• Iwo Jima—strategically an important island for the Allies—but with the formidable terrain—full of ash and rugged with rocky cliffs and dozens of caves where the Japanese were hiding for years.
• Marines took the Island in fierce fighting that took the life of over 6,800
Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (
Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and
Michael Strank) were killed during
the battle; the three survivors (
John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became celebrities upon
• As the Allies were Island hopping—taking over all the Islands that Japan had taken over-- on their way to Japan, the allies were fire bombing major cities in Japan killing over 80,000 civilians and 250,000 buildings.
• After massive fire bombing there were no signs of Japan surrendering.
The Invasion of Okinawa
• With still no signs of surrendering, the Allies felt that the Japanese would not surrender unless Japan was invaded. To prepare for the invasion, the island of Okinawa would need to be invaded first.
The Manhattan Project• The American program to build an atomic
bomb was code-named the Manhattan Project.• In 1939, top physicist, Leo Szilard suggested
that splitting the atom might release enormous energy. He convinces Albert Einstein to help draft a letter to Roosevelt. Roosevelt responded by setting up a committee to study the issue.
• A secret laboratory was set up at Los Alamos, New Mexico under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The debate on whether or not to drop the bomb.
Opposed Truman’s decision
modify the terms of surrenderWait for the shock of the Russian attack an economic blockadeConventional bombing
Defends Truman’s decision
avoid an invasion of Japan and save millions of lives on both sidesThe “agony of war” would end quickly
Practice Bombing
• In the sand desert of New Mexico, the 1st Atomic bomb was dropped—10,000times hotter than the center of the sun—turned the sand to glass
• “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds”…R. Oppenheimer
• On August 6,1945 the Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima
• 3 days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
Destruction
• Hiroshima-important industrial city• 76,000 buildings destroyed –63% • 80,000-120,000 died instantly and more died
later from burns and radiation.• Bombing stunned Japan—3 days later Soviet
Union declared war on Japan and later that day a second bomb was dropped
V-J Day• The Japanese emperor ordered his
government to surrender. • In the end, the Allies did allow the Emperor to