The United States in World War II

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR II24.1 The War in Europe and North Africa

The Battle of the AtlanticDefeating the Axis Powers depended largely on control of the seas

WWI = US formed convoys to protect their ships

WII = US does not have enough ships for convoys

The ‘Wolf Pack’ Attacks U-Boats began to hunt in

groups at night Germans sunk 360 ships

in just one year and lost only eight of their own

Energized shipyards began producing ships at an amazing rate

Began to protect convoys from the air; use radar technology

Enigma German code system Broken by the U.S. in 1941

By the war’s end, 70% of Germans who’d served on submarines were dead

U-Boat Attacks The Allied Response

The War in the Soviet Union In the summer of 1941 Hitler broke his

‘Nonaggression Pact’ with Stalin – surprise, surprise! – and sent troops into the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union joins the Allied Powers

Stalin was ill-equipped to combat the Blitzkrieg, but the Soviets were joined by a new ally . . .

Winter in Russia This slowed, but did not defeat, German forces

The Battle of Stalingrad When Spring returned, Germany resumed it’s assault of

the SU

One major target of the German armies was the industrial city of Stalingrad In August 1942, the Germans attacked Stalingrad In some of the bloodiest fighting in the history of warfare, the

Soviets refused to let Stalingrad fall Not only did the Germans fail to take the city, they also

exposed themselves to a counterattack costing them some two million soldiers; the SU lost twelve million soldiers and millions of civilians BUT . . .

In January 1944, the German army had been successfully pushed out of the SU and back into Germany; Stalingrad marked the beginning of the end for the Germans in the SU

The Battle of Stalingrad

American Forces in N. Africa and Italy

Soon after France fell, the British and Italians began a fight for North Africa; North Africa was vital to Allied success Protect shipping on the

Mediterranean Sea Bring oil through the Suez Canal

from the Middle East to fuel planes/ships/tanks

The Italians attempted an attack on British forces in Egypt but were beaten badly; Hitler had to send reinforcements

The Battle of El Alamein The British finally handed the

Germans a major defeat in N Africa as well

Operation Torch U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D.

Eisenhower called for American forces to invade N. Africa in November 1942

Americans fought German forces in North Africa for roughly six months and lost some 20,000 troops; but by May of 1943, they’d defeated them

Stalin began to push the U.S. to invade Europe; however, such an operation was still years away

Instead, the Allied leaders prepared to cross the Mediterranean and knock the Italians out of the war

Invading Italy“Would you rather die for Mussolini and Hitler . . . or live for Italy and civilization?”

In July of 1943, the U.S. invaded the island of Sicily

By the end of the month, the Italians had chosen life . . . they turned against Mussolini and forced him out of power

The Allied Powers took Sicily a few weeks later; much to Hitler’s outrage Hitler responded by sending troops to Italy,

but the Allies continued to make steady progress

Enter the Tuskegee Airmen

Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen?The Tuskegee Airmen were the first unit of

African Americans to receive training as pilots in the U.S. military

Taking Rome After early successes in Italy, the

Allies slowed their approach as they got close to Rome

Anzio In late January, the first of some

100,000 Allied soldiers came ashore

Fighting raged for four months until Allied troops from the South came to the rescue of the soldiers trapped in Anzio; 25,000 – 30,000 Allied soldiers were lost

Despite the victory at Anzio, fighting in Italy continued for another year . . . some 300,000 troops would die or suffer injury there

D-Day: The Invasion of France

Operation Overlord To end the war a.s.a.p., the Allies wanted to

launch a large scale attack on Europe They settled on the beaches of Normandy,

France Careful planning and speed were going to be

crucial . . . The Germans had two new weapons

V1 Flying Bomb V2 Rocket

The Landing at Normandy June 6, 1944, 3.5 million Allied soldiers

arrived

Success was absolutely necessary, but uncertain

The Attack

Began with soldiers parachuting behind German lines to try and secure key sites

Ships offshore rained shells on the coastline Allied aircraft filled the sky to provide cover for

the waves of troops to come The Success of Operation Overlord would

depend on the individual soldiers, whose job it was to wait for their landing-craft gate to open then move toward shore

By the thousands, they waded through the surf till they hit the sand and then raced through obstacles, wounded and dead comrades, and a hail of gunfire to find something to hide behind, and went forward again

D-Day

Saving Private Ryan

The German Response Thanks in part to Allied deceptions, Hitler feared the

assault on Normandy was just a trick and that another invasion would take place elsewhere; therefore, he was slow to respond

For DAYS, German leaders delayed in sending backup forces to the area

Though the cost was high – some 10,000 soldiers (more than half being Americans) - D-Day was a success

By July, the landing area was considered secure enough to send in our first women’s army corp., and the Allied troops marched onward to France

Women’s Army Corp.

The Battle of the Bulge Hitler’s once mighty war machine now

appeared on the verge of collapse . . . and the Allied forces projected an early end to the war

This turned out to be premature . . . December 16, 1944

The Germans launched a surprised offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge; which came down to control of the Belgian city of Bastogne

Hitler caught the American troops completely off guard . . . but how would it end??

The Battle for Bastogne Surrounded by Germans, shivering in below-zero

temperatures and low on supplies, Americans clung to survival

December 26th, just as things were starting to look dire, reinforcements led by Lieutenant General George S. Patton arrived to provide relief

By the end of January 1945, the bulge created by the German offensive had been rolled back; the Allies set their sights on Germany . . . and the defeat of Hitler