The Year 1942

The “Big 3” is born and they are joined by many other nations in a Grand Alliance of United Nations

1942 – Jan – June – the new coalition – the Allied Powers continued to lose and it looked as if they may not be able to win the war

·         Asia and the Pacific

·         Japanese took Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, Dutch

·         East Indies and the Philippines.

·         Important Burma Road supply route into China from India was cut.

·         U.S. loss of the Philippines

·         20,000 U.S. troops led by General Douglas MacArthur withdrew to Bataan, close to Manila, but eventually surrendered.

·         Bataan death march – 85-mile forced march of U.S. GIs who were  tortured and eventually burned alive.

·         MacArthur ordered by Washington to leave for Australia: "I shall return"

·         Assumed command of all Allied Pacific forces

·         Early Defeats in Europe

·         German U-boats sunk 8 million tons of allied supplies -- 25% belonging to the USSR

·         Germans pushed east to Stalingrad by fall 1942, and to El Alamein, Egypt

Allied Turning Points in the War – the allies begin to win battles and take back land

·         Sept. 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad

·         Perhaps most important battle of the war

o        First major German defeat on land.

o        Start of the German retreat from the eastern front – will continue until the USSR takes occupation of Berlin in 1945

·         Stalin never forgave the Allies for not opening a 2nd front earlier; USSR had to bear the full brunt of German invasion.

·         Churchill opted for North Africa instead.

·         Nov. 8, 1943  - Operation "Torch"  Invasion of North Africa led by Gen. Eisenhower,

·         British had been fighting German Panzer divisions in North Africa since 1941

·            Germans led by General Irwin Rommel (the "Desert Fox")

·         Nov. 1943, 100,000 Allied troops invaded North Africa in Algeria & Morocco

·         Battle of El Alamein—signaled end of German presence in North Africa

·         Pushed Rommel all the way to Tunisia; massive German casualties.

Europe

·            George C. Patton  led Invasion of Italy

·            July 1943, British and U.S. forces land on Sicily; victorious within 1 month

·            Mussolini forced out of power by officials within fascist party.

·            June 4, 1944 -- Allies march into Rome

·            First capital city freed from Nazi control

·            Other parts of Italy remain under Nazi control until spring 1945.

·            U.S. military leaders frustrated with focus on Italy in 1943 as it had little strategic value; sought opening a second front in Western Europe

·            Churchill wanted Italy so FDR acquiesced; Stalin extremely frustrated

·            June 6, 1944  -  D-Day otherwise know as "Operation Overlord"   --

·            Landing at Normandy = Perhaps war’s most important battle

·            Commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower

·            120,000 troops left England and stormed 5 beachheads at Normandy Coast.

·            800,000 more men within 3 weeks; 3 million total

·            Demonstrated significance of Battle of Britain four years earlier

·            d. Casualties during D-Day: 2,245 Allies killed; 1,670 wounded

·            Significance of battle:

·            Second front established (to Russia’s joy)

·            August 25, 1st Allied troops enter Paris.

·            By end of summer, Belgium, France and Luxembourg liberated

·             Had Allies failed, Hitler could have focused on Eastern Front and perhaps negotiated a peace with       Stalin leaving most of Europe under Nazi control.

·             Invasion of Germany

·            Pre-invasion bombing

·            Hamburg all but wiped out in summer 1943

·            Berlin and other major cities and targets hit repeatedly especially factories and oil refineries.

·            Allied invasion in Sept. 1944 repelled by Germany

·            Had arrived at the Rhine by mid-September on the edge of Germany.

·            Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944)

·            Germans launched last major offensive on U.S. positions in Belgium and Luxembourg -- U.S. casualties: nearly 80,000

·            General George Patton and his 101st Airborne Division stopped Hitler’s last gasp counter-offensive

·            By January, the Allies were once more advancing toward Germany.

·            Britain & US attack Dresden with fire bombs killing 100,000 & destroying factories and rail lines.

April 1945 – the fall of the Axis

·         U.S. approach Berlin from west while Soviets come from east.

·         German resistance in Italy collapsing.

·         Mussolini caught by Italian resistance and killed

·         Hitler goes into bunker under Chancellery in April and commits suicide on April 30.

·         Germany surrenders unconditionally on May 7, 1945

·            Allies celebrate V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)

Japan is pushed back to its mainland

·            Battle of the Coral Sea (May 1942)– entire battle fought with aircraft.

·            Japan prevented from successfully invading New Guinea and Australia.

·             Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) – turning point in the Pacific war

·            Allies broke the Japanese code.

·            Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers (of 10)--7 of 11 other ships destroyed; 250 planes.

·            Significance: Japan no longer had any hopes of attacking US mainland.

·             1943 - Island Hopping campaign– eventually pushed Japanese forces  all the way back to Japan.

·            Sought to neutralize Japanese island strongholds with air and sea power and then move on.

·             Aug 1942-Feb 1943 = Battle of Guadalcanal part of the Solomon Islands

·            First Japanese land defeat after 6 months of bitter jungle fighting.

·             February, 1945 -  Battle on Iwo Jima

·             April 1, 1945 – June 1945 Battle of Okinawa  

·            50,000 American casualties resulted from fierce fighting which virtually destroyed Japan’s remaining defenses.

·            Bloodshed influenced the eventual use of the atomic bomb to prevent further U.S. casualties from ground assaults.

·             Bombing of Japan results in destruction of most major cities

·            March 1945, 100,000 die in a single Tokyo raid; 60% of buildings destroyed.

Election of 1944 and death of FDR

·            FDR, with running-mate Harry S. Truman, defeated Republican Thomas Dewey.

n       FDR elected to an unprecedented fourth term in office.

·            April 12, 1945 -- FDR dies at Warm Springs, GA

·            Harry Truman becomes president

The Atomic Bomb

·         U.S. successfully tests bomb in mid-July, 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico.

·         Potsdam Conference (Mid-July - August)

o        Three allied leaders (Truman, Stalin, and Clement Atlee) warned Japan without specifics to surrender or suffer "complete and utter destruction."

o        Japan refused removal of emperor but showed signs in secret dispatches it

o        might be willing to surrender if emperor remains on throne.

o        Military advisors warn of casualties as high as 46,000 if U.S. invades Japan.

·         August 6, 1945 -- First atomic bomb ("Fat Man") dropped on Hiroshima

o        80,000 killed immediately; 100,000 injured

n       Countless die later of radiation sickness or cancer

o        Bomb dropped by the Enola Gay

o        Japanese gov’t still did not surrender

·         August 8, Soviet Union entered the war against Japan as promised

·         August 9 -- 2nd bomb ("Little Boy")dropped on Nagasaki; 60,000 dead

·         August 14 -- Japan surrenders

o        World War II is over.

o        Sept2, Japanese formally surrendered aboard U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The decision to drop the atomic bomb became controversial in past few decades.

·         Most compelling reason for dropping the bomb was that it saved countless U.S. lives who would have had to invade Japan. We also knew that

o        Japanese lives would be saved since massive conventional bombing of Japan continued.

o        Bloody U.S. victories at Iwo Jima and Okinawa were only a preview of the horrific carnage that would occur if U.S. invaded the mainland.

o        Japan was preparing women and children to defend Japan as well.

o        c. Japan had started a war with a sneak attack; the U.S. was finishing it.

·         Recent scholarship suggests Truman sought to intimidate Soviet Union in the  post-war world by using the bomb.

·         Proponents of Truman’s decision say  this was not the key issue in Truman’s decision; ending the war was the overriding goal

·         Some suggest a demonstration of the bomb to Japan was a viable alternative.

·         Yet, U.S. did not know if the bomb would work and only two bombs were available in August 1945.

·         Some military officials believed Japan could be broken by the naval blockade and continued conventional bombing. General Eisenhower later lamented bombs use.

·         Critics of the decision maintain the U.S. let the emperor on the throne after the war: why not make that clear before using the bomb?

·         Some critics argue that Hiroshima was not a crucial military target and that civilians were the target.

·         Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been spared of bombing up until then. They had been taken off the bombing list to ensure a clean target.  This would make it easier to measure the true level of destruction

·          Some critics argue that even if Hiroshima bombing was somewhat justified, the quick bombing of Nagasaki three days later was not.

·         Some critics argue that Truman and others connected with the gov’t mislead the public about the use of the bomb by misinformation later in the press and movies.

The Numbers when all was said and done

·            15 million in USSR alone (23 million combined with military casualties)

Post War Politics leads to the Cold War Causes

·            Nationalism become a major force throughout the world.

·            Colonies ruled by European nations demanded independence.

·             India had been promised greater freedom as a reward for fighting in the war.

·             French Indochina determined to resist European rule; nationalists had fought against Japanese; later fought France and U.S. in Vietnam War.

·             Social changes

·             Blacks gained job opportunities during the war that had long been denied.

·             Hopes were raised that further action against racial discrimination was raised.

·             Many women saw a future of wider opportunity after the war, while many  returned to the home.

·             Shift in population to the "sunbelt"

·             Technology

·             Synthetic materials such as plastics were developed to replace natural ones in short supply.

·             Improvement in airplanes and radar changed war

·             A-bomb changed course of human history; years after 1945 called "Atomic Age"

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