World War II Notes
Ch 19.4-20
American History
19-4
US/England relationship
-
FDR wants to help
o Neutrality Act of 1939
§ US can sell arms to warring nations if they come get and pay cash
o Destroyers for bases
§ Eng needed destroyers, US had 50 old ones
§ FDR traded them for rights to build bases on British territory
Isolationism
-
o
- Most Americans- supported Eng/France
Neutral???
- Lend-Lease Act
o US
will lend or lease arms to any nation “vital to the defense of the
o Aid
mainly goes to Eng, later
- Hemispheric Defense Zone
o British ships headed to US hit by Germans
o FDR says this half of the ocean is neutral, Germans stay out
o
- Undeclared Naval War
o Germans
sink some
US/Japanese
Relations
-
US mad about
-
US- Embargo- restrictions on sale of oil, steel to
-
Lend Lease- aid goes to
- Why?
o Base to US Pacific fleet
o War will probably happen, might as well take the first punch, knock out US early
- Attack
o
o 8 battleships sunk, other ships, planes destroyed on the ground
o intelligence failures?
o Lucky
= aircraft carriers were out at sea, becomes main
- War-
o US
declares
o
The Homefront 20-1, 20-3
War Economy
- conversion
o factories converted from civilian products to military goods
o gov’t covered costs of production (labor, materials, etc) granted a % profit
o automobile industry- switches to tanks, airplanes, jeeps, trucks, etc
o ships- needed in large #s, for shipping goods
Army size
- 1940- 210,000
- 1945- 13,000,000
-
lots of volunteers after
Minorities
- African Americans
o Right to vote still in question by state laws
o Army was segregated, blacks together, whites together
§ Separate barracks, eating arrangement, officer’s mess
o Most blacks = cooks, truck drivers, support staff
§ 900,000 served, 50,000 saw combat
o
o Some believe- fight bravely, the country will remember later
o Gov’t had to step in to protect civil rights for civilians in the factories however
- Women
o Not combat duty
o Nurses, secretarial work, radio operators, trained men in flying, firing weapons
§ Take on less-essential roles (“Free a man to fight!”)
§ Test pilots, target planes
o Work in factories, industry leery at 1st but need them
§ “Rosie the Riveter” (Norma Jean Baker was one)
§ attitudes about women working changed
o Heady Lamarr
§ Model/actress
§ Invented CDMA technology so can’t hone in on one signal, used in cell phones today
- Japanese-
o Interment- west coast Japanese citizens rounded up and moved to camps in the west
§ Some people fear they are spying for their homeland, dispite the fact that many were 3rd or 4th generation Americans
§ By 1945, Supreme Court begins to rule- loyal US citizens cannot be held against their will
§ 1988- gov’t gave $20,000 to survivors
o All Japanese Battalion formed
§ The most decorated unit of WWII
§ Fought
in
§ Often given impossible tasks, viewed as expendable
§ Many
fought to prove their loyalty to the
Daily Life
- Civilian sacrifice
o rationing- could only buy so much of certain products that were needed for the war effort
§ meat, coffee, sugar, fats, oils (Coca-Cola got an exemption)
· people encouraged to have Meatless Tuesdays (cafeterias for instance)
§ rubber, gas also rationed
· people encouraged to drive slower
· certain jobs got to buy more gas
o scrap drives
§ citizens rounded up scrap iron, rubber to recycle for war effort
§ fat collected- turn in, get ration points
o victory gardens
§ grow and can your own, don’t have to worry about rationing
o war bonds
§ buy from gov’t, promised to pay back later with interest
§ a loan to the gov’t
- professional baseball
o still continued, but many top players drafted or volunteered for service
§ StL Browns, perennial doormat, go to only World Series
· Have a one armed outfielder
§ Even the Cubs go to the series in ‘45
o GPBBL- women play pro baseball (A League of Their Own)
20-2
Early
- Philippines- US colony
o Attacked by Japanese, falls quickly
o
§
§ Japanese never signed treaty regarding POWs before the war, viewed those who surrendered as cowards
- Doolittle Raid
o Use
of medium range bombers on aircraft carriers to strike against
o Does light damage, but is a huge morale boost
o Played
out in end of
-
o Off
the coast of
o Japanese beaten here, has to back off, its navy takes big hit
- Midway
o Japanese plan to destroy remainder of US navy, tries to trap it at Midway
o US wary of the trap, traps the trappers
o Japanese navy hit hard again, most carriers are lost
o From
here on,
Vs.
-
o
o US,
Eng invade French
o 1st
o by
1943, Germans/Italians forced from
-
o German subs sink Allied ships at will early 1942
o Many
o Convoys w/ protection, use of airplanes, sonar/radar put U-boats on the defensive
o US ports could build ships faster than the Germans could sink them
o German naval codes broken, Allies could find them
-
o Invaded
by
§ Invasion
goes the same way the others had, Germans move hundreds of miles into
o
§ Hitler wants b/c
· Stalin’s name is on it
· Opens the door to oil rich land to the south
§ Soviets allow them to take the city, then encircle them
§ Becomes a death trap for 300,000 German troops
§ From
here on, Germans are on defense in
20-4/5
Striking Back vs Germany
- Bombing- to knock out factories, kill civilians and the German will to fight
o US- Daylight strategic bombing
o British- night- saturation bombing
o B-17s
and B-24s by
o Advent of long range fighter escorts (P-51s and P-38s) help protect them
o US could build the planes faster than the Germans could knock them down
o Dresden- German city fire-bombed near the end of the war
§ Thousands of people die in fireball
-
Invasion of
o Allies
move up from
§ Easier
than attacking the fortified coast of
o
o German troops march in to replace Italians
-
Invasion of
o
o Planned for the day before, but weather postponed
o Part of largest deception plan in military history
§ Entire army made up to make Germans think it was happening elsewere (fake tank, jeeps, airplanes, fake radio chatter, etc)
§ Dummies dropped elsewhere when actual invasion started
o Operation
Overloard- Eisenhower in charge of all Allied troops
in
§ 5 Beaches
·
US =
· Eng/Canada = Gold, Juno, Sword
·
-
o Last gasp of the German army in West
o Attack
to drive the allies back to
o Works at first, but Allies regroup
- Eastern Front
o Soviets push Germans back
o Commit atrocities in revenge for German ones at beginning of the war
- Resistance to Hitler
o Assassination attempt by some of his General staff fails, Hitler wounded
o Retreats
to bunker in
o Kills himself with girlfriend/wife (Eva Braun)
- V-E Day
o Germans surrender spring 1945
Striking Back vs.
- Island Hopping-
o US starts taking some islands, leaving others to rot
o Joint campaign between Navy/Marines and the Army
o Navy = Nimitz, Army = MacArthur
o As
they get closer they get in range to bomb
§
- Japanese resistance
o Refuse to surrender, rather die in battle than surrender
o Kamikazes- suicide pilots, fly into US ships
o Convince
civilians on
§ Mass suicides
o Atomic Bomb
§ US been working on it for a few years
§ 1st
dropped on
· 120,000 die instantly, thousands more over the next several months/years
·
either that or invade
· fear an invasion would mean more deaths for both sides (especially US)
§ 2nd
dropped on
· 40,000-70,000 killled
- V-J Day
o Japanese surrender August 1945