World War II

Preparing for War
Why was the United States ready to enter into a full-scale war so quickly after the attack on Pearl Harbor?
FDR had the economy mobilize (begin preparing for war) as soon as the Germans invaded France (5/1940)

Mobilization + Incentives =
Cost-plus contracts: gov’t pays a company cost + an extra % as profit
More produced=more $$
Reconstruction Finance Corporation: gov’t loans to help companies convert to production of military goods.

Production of consumer goods, like cars, small appliances, & decorative clothing (like stockings) was replaced by production of goods like tanks, planes, mines, helmets, cooking pots, & military supplies
Henry Ford took on the task of building the B-24 bomber in Detroit

Liberty Ships
Built in Henry Kaiser’s shipyards on the west coast
Cargo ships
Welded, not riveted
Riveted ships tended to fall apart when hit; welded ships held together

To ease drama over mobilization & debating between companies, the War Production Board was created (1942)
Controlled distribution of supplies &materials
In 1943, it was replaced with the Office of War Mobilization

The American People Go TO Work
WWII gave increased job opportunities to women & minorities

Women
Before WWII, most women workers were young & single
Labor shortage opened jobs to married women
Opened more doors for women workers after the war.
Based on a song; portrays "Rosie" as a tireless assembly line worker, doing her part to help the American war effort
increased the number of working American women to 20 million by 1944

African Americans
Factories didn’t want to hire African Americans
A. Phillip Randolph, head of a railroad workers union, told FDR that he was going to assemble workers to march on Washington in protest

Executive Order 8802
“there will be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin”
Backed up by the Fair Employment Practices Commission

Mexicans
Bracero Program: (1942) got over 200,000 Mexicans to move to the USA to help farmers in the Southwest
Worked harvesting food & vegetables
Built & maintained railroads
Continued until 1964

Building an Army
Once Germany invaded Poland & France fell, the US government looked to boost recruitment

Selective Services and Training Act
Plan for a peacetime draft
Proposed & passed in 1940
Opposed by unions, isolationists, & students
Passed after France fell to Germany

GI's
“Government Issue” – the label on all soldiers’ clothing
Became the nickname for the American soldier (like GI Joe)
Recruits spent 8 weeks in training camps, where they learned to operate basic equipment & work as a team

A Segregated Army
White soldiers & African American soldiers trained in separate facilities.
African Americans had their own military units, but the commanding officers were white.
At first, they were assigned to non-combat duty, but as the war progressed, they were given a more active role

"Double V" Campaign
Started by the Pittsburgh Courier
Urged African Americans to support the war effort & lend a hand to achieve double victory:
Victory over the Axis (especially Hitler)
Victory over America’s racism
It led to the increased recruitment of African Americans & their placement into combat situations
Col. Benjamin Davis, the highest ranking African American officer, becomes a general.

99th Pursuit Squadron - The Tuskegee Airmen
1st African American Air Force unit
Trained in Tuskegee, Alabama
Fought in North Africa & Sicily starting in 1943
Led by Col. Davis, Jr

Other Notable Units
332nd Fighter Group – protected bombers flying on missions
761st Tank Battalion – commended for their work during the Battle of the Bulge
614th Tank Destroyer – fought in Northwest Europe; received numerous commendations

1943 – military bases integrated
1948 – President Truman orders the military to be fully integrated

Hispanic Americans in the Military
500,000 joined the armed forces during WWII
Most were from Mexico
Fought in all theaters of the war

Women in Army
During WWII, women were enlisted for the 1st time
Not allowed into combat
Held administrative & clerical jobs

Women's Army Auxilary Corps
Formed in 1942
Director: Oveta Culp Hobby
Women were mad that they were auxiliary, not part of the “real” army

The Coast Guard, Marines, & Navy soon formed their own women’s units
Additionally, women served as nurses in the Army & Navy

Conflict at Home
Migration leads to Problems
15 million Americans moved during the war to get jobs
Midwest & Northeast: shipyards & factories
Sunbelt: expansion through the Deep South all the way to California
A new region of industry; before, it was primarily agricultural
The sheer number of people moving lead to housing shortages
The government built housing for workers, but it tended to be less than ideal

Violence Erupts
When African Americans moved to the North & West, tensions rose
June 20, 1943 – fighting between 2 gangs of girls leads to a full scale riot
34 people were killed

Zoot Suit Riots
In California, there was tension between the whites & Mexican Americans
Zoot suit: a type of suit – baggy pants, long jacket, hat & key chain
Popular among Mexican American teens. It was seen as “unpatriotic” because of the excessive use of fabric

June 1943 – rumors begin that zoot suiters attacked sailors.
In retaliation, 2500 soldiers & sailors invaded neighborhoods in LA & attacked young adults wearing zoot suits
Lasted several days
Police stayed out of it
As a result, the Zoot Suit was banned in Los Angeles

Life During the War
Wage & Price Controls
Office of Price Administration (OPA): regulated the price of consumer goods
Office of Economic Stabilization (OES): regulated wages & the price of farm products
War Labor Board: worked to prevent strikes
Settled over 17000 disputes

Rationing
Limiting the availability of products to make sure there were enough for the military to use
Meat, sugar, fabric, gasoline were all on the ration list
The speed limit was reduced to 35 to save gas
Households were given ration coupons every month
Blue coupons: redeemed for processed food
Red coupons: redeemed for oils, fats, & meats
Other coupons were used for coffee, sugar & other items.
If you ran out of coupons, you couldn’t buy the product…even if you had enough money

Victory Gardens
Grown in backyards, schools, parks, empty lots
Used to produce food for the war effort

Scrap Drives
Used to collect vital raw materials: rubber, tin, aluminum, & steel
People would donate any scrap metal they had: empty cans, pots, old tires, bicycles, rusting machinery
Bacon grease & fat drippings were collected & traded for extra ration coupons

Bonds
War bonds were issued by the government to raise funds for equipment & supplies
An alternative to raising taxes even higher
People who bought them would get their money back later, plus interest
E Bonds: the most common type of bond
$100 billion in bonds sold during the war

The Fighting Begins
Pearl Harbor
December 8th - FDR declares a state of war: US v Japan
Germany declares war on the US Dec 11.
It’s officially on.

Japanese Internment
Executive Order 9066
Authorized military authorities “to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.”

442nd Regimental Combat Team
All Japanese-American combat unit (part of the 100th Infantry Battalion)
2/3 from Hawaii, 1/3 from the mainland
Recruits were found through a questionnaire given to internees.
the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service

War in the Pacific
The Japanese Move to Take over the Pacific
In 1941, the Japanese began their campaign to conquer the Pacific.
In December alone, they invade the Philippines, Guam, Burma, Borneo, Hong Kong, & Wake Island.
December 15, 1941 - First Japanese merchant ship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
December 23, 1941 - General Douglas MacArthur begins a withdrawal from Manila to Bataan
Feb 1942 – FDR orders Gen. MacArthur to withdraw from the Philippines

Battle of Bataan
January – April 1942
Japan invaded the Philippines, needing the territory to control South East Asia
At the end, against MacArthur’s wishes, 76,000 troops surrendered to the Japanese Army
This lead to the…
Bataan Death March
began April 9, 1942
the forcible transfer of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps
The prisoners were beaten & tortured
Exact number of casualties isn’t known…about 1 in 4 men didn’t survive

Battle of Java Sea
February 27- March 1
Japanese victory
The largest U.S. warship in the Far East, the USS Houston, is sunk.

Battle of Coral Sea
May 1942
US planes stop Japanese advancement on Australia

General Douglas MacArthur
Chief of Staff, US Army (1930-35)
Began WWII leading the US Army in the Philippines
March 1942 – appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater
Oversees the liberation of the Philippines

Doolittle Raid
April 19, 1942
1st US air raid to hit a Japanese Island
Led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle
The B-25’s were launched farther out than planned, & as a result ran out of fuel on their return.
15 of the B-25 crashed or ditched on China
1 was captured & its crew held for a year in Russia

Battle of Midway
June 4-7, 1942
Turning point of the war in the Pacific
The Japanese hoped that beating the US would cause us to give up
US broke code that let them know when the Japanese were planning to attack

Guadalcanal
February 1943
Solomon Islands in the South Pacific
Beginning of the US “Island Hopping” strategy

Battle of Leyte Gulf
October 1944
Aka 2nd Battle of the Philippine Sea
US goal: isolate Japan from its territories & cut off its supplies
60 Japanese ships destroyed…a crushing blow to the Imperial Japanese Navy

Tokyo Bombing Raids
February &March 1945
Sequel to the Doolittle Raids
Used B-29 bombers
American bombers destroy 250,000 buildings and kill almost 100,000 in massive fire-bombing.
1700 tons of bombs dropped in one night

Iwo Jima
Aka "Operation Detachment"
Feb-March 1945 (35 days)
1st American attack on a Japanese home island
Of 22,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, only about 220 survived
Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, so conditions were less than ideal
The Marines who invaded were attacked by “invisible” soldiers – those hidden in caves & tunnels built specifically to protect the island
26,000 American casualties
America took the island
One of the highest casualty rates of WWII

Okinawa
Aka "Operation Iceberg"
April to June 1945 (82 days)
Joint army/marines operation
Fighting from caves and bunkers, Japanese inflict over 50,000 losses on Americans.
100,000 Japanese casualties
Wanted Okinawa as a base for planned air operations
A fierce Naval battle also commenced
Over 30 American ships are sunk by Japanese suicide missions.

The End of the War in the Pacific
In April 1945, FDR dies & Harry Truman becomes the president of the United States
With Germany surrendering in May, Truman is left with the war in the Pacific.
Rather than launch a full scale invasion of Japan & lose troops, he decides to use one of the newest weapons in the American arsenal…

THe Atomic Bomb
The product of the Manhattan Project, a program FDR started after getting a letter from Einstein
Robert Oppenheimer – led the project
Used Uranium-235
Produces a blast that melts everything in its blast zone & sends out a cloud of radiation

August 6
Truman orders an atomic bomb to be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima

It is dropped by the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber

killed around 70,000
During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries
Total # of casualties 1945-1950: 90,000–166,000 people

After the bombing, the Japanese refused to surrender, and the decision was made to drop a second bomb
The plan was to bomb Kokura, but cloud cover reduced visibility, so they diverted to Nagasaki

August 9
The B-29 Bockscar drops the “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki
Initial casualties: 40-75,000
Total casualties: up to 80,000
It was a more mountainous region, so the damage was less-widespread

April 14, 1945
Japan surrenders


July 30, 1945
USS Indianapolis
Delivered parts needed to complete the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian
Was heading to a training exercise when it was hit by a Japanese torpedo & sunk
300 went down with the ship
800 were left in the water
The navy didn’t know they’d been hit for 4 days, when a plane spotted the survivors

The Sailors....
Spent almost 5 days floating in the ocean.
Many were injured
Very little food
Almost no water
Most suffered from hallucinations & delirium
They faced repeated attacks from sharks
Of the 880 men that went into the water, only 321 came out, and only 316 survived

The captain of the ship, McVey, was court-martialed & found guilty of not following proper procedure


THE EUROPEAN THEATER
January – March 1942: U.S. troops begin to arrive in Europe.
Average: about 50,000 per month

World War II begins

GERMANY DEMANDS, EUROPE CONCEDES
In February 1938, Adolf Hitler threatened to invade Austria unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts. In March 1938, Hitler announced the Anschluss, or unification, of Austria and Germany.

Hitler claimed the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking population. Czechs strongly resisted Germany’s demand for the Sudetenland.

France, the Soviet Union, and Britain threatened to fight Germany if it attacked Czechoslovakia. At the Munich Conference on September 29, 1938, Britain and France, hoping to prevent another war, agreed to Hitler’s demands in a policy known as appeasement.

In March 1939, Germany sent troops into Czechoslovakia, bringing the Czech lands under German control.

Hitler demanded the return of Danzig—Poland’s Baltic Sea port. He also wanted a highway and railroad across the Polish Corridor. These demands convinced the British and French that appeasement had failed.

In May 1939, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland by the German army.

On August 23, 1939, Germany and the USSR signed a nonaggression treaty, with a secret agreement to divide Poland.

THE WAR BEGINS
On September 1, 1939, Germany and the USSR invaded Poland. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany—starting World War II.

The Germans used a blitzkrieg, or lightening war, to attack Poland. The Polish army was defeated by October 5.

On April 9, 1940, the German army attacked Norway and Denmark. Within a month, Germany overtook both countries.

After World War I, the French built a line of concrete bunkers and fortifications called the Maginot Line along the German border. When Hitler decided to attack France, he went around the Maginot Line by invading the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The French and British forces quickly went into Belgium, becoming trapped there by German forces.

By June 4, about 338,000 British and French troops had evacuated Belgium through the French port of Dunkirk and across the English Channel, using ships of all sizes.

On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to the Germans. Germany installed a puppet government in France.

GERMANY VS BRITAIN
Hitler thought that Britain would negotiate peace after France surrendered. He did not anticipate the bravery of the British people and their prime minister, Winston Churchill. On June 4, 1940, Churchill delivered a defiant speech that rallied the British people and alerted the United States to Britain’s plight.

To invade Britain, Germany had to defeat the British air force. In the Battle of Britain, the German air force, the Luftwaffe, launched an all-out air battle to destroy the British Royal Air Force. After German bombers bombed London, the British responded by bombing Berlin, Germany.

The Royal Air Force was greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe, but the British had radar stations and were able to detect incoming German aircraft and direct British fighters to intercept them.