1. Warm Up – December 7 Answer the following questions on a post it:
What kind of attack did Germany use in World War II? What country could this strategy not be used against?
What strategy was being used by France and Germany in regards to Hitler’s aggression? What was the United States strategy?
What was the major invasion of Normandy, France called? Why was this such an important victory for the Allies?
What is the day that Germany surrendered to the Allies called?

2. 5.5 – WWII IN THE PACIFIC

3. Japan’s Ambitions in the Pacific
1937 – Hideki Tojo (head of Japanese army) launched a launched a full-scale invasion of China
By 1941, Tojo and Japanese army had seized all of French, Dutch, and British colonies in Asia
US cut off trade with Japan  no oil
Japan set sights on oil fields in the Dutch East Indies  inevitable war

4. Japan’s Aggression
November 5, 1941 – Tojo ordered the Japanese army to prepare for an attack on the US
US broke Japanese secret codes to discover the planned attack but did not know when or where it would occur  FDR sent military war warnings to bases in Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines
FDR believed if war was inevitable, then Japan would commit the first act
Peace talks went on until December 6, 1941 when the US decoded a Japanese message instructing the Japanese diplomats to reject all US peace proposals  “This means war.” - FDR

5. Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
December 7,1941 – Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor (Oahu Island of Hawaii)
1.5 hour attack
Over 180 aircrafts launched from 6 aircraft carriers
US could not effectively mount a counterattack – 2,403 Americans killed, 1,178 wounded, 21 ships sunk (8 battleships), over 300 aircraft destroyed or damaged BUT 3 aircraft carriers were out at sea and were spared.

6. “It was a mess. I was working on the USS Shaw
“It was a mess. I was working on the USS Shaw. It was on a floating dry dock. It was in flames. I started to go down into the pipe fitter’s ship to get my toolbox when anther wave of Japanese came in. I got under a set of concrete steps at the dry dock where the battleship Pennsylvania was. An officer came by and asked me to go into the Pennsylvania and try to get the fires out. A bomb had penetrated the marine deck, and… three decks below. Under that was the magazines: ammunition, powder, shells. I said, “There ain’t no way I’m gonna go down there.” It could blow up any minute. I was young and 16. Not stupid.” – John Garcia, Pearl Harbor witness

7. US Response to Pearl Harbor
“I never wanted to have to fight this war on two fronts. We haven’t the Navy to fight in both the Atlantic and the Pacific… so we will have to build up the Navy and the Air Force and that will mean that we will have to take a good many defeats before we can have a victory.” – FDR during attacks
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, [the Japanese launched] an unprovoked and dastardly attack.” – FDR, address to Congress Dec. 8, 1941
Dec. 8, Congress approved declaration of war against Japan  3 days later, Germany and Italy declared war on US

8. “Remember Pearl Harbor!”
2 front war (Europe and Pacific)  US needed a bigger military
Young Americans packed recruiting offices
Congress expanded the draft – 15M soldiers
8 weeks basic training
“The civilian went before the Army doctors, took off his clothes, feeling silly; jigged, stooped, squatted, wet into a bottle; became a soldier. He learned how to sleep in the mud, tie a knot, kill a man. He learned the ache of loneliness, the ache of exhaustion, the kinship of misery. He learned that men make the same queasy noises in the morning, feel the same longings at night; that every man is alike and that each man is different.” – Sergeant Debs Myers

9. Japanese Pacific Domination
Jan-June 1942 – Japan conquered:
Mainland: Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and a large region of China
Pacific: Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands, 2 Alaskan islands, and more
General Douglas MacArthur – in command of Allied forces in the Philippines
Losing  FDR ordered him to return home  “I shall return.”

10. Doolittle’s Raid Spring 1942 – tide turns for Allies in the Pacific
April 18, 1942 – Doolittle's Raid
Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led 16 bombers in an air raid on Tokyo and other cities
Pearl Harbor style air attack... Americans pleased, Japanese hurt

11. Battle of Midway Midway – an island northwest of Hawaii
Japanese code broken to reveal the planned attack on Midway
Admiral Chester Nimitz to defend Midway
June 3, 1942 – US scouts found Japanese fleet
Nimitz sent American torpedo planes and dive bombers
Japanese could not react to bombers, all aircrafts remained on the decks  Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers and 250 planes
Americans had “avenged Pearl Harbor.” – Japanese official

12. Battle of Midway
TURNING POINT in WWII in the Pacific in favor of the Allies  “island hopping” to get closer to Japan

13. Allies on the Offensive
August 1942 – 19,000 Allied troops stormed Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands  Japanese left island in early 1943 (1st defeat on land)
“Island of Death”
Island hopped back to the Philippines in Oct 1944
“People of the Philippines: I have returned.” - MacArthur

14. The Japanese Defense
Kamikaze – “divine wind” – attack in which Japanese pilots crashed their bomb-laden planes into Allied ships
Not used until 1944
“a strange mixture of respect and pity” – Vice Admiral Charles Brown
Despite the effectiveness of kamikazes, Japanese defense in the Philippines was a disaster
Lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers, and 500 men
Japanese Imperial Navy severely damaged

15. Iwo Jima
Feb-March After success in Philippines, MacArthur and Allies turned to the island of Iwo Jima
“sulfur island”
Critical asset for Allies  wanted to set up a temporary base to be close to Japan
Heavily guarded with 27,000 Japanese soldiers
6,000 marines died – most deadly battle in the Pacific at that time
Only 200 Japanese survived
Most-enduring image of WWII

16. The Battle for Okinawa April 1945 – US marines invaded Okinawa
an Island off of Japan (340 miles) - “Typhoon of Steel”
Allied ships suffered large kamikaze attacks, as well as large land casualties
7,600 Americans killed < 110,000 Japanese killed
2 Japanese generals committed suicide
Allies one step closer to mainland Japan

17. The Manhattan Project
Allied victory at Okinawa opened the way for an invasion of Japan BUT Allied leaders knew Japanese troops would put up a strong fight to protect the island.
Truman decided to use a powerful new weapon – the atomic bomb developed by the Manhattan Project
Truman didn’t know about project until POTUS
Led by General Leslie Groves and American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer
July 16, 1945 – 1st test a red-hot elephant standing balanced on its trunk.”

18. Truman’s Decision
July 26, 1945 – Truman ordered military to make final plans to drop atomic bombs on 2 Japanese targets
“The final decision of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let there be no mistake about it. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubt that it should be used.”
US warned Japan that it faced “prompt and utter destruction” if it did not surrender immediately.

19. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6, 1945 – Enola Gay (B-29 bomber) dropped “Little boy” over Hiroshima (Japanese military hub)  ceased to exist
August 9, 1945 – Bockscar dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki  leveled half of city
By end of 1945 – almost 200,000 people died of injuries because of the bomb itself or radiation
September 2, 1945 – Victory Over Japan Day aka “V-J Day” - Emperor Hirohito surrendered Japan

20. Yalta Conference
Feb Yalta Conference – Big Three (FDR, Churchill, Stalin) met in USSR to discuss Germany’s fate when they lost
Stalin – harsh approach, separate Germany into zones occupied by Allied troops
Churchill disagreed
FDR acted as mediator
Wanted Soviet army to join in the Pacific
Wanted Stalin’s support of new world peace-keeping organization called the United Nations.

21. Yalta Conference Compromises at Yalta
Division of Germany into 4 temporary zones (US, GB, USSR, France)
Free and unfettered elections in Poland and other Soviet occupied eastern European countries
Stalin joined war against Japan and agreed to participate in an international peace conference in the US (form the UN)

22. Nuremburg War Trials
Discovery of death camps  24 Nazi leaders on trial for…
crimes against humanity – murder, extermination, deportation, or enslavement of citizens
crimes against peace – planning/waging an aggressive war
war crimes – acts against the customs of warfare, such as the killing of hostages and prisoners, the plundering of private property, and the destruction of towns and cities.
Nuremburg Trials ( )
Defendants (the accused): Hitler’s most trusted party officials, gov’t ministers, military leaders, and powerful industrialists
Prosecution led by US Chief Justice Robert Jackson

23. Nuremberg War Trials
12 of 24 sentenced to death (2 committed suicide before execution), most remaining sentenced to prison time
Later, 200 lesser leaders found guilty of war crimes
Many Nazis did go free  some argue the Nuremburg Trials didn’t go far enough in finding and prosecuting Nazis
IMPACT – established the principle that people are responsible for their own actions during war
“following orders” is not an excuse
Model for the Declaration of Human Rights and eventual establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC)

24. ATOMIC BOMB DEBATE 1 – you are arguing FOR dropping the atomic bombs
2 – you are arguing AGAINST dropping the atomic bombs