1. The Battle of the Bulge “Island Hopping” FDR / TRUMAN The Atomic Age
THE END OF WORLD WAR II
The Battle of the Bulge
“Island Hopping”
FDR / TRUMAN
The Atomic Age

2. Battle of the Bulge Fall 1944 – Winter 1945
After D-Day success recapturing France, Allied advance stalls
German surprise offensive through Ardennes forest in Belgium
Allied line “bulges” out into France, but does not break
Last stand of Germany

3. Fighting in the Ardennes

4. Living through the Battle of the Bulge

5. Collapse of the Third Reich
Allies withstand Battle of the Bulge on Western Front
Soviets withstand sieges of Moscow and Stalingrad on Eastern Front
Germany pushed back to its pre-war borders
Nazi death camps being exposed in Poland

6. Germany Surrenders – May 1945
Allies storm into Germany, Russians reach Berlin first
April 28th Mussolini executed
April 30th, Hitler marries Eva Braun in underground bunker
Hitler / Braun commit suicide
Other Nazi Officers also commit suicide – Goebbels, Goring
May 2, Berlin falls to the Russians
May 7, Germany signs unconditional surrender
V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
Hitler’s 1,000 year Reich (Empire) over after 12 years

9. FDR DIES Roosevelt elected to FOURTH term (16 years)
April 12, 1945 FDR dies from cerebral hemorrhage
Did not live to see the end of the war
Truman takes over Presidency with FDR death

10. HARRY S. TRUMAN FDR’s Vice President Not elected (yet)
33rd President (Democrat)
Given a rough time since he could never live up to FDR
“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the Kitchen”

11. Fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific
“Island Hopping” – Fighting Japanese one island at a time
Begin with Island of Guadalcanal
Fierce Japanese response
Both armies suffer heavy losses
Japanese culture: Greatest shame to be defeated or surrender

12. THE KAMIKAZE Self Sacrifice (Suicide Mission)
Use airplane itself as the weapon – crash plane into target
Regarded as Highest honor possible
Terrified American Army

13. More Fighting
Fighting in some of the hottest, mosquito infested swamps in the world
Islands of Midway, Wake, New Guinea, Guam, Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa
Attacks led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur

14. Invasion of Okinawa Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945
Island needed to stage invasion of Japan
Heavy casualties & fierce fighting demonstrate resolve of Japanese
50,000 USA, 140,000 Japanese casualties
Siege lasts until late June, 1945

16. The Atomic Bomb
Oct – Albert Einstein tells FDR of Germany’s nuclear fission science
“The Manhattan Project” – Top Secret
$2 billion spent, 120,000 workers in Los Alamos, New Mexico
J. Robert Oppenheimer chief scientist

17. The Bombing August 6, 1945 Truman Decision to Drop
“Enola Gay” plane drops “Little Boy” bomb over Hiroshima, Japan
4 square miles of the city wiped out
60,000 killed instantly
August 9, “Fatman” bomb dropped over Nagasaki

18. “Fatman and Little Boy”

19. Enola Gay Bomber Plane

20. Hiroshima Damage

22. Hiroshima Before

23. Hiroshima After

27. Japanese Surrender Gen. Douglas MacArthur accepts on USS Missouri
USA will write Japan’s Constitution

28. Why Drop the Bomb???
Invasion of Japan would take too long and cost too much
500,000 US troops would be killed
Japanese would fight to the death
1945 War Mindset: “Japs are savage, ruthless, and merciless”
Damage extent not known
Show World We Have This Power – Make Russia fear USA

29. Tokyo, Japan

30. World War II Costs 70 million fought – 45 million died
USA: 408,000 dead
Russia: 6 million military deaths, 10 million civilian deaths, 25 million left homeless
$1 trillion dollars spent militarily - $2 trillion dollars in property damage