U.S. Hist. Ch. 11 and 12

Omaha

Omaha Beach, however, was a different story. Surrounded at both ends by cliffs that rose wall-like from the sea, Omaha Beach was only four miles long. The entire beach overlooked a 150-foot high bluff, and there were only five ravines leading from the beach to the top of the bluff. The Germans had made full use of the geographic advantage the high bluff gave them. They dug trenches and built concrete bunkers for machine guns at the top of the cliffs and positioned them to guard the ravines leading to the beach. Under intense German fire, the American assault almost disintegrated. General Omar Bradley, commander of the American forces landing at Omaha and Utah, began making plans to evacuate. Slowly, however, the American troops began to knock out the German defenses. More landing craft arrived, ramming their way through the obstacles to get to the beach. Nearly 2,500 Americans were either killed or wounded on Omaha, but by early afternoon, Bradley received this message: "Troops formerly pinned down on beaches . . . [are] advancing up heights behind beaches." By the end of the day, nearly 35,000 American troops had landed at Omaha, and another 23,000 had landed at Utah. More than 75,000 British and Canadian troops were on shore as well. The invasion had succeeded.

The Bataan Death March

On April 9, 1942, the weary defenders of the Bataan Peninsula finally surrendered. Nearly 78,000 prisoners of war were forced to march—sick, exhausted, and starving—65 miles (105 km) to a Japanese prison camp. Almost 10,000 troops died on this march, which was later to be called the Bataan Death March. Sixty-six women nurses were also captured and sent to the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. They remained there—with 11 navy nurses and some 3,000 Allied civilians—until early in 1945.

The Battle of Iwo Jima

On February 19, 1945, some 60,000 marines landed on Iwo Jima. As the troops leaped from the amphtracs, they sank up to their ankles in the soft ash and were pounded by Japanese artillery. The marines crawled inland, attacking the Japanese bunkers with flamethrowers and explosives. More than 6,800 marines were killed capturing the island.

The Holocaust

On January 20, 1942, Nazi leaders met at the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "final solution of the Jewish question." Previous "solutions" had included rounding up Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, and others from conquered areas, shooting them, and piling them into mass graves. Another method forced Jews and other "undesirables" into trucks and then piped in exhaust fumes to kill them. These methods, however, had proven too slow and inefficient for the Nazis. At Wannsee, the Nazis made plans to round up Jews from the vast areas of Nazi-controlled Europe. Jews were taken to detention centers known as concentration camps. There, healthy individuals would work as slave laborers until they dropped dead of exhaustion, disease, or malnutrition. Most others, including the elderly, young children, and the infirm would be sent to extermination camps, attached to many of the concentration camps, to be executed in massive gas chambers. The Nazis had established their first concentration camps in 1933 to jail political opponents. After the war began, the Nazis built concentration camps throughout Europe. As one of the largest concentration camps, Buchenwald had more than 200,000 prisoners working 12-hour shifts as slave laborers in nearby factories. Although Buchenwald had no gas chambers, hundreds of prisoners died there every month from exhaustion and horrible living conditions. In late 1941, the Nazis built extermination facilities at the Chelmno and Auschwitz camps in Poland. After the Wannsee Conference, extermination facilities were built at four other camps in Poland. At these camps, including the infamous Treblinka and Auschwitz, Jews were the Nazis' main victims.

The St. Louis Affair

On May 27, 1939, the SS St. Louis entered the harbor in Havana, Cuba, with 930 Jewish refugees on board. Most of these passengers hoped to go to the United States eventually, but they had certificates improperly issued by Cuba's director of immigration giving them permission to land in Cuba. When the ships arrived in Havana, the Cuban government refused to let the refugees come ashore. For several days, the ship's captain steered his ship in circles off the coast of Florida, awaiting official permission to dock at a U.S. port. Denied permission, the ship turned back toward Europe, disembarking in France, Holland, Belgium, and Great Britain. Within two years, the first three of these countries fell under Nazi domination. Many of the refugees brought to these countries perished in the Nazis' "final solution."

The U.S. bombs Tokyo/The U.S. searches for a place to refuel

On November 24, 1944, bombs fell on Tokyo. Above the city flew 80 B-29 Superfortress bombers that had traveled more than 1,500 miles from new American bases in the Mariana Islands. Many of their bombs missed the targets. By the time the B-29s reached Japan, they did not have enough fuel left to fix their navigational errors or to adjust for high winds. The pilots needed an island closer to Japan so the B-29s could refuel. American military planners chose Iwo Jima.

French leader?

Planners also discussed who should lead France after the invasion. General Eisenhower had informed Charles de Gaulle that the French Resistance forces would assist in the liberation of Paris, but President Roosevelt was not sure he trusted de Gaulle and refused to recognize him as the official French leader.

The Munich Conference

Representatives of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany met in Munich, Germany, to decide Czechoslovakia's fate. At the Munich Conference, on September 29, 1938, Britain and France agreed to Hitler's demands; they made concessions and believed that if they gave Hitler what he wanted, they could avoid war (appeasement). Czechoslovakia had to give up the Sudetenland or fight Germany on its own.

Britain and the U.S. fight the Germans in Egypt

Roosevelt decided to invade for two reasons. The invasion would give the army some experience without requiring a lot of troops. It would also help the British troops fight the Germans in Egypt. Most of Britain's empire, including India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, and Australia, sent supplies to Britain through Egypt's Suez Canal. German general Erwin Rommel, whose success earned him the nickname "Desert Fox," commanded the "Afrika Korps." After a 12-day battle at the Egyptian coastal city of El Alamein, the British secured the Suez Canal and forced Rommel to retreat in November 1942. Despite this defeat, German forces remained a serious threat in North Africa.

Roosevelt decides to build the bomb

Roosevelt responded by setting up a scientific committee to study the issue. In 1941 the committee met with British scientists who were already working on an atomic bomb. The Americans then convinced Roosevelt to begin a program to build an atomic bomb.

The Tehran Conference

Roosevelt wanted to meet with Stalin before the Allies invaded France. In late 1943, Stalin agreed, proposing that Roosevelt and Churchill meet him in Tehran, Iran. The leaders reached several agreements. Stalin promised to launch a full-scale offensive against the Germans when the Allies invaded France in 1944. Roosevelt and Stalin then agreed to divide Germany after the war so that it would never again threaten world peace. Stalin promised that once Germany was defeated, the Soviet Union would help the United States against Japan. He also accepted Roosevelt's proposal of an international peacekeeping organization after the war.

The Terms for Surrender

Shortly after the United States captured Okinawa, the Japanese emperor, Hirohito, urged his government to find a way to end the war. The biggest problem was the American demand for unconditional surrender. Many Japanese leaders were willing to surrender, but on one condition: Hirohito had to stay in power. American officials knew that the fate of Hirohito was the most important issue for the Japanese. Most Americans, however, blamed the emperor for the war and wanted him removed from power. President Truman was reluctant to go against public opinion. Furthermore, he knew the United States was almost ready to test a new weapon that might force Japan to surrender without any conditions. The new weapon was the atomic bomb.

Japanese punished

Similar trials were held in Tokyo. The IMT for the Far East charged 25 Japanese leaders with war crimes. The Allies did not indict Hirohito, fearing that any attempt to put the emperor on trial would lead to an uprising. Eighteen Japanese defendants were sentenced to prison. The rest were sentenced to death by hanging.

Roosevelt agrees to attack Germany

Since 1940, U.S. military strategists had discussed with President Roosevelt the pressures of a two-front war. He wanted to get U.S. troops into battle in Europe, but Prime Minister Churchill did not believe the United States and Britain were ready to invade Europe. Instead, the prime minister wanted to attack the periphery, or edges, of the German empire. Roosevelt eventually agreed, and in July 1942, he ordered the invasion of Morocco and Algeria—two French territories indirectly under German control.

The Casablanca Conference

The Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942 had shown that a large-scale invasion from the sea was possible. The success of the landings convinced Roosevelt to meet again with Churchill to plan the next stage of the war. In January 1943, Roosevelt headed to Casablanca, Morocco, to meet the prime minister. At the Casablanca Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to step up the bombing of Germany. The goal of this new campaign was "the progressive destruction of the German military, industrial, and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people." The Allies also agreed to attack the Axis on the island of Sicily. Churchill called Italy the "soft underbelly" of Europe. He was convinced that the Italians would quit the war if the Allies invaded their homeland.

U.S. and Britain's strategic bombing of Germany

The Allies had been bombing Germany even before the Casablanca Conference. Britain's Royal Air Force had dropped an average of 2,300 tons of explosives on Germany every month for more than three years. The United States Eighth Army Air Force had dropped an additional 1,500 tons of bombs during the last six months of 1942. These numbers were small, however, compared to the massive new campaign. Between January 1943 and May 1945, the Royal Air Force and the United States Eighth Army Air Force dropped approximately 53,000 tons of explosives on Germany every month. The bombing campaign did not destroy Germany's economy or undermine German morale, but it did cause a severe oil shortage and wrecked the railroad system. It also destroyed so many aircraft factories that Germany's air force could not replace its losses. By the time the Allies landed in France, they had control of the air, ensuring that their troops would not be bombed.

The bomb on Hiroshima

The Allies threatened Japan with "prompt and utter destruction" if the nation did not surrender, but the Japanese did not reply. Truman then ordered the military to drop the bomb. On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy," on Hiroshima, an important industrial city. The bomb destroyed about 63 percent of the city. Between 80,000 and 120,000 people died instantly, and thousands more died later from burns and radiation sickness.

Utah

The American landing at Utah Beach went well. The German defenses were weak, and in less than three hours, the troops had captured the beach and moved inland, suffering fewer than 200 casualties. On the eastern flank, the British and Canadian landings also went well. By the end of the day, British and Canadian forces were several miles inland.

Driving back Japan

The American plan to defeat Japan called for a two-pronged attack. The Pacific Fleet, commanded by Admiral Nimitz, would advance through the central Pacific by "hopping" from one island to the next, closer and closer to Japan. Meanwhile, General MacArthur's troops would advance through the Solomon Islands, capture the north coast of New Guinea, and then launch an invasion to retake the Philippines.

The Japanese kamikaze

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in history. It was also the first time that the Japanese used kamikaze attacks. Kamikaze means "divine wind" in Japanese. It refers to the great storm that destroyed the Mongol fleet during its invasion of Japan in the thirteenth century. Kamikaze pilots would deliberately crash their planes into American ships, killing themselves but also inflicting severe damage. Luckily for the Americans, just as their situation was becoming desperate, the Japanese commander, believing more American ships were on the way, ordered a retreat.

The Battle of the Coral Sea

The Japanese believed that they could safely proceed with two attacks at once because they thought their operations were secret. What the Japanese did not know was that an American team of code breakers based in Hawaii had already broken the Japanese navy's secret code for conducting operations. In March 1942, decoded Japanese messages alerted the United States to the Japanese attack on New Guinea. In response, Admiral Nimitz sent two carriers, the Yorktown and the Lexington, to intercept the Japanese in the Coral Sea. There, in early May, carriers from both sides launched all-out airstrikes against each other. Although the Japanese sank the Lexington and badly damaged the Yorktown, the American attacks prevented the Japanese from landing on New Guinea's south coast and kept the supply lines to Australia open.

The attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese government appeared to be continuing negotiations with the United States in good faith. American intelligence, however, had decoded Japanese messages that made it clear that Japan was preparing to go to war against the United States. On November 27, American commanders at the Pearl Harbor naval base received a war warning from Washington, D.C., but it did not mention Hawaii as a possible target. Because of its great distance from Japan, officials doubted that Japan would attack Hawaii. The U.S. military's inability to interpret the information that they were receiving correctly left Pearl Harbor an open target. Japan's surprise attack on December 7, 1941, was devastating. Eight battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, and four other vessels were sunk or damaged. The attack destroyed over 180 aircraft and killed 2,403 Americans. Another 1,178 were injured. The next day, FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

Italy's king deposes Mussolini

The attack on Sicily created a crisis within the Italian government. The king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, and a group of Italian generals decided that it was time to depose Mussolini. On July 25, 1943, the king invited the dictator to his palace. "My dear Duce," the king began, "it's no longer any good. Italy has gone to bits. Army morale is at rock bottom. The soldiers don't want to fight anymore. . . . You can certainly be under no illusion as to Italy's feelings with regard to yourself. At this moment, you are the most hated man in Italy." The king then arrested Mussolini, and the new Italian government began negotiating a surrender to the Allies.

Ford makes war transportation

The automobile industry was uniquely suited to mass-producing military goods. Automobile plants began making trucks, jeeps, and tanks. Mass production was critical because the country that could move troops and supplies most quickly usually won the battle. Automobile factories produced rifles, helmets, artillery, and dozens of other pieces of military equipment along with vehicles. Henry Ford created an assembly line near Detroit for the enormous B-24 "Liberator" bomber. The factory went on to build more than 8,600 aircraft. Overall, the auto industry made nearly one-third of all wartime military equipment.

Taxes

The federal government spent more than $300 billion during World War II—more money than it had spent from Washington's administration to the end of Franklin Roosevelt's second term. Congress raised taxes, although not as high as Roosevelt requested due to public opposition to large tax increases. As a result, the extra taxes collected covered only 45 percent of the war's cost. The government issued war bonds—more than $100 billion worth was sold to individuals, banks, and other financial institutions—to make up the difference.

Island-Hopping in the Pacific

The next assault—Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands—went much more smoothly. This time all of the troops went ashore in amphtracs. Although the Japanese resisted fiercely, the marines captured Kwajalein and nearby Eniwetok with far fewer casualties. After the Marshall Islands, the navy targeted the Mariana Islands. American military planners wanted to use the Marianas as a base for a new heavy bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. The B-29 could fly farther than any other plane in the world. From airfields in the Marianas, B-29s could bomb Japan. Admiral Nimitz decided to invade three of the Mariana Islands: Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. Despite strong Japanese resistance, American troops captured all three by August 1944. A few months later, B-29s began bombing Japan.

A Hemispheric Defense Zone

The problem of getting American arms and supplies to Britain remained. German submarines in the Atlantic sank hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo each month. The British Navy lacked the ships to stop them. Because the United States was still officially neutral, Roosevelt could not order the navy to protect British cargo ships. Instead, he developed the idea of a hemispheric defense zone, declaring that the entire western half of the Atlantic was part of the Western Hemisphere and therefore neutral. He then ordered the U.S. Navy to patrol the western Atlantic and reveal the location of German submarines to the British.

America concerned about Europe

The rise of dictatorships and militarism in Europe discouraged many Americans. The sacrifices they had made during World War I seemed pointless. In addition, during the Depression, most European nations announced they would no longer repay their war debts to the United States. In response, many Americans once again began supporting isolationism and trying to avoid involvement in international conflicts.

The Manhattan Project

The secret American program to build an atomic bomb was code-named the Manhattan Project and was headed by General Leslie R. Groves. The first breakthrough came in 1942, when Szilard and Enrico Fermi, another physicist, built the world's first nuclear reactor at the University of Chicago. Groves then organized a team of engineers and scientists to build an atomic bomb at a secret laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer led the team. On July 16, 1945, they detonated the world's first atomic bomb in New Mexico.

Where to land?

The selection of a site for the largest amphibious landing in history was one of the biggest decisions of World War II. Allied planners considered coastlines from Denmark to Portugal in search of a sheltered location with firm flat beaches within range of friendly fighter planes in England. There also had to be enough roads and paths to move jeeps and trucks off the beaches and to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of American, Canadian, and British troops set to stream ashore following the invasion. An airfield and a seaport that the Allies could use were also needed. Most important was a reasonable expectation of achieving the element of surprise.

Ship losses and gains/New technology

The spring of 1942 marked the high point of the German submarine campaign. In May and June alone, more than 1.2 million tons of shipping were sunk. Yet in those same two months, American and British shipyards built more than 1.1 million tons of new shipping . At the same time, American airplanes and warships began to use new technology, including radar, sonar, and depth charges, to locate and attack submarines. As the new technology began to take its toll on German submarines, the Battle of the Atlantic turned in favor of the Allies.

Mexican workers

The wartime economy also benefited Mexicans. In 1942 the federal government arranged for Mexican farmworkers to help harvest crops in the Southwest as part of the Bracero Program, which continued until 1964. More than 200,000 Mexicans came to work during the war. Many also helped build and maintain railroads. Migrant workers thus became important to the Southwest's economic system.

The Sunbelt and the NHA

The wartime economy created millions of new jobs, leading 15 million Americans to move to find work. The growth of southern California and cities in the Deep South created a new industrial region—the Sunbelt. Cities with war industries had to find room for the thousands of arriving workers. Tent cities and parks filled with tiny trailers sprang up. Congress authorized $150 million for housing in 1940. In 1942 Roosevelt created the National Housing Agency (NHA) to coordinate government housing programs.

The Soviet Union declares war on Japan/The bomb on Nagasaki

Three days later, on August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Later that day, the United States dropped another atomic bomb, code-named "Fat Man," on the city of Nagasaki, killing between 35,000 and 74,000 people.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

To take back the Philippines, the United States assembled an enormous invasion force. In October 1944, over 700 ships carrying more than 160,000 troops sailed for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. On October 20, the troops began to land on Leyte, an island on the eastern side of the Philippines. A few hours after the invasion began, MacArthur headed to the beach. To stop the American invasion, the Japanese sent four aircraft carriers toward the Philippines from the north and secretly dispatched another fleet from the west. Believing the Japanese carriers were leading the main attack, most of the American carriers protecting the invasion left Leyte Gulf and headed north to stop them. Seizing their chance, the Japanese warships to the west raced through the Philippine Islands into Leyte Gulf and ambushed the remaining American ships.

Germans punished

Twenty-two German leaders were prosecuted at the Nuremberg Trials. Three were acquitted, 7 were given prison sentences, and 12 were sentenced to death. Trials of lower-ranking leaders continued until April 1949, leading to 24 more executions and 107 prison sentences.

Roosevelt allows African Americans to fight in combat

Under pressure from African American leaders, President Roosevelt ordered the armed services to recruit African Americans and to put them into combat. He also promoted Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the highest-ranking African American officer, to the rank of brigadier general.

Roosevelt's economic beliefs/Roosevelt takes action

War production increased rapidly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, helped by existing government plans to build thousands of warplanes and a "Two-Ocean" navy. Roosevelt believed that government and business had to work together to prepare for war. He created the National Defense Advisory Committee and asked business leaders to serve on the committee. The president and his advisers believed that giving industry incentives to produce goods quickly was the best way to rapidly mobilize the economy.

The Navajo Code Talkers

When American marines stormed an enemy beach, they used radios to communicate. Using radios, however, meant that the Japanese could intercept and translate the messages. In the midst of the battle, there was no time to use a code-machine. Acting upon the suggestion of Philip Johnston, an engineer who had lived on a Navajo reservation as a child, the marines recruited Navajos to serve as "code talkers." The Navajo language had no written alphabet and was known only to the Navajo and a few missionaries and anthropologists. The Navajo recruits developed code words, using their own language, that stood for military terms. Code talkers proved invaluable in combat. They could relay a message in minutes that would have taken a code-machine operator hours to encipher and transmit. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, code talkers transmitted more than 800 messages during the first 48 hours as the marines struggled to get ashore under intense bombardment.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact/The non-aggression pact

When German officials proposed a non-aggression treaty to the Soviets, Stalin agreed. He believed the best way to protect the Soviet Union was to turn the capitalist nations against each other. If the treaty worked, Germany would go to war against Britain and France. The non-aggression pact, signed by Germany and the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939, shocked the world. Communism and Nazism were supposed to be opposed to each other. Leaders in Britain and France understood, however, that Hitler had made the deal to free himself for war against their countries and Poland. They did not know that the treaty called for the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Japanese, German, and Italian American Relocation

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, many Americans turned their anger against Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an order allowing the War Department to declare any part of the United States a military zone. He must have felt justified four days later when a Japanese submarine surfaced north of Santa Barbara, California, and shelled an oil refinery. Most of the West Coast was declared a military zone, and people of Japanese ancestry were evacuated to 10 internment camps farther inland. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan apologized to Japanese Americans on behalf of the U.S. government and signed legislation granting $20,000 to each surviving Japanese American who had been interned. Thousands of people of German and Italian descent also had their freedom restricted. All unnaturalized residents of German and Italian descent aged 14 years or over were deemed enemy aliens and subject to regulations including travel restrictions and the seizure of personal property. More than 5,000 were arrested and sent to live in military internment camps.

V.P. Truman becomes president

When President Roosevelt died of a stroke during a vacation, Truman began at once to make decisions about the war. Although Germany surrendered a few weeks later, the war with Japan continued, and Truman was forced to make some of the most difficult decisions of the war during his first six months in office.

Women in Defense Plants

When the war began, American defense factories wanted to hire white men. With so many men in the military, however, there simply were not enough white men to fill all of the jobs. Under pressure to produce, employers began to recruit women and minorities. During the Great Depression, many people believed married women should not work outside the home, especially if they took jobs that could go to men trying to support their families. Most working women were young, single, and employed in traditional female jobs such as domestic work or teaching. The wartime labor shortage, however, forced factories to recruit married women for industrial jobs traditionally reserved for men. Although the government hired nearly 4 million women, primarily for clerical jobs, the women working in the factories captured the public's imagination. The great symbol of the campaign to hire women was "Rosie the Riveter," a character from a popular song by the Four Vagabonds. The lyrics told of Rosie, who worked in a factory while her boyfriend served in the marines. Images of Rosie appeared on posters, in newspapers, and in magazines. Eventually 2.5 million women worked in shipyards, aircraft factories, and other manufacturing plants. By the end of the war, the number of working women had increased from 12.9 million to 18.8 million. Although most women were laid off or left their jobs voluntarily after the war, their success permanently changed American attitudes about women in the workplace.

Soviets vs. Germans

While American and British forces fought to liberate France, the Soviets attacked German troops in Russia. By the end of the Battle of the Bulge, the Soviets had driven Hitler's forces out of Russia and across Poland. By February 1945, the Soviets were only 35 miles from Germany's capital, Berlin. Soviet troops crossed Germany's eastern border, while American forces attacked its western border. By the end of February 1945, American troops had reached the Rhine River, Germany's last major line of defense in the west. On March 7, American tanks crossed the Rhine. As German defenses crumbled, American troops raced east to within 70 miles of Berlin. On April 16, Soviet troops finally smashed through the German defenses and reached the outskirts of Berlin five days later.

Napalm/Firebombing Japan

While American engineers prepared airfields on Iwo Jima, General Curtis LeMay, commander of the B-29s based in the Marianas, changed strategy. To help the B-29s hit their targets, he ordered them to drop bombs filled with napalm—a type of jellied gasoline. The bombs would not only explode but would also start fires. Even if the B-29s missed their targets, the fires they started would spread to the intended targets. The use of firebombs was very controversial because the fires would also kill civilians; however, LeMay could think of no other way to destroy Japan's war production quickly. Loaded with firebombs, B-29s attacked Tokyo on March 9, 1945. As strong winds fanned the flames, the firestorm grew so intense that it sucked the oxygen out of the air, asphyxiating thousands. The firebombing of Tokyo killed more than 80,000 people and destroyed more than 250,000 buildings. By the end of June 1945, Japan's six key industrial cities had been firebombed. By the end of the war, the B-29s had firebombed 67 Japanese cities.

Japan Changes Strategy

While Americans rejoiced in the air force's success, Japanese leaders were aghast at the raid. Those bombs could have killed Emperor Hirohito, who was revered as a god. The Doolittle Raid convinced Japanese leaders to change their strategy. Before the raid, the Japanese navy had disagreed about the next step. The officers in charge of the navy's planning wanted to cut American supply lines to Australia by capturing the south coast of New Guinea. The commander of the fleet, Admiral Yamamoto, wanted to attack Midway Island—the last American base in the North Pacific west of Hawaii. Yamamoto believed that attacking Midway would lure the American fleet into battle and enable his fleet to destroy it. After Doolittle's raid, the Japanese war planners dropped their opposition to Yamamoto's idea. The American fleet had to be destroyed to protect Tokyo from bombing. The attack on New Guinea would still go ahead, but only three aircraft carriers were assigned to the mission. All of the other carriers were ordered to assault Midway.

The WLB

While OPACS and OES worked to control inflation, the War Labor Board (WLB) tried to prevent strikes. Most American unions issued a "no strike pledge," instead asking the WLB to mediate wage disputes. By the end of the war, the WLB had helped settle more than 17,000 disputes.

Hitler's views

While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), in which he claimed that Germans, particularly blond, blue-eyed Germans, belonged to a "master race" called Aryans. He argued that the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe belonged to an inferior race, which Germans should enslave. Hitler's racism was strongest, however, toward Jews. Hitler blamed the Jews for many of the world's problems, especially for Germany's defeat in World War I.

American Controversy concerning neutrality

Widespread acceptance of the Destroyers-for-Bases deal indicated a change in public opinion. By July 1940, most Americans favored offering limited aid to the Allies, but debate continued over the scope of that aid. The Fight for Freedom Committee wanted the repeal of neutrality laws and stronger actions against Germany. On the other side, the America First Committee opposed any intervention to help the Allies.

The Draft

Within days of Germany's attack on Poland in 1939, President Roosevelt expanded the army to 227,000 soldiers. Before the spring of 1940, many Americans had opposed a peacetime draft. Opinions changed after France surrendered to Germany in June 1940. In September of that year, Congress approved the Selective Service and Training Act—a plan for the first peacetime draft in American history—by a wide margin.

Women Join the Armed Forces

Women also joined the armed forces. The army enlisted them for the first time but barred them from combat. Many army jobs were administrative and clerical. Filling these jobs with women freed more men for combat. Congress first allowed women in the military in May 1942 by creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). It appointed War Department official Oveta Culp Hobby as WAAC's first director. Many women were unhappy that WAAC was not part of the regular army, however. About a year later, the army replaced the WAAC with the Women's Army Corps (WAC), and Hobby became a colonel. The coast guard, navy, and marines followed suit and set up women's units. Another 68,000 women served as nurses in the army and navy. About 300 women serving as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) made more than 12,000 flights to deliver planes to the war effort.

collective

a farm, especially in Communist countries, formed from many small holdings collected into a single unit for joint operation under governmental supervision

cost-plus

a government contract to pay a manufacturer the cost to produce an item plus a guaranteed percentage

victory suit

a men's suit with no vest, no cuffs, a short jacket, and narrow lapels, worn during World War II in order to save fabric for the war effort

internationalism

a national policy of actively trading with foreign countries to foster peace and prosperity

Sunbelt

a new industrial region in southern California and the Deep South, developing during World War II

fascism

a political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and often racism and no tolerance of opposition

amphtrac

an amphibious tractor used to move troops from ships to shore

hedgerow

an enclosure made of dirt walls built to fence in cattle and crops

kamikaze

during World War II, a Japanese suicide pilot whose mission was to crash into his target

appeasement

giving in to the unjust demands of a belligerent leader in order to avoid war

rationing

restricting the amount of an item an individual can have due to a limited supply

disenfranchise

to deprive of the right to vote

U.S. vs. Japan in the Philippines

A few hours after bombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked American airfields in the Philippines. Two days later, they landed troops. The American and Filipino forces defending the Philippines were badly outnumbered. Their commander, General Douglas MacArthur, retreated to the Bataan Peninsula. Using the peninsula's rugged terrain, the troops held out for more than three months. By March, in desperation, the troops ate cavalry horses and mules. The lack of food and supplies, along with diseases such as malaria, scurvy, and dysentery, took their toll. The women of the Army Nurse Corps worked on Bataan in primitive conditions. Patients slept in the open air. Realizing MacArthur's capture would demoralize the American people, President Roosevelt ordered the general to evacuate to Australia.

Hitler Demands Danzig

A month after the Munich Conference, Hitler demanded that the city of Danzig be returned to German control. Danzig was more than 90 percent German, and it had been part of Poland since World War I. Hitler also requested a highway and railroad across the Polish Corridor. Hitler's new demands convinced Britain and France that war was inevitable. On March 31, 1939, Britain announced that if Poland went to war to defend its territory, Britain and France would come to its aid. This declaration encouraged Poland to refuse Hitler's demands. In May 1939, Hitler ordered the German army to prepare to invade Poland. He also ordered his foreign minister to begin negotiations with the Soviet Union. If Germany was going to fight Britain and France, Hitler did not want to have to fight the Soviets too.

Kristallnacht

A young Jewish refugee named Herschel Grynszpan, his parents, and more than 14,000 other Polish Jews had been deported from Germany to Poland, and Grynszpan was seeking revenge for this act and for the persecution of the Jews in general. On November 7, 1938, he shot and killed a German diplomat in Paris. Using this as a pretext, Hitler ordered his minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to stage attacks against the Jews that would seem like a spontaneous popular reaction to news of the murder. On the night of November 9, this plan played out in a spree of destruction. The anti-Jewish violence that erupted throughout Germany and Austria that night came to be called Kristallnacht, or "night of broken glass," because broken glass littered the streets afterward. By the following morning, more than 90 Jews were dead, hundreds were badly injured, and thousands more were terrorized. The Nazis had forbidden police to interfere while roving bands of thugs destroyed 7,500 Jewish businesses and hundreds of synagogues. The lawlessness of Kristallnacht continued to persist. Following the initial night of violence, the Gestapo, the government's secret police, arrested about 30,000 Jewish men. The state also confiscated insurance payments owed to Jewish owners of ruined businesses.

Nimitz's plans to use U.S. aircraft carriers

Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the United States Navy in the Pacific, began planning operations against the Japanese navy. Although the Japanese had badly damaged the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, they had missed the American aircraft carriers, which were at sea on a mission. The United States had several carriers in the Pacific, and Nimitz was determined to use them. In the days just after Pearl Harbor, however, Nimitz could do little to stop Japan's advance into Southeast Asia.

Hitler and Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler was a fervent nationalist who hated both the victorious Allies and the German government that had accepted their peace terms ending World War I. He became the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi Party. The Nazis were one of many political parties that arose out of postwar Germany's political and economic chaos. The party called for Germany to expand its territory and to reject the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. It also was anti-Semitic. In November 1923, the Nazis tried to seize power by marching on city hall in Munich, Germany. The plan failed, the Nazi Party was banned for a time, and Hitler was arrested.

The Battle of Stalingrad

Adolf Hitler was convinced that defeating the Soviet Union depended on destroying the Soviet economy. In May 1942, he ordered his army to capture strategic oil fields, factories, and farmlands in southern Russia and Ukraine. The city of Stalingrad, which controlled the Volga River and was a major railroad junction, was the key to the attack. If the German army captured Stalingrad, they would cut off the Soviets from the resources they needed to stay in the war. When German troops entered Stalingrad in mid-September, Stalin ordered his troops to hold the city at all costs. The Germans were forced to fight from house to house, losing thousands of soldiers in the process. Unlike the Soviets, they were not equipped to fight in the bitter cold. On November 23, Soviet reinforcements arrived and surrounded Stalingrad, trapping almost 250,000 German troops. When the battle ended in February 1943, some 91,000 Germans had surrendered. Only 5,000 of them survived the Soviet prison camps. Each side lost nearly half a million soldiers. The Battle of Stalingrad put the Germans on the defensive.

Keepin' it dark

After Germany declared war on the United States, German submarines entered American coastal waters. American cargo ships were easy targets, especially at night when the glow from the cities in the night sky silhouetted the vessels. To protect the ships, citizens on the East Coast dimmed their lights every evening and put up special "blackout curtains." If they had to drive at night, they did so with their headlights off.

Hitler after prison

After his release, Hitler changed his tactics. He focused on getting Nazis elected to the Reichstag, the lower house of the German parliament. When the Depression struck Germany, many desperate Germans began to vote for radical parties, including the Nazis and Communists. By 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag. The following year, the German president appointed Hitler as chancellor. After taking office, Hitler called for new elections. Storm troopers, as the Nazi paramilitary units were called, began intimidating voters. After the election, the Reichstag, dominated by the Nazis and other right-wing parties, voted to give Hitler dictatorial powers. In 1934 Hitler became president, which gave him control of the army. He then gave himself the new title of Der Führer, or "The Leader."

The Nuremberg Laws

After the Nazis took power, however, they quickly moved to deprive German Jews of many established rights. In September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws took citizenship away from Jewish Germans and banned marriage between Jews and other Germans. Two months later, another decree barred Jews from holding public office or voting. Another law compelled Jews with German-sounding names to adopt "Jewish" names. Soon the passports of Jews were marked with a red J to identify them as Jewish. By the summer of 1936, at least half of Germany's Jews were jobless, having lost the right to work as civil servants, journalists, farmers, and actors. In 1938 the Nazis also banned Jews from practicing law and medicine and from operating businesses. With no source of income, life for Jews became very difficult.

Lenin and the USSR

After the Russian Revolution, the Communist Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. The Communists instituted one-party rule, suppressed individual liberties, and punished opponents. After Lenin died in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power.

Planning D-Day (Operation Overlord)

After the conference in Tehran, Roosevelt headed to Cairo, Egypt, where he and Churchill continued planning an invasion of France to force Germany to again fight the war on two fronts. One major decision still had to be made. The president had to choose the commander for Operation Overlord—the code name for the invasion. Roosevelt selected General Eisenhower. Hitler had fortified the French coast along the English Channel, but he did not know when or where the Allies would land. The Germans believed the landing would be in Pas-de-Calais—the area of France closest to Britain. The Allies encouraged this belief by placing dummy equipment along the coast across from Calais. The real target was farther south, a 60-mile stretch of five beaches along the Normandy coast.

The Four Freedoms

After winning reelection in 1940, Roosevelt expanded the nation's role in the war. Speaking to Congress, he listed the Four Freedoms for which both the United States and Britain stood: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

The battle of the hedgerows

Although D-Day had been a success, it was only the beginning. Surrounding many fields in Normandy were hedgerows—dirt walls, several feet thick, covered in shrubbery—built to fence in cattle and crops. They also enabled the Germans to fiercely defend their positions. The battle of the hedgerows ended on July 25, 1944, when 2,500 U.S. bombers blew a hole in the German lines, enabling U.S. tanks to race through the gap.

Military Minorities

Although Japanese Americans were not allowed to serve at first, as the war progressed second-generation Japanese Americans served in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Almost half had been in internment camps in the Southwest. Together these units became the most decorated in the history of the United States military. Approximately 500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the armed forces despite racial hostility against them. By the end of the war, 17 Hispanic Americans had received the Medal of Honor. About one-third of all able-bodied Native American men aged 18-50 served in the military during the war. More than 400 Navajo marines served as "code talkers," relaying critical information and orders over field radios as spoken messages coded in their own language. Of the half million Jewish Americans who served in the military, approximately 52,000 were decorated for bravery. Because so many European Jews died as a result of the Holocaust, American Jews took on increased leadership in the worldwide Jewish community. Although the military did not end all segregation during the war, it did integrate military bases in 1943 and steadily expanded the role of African Americans within the armed forces. These successes paved the way for President Truman's decision to fully integrate the military in 1948.

African Americans segregated in the military/ the "Double V" campaign

Although basic training promoted unity, most recruits did not encounter Americans from every part of society. At the start of the war, the U.S. military was segregated. African Americans were organized into their own units, but white officers generally commanded them. Military leaders typically assigned them to construction and supply units. Not all African Americans wanted to support the war, but most agreed that they should support their country. One leading African American newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier, launched the "Double V" campaign to urge readers to support the war to win a double victory over Hitler's racism abroad and racism at home.

The "Alligator"

Although many troops died wading ashore, one vehicle had been able to cross the reef and deliver its troops onto the beaches. The vehicle was a boat with tank tracks, nicknamed the "Alligator." This amphibious tractor, or amphtrac, had been invented in the late 1930s to rescue people in Florida swamps. It had never been used in combat, and the navy decided to buy only 200 of them in 1941. If more had been available at Tarawa, American casualties probably would have been much lower.

The U.S. recaptured the Philippines

Although the Japanese fleet had retreated, the campaign to recapture the Philippines from the Japanese was long and grueling. More than 80,000 Japanese were killed; fewer than 1,000 surrendered. MacArthur's troops did not capture Manila until March 1945. The battle left the city in ruins and more than 100,000 Filipino civilians dead. The remaining Japanese retreated into the rugged terrain north of Manila; they were still fighting in August 1945 when word came that Japan had surrendered.

Corregidor surrenders

Although the troops in the Bataan Peninsula surrendered, a small force held out on the island of Corregidor in Manila Bay. Finally, in May 1942, Corregidor surrendered. The Philippines had fallen to the Japanese.

The invasions of Okinawa

American troops landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945. Instead of defending the beaches, the Japanese troops took up positions in the island's rugged mountains. To dig the Japanese out of their caves and bunkers, the American troops had to fight their way up steep slopes against constant machine gun and artillery fire. More than 12,000 American soldiers, sailors, and marines died during the fighting, but by June 22, 1945, Okinawa had finally been captured.

Hitler takes the Czech lands

Appeasement, however, failed to preserve the fragile peace. In March 1939, Germany sent troops into Czechoslovakia and divided the country. Slovakia became independent in name, but it was actually under German control. The Czech lands became a German protectorate.

The U.S. and Japan

As German submarines sank British ships in the Atlantic, the British began moving warships from Southeast Asia, leaving India and other colonial possessions vulnerable to Japanese attack. To hinder Japanese aggression, Roosevelt began applying economic pressure. Japan depended on the United States for many key materials, including scrap iron, steel, and especially oil. In July 1940, Congress gave the president the power to restrict the sale of strategic materials—items important for fighting a war. Roosevelt then blocked the sale of airplane fuel and scrap iron to Japan. Furious, the Japanese signed an alliance with Germany and Italy, becoming a member of the Axis. In 1941 Roosevelt began sending lend-lease aid to China, hoping to enable the Chinese to tie down the Japanese and prevent them from attacking elsewhere. The strategy failed. By July 1941, Japan had sent military forces into southern Indochina, directly threatening the British Empire. In response, Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the United States, reduced the oil shipments to Japan, and sent General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines to build up American defenses there. With its war against China in jeopardy because of a lack of resources, the Japanese military planned to attack the resource-rich British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia. They also decided to seize the Philippines and to attack the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. Negotiations with the Americans continued, but neither side would back down. In late November 1941, six Japanese aircraft carriers, two battleships, and several other warships set out for Hawaii.

The Battle of the Bulge

As the Allies advanced toward the German border, Hitler decided to stage one last desperate offensive. His goal was to cut off Allied supplies coming through the port of Antwerp, Belgium. The attack began just before dawn on December 16, 1944. Six inches of snow covered the ground, and the weather was bitterly cold. Moving rapidly, the Germans caught the American defenders by surprise. As the German troops raced west, their lines bulged outward, and the attack became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Eisenhower ordered General Patton to the rescue. Three days later, faster than anyone expected in the midst of a snowstorm, Patton's troops slammed into the German lines. As the weather cleared, Allied aircraft began hitting German fuel depots. On Christmas Eve, out of fuel and weakened by heavy losses, the German troops driving toward Antwerp were forced to halt. Two days later, Patton's troops broke through to the German line. Fighting continued for three weeks, but the United States had won the Battle of the Bulge. On January 8, the Germans began to withdraw, having suffered more than 100,000 casualties. They had very few resources left to prevent the Allies from entering Germany.

France regains liberty

As the Allies broke out of Normandy, the French Resistance— French civilians who had secretly organized to resist the German occupation—staged a rebellion in Paris. When the Allies liberated Paris on August 25, the streets were filled with French citizens celebrating their victory.

The U.S. and Britain attack Sicily

As the bombing campaign against Germany intensified, plans to invade Sicily also moved ahead. General Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the invasion, with General Patton and British general Bernard Montgomery heading the ground forces. The invasion began before dawn on July 10, 1943. Despite bad weather, the Allied troops made it ashore with few casualties. A new amphibious truck delivered supplies and artillery to the soldiers on the beach. Eight days after the troops came ashore, American tanks smashed through enemy lines and captured the western half of the island. Patton's troops then headed east, while the British attacked from the south. By August 17, the Germans had evacuated the island.

General MacArthur and his troops

As the forces under Admiral Nimitz hopped across the central Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur's troops began their own campaign in the southwest Pacific. The campaign began by invading Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, east of New Guinea, in August 1942. It continued until early 1944, when MacArthur's troops finally captured enough islands to surround the main Japanese base in the region. In response, the Japanese withdrew their ships and aircraft from the base, although they left 100,000 troops behind to hold the island. Worried that the navy's advance across the central Pacific was leaving him behind, MacArthur ordered his forces to leap nearly 600 miles (966 km) to capture the Japanese base at Hollandia on the north coast of New Guinea. Shortly after securing New Guinea, MacArthur's troops seized the island of Morotai—the last stop before the Philippines.

Roosevelt settles disputes

As war production grew, controversies between business leaders, government agencies, and the military increased. President Roosevelt created the War Production Board (WPB) to direct priorities and production goals. Later he set up the Office of War Mobilization to settle disputes among the different agencies.

Jewish emigration and forged visas

At an international conference on refugees in 1938, several European countries, the United States, and Latin America stated their regret that they could not take in more of Germany's Jews without raising their immigration quotas. Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and Hitler desperately wanted the Jews gone. As war loomed in 1939, many ships departed from Germany crammed with Jews desperate to escape. Some of their visas, however, had been forged or sold illegally, and the U.S., Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, and Costa Rica all denied access to Jews with such documents.

Battle of Midway

Back at Pearl Harbor, the code-breaking team now learned of the plan to attack Midway. With so many ships at sea, Admiral Yamamoto transmitted the plans for the Midway attack by radio, using the same code the Americans had already cracked. Admiral Nimitz had been waiting for the opportunity to ambush the Japanese fleet. He immediately ordered carriers to take up positions near Midway. Unaware that they were heading into an ambush, the Japanese launched their aircraft against Midway on June 4, 1942. The Americans were ready. The Japanese ran into a blizzard of antiaircraft fire, and 38 planes were shot down. As the Japanese prepared a second wave to attack Midway, aircraft from the American carriers Hornet, Yorktown, and Enterprise then launched a counterattack. The American planes caught the Japanese carriers with fuel, bombs, and aircraft exposed on their flight decks. Within minutes, three Japanese carriers were reduced to burning wrecks. A fourth was sunk a few hours later, and Admiral Yamamoto ordered his remaining ships to retreat. The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war. The Japanese navy lost four large carriers—the heart of its fleet. Just six months after Pearl Harbor, the United States had stopped the Japanese advance. The victory was not without cost, however. The battle killed 362 Americans and 3,057 Japanese.

Regulating economics

Both wages and prices began to rise quickly during the war because of the high demand for workers and raw materials. Worried about inflation, Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply (OPACS) and the Office of Economic Stabilization (OES) to regulate wages and certain prices. At the end of the war, prices had risen only about half as much as they had during World War I.

Stalin/Communism/The 5-year plans

By 1926, Stalin was the new Soviet dictator. He began a massive effort to industrialize his country using Five-Year Plans. Steel production increased, but industrial wages declined by 43 percent from 1928 to 1940. Family farms were combined and turned into collectives. Peasants who resisted by killing livestock or hoarding crops faced show trials or death from starvation. As many as 10 million peasants died in famines during 1932 and 1933. Stalin also sought to expand Soviet influence beyond its borders. Stalin tolerated no opposition, targeting political enemies along with artists and intellectuals. He used concentration camps, which held nearly 2 million people by 1935. Prisoners were used as slave labor. Between 15 and 20 million people died under Stalin's rule, which lasted until his death in 1953.

Limits on Jewish Immigration

By 1938, one U.S. consulate in Germany had a backlog of more than 100,000 visa applications from Jews trying to leave for the United States. Following the Nazi Anschluss, some 3,000 Austrian Jews applied for U.S. visas each day. Most never received visas to the United States or to the other countries where they applied. As a result, millions of Jews remained trapped in Nazi-dominated Europe. Several factors limited Jewish immigration to the United States. Nazi orders prohibited Jews from taking more than about four dollars out of Germany. U.S. immigration law, however, forbade granting a visa to anyone "likely to become a public charge." Customs officials tended to assume that this description applied to Jews, because Germany had forced them to leave behind any wealth. High unemployment rates in the 1930s also made immigration unpopular. Few Americans wanted to raise immigration quotas, even to accommodate European refugees. Others did not want to admit Jews because they held anti-Semitic attitudes. The existing immigration policy allowed only 150,000 immigrants annually, with a fixed quota from each country. The law permitted no exceptions for refugees or victims of persecution.

American convoys

By August 1942, German submarines had sunk about 360 American ships along the East Coast, including many oil tankers. The loss of so many ships convinced the U.S. Navy to set up a convoy system in which cargo ships traveled in groups escorted by warships. The convoy system improved the situation dramatically, making it much more difficult for a submarine to torpedo a cargo ship and escape without being attacked.

The Lend-Lease Act

By December 1940, Great Britain had run out of funds to fight the war. Roosevelt proposed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the United States to lend or lease arms to any country considered "vital to the defense of the United States." Britain could receive weapons, then return them or pay rent for them after the war. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act by a wide margin. Lend-lease aid eventually went to the Soviet Union as well, when in June 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Roosevelt followed Britain's lead in supporting any state fighting the Nazis.

American Industry Gets the Job Done

By the fall of 1941, much had already been done to prepare the economy for war, but it was still only partially mobilized. The attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything. By the summer of 1942, almost all major industries and some 200,000 companies had converted to war production. Together they made the nation's wartime "miracle" possible.

Coral reef predicaments

By the fall of 1943, the navy was ready to launch its island-hopping campaign, but the geography of the central Pacific posed a problem. Many of the islands were coral reef atolls. The water over the coral reef was not always deep enough to allow landing craft to get to the shore. If the landing craft ran aground on the reef, the troops would have to wade to the beach. As some 5,000 United States Marines learned at Tarawa Atoll, wading ashore could cause very high casualties. Tarawa, part of the Gilbert Islands, was the navy's first objective. The Japanese base there had to be captured in order to put air bases in the nearby Marshall Islands. When the landing craft hit the reef, at least 20 ships ran aground. The marines had to plunge into shoulder-high water and wade several hundred yards to the beach. Raked by Japanese fire, only one marine in three made it ashore. Once the marines reached the beach, the battle was still far from over.

When to attack?

By the spring of 1944, more than 1.5 million American soldiers, 12,000 airplanes, and 5 million tons of equipment had been sent to England. Only setting the invasion date and giving the command to go remained. The invasion had to begin at night to hide the ships crossing the English Channel. The ships had to arrive at low tide so that they could see the beach obstacles. The low tide had to come at dawn so that gunners bombarding the coast could see their targets. Paratroopers, who would be dropped behind enemy lines, needed a moonlit night to see where to land. Perhaps most important of all was good weather. A storm would ground the airplanes, and high waves would swamp landing craft. Given all these requirements, there were only a few days each month to begin the invasion. The first opportunity was from June 5 to 7, 1944. Eisenhower's planning staff referred to the day any operation began by the letter D. The invasion date, therefore, came to be known as D-Day. Heavy cloud cover, strong winds, and high waves made June 5 impossible. The weather was forecast to improve briefly a day later. The Channel would still be rough, but the landing ships and aircraft could operate. After looking at forecasts one last time, shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, Eisenhower gave the final order: "OK, we'll go."

The war in Europe ends

Deep in his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler knew the end was near. On April 30, 1945, he committed suicide. On May 7, 1945, Germany accepted the terms for an unconditional surrender. The next day—May 8, 1945— was proclaimed V-E Day, for "Victory in Europe."

Roosevelt's Internationalism

Despite the government's stand on neutrality, President Roosevelt supported internationalism, the idea that trade between nations creates prosperity and helps prevent war. He warned that the neutrality acts "might drag us into war instead of keeping us out," but he did not veto the bills. When Japan invaded China in July 1937 without declaring war, Roosevelt claimed the Neutrality Act of 1937 did not apply. He authorized the sale of weapons to China, warning that the nation should not let an "epidemic of lawlessness" infect the world

The U.S. chooses Okinawa to prepare for the invasion of Japan

Despite the massive damage that firebombing caused, there were few signs in the spring of 1945 that Japan was ready to quit. Many American officials believed the Japanese would not surrender until Japan had been invaded. To prepare for the invasion, the United States needed a base near Japan to stockpile supplies and build up troops. Iwo Jima was small and still too far away. Military planners chose Okinawa—only 350 miles from mainland Japan.

The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo

Even before the Philippines fell, President Roosevelt was searching for a way to raise the morale of the American people. He wanted to bomb Tokyo, but American planes could reach Tokyo only if an aircraft carrier brought them close enough. However, Japanese ships in the North Pacific prevented carriers from getting near Japan. In early 1942, a military planner suggested replacing the carrier's usual short-range bombers with long-range B-25 bombers that could attack from farther away. The only problem was that, although B-25s could take off from a carrier, the bombers could not land on its short deck. After attacking Japan, they would have to land in China. President Roosevelt put Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle in command of the mission to bomb Tokyo. At the end of March, a crane loaded sixteen B-25s onto the aircraft carrier Hornet. The next day, the Hornet headed west across the Pacific. On April 18, American bombs fell on Japan for the first time.

Debating about the atomic bomb

Even before the bomb was tested, American officials began debating how to use it. Admiral William Leahy, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed using the bomb because it would kill civilians. He believed an economic blockade and conventional bombing would convince Japan to surrender. Secretary of War Henry Stimson wanted to warn the Japanese about the bomb and tell them their emperor could stay in power if they surrendered. Secretary of State James Byrnes, however, wanted to drop the bomb on Japan without any warning. President Truman later wrote that he "regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubts that it should be used." His advisers had warned him to expect massive casualties if the United States invaded Japan. Truman believed it was his duty as president to use every weapon available to save American lives.

The war is completely over!

Faced with such massive destruction and the shock of the Soviets joining the war, Hirohito ordered his government to surrender. On August 15, 1945—V-J Day—Japan surrendered. The long war was over.

African Americans Demand War Work

Factories hired women, but they resisted hiring African Americans. Frustrated by the situation, A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters—a major union for African American railroad workers—decided to act. He informed President Roosevelt that he was organizing a march on Washington "in the interest of securing jobs . . . in the national defense and . . . integration into the . . . military and naval forces." On June 25, 1941, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which stated, "there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin." To enforce the order, he created the Fair Employment Practices Commission, the first federal civil rights agency since Reconstruction.

Mussolini and fascism

Fascism was also strongly anticommunist. After the Russian Revolution, many Europeans feared that Communists, allied with labor unions, were trying to bring down their governments. Mussolini exploited these fears by portraying fascism as a bulwark against communism, protecting private property and the middle class. He pledged to return Italy to the glories of the Roman Empire. Backed by the Blackshirts, a Fascist militia, Mussolini threatened to march on Rome in 1922, claiming he was defending Italy against a communist revolution. Liberal members of the Italian parliament insisted that the king declare martial law. When he refused, the cabinet resigned. Conservative advisers then persuaded the king to appoint Mussolini as the premier. Once in office, Mussolini—who took the title of Il Duce, or "The Leader"—embarked on an ambitious program of bringing order to Italy.

Germany seizes Northern Italy/The battle at Cassino and Anzio

Following Italy's surrender, however, German troops seized control of northern Italy, including Rome, and returned Mussolini to power. The Germans then took up positions near the heavily fortified town of Cassino. The terrain near Cassino was steep, barren, and rocky. Rather than attack such difficult terrain, the Allies landed at Anzio, behind German lines. Instead of retreating, however, as the Allies had hoped, the Germans surrounded the Allied troops near Anzio. It took the Allies five months to break through the German lines at Cassino and Anzio. Finally, in late May 1944, the Germans retreated. Less than two weeks later, the Allies captured Rome. Fighting in Italy continued, however, for another year. The Italian campaign was one of the bloodiest in the war, with more than 300,000 Allied casualties.

Henry Kaiser's ships

Ford's remarkable achievement in aircraft production was more than matched by Henry Kaiser's shipyards. German submarines were sinking American cargo ships at a terrifying rate. The United States had to find a way to build cargo ships as quickly as possible. Kaiser's method emphasized speed and results. Instead of building an entire ship in one place from the keel up, parts were prefabricated and brought to the shipyard for assembly. Kaiser's shipyards built many kinds of ships, but they were best known for basic cargo ships called Liberty ships. When the war began, it took 244 days to build the first Liberty ship. After Kaiser shipyards applied their mass-production techniques, average production time dropped to 41 days. Kaiser's shipyards built 30 percent of all American ships constructed during the war.

The Miracle at Dunkirk

German troops drove Allied forces toward the English Channel. The port of Dunkirk became the Allies' only way out. As German forces moved in on Dunkirk, Hitler ordered them to stop. Historians think that Hitler was nervous about risking his tank forces. Whatever his reasons, Hitler's orders provided a three-day delay that allowed Allied forces to evacuate. When the evacuation ended on June 4, an estimated 338,000 British and French troops had been saved during the "Miracle at Dunkirk."

Rationing

High demand for raw materials and supplies created shortages. OPACS began rationing many products to make sure enough were available for military use. Households picked up a book of rationing coupons every month for different kinds of food. When people bought food, they had to have enough coupon points to cover their purchases. Meat, sugar, fats, oils, processed foods, coffee, shoes, and gasoline were all rationed. Driving distances were restricted, and the speed limit was set at 35 miles per hour to save gas and rubber. The government organized scrap drives to collect rubber, tin, aluminum, and steel.

Britain Remains Defiant

Hitler expected Britain to negotiate peace after France surrendered. He was mistaken. On June 4, 1940, British prime minister Winston Churchill delivered a defiant speech, vowing that Britain would never surrender. That same month, Hitler ordered the German air force, the Luftwaffe, to begin attacking British ships in the English Channel. Then, in August and September, the Luftwaffe battled the British Royal Air Force in what became known as the Battle of Britain. After London was bombed accidentally, Britain retaliated by bombing Berlin. The Luftwaffe then began targeting its attacks on London and other cities. Britain's use of radar gave it the advantage. After major losses on both sides, Hitler canceled the planned invasion of Britain. Churchill praised the sacrifices of the pilots who saved Britain.

Germany Declares War

Hitler had hoped that Japan would attack the United States so that the majority of U.S. forces would be sent to the Pacific front. He expected the United States to enter the European war as incidents between German submarines and the United States mounted in the Atlantic. Hitler underestimated the strategy of the United States, which was to view Germany as the larger threat but fight the Japanese with the U.S. Navy. By helping Japan, he hoped for Japanese support against the Soviet Union after they had defeated the Americans. On December 11, Germany and Italy both declared war on the United States.

Hitler takes the Sudetenland

Hitler next announced German claims to the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking population. The Czechs strongly resisted Germany's demands. France threatened to fight if Germany attacked Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union also promised aid. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pledged Britain's support to France, its ally.

Hitler's motives to go against the Treaty of Versailles

In 1935 Hitler began to defy the Treaty of Versailles that had ended World War I. He announced that Germany would build a new air force and begin a military draft that would greatly expand its army—actions in direct violation of the treaty. Rather than enforce the treaty by going to war, European leaders tried to negotiate with Hitler. Europe's leaders had several reasons for believing—or wanting to believe—that a deal could be reached with Hitler to avoid war. First, they wanted to avoid a repeat of World War I. Second, some thought most of Hitler's demands were reasonable, including his demand that all German-speaking regions be united. Third, many people assumed that the Nazis would want peace once they gained more territory.

Szilard and Einstein's letter to Roosevelt

In 1939 Leo Szilard, a Jewish physicist who had fled Nazi persecution, learned that German scientists had split the uranium atom. Szilard had been the first scientist to suggest that splitting the atom might release enormous energy. Worried that the Nazis were working on an atomic bomb, Szilard convinced the world's best-known physicist, Albert Einstein, to sign a letter Szilard had drafted and send it to President Roosevelt. In the letter, Einstein warned that by using uranium, "extremely powerful bombs of a new type may . . . be constructed."

The OWI

In 1942 President Roosevelt created the Office of War Information (OWI). The OWI's role was to improve the public's understanding of the war and to act as a liaison office with the various media. The OWI established detailed guidelines for filmmakers, including a set of questions to be considered before making a movie, such as, "Will this picture help win the war?"

The Atlantic Charter

In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met and developed the Atlantic Charter, which committed both nations to a postwar world of democracy, nonaggression, free trade, economic advancement, and freedom of the seas. Churchill later said that FDR "made it clear that he would look for an 'incident' which would justify him in opening hostilities" with Germany.

The International Military Tribunal

In August 1945, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union created the International Military Tribunal (IMT) to punish German and Japanese leaders for war crimes. The IMT held trials in Nuremberg, Germany, where Hitler had staged Nazi Party rallies.

Militarists Control Japan

In Japan, as in Germany, difficult economic times helped undermine the political system. Japanese industries had to import nearly all of the resources they needed to produce goods. When the Depression struck, other countries raised their tariffs, making things worse. Many Japanese military officers blamed the country's problems on corrupt politicians. They believed that Japan was destined to dominate East Asia and that straying from traditional beliefs corrupted the country. The military leaders argued that seizing territory was the only way Japan could get the resources it needed. In September 1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, a resource-rich region of northern China. In October, hoping to avoid conflict with the United States, Emperor Hirohito's prime minister asked Minister of War Hideki Tōjō to withdraw some troops from China. Tōjō refused, threatening to bring down the government. The military was in command of the country. The Japanese army swept through China, and in 1937 invaded Nanking, destroying the city and killing as many as 300,000 of its residents. The incident became known as the "Rape of Nanking." In October 1941, Tōjō took over as prime minister.

African Americans in Combat

In early 1941, the air force created its first African American unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Trained in Tuskegee, Alabama, the pilots became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Commanded by Lt. Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the squadron helped win the Battle of Anzio in Italy. Three other Tuskegee squadrons protected American bombers as they flew to their targets. Known as the 332nd Fighter Group, these squadrons flew 200 such missions without losing a single member to enemy aircraft. Also, the African American 761st Tank Battalion was commended for service during the Battle of the Bulge.

Sea-way pandemonium

In early September, a German submarine, or U-boat, fired on an American destroyer that had been radioing the U-boat's position to the British. Roosevelt promptly responded by ordering American ships to follow a "shoot-on-sight" policy toward German submarines. The Germans escalated hostilities the following month, targeting two American destroyers. One of them, the Reuben James, sank after being torpedoed, killing over 100 sailors. As the end of 1941 drew near, Germany and the United States continued a tense standoff.

Hitler takes Austria

In late 1937, Hitler again called for the unification of all German-speaking people, including those in Austria and Czechoslovakia. He believed that Germany could expand its territory only by force. In February 1938, Hitler threatened to invade German-speaking Austria unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts. Austria's chancellor gave in to this demand, but then tried to put the matter of unification with Germany to a democratic vote. Fearing the outcome, Hitler sent troops into Austria in March and announced the Anschluss, or unification, of Austria and Germany.

Why did the Holocaust happen?

In only a few years, Jewish culture, which had existed in Europe for more than 1,000 years, had been virtually obliterated by the Nazis in the lands they conquered. Despite exhaustive debate, there is still great controversy about why and how an event so horrifying as the Holocaust could have occurred. No consensus has been reached, but most historians point to a number of factors: the German people's sense of injury after World War I; severe economic problems; Hitler's control over the German nation; the lack of a strong tradition of representative government in Germany; German fear of Hitler's secret police; and a long history of anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination in Europe.

The Neutrality Acts

In response to growing Italian and German aggression in Europe, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1935. This legislation—reflecting a response to the Nye report—made it illegal for Americans to sell arms to any country at war. Then, in 1936, a rebellion erupted in Spain that soon became a civil war. Congress responded by passing a second neutrality act, banning the sale of arms to either side in a civil war. Soon after the Spanish Civil War began, Hitler and Mussolini pledged to cooperate on several international issues, and Japan aligned itself with Germany and Italy. Together, the three nations became known as the Axis Powers. As European tensions worsened, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1937, continuing the ban on selling arms to warring nations and also requiring them to buy all nonmilitary supplies from the United States on a "cash-and-carry" basis. Countries had to send their own ships to pick up goods and had to pay in cash. Loans were not allowed. Isolationists knew that attacks on American ships had helped bring the country into World War I. They wanted to prevent such attacks that could bring the nation into another European war. Roosevelt wanted to help Britain and France in their struggle and asked Congress to revise the neutrality laws to allow the sale of weapons to warring nations. Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 permitting the sale of weapons, but only on a "cash-and-carry" basis.

Roosevelt's Loophole

In the spring of 1940, the United States faced the first test of its neutrality. Britain asked Roosevelt for old American destroyers to replenish its fleet, and the president used a loophole in the cash-only requirement for purchases. He sent 50 ships to Britain in exchange for America's use of British bases in the Atlantic. Because the deal did not involve an actual sale, the Neutrality Act did not apply.

Downsides of Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima was perfectly located, roughly halfway between the Marianas and Japan, but its geography was formidable. It had a dormant volcano at its southern tip and rugged terrain with rocky cliffs, jagged ravines, and dozens of caves. Volcanic ash covered the ground. Even worse, the Japanese had built a vast network of concrete bunkers connected by miles of tunnels.

Jewish Refugees Try to Flee

Kristallnacht and its aftermath marked a significant escalation of Nazi persecution against the Jews. Many Jews, including Frederic Morton's family, decided that it was time to leave and fled to the United States. Between 1933, when Hitler took power, and the start of World War II in 1939, some 250,000 Jews escaped Nazi-controlled Germany.

The Battle of Kasserine Pass

Later that month, American troops commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower invaded North Africa. When the Americans advanced into the mountains of western Tunisia, they fought the German army for the first time. At the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the Americans were outmaneuvered and outfought. They suffered roughly 7,000 casualties and lost nearly 200 tanks. Eisenhower fired the general who led the attack and put General George Patton in command. The American and British forces finally pushed the Germans back. On May 13, 1943, the last German troops in North Africa surrendered.

Germany takes over France

Less than three weeks later, on June 22, 1940, France surrendered. To govern the rest of France, Germany set up a puppet government at the town of Vichy and made Marshal Philippe Pétain the leader but gave him no power. French general Charles de Gaulle led the Free French resistance forces from the French colony of Algiers. He worked with Allied leaders and refused to recognize the defeat of France.

Racism Leads to Violence

Many African Americans left the South for jobs in war factories in the North and West. However, African Americans often faced suspicion and intolerance. Racial violence erupted in Detroit on Sunday, June 20, 1943. Fighting between white and African American teens triggered a citywide riot that left 25 African Americans and 9 whites dead. In Los Angeles, the fear of juvenile crime and racism against Mexican Americans became linked in the "zoot suit" riots. Popular with Mexican American teenagers, zoot suits had very baggy, pleated pants and an overstuffed, knee-length jacket with wide lapels. Most men, to conserve fabric for the war, wore a "victory suit." In June 1943, after hearing rumors that zoot-suiters had attacked several sailors, some 2,500 soldiers and sailors attacked Mexican American neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

The Nye Committee

Meanwhile, accusations emerged that arms manufacturers had tricked the United States into entering World War I. In 1934 Senator Gerald P. Nye held hearings to investigate these allegations. The Nye Committee report documented the huge profits that arms factories had made during the war and created the impression that these businesses influenced the decision to go to war. Even more Americans turned toward isolationism.

War preparations and training

More than 60,000 men enlisted in the month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At first, the flood of recruits overwhelmed the army's training facilities and equipment supplies. In 1940 the Department of Agriculture had transferred over 350,000 acres to the War Department. New bases such as the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, were built, and existing ones such as Eglin Air Force base were expanded. Many recruits lived in tents rather than barracks, carried sticks representing guns, and practiced maneuvers with trucks labeled "TANK." New recruits were given physical exams and injections against smallpox and typhoid. Then they were issued uniforms, boots, and available equipment, and sent to basic training for eight weeks. Trainees drilled and exercised constantly and learned how to work as a team. Basic training helped break down barriers between soldiers. Recruits came from all over the country, and training together created tight relationships among the troops.

The D-Day invasion begins!

Nearly 7,000 ships carrying more than 100,000 soldiers headed for Normandy's coast. At the same time, 23,000 paratroopers were dropped inland, east and west of the beaches. Allied fighter-bombers raced up and down the coast, hitting bridges, bunkers, and radar sites. At dawn, Allied warships began a tremendous barrage. Beaches which were code-named "Utah," "Omaha," "Gold," "Sword," and "Juno" had thousands of shells rained down on them.

The cost-plus system

Normally, the government asked companies to bid on contracts to produce military equipment, a slow process. Instead, the government signed cost-plus contracts, agreeing to pay a company the cost to make a product plus a guaranteed percentage as profit. Under the cost-plus system, the more—and faster—a company produced, the more money it made. Although not cheap, the system got war materials produced quickly and in quantity. Cost-plus convinced many companies to convert to war production, and Congress authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to make loans to companies wanting to convert.