THE WAR ENDS Chapter 20, Section 5 By: Thomas Parsons

I. The Third Reich Collapses A. President Roosevelt and other Allied leaders became aware of Nazi atrocities 1.Promised to punish the Nazis after the war. 2.Roosevelt felt destroying the Nazi regime would put and end to the concentration camps.

B. Battle of the Hedgerows 1.Hedgerows were dirt walls several feet thick and covered in shrubbery, were used by the Germans to defend their positions in Normandy, France. 2.The battle of the hedgerows ended with American bombers blowing a hole in the German lines, allowing American tanks through. 3.The Allies liberated Paris on August Three weeks later, they were just 20 miles from the German border.

C. The Battle of the Bulge 1.Hitler attempted one last offensive to cut off Allied supplies coming through the port of Antwerp, Belgium. 2.The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944, 3.The Nazis caught American troops off guard by attacking one point in the American lines 4.As Germans raced west, the American lines “bulged” outward, resulting in the battle’s name. 5.The United States won the battle on January 8, Germans withdrew with little left to stop the Allies from entering Germany.

D. The Ludendorf Bridge across the Rhine River was still intact, allowing American troops to cross and forced the German defenders back.

E. Adolph Hitler, realizing the end was near, killed himself. F. Hitler’s successor, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz tried to surrender to the Americans and the British while still fighting the Soviets 1.but he was forced to unconditionally surrender on May 7, The next day was proclaimed V-E Day, for “Victory in Europe.”

II. Japan is Defeated A. President Roosevelt died a month before the defeat of Germany. 1.Vice President Harry S. Truman became president. 2.Although Germany surrendered a few weeks later 3.Truman needed to make many difficult decisions regarding the war as the battle with Japan intensified.

B. On November 24, 1944, American bombs fell on Tokyo, but missed their targets 1.American planners decided to invade Iwo Jima because it was closer to Japan and would make bombings more effective. 2.On February 19, 1945, 60,000 American Marines landed on Iwo Jima, and 6,800 US killed before the island was captured.

C. General Curtis LeMay, commander of the B- 29s based in the Marianas, decided to drop bomb key cities with napalm, a kind of jellied gasoline. 1.These bombs exploded and started fires 2.The Tokyo fire bombing killed over 80,000 people and destroyed more than 250,000 buildings 3.Japan’s six most important industrial cities were firebombed. 4.This was a very controversial decision.

D. Invasion of Okinawa, 1.Japan refused to surrender. 2.American military planners chose to stockpile supplies 350 miles from Japan, and build up troops. 4.The Battle for Okinawa took place April 1- June 22, 1945, 5. Okinawa was captured with more than 12,000 American dead

E. Japan would not surrender unconditionally 1.Japan wanted their emperor to remain in power. 2.Americans wanted him out of power 3.Truman was reluctant to go against public opinion.

F. Code name for the project to build the Atomic Bomb was The Manhattan Project 1.Headed by General Leslie R. Groves. 2.On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

G. The Decision to Drop the Bomb 1.President Truman felt it was his duty to use every weapon available to save American lives. 2.The Allies threatened Japan with “utter destruction,” but received no response. 3.On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, one of Japan’s important industrial cities.

G. The Decision to Drop the Bomb (cont) 4.Tens of thousands of people died instantly, and thousands more died later from burns and radiation sickness 5.On August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. 6.That same day, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing between 35,000 and 74,000 people. 7.On V-J Day, for “Victory in Japan” – August 15, 1945 – Japan surrendered. 8.The war ended.

World War II Fatalities (cont.) CountryMilitaryCivilianTotal Soviet Union*8,668,00016,900,00025,568,000 China1,324,00010,000,00011,324,000 Germany3,250,0003,810,0007,060,000 Poland850,0006,000,0006,850,000 Japan1,506,000300,0001,806,000 Yugoslavia300,0001,400,0001,700,000 Rumania*520,000465,000985,000 France*340,000470,000810,000 Hungary* 750,000

World War II Fatalities (cont.) CountryMilitaryCivilianTotal Austria380,000145,000525,000 Greece* 520,000 Italy330,00080,000410,000 Czechoslovakia 400,000 Great Britain326,00062,000388,000 USA292,0006,000307,300 (Merchant Marine)9,300 Holland14,000236,000250,000 Belgium10,00075,00085,000 Finland79,000

World War II Fatalities (cont.) CountryMilitaryCivilianTotal Canada42,000 India36,000***36,000 Australia39,000 Spain**12,00010,00022,000 Bulgaria19,0002,00021,000 New Zealand12,000 South Africa9,000 Norway5,000 Denmark4,000 Total circa 61 Million

III. Building a New World A.The United Nations 1.To prevent another war, President Roosevelt wanted a new international political organization. 2.In 1944 delegates from 39 counties met to discuss the new organization that was to be called the United Nations (UN)

A.The United Nations (cont.) 3.On April 25, 1945, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco to officially organize the United Nations and create its Charter. 4.The delegates decided to have a General Assembly, where each member nation would have one vote. 5.Permanent members - Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States would be each having veto power.

B. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) 1.Allies Created the IMT in August 1945 to punish German and Japanese leaders for their war crimes. 2.The IMT tried German leaders suspected of committing war crimes at the Nuremburg trials. 3.In Tokyo the IMT for the Far East tried leaders of wartime Japan suspected of committing war crimes. 4.The Japanese emperor was not indicted.