Internment of Japanese Americans One tragic consequence of the Pearl Harbor attack was a virulent anti-Japanese sentiment and the fear that the Japanese might act as saboteurs for Japan in case of invasion. During World War II over 114,000 Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and forced to live in one of ten internment camps which were specifically constructed for this purpose. The camps were in Arizona, Colorado, California, Arkansas, Wyoming, and Utah. About two-thirds of the camp residents were first-generation Americans: about one-third were resident aliens, many of whom had lived in the United States for years but had been denied the right to apply for citizenship. Residents of the camps were permitted to take into the camps only what they could carry. Other personal property had to be sold or put in storage. Property that was sold was usually sold for a fraction of its worth. Possessions in storage often were stolen or vandalized. Millions of dollars of private property were lost.

Violation of Civil Liberties Executive Order No. 9066 (1942) – Order of FDR authorizing War Department to remove Japanese “enemy aliens” to isolated internment camps. Korematsu v. United States

World War II Battles 2 “Theaters” of War (where the action is): European Theater and Pacific Theater

General Strategy The U.S. decided to concentrate on Europe first because we believed that Germany was the greatest threat, while holding off Japan Hemispheric strategy: during WWII the U.S. continued FDR’s “Good Neighbor Policy” (1933) to develop a Western Hemisphere common front against fascism

Japanese Expansion After Pearl Harbor, Japan pounded American military bases in the Philippines, taking over the capital city of Manila in Jan. 1942 and overwhelming the American and Filipino defenders at Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island in April and May, 1942. On the “Bataan Death March,” thousands of POWs died, many due to torture from the Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur promised, “I shall return!”

This poster came out after the Bataan Death March to protest Japanese brutality.

Japanese Expansion (cont.) Next, the Japanese took the U.S. Pacific islands of Wake and Guam. By mid-1942, the Japanese had taken over most lands and islands of the western Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia. Their empire measured 5,000 miles from north to south and 6,000 miles from east to west.

Doolittle’s Raid (1942) Was the first U.S. air attack against Japan in retaliation for Pearl Harbor Led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, the Americans bombed Japanese cities Did little physical damage, but inflicted psychological damage

Battle of the Coral Sea May 1942 off the northeast coast of Australia Allies succeeded in stopping the Japanese drive toward Australia in this 5-day battle First naval battle in history where all the fighting was done by carrier-based aircraft

Battle of the Coral Sea

Aircraft Carriers in WWII Aircraft carriers were new to WWII and changed naval warfare, since now airplanes could take off from ships and bomb enemy ships Airplanes taking off from aircraft carriers could also engage the enemy in the skies above the oceans and bomb island bases Picture: USS Essex at Okinawa in 1945

Battle of Midway / June 1942 Called Midway because Midway Island is located about halfway between North America & Asia U.S. advantage: we had broken the secret Japanese naval radio code and knew an attack was coming Was the turning point of the war in the Pacific U.S. commander: Admiral Chester Nimitz

Battle of Midway (cont.) Main reasons Japan attacked Midway: it was a threat because it had the closest American naval & air base close to Japan, and if Japan captured Midway’s base, it could launch assaults on Hawaii 1st Japanese goal: sought to eliminate the U.S. as a strategic power in the Pacific, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its “Great East Asia Prosperity Sphere” 2nd Japanese goal: intended to occupy Midway as part of an overall plan to extend their defensive perimeter in response to the Doolittle Raid

Battle of Midway (cont.) Japanese plan: to lure the U.S. aircraft carriers into a trap Plan didn’t work because the U.S. had broken the Japanese code, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to set up an ambush of its own Picture: U.S. cryptologists (mostly women!)

Battle of Midway (cont.) The U.S. sank 4 Japanese aircraft carriers and many other ships, crippling Japan’s navy Japan also lost hundreds of airplanes Ended Japan’s threat to Hawaii After Midway, and the exhausting attrition of the Soloman Islands campaign, Japan’s shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas The Allied counteroffensive started after Midway, far earlier than Japanese military planners had expected

Battle of Midway Pictures USS Yorktown

Battle of Guadalcanal in the Soloman Islands Very long: Aug. 1942 to Feb. 1943 First Allied offensive in the Pacific and first land battle ag. the Japanese / started “island hopping” Japanese needed to be run off because they threatened Australia from this island U.S. soldiers learned how fanatical the Japanese soldiers were Soldiers faced jungle rot and leeches

Strategy of Island Hopping Was the main American strategy in the Pacific Was used to defeat the Japanese Idea = start in the South Pacific and take over certain islands to get closer and closer to Japan Strategy to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not as well defended but were capable of supporting the drive to Japan

Island Hopping (cont.) This strategy was possible in part because the Allies used naval and air attacks to blockade and isolate the bypassed Japanese bases, weakening their garrisons and reducing the Japanese ability to resupply them; in MacArthur’s words, the troops on the bypassed islands would “wither on the vine,” or be useless to the Japanese

Geographical Problems of Fighting in the Pacific Theater Naval battles were fought over the flow of supplies U.S. faced many difficulties in delivering weapons, food, & medical supplies to troops Main ways we accomplished this: a strong navy and the quick building of bases on newly conquered islands, complete with port facilities and airfields

Allied Advancement Toward Japan The Allies won victories in the Soloman, Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana Islands. From strategic bases such as Saipan in the Mariana Islands, the Allies launched long-range bombing missions against Japan. General MacArthur followed through on his earlier promise and liberated the Philippines in Oct. 1944; the largest battle for the Philippines was the Battle of Leyte Gulf (a naval fight).

Battle of Leyte Gulf (the Philippines) In a series of engagements in and around the Leyte Gulf in Oct. 1944, the Japanese navy was crippled Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, and many other ships First time the Japanese used the kamikaze (“divine wind”), planes packed with explosives and flown by pilots who were trained to crash them into enemy ships

Battle of Iwo Jima / Feb.-March, 1945 Iwo Jima means “Sulfur Island” A small, smelly, gray, volcanic island Iwo Jima, along with Okinawa, had been held by Japan for centuries, and these 2 islands were the closest to the Japanese home islands Strategic reason Allies wanted Iwo Jima: heavy bombers had been bombing Japanese cities from Saipan, & taking over the much-closer Iwo Jima meant fighters could accompany the bombers Strong Japanese defenses: 21,000 soldiers and many pillboxes and gun emplacements connected by underground passages; Japanese soldiers hid in tunnels and caves

Iwo Jima (cont.) Naval and air bombardments preceded the landing A few days after landing Mount Suribachi was captured, the highest point on the island, and the flag raising there became the most famous photograph of the war More than 6,000 Marines died, and almost all of the 21,000 Japanese defenders

2 Atomic Bombs Ended the War The Manhattan Project: Developing the A-Bomb Reason for name: originally based in NY Run by the Army and by scientists employed by the government FDR agreed to the secret research after being told in 1939 by Albert Einstein & others that the Germans were conducting atomic research

Manhattan Project (cont.) Research and production took place at many sites 2 of the most important were Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, New Mexico Los Alamos: established in 1942; scientists carried out their work in secrecy, with military police patrolling the town First atomic bomb detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, in the desert

Trinity Site in New Mexico: Testing of First Atomic Bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer with Major Leslie Groves

FDR’s death President Roosevelt died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945

Truman’s Decision to Drop the Bombs President Harry Truman was informed about the bombs soon after FDR’s death Within several months had to make the decision to drop the bombs Reasons for decision: to save the estimated 1 million Allied soldiers who would die during an invasion of Japan, to end the war faster, and to force the Japanese to surrender unconditionally and give up their empire

Hiroshima / Aug. 6, 1945 Colonel Paul Tibbets, flying the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima A huge mushroom cloud arose Most of Hiroshima was destroyed and between 80,000-100,000 died instantly Radiation poisoning killed thousands later

Hiroshima

Nagasaki / Aug. 9, 1945 The Japanese refused to surrender after Hiroshima, so 3 days later, another bomb was dropped The original target was the city of Kokura, but due to bad weather Nagasaki was bombed instead Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were industrial centers with mid-sized populations

Japan’s surrender Japan’s emperor Hirohito urged the Japanese generals to surrender after the atomic bombings Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, with the official surrender ceremony taking place on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay (V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day)

War Plans (FDR & Churchill) In the ABC-1 AGREEMENT with Britain, the US adopted the strategy of “getting Germany first.” If Germany was knocked out first, the combined Allied forces could be concentrated on Japan. Just enough American strength would be sent to the Pacific to prevent Japan from digging in too deeply.

European Theater of War Primary difficulty the U.S. faced in the first several years of WWII in delivering weapons and other supplies to troops in the European Theater of war = German subs sank Allied shipping Allies won this “Battle of the Atlantic” with convoys, radar, and sonar Soviets bore the brunt of fighting against Germany Leningrad: (St. Petersburg) was besieged by the Germans for about 900 days (Sept. 1941 to Jan. 1944)---about ½ million Russian civilians died Stalingrad: Nazis attempted to take over, but instead lost due to the Russian winter & the Russians trapped them in the city

North Africa Campaign The Allies invaded North Africa in 1942 to protect the Suez Canal, Britain’s lifeline to India Jeeps were first used on the sand in North Africa Allies won in North Africa

Italian Campaign After taking Sicily, Allied troops landed in southern Italy Stunned by their army’s collapse in Sicily, the Italian people forced the dictator Mussolini to resign, and he was placed under arrest Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy rather than Germany German armies occupied much of Italy for the rest of the war, fiercely opposing Allied landings on Italy’s west coast (for example, “Bloody Anzio” in 1944) The most difficult fighting in Europe in 1943 for the Americans occurred in Italy The effort to free Italy did not succeed until 1945, when Germany was close to collapse Mussolini was assassinated by Italians in 1945

Fighting in the Soviet Union Battle of Stalingrad (Aug. 1942 to Jan. 1943): Germans lost a huge army to the Russian winter and as Russian POWs The Soviets bore the brunt of fighting Hitler’s armies for much of the war, which embittered Stalin and contributed to the upcoming Cold War

Background of D-Day Since the Allies couldn’t get into Germany from Italy, it was decided to invade Nazi-occupied France to reach Germany Became the plan in 1944 (“Operation Overlord”) The Allies gathered vast amounts of men and weapons in England General Dwight D. Eisenhower = the Supreme Allied Commander in charge of D-Day

D-Day / Invasion of Normandy D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944 Allied troops (American, English, & Canadian) crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy in northern France (Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold, and Sword) Troops met stiff resistance from the Germans, especially on Omaha Beach Casualties would have been worse if the Allies had not succeeded in faking out Hitler, who believed the attack was coming further north at Calais and had many troops stationed there

D-Day

After D-Day / Liberation of Paris After 5 days of fighting, the Allies held a strip of France 80 miles long Less than 3 weeks later, 1 million men were ashore and moving steadily inland Free French Resistance Movement helped the Allies liberate Paris from Nazi control- Aug. 1944

Generals Patton and Bradley Race Across Europe General George Patton, a flamboyant tank general, liberated Paris and then raced across Europe into Germany with his 3rd Army (Patton was eccentric and believed he was a great general due to multiple reincarnations) General Omar Bradley, called the “soldier’s general,” charged toward Germany as head of the 12th Army Group Pictures: Patton on left, Bradley on right

Battle of the Bulge (Belgium, Dec. 1944--Jan. 1945) Was Hitler’s last offensive in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium Goal: to drive a wedge between the Allies forces in the Low Countries and those in France, and eventually to capture the port city of Antwerp, which provided supplies to the Allies Name comes from the German tank division that drove 60 miles into Allies territory, creating a bulge in the front lines Some American soldiers were trapped, but the arrival of General Patton’s Third Army stopped Hitler’s final offensive

Battle of the Bulge

Germany and War on 2 Fronts Hitler now faced the old German nightmare---war on two fronts The Soviet Army, five million strong, advanced against Germany from the east The U.S. and British armies were sweeping across the Rhine River into Germany from the east

Eisenhower’s Order to Halt at the Elbe River Eisenhower decided that the U.S.-British advance would concentrate on western Germany, so he ordered them to halt at the Elbe River This meant the Soviet Army would have the honor of taking over Berlin, the German capital General Bernard Montgomery, Britain’s main general, strongly disagreed with this decision Eisenhower’s refusal to take Berlin remains controversial & caused major Cold War problems In April Soviet and U.S. soldiers met at Torgau

Fall of Berlin / April-May, 1945 In mid-April 1945 the Soviet Army began its drive toward Berlin, and by the 21st had entered the city limits 2 weeks of intensive street fighting followed Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin on April 30 Berlin surrendered on May 2

Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) May 8, 1945

Wartime Conferences Casablanca Conference, Jan. 1943 Cairo Conference, Nov. 22--26, 1943 Tehran Conference, Nov. 28—Dec. 1, 1943 Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945 Potsdam Conference, July 17—Aug. 2, 1945

Casablanca Conference Casablanca, Morocco, Jan. 1943 Attendees: FDR, Churchill, Charles de Gaulle (leader of the Free French Movement) The policy of the Allies to demand the unconditional surrender of Germany and the other Axis Powers was first decided here Churchill wanted to move against Germany by taking Sicily and the rest of Italy, to which FDR agreed

Cairo Conference Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 22—26, 1943 Attendees: FDR, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek of China (Stalin refused to attend, since at the time Japan and the Soviets had a peace pact) Said the Allies would continue deploying military force until Japan’s unconditional surrender and Japan would be stripped of the islands and lands it had taken over

Tehran Conference Tehran, Iran, Nov. 28—Dec. 1, 1943 Attendees: FDR, Churchill, Stalin First of the wartime conferences between the “Big 3” (U.S., Britain, Soviet Union) Main outcome: the commitment to the opening of a second front against Nazi Germany by the Western Allies by May 1, 1944 (this became D-Day---the Normandy invasion)

Yalta Conference Yalta, in Crimea in the Soviet Union, Feb. 1945 Attendees: FDR, Churchill, Stalin Was held mainly to discuss re-establishment of war-torn European nations FDR was sick and frail, and was criticized for giving too much leeway to Stalin (for example, the eastern European nations would be “friendly” to the Soviet Union; Stalin promised to hold free elections in Poland, but this never happened) Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan 3 months after the conclusion of the war against Germany (in exchange for this, Stalin would be given spheres of influence in parts of Asia) Confirmed the policy adopted at Casablanca of demanding Germany’s unconditional surrender

Potsdam Conference Potsdam, Germany (near Berlin) July 17—Aug. 2, 1945 Attendees: “Big 3”: Harry Truman, Churchill, Clement Attlee (Britain), Stalin (also Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek) Discussed post-war arrangements in Europe Potsdam Declaration by Truman, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek of China demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan (the war in Europe was already over), or Japan would face “prompt and utter destruction” (meaning atomic bombing, although this was not known to the world)