1. America Enters World War II
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States mobilized for war.

2. Japan’s goal from the Pearl Harbor Attack.
The Japanese had hoped that once the Americans had experienced Japan’s power, they would shrink from further conflict.
Japan’s newspapers raved that America was now a third rate country and trembling in their shoes.
American’s were angry and millions quickly enlisted into the armed forces.

3. The Selective Service
5 Million had joined voluntarily but it still was not enough to fight on two global fronts, the Atlantic and Pacific.
The Selective Service System expanded the draft and eventually provided another 10 million soldiers to meet the armed force’s needs.

5. Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
Created by General George Marshall.
The women who joined would be doing non-combat duties.
They worked as nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, and pilots.
This enabled more men to fight in combat.
1943 the Auxiliary portion was dropped, and women were given full U.S. Army benefits, they were now called WAC’s.

9. Minorities join the armed forces
300,000 Mexican Americans.
One million African Americans joined. They were segregated and did non-combat jobs. After much protest, in 1943 they saw combat.
13,000 Chinese and 33,000 Japanese joined. They were interpreters in the Pacific War.
25,000 Native Americans joined, including 800 women, the Saturday Evening Post commented “We wouldn’t need selective service if all American’s volunteered like Indians”.

10. American Production
February 1942 the last production of a privately used automobile rolled off the assembly line.
The Nation’s automobile plants were transformed to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars.
A pencil factory was turned into a bomb part making factory.
A soft drink company was converted into filling shells with explosives.

13. American Shipyards Shipyards and defense plants expanded.
By 1942 seven massive new shipyards had built producing:
Cargo Carriers
Tankers
Troop Transport
Aircraft Carriers

17. Hull 440- Built in only four days.

23. The Office of Scientific Research and Development
F.D.R. created this to bring scientists into the war effort.
They made improvements in radar and sonar.
They created DDT to fight insects, because of this, the U.S soldier was the first in history to be relatively free from body lice.
They also pushed the use of penicillin, that helped save thousands of lives on and off the battlefield.

24. The Atomic Bomb
1939 German scientists were able to split uranium atoms which released enormous amounts of energy.
Albert Einstein a physicist and German refugee wrote a letter to F.D.R warning him that the Germans could make a weapon of enormous power.
F.D.R. created the Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the new discovery.
The committee told F.D.R it would take three to five years to build an atomic bomb.

25. The Manhattan Project
This was the name of the program created by the O.S.R.D, it was named so because most of the early research took place at Columbia University which is located in Manhattan, New York.
This was an intensive program to build an atomic bomb as soon as possible.

27. Office of Price Administration (OPA)
Created by F.D.R. to fight inflation by freezing prices on most goods.
Congress raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before.
This reduced consumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend.
Americans were encouraged to use their extra money to buy war bonds.

35. War Production Board (wpb)
They decided which company would convert from peacetime to wartime production and give raw materials to key industries.
They also organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags and cooking fat for recycling war goods.

36. Rationing
American’s were given rationing books with coupons to be used for buying such scarce goods as, meat, shoes, sugar, coffee, and gasoline.
Workers carpooled or rode bicycles.
Families coped without tires or toy and meat only once a week.

44. The War for Europe and North Africa
Allied forces, led by the United States and Great Britain, battled Axis powers for control of Europe and North Africa.
It was during World War II, the United States assumed a leading role in world affairs that continues today.

45. War Plans
Churchill meets with F.D.R in December of 1941 and convinces F.D.R. to first strike against Germany, than go after Japan.
Germany and Italy were a greater threat
The allies could gain an upper hand in Europe
Once Germany was defeated, they then could pour all of their resources to defeat Japan.
After this meeting, Churchill and F.D.R. would remain strong friends.

46. The Battle of the Atlantic
After Pearl Harbor, Hitler ordered submarine raids along the American east coast to prevent supplies from reaching the Soviet Union and Great Britain.
In the first four months, German subs sank 87 ships off the Atlantic shore.
By July German Wolf Packs had destroyed 681 allied ships in the Atlantic.

47. The Allies React
Just like in World War I, the allies created convoys. Escorted by destroyers equipped with sonar, and airplanes that had radar, the Allies were soon sinking German U-Boats at a pace to which the Germans could not keep up with rebuilding them.

48. America’s Production Increases
By 1943, 140 Liberty Ships were being built each month.
Launchings of Allied ships were outnumbering those that were sunk.
This turned the outcome of the Battle of the Atlantic, which ended in mid 1943.

50. The Battle Of Stalingrad
The first great turning point of the European campaign.
The Germans had invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941.
In November the bitter cold of a Russian winter stopped the German’s just outside Moscow and Leningrad.
When Spring came the Germans tanks started to roll again.

51. Why Stalingrad?
Hitler wanted to wipe out Stalingrad because it was a major industrial center.
In August 1942 the German’s confidently approached Stalingrad and had most of the city taken over by late September.
The Soviets were ready to blow up their own factories and abandon the city. Until a furious Stalin ordered them to protect his city at all costs.

52. Stalin’s Strategy Pays Off
When another Russian winter set in, Stalin used the opportunity to roll out his tanks and counter attack.
The Soviets surrounded the city and had the German’s trapped, and cut off their supply line.
The German’s situation was hopeless, they were not prepared for another bitter winter.

53. Hitler Reacts
The German’s were then ordered by Hitler to “Stay and Fight!”
The German commander in Stalingrad had enough and on January 31, 1943 surrendered.
Two days later, his starving troops also surrendered.

54. Battle Of Stalingrad Results
The Soviets lost 1,100,000 soldiers which was more than the Americans would lose during World War II.
The Soviet’s victory marked a turning point in the war.
From that point on, the Soviet Army would begin to move westward toward Germany.

61. The North African Invasion
Led by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
November 1942, he led 107,000 allied troops to fight the Afriks Korps led by general Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox).
After heavy fighting, the allies were victorious in May 1943.
This was a colossal failure for Germany.

65. The Italian Campaign
Roosevelt, Churchill and their commanders met in Casablanca.
At this meeting the two leaders agreed to only accept the unconditional surrender of the Axis nations.
Enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies stated.
F.D.R agrees with Churchill to attack Italy.

67. The Italian Campaign
The Allies first captured Sicily in the summer of 1943.
The Italian government was shocked and forced dictator Benito Mussolini to resign.
On July 25, 1943 King Victor Emmanuel III, called Mussolini to his palace, and stripped Mussolini of power, and had him arrested.
“At this moment you are the most hated man in Italy”.
Italians began celebrating the end of the war.

68. King Victor Emmanuel III
He was very small and some considered him a dwarf.
He hired Mussolini as his Prime Minister in order to avoid a communist revolution in Italy in 1922.
He left the throne in 1946 hoping his son would be the next king. The Italians rejected him and became a republic.
King Victor Emmanuel III died in 1947.

69. September 1943 The Allies sign a treaty with Italy.
Hitler is outraged and decides to fight the Allies on Italian soil rather that German.
February 1944 the “Bloody Anzio” battle began and lasted four months.
It was fought less than 40 miles from Rome.
Germany continued defending Italy after the battle, and Italy was not liberated until the collapse of Germany in 1945.

70. Benito Mussolini
During the “Bloody Anzio” battle, Hitler installed Mussolini as the leader of a new government but had little power.
April 27, 1945: As the Allies advanced northward, Mussolini tries to flee to Switzerland with his mistress but were caught.
He and his mistress Claretta Petacci were shot by the Italians the next day April 28, 1945 two days before Hitler’s suicide.
The next day their bodies along with high ranking members of the Fascist party were hung upside down in Milan at Loreto Square to be abused by crowds.

73. The Allies Plan to liberate Europe
While the Italian campaign was being fought, work had begun on a dramatic plan to invade France and free Western Europe from the Nazis.
The plan was called “Operation Overlord”, and it would be lead by General Dwight D. Eisenhower also known as “Ike”.
The plan will be known as D-Day.

74. D-Day Plan
3 million British, American, and Canadian troops with huge supplies of military equipment and supplies will invade Normandy which is located in Northern France.
In order to trick the Nazis, Churchill and Eisenhower had a phantom army led by General Patton, with its own headquarters and equipment to invade at Calais and not Normandy.
Knowing the Germans could read the Allies radio signals, Eisenhower deliberately had a message sent for the phantom army to attack the French port of Calais, which was 200 miles away. Hitler took the bait because he knew Patton was leading the charge and sent his generals to Calais. That plan was called Operation Fortitude.

78. D-Day Was the largest land-sea air operation in army history.
German retaliation was brutal, especially at Omaha Beach.
See the Movie Saving Private Ryan.
After seven days of fighting, the allies held an 80-mile strip of France.

79. The Allies Gain Ground
Within a month the allies had entered a million troops, 567,000 tons of supplies and 170,000 vehicles in France.
July 25, General Omar Bradley unleashed massive air and land attacks against the Germans.
This provided a gap for General Patton and his Third Army of tanks to advance and take over Paris. Four years of German occupation were over.

80. September 1944 The allies had freed France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
This good news helped elect F.D.R to a record fourth term as President.
F.D.R.’s vice president is Senator Harry S.Truman.

81. October 1944
The Americans captured Aachen. This was their first German town to be captured.
Hitler panicked and started a desperate offensive attack.
Hitler told his troops to break the Allied lines and to recapture the Belgian port of Antwerp.

86. Liberation of the Death Camps
As allied troops pushed eastward and closer to Berlin, the Soviet army was pushing westward across Poland.
They were the first to come upon the Nazi Death Camps.
SS guards would work feverishly to bury and burn all evidence, but they ran out of time.

93. April 25, 1945 The Soviets stormed Berlin.
German soldiers tried to desert but those caught were either shot or hung from the nearest tree.
On the dead Germans chest was a sign, “We betrayed Hitler.”

94. April 29, 1945
Hitler writes out his last address to the German people in it he states:
He blamed the Jews for starting the war
He blamed his generals for losing it.
The next day Hitler shoots himself and his longtime girlfriend Eva Braun poisons herself.
Under Hitler’s order, the two bodies are carried out of their bunker, soaked in gasoline and ignited.

95. May 8th 1945
V.E. DAY

96. April 12, 1945

100. President Harry S.Truman

101. The War in the Pacific
In order to defeat Japan and end the war in the Pacific, the United States unleashed the horror of the Atomic Bomb.
After World War II, countries of the modern world will struggle to find ways to avoid Nuclear War and weapons.

102. Two Failures for the Japanese during the attack of Pearl Harbor.
They had missed the Navy’s aircraft carriers because they were out to sea at the time.
They had also missed the Navy’s submarine fleet.

103. Japan’s Early Success.
Hong Kong, French IndoChina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and the southern part of China.
The Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands, and two islands in the Aleutian chain, which are part of Alaska.

105. General Douglas MacArthur
Was in command of the allied forces on the Pacific Islands including the Philippines.
After Pearl Harbor, the allies and Filipinos were defeated by the Japanese at the island of Bataan.
F.D.R. ordered MacArthur to leave.
He did so but vowed to the thousands of men who did not make it out that “I shall return.”

106. The Bataan Death March Over 50,000 troops were left in Bataan.
The Japanese planned to move the prisoners and have them walk 100 miles to the prison yard.
Healthy, most could make it, but the troops were malnourished.

108. Bataan Death March The March began on April 10, 1942.
Any troops who fell behind were executed.
Japanese soldiers would beat prisoners randomly, and denied them food or water for many days.
The Philippines is very hot, the P.O.W’s were forced to sit in the sun with no shade.
If a prisoner asked for water, he would be shot.
When and if they were fed it was only a handful of contaminated rice.

109. The March Continues
When they were allowed to sleep for a few hours, they were so tightly packed that no one could move.
For only a brief period, the prisoners were transported in boxcars. Many died in the packed cars with no ventilation.
Those that survived walked another seven miles to their destination.
The march took a week.

115. Doolittle’s Raid
Colonel James Doolittle led sixteen fighter bombers on a daring raid of Tokyo, Japan.
Although not many strategic sites were bombed, it was a huge boost to the moral of the allies fighting in the Pacific War.
It was an embarrassment to the Japanese Government.
Three pilots were shot down and executed.

118. Battle of the Coral Sea
Was fought in May 1942, between the Americans and Australians vs Japanese.
It was a five day battle that stopped the Japanese from advancing towards Australia.
It was the first time that a Japanese invasion had been stopped and turned back.

120. The Battle of Midway Midway is located northwest of Hawaii.
American’s had broken the Japanese code and knew that Midway was their next target.
Admiral Chester Nimitz led the defense of Midway.
The American’s caught the Japanese with their planes still on their carriers.
The American’s destroyed 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser and 250 planes.
This win turned the war against Japan around and soon American was “Island Hopping” closer to Japan.

122. The Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Japanese put their entire naval fleet in this battle.
A new technique called Kamikaze was used.
Suicide plane.
Japanese pilots will crash their bomb strapped planes into American Ships.

123. Kamikaze’s Sunk 16 American ships and damaged another 80.
The battle devastated the Japanese fleet.
Three days of battle.
They lost 3 Battleships, 4 aircraft carriers.
13 cruisers, and almost 500 planes.
From this point on the Japanese navy played a small role in the war.

126. Iwo Jima Iwo Jima means “sulfur island” in Japanese.
The U.S. needed this Iwo Jima for a base so that heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan.
It was the most heavily defended spot on earth.
20,000 Japanese troops were dug in tunnels and caves.

127. Iwo Jima
More than 6,000 marines died taking Iwo Jima, more than any battle in the Pacific.
Only 200 Japanese survived . Mainly from suicide, many blew themselves up.
Only one island was in the way to Japan and that was Okinawa.

132. The Flag Raisers There were six flag raisers on top of Mt Suribachi.
The front four were Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block.
The back two were Michael Strank and Rene Gagnon.

133. Rene Gagnon
Mike Strank
John Bradley
Harlon Block
Ira Hayes
Frank Sousley

134. Okinawa April 1945, U.S Marines invaded Okinawa.
The Japanese unleashed 1,900 kamikaze attacks on the allies, sinking 30 ships, damaging more than 300 more and killing 5,000 seamen.
More than 7,600 Americans died, the Japanese lost 110,000.
The Americans witnessed Japanese soldiers and Generals committing suicide rather than give up.
This was reported back to Washington, that it will be a lot worse once Japan is invaded.
Winston Churchill predicted the cost would be a million American lives and Half that number of British lives.

136. The Manhattan Project
Led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the development of the first atomic bomb had over 600,000 people working on the project.
It was the best kept secret of the war, Truman didn’t know about it until he was President.

137. July 16, 1945
The first test took place in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The bomb worked.

139. The Enola Gay

140. Hiroshima

141. August 6, 1945 Hiroshima was an important Japanese military center.
43 seconds after the bomb was dropped, almost every building in the city collapsed into dust from the force of the blast.
Hiroshima was gone.
Yet still the Japanese refused to surrender.

145. Nagasaki August 9, 1945, leveled half of the city.
The bomb was dropped by parachute out of a B-29 Bomber.
It exploded 1,625 feet above the ground, and completely destroyed the city.
Nagasaki was one of Japan’s most important ports.
After the two bombings, leaflets were dropped warning the Japanese that more were coming if they did not surrender.

148. Emperor Hirohito
Was devastated by the bombings, in tears he told his council that “I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer.”

149. September 2, 1945
Aboard the U.S.S Missouri, formal surrender took place.

150. August 15th 1945
VJ DAY

151. The Yalta Conference
BEFORE BOTH GERMANY AND JAPAN SURRENDERED, FEBRUARY 1945.
F.D.R., Churchill, and Stalin met in Yalta, a city in the Soviet Union.
They were discussing what would happened once they won the war.
Stalin wanted to annihilate the Germans, by splitting Germany up into occupation zones so they could never threaten the Soviet Union again.

152. Yalta Results
A temporary division of Germany into four zones. One each for the Americans, British, the Soviets and the French.
Stalin promised free elections in Poland.
Stalin also agreed to help fight the Japanese in the Pacific.
Stalin also agreed to attend a conference of international countries in San Francisco.(This was the beginning of F.D.R.’s dream of a United Nations).

154. The Nuremberg War Trials
The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders on trial for crimes against humanity, peace, and war crimes.
The trials were held in the southern German town of Nuremberg.
At the end of the trial 12 of the 24 defendants were sentenced to death, the rest were sent to prison.

156. Occupation of Japan The American’s occupied Japan for seven years.
They put Tojo and 1,100 Japanese on trial.
Seven were put to death including Tojo.
General MacArthur reshaped Japan’s economy by introducing free market practices.

157. Internment
110,000 Japanese American’s were forced into Internment camps until the end of the war.
The American government were afraid that some were spies helping the Japanese war effort.
Families would be displaced and sometimes split up into different camps.
The camps were built quickly and were made of shoddy materials.