1. WWII
Chapter 19 Section 2

2. Lead off 5/1
Read page 605 and answer the questions at the end of the passage

3. I. Blitzkrieg “Lightning War” Early Victories (1939-1940)
Fast attacks – avoid trench warfare
Tanks and planes support troop movement
Early Victories ( )
Poland (Sept)
Denmark, Norway (April)
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg (May)
France (June)
Dunkirk – British army evacuated back to England (live to fight another day)
Northern France –controlled by Hitler
Southern (Vichy) France – controlled by sympathetic puppet government

5. II. Battle of Britain Air Superiority Hitler wanted to invade GB
Needed to destroy Royal Air Force (RAF) to cross the channel
Destroy plane factories
Destroy airfields
British Victory
Radar
Germans changed strategy and bombed cities
Try to break population’s will to fight
Allowed RAF to continue to operate
Importance
Hitler is stopped for the first time
GB (and the entire Allied effort) is saved

7. III. Eastern Front Breaking the Pact
If Soviet Union was conquered, GB would quit
Securing the south
Greece
Yugoslavia
Invasion (operation Barbarossa – June 1941)
Early successes (within 25 miles of Moscow)
Early winter stops advance

8. IV. America and WWII Neutrality –Neutrality Act of 1939
European problem – no repeat of WWI (isolationism)
GB exaggerated propaganda in WWI
Nye Committee – WWI created huge profits for businesses
European countries still owed money to US
Great Depression to deal with
Helping Britain – FDR found ways around Neutrality Act
Lend- Lease Act – let GB and USSR “borrow” equipment
Destroyers for Bases – trade ships for rights to build bases in GB territory
Hemispheric Defense Zone – patrol Atlantic and tell GB where U-boats were
Atlantic Charter – plans for post-war between GB and US

9. IV. American And WWII Japan and the US
Embargo against Japan for invading neighbors
Japan attacks naval base at Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941)
US declares war on Japan
Germany declares war on US

12. V. European Theatre (Allies vs. Germany)
Battle of the Atlantic
US and GB fought German navy for control of the ocean (lasted the entire war)
Allies win – troops and supplies can be sent to Europe
North Africa and Italy (Operation Torch)
Allies take back Africa and Italy (Patton and Montgomery)
Allies win and Italy surrenders (Mussolini executed)
Stalingrad (Soviets vs. Germans)
Germans take city but then get trapped inside
Worst battle of the war
Germans defeated
Soviets begin to push the Germans out of the Soviet Union
Turning point on the Eastern Front

17. V. European Theatre (continued)
Normandy (D-Day June 6, 1944)
Allies invade France
Commanded by Omar Bradley
US, GB, and Canadian land on beach
Liberation of western Europe begins
Battle of the Bulge (Christmas 1944)
Last offensive by Hitler
US troops trapped in Bastogne, Belgium (101st Airborne)
Allies led by Patton rescue 101st and push the Germans back
Germans back in Germany by April 1945
Surrender
Hitler commits suicide (April 30)
Germany surrenders unconditionally (May 7 – VE Day)

21. VI Pacific Theatre (Allies vs. Japan)
Philippines (1942)
Japan drive US out of Philippines
Bataan Death March – captured US soldiers are massacred
Doolittle Raid (1942) – Carrier based bombers led by Jimmy Doolittle bomb Japan
Goal: Surprise Japanese and revenge for Pearl Harbor
Effect: little actual damage but big morale boost for Americans
Coral Sea (1942) - First naval battle in history fought entirely with aircraft
First Japanese loss
Japanese lose carriers
Midway (1942)
Americans (Nimitz) catch Japanese (Yamamoto) in a trap
Japanese lose most of their aircraft carriers
Allies begin to push the Japanese back

25. VI. Pacific Theatre (Continued)
Island Hopping – selectively retaking Japanese territory for strategic value
Saipan – allowed land based heavy bombers to attack Japan
Iwo Jima – allowed fighter escort of bombers
Leyte Gulf
Philippines retaken (Led by Douglas MacArthur)
Japanese navy destroyed
Japanese begin kamikaze attacks
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombs dropped
Manhattan project: development of atomic bomb
Decision made by President Harry S. Truman
Reason: saved lives
Japan surrenders (August 14)