The United States in World War II

1. The United
States in
World War II
"The fate of the Empire rests on
this enterprise every man must
devote himself totally to the
task in hand."
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto -
Commander in Chief of the
Japanese Navy - 7th December
1941
"Our citizens can now rejoice
that a momentous victory is in
the making. Perhaps we will be
forgiven if we claim we are
about midway to our
objective."
Admiral Chester Nimitz - June
1942

2. Fighting the War on Multiple
Fronts
•United States at war with
Japan, Italy, and Germany
(Axis Powers)
•Needed to mobilize U.S.
resources to succeed in a
long war
•First U.S. goal was to help the
Allies liberate Europe
•At the same time, the U.S.
was fighting in Africa and
with the Japanese in the
Pacific

3. Africa
•Operation Torch (US and
British troops)
commanded by General
Eisenhower and was
launched in November
1942
•Invasion of French North
Africa during the North
African Campaign
•The Allies defeated the
German Africa Corps
commanded by General
Erwin Rommel (1943)
A British Crusader tank passes a
burning German Pzkw Mk IV tank
during Operation Crusader.
American troops on board a
landing craft.
Rommel with the 15th Panzer
Division between Tobruk and Sidi
Omar, Libya.

4. Europe
•Allies captured Sicily in 1943 and began
attack on the “soft underbelly” of Europe
•D-Day was launched June 6, 1944 on the
French beaches of Normandy
•By September 1944, Paris, France was
liberated
•Yalta Conference- The “Big Three” meet
to discuss Russia’s role after the inevitable
defeat of Germany (U.S. wanted Russia to
join the fight in the Pacific and support for
a new world peace keeping organization-
The United Nations
•Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945 (V-
E Day)
The "Big Three" at the Yalta
Conference, Winston
Churchill, Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin

5. Invasion of Normandy
•June 6, 1944- called D-Day
•British, American, and Canadian
troops stormed the beaches of
Normandy France (led by
General Dwight D. Eisenhower)
•Largest land-sea-air operation in
history
•Allies took heavy casualties
•Beginning of the liberation of
Europe
U.S. Army troops wade ashore on
Omaha Beach on the morning of 6
June 1944,

6. The Holocaust
•Germany systematically murdered an estimated
11 million Jews in Europe (concentration camps-
Auschwitz and Dachau)
•The U.S. government received reports about the
extermination as early as 1942. However, no
policy was formulated to stop the killings until
1944
•The U.S. Press avoided the subject; U.S. States
Department pursued an anti-immigration policy
toward Jewish refugees
•After Germany was defeated, U.S. soldiers were
some of the first witnesses to the death, torture,
and destruction that took place in the
concentration camps
A mass grave inside Bergen-
Belsen concentration camp
Inspection by the Nazi party
and Himmler at the Dachau
Protective Custody Camp on 8
May 1936.

7. Starving prisoners in Mauthausen
concentration camp liberated on May 5,
1945.

8. Battle of Midway (The Pacific)
•June 1942: Admiral Chester
Nimitz intercepted a naval
message by the Japanese
•Japan’s plan was to invade the
U.S. at the Midway Islands and
then attack U.S. Navy in Hawaii
•Japan’s forces outnumber the
U.S. 4 to 1
•The U.S. surprised the Japanese
carrier fleet and inflicted heavy
damages
Midway Atoll,
several months
before the battle.
Eastern Island (with
the airfield) is in the
foreground, and the
larger Sand Island is
in the background to
the west
Yorktown at the
moment of impact of a
torpedo
Hiryū, shortly before
sinking

9. Asia
•Battle of Midway (June 1942)
was the turning point of
Pacific War, Japanese now on
the defense
•U.S. began island hopping
campaign toward Japan
•Intense fighting ensued:
Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima,
Okinawa
•In desperation, the Japanese
tested a new tactic, the
kamikaze

10. The Manhattan Project
•Run by J. Robert Oppenheimer, a
physicist and General Leslie R.
Groves
•U.S. Army administered the
scientific and technical program
beginning in 1942.
•Estimated cost of 2 billion dollar to
develop
•It set up a research center in New
Mexico to develop the atomic
bomb as a weapon
•First atomic device detonated at
Alamogordo, NM (June 16
th
1945)

11. Project Sites

12. The Atomic Bomb
•Controversy over whether or
not the U.S. should use “the
bomb”
•Atomic bombs were dropped
on Hiroshima (Aug. 6, 1945)
and Nagasaki (Aug. 9, 1945)
•September 2, 1945: Japan
formally surrendered
•Over 200,000 Japanese died
from injuries and radiation
poisoning by the end of the
year
Little Boy explodes over Hiroshima, Japan, 6 August
1945 (left);
Fat Man explodes over Nagasaki, Japan, 9 August
1945 (right).

13. Hiroshima before the bombing. Hiroshima after the bombing.

14. Aftermath of WWII
•The war ended with the total victory of the
Allies over the Axis in 1945.
•World War II altered the political alignment and
social structure of the world.
•The United Nations (UN) organization was
established to foster international cooperation
and prevent future conflicts.
•The Soviet Union and the United States
emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage
for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46
years.
•Returning GIs used the G.I. Bill of Rights which
dramatically increased their standard of living
(provided free education and job training as well
has federal loans to buy homes, farms or
businesses
The United Nations Secretariat
Building at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York City.