Mark Callagher
[pic] | | |
|Title |21. Reading – The Ending of World War II |
|Description | |
|Keywords | |
|Objectives | |
|Author |Mark Callagher |
|Organisation | |
|Version | |
|Date | |
|Copyright | |
Introduction
|Important battles had been won over the critical 12 – 18 months from the beginning of 1942. It was now time for the|[pic] |
|Allies to take the offensive to help bring about the defeat of the Axis powers. | |
|The Western Allies (Britain and the United States) would concentrate their efforts on successful amphibious | |
|landings in Europe and the Pacific. | |
|At the same time the Soviet Union would continue its steady advance against Axis Armies through large scale land | |
|battles in the East. | |
Italy
|After the defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943 the |[pic] |
|stage is set for the Allies to re-enter the occupied European |Map of Italy showing mountainous terrain |
|mainland. Churchill had referred to Italy as the “soft underbelly” of | |
|Europe meaning that it would be far less difficult to overcome Italian| |
|forces than taking on the Germans in France. | |
| | |
|American and British forces therefore agreed that an invasion should | |
|take place in Sicily, hoping that a defeat would lead to the fall of | |
|Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. | |
| | |
|The problem with invading Italy was the mountainous terrain which | |
|would be easier for Axis forces to defend. Access to the rest of | |
|Europe through Italy would also be close to impossible. | |
Invasion of Italy
The battle for Italy would last until the end of the European war.
Play this Animation to follow the events of the Battle for Italy:
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Mussolini Sacked
|Growing Italian discontent with Mussolini had started with the defeats in North Africa and the|[pic] |
|Eastern front followed by the invasion of Sicily and Allied bombing of targets on the Italian |Mussolini and Hitler – Allied until the end |
|mainland. | |
| | |
|Sacked | |
|Mussolini’s own Fascist Party turned on him which led to his sacking by King Vittorio Emanuele| |
|III who said: | |
|“My dear Mussolini, it is no longer any good. Italy has gone to pieces. The soldiers don’t | |
|want to fight any more……you are the most hated man in Italy” | |
| | |
|Arrested | |
|He was arrested and imprisoned in an isolated mountain resort. | |
| | |
|Rescued | |
|While the new Italian Government was negotiating an armistice with the Allies, Mussolini was | |
|rescued in a daring raid by German Paratroopers on Hitler’s orders. | |
Mussolini Executed
|German Occupation |[pic] |
|Most Italian soldiers went home or switched sides after the Italian surrender. |The End of Mussolini |
|Mussolini was reinstated and German troops occupied Italy to defend it against | |
|a future Allied invasion | |
| | |
|Executed | |
|In April 1945, when all was lost, Mussolini tried to flee to the Austrian | |
|border but was captured by Italian Partisans. He was executed along with other | |
|Fascists and hung publicly by his feet. | |
Teheran Conference
At the end of 1943 the Allied leaders met for the first time, in Teheran (Iran) with the purpose of co-ordinating and planning strategy for the remainder of the war against Nazi Germany.
[pic]
The Big Three together for the first time – Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
Second Front
|Since 1942 Stalin had been pushing for a second front to be opened up in Western Europe to take pressure |[pic] |
|off the Red Army. |American bombing of German |
|Britain and America had promised Stalin an invasion in 1943 but had instead fought in North Africa and |factories |
|invaded Italy. | |
|Bombing Campaign | |
|Britain and the US had also kept up a sustained bombing campaign against German’s military industry – | |
|this in itself significantly assisted Stalin by weakening Germany’s ability to make war. | |
Churchill’s Reluctance
Churchill was reluctant to invade France and wanted to go for a safer option of invading through Yugoslavia. Memories of his personal failures at Gallipoli (WWI) and Norway (1940) plus the evacuation at Dunkirk had made him cautious.
However, Roosevelt got his way and assured Stalin that an invasion would take place in the spring of 1944.
[pic]
“Watershy Little Winston” – German Cartoon, April 1944
Attacking Fortress Europe
|By spring 1944, the Germans were waiting for the Allies to open another |[pic] |
|front in the west. There were various points from which they expected |Allocation of German Forces prior to the Allied landings |
|assaults to be made (shown by the pink arrows) but the main blow, they | |
|knew, would be a cross-Channel invasion. | |
|There was a large area to cover. Fifty-eight divisions were allocated to | |
|cover the frontier. | |
Atlantic Wall
Hitler’s Fortress Europe had been fortified along the French coast with an “Atlantic Wall”.
Hitler placed Rommel in charge of the defences. Rommel said that the key was to stop the Allies at the landing point and deny them a foothold. He said:
Believe me. The first 24 hours of the invasion will decide it. For the allies as well as for Germany it will be the longest day”
[pic]
“Atlantic Wall” - German fortifications on the French coast
Preparations for Overlord
|Operation Overlord was the name given to the Allied invasion of Western Europe. |[pic] |
|American General Eisenhower was named supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe. |Allied Supreme Commander General Eisenhower – later becomes |
|3 million troops would be involved in the invasion. |US President |
|American, Canadian, British and free French Troops would take part | |
|Over 1.5 million American troops were shipped to Britain | |
| | |
|The south of England became a massive training camp and supply depot | |
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|Popular US wartime song - "Over There" | |
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D-Day Invasion
Operation Overlord was launched on the morning of 6th June 1944 which was called D-Day. The day saw the largest amphibious assault ever launched. 7000 ships or landing craft went to an assembly point called Piccadilly Circus to begin the operation. The Allies had air superiority: 12,000 aircraft to Germany’s 170.
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Play this Animation to follow the events of D-Day:
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D-Day Movie Clip
Play this BBC Stills Movie Clip of the D-Day events
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Securing the Beachheads
|The success of the invasion depended on securing|[pic] |
|the beachheads. This occurred on 7th June. |Floating Mulberry Harbour (background) with Ramp (foreground) used to offload equipment onto Omaha |
|156,000 Allied soldiers had landed with about |Beach |
|10,000 casualties. | |
| | |
|Mulberry Harbours | |
|Mulberry Harbours were towed across the Channel.| |
|This enabled the rapid troop and supply | |
|reinforcement. It was important to land as many | |
|tanks as possible to face the assault of the | |
|German Panzer Divisions that had been held in | |
|reserve. | |
Operation Overlord
After securing the beachhead it was important for the Allies to break out from Normandy before the German Army could box them in.
Play this Animation to follow the events of Operation Overlord:
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Paris Liberated
The Liberation of Paris took place in late August 1944, marking the end of Operation Overlord. Despite orders from Hitler that Paris should be held to the last and to destroy the city, German forces surrendered on 25th August. Joyous crowds greeted the American and Free French forces as liberators, as they marched down the Champs Elysees (Main Avenue in Paris).
|[pic] |[pic] |
|American troops marching down the Champs Elysees |General DeGaulle walking amongst the joyous |
| |Parisians |
Hollywood
Many movies have been made by Hollywood about the events surrounding D-Day and the subsequent battles.
Some of the best and most well known are:
|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|Movie produced in 1962 starring |1998 Movie produced by Steven Spielberg and |2001 Movie Series featuring Easy Company from the |
|John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Robert |starring Tom Hanks |101st Airborne Division as they land behind enemy lines and|
|Mitchum | |battle through to victory in Germany |
Fighting Back
|Hitler survived an assassination attempt on |[pic] |
|20th July 1944. He and his fellow Nazi leaders|“German Autumn” by T.T. Heine 1944 – This German cartoonist could see the writing on the wall. He fled to|
|were determined to fight to the end. There was|Stockholm |
|no consideration to surrender. | |
|As autumn set in they tried to paint an | |
|optimistic picture and urged the German people| |
|to redouble their efforts to repel the Second | |
|Front invasion and the Russian advance from | |
|the east. | |
V1 and V2
|By 1944 Germany had developed the technology to |[pic] |
|launch long range rockets against Allied |A German V2 Rocket about to be fired from its mobile launcher |
|targets. The V2 rocket was the most feared | |
|travelling faster than the speed of sound with | |
|no warning before impact. | |
| | |
|London’s Second Blitz | |
| | |
|London was the chosen target. After D-Day | |
|several thousand were fired from mobile launch | |
|pads with over 2000 reaching their target. | |
|London had to endure its second “blitz”. Over | |
|100,000 were killed or wounded by the rocket | |
|attacks. | |
Battle of the Bulge
|The Allies were hoping that |[pic] |
|the war would be over by |The Ardennes Offensive – Battle of the Bulge |
|Christmas of 1944. But Hitler | |
|had other ideas. As the Allies| |
|advanced towards the German | |
|border he launched an | |
|unexpected counter offensive | |
|through the Ardennes Forest. | |
|Hitler had been successful | |
|here when attacking France in | |
|1940. | |
| | |
|The US Army just managed to | |
|scramble to stop the German | |
|Army from breaking through. | |
|The battle lasted two months, | |
|December1944 to January 1945, | |
|and had the effect of | |
|prolonging the war. | |
| | |
|By the beginning of February | |
|the Allies would reach the | |
|Rhine River inside Germany. | |
Eastern Europe
|No more German offensives against Russia would take place after |[pic] |
|the defeat at Kursk in July 1943. | |
Russians Advance
|Twice as many German Divisions were kept in the East to hold|[pic] |
|back the Red Army than were facing the Allied invasion in | |
|France. | |
|Despite Russia launched offensives across the whole front | |
|and steadily drove the German Army back towards the Polish | |
|and Romanian borders | |
Warsaw Rising
The Polish saw that the Russians would reach Warsaw before the British. Poland was fearful of a Russian occupation. Britain had gone to war to defend Polish independence whereas Russia had initially collaborated with Germany and occupied Eastern Poland.
With the Russians on the outskirts of Warsaw, the Polish Home Army (underground) launched a massive uprising against the Germans on 1st August 1944. The battle raged for 2 months with the Russian Army controversially failing to assist. The Germans finally managed to put down the rising. Thousands of Polish and German soldiers died in the battle. The main casualties were the cities residents. Over 250,000 were killed, mostly in mass executions conducted by advancing German troops. Under Hitler’s orders over 85% of Warsaw was burnt to the ground.
|[pic] |[pic] |
|Polish Free Forces fighting the German Army |Destruction of Warsaw during the Uprising |
Changing sides
While the Allies were advancing through France the Red Army crossed into Poland and Romania. Germany’s Axis Allies, Romania and Bulgaria and Hungary, were persuaded to change sides and join the Red Army in its advance on Germany.
[pic]
“Make up your mind, Bulgaria – you’ll be better off in my bus” by Stephen, 1944
Fighting on Two Fronts
Germany continued to resist the advance of the Red Army, but a two front war would always be difficult to maintain.
[pic]
“The Man in Possession” by Strube, 1944
VE
|Victory in Europe against Hitler’s Armies was only months away. |[pic] |
|Before then many more thousands of troops and civilians were to die.|“Last fearful hours” by Carey Orr, Chicago Daily Tribune, 1945 |
|Hitler was determined to destroy the enemy along with the German | |
|people who he blamed for failing him. | |
Yalta Conference
|The Big Three met again on 4th February 1945 at Yalta on the Crimean |[pic] |
|Peninsula. At the time of Yalta, Russian Marshall Zhukov was only forty miles|The Big Three at Yalta – Roosevelt’s health was clearly failing |
|from Berlin. |him |
|Each of the three powers brought his own agenda to the Yalta Conference: | |
|Roosevelt wanted Soviet support in the Pacific War concerning the invasion of| |
|the Empire of Japan | |
|Churchill was pressing for free elections and democratic institutions in | |
|Eastern Europe, specifically Poland | |
|Stalin was attempting to establish a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern | |
|Europe which the Soviets thought was essential their national security. | |
| | |
|Stalin said that: | |
|"For the Russian people, the question of Poland is not only a question of | |
|honour but also a question of security. Throughout history, Poland has been | |
|the corridor through which the enemy has passed into Russia. Poland is a | |
|question of life and death for Russia." | |
Agreements
Soviet Union to Join Pacific War
Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would help invade Japanese territory 90 days after the defeat of Germany.
Democracies to be established
It was agreed that democracies would be established in Europe. The official statement said:
"The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice."
The United Nations
It was also decided that a new organisation, the United Nations, should be set up to replace the failed League of Nations.
Roosevelt returned to Washington saying that:
“The Crimean Conference ought to spell the end of a system of unilateral action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balances of power, and all the other expedients that have been tried for centuries — and have always failed. We propose to substitute for all these, a universal organisation in which all peace-loving nations will finally have a chance to join.”
Roosevelt dies
|Roosevelt died of ill health on 12th April 1945. The news came as a shock to the|[pic] |
|people at home and the soldiers abroad. |The new President – Harry Truman |
|FDR had pulled the American people out of the Great Depression and to victory in| |
|war. He was the most popular American President of the Twentieth Century and one| |
|of the world’s greatest statesmen. He remains the only American President to | |
|serve more than two terms in office. | |
| | |
|Churchill’s reaction was one of deep sadness: | |
|“I send my most profound sympathy in your grievous loss. It is also the loss of | |
|the British nation and of the cause of freedom in every land” | |
| | |
|Stalin said: | |
|“The Soviet people highly valued President Roosevelt as a great organiser of the| |
|struggles of the freedom-loving nations against the common enemy and as the | |
|leader in the cause of insuring the security of the whole world” | |
| | |
|Harry Truman | |
|Roosevelt’s replacement was the relatively unknown and inexperienced Senator | |
|from Missouri, Harry Truman. He had been elected vice-president in the previous | |
|year’s election. He now had big shoes to fill at a very important time. | |
East meets West
On the 27th April American and Russian troops met for the first time at the Elbe River south of Berlin. Before they met there had been fears that they might mistake each other for the enemy.
[pic]
An American and Russian soldier share stories of how far they have come
Battle of Berlin
|Entering Berlin |[pic] |
|On 21st April the Red Army entered the outskirts of Berlin. The Russians had|The Soviet Flag is hoisted above the Reichstag with Berlin laid waste in |
|the City, along with Hitler, completely surrounded. The Nazi minister of |the background |
|propaganda, Goebbels, issued a statement saying “Berlin will be defended to | |
|the last”. | |
| | |
|The fighting was fierce and every street was taken at a terrible cost. The | |
|Red Army lost 70,000 troops in the process. | |
| | |
|Hitler dead | |
|Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun committed suicide in his bunker on 30th | |
|April only hours after they were married. | |
| | |
|By 2nd May the old German parliament building, the Reichstag, had fallen. | |
VE Day
|The German forces in Europe surrendered to the Allies on 7th May |[pic] |
|1945. |Churchill celebrating with the British crowds |
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|NBC announcement of German surrender | |
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|The following day Churchill declared a day of celebration, VE | |
|Day. | |
|During the celebrations Churchill appeared on the balcony of the | |
|British Parliament Buildings, to speak to the vast crowd. After | |
|the words 'This is your victory!', the crowd roared back, 'No - | |
|it is yours!' | |
VJ
|Island Hopping |[pic] |
|The American forces had been using a tactic of |American B29 Superfortress bomber |
|Island Hopping – attacking Pacific Islands and | |
|clearing islands of Japanese forces. As they came | |
|closer to Japan bombing raids could be launched on | |
|the Japanese mainland. | |
|Advanced Bomber | |
|The new American B29 Superfortress bombers were the| |
|most advanced bombers produced in World War II. | |
Iwo Jima
|The island of Iwo Jima was very important. It was close enough to |[pic] |
|Japan (only 650 miles from Tokyo) for fighter planes to provide much |Marines raise the American flag over Iwo Jima |
|needed air cover to the long range B29 bombers. | |
| | |
|Iwo Jima was Japanese soil. No foreign army in Japan’s 5000 year | |
|history had trod on Japanese soil. | |
| | |
|The Japanese strategy for its defence was unique: | |
|The Japanese didn't fight above ground. They fought the battle | |
|entirely from beneath the ground. They dug 1,500 rooms into the rock. | |
|These were connected with 16 miles of tunnels. | |
|Japanese strategy called for "no Japanese survivors." | |
|Japanese strategy was for each soldier to kill 10 Americans before | |
|they themselves are killed. | |
| | |
|The fighting on the island of Iwo Jima lasted two months and was very | |
|costly for both sides | |
The Philippines
|The Battle to retake the Philippines involved the |[pic] |
|largest every naval battle at Leyte Gulf. Over 280 |A Japanese Kamikaze attack on a US Carrier during the Battle of Leyte |
|warships took part. | |
| | |
|Kamikazes | |
|Japan was now very desperate. It introduced a new | |
|phenomenon into the war. Kamikaze (suicide) pilots | |
|crashed their bomb laden planes into American | |
|ships. | |
|The Americans won the battle and retook the | |
|Philippines but at a cost. It was becoming clear | |
|that defeating Japan might take many years. Each | |
|island was costing thousands of American lives. | |
Okinawa
|In April 1945 American soldiers landed on the southern |[pic] |
|Japanese island of Okinawa. The fighting lasted 3 months |The Firebombing of Tokyo – 83,000 residents of Tokyo were burnt to death |
|and cost 12,000 American lives. Japanese soldiers had | |
|fought to the death. 50,000 Japanese troops had been | |
|killed with only 227 surrendering. | |
| | |
|Pressure on Japan | |
|In July 1945; Japan’s position looked bad. There was a | |
|shortage of raw materials. Food was scarce and US planes | |
|regularly bombed Japan. In one fire-bombing raid on Tokyo| |
|83,000 were killed. | |
Potsdam Conference
|Churchill, Truman and Stalin met for a two week |[pic] |
|conference at Potsdam in Berlin, July 1945. |The Big Three at Potsdam. Stalin is the only survivor from the Yalta Conference 5 months |
|They discussed how Japan could be made to surrender. |earlier |
|Several options were discussed: | |
|Blockade Japan. | |
|Continue bombing Japan. | |
|Invade Japan – It would need at least 5 million men. | |
|Japan still had over 2 million soldiers and thousands of | |
|Kamikaze pilots. | |
|Russian Help – As agreed at Yalta the Russians would | |
|enter the war against Japan | |
|Churchill Replaced | |
|During the Conference Churchill unexpectedly lost the | |
|British election. With the European war over the British | |
|voters were focusing on living conditions. Churchill was | |
|replaced at the Conference by the new Labour Prime | |
|Minister Clement Atlee. | |
Potsdam Ultimatum
|The Three leaders made an ultimatum to Japan: |[pic] |
|"We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the |The first atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” |
|unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide | |
|proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The| |
|alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction." | |
| | |
|The Manhattan Project | |
|The Americans had been working on a top secret project to develop an | |
|Atomic bomb – the power of which had never been imagined before. | |
|During the conference Truman received word that the first successful | |
|Atomic bomb test had taken place. President Truman believed it would | |
|make Japan surrender. | |
|During the conference Truman took Stalin aside and told him that the | |
|US had developed a secret weapon. Stalin did not act surprised. His | |
|spies had kept him up to date on the Manhattan Project. | |
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Japan In Retreat
|The Japanese |[pic] |
|armies were in | |
|full retreat on | |
|all fronts. | |
| | |
|Russia joins the | |
|War | |
|As agreed at | |
|Potsdam the Soviet| |
|Army joined the | |
|war on Japan. They| |
|attacked Japanese | |
|territory in | |
|Manchuria and | |
|Northern China on | |
|9th August. | |
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
|In the end the Truman decided to use the Atomic bomb to help end the war. |[pic] |
|Hiroshima |Mushroom cloud from the second Atomic Bomb dropped on |
|The first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6th August. |Nagasaki |
|Nagasaki | |
|Japan’s failure to surrender meant that another bomb was dropped 3 days later on the city| |
|of Nagasaki. | |
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Surrender
|On August 10, 1945, after the invasion of Manchuria by |[pic] |
|the Soviet Union and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and|Japanese delegation onboard the USS Missouri to surrender |
|Nagasaki, Japan's leaders decided, in principle, to | |
|accept the uncompromising terms the Allies had set down | |
|for ending the war in the Potsdam Declaration. However it| |
|was only after several more days of behind-the-scenes | |
|negotiations and a failed coup attempt that Emperor | |
|Hirohito gave a radio address to the nation on 15th | |
|August. | |
| | |
|The Japanese delegation arrived on board the battleship | |
|USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay to formally surrender | |
|to General Douglas MacArthur | |
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day was celebrated as thousands of Americans took to the streets.
[pic]
New Yorkers celebrate VJ Day in Times Square
Conclusion
The largest conflict ever known to mankind, the Second World War had finally come to an end. It had claimed approximately 50 million lives. However, its effects and consequences would last for decades to come.
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