4/7/2011

Today, in class, we got on the computers and talked about what we went over last week.

1. 1940 Selective Training and Service Act:

First peacetime draft in U.S. History
Passed by FDR who really wanted the U.S. to get into the war
Even though we were officially a neutral country, FDR knew that we would eventually get into the war
Congress passed this act so that we would fill our military needs
When a draft comes around and your name is called, you would have to go and serve in the war
This was used until 1973
After 1973, the U.S. military used volunteers instead

2. Women's Role in WWII

Rosie the Riveter represented women workers in WWII
She was the poster child for women--"We Can Do It!"
This encouraged them to keep working in the factories because they were afraid that they would lose their feminine side
Women were very much needed so working in the factories helped them to get more rights
Another popular job for women was being a nurse
This was also a very important role for them and many of them met their future husbands in this way
Women were also needed as waitresses, elevator operators, messengers, teachers, conductors and many other jobs that men would typically do
Propaganda posters told the women that we would win sooner if they got involved
WAC: the Women's Army Corps worked with testing things, typing, and desk jobs such as making maps and producing photography
WAVES was the women's navy, they would become secretaries and answer phones
WASP was the women's equivelant of the airforce
They would test out new airplanes and transport them from place to place
Every branch of the military had their own form for women

3. African-American's role in WWII:

African Americans were segregated from Whites in WWII
All other races were seen as inferior to the whites
Many African Americans joined the war and became pilots and fought on the front lines against the enemy
The Tuskegee Airmen were black pilots

4. Asian's role in WWII:

5. Hollywood's role in WWII:

Hollywood made propaganda films and entertained troops
This encouraged people to buy war bonds and go overseas to entertain troops
Bob Hope and other comedians went over and did just that. Called the USO tour.
J.J. Killroy would write "Killroy was here," with an accompanying cartoon figure. People would start doing this EVERYWHERE.

6. Office of Price Administration:

Established in 1941 to administer price controls
8000 rationing boards were created 200,000 volunteersto assist the 60,000 employees of the angency.
Food Rationing included restrictions on sugar and meat as well as silk and cotton
People were limited to 5 gallons of gas/week (eventually only 4)
Doctors or war workers were allowed unlimited gas. Also, truckers. They would have stickers displayed on their cars
Black market for these stickers would arise.
32,500 motorists were arrested for this.

7. War Production Board:

Made sure that factories produced war goods fast and efficiently

8. National War Labor Board:

Organization that tried to bring owners and workers together to prevent strikes.

9. Why the Homefront helped win the war

Again, just entertain and keep the troops positive
Also, rationing to conserve food for the soldiers

10. How US/Allies fought back against U-boats

Just do what they can to outrun them
First they must have detected them
Above water, U-boats were sitting ducks, but below the water they were surprise attacks.
When they intercepted radio transmissions, the lingo would always be in code
To prevent merchant ships from being destroyed, they would surround them with battleships, called the wolf pack or "convoy" system.

11. Intelligence gathering--Ultra/Magic

This was our code name for incepting and deciphering codes and we would share the information amongst our allied friends. ULTRA MAGIC.
we would know where U-boats would be coming due to this, and we would alter our routes to prevent attacks
Enigma machine was Germany's system in which German transferre their information through codes
Solving the Enigma system remains one of the great Allied triumphs of WWII.
Hunter-killers were ships and airplanes were made to find and destroy U-boats.
A depth charge attack is where you can decide how far under the water when it explodes, just another attempt at fighting back against U-boats.

12. Operation Barborossa(USSR vs Germany)

Hitler invaded the Soviet Union because he despised the ethic Slavsruled b their "Jewish Bolshevik" masters.
Wanted Ukraine for the farmland
They could use the people in Russia that weren't killed as slave laborers
The defeat of the USSR would further isolate the Allied Powers. He also wanted the oil fields in the Caucasus mountains
He did not trust Stalin at all. He also invaded because there was no Western front fighting except GB, so they had a lot more of forces to focus on the USSR.
Operation Barborossa was the greatest land war in recorded history in terms of man power and casualties.
The main front would eventually expand to 1490 miles.
German Army in USSR was split.
The three groups were out to take out Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad.
The Battle of Moscow 280,000-400,000 German casualties. 650,000-1,280-000 Soviet casualties
Hitler believed that Moscow was a major military and political target in the USSR as it would lead to the collapse of the country.
Germany got within 12 miles of Moscow when the Soviet Union stopped the advancing troops.
Angry that his army had been unable to take Moscow, Hitler dismissed his commander-in-chief, and took personal charge of the army.
Many experienced German generals quit as they questioned Hitler's decisions. He then surrounded himself with young inexperienced people, as they are easily manipulated.
The Siege of Leningrad- Started on Sept. 8th, 1941. They lifted the siege 872 days later. It was one of the most destructive and costly sieges (in terms of casualties).
Hungry gangs would resort to cannibalism to stay alive. There was even a unit created to prevent cannibalism.

13. Battle in Africa and Italy

Operation Torch was the British-American invasionof French North Africa started on November 8th of 1942. We had defeated Germany, Italy and the Vichy France by 1943.
The Casablanca Conference took place in 1942, which is in Morocco of Africa. We thought that it would be smarter to invade the weakest part of Nazi-controlled land (again, Africa).
Churchill called Italy the "soft underbelly of Europe," and he was right. Italy wasn't very tough.
The Tuskegee Institute- The Tuskegee Airman was a trained black group of pilots, and they were very successful. They would bomb Germany.

14. US Generals-Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur, Nimitz, Bradley

Erwin Rommel- The Desert Fox was part of the Afrika corps. He was nicknamed the Desert Fox because they fought in the deserts of northern Africa and he was a sneaky son of a gun.
MacArthur- Was the commander of the army during the Civic theatre or something when battling vs. Japan
Bernard Montgomery- Monty
General George Patton and Monty had a competition to see who could take down Rommel first.
George Patton was very big on himself, and he always carried around an ivory pistol.
Nemitz was in charge of the US navy, and without them, we would be inable to invade Japan and whatnot.

15. D-Day-Operation Overlord:

D-Day was the turning point of the war, and it was the day we invaded France. France was our ally, but it was controlled by Germany at the time. JUNE 6TH, 1944.
Codename-Operation Overlord
It happened in two phases:
1. The airborne assault of 24,000 British, American, Free French, and Canadian troops shortly after midnight
2. An amphibious landing of Allied Infantry and an armored division on the coast of France at 6:30 a.m.
We issued a lot of fake information that we wanted Hitler to intercept, and these were known as decoy operations. We said that we were going to invade Clay (sp?), France, so a bunch of German troops were pulled up there.
It was the biggest invasion perhaps ever with 160,000 troops invading France.
The Atlantic Wall was created to combat this invasion, which Hitler knew was going to happen eventually. It was built on the coast of eastern europe
Within eleven months of this invasion, the war was over.

16. Battle of the Bulge:

The Germans goal was to push their way through Europe to the sea and reclaim France. They were practically done BEFORE this battle and they were even more donesies after.
It was the coldest and snowiest winter on record. It was 55,000 British and 600,000 Americans vs. 500,000 Germans. The battle took place at the end/beginning of 1942/1943 or something like that.
Hitler and even some of his followers killed themselves. He wanted his body to be burnt so the Soviets wouldn't get to it.

17. FDR Dies-Truman takes over

Truman was vice president when FDR died. He almost got to the end of the war.
Hitler celebrated at the idea of the president dying, and he thought this would be a second chance to win the war. He killed himself a week later
FDR died of celebral brain damage.
Truman, the VP at the time, had NO idea about any atomic bombs, which shows how top secret it was.

18. VE Day

This is when we declared that we won the war. People would gather on the streets, as they were very excited.

19. Battle in the Pacific-Island Hopping, Philippines, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa,

Island hopping sayes time and saves lives. It was a US military strategy vs Japan of hitting the more important islands and skipping others. They would do this and it would cut off supplies to the other islands.
December 7, 1941, Japan attacked many countries, including US (Pearl Harbor) as well as the Philippines, which was a US territory at the time. We got the Philippines after we defeated Spain.
The Baton Death March was the worst atrocity put upon the US soldiers in the war. 75,000 American and Filippino POW's were forced to walk 60 miles, and 6,000-20,000 soldiers were killed. Afterwards, Japanese officials were tried for war crimes.
The battle of the Coral Sea took place from May 4-8 of 1942.
It was more of a naval battle than anything, however there was some airplanes fighting airplanes and airplanes bombing the ships. hmm.
Japan sunk more ships than the Allied Powers did, but this was also a win for the US, as it was the first time we stopped Japanese advance.
The Battle of Midway was regarded as the most important naval battle against the Japan. It was fought between June 4-7 of 1942.
The Japanese believed that if they defeated the US at Midway, that we would sign a deal and leave the war.
We decisively destroyed their Navy without a hesitation. Their naval forces suffered huge losses.
We won because of "magic," which again is the intercepting of Japanese code.
The Guadalcanal Campaign was fought between August 7 and Feb 9th of 1943 in the Solomon Island Archipelago.
It was a significant naval offense for the US.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf took place in 1944, which is when we took back the Philippines. It was truly the last stand of the Japanese navy. COMPLETELY DEMOLISHED.
Iwo Jima and Okinawa are Japanese Islands.

20. Navajo Code Talkers

They transferred our codes over the airwaves in the Navajo language. It was never a written language, so there was literally no way that they could decode our messages.
It wasn't until 1982 when people started to recognize them for what they did for the US during the war.
Only 30 people that weren't Navajo could speak the language

21. Doolittle's Raid

James Doolittle said that we should attack Japan, as it would confuse them and cause them to doubt their leaders. Prior, the Japanese were told that they were invulnerable. We also attacked because the US desperately needed a morale boost.
After the attack, Japan thought that they need to extend the land that they reigned so they can prevent invasions much easier.

22. Manhattan Project

23. Hiroshima bombing

24. Nagasaki bombing

25. VJ Day

26. Yalta Conference

27. Nuremburg Trials

28. Japanese Internment Camps in US

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4/7/2011

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