U.S. Homefront: What people do at home to help with the war.
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 films for propaganda and also for entertaining troops
■This encouraged people to buy war bonds and do their part in the war
■Bob Hope and the USO Tour:
■Entertained troops with movies, dancing, singing, etc. and to give them something to enjoy while they had some time off
6. Office of Price Administration:
■Was set up in 1941 to administer price controls and rations
■8000 rationing boards were created with 200,000 volunteers to assist the 60,000 employees of teh agency
■Food rationing included restrictions on sugar and meat and clothing rationing restricted silk and nylon
■These items had to be rationed so there would be enough for the troops
■Gasoline rationing began in May of 1942 and limited the use of gas to five gallons a week
■By the end of 1942, half of the nation's automobiles were issued an A sticker, meaning they were allowed only four gallons a week
■The other half of automobiles had either a B sticker (for war workers) or a C sticker (vital occupation such as doctor) These stickers allowed more gas
■Truckers had T stickers for unlimited amounts of gas
■A black market developed in stolen or counterfeit stickers that were used in 5 to 30% of gasoline sales
■By 1945, thousands of motorists were arrested for using false stickers and 4000 gas stations closed
■People would get stamps for food and once your stamps were used up, you were done for the week
■People also had to wait in line a lot to get their supplies
7. War Production Board:
■Tried to make sure that factories made as much as they could and as quickly and efficiently as possible
■Did a great job because we were able to produce everything we needed
8. National War Labor Board:
■Didn't want workers to go on strike
■Encouraged workers to stay at work and encouraged business owners to pay their workers enough so they would not quit
■If workers and owners did not come together, it would hurt the war effort
9. Why The Homefront Helped Win The War:
10. How U.S./Allies Fought Back Against U-Boats:
■The Battle of the Atlantic was Germany's attempt at trying to control the seas while making sure supplies couldn't get to Great Britain
■To fight back against U-boats (submarines), we tried to use speed to out run them
■Above water, the U-boats were like sitting ducks because they couldn't do much
■Below the water, the U-boats had torpedos and were very powerful
■We tried to figure out where the German's U-boats were located by intercepting their radio code
■Convoy System was power in numbers. Instead of using one boat, you would go out in a group
■Merchant ships would be surrounded by battle ships to keep them safe and make sure they get through to give supplies to Great Britain
11. Allied Intelligence Gathering--Ultra/Magic:
■The U.S. and Great Britain understood how important communication and intelligence was in order to defeat the Axis powers
■The U.S. and Britain shared information using newly developed technologies like RADAR and huff
■Ultra was the code name for the intercepting and decifering German codes
■Ultra was Great Britian's while Magic was the U.S. for decifering Japanese codes
■This gave us the power to find out what the enemy was doing but they had no idea what we were doing
■Also helped us to figure out where their U-boats would be so we could find a different route and avoid them
■The Battle of Midway was the first official battle that we won against Japan
■Using Magic we knew what was coming so we could counteract the attack
■Enigma was the machine/system that Germany would use to transfer their information through codes
■Solving the Enigma system remains one of the greatest Allied triumphs of WWII and helped us to win the war
■Hunter-Killers were airplanes that were specifically designed to hunt down German U-Boats and attack them
12. Operation Barborossa (USSR vs Germany):
■Why did Hitler invade the Soviet Union?
■Lebensraum
■Despised the ethnic Slavs ruled by their "Jewish Bolshevik" masters
■Wanted Ukraine for their farmland
■Could use the people as slave labor
■The defeat of the USSR would further isolate the Allies
■Wanted the oilfields in the Caucasus mountains
■Didn't trust Stalin--German propaganda tried to show that Stalin was planning to attack Germany so the people started to buy into it
■The Western Front fighting was over (except for Great Britain)
■Hitler wanted Russia more than anything
■Operation Barbossa:
■This was the greatest land war in recorded history in terms of manpower and casualties
■This began at 3:30 a.m. on June 22, 1941
■The main front would eventually stretch over 1490 miles
■By the end of the year, 3,500,000 Red Army soldiers and 4,000,000 Russians died
■German Wehrmacht (Army):
■German Army in USSR was split and went after the following Russian cities:
■1. Leningrad
■2. Moscow
■3. Stalingrad
- Battle of Moscow:
- 280,000-400,000 German casualties and up to 1.2 million Soviet casualties
- Hitler believed that Moscow was the major military and political target in the USSR as it would lead to the collapse of the country
- If you capture the capital, you can control their government
- Germany got within 12 miles of Moscow before Soviet troops stopped the advance
- This battle marked a major turning point on the western front
- Furious that his army had been unable to take Moscow, Hitler dismissed his commander-in-chief in December of 1941, and took personal charge of the Wehrmacht (German Army)
- Hitler took control and made all military decisions from that point on
- This led to many experienced German officers to go against Hitler
- Hitler surrounded himself with staff officers with little or no recent combat experience because they would be easier to manipulate
- The Siege of Leningrad:
- Started on September 8, 1941 when the last land connection to the city was cut off by Germany (they were surrounded)
- Lifting of the siege took place on January 27, 1944, 872 days after it began
- Many of the city's people died because they starved to death
- It was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history and one of the most costly in terms of casualties
- Reports of cannibalism appeared in the winter of 1941-1942 after all birds, rats, and pets were eaten by survivors
- Hungry gangs attacked and ate defenseless people
- The Leningrad police formce even formed a special unit to combat cannibalism
- Finally, a successful Russian coutner-offensive at Stalingrad, drained necessary resources the Germans needed to continue the blockade and it eventually failed
- The Germans never took Leningrad, but it ws one of the most costly conflicts Russia had ever faced
13. Battle in Africa and Italy:
- Erwin Rommel-The Desert Fox:
- Was the leader of the Afrika corps. which is the name of the German troops in Africa
- He was the best German general of the war and eventually was put to death because he tried to assassinate Hitler
- Operation Torch:
- The British-American invasion of French North Africa started on November 8, 1942
- This was faught in Morocco and was the first battle in which the U.S. was actually fighting against Germany, almost a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor
- By mid 1943, we had defeated the Germans, Italians, and the Vichy France
- Casablanca Conference-January 1942-"Unconditional Surrender":
- We will not make peace and they will surrender whether like it or not
14. US Generals-Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur, Nimitz, Bradley:
■George C. Marshall:
■Chief of Staff (head honcho) of the U.S. Military during WWII
- General George Patton:
- Defeated Rommel and goes down as one of the greatest war generals of all time
15. D-Day: Operation Overlord:
16. Battle of the Bulge:
17. FDR Dies-Truman Takes Over:
18. VE Day:
19. Battle in the Pacific-Island Hopping, Philippines, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa:
20. Navajo Code Talkers:
21. Doolittle's Raid:
22. Manhattan Project:
23. Hiroshima Bombing:
24. Nagasaki Bombing:
25. VJ Day;
26. Yalta Conference:
27. Nuremburg Trials:
28. Japanese Internment Camps in US:
29. Why did the Allies Win WWII?
■With women working in the factories, we had more supplies than the other countries did
■Henry Kaiser owned a shipping company that hired a lot of women and other minorities
■He produced a lot of ships for the war
■The U.S. was the biggest power in the war because of our industrialization
■We were able to make the supplies we needed
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