Monday, April 2

[5Alex]

US Homefront: 

1. Selective Training and Service Act - 1940

• First peacetime draft in US History
• Used until 1973 to fill military needs
• After 1973, US military depended on volunteers to fill needs

2. Women's role in WWII

• Before the war, women's roles were to take care of children, cook, clean, etc.
• During the war, they took the roles of men in the factories and farms
• Worked as nurses to take care of injured soldiers
• Many got war jobs as secretaries, etc.
• Farm workers, typist, sales people, waitress, teachers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, time keepers, conductors, etc.
• Rosie the Riveter
• Women's Air Force Service - women would learn to fly, test planes, transport supplies, etc.
• WAC - Women's Army Corp - didn't fight at all
• WAVES - Women's Navy
• Many worked in military but did not fight on front lines - did a lot of work like testing, etc.
• Tokyo Rose - American-Japanese woman who did radio broadcasts in Japan to make American soldiers miss being home

3. African-American's role in WWII

• At the beginning of the war they were cooks and things like that because everyone believed they were unable to do things like be a pilot or fight
• Tuskegee Airmen

4. Asian's role in WWII

• Many Japanese/Chinese volunteered to fight - when they fought they had to wear badges on their uniform to show that they were Japanese
• Served as translators
• Fought valiantly in World War II for America 

5. Hollywood's role in WWII

• Before the US was involved, Hollywood made a lot of movies about Nazi Germany
• Warner Brothers
• Propaganda - make the enemy look bad
• Try to make people do their jobs
• Show footage from the war
• Make Japanese and Hitler look like idiots
• Bob Hope was born in Britain and was a great comedian, actor, dancer, etc.
• He got into TV and had a comedy show 
• Best known for his work with troops - worked with United States Armed Forces and United Service Organization (USO) 
• He worked to entertain troops - 400,000 performances
• Honored with humanitarian award

6. Office of Price Administration

• OPA and Rationing
• The office of Price Administration was established in 1941 to administer price controls
• If you had an A sticker, you were allowed four gallons of gas per week
• If you had a B sticker then that meant you had a job important to the war effort so you would get more
• If you had a C sticker that meant you were a medical person so you would also get more
• If you had a D sticker that meant you were a trucker that transported supplies for the war effort so you would also get more
• A lot of people were charged because they made fake stickers so they could get more rations

7. War Production Board

• Started by FDR
  
• Changed normal businesses and industries into ones that would produce war materials like weapons and ammunition 
• Wanted to make sure that we were making as much as possible to win the war
• Conserved special things like gas, rubber, paper, oil, plastic, etc.
• It only lasted a couple years until it was taken over by another company

8. National War Labor Board

• Started in World War I
• If workers were unhappy with their conditions and pay then they would go on strike or quit
• It was designed to make workers happy so they would keep working to make products for the war 

9. How the Homefront helped win the war

• Made a ton of supplies and food
• Rationing - cut back
• Women took over men's jobs
• Hollywood kept people positive about the war

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

• Germany sank many of the Allies' submarines
• Speed
• Ultra - decipher messages and put it into words
• HF/DF (underwater radar) and radar - we would be able to find out where they were located
• Convoy System - traveling in large numbers - power in numbers
• Enigma - machine Germany sent their messages through
• Bombe - decipher codes
• Hunter-Killers were aircrafts that went after U-Boats
• Depth Charges would use pressure to cause damage to U-Boats

11. Intelligence gathering--Ultra/Magic

• Ultra was the British code name for the intercepting and deciphering of German codes
• Magic was the US code name for intercepting and deciphering Japanese codes

12. Operation Barborossa(USSR vs Germany)

• German invasion of the Soviet Union using Blitzkrieg attack
• It started on June 22
• Stalingrad, Leningrad, Moscow
• Why?
• Lebensraum - living space for the German people
• Despised the ethnic Slavs ruled by their "Jewish Bolshevik" masters
• Wanted Ukraine for the 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 showed that Stalin was planning to attack Germany
• The Western Front fighting was over (except Great Britain)

Battle of Moscow

• 280,000-400,000 German casualties
• 650,000-1,280,000 Soviet casualties
• Furious that his army had been unable to take Moscow, Hitler dismissed his commander-in-chief in December 1941, and took personal charge of the Wehrmacht (Germany Army)
• Hitler took control and made all military decisions afterwards
• This led many experienced German officers to go against Hitler
• Hitler surrounded himself with staff officers with little or no recent combat experience because he knew they would not question him

The Siege of Leningrad

• Bombard the city, surround it, and blockade it (not allow anything into it)
• It started on September 8, 1941 when the last land connection to the city was cut off by Germany
• It was the longest and most destructive siege in world history
• People would run out of food and then eat birds then turn to animals and eventually they would eat each other because they were starving
• Hungry gangs attacked and ate defenseless people
• Finally, a successful Russian counter-offensive at Stalingrad, drained necessary resources the Germans needed to continue the blockade and eventually it failed
• The Germans never took Leningrad but it was of the most costly conflicts Russia had ever faced

13. Battle in Africa and Italy

• Invaded Northern Africa in November of 1942
• Invasion of Africa- was called Operation Torch
• Erwin Rommel was named the Desert Fox because he was so sly and cunning as a German General
• General George Patton was the great generals of WWII. He fought at North Africa for the US
• Italy surrendered after the US invaded them, Italy was an easy victory in terms of getting the government to surrender, but difficult to free them from Germany

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

• George Marshall- chief of staff of the US Military during WWII
• Dwight Eisenhower- Supreme Allied Commander of Allied Forces during WWII, he later became president
• General George Patton was a major general in WWII, he fought in the North African campaign
• MacArthur was a US general in the army against Japan
• Nimmets was an admiral for the navy. He was the chief of navigation.
• Omar Bradley was another famous WWII General, he worked with Patton in North Africa and he was also involved in the D-Day Invasion

15. D-Day-Operation Overlord - June 6, 1944

• Allied invasion of Nazi controlled France
• The assault was conducted in two phases
• Paratroopers were dropped shortly after midnight
• That day, Allied infantry and armored divisions on the coast of France starting at 6:30 AM
• There were many decoy operations to distract the German forces from the real landing areas
• The largest amphibious invasion in world history with over 160,000 troops
• Roughly 10,000 Allied casualties

16. Battle of the Bulge

• December 16, 1944. It was Hitler's final attempt to break the Allies and his last offensive attack
• Hitler had a 3 part plan for this battle, but was not successful in his plan
• For Germany, it was a huge offensive attack.
• It took place on the German/Belguim border
• It was the coldest, snowiest weather on the Germany/Belguim border
• The Malmedy Massacre where 86 American soldiers were murdered by German Soldiers, was the worst atrocity committed against US troops during the course of the war in Europe
• This battle was the worst battle in terms of losses to the American Forces in WWII

17. FDR Dies-Truman takes over

• FDR died of cerebral hemorrhage, otherwise known as a stroke.
• Truman took over and was reelected for a 2nd term
• Truman became one of the most unpopular presidents when he left office

18. VE Day 

• Victory in Europe Day
• May 8, 1945
• The war wasn't over yet
• The famous nurse kissing the sailor picture

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

• Island Hopping- Military strategy against Japan, where US strategically invaded more important islands and hopped over less important islands. It was used to save time and lives.
• Philippines- December 7, 1941. Also the same day as Pearl Harbor. Japanese attacked the Philippines. Filipinos broke bridges and took them apart so that the Japanese couldn't use them. American and Filipino POWs were forced to march from POW camp to POW camp, known as the Bataan Death March in May 1942. Bataan Death March was characterized by physical abuse and murder. Japanese ambassador to the United States officially apologized on behalf of the Japanese Government in 2009.
• MacArthur's return to the Philippines to get the islands back
• Battle of Coral Sea- May 4-8 1942. A major naval battle between the Jap. Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the US and Australia. Was the first time where Japan didn't win, so it was seen as an Allied victory even though it was really a stalemate. Coral Sea was near Australia.
• Battle of Midway- June 4-7, 1942. A major turning point in the war because it was the first battle that the US won. It took place at Midway, which was midway between Japan and US. It was very close to Hawaii. Air crafts were mainly used in battle. Magic played a vital role in the Allied victory. Japanese navy suffered heavy losses and never really was the same.
• Guadalcanal - August 7, 1942 to February 9, 1943.  It marked the offensive war for the US because it was the first time that the US attacked the Japanese.  Japan started using Kamacazis.
• Iwo Jima - US invaded Iwo Jima, Japan.

20. Navajo Code Talkers

• Navajo languages was not written down anywhere
• Transmitted information into the Navajo code so Japan could not figure out what we were doing
• The code talkers received no recognition until the declassification of the operation in 1968
• In 1982, the code talkers were given a Certificate of Recognition by U.S. President Ronald Reagan

21. Doolittle's Raid

• Dangerous mission
• Four months or so after Pearl Harbor
• US mission to bomb Tokyo after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
• James Doolittle

22. Manhattan Project

• Secret military project created in 1942 to create the first nuclear bomb
• Originally based in Manhattan, New York
• General Leslie Groves was the general put in charge of a bunch of scientists
• The Scientist in charge was J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Alamogordo, New Mexico was used as the site for testing of the nuclear bomb
• Trinity was the code name for the first nuclear bomb
• In the center, it was hotter than the sun and it turned the sand to glass

23. Hiroshima bombing

 

24. Nagasaki bombing

 

25. VJ Day

 

26. Yalta Conference

 

27. Nuremburg Trials

 

28. Japanese Internment Camps in US