Military history of the United States during World War II
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The
During the war, some 16,112,566 Americans served in the
Admiral King put Admiral
The war in Europe involved aid to Britain, its allies, and the Soviet Union, with the US supplying munitions until it could ready an invasion force. US forces were first tested to a limited degree in the
The American victorious military effort was strongly supported by
Origins
American public opinion was hostile to the Axis, but how much aid to give the Allies was controversial. The United States returned to its typical isolationist foreign policy after the First World War and President Woodrow Wilson's failure to have the Treaty of Versailles ratified. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally favored a more assertive foreign policy, his administration remained committed to isolationism during the 1930s to ensure congressional support for the New Deal, and allowed Congress to pass the Neutrality Acts.[5] As a result, the United States played no role in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and the Spanish Civil War. After the German invasion of Poland and the beginning of the war in September 1939, Congress allowed foreign countries to purchase war materiel from the United States on a "cash-and-carry" basis, but assistance to the United Kingdom was still limited by British hard currency shortages and the Johnson Act, and President Roosevelt's military advisers believed that the Axis Powers would be defeated and that US military assets should be focused on defending the Western Hemisphere.
By 1940 the US, while still neutral, was becoming the "
Public opinion was even more hostile to Japan, and there was little opposition to increased support for China. After the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the United States articulated the Stimson Doctrine, named for Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson, stating that no territory conquered by military force would be recognized. The United States also withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty limiting naval tonnage in response to Japan's violations of the Nine-Power Treaty and the Kellogg–Briand Pact.[9] Public opposition to Japanese expansionism in Asia had mounted during the Second Sino-Japanese War when the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attacked and sank the US Yangtze Patrol gunboat USS Panay in the Yangtze River while the ship was evacuating civilians from the Nanjing Massacre.[10] Although the US government accepted Japanese official apologies and indemnities for the incident, it resulted in increasing trade restrictions against Japan and corresponding increases US credit and aid to China. After the United States abrogated the 1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Japan, Japan ratified the Tripartite Pact and embarked on an invasion of French Indochina. The United States responded by placing a complete embargo on Japan through the Export Control Act of 1940, freezing Japanese bank accounts, halting negotiations with Japanese diplomats, and supplying China through the Burma Road.[11]
American volunteers
Before America entered World War II in December 1941, individual Americans volunteered to fight against the Axis powers in other nations' armed forces. Although under American law, it was illegal for United States citizens to join the armed forces of foreign nations, and in doing so, they lost their
One notable example was the Eagle Squadrons, which were RAF squadrons made up of American volunteers and British personnel. The first to be formed was No. 71 Squadron on 19 September 1940, followed by No. 121 Squadron on 14 May 1941 and No. 133 Squadron on 1 August 1941. 6,700 Americans applied to join but only 244 got to serve with the three Eagle squadrons; 16 Britons also served as squadron and flight commanders. The first became operational in February 1941 and the squadrons scored their first kill in July 1941. On 29 September 1942, the three squadrons were officially turned over by the RAF to the Eighth Air Force of the US Army Air Forces and became the 4th Fighter Group. In their time with the RAF the squadrons claim to have shot 73½ German planes; 77 Americans and 5 Britons were killed.[13]
Another notable example was the
Command system
In 1942 President
As the war progressed Marshall became the dominant voice in the JCS in the shaping of strategy.
Lend-Lease and Iceland Occupation
Without American production, the United Nations could never have won the war.
The year 1940 marked a change in attitude in the United States. The
By 1941 the United States was taking an active part in the war, despite its nominal neutrality. In spring U-boats began their "wolf-pack" tactics which threatened to sever the trans- Atlantic supply line; Roosevelt extended the Pan-American Security Zone east almost as far as Iceland. The US Navy's "neutrality patrols" were not actually neutral as, in practice, their function was to report Axis ship and submarine sightings to the British and Canadian navies, and from April the US Navy began escorting Allied convoys from Canada as far as the "Mid-Atlantic Meeting Point" (MOMP) south of Iceland, where they handed off to the RN.
On 16 June 1941, after negotiation with
American warships escorting Allied convoys in the western Atlantic had several hostile encounters with U-boats. On 4 September, a German U-boat attacked the destroyer USS Greer off Iceland. A week later Roosevelt ordered American warships to attack U-boats on sight. A U-boat shot up the USS Kearny as it escorted a British merchant convoy. The USS Reuben James was sunk by German submarine U-552 on 31 October 1941.[23]
European and North African Theaters
On 11 December 1941, three days after the United States
Europe first
The established grand strategy of the Allies was to defeat Germany and its allies in Europe first, and then focus could shift towards Japan in the Pacific. This was because two of the Allied capitals, London and Moscow, could be directly threatened by Germany, but none of the major Allied capitals were threatened by Japan. Germany was the United Kingdom's primary threat, especially after the Fall of France in 1940, which saw Germany overrun most of the countries of Western Europe, leaving the United Kingdom alone to combat Germany. Germany's planned invasion of the UK, Operation Sea Lion, was averted by its failure to establish air superiority in the Battle of Britain. At the same time, war with Japan in East Asia seemed increasingly likely. Although the US was not yet at war with either Germany or Japan, it met with the UK on several occasions to formulate joint strategies.
In the 29 March 1941 report of the ABC-1 conference, the Americans and British agreed that their strategic objectives were: (1) "The early defeat of Germany as the predominant member of the Axis with the principal military effort of the United States being exerted in the Atlantic and European area; and (2) A strategic defensive in the Far East." Thus, the Americans concurred with the British in the grand strategy of "Europe first" (or "Germany first") in carrying out military operations in World War II. The UK feared that, if the United States were diverted from its main focus in Europe to the Pacific (Japan), Hitler might crush both the Soviet Union and Britain, and would then become an unconquerable fortress in Europe. The wound inflicted on the United States by Japan at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, did not result in a change in US policy. Prime Minister Winston Churchill hastened to Washington shortly after Pearl Harbor for the Arcadia Conference to ensure that the Americans didn't have second thoughts about Europe First. The two countries reaffirmed that, "notwithstanding the entry of Japan into the War, our view remains that Germany is still the prime enemy. And her defeat is the key to victory. Once Germany is defeated the collapse of Italy and the defeat of Japan must follow."
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. It was at its height from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943. The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the Kriegsmarine (German navy) and aircraft of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) against the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and Allied merchant shipping. The convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces. These forces were aided by ships and aircraft of the United States from 13 September 1941. The Germans were joined by submarines of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) after their Axis ally Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940.
Operation Torch
The United States entered the war in the west with Operation Torch on 8 November 1942, after their Soviet allies had pushed for a second front against the Germans. General Dwight Eisenhower commanded the assault on North Africa, and Major General George Patton struck at Casablanca.
Allied victory in North Africa
The United States did not have a smooth entry into the war against
Slowly the Allies stopped the German advance in
Invasion of Sicily and Italy
The first stepping stone for the Allied liberation of Europe was invading Europe through Italy. Launched on 9 July 1943, Operation Husky was, at the time, the largest amphibious operation ever undertaken. The American seaborne assault by the US 7th Army landed on the southern coast of Sicily between the town of Licata in the west, and Scoglitti in the east and units of the 82nd airborne division parachuted ahead of landings. Despite the elements, the operation was a success and the Allies immediately began exploiting their gains. On 11 August, seeing that the battle was lost, the German and Italian commanders began evacuating their forces from Sicily to Italy. On 17 August, the Allies were in control of the island, US 7th Army lost 8,781 men (2,237 killed or missing, 5,946 wounded, and 598 captured).
Following the Allied victory in Sicily, Italian public sentiment swung against the war and Italian dictator
Following the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, the equivalent of seven US and French divisions were pulled out of Italy to participate in Operation Dragoon: the allied landings in southern France; despite this, the remaining US forces in Italy with other Allied forces pushed up to the
Strategic bombing
Numerous bombing runs were launched by the United States aimed at the industrial heart of Germany. Using the high altitude
In mid-1942, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) arrived in the UK and carried out a few raids across the English Channel. The USAAF Eighth Air Force's B-17 bombers were called the "Flying Fortresses" because of their heavy defensive armament of ten to twelve machine guns, and armor plating in vital locations. In part because of their heavier armament and armor, they carried smaller bomb loads than British bombers. With all of this, the USAAF's commanders in Washington, DC, and in Great Britain adopted the strategy of taking on the Luftwaffe head-on, in larger and larger air raids by mutually defending bombers, flying over Germany, Austria, and France at high altitudes during the daytime. Also, both the US Government and its Army Air Forces commanders were reluctant to bomb enemy cities and towns indiscriminately. They claimed that by using the B-17 and the Norden bombsight, the USAAF should be able to carry out "precision bombing" on locations vital to the German war machine: factories, naval bases, shipyards, railroad yards, railroad junctions, power plants, steel mills, airfields, etc.
In January 1943, at the Casablanca Conference, it was agreed RAF Bomber Command operations against Germany would be reinforced by the USAAF in a Combined Operations Offensive plan called Operation Pointblank. Chief of the British Air Staff MRAF Sir Charles Portal was put in charge of the "strategic direction" of both British and American bomber operations. The text of the Casablanca directive read: "Your primary object will be the progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial and economic system and the undermining of the morale of the German people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened.", At the beginning of the combined strategic bombing offensive on 4 March 1943 669 RAF and 303 USAAF heavy bombers were available.
In late 1943, 'Pointblank' attacks manifested themselves in the infamous Schweinfurt raids (first and second). Formations of unescorted bombers were no match for German fighters, which inflicted a deadly toll. In despair, the Eighth halted air operations over Germany until a long-range fighter could be found in 1944; it proved to be the P-51 Mustang, which had the range to fly to Berlin and back.
USAAF leaders firmly held to the claim of "precision bombing" of military targets for much of the war, and dismissed claims they were simply bombing cities. However, the American Eighth Air Force received the first H2X radar sets in December 1943. Within two weeks of the arrival of these first six sets, the Eighth command permitted them to area bomb a city using H2X and would continue to authorize, on average, about one such attack a week until the end of the war in Europe.
In reality, the day bombing was "precision bombing" only in the sense that most bombs fell somewhere near a specific designated target such as a railway yard. Conventionally, the air forces designated as "the target area" a circle having a radius of 1000 feet around the aiming point of attack. While accuracy improved during the war, Survey studies show that, overall, only about 20% of the bombs aimed at precision targets fell within this target area. In the fall of 1944, only seven percent of all bombs dropped by the Eighth Air Force hit within 1,000 feet of their aim point. The only offensive ordnance possessed by the USAAF that was guidable, the VB-1
Nevertheless, the sheer tonnage of explosives delivered by day and by night was eventually enough to cause widespread damage, and, more importantly from a military point of view, forced Germany to divert resources to counter it. This was to be the real significance of the Allied strategic bombing campaign—resource allocation.
To improve USAAF fire bombing capabilities a mock-up German village was built and repeatedly burned down. It contained full-scale replicas of German homes. Fire bombing attacks proved successful, in a single 1943 attack on Hamburg about 50,000 civilians were killed and almost the entire city destroyed.
With the arrival of the brand-new Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, command of the US Air Forces in Europe was consolidated into the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSAF). With the addition of the Mustang to its strength, the Combined Bomber Offensive was resumed. Planners targeted the Luftwaffe in an operation known as 'Big Week' (20–25 February 1944) and succeeded brilliantly – losses were so heavy German planners were forced into a hasty dispersal of industry and the day fighter arm never fully recovered.
The dismissal of General
On 27 March 1944, the Combined Chiefs of Staff issued orders granting control of all the Allied air forces in Europe, including strategic bombers, to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who delegated command to his deputy in SHAEF Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder. There was resistance to this order from some senior figures, including Winston Churchill, Harris, and Carl Spaatz, but after some debate, control passed to SHAEF on 1 April 1944. When the Combined Bomber Offensive officially ended on 1 April, Allied airmen were well on the way to achieving air superiority over all of Europe. While they continued some strategic bombing, the USAAF along with the RAF turned their attention to the tactical air battle in support of the Normandy Invasion. It was not until the middle of September that the strategic bombing campaign of Germany again became the priority for the USAAF.
The twin campaigns—the USAAF by day, the RAF by night—built up into massive bombing of German industrial areas, notably the
Operation Overlord
The second European front that the Soviets had pressed for was finally opened on 6 June 1944, when the Allies launched an
After prolonged bombing runs on the French coast by the Army Air Forces, 225
As the paratroops fought their way through the
At Omaha the Germans had prepared the beaches with
The small units then fought their way through the minefields that were in between the Nazi machine-gun bunkers. After squeezing through, they then attacked the bunkers from the rear, allowing more men to come safely ashore.
By the end of the day, the Americans suffered over 6,000 casualties.
On D-Day, the untested 29th Infantry Division, joined by the veteran 1st Infantry Division and nine companies of US Army Rangers redirected from Pointe du Hoc, were to assault the western half of the beach. The battle-hardened 1st Infantry Division was given the eastern half. The initial assault waves, consisting of tanks, infantry, and combat engineer forces, were carefully planned to reduce the coastal defenses and allow the larger ships of the follow-up waves to land.
The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead of some five miles (eight kilometers) depth, between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River, linking with the British landings at Gold Beach to the east, and reaching the area of Isigny to the west to link up with VII Corps landing at Utah Beach. Opposing the landings was the German 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. The 352nd had never had any battalion or regimental training. Of the 12,020 men of the division, only 6,800 were experienced combat troops, detailed to defend a 53-kilometer-long (33-mile) front. The Germans were largely deployed in strongpoints along the coast—the German strategy was based on defeating any seaborne assault at the waterline. Nevertheless, Allied calculations indicated that Omaha's defenses were three times as strong as those they had encountered during the Battle of Kwajalein, and its defenders were four times as many.[citation needed]
Very little went as planned during the landing at Omaha Beach. Navigation difficulties caused the majority of landing craft to miss their targets throughout the day. The defenses were unexpectedly strong, and inflicted heavy casualties on landing US troops. Under heavy fire, the engineers struggled to clear the beach obstacles; later landings bunched up around the few channels that were cleared. Weakened by the casualties taken just in landing, the surviving assault troops could not clear the heavily defended exits off the beach. This caused further problems and consequent delays for later landings. Small penetrations were eventually achieved by groups of survivors making improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, which were subsequently exploited against weaker defenses further inland, thus achieving the original D-Day objectives over the following days.
With the Beaches secured, the Allies needed to secure a deep-water port to allow reinforcements to be brought in, with American forces at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula the target was Cherbourg, at the end of the Cotentin. The US VII Corps immediately began making their push after the beaches were secured on 6 June, facing a mix of weak regiments and battlegroups from several divisions who used the bocage terrain, flooded fields and narrow roads to their advantage which slowed the American advance. After being reinforced, VII corps took control of the peninsula in fierce fighting on 19 June and launched their assault on Cherbourg on 22 June. The German garrison surrendered on 29 June, but by this time they had destroyed the port facilities, which were not made fully operational until September.[27]
Battle of Saint-Lô
The Battle of Saint-Lô is one of the three conflicts in the Battle of the Hedgerows (fr), which took place between 9–24 July 1944, just before Operation Cobra. Saint-Lô had fallen to Germany in 1940, and, after the Invasion of Normandy, the Americans targeted the city, as it served as a strategic crossroads. American bombardments caused heavy damage (up to 95% of the city was destroyed) and a high number of casualties, which resulted in the martyr city being called "The Capital of Ruins", popularized in a report by Samuel Beckett.
Battle of Carentan
The Battle of Carentan was an engagement between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of Normandy. The battle took place between 10 and 15 June 1944, on the approaches to and within the city of Carentan, France.
The objective of the attacking American forces was the consolidation of the US beachheads (Utah Beach and Omaha Beach) and establishment of a continuous defensive line against expected German counterattacks. The defending German force attempted to hold the city long enough to allow reinforcements en route from the south to arrive, prevent or delay the merging of the lodgments, and keep the US First Army from launching an attack towards Lessay-Périers that would cut off the Cotentin Peninsula.
Carentan was defended by two battalions of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 (6th Parachute Regiment) of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division and two Ost battalions. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered to reinforce Carentan, was delayed by transport shortages and attacks by Allied aircraft. The attacking 101st Airborne Division landed by parachute on 6 June as part of the American airborne landings in Normandy, was ordered to seize Carentan.
In the ensuing battle, the 101st forced passage across the causeway into Carentan on 10–11 June. A lack of ammunition forced the German forces to withdraw on 12 June. The 17th SS PzG Division counter-attacked the 101st Airborne on 13 June. Initially successful, its attack was thrown back by Combat Command A (CCA) of the US 2nd Armored Division
Operation Cobra
After the amphibious assault, the Allied forces remained stalled in Normandy for some time, advancing much more slowly than expected with close-fought infantry battles in the dense hedgerows. However, with Operation Cobra, launched on 24 July with mostly American troops, the Allies succeeded in breaking the German lines and sweeping out into France with fast-moving armored divisions. This led to a major defeat for the Germans, with 400,000 soldiers trapped in the Falaise pocket, and the capture of Paris on 25 August.
Operation Lüttich
Operation Lüttich was a code name given to a German counter-attack during the Battle of Normandy, which took place around the American positions near Mortain from 7–13 August 1944. (Lüttich is the German name for the city of Liège in Belgium, where the Germans had won a victory in the early days of August 1914 during World War I.) The offensive is also referred to in American and British histories of the Battle of Normandy as the Mortain counter-offensive.
The assault was ordered by Adolf Hitler, to eliminate the gains made by the First United States Army during Operation Cobra and the subsequent weeks, and by reaching the coast in the region of Avranches at the base of the Cotentin peninsula, cut off the units of the Third United States Army which had advanced into Brittany.
The main German striking force was the XLVII Panzer Corps, with one and a half SS Panzer Divisions and two Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions. Although they made initial gains against the defending US VII Corps, they were soon halted and Allied aircraft inflicted severe losses on the attacking troops, eventually destroying nearly half of the German tanks involved in the attack.[2] Although fighting continued around Mortain for six days, the American forces had regained the initiative within a day of the opening of the German attack.
As the German commanders on the spot had warned Hitler in vain, there was little chance of the attack succeeding, and the concentration of their armored reserves at the western end of the front in Normandy soon led to disaster, as they were outflanked to their south and the front to their east collapsed, resulting in many of the German troops in Normandy being trapped in the Falaise Pocket.
Falaise Pocket
After Operation Cobra, the American breakout from the Normandy beachhead, the Third US Army commanded by Lieutenant General George S. Patton rapidly advanced south and south-east. Despite lacking the resources to defeat the US breakthrough and simultaneous British and Canadian offensives south of Caumont and Caen, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, the commander of Army Group B, was not permitted by Hitler to withdraw but was ordered to conduct a counter-offensive at Mortain against the US breakthrough. Four depleted panzer divisions were not enough to defeat the First US Army. Operation Lüttich was a disaster, which drove the Germans deeper into the Allied envelopment.
On 8 August, the Allied ground forces commander, British General Sir Bernard Montgomery, ordered the Allied armies to converge on the Falaise–Chambois area to envelop Army Group B, the First US Army forming the southern arm, the British Second Army the base and the First Canadian Army the northern arm of the encirclement. The Germans began to withdraw on 17–19 August, and the Allies linked up in Chambois. Gaps were forced in the Allied lines by German counter-attacks, the biggest being a corridor forced past the 1st Polish Armored Division on Hill 262, a commanding position at the mouth of the pocket. By the evening of 21 August, the pocket had been sealed, with c. 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Many Germans escaped but losses in men and equipment were huge. Two days later the Allied Liberation of Paris was completed and on 30 August, the remnants of Army Group B retreated across the Seine, which ended Operation Overlord.
Operation Dragoon
On 15 August 1944, the
Operation Market Garden
The next major Allied operation came on 17 September. Devised by British General Bernard Montgomery, its primary objective was the capture of several bridges in the Netherlands. Fresh off of their successes in Normandy, the Allies were optimistic that an attack on the Nazi-occupied Netherlands would force open a route across the
The plan involved a daylight drop of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. The 101st was to capture the bridges at Eindhoven, with the 82nd taking the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen. After the bridges had been captured, the ground force, also known as XXX Corps or "Garden", would drive up a single road and link up with the paratroops.
The operation failed because the Allies were unable to capture the bridge furthest to the north at Arnhem. There, the British 1st Airborne had been dropped to secure the bridges, but upon landing they discovered that a highly experienced German SS Panzer unit was garrisoning the town. The paratroopers had only light anti-tank weaponry and quickly lost ground. Failure to quickly relieve those members of the 1st who had managed to seize the bridge at Arnhem on the part of the armored XXX Corps, meant that the Germans were able to stymie the entire operation. In the end, the operation's ambitious nature, the fickle state of war, and failures on the part of Allied intelligence (as well as tenacious German defense) can be blamed for Market-Garden's ultimate failure. This operation was also the last time that either the 82nd or 101st made a combat jump during the war.
Operation Queen
Unable to push north into the Netherlands, the Allies in western Europe were forced to consider other options to get into Germany. In the summer of 1944, the Allies suffered from a large supply crisis, due to the long supply route. But by the fall of 1944, this had largely been resolved by the
Battle of the Bulge
On 16 December 1944, the Germans launched a massive attack westward in the
As the Germans pushed westward, General Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne and elements of the
On 31 December, the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war on the Western Front,
The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. Germany's goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in favor of the Axis powers. Once accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theater of war.
The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. The Third US Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Soviet Front to the Ardennes and transport of forces by rail to the Ardennes was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the Bletchley Park code-breaking center.
Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of a heavy overcast, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the west that they counted on for success. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German timetable behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
With about 610,000 men committed and some 89,000 casualties, including 19,000 killed, the Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.
Colmar Pocket
The Colmar Pocket (French: Poche de Colmar; German: Brückenkopf Elsaß) was the area held in central Alsace, France by the German 19th Army from November 1944 – February 1945, against the US 6th Army Group during World War II. It was formed when the 6th AG liberated southern and northern Alsace and adjacent eastern Lorraine, but could not clear central Alsace. During Operation Nordwind in December 1944, the 19th Army attacked north out of the Pocket in support of other German forces attacking south from the Saar into northern Alsace. In late January and early February 1945, the French First Army (reinforced by the US XXI Corps) cleared the Pocket of German forces.
Invasion of Germany
By early 1945, events favored the Allied forces in Europe. On the Western Front the Allies had been fighting in Germany since the Battle of Aachen in October 1944 and by January had turned back the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. The failure of this last major German offensive exhausted much of Germany's remaining combat strength, leaving it ill-prepared to resist the final Allied campaigns in Europe. Additional losses in the Rhineland further weakened the German Army, leaving shattered remnants of units to defend the east bank of the Rhine. On 7 March, the Allies seized the last remaining intact bridge across the Rhine at Remagen, and had established a large bridgehead on the river's east bank. During Operation Lumberjack and Operation Plunder in February–March 1945, German casualties are estimated at 400,000 men, including 280,000 men captured as prisoners of war.
South German Offensive
The South German Offensive is the general name of one of the final offensives of World War II in Europe. The offensive was led by the Seventh and Third armies of the United States along with the
Race to Berlin
Following the defeat of the German army in the Ardennes, the Allies pushed back towards the Rhine and the heart of Germany. With the capture of the
The war in Europe came to an end on V-E Day, 8 May 1945.[30] However, the state of war between the United States and Germany was not officially terminated until 19 October 1951.[31]
Pacific Theater
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Because of Japanese advances in French Indochina and China, the United States, in coordination with the British and Dutch, cut off all oil supplies to Japan, which had imported 90% of its oil. The oil embargo threatened to grind the Japanese military machine to a halt. Japan refused American demands to leave China and decided that war with the United States was inevitable; its only hope was to strike first. President Roosevelt had months earlier transferred the American fleet to Hawaii from California to deter the Japanese. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto argued the only way to win the war was to knock out the powerful main American fleet immediately. His fleet approached within 200 miles of Hawaii without being detected. Admiral Chūichi Nagumo held tactical command. Over a five-hour period his six carriers sent two waves of 360 dive-bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters. They destroyed or severely damaged eight battleships, ten smaller warships, and 230 aircraft; 2,403 American servicemen and civilians were killed. Japanese losses were negligible—29 planes shot down (several American planes were also shot down by anti-aircraft fire). Japan's declaration of war was published after the attacks began.
Commander Minoru Genda, the chief planner of the raid, begged Nagumo to strike again at the shore facilities, oil storage tanks, and submarines, and to hunt down the American carriers that were supposedly nearby. But Nagumo decided not to risk further action. To reach Pearl Harbor, they had to learn how to refuel at sea (a technique the US Navy already had worked out); to sink all those ships they used their electric torpedoes and shallow-water bombing tactics. Despite later rumors, there was no advance knowledge of the Japanese plan. The commanders had been complacent about routine defensive measures. In broader perspective, the attack was a failure. The lost battleships reflected obsolete doctrine and were not needed; the lost planes were soon replaced; the casualty list was short by World War II standards. Tokyo's calculation that the Americans would lose heart and seek a compromise peace proved wildly wrong—the "sneak attack" electrified public opinion, committing America with near unanimity to a war to the death against the Japanese Empire.[32][33]
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt officially pronounced 7 December 1941, as
Fall of the Philippines and Dutch East Indies
Within hours of Pearl Harbor, Japanese air forces from Formosa destroyed much of the US Far East Air Force, based near Manila. The Japanese army invaded and trapped the American and Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula. Roosevelt evacuated General
The Japanese Navy seemed unstoppable as they seized the Dutch East Indies to gain its rich oil resources. The American, British, Dutch, and Australian forces were combined under the ABDA command but its fleet was quickly sunk in several naval battles around Java.
Solomon Islands and New Guinea Campaign
Following their rapid advance, the Japanese started the Solomon Islands Campaign from their newly conquered main base at
Battle of the Coral Sea
In May 1942, the United States fleet engaged the Japanese fleet during the first battle in history in which neither fleet fired directly on the other, nor did the ships of both fleets actually see each other. It was also the first time that aircraft carriers were used in battle. While indecisive, it was nevertheless a starting point because American commanders learned the tactics that would serve them later in the war. These tactics proved immediately helpful at the battle of Midway only one month later. An excerpt from the Naval War College Review says that "although the Coral Sea fight was a marginal tactical victory for the IJN [Imperial Japanese Navy], in terms of ships and tonnage sunk, it amounted to a small strategic triumph for the U.S. Navy."[36]
Battle of the Aleutian Islands
The Battle of the Aleutian Islands was the last fighting between sovereign nations to take place on American soil. As part of a diversionary plan for the Battle of Midway, the Japanese took control of two of the Aleutian Islands (
Battle of Midway
Having learned important lessons at Coral Sea, the United States Navy was prepared when the Japanese navy under
Island hopping
Following the resounding victory at Midway, the United States began a major land offensive. The Allies came up with a strategy known as Island hopping, or the bypassing of islands that either served little or no strategic importance[38] or were heavily defended but could be bypassed, such as Rabaul. Because air power was crucial to any operation, only islands that could support airstrips were targeted by the Allies. The fighting for each island in the Pacific Theater would be savage, as the Americans faced a determined and battle-hardened enemy who had known little defeat on the ground.
Air strategy
General George Kenney, in charge of tactical air power under MacArthur, never had enough planes, pilots or supplies.[39] (He was not allowed any authority whatsoever over the Navy's carriers.) But the Japanese were always in worse shape—their equipment deteriorated rapidly because of poor airfields and incompetent maintenance. The Japanese had excellent planes and pilots in 1942, but ground commanders dictated their missions and ignored the need for air superiority before any other mission could be attempted. Theoretically, Japanese doctrine stressed the need to gain air superiority, but the infantry commanders repeatedly wasted air assets defending minor positions. When Arnold, echoing the official Army line, stated the Pacific was a "defensive" theater, Kenney retorted that the Japanese pilot was always on the offensive. "He attacks all the time and persists in acting that way. To defend against him you not only have to attack him but to beat him to the punch."[40]
A key to Kenney's strategy was the neutralization of bypassed Japanese strongpoints like Rabaul and Truk through repeated bombings. He said a major shortfall was "the kids coming here from the States were green as grass. They were not getting enough gunnery, acrobatics, formation flying, or night flying."[41] So he set up extensive retraining programs. The arrival of superior fighters, especially the twin-tailed Lockheed P-38 Lightning, gave the Americans an edge in range and performance. Occasionally a ripe target appeared, as in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea (March 1943) when bombers sank a major convoy bringing troops and supplies to New Guinea. That success was no fluke. High-flying bombers seldom could hit moving ships. Kenney solved that weakness by teaching pilots the effective new tactic of flying in close to the water then pulling up and lobbing bombs that skipped across the water and into the target.[42]
Building airfields
The goal of island hopping was to build
Combat experience
Airmen flew far more often in the Southwest Pacific than in Europe, and although rest time in Australia was scheduled, there was no fixed number of missions that would produce transfer out of combat, as was the case in Europe. Coupled with the monotonous, hot, sickly environment, the result was bad morale that jaded veterans quickly passed along to newcomers. After a few months, epidemics of combat fatigue (now called Combat stress reaction) would drastically reduce the efficiency of units. The men who had been at jungle airfields longest, the flight surgeons reported, were in a bad shape:
- "Many have chronic dysentery or other disease, and almost all show chronic fatigue states. . . .They appear listless, unkempt, careless, and apathetic with almost masklike facial expression. Speech is slow, thought content is poor, they complain of chronic headaches, insomnia, memory defect, feel forgotten, worry about themselves, are afraid of new assignments, have no sense of responsibility, and are hopeless about the future."[44]
Marine Aviation and the issue of ground support
The Marines had their own land-based aviation, built around the excellent Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, an unusually large fighter-bomber. By 1944 10,000 Marine pilots operated 126 combat squadrons. Marine Aviation originally had the mission of close support for ground troops, but it dropped that role in the 1920s and 1930s and became a junior component of naval aviation. The new mission was to protect the fleet from enemy air attacks. Marine pilots, like all aviators, fiercely believed in the prime importance of air superiority; they did not wish to be tied down to supporting ground troops. On the other hand, the ground Marines needed close air support because they lacked heavy firepower of their own. Mobility was a basic mission of Marine ground forces; they were too lightly armed to employ the sort of heavy artillery barrages and massed tank movements the Army used to clear the battlefield. The Japanese were so well dug in that Marines often needed air strikes on positions 300 to 1,500 yards ahead. In 1944, after considerable internal acrimony, Marine Aviation was forced to start helping out. At Iwo Jima ex-pilots in the air liaison party (ALP) not only requested air support, but actually directed it in tactical detail. The Marine formula increased responsiveness, reduced "friendly" casualties, and (flying weather permitting) substituted well for the missing armor and artillery. For the next half century close air support would remain central to the mission of Marine Aviation, provoking eternal jealousy from the Army which was never allowed to operate fixed-wing fighters or bombers, although the Army was allowed to have some unarmed transports and spotter planes.[45]
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal, fought from August 1942 to February 1943, was the first major Allied offensive of the war in the Pacific Theater. This campaign pitted American air, naval and ground forces (later augmented by Australians and New Zealanders) against determined Japanese resistance. Guadalcanal was the key to control the Solomon Islands, which both sides saw as strategically essential. Both sides won some battles but both sides were overextended in terms of supply lines. Logistical failures in a hostile physical environment hampered everyone. As happened time and again in the Pacific, the Japanese logistical support system failed, as only 20% of the supplies dispatched from Rabaul to Guadalcanal ever reached there. Consequently, the 30,000 Japanese troops lacked heavy equipment, enough ammunition and even enough food; 10,000 were killed, 10,000 starved to death, and the remaining 10,000 were evacuated in February 1943. In the end Guadalcanal was a major American victory as the Japanese inability to keep pace with the rate of American reinforcements proved decisive. Guadalcanal is an iconic episode in the annals of American military history, underscoring the heroic bravery of underequipped individuals in fierce combat with a determined foe.[46]
Marines from the
Meanwhile, the rival navies fought seven battles, with the two sides dividing the victories.[47] Following the Japanese victory at the Battle of Savo Island on 8–9 August, Admiral Fletcher withdrew his ships from around Guadalcanal. A second Japanese naval force sailed south and engaged the American fleet in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24–25 August, ending in a draw but forced the Japanese naval force to retreat. On 11–12 October 1942, to disrupt Japanese attempts to reinforce and resupply their troops on Guadalcanal (nicknamed the "Tokyo Express"), a small US naval force attacked this supply line at the Battle of Cape Esperance and succeeded. In support of the Japanese ground offensive in October, Japanese naval forces engaged and hoped to decisively defeat any US naval forces in the area of operation at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 25–27 October 1942, however the Japanese failed to decisively defeat US Navy. From 12 to 15 November 1942, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place: Learning that the Japanese were trying to reinforce their troops for an attack on Henderson Field, US forces launched aircraft and warship to prevent the Japanese ground troops from reaching Guadalcanal, the US succeeded thus turning back Japan's last major attempt to dislodge Allied forces from Guadalcanal. A small US naval force attempted to surprise and destroy the Japanese Navy were attempting to deliver supplies to their forces on Guadalcanal at Battle of Tassafaronga however it wasn't successful. The final naval battle took place between 29 and 30 January 1943, known as the Battle of Rennell Island, US naval forces attempted to stop the Japanese Navy from evacuating its ground forces from Guadalcanal. However, the Japanese successfully forced the US Navy to withdraw, protecting the Japanese evacuation.[48]
Tarawa
Guadalcanal made it clear to the Americans that the Japanese would fight to the bitter end. After brutal fighting in which few prisoners were taken on either side, the United States and the Allies pressed on the offensive. The American landings at Tarawa on 20 November 1943, became bogged down as armor attempting to break through the Japanese lines of defense either sank, were disabled or took on too much water to be of use. The Americans were eventually able to land a limited number of tanks and drive inland. After days of fighting they took control of Tarawa on 23 November. Of the original 2,600 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 17 were still alive.
Operations in Central Pacific
In preparation for the recapture of the Philippines, the Allies started the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign to retake the Gilbert and Marshall Islands from the Japanese in summer 1943. Moving closer to Japan, the US Navy decisively won the Battle of the Philippine Sea and landing forces captured the Mariana and Palau Islands in summer 1944. The goal was building airbases within range of the new B-29 bomber aimed at Japan's industrial cities.
Liberation of the Philippines
The Battle of Leyte Gulf in 23–26 October 1944, was a decisive American victory that sank virtually the entire remaining Japanese fleet in arguably the largest naval battle in history. Although the Japanese came surprisingly close to inflicting a major defeat on the Americans, at the last minute the Japanese panicked and lost. The battle was a complex overlapping series of engagements fought off the Philippine island of Leyte, which the US Army had just invaded. The army forces were highly vulnerable to naval attack, and the Japanese goal was to inflict massive destruction. Two American fleets were involved, the Seventh and Third, but they were independent and did not communicate well so the Japanese with a trick maneuver slipped between the two American fleets and almost reached the beaches. However the Japanese communication system was even worse, and the Japanese army and navy did not cooperate, and the three Japanese fleets were each destroyed.[49]
General MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines by landing at Leyte on 20 October 1944. The grueling re-capture of the Philippines took place from 1944 to 1945 and included the battles of Leyte, Luzon, and Mindanao.
Iwo Jima
The Americans did not bypass the small island of Iwo Jima because it wanted bases for fighter escorts; it was actually used as an emergency landing base for B-29s. The Japanese knew they could not win, but they devised a strategy to maximize American casualties. Learning from the Battle of Saipan they prepared many fortified positions on the island, including pillboxes and tunnels. The Marines attack began on 19 February 1945. Initially the Japanese put up no resistance, letting the Americans mass, creating more targets before the Americans took intense fire from Mount Suribachi and fought throughout the night until the hill was surrounded. Over the next 36 days, the Japanese were pressed into an ever-shrinking pocket, but they chose to fight on to the end, leaving only 1,000 of the original 21,000 defenders alive. The Marines suffered as well, suffering 25,000 casualties. The battle became iconic in America as the epitome of heroism in desperate hand-to-hand combat.[50]
Okinawa
Strategic Bombing of Japan
The flammability of Japan's large cities, and the concentration of munitions production there, made strategic bombing the favorite strategy of the Americans from 1941 onward. The first efforts were made from bases in China, where massive efforts to establish B-29 bases there and supply them over the Hump (the Himalayas) failed in 1944; the Japanese Army simply moved overland and captured the bases. Saipan and Tinian, captured by the US in June 1944, gave secure bases for the very-long-range B-29. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress boasted four 2,200 horsepower Wright R-3350 supercharged engines that could lift four tons of bombs 33,000 feet (high above Japanese flak or fighters), and make 3,500-mile round trips. However, the systematic raids that began in June 1944, were unsatisfactory, because the AAF had learned too much in Europe; it overemphasized self-defense. Arnold, in personal charge of the campaign (bypassing the theater commanders), brought in a new leader, General Curtis LeMay. In early 1945, LeMay ordered a radical change in tactics: remove the machine guns and gunners, fly in low at night. (Much fuel was used to get to 30,000 feet; it could now be replaced with more bombs.) The Japanese radar, fighter, and anti-aircraft systems were so ineffective that they could not hit the bombers. Fires raged through the cities, and millions of civilians fled to the mountains.[52]
Tokyo was hit repeatedly, and during
- Although damage to big factories was slight, approximately one-fourth of some 4,000 lesser factories, which operated hand-in-hand with the big factories, were destroyed by fire... Moreover, owing to the rising fear of air attacks, workers in general were reluctant to work in the factories, and the attendance fluctuated as much as 50 percent.
The Japanese army, which was not based in the cities, was largely undamaged by the raids. The Army was short of food and gasoline, but, as Iwo Jima and Okinawa proved, it was capable of ferocious resistance. The Japanese also had a new tactic that it hoped would provide the bargaining power to get a satisfactory peace, the Kamikaze.
Kamikaze
In late 1944 the Japanese invented an unexpected and highly effective new tactic, the Kamikaze suicide plane aimed like a guided missile at American ships. The attacks began in October 1944 and continued to the end of the war. Experienced pilots were used to lead a mission because they could navigate; they were not Kamikazes, and they returned to base for another mission. The Kamikaze pilots were inexperienced and had minimal training; but most were well-educated and intensely committed to the Emperor.[56][57]
Kamikaze attacks were highly effective at the Battle of Okinawa as 4000 kamikaze sorties sank 38 US ships and damaged 368 more, killing 4,900 sailors.[58] Task Force 58 analyzed the Japanese technique at Okinawa in April 1945:
- "Rarely have the enemy attacks been so cleverly executed and made with such reckless determination. These attacks were generally by single or few aircraft making their approaches with radical changes in course and altitude, dispersing when intercepted and using cloud cover to every advantage. They tailed our friendlies home, used decoy planes, and came in at any altitude or on the water."[59]
The Americans decided the best defense against Kamikazes was to knock them out on the ground, or else in the air long before they approached the fleet. The Navy called for more fighters, and more warning, which meant combat air patrols circling the big ships, more radar picket ships (which themselves became prime targets), and more attacks on airbases and gasoline supplies. Japan suspended Kamikaze attacks in May 1945, because it was now hoarding gasoline and hiding planes in preparation for new suicide attacks if the Allies dared to invade their home islands. The Kamikaze strategy allowed the use of untrained pilots and obsolete planes, and since evasive maneuvering was dropped and there was no return trip, the scarce gasoline reserves could be stretched further. Since pilots guided their airplane like a guided missile all the way to the target, the proportion of hits was much higher than in ordinary bombing. Japan's industry was manufacturing 1,500 new planes a month in 1945. However, the quality of construction was very poor, and many new planes crashed during training or before reaching targets.
Expecting increased resistance, including far more Kamikaze attacks once the main islands of Japan were invaded, the US high command rethought its strategy and used atomic bombs to end the war, hoping it would make a costly invasion unnecessary.[60]
US submarines in the Pacific
US submarines took part in the majority of naval battles in the Pacific theater, but the submarines were most decisive in their blockade of Japan, for which Japan was dependent on its sea transport to provide resources for its war effort.
On the afternoon of 7 December 1941, six hours after the Japanese attack, US naval commanders in the Pacific were ordered by the US Navy Chief of Staff to "execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan".
US Navy submarines were often used for surveillance. This included reconnaissance, landing and supplying guerillas in Japanese occupied territory, and deploying commandos for missions such as the
As a result of several key improvements in strategy and tactics, from 1943, Allied submarines waged a more effective campaign against Japanese merchant shipping and the IJN, in effect strangling the Japanese Empire of resources. By the end of the war in August 1945, US Navy submarines sank around 1300 Japanese merchant ships, as well as roughly 200 warships.[66] Only 42 US submarines were sunk in the Pacific,[67] but 3,500 (22%) submariners were killed, the highest casualty rate of any American force in World War II.[68] The force destroyed over half of all Japanese merchant ships,[69] totaling well over five million tons of shipping.[69]
Atomic bombing of Japanese cities
As victory for the United States slowly approached, casualties mounted. A fear in the American high command was that an invasion of mainland Japan would lead to enormous losses on the part of the Allies, as casualty estimates for the planned Operation Downfall demonstrate. As Japan was able to withstand the devastating incendiary raids and naval blockade despite hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, President Harry Truman gave the order to drop the only two available atomic bombs, hoping that such sheer force of destruction on a city would break Japanese resolve and end the war. The first bomb was dropped on an industrial city, Hiroshima, on 6 August 1945, killing approximately 70,000 people. A second bomb was dropped on another industrial city, Nagasaki, on 9 August after it appeared that the Japanese high command was not planning to surrender, killing approximately 35,000 people. Fearing additional atomic attacks, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945.
V-J Day which occurred on 15 August 1945 marked the end of the United States' war with the Empire of Japan. Since Japan was the last remaining Axis Power, V-J Day also marked the end of World War II.
Minor American front
The United States contributed several forces to the China Burma India theater, such as the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) but nicknamed "
Attacks on U.S. soil
Although the Axis powers never launched a full-scale invasion of the United States, there were attacks and acts of sabotage on U.S. soil.
- December 7, 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor, a surprise attack that killed almost 2,500 people in the then incorporated territory of Hawaii which caused the U.S. to enter the war the next day.
- January–August 1942 – Second Happy Time, German U-boats engaged American ships off the U.S. East Coast.
- February 23, 1942 – Bombardment of Ellwood, a Japanese submarine attack on California.
- Attacks on California ships by Japanese submarines
- March 4, 1942 – Operation K, a Japanese reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor following the attack on December 7, 1941.
- June 3, 1942 – August 15, 1943 – Aleutian Islands Campaign, the battle for the then incorporated territory of Alaska.
- June 21–22, 1942 – Bombardment of Fort Stevens, the second attack on a U.S. military base in the continental U.S. in World War II.
- September 9, 1942, and September 29, 1942 – Lookout Air Raids, the only attack by enemy aircraft on the contiguous U.S. and the second enemy aircraft attack on the U.S. continent in World War II.
- November 1944–April 1945 – Fu-Go balloon bombs, over 9,300 of them were launched by Japan across the Pacific Ocean towards the U.S. to start forest fires. On May 5, 1945, six U.S. civilians were killed in Oregon when they stumbled upon a bomb and it exploded, the only deaths to occur in the U.S. as a result of an enemy balloon attack during World War II.
Planned attacks on the United States
- Amerika Bomber
- Project Z
- Operation PX
Other units and services
- Cactus Air Force
- Devil's Brigade (1st Special Service Force)
- Eagle Squadron
- Flying Tigers
- Merrill's Marauders
- Office of Strategic Services
- Tuskegee Airmen
Timeline
European and Mediterranean Theater
Battle | Campaign | Date start | Date end | Victory |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany declare war on the United States |
West European theater and Mediterranean theater of World War II |
11 December 1941 | 8 May 1945 | Allies |
Battle of the Atlantic | 3 September 1939 | 8 May 1945 | Allies | |
Operation Torch | North African campaign | 8 November 1942 | 10 November 1942 | Allies |
Run for Tunis | Tunisia campaign
|
10 November 1942 | 25 December 1942 | Germany |
Battle of Sidi Bou Zid | Tunisia campaign
|
14 February 1943 | 17 February 1943 | Germany |
Battle of the Kasserine Pass
|
Tunisia campaign | 19 February 1943 | 25 February 1943 | Germany |
Battle of El Guettar | Tunisia campaign | 23 March 1943 | 7 April 1943 | Germany |
Battle of Hill 609 | Tunisia campaign | 27 April 1943 | 1 May 1943 | United States |
Operation Vulcan
|
Tunisia campaign | 6 May 1943 | 12 May 1943 | United States |
Operation Flax | Tunisia campaign | 5 April 1943 | 27 April 1943 | United States |
Allied invasion of Sicily | Italian campaign
|
9 July 1943 | 17 August 1943 | Allies |
Allied invasion of Italy | Italian campaign | 3 September 1943 | 16 September 1943 | Allies |
Bernhardt Line | Italian campaign | 1 December 1943 | 15 January 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Monte Cassino | Italian campaign | 17 January 1944 | 19 May 1944 | Allies |
Operation Shingle
|
Italian campaign | 22 January 1944 | 5 June 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Normandy | Western Front | 6 June 1944 | 25 August 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Saint-Lô | Western Front | 9 July 1944 | 24 July 1944 | Allies |
Operation Cobra | Western Front | 25 July 1944 | 31 July 1944 | Allies |
Operation Lüttich | Western Front | 7 August 1944 | 13 August 1944 | Allies |
Falaise pocket | Western Front | 12 August 1944 | 21 August 1944 | Allies |
Liberation of Paris | Western Front | 19 August 1944 | 25 August 1944 | Allies |
Operation Dragoon | Western Front | 15 August 1944 | 14 September 1944 | Allies |
Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine
|
Western Front | 25 August 1944 | 7 March 1945 | Allies |
Gothic Line | Italian campaign | 25 August 1944 | 17 December 1944 | Allies |
Operation Market Garden | Western Front | 17 September 1944 | 25 September 1944 | Germany |
Battle of Arracourt | Western Front | 18 September 1944 | 29 September 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Huertgen Forest
|
Western Front | 19 September 1944 | 10 February 1945 | Germany |
Battle of Aachen | Western Front | 1 October 1944 | 22 October 1944 | United States |
Operation Queen | Western Front | 16 November 1944 | 16 December 1944 | Germany |
Battle of the Bulge | Western Front | 16 December 1944 | 25 January 1945 | Allies |
Operation Bodenplatte
|
Western Front | 1 January 1945 | 1 January 1945 | Allies |
Operation Nordwind
|
Western Front | 1 January 1945 | 25 January 1945 | Allies |
Colmar Pocket | Western Front | 20 January 1945 | 9 February 1945 | Allies |
Operation Grapeshot
|
Italian campaign | 6 April 1945 | 2 May 1945 | Allies |
Western Allied invasion of Germany | Western Front | 8 February 1945 | 5 May 1945 | Allies |
Operation Grenade | Western Front | 9 February 1945 | 9 February 1945 | Allies |
Operation Lumberjack | Western Front | 7 March 1945 | 25 March 1945 | Allies |
Operation Varsity | Western Front | 24 March 1945 | 24 March 1945 | Allies |
Ruhr Pocket
|
Western Front | 7 March 1945 | 21 April 1945 | Allies |
Battle of Frankfurt | Western Front | 26 March 1945 | 29 March 1945 | Allies |
Pacific Theater
Battle | Campaign | Date start | Date end | Victory |
---|---|---|---|---|
Attack on Pearl Harbor | 7 December 1941 | 7 December 1941 | Japan | |
United States declares war on Japan | 8 December 1941 | 15 August 1945 | ||
Battle of Guam | 8 December 1941 | 10 December 1941 | Japan | |
Battle of Wake Island | Pacific Ocean theater of World War II | 8 December 1941 | 23 December 1941 | Japan |
Battle of the Philippines
|
South West Pacific | 8 December 1941 | 8 May 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Balikpapan | Netherlands East Indies campaign
|
23 January 1942 | 24 January 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Ambon | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 30 January 1942 | 3 February 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Makassar Strait | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 4 February 1942 | 4 February 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Badung Strait | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 18 February 1942 | 19 February 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Timor
|
Netherlands East Indies campaign | 19 February 1942 | 10 February 1943 | Japan (tactical);Allies (strategic) |
Battle of the Java Sea | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 27 February 1942 | 1 March 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Sunda Strait | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 28 February 1942 | 1 March 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Java | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 28 February 1942 | 12 March 1942 | Japan |
Invasion of Tulagi | Solomon Islands campaign | 3 May 1942 | 4 May 1942 | Japan |
Battle of the Coral Sea | New Guinea campaign | 4 May 1942 | 8 May 1942 | Japan (tactical);Allies (strategic) |
Battle of Corregidor | 5 May 1942 | 6 May 1942 | Japan | |
Battle of Midway | Pacific Theater of Operations
|
4 June 1942 | 7 June 1942 | United States |
Battle of the Aleutian Islands
|
Pacific Theater of Operations
|
6 June 1942 | 15 August 1943 | Allies |
Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo
|
Guadalcanal campaign | 7 August 1942 | 9 August 1942 | Allies |
Battle of Savo Island | Guadalcanal campaign | 8 August 1942 | 9 August 1942 | Japan |
Makin Raid
|
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 17 August 1942 | 18 August 1942 | United States |
Battle of the Tenaru | Guadalcanal campaign | 21 August 1942 | 21 August 1942 | Allies |
Battle of the Eastern Solomons | Guadalcanal campaign | 24 August 1942 | 25 August 1942 | United States |
Battle of Milne Bay | New Guinea campaign | 25 August 1942 | 5 September 1942 | Allies |
Battle of Edson's Ridge | Guadalcanal campaign | 12 September 1942 | 14 September 1942 | United States |
Second Battle of the Matanikau | Guadalcanal campaign | 23 September 1942 | 27 September 1942 | Japan |
Third Battle of the Matanikau | Guadalcanal campaign | 7 October 1942 | 9 October 1942 | United States |
Battle of Cape Esperance | Guadalcanal campaign | 11 October 1942 | 12 October 1942 | United States |
Battle for Henderson Field | Guadalcanal campaign | 23 October 1942 | 26 October 1942 | United States |
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands | Guadalcanal campaign | 25 October 1942 | 27 October 1942 | Japan |
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal | Guadalcanal campaign | 12 November 1942 | 15 November 1942 | United States |
Battle of Buna-Gona
|
New Guinea campaign | 16 November 1942 | 22 January 1943 | Allies |
Battle of Tassafaronga | Guadalcanal campaign | 29 November 1942 | 29 November 1942 | Japan |
Battle of Rennell Island | Guadalcanal campaign | 29 January 1943 | 30 January 1943 | Japan |
Battle of Wau | New Guinea campaign | 29 January 1943 | 31 January 1943 | Allies |
Battle of the Bismarck Sea | New Guinea campaign | 2 March 1943 | 4 March 1943 | Allies |
Battle of Blackett Strait | Solomon Islands campaign | 6 March 1943 | 6 March 1943 | United States |
Battle of the Komandorski Islands | Aleutian Islands campaign | 27 March 1943 | 27 March 1943 | Inconclusive |
Death of Isoroku Yamamoto
|
Solomon Islands campaign | 18 April 1943 | 18 April 1943 | United States |
Salamaua-Lae campaign
|
New Guinea campaign | 22 April 1943 | 16 September 1943 | Allies |
Battle of New Georgia
|
Solomon Islands campaign | 20 June 1943 | 25 August 1943 | Allies |
Battle of Kula Gulf | Solomon Islands campaign | 6 July 1943 | 6 July 1943 | Inconclusive |
Battle of Kolombangara | Solomon Islands campaign | 12 July 1943 | 13 July 1943 | Japan |
Battle of Vella Gulf | Solomon Islands campaign | 6 August 1943 | 7 August 1943 | United States |
Battle of Vella Lavella
|
Solomon Islands campaign | 15 August 1943 | 9 October 1943 | Allies |
Bombing of Wewak | New Guinea campaign | 17 August 1943 | 17 August 1943 | United States |
Finisterre Range campaign
|
New Guinea campaign | 19 September 1943 | 24 April 1944 | Allies |
Naval Battle of Vella Lavella
|
Solomon Islands campaign | 7 October 1943 | 7 October 1943 | Japan |
Battle of the Treasury Islands | Solomon Islands campaign | 25 October 1943 | 12 November 1943 | Allies |
Raid on Choiseul | Solomon Islands campaign | 28 October 1943 | 3 November 1943 | Allies |
Bombing of Rabaul | New Guinea campaign | 1 November 1943 | 11 November 1943 | Allies |
Bougainville campaign | New Guinea campaign | 1 November 1943 | 21 August 1945 | Allies |
Battle of Tarawa | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 20 November 1943 | 23 November 1943 | United States |
Battle of Makin | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 20 November 1943 | 24 November 1943 | United States |
Battle of Cape St. George | Solomon Islands campaign | 26 November 1943 | 26 November 1943 | United States |
New Britain Campaign
|
New Guinea campaign | 15 December 1943 | 21 August 1945 | Allies |
Landing at Saidor | New Guinea campaign | 2 January 1944 | 10 February 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Cape St. George | Solomon Islands campaign | 29 January 1944 | 27 February 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Kwajalein | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 31 January 1944 | 3 February 1944 | United States |
Operation Hailstone | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 17 February 1944 | 18 February 1944 | United States |
Battle of Eniwetok | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 17 February 1944 | 23 February 1944 | United States |
Admiralty Islands campaign | New Guinea campaign | 29 February 1944 | 18 May 1944 | Allies |
Landing on Emirau | New Guinea campaign | 20 March 1944 | 27 March 1944 | United States |
Battle of Saipan | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 15 June 1944 | 9 July 1944 | United States |
Battle of the Philippine Sea | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 19 June 1944 | 20 June 1944 | United States |
Battle of Guam | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 21 July 1944 | 8 August 1944 | United States |
Battle of Tinian | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 24 July 1944 | 1 August 1944 | United States |
Battle of Peleliu | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 15 September 1944 | 25 November 1944 | United States |
Battle of Angaur | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 17 September 1944 | 30 September 1944 | United States |
Battle of Leyte | Philippines campaign (1944–45)
|
20 October 1944 | 31 December 1944 | Allies |
Battle of Leyte Gulf | Philippines campaign | 23 October 1944 | 26 October 1944 | United States |
Battle of Ormoc Bay | Philippines campaign | 11 November 1944 | 21 December 1944 | United States |
Battle of Mindoro | Philippines campaign | 13 December 1944 | 16 December 1944 | United States |
Battle for the Recapture of Bataan
|
Philippines campaign | 31 January 1945 | 8 February 1945 | Allies |
Battle of Manila (1945) | Philippines campaign | 3 February 1945 | 3 March 1945 | Allies |
Battle for the Recapture of Corregidor
|
Philippines campaign | 16 February 1945 | 26 February 1945 | Allies |
Battle of Iwo Jima | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | 19 February 1945 | 16 March 1945 | United States |
Invasion of Palawan | Philippines campaign | 28 February 1945 | 22 April 1945 | United States |
Battle of Okinawa | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | 1 April 1945 | 21 June 1945 | Allies |
Operation Ten-Go | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | 7 April 1945 | 7 April 1945 | United States |
Battle of Tarakan | Borneo campaign (1945)
|
1 May 1945 | 19 June 1945 | Allies |
See also
- Allied war crimes during World War II
- Diplomatic history of World War II
- Equipment losses in World War II
- Ethnic minorities in the U.S. armed forces during World War II
- Foreign policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration
- Foreign policy of the United States
- Greatest Generation
- History of the United States
- List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
- Military history of the United States
- Nazi foreign policy debate
- United States and the Holocaust
- United States casualties of war
- United States home front during World War II
- United States war crimes
- World War II casualties
- US Naval Advance Bases
- Wallis and Futuna during the Second World War
References
- ISBN 978-0-15-678870-0. pp. 141-42
- ^ "World War 2 Casualties". World War 2. Otherground, LLC and World-War-2.info. 2003. Retrieved 20 June 2006.
- ^ "World War II POWs remember efforts to strike against captors". The Times-Picayune. Associated Press. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ "Costs of Major US Wars". history.navy.mil. 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- ^ "Milestones: 1937–1945 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Milestones: 1937–1945 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ Robert Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 (1995).
- ^ "Milestones: 1937–1945 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ "Milestones: 1921–1936 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ "A Japanese Attack Before Pearl Harbor". NPR. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ "Milestones: 1937–1945 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ a b c "Eagle Squadrons". Retrieved 19 April 2015.
- ^ 'Aces High', Shores and Williams, 1994, pages 31, 38, 40
- ^ a b Ford 1991, pp. 30–34.
- ^ Henry H. Adams, Witness to Power: The Life of Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy (1985)
- ^ Grace P. Hayes, The history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in World War II: The War Against Japan (1953)
- ^ Maurice Matloff et al. Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare: 1941–42 (1951)
- ^ Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (1987)
- Henry Stimson, however, did control decisions about building and using the atomic bomb.
- TIME Magazine, 13 December 1943
- ISBN 978-0-9897906-0-4.
- ^ a b Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939 – May 1943. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 74–79.
- ^ George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U. S. Navy, 1890–1990 (1996) p. 162
- ^ "A Chronology of US Historical Documents".Archived 5 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma College of Law
- ^ "A Chronology of US Historical Documents". Archived 5 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma College of Law
- ^ "Command Failures: Lessons Learned from Lloyd R. Fredendall" Steven L. Ossad, findarticles.com
- ^ Ford & Zaloga 2009, pp. 185–193.
- ^ ""NUTS!" Revisited: An Interview with Lt. General Harry W. O. Kinnard". Archived 8 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine thedropzone.org
- ^ "Battle of the Bulge remembered 60 years later". defenselink.mil
- ^ "World War II". Historynet.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- ^ "TERMINATION OF THE STATE OF WAR WITH GERMANY | Harry S. Truman". www.trumanlibrary.gov. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
- ^ Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (1982) is one of the best of many books
- ^ Alan Zimm, The Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions (2011) covers the technical details from the Japanese side
- ^ Peter Grier (7 December 2011). "Pearl Harbor Day: How did Adolf Hitler react to the attack?". The Christian Science Monitor. csmonitor.com. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
- ^ Donald J. Young, The Battle of Bataan: A Complete History (2009)
- JSTOR 26397819.
- ^ "Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942" history.navy.mil
- ^ "Pacific Theater, World War II — Island Hopping, 1942–1945", USHistory.com.
- ^ George Kenney, General Kenney reports: a personal history of the Pacific War (Office of Air Force History – 1949) full text online
- ^ Quoted in William M. Leary, We Shall Return!: MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan (2004) p. 99
- ^ Kenney p 112
- ^ Martin W. Bowman, B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War (2003) p. 59
- ^ Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II: Vol 7: Services Around The World (1958) ch 10
- ^ Mae Mills Link and Hubert A. Coleman, Medical support of the Army Air Forces in World War II (1955) p 851
- ^ Robert Lee Sherrod, History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II (1952)
- ^ Charles W. Koburger, Pacific Turning Point: The Solomons Campaign, 1942–1943 (1995) online edition
- ^ Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol. 5: The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943 (1949)
- ^ Richard Overy, War in the Pacific (2010)
- ^ C. Vann Woodward, The Battle for Leyte Gulf (1947)
- ^ Joseph H. Alexander, Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima (1994), short Marine Corps history online edition
- ^ William L. O'Neill, The Oxford Essential Guide to World War II (2002) p 279
- ^ John Olsen, A History of Air Warfare (2009) p 74
- ^ Donald L. Miller, D-days in the Pacific (2005) p. 2222
- ^ William W. Ralph, "Improvised Destruction: Arnold, LeMay, and the Firebombing of Japan," War in History Vol. 13, No. 4, 495–522 (2006)
- JSTOR 2677346.
- ISSN 1044-016X
- ^ Rikihei Inoguchi and Tadashi Nakajima, The Divine Wind: Japan's Kamikaze Force in World War II (1994)
- ^ Robin L. Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships: Okinawa, 1945 (2010)
- ^ quoted in Norman Friedman, U.S. naval weapons: every gun, missile, mine, and torpedo used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the present day (1982) p 93
- ^ John Ray Skates, The invasion of Japan: alternative to the bomb (2000) p. 241
- ^ Spector (1984), pp.478–479; Blair, Silent Victory, p.106; Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", PhD dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005.(page needed).
- ^ Christley (2006), p.39.
- ^ Morison (1948), p.303.
- ^ Morison (1949), p.188.
- ^ Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (Navies of the Second World War Series; New York: Doubleday, 1973), p.5 table.
- ^ "World War 2 Submarines".
- ^ Roscoe, Theodore. Pig Boats (Bantam Books, 1958); Blair, Silent Victory, pp.991–2.
- ^ RD Designs (7 December 1941). "Sinkings By Boat". Pigboats.com. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ a b Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (New York, 1976), p.878.
Further reading
- Smith, Gaddis. American Diplomacy During the Second World War, 1941-1945 (1965) online
Air Force
- Perret, Geoffrey. Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II (1997)
Army
- Perret, Geoffrey. There's a War to Be Won: The United States Army in World War II (1997)
Europe
- Weigley, Russell. Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaigns of France and Germany, 1944–45 (1990)
Marines
- Sherrod, Robert Lee. History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II (1987)
- Morison, Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (2007)
Pacific
- ISBN 978-0-553-80670-0.
- ISBN 978-0-553-80390-7.
- ISBN 978-0-553-38148-1.
- Parshall, Jonathan and Anthony Tully. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway (2005).
- Spector, Ronald. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan (1985)
- Tillman, Barrett. Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942–1945 (2010).
- Tillman, Barrett. Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II (2005).
- Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942. New York: W. W. Norton.
- ——— (2015). The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942–1944. New York: W. W. Norton.
- ——— (2020). Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945. New York: W. W. Norton.
Biographies
- Ambrose, Stephen. The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1999) excerpt and text search
- Beschloss, Michael R. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945 (2002) excerpt and text search
- Buell, Thomas B. Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King (1995).
- Buell, Thomas. The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond Spruance. (1974).
- Burns, James MacGregor. vol. 2: Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom 1940–1945 (1970), A major interpretive scholarly biography, emphasis on politics online at ACLS e-books
- Davis, Richard G. (1997). HAP: Henry H. Arnold, Military Aviator (PDF). USAF. ISBN 0-16-049071-5. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- Larrabee, Eric. Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (2004), chapters on all the key American war leaders excerpt and text search
- James, D. Clayton. The Years of MacArthur 1941–1945 (1975), vol 2. of a standard scholarly biography
- Leary, William ed. We Shall Return! MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan, 1942–1945 (1988)
- Morison, Elting E. Turmoil and Tradition: A Study of the Life and Times of Henry L. Stimson (1960)
- Pogue, Forrest. George C. Marshall: Ordeal and Hope, 1939–1942 (1999); George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945 (1999); standard scholarly biography
- Potter, E. B. Bull Halsey (1985).
- Potter, E. B. Nimitz. (1976).
- Showalter, Dennis. Patton And Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century (2006), by a leading scholar; excerpt and text search
- David J. Ulbrich (2011). Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of Modern Marine Corps, 1936–1943. ISBN 978-1-59114-903-3.
External links
- World War II, from USHistory.com.
- A Chronology of US Historical Documents, Oklahoma College of Law.
- The D-Day Story, D-Day Museum.
- Omaha Beachhead Archived 22 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, American Forces in Action Series. Washington, DC, United States Army Center of Military History 1994 (facsimile reprint of 1945). CMH Pub. 100-11.
- Lend-Lease Act, 11 March 1941, US Congress. (from history.navy.mil)
- Office of the Chief of Military History, 1965.