Military history of the United States during World War II
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The Military history of the United States during World War II covers the involvement of the United States during the Second World War. The Empire of Japan declared war on the United States of America and the British Empire on December 7, immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 [1]. Until that time, the United States had maintained neutrality, although it had, since March that same year, supplied the Allies with war materials through the Lend-Lease Act. Between the United States entry in 1941 and the end of the war in 1945, over 16 million Americans served in the United States military. [2] Many others served with the Merchant Marine [3] and paramilitary civilian units like the WASPs.
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[edit] Isolationism
Following the Treaty of Versailles, and the refusal of the United States to enter the League of Nations, public sentiment in the United States shifted toward a hesitation to become involved in European affairs. [4] After World War I, the U.S. had withdrawn its forces and had stated that they would never return. The Great Depression had also crippled the economy, forcing the United States to neglect its military and focus on other concerns.
[edit] Lend-Lease
The year 1940 marked a change in attitude in the United States. The German victories in France, Poland and elsewhere, combined with the Battle of Britain, led many Americans to believe that the United States would be forced to fight soon. On March 11, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, which committed much-needed American weapons to the Allied effort against the Axis Powers, since much British heavy equipment had been abandoned during their evacuation of Dunkirk. [5] While not an official declaration of war on the part of the United States, Lend-Lease displayed American sympathies.
[edit] Attack on Pearl Harbor
Because of Japanese actions in French Indochina and China, the United States imposed numerous sanctions, including an oil and scrap metal embargo. The oil embargo threatened to grind the Japanese military machine to a halt. Fearing a shortage of resources, and that war with the United States was inevitable, the Japanese decided to take action against the United States Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt had months earlier transferred the American fleet there from San Diego in order to present a deterrent to any possible Japanese attack. Shortly after negotiations in Washington broke down, the Japanese launched a full scale surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. While the attack succeeded in sinking and damaging many battleships, the American aircraft carriers were not present, preserving American force projection capabilities.[6]
[edit] Pacific Theater
- See also: Pacific Theater of Operations
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt officially asked for a declaration of war on Japan before a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941. This notion passed with only one vote against in both chambers.
[edit] Battle of the Philippines
The day after their attack at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched an offensive into the American occupied Philippines. Much of the U.S. Far East Air Force was destroyed on the ground by the Japanese. Soon, all American and Filipino forces were forced onto the isolated Bataan peninsula, and General Douglas MacArthur, commander of Allied troops in the Philippines, was ordered to evacuate the area by President Roosevelt. MacArthur finally did in March 1942, fleeing to Australia, where he commanded the defense of that island. His famous words, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return," would not become true until 1944. Before leaving, MacArthur had placed Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright in command of the defense of the Philippines. After fierce fighting, Wainwright surrendered the combined American and Filipino force to the Japanese on May 8 with the hope that they would be treated fairly as POW's. They were not, and they suffered greatly through the Bataan Death March and Japanese prison camps.
[edit] Battle of Wake Island
At the same time as the attack on the Philippines, a group of Japanese bombers flown from the Marshall Islands destroyed many of the Marine Corps fighters on the ground at Wake Island in preparation for the Japanese invasion. The first landing attempt was disastrous for the Japanese; the heavily outnumbered and outgunned American Marines and civilians sent the Japanese fleet in retreat with the support of the only four remaining F4F fighters, piloted by Marines. The second attack was far more successful for the Japanese; the outnumbered Americans were forced to surrender after running low on supplies.
[edit] Battle of the Coral Sea
- See also: Coral Sea order of battle
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 turning point because American commanders learned the tactics that would serve them later in the war, and that it was the first time a Japanese amphibious landing force had been forced to turn back.
[edit] Battle of Midway
- See also: Midway order of battle
Having learned important lessons at Coral Sea, the United States Navy was prepared when the Japanese navy under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched an offensive aimed at destroying the American Pacific Fleet at Midway Island. The Japanese hoped to embarrass the Americans after the humiliation of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Midway was a strategic island that both sides wished to use as an air base. Yamamoto hoped to achieve complete surprise and a quick capture of the island, followed by a decisive carrier battle with which he could completely destroy the American carrier fleet. Before the battle began, however, American intelligence intercepted his plan, allowing Admiral Chester Nimitz to formulate an effective defensive ambush of the Japanese fleet. [7] The battle began on June 4, 1942. By the time it was over, the Japanese had lost four carriers, as opposed to one American carrier lost. The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war in the Pacific because the United States had seized the initiative and was on the offensive for the duration of the war.
[edit] 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 served little or no strategic importance. [8] 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.
[edit] Guadalcanal
- See also: Battle of Guadalcanal order of battle
The first major step in their campaign was the Japanese occupied island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands chain. Marines from the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal near the Tenaru River on August 7, 1942. They quickly captured Henderson Field, and prepared defenses. On what would become known as the Battle of Bloody Ridge, the Americans held off wave after wave of Japanese counterattacks before charging what was left of the Japanese. After more than six months of combat the island was firmly in control of the Allies on February 8, 1943.
[edit] 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 landings at Tarawa on November 20, 1943, by the Marines 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 Marines were eventually able to land a limited number of tanks and drive inland. After days of fighting the Allies took control of Tarawa on November 23. Of the original 2,600 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 17 were still alive.
[edit] Iwo Jima
The island of Iwo Jima and the critical airstrips there served as the next area of battle. The Japanese had learned from their defeat at the Battle of Saipan and prepared many fortified positions on the island, including pillboxes and underground tunnels. The American attack began on February 19, 1945. Initially the Japanese put up little 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. Even as the Japanese were pressed into an ever shrinking pocket, they chose to fight to the end, leaving only 1,000 of the original 21,000 alive. The Allies suffered as well, losing 7,000 men, but they were victorious again, however, and reached the summit of Mount Suribachi on February 23. It was there that five Marines and one Navy Corpsman famously planted the American flag.
[edit] Okinawa
Okinawa became the last major battle of the Pacific Theater and the Second World War. The island was to become a staging area for the eventual invasion of Japan since it was just 350 miles (550 km) south of the Japanese mainland. Marines and soldiers landed unopposed on April 1, 1945, to begin an 82-day campaign which became the largest land-sea-air battle in history and was noted for the ferocity of the fighting and the high civilian casualties with over 150,000 Okinawans losing their lives. Japanese kamikaze pilots enacted the largest loss of ships in U.S. naval history with the sinking of 38 and the damaging of another 368. Total U.S. casualties were over 12,500 dead and 38,000 wounded, while the Japanese lost over 110,000 men. The fierce fighting on Okinawa is said to have played a part in President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb and to forsake an invasion of Japan.
[edit] Recapture of the Philippines
General MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines by landing at Leyte on October 20, 1944. The Allied re-capture of the Philippines took place from 1944 to 1945 and included the battles of Leyte, Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and Mindanao.
[edit] Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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. President Harry Truman gave the order to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, hoping that the destruction of the city would break Japanese resolve and end the war. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, after it appeared that the Japanese high command was not planning to surrender. Approximately 140,000 people died in Hiroshima from the bomb and its aftereffects by the end of 1945, and approximately 74,000 in Nagasaki, in both cases mostly civilians.
August 15, 1945, or V-J Day, 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.
[edit] China Burma India Theater
The United States contributed several forces to this theater, such as a volunteer air squadron (later incorporated into the Army Air Force), and Merrill's Marauders, an infantry unit. The U.S. also had an adviser to Chiang Kai-shek, Joseph Stillwell.
[edit] Battle of the Aleutian Islands
This was the last battle between sovereign nations to be fought on American soil. As part of a diversionary plan for the Battle of Midway, the Japanese took control of two of the Aleutian Islands. Their hope was that strong American naval forces would be drawn away from Midway, enabling a Japanese victory. Because their ciphers were broken, the American forces only drove the Japanese out after Midway.
[edit] European and North African Theaters
On December 11, 1941, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, the same day that the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. [9]
[edit] Europe first
- See also: European Theater of Operations
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.
[edit] Operation Torch
The United States entered the war in the west with Operation Torch on November 8, 1942, after their Russian 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.
[edit] Allied victory in North Africa
The United States did not have a smooth entry into the war against Nazi Germany. Early in 1943, the U.S. Army suffered a near-disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in February. The senior Allied leadership was primarily to blame for the loss as internal bickering between American General Lloyd Fredendall and the British led to mistrust and little communication, causing inadequate troop placements. [10] The defeat could be considered a major turning point, however, because General Eisenhower replaced Fredendall with General Patton.
Slowly the Allies stopped the German advance in Tunisia and by March were pushing back. In mid April, along with British General Bernard Montgomery, the Allies smashed through the Mareth Line and broke the Axis defense in North Africa. On May 13, 1943, Axis troops in North Africa surrendered, leaving behind 275,000 men. Allied efforts turned towards Sicily and Italy.
[edit] Invasion of Sicily and Italy
The first stepping stone for the Allied liberation of Europe was, in Prime Minister Winston Churchill's words, the "soft underbelly" of Europe on the Italian island of Sicily. Launched on July 9, 1943, Operation Husky was, at the time, the largest amphibious operation ever undertaken. The operation was a success, and on August 17 the Allies were in control of the island.
Following the Allied victory in Sicily, Italian public sentiment swung against the war and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was deposed in a coup, and the Allies struck quickly, hoping resistance would be slight. The first American troops landed on the Italian peninsula in September 1943, and Italy surrendered on September 8. German troops in Italy were prepared, however, and took up the defensive positions. As winter approached, the Allies made slow progress against the heavily defended German Winter Line, until the victory at Monte Cassino. Rome fell to the Allies on June 4, 1944.
[edit] Strategic bombing
Numerous bombing runs were launched by the United States aimed at the industrial heart of Germany. Using the high altitude B-17, it was necessary for the raids to be conducted in daylight for the drops to be accurate. As adequate fighter escort was rarely available, the bombers would fly in tight, box formations, allowing each bomber to provide overlapping machine-gun fire for defense. The tight formations made it impossible to evade fire from Luftwaffe fighters, however, and American bomber crew losses were high. One such example was the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, which resulted in staggering loses of men and equipment. The introduction of the revered P-51 Mustang, which had enough fuel to make a round trip to Germany's heartland, helped to reduce losses later in the war.
[edit] Operation Overlord
The second European front that the Soviets had pressed for was finally opened on June 6, 1944, when the Allies attacked the heavily-fortified Atlantic Wall. Supreme Allied commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower had delayed the attack because of bad weather, but finally the largest amphibious assault in history began.
After prolonged bombing runs on the French coast by the U.S. Army Air Force, 225 U.S. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc under intense enemy fire and destroyed the German gun emplacements that could have threatened the amphibious landings.
Also prior to the main amphibious assault, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions dropped behind the beaches into Nazi-occupied France, in an effort to protect the coming landings. Many of the paratroopers had not been dropped on their intended landing zones and were scattered throughout Normandy.
As the paratroops fought their way through the hedgerows, the main amphibious landings began. The Americans came ashore at the beaches codenamed Omaha and Utah. The landing craft bound for Utah, as with so many other units, went off course, coming ashore two kilometers off target. The U.S. 4th Infantry Division faced weak resistance during the landings and by the afternoon were linked up with paratroopers fighting their way towards the coast.
However, at Omaha the Germans had prepared the beaches with land mines, Czech hedgehogs and Belgian Gates in anticipation of the invasion. Intelligence prior to the landings had placed the less experienced German 714th Division in charge of the defense of the beach. However, the highly trained and experienced 352nd moved in days before the invasion. As a result, the soldiers from the U.S. 1st Infantry Division and U.S. 29th Infantry Division became pinned down by superior enemy fire immediately after leaving their landing craft. In some instances, entire landing craft full of men were mowed down by the well-positioned German defenses. As the casualties mounted, the soldiers formed impromptu units and advanced inland.
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, including killed and wounded.
[edit] 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 July 24 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 August 25.
[edit] Operation Market Garden
- See also: Operation Market Garden order of battle
The next major Allied operation came on September 17. 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 Rhine and onto the North German Plain. Such an opening would allow Allied forces to break out northward and advance toward Denmark and, ultimately, Berlin.
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 know 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 were only lightly equipped in respect to 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 balance of the 6th, as well as the armoured 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 defence) can be blamed for Market-Garden's ultimate failure. This operation also signaled the last time that either the 82nd or 101st would make a combat jump.
[edit] Battle of the Bulge
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Unable to push north into the Netherlands, the Allies in western Europe were forced to consider other options to get into Germany. However, in December 1944, the Germans launched a massive attack westward in the Ardennes forest, hoping to punch a hole in the Allied lines and capture the Belgian city of Antwerp. The Allies responded slowly, allowing the German attack to create a large "bulge" in the Allied lines. In the initial stages of the offensive, American POW's from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were executed at the Malmedy massacre by Nazi SS and Fallschirmjäger.
As the Germans pushed westward, General Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne and elements of the U.S. 10th Armored Division into the road junction town of Bastogne to prepare a defense. The town quickly became cut off and surrounded. The winter weather slowed Allied air support, and the defenders were outnumbered and low on supplies. When given a request for their surrender from the Germans, General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st, replied, "Nuts!", contributing to the stubborn American defense. [11] On December 19, General Patton told Eisenhower that he could have his army in Bastogne in 48 hours. Patton then turned his army, at the time on the front in Luxembourg, north to break through to Bastogne. Patton's armor pushed north, and by December 26 was in Bastogne, effectively ending the siege. By the time it was over, more American soldiers had served in the battle than in any engagement in American history. [12]
[edit] 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 Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945. The Americans then executed a pincer movement, setting up the Ninth Army north, and the First Army south. When the Allies closed the pincer, 300,000 Germans were captured in the Ruhr Pocket. The Americans then turned east, meeting up with the Soviets at the Elbe River in April. The Germans surrendered Berlin to the Soviets on May 2, 1945.
The war in Europe came to an official end on V-E Day, May 8, 1945.
[edit] 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
[edit] Timeline
[edit] Pacific War
[edit] European Theatre
[edit] See also
- Audie Murphy
- Equipment losses in World War II
- Military history of the United States
- United States casualties of war
- World War II casualties
- Allied war crimes during World War II
[edit] References
- ^ ><http://www.wpunj.edu/irt/courses/hist365/declarewar.htm
- ^ "World War 2 Casualties". World War 2. Otherground, LLC and World-War-2.info (2003). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
- ^ "American Merchant Marine in World War II" usmm.org
- ^ "Isolationism" USHistory.com
- ^ "Lend Lease Act, 11 March 1941". history.navy.mil
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 123-127. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ "Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942" history.navy.mil
- ^ "Pacific Theater, World War II — Island Hopping, 1942-1945", USHistory.com.
- ^ "A Chronology of US Historical Documents". Oklahoma College of Law
- ^ "Command Failures: Lessons Learned from Lloyd R. Fredendall" Steven L. Ossad, findarticles.com
- ^ ""NUTS!" Revisited: An Interview with Lt. General Harry W. O. Kinnard". thedropzone.org
- ^ "Battle of the Bulge remembered 60 years later". defenselink.mil
[edit] Further reading
- Frank, Benis M. and Henry I. Shaw, Jr. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II — Volume V: Victory and Occupation, Historical Branch, United States Marine Corps, 1968.
- Garand, George W. and Truman R. Strobridge. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II — Volume IV: Western Pacific Operations, Historical Branch, United States Marine Corps, 1971.
- Hough, LtCol Frank O. (USMC0, Maj Verne E. Ludwig (USMC), and Henry I. Shaw, Jr. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II — Volume I: Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal:, Historical Branch, United States Marine Corps, 1958.
- Shaw, Henry I., Jr. and Maj Douglas T. Kane (USMC). History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II — Volume II: Isolation of Rabaul, Historical Branch, United States Marine Corps, 1963.
- Shaw, Henry I., Jr., Bernard C. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II — Volume III: Central Pacific Drive, Historican Branch, United States Marine Corps, 1966.
- Stephens, John Richard. Weird History 101. United States of America: Barnes and Noble, 2007.
[edit] External links
- World War II, from USHistory.com.
- A Chronology of US Historical Documents, Oklahoma College of Law.
- FAQ: D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, D-Day Museum.
- Omaha Beachhead, American Forces in Action Series, Historical Division, War Department, 1945. (from Army.mil)
- Lend-Lease Act, 11 March 1941, U.S. Congress. (from history.navy.mil)
- The Ardennes:Battle of the Bulge, Hugh M. Cole. (from Army.mil)
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