World War II: The Front Lines

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World War II The Front Lines

• Before the war
• The war in Europe
• Attitudes toward the war in the US
• US enters the war
• Pearl Harbor
• Government wartime propaganda
• The front lines
• The Pacific
• Europe
• End of War
• Liberating consentration camps
• US and the Soviet Union

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Before the War gt Events leading up to the attack
H.V. Kaltenborn on Hitlers speech, 1938

• 1922 Benito Mussolini comes to power in Italy
• September 1931 Japan occupies Manchuria
• March 1933 Adolf Hitler seizes power
• May 1933 Japan quits League of Nations
• 1936 Spanish Civil War against Franco
• August 1937 Japan invades China
• October 1937 FDR calls for international
  cooperation against aggression
• March 1938 Germany annexes Austria
• September 1938 Munich agreement lets Germany
  annex Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
• November 1938 Kristallnacht, Nazis attack Jews
  and destroy Jewish property
• March 1939 Germany annexes remainder of
  Czechoslovaka
• August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union sign
  nonagression pact
• September 1939 Germany invades Poland World War
  II begins
• April-June 1940 Bliztkrieg (Germany conquers much
  of Western Europe)
• September 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan (the
  Axis powers) conclude a military alliance
• September 1940 First peacetime draft in American
  history
• November 1940 FDR elected for a third term
• March 1941 Lend-Lease Act extends aid to Great
  Britain
• May 1941 Germans secure the Balkans

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Before the War gt War of the Worlds broadcast,
October 30, 1938
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Before the War gt Antiwar labor pamphlet
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Before the War gt North American Aviation
advertisement, Colliers, 1942
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Before the War gt Omaha high school students
fascist sticker, 1938
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Pearl Harbor gt US Ships during Pearl Harbor
attack, 1941
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Pearl Harbor gt Live KTU broadcast from Hawaii
during the attack
Reporter Hello, NBC. Hello, NBC. This is KTU in
Honolulu, Hawaii. I am speaking from the roof of
the Advertiser Publishing Company Building. We
have witnessed this morning the distant view a
brief full battle of Pearl Harbor and the severe
bombing of Pearl Harbor by enemy planes,
undoubtedly Japanese. The city of Honolulu has
also been attacked and considerable damage done.
This battle has been going on for nearly three
hours. One of the bombs dropped within fifty feet
of KTU tower. It is no joke. It is a real war.
The public of Honolulu has been advised to keep
in their homes and away from the Army and Navy.
There has been serious fighting going on in the
air and in the sea. The heavy shooting seems to
be . . . a little interruption. We cannot
estimate just how much damage has been done, but
it has been a very severe attack. The Navy and
Army appear now to have the air and the sea under
control. Operator Ah, just a minute. . . . This
is the telephone company. This is the
operator. Reporter Yes. Operator We have
quite a big call, an emergency call. Reporter
Were talking to New York now.
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Propaganda gt Anti-Nazi poster, 1942
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Propaganda gt Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo
on Colliers cover, 1942
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Propaganda gt OWI short Justice, 1945
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Propaganda gt Frank Capra, The Negro Soldier, 1942
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Pearl Harbor gt Pearl Harbor hero Doris (Dorie)
Miller poster
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Propaganda gt Betty Grable
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Propaganda gt Lena Horne, the most popular pinup
among black soldiers
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Propaganda gt Betty Grable and Her Bombardiers in
All-Star Bond Rally
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Front Lines gt Some key events of World War II

• December 1941 - Pearl Harbor
• February 1942 - Executive Order mandates
  internment of Japanese Americans
• May-June 1942 - US wins naval superiority in the
  Pacific
• November 1942 - US lands in North Africa
• January 1943 - Casablanca Conference announces
  unconditional surrender policy
• February 1943 - Soviet victory over Germans in
  Stalingrad
• May 1943 - German troops surrender in Africa
• July 1943 - Allied invasion of Italy
• June-August 1944 - US lands in Normandy
  liberates Paris
• November 1944 - FDR is elected to fourth term
• February 1945 - Yalta conference renews
  US-Soviet alliance
• February-June 1945 - US captures Iwo Jima and
  Okinawa
• April 1945 - FDR dies Harry Truman becomes
  president
• May 1945 - Germany surrenders
• August 1945 - US drop the atomic bomb on
  Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan surrenders

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Front Lines gt War in Europe
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Front Lines gt Wartime broadcasts of Edward Murrow
and others from London Trafalgar Square, Rooftop
air raid report, and US bombing run
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Front Lines gt Cartoon from Yank The Army Weekly,
1943
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Front Lines gt Ben Hurwitz, inside a troop ship,
1943
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Front Lines gt An African American GI escorts
captured German soldiers
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Front Lines gt War in the Pacific
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Front Lines gt War in the Pacific from the
soldiers point of view
Yoshida Kashichi, Guadalcanal, 1942 No matter how
far we walk We dont know where were
going Trudging along under dark jungle
growth When will this march end? Hide during the
day Move at night Deep in the lush Guadalcanal
jungle Our rice is gone Eating roots and
grass Along the ridges and cliffs Leaves hide the
trail, we lose our way Stumble and get up, fall
and get up Covered with mud from our falls Blood
oozes from our wounds No cloth to bind our
cuts Flies swarm to the scabs No strength to
brush them away Fall down and cannot move How
many times Ive thought of suicide.
U.S. Marine, Guam, 1944 This foxhole is about two
feet deep. Now, I would like to be able to speak
louder and with more clarity, but unfortunately,
the slightest noise, the slightest rustle, will
draw fire not only from the Japanese, who are
someplace, perhaps, in the dense foliage around
us or up on the ridge, but from our own Marines
who are huddled nearby in foxholes like this one.
I dont know how they the Japanese do it. We
can lie here absolutely breathless listening to
the slightest sounds and not see anythingin
fact, not hear anythingand then we wake up and
find that theyre all around us. And its a very
tough and tedious job to root them out,
inaudible them and exterminate them. We lost
quite a few people in our unit. A very popular
captain was killed.
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Front Lines gt American soldier killed by mortar
fire, 1944
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Front Lines gt Bill Maudlin, Up Front, Stars and
Stripes, 1945
Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with
victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry,
ragged, battle-weary prisoners.
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End of War gt Bodies of victims in the Buchenwald
Concentration Camp
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End of War gt Six-year-old orphan wearing a
Buchenwald badge
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End of War gt American and Russian Troops, 1945