The Art of War in World War II

1
The Art of War in World War II

• Brian Rodick
• Honors 201
• Dobelbower
• 23 September 2003

2
A Few Basic Themes

• Win without fighting.
• Avoid strength, attack weakness.
• Deception and foreknowledge
• Speed Preperation.
• Shaping the Enemy and preparing the battlefield.

3
Kamikazes

• Planes were loaded with explosives and flown
  directly into targets.
  
• 1 crash was equivalent to 10 firing missions.
• Suicide warfare had never been seen before.
  Americans became frightened by the concept.
  Their tactics shifted from offensive to
  defensive.
• Kamikazes sunk 34 ships and damaged a total of
  288 ships
  
• Japan sacrificed 1 pilot and 1 plane in an
  attack that could take out an entire aircraft
  carrier. By avoiding all out gunfights, they
  minimized their losses.

4
Pearl Harbor

• No one was ready at 755 am
• In two hours, two waves of bombers sunk 5
  battleships, damaged 16 others and destroyed 188
  aircraft.
  
• Killed 2,400 Americans.
• Wounded 1,178.
• Only 100 Japanese were lost.

The element of surprise was accomplished beyond
anyones wildest dream. The Japanese were able
to cripple the Americans involvement in the
Pacific. Japan was able to conquer most of the
South Pacific in the next two years with almost
no opposition.
5
Operation Overlord D-day

• June 6, 1944
• 2,727 ships sailed to the Normandy coast and on
  the first day landed 156,000 men on a front of
  thirty miles.
  
• It was the largest and most powerful armada that
  has ever sailed
  

Operation Overlord was the Allied forces
major push to defeat the Germans. Hitler
believed the operation to be a decoy, so
German forces had not been dispatched
from Paris during the initial landing. The
deception led to favorable results for the
Allied forces.
6
Hiroshima

• The United States military and resources was
  exhausted from the German efforts.
  
• Public outcry wanted to see the end of WWII.
• Truman decided to drop the bomb August 6, 1945.
• 70,000 people were killed in the initial blast.
• A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki 3 days
  later resulting in Japanese surrender.

Truman decided to end the war with the
bomb instead of sending more troops
from Germany to Japan. The United
States were able to win without having to
engage in further warfare.
7
Battle of Midway

• American intelligence intercepted a Japanese plan
  to attack the Island of Midway which would have
  strengthened their defense in the Pacific Ocean.
  
• The United States sent their entire carrier force
  to Midway to surprise the Japanese advance.
  
• Japan lost 4 ships and were forced to retreat
  which marked the turning point in the war in the
  Pacific.

8
Yalta Conference

• Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met at Yalta to
  discuss post-war Europe.
  
• Agreements were made which would prevent further
  conflict with Germany.
  
• The operations of the United Nations was also
  resolved.
  
• Soviets agreed to enter the war with Japan 3
  months after the surrender of Germany

9
Beach Jumpers

• Tactics and deception were focus of beach
  jumpers.
  
• Laid smoke screens for raids
• Created diversions that allowed Allied forces to
  land without full resistance.

10
The Hellcats

• Air Force Hellcats were equipped with radar
  equipment for night raids.
  
• Used to defend against kamikaze attacks.
• Shot down 163 enemy aircraft while losing only 3
  of their own.

The improvements to the hellcats allowed
the United States to take out significant
airborne threats. The Hellcat was finally
a solution to the kamikaze problem.