Question

Chapter 25: The US & World War II

Answer 1

Answer:

1. Less than five months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army Air Force launched B-25 bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet (something that was supposed to be impossible) and bombed Tokyo. The raid was more a psychological victory than a tactical one, but psychology is important in winning a war

a. American women played important roles during World War II (including after Pearl Harbor), both at home and in uniform. ... As the men fought abroad, women on the Home Front worked in defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households.

2. The Battle of Britain was a turning point in World War II; if the RAF had not held off the Luftwaffe, Hitler would have likely moved forward with his Operation Sea Lion invasion of the British Isles. This would have been devastating to the British people and all efforts to stem Hitler's rise to power.

3. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a surprise attack against the Soviet Union, its ally in the war against Poland. By the end of the year, German troops had advanced almost 1,000 miles to the outskirts of Moscow. Soon after the invasion, mobile killing units began the mass murder of Soviet Jews. However, Hitler had so far refused to fully mobilise the German economy and so weapons production was inadequate. Even in mid-1941 only 250 new tanks were being built each month, insufficient to properly equip the army on the eve of a major new campaign, or keep up with the inevitable mechanical and combat losses. As a result, Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union failed.

4. Marshall Islands. The first planned offensive action by the United States in World War II came in January 1942 when the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise attacked Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands.

5. On 6 June 1944 – 'D-Day' – Allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. Codenamed Operation 'Overlord', the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy marked the start of a long and costly campaign to liberate north-west Europe from Nazi occupation.

6. When the Japanese attack the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States enters World War II and goes to war with Japan; the war ends when the U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9) in Japan in 1945 and Japan surrenders unconditionally to the Allied.

7. Although at the time of the surrender virtually all of Germany was under Allied control, German forces still occupied western Netherlands, Denmark, much of Norway, as well as western and central Czechoslovakia.

a. Though members of the SS continued to stand in defendant's docks in the Federal Republic of Germany and elsewhere after the end of World War II—even up to the present day—the vast majority of SS and police were never called to account for their crimes.

8. After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the United States led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. Between 1945 and 1952, the U.S. occupying forces, led by General Douglas A. MacArthur, enacted widespread military, political, economic, and social reforms.