His 142 Exam 3

Front 1

FDR actions that helped or hurt the US recover from the Great Depression

Back 1

-In his first 100 days he closed all banks for 4 days to manage failed banks and enlarge government regulation of banking, created Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (cut federal workers salaries, slashed veterans pensions/benefits, and trimmed spending), and also created Civilian Conservation Corps which employed jobless youth age 18-25 in reforestation, park maintenance and erosion control.
-Actions that extended the Depression were passing laws to break up large, universal banks and require “Unit” banks which made them more vulnerable to failure; tripled taxes during the depression with higher personal income taxes, higher corporate taxes, higher excise taxes, higher estate taxes and higher gift taxes and then increased liquor taxes and introduced Social Security taxes; and he intervened in labor markets to raise wages and labor costs.
-Then in the Second New Deal the National Labor Relations Act guaranteed collective bargaining rights and permitted closed shops. It also created the Social Security Act to supplement other sources of income.

Front 2

General Erwin Rommel

Back 2

-Montgomery prepared to launch his own offensive and used a very elaborate deception to fool Rommel as to the scale of the attack in the north and its timing by a week or two.
-Churchill personally authorized exploitation of Ultra’s knowledge of Rommel’s shipping schedules. Rommel had only one week of fuel and 3 weeks of bread.

Front 3

Sicily and Italy "the soft underbelly of Europe"

Back 3

The invade on Sicily was decided during the Casablanca Conference and the invade on Italy was decided during the Trident Conference.

Front 4

Battle of the Bulge

Back 4

-Hitler concentrated 4 armies for the attack. The Fifth Panzer Army and Sixth SS Panzer were to break a hole in the Ardennes front. The main attack was to be an exploitation by General Sepp Dietrich’s Sixth SS Panzer SS Panzer Army. Fifteenth and Seventh Armies provided flanking support on the shoulders and widened the gap.
-Antwerp was the German’s primary objective to sever Allied supply lines and isolate the 4 Allied Armies to the north. The consequent delay in the West might then allow a German offensive against the Russians who were massing on the Vistula River.
-The German attack on December 17th caught the 12th Army Group fully committed without an Army Group reserve. SHAEF’s strategic reserve consisted of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions which were refitting after Arnhem where they had been held in the line for 54 days (instead of Montgomery’s anticipated 48 hours).

Front 5

Doolittle Raid on Tokyo

Back 5

Doolittle figured a way to put 16 B26 Carriers and sail to the Pacific and drop bombs on Tokyo, then go to China.
-However, they are spotted by a boat so Doolittle commanded the launch early and as they carried out the plan they ran out of fuel and so the pilots were taken prisoner by Russia and Japan. Out of 80 crew, 61 survived.

Front 6

Admiral Raymond Spruance

Back 6

-In March 1943, the Fifth Fleet was organized under the command of Vice Adm Raymond Spruance with new ships—the carriers Lexington and Yorktown, 3 new light carriers, 20 new destroyers, and the new battleship Alabama.
-Spruance would make a very controversial call during the Battle of the Philippine Sea when he elected not to aggressively pursue the Japanese carriers.

Front 7

Battle of Midway

Back 7

In view of the comfortable margin of carrier superiority (seven large and four light Jap carriers vs. 3 US carriers), Combined Fleet decided that the objective of the Midway operation could safely be expanded to include the simultaneous capture of the key points in the western Aleutians.

Front 8

Saipan/Guam

Back 8

-Tokyo, Saipan and Formosa form an isosceles triangle with legs 1500 miles long. The Saipan to Tokyo leg was about to be used by B29 Super-fortresses to bomb the Japanese homeland; but a halfway house was needed for a fighter base and for damaged aircraft returning from their bomb run.
-The western leg of the strategic triangle was shifted to Okinawa, several hundred miles nearer Japan and less stoutly defended. The new Boeing B29 Superfortresses takes off from Saipan.

Front 9

Okinawa

Back 9

-On April 8, 1945 Massive firepower stemmed a Japanese counterattack.
-On May 25, 152 Japanese airborne troops attack Yonton and Kadena airfields; 4 “Sally” bombers containing 14 soldiers each were shot down, but a 5th made a wheels up belly landing at Yonton and the surviving 8 soldiers rushed out and began tossing grenades and incendiaries.
-It showed the superb antiaircraft defense of Okinawa. US suffered 40,000 casualties plus 32,000 lost to accidents, sickness and battle fatigue; fleet losses were 4900 killed or drowned, 4800 wounded; 150,000 Okinawans died.

Front 10

Kamikaze tactics

Back 10

-this was the first use of suicide attacks by Japanese pilots, who crashed-dived into American ships, killing themselves in this process. They were called “kamikazes” by the Allies and “tokkotai” by the Japanese, most of the pilots were not fanatical volunteers.
-The majority of the thousand or so who died were very young student draftees ordered to steer their planes into Allied ships. Whatever their motives, the tokkotai caused substantial damage.

Front 11

Unconditional Surrender

Back 11

After the conference, Churchill and Roosevelt called a press conference and FDR announced the policy of Unconditional Surrender—peace could come to the world “only by the total elimination of German and Japanese war power.”

Front 12

Battle of Tarawa

Back 12

-Nov. 1943: 1st major amphibious operation of the war.
-1st operations to use LVT which were developed from alligators.
-LVTs were 25ft amphibious tractors that could carry 25 men and 2 machinegus, make 4 knots in the water and climb coral reefs. They could also operate as tanks on land. The Japanese destroyed may LVTs that were caught in crossfire

Front 13

Iwo Jima

Back 13

-Feb 19th, D-Day: The expected big counteract never came off
-bonsai charges were no part of Gen. Kuribayashi’s plan. He intended to conserve his manpower and fight for every yard of ground.
-Kamikaze’s weren’t much of a problem due to the distanve from Japanese air bases, although the escort carrier Bismark Sea was sunk and the Saratoga damaged.
-Final casualties- U.S.: 20,000 (4300 KIA) Japan: 19,000 KIA and 1000 POW’s

Front 14

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Back 14

October 18th: Adm. Toyoda activates the Sho-1 plan but due to lack of tankers to carry fuel north, it took combined fleet a week to concentrate and it missed the chance to catch the invasion force at its most vulnerable time

Front 15

Rise of Hitler

Back 15

-1930 elections the Nazi party begins to rise and implements itself into high political ranks. President Hindenburg makes Hitler Chancellor.
-Hitler starts to blame the communists for many of the problems in Germany and Hindenburg grants Hitler emergency powers. The “Enabling Act” is passed and gave cabinet full legislative and budgeting powers. Soon all political parties are dissolved except for Hitler’s.
-April 1934 the Deutschland Pact- Gen. Von Blumberg the Minister of Defense agrees to commit the army to support Hitler in his quest to succeed Hindenberg.
-April 30th, 1934 Hitler carries out a massive purge of the SA hierarchy

Front 16

Yalta Conference

Back 16

Held in Crimea on Feb. 4th- 11th 1945 and brought together the big 3 Allied Leaders

Front 17

Japan Invades Indochina

Back 17

September 13, 1940, Japan took over French Indochina

Front 18

Bitzkrieg Tactics and French Response

Back 18

-French General de Gaulle -- emphasized concentration of armor into large forces (divisions), but French army would not be convinced
German Heinz Guderian -- developed the mobile tactics of General von Seeckt into the Germany tactics of World War II Emphasized deep thrusts to disrupt enemy communications and overrun rear area headquarters; sew panic in ranks of enemy due to lack of info; combine with mobile infantry (motorcycles) & aerial “artillery” (Stuka) Tanks would play primary role -- wrong to include tanks in infantry divisions (French solution); use armored divisions which would include all other supporting arms needed.
-the French army was accepted as the most formidable in Europe. It was nothing of the kind; it was indifferently armed and tactically out of date, and its morale, which had never recovered from the shocks of the First World War, had been rotted by the corruption and communistic ideas of the Front Populaire government, created in 1936 by M. Leon Blum (there had been 44 French governments since the end of WWI).
-The people were so apathetic and defeatist that many openly stated that occupation by Hitler was preferable to war

Front 19

Lend Lease

Back 19

The Lend-Lease Act, approved by Congress in March 1941, gave President Roosevelt virtually unlimited authority to direct material aid such as ammunition, tanks, airplanes, trucks, and food to the war effort in Europe without violating the nation's official position of neutrality.

Front 20

General Montgomery

Back 20

British military commander Bernard Law Montgomery was the Allied hero during World War II who beat Germany's Erwin Rommel in the battle for North Africa (1942-43)

Front 21

Need for Second Front

Back 21

The second front refers to Stalin's wish for the western allies open another front in Europe in 1942 against the germans to take the pressure of the Russians on the Eastern Front. (An invasion of France)

Front 22

Morocco

Back 22

This North African nation that was part of the French colonial empire before World War II. The Allies captured Morocco as part of the North African campaign that began November 8, 1942.