Military Weaponry During World War II

On September 1, 1939, WWII began after Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles by invading Poland as Adolf Hitler wanted to reclaim Poland land for the German people, since it once belonged to Germany prior to WWI. Within a matter of days, Great Britain responded by bombing Germany for their invasion of Poland. Over the course of the war Germany, Japan, and Italy had become axis to Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. Although the war began on September 1, 1939, the U.S. did not officially join WWII until December 7, 1941, after Japanese military forces bombed the U.S. Naval Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii. The attack on Pearl Harbor was one which the U.S. Navy and American people were unprepared for. As a result …show more content…
Approximately 2,400 U.S. servicemen were killed with an additional 1,200 personnel wounded. On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan and all of their allies. Unfortunately, the continuous advancement of military weaponry after WWI made Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor possible. Military weaponry had been advanced for use on land, air, and sea. Weaponry used during WWIII included rifles, submarines, aircraft carriers, and weapons of mass destruction including biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons but more specifically the Atom bomb. These weapons were used both against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater and the Germans in Europe, however the U.S. Naval weaponry was used primarily against the Japanese. The U.S. servicemen were issued a standard M-1 Garand Rifle which was a bolt-action, semi-automatic, 7.62x63-mm ammunition, 8-round magazine fed, self-loading, air-cooled, gas-operated, and shoulder fired rifle. This rifle was a reliable weapon which could be adapted with a bayonet for close combat (Westwood 222-223). It provided soldiers with accurate sight alignment for targeting enemies, automatic reloading when other countries still relied on slower self-loading …show more content…
Lastly, since WWI many countries began experimenting with chemical, biological, and weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. had become the first to develop nuclear weaponry during WWII under a military project called the Manhattan Project in New Mexico. The U.S. military decided to use the atomic bomb during WWII, even though it had only been tested once prior to use. The atomic bomb tested use plutonium, whereas the bomb used in war contained uranium. On August 16, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb called “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb hit Hiroshima with a force more than 15,000 tons of explosives resulting in more than 65 percent of the city’s infrastructure to be damaged or destroyed. The sheer force of the bomb killed approximately 70,000 people immediately leaving a horrific scene since bodies had practically vaporized from the impact leaving behind carbon burn marks of human bodies. An additional 30,000 people died from after effects within the following months due to after affects. Those personnel suffered from thermal burns caused by flames and radiation, others experienced loss of white blood cells, loss of hair, excessive bleeding or severe diarrhea which became fatal. Some effects are still visible today from those who