InNo+tinapx2013+7.3.11

= THE AWESOMENESS = This is a painting of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. He was the one who suggested the Japanese armed forces to surrender. Although the Japanese did ended up surrendering to avoid further death and damages, many Japanese, especially esteemed generals, thought it was a humiliation to surrender and killed themselves through a Japanese method called //kara-kiri.//

This is a picture showing the attack of Pearl Harbor (HI, USA) made by the Japanese armed forces. This marked the beginning of the USA's involvement in the Second World War, making it truly a Global War. This is the first of the two times in history that foreign forces had made attack on US soil. The only other time is during the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster.

Self-Made Awesomeness

5 Paragraph Essay Outline

Regarding America's Plan for the bombing of Japanese land in the later stages of the Second World War.

1. Introduction –

a. Thesis – Into the final stages of the Second World War, as the Americans and the Allies are pressuring the Japanese to surrender. However as they refuse to surrender, the Americans have many plans to bomb major cities of Japan. These cities that were part of America’s plan include Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tokyo. 2. Paragraph 1

a. Hiroshima  i. Atomic Bomb was dropped above the city.  ii. First city outside of testing that the US actually used the atomic bomb on.  iii. Killed many people  iv. USA offered then a chance to surrender 1. But they refused. 3. Paragraph 2

a. Nagasaki  i. Also had atomic bomb dropped above the city.  ii. Dropped four days after the atomic bomb dropped above the city of Hiroshima.  iii. Dropped because Japan refused to surrender after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  iv. Killed many people. 4. Paragraph 3

a. Tokyo  i. Didn’t have an atomic dropped on the city.  ii. Was the next city to be attacked with the atomic bomb if Japanese still refused to surrender.  iii. However, there was actually a lot of bomb still dropped upon that city.  iv. Making even more damage than it did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bombs. 5. Conclusion

a. In conclusion, America’s main strategy for convincing the Japanese to surrender was bombing the cities of Japan, including Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tokyo.

GLOBAL WAR – THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-45
Part III

Chapter 8 – 1942: Year of Uncertainty

· The War in Europe o After being forced out of Europe in 1940 the British could only war on German forces in Europe by bombing them from the air. o Similarly, after the failure of their invasion plans, the German’s only way of attacking the British Isles was to bomb them. o However, all the bombing failed to achieve their aim. o In 1942, the British Royal Air Force (BRAF) changed from precision bombing to **area bombing**. § Devised by Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, “area bombing” was intended to flatten everything in a target area – not just industry but people’s homes, their power and water supplies, their transport systems, their postal, telephone and civic services. § On May 1942, 1000 aircraft attacked large German cities and they destroyed 2.5km2 was ruined. o It was pretty much the only thing that they did, and the cost of doing anything else was shown in August 1942 when a Canadian-British force tried to seize the French port of Dieppe. § Six thousand men took part in **Dieppe Raid** but they captured none of the German strongpoint there. · The War in Africa o 1942 began badly for the British in Africa. § German forces attacked Britain’s 8th army. § They re-organized and General Montgomery, took charge of the 8th Army and an Allied invasion of French North Africa, known as Operation Torch, was organized to attack Rommel’s army from behind. § Montgomery spent the summer 1942 strengthening the 8th Army for an attack on Rommel’s forces. § By October he had 230,000 men against Rommel’s 80,000 and 1440 against the German’s 540. § In the two week **Battle of El Alamein,** lasting until 4 November, Montgomery’s forces over-whelmed Rommel’s taking 30000 prisoners and chasing the rest back into the middle of Libya by the end of the year. o Four days after Montgomery’s victory at El Alamein **Operation Torch** began. § Three British-American armies invaded the French colonies of Morocco and Algeria. § French forces loyal to the Vichy government fought the invaders for a day until their commander, Admiral Darlan, ordered a cease-fire and began to negotiate with the Allies. § The Germans reacted fast and the troops arrived in Tunisia within a day and stopped the Allies from attacking Rommel’s army and stopped the Allies from attacking Rommel’s army. o German forces also entered the unoccupied part of France, bringing an end to the Vichy government. o There was actually no need for the Germans to hurry for Operation Torch quickly fizzled our. The supplies and torrential rain begged that vehicle down. o 1942 ended with the Germans strengthening their defense in North Arica and the Allies standstill. · The War in the Soviet Unit o At the start of 1942, Germany and the Soviet Nation planned attacks on each other. § The USSR struck first, attacking three German cities, but failed all three times. § Many Soviet soldiers were captured. o Following this victory, the Germans advanced towards the Caucasus region to capture the oil-fields there. § A possible threat to their advance was **Stalingrad,** a major city and communications center on the River Volga, so Hitler sent half the German forces to capture it. § This was a fatal decision. § Stalingrad was a huge city, spread out some 30 km along the Volga, so the germans could not surround or besiege it. § The only way of capturing the city was a direct assault. o For the next here months, Germans and Soviets fought a desperate battle for Stalingrad. o In the center of the city the Red Army contested each street, each building and sometimes each room. o By November the city was a wilderness of blasted stone and twisted metal, but still the Germans could not take it. o Meanwhile, Soviet fours broke through the German lines north and south of Stalingrad, trapping 278,000 Germans inside the city. o For the first time since their country had been over-run in 1941, the Soviet Red Army was on the brink of winning a major victory. · The War in the Far East o By May 1942, the Japanese’s grip on much of South-East Asia and the Pacific seemed unbreakable. o In fact, the Japanese’s stranglehold was soon broken. § In May 1942 they send an invasion fleet to seizePort Moresby, New Guinea, to use as a base for bombing Australia. § American ships caught up with it and, in the **Battle of the Coral Sea,** sank or damaged all three Japanese aircraft carriers. § Only weeks later, in June 1942, when the Japanese attempted to destroy the US Pacific Fleet at Midway Isaldn, the Americans against inflicted a defeat on Japan. § In the **Battle of Midway**, four Japanese carriers were sunk, 296 aircraft shot down and 3500 men killed. § The Americans, with the loss of only one carrier, had thus severely damaged Japanese naval power. o Now that they had checked Japan’s expansion, the Americans divided the Pacific into three areas of command. § Admiral Nimitz, commanding the central area, aimed to take back the Pacific Islands and then strike at Japan itself. · He began, in August 1942, when an attack on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. · The Americans quickly captured the airstrip but had to fight hard to keep it when the Japanese sent reinforcements to the island. · The **Battle of Guadalcanal** raged for the next sex months, with both sides pouring men and equipment into the struggle. · By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Americans would face great difficulty in driving the Japanese off the Pacific Islands. § General MacArthur, commanding the South-West Pacific forces, faced similar problems when he tried to drive the Japanese out of New Guinea. · A joint US-Australian force managed to push the Japanese back through the New Guinea mountains and fought a major battle with them at Buna. · They only succeeded in taking Buna after vicious fighting which killed 8500 Allied troops and 7000 Japanese. § 1942 thus ended in the Far East with Japan’s expansion halted, but with the future holding the prospect of vicious and costly fighting it Japan was to be defeated.

The Turning Points of 1943

· 1943  o In January 1943, President Roosevelt of the USA and Prime Minister Churchill of Britain met at Casablanca in Morocco to discuss what the Allies should do next in the war. o Stalin, though invited did not attend due to the heavy fighting in the Soviet Union. o At the **Casablanca Conference,** Roosevelt and Churchill announced that their aim was to force Germany, Italy and Japan into unconditional surrender. § They hoped, by saying this, to reassure Stalin that they would not make a separate peace with Germany, leaving the Soviet Union to fight Germany alone. § They did not, however agree to do what really wanted - to open a second front in Europe. § Instead they decided to continue with Operation Torch until they had driven all Axis forces out of North Africa. § Then they would invade Europe via Sicily and Italy. · Stalingrad o While Roosevelt and Churchill talked in the sun at Casablanca, the German Sixth Army was fighting for survival in the frozen ruins of Stalingrad. o Surrounded in the city, short of ammunition and with food fast funning out, the Germans had strict orders from Hitler to fight to the last man. § Early in January 1943 the German commander in Stalingrad, von Paulus, told Hitler that cold, hunger and disease made it impossible for his men to continue fighting. § To Hitler’s fury, Paulus surrendered on 31 January along with 24 generals and 91,000 soldiers. § As they marched of into captivity they left behind 150,000 of their comrades dead in the ruins. o Stalingrad was a turning point in the war. § For the first time since 1939 a German army in Europe had been beaten. § Hitler had to give up his plans to accept the Caucasus. § The whole German position in the Soviet union had badly weakened. · Allied Victory in North Africa o When Operation Torch began again in February, the Allies had to fight hard to drive them back into Tunisia. § It was not until May that the Allies forced them to surrender, taking 130,000 German and Italian soldiers prisoner. o After three years of fighting in the desert, the Allies now controlled North Africa and the Mediterranean. o However, it was too late in the year to transfer the victorious armies to Europe to open a second front there. o Instead, in July 1943, they invaded Sicily. § Half a million men landed on the island, ready for an assault on the Italian mainland. o The invasion of Sicily led to the downfall of Mussolini, dictator of Italy and co-founder of the Axis. § The Italian economy was already close to collapse, with key war factories cripples by strikes. § Most Italians were sick of the war in which their armed forces had won hardly a single victory. § On 25th July Mussolini was forced to resign and was replaced by General Badoglio. o The Allies hoped to occupy Italy without a fight, for Badoglio signed a cease-fire with them and declared war on Germany. § But by the time the Allies invaded Italy on 3 September, Hitler had sent German troops into Italy to resist them. § Faced with skilful German defenders in mountainous country, the Allies advanced slowly. § The end of 1943 had halted them at the Germans’ **Gustav Line** of defense, more than 100km from the capital, Rome. · Bomber offensive o In northern Europe, the British bombers continued to pound German cities in “area bombing” raids. o For the first half of 1943 they concentrated the raids on the industrial cities of the Ruhr Valley. § At the end of July they turned their attention to the city of Hamburg, dropping 165,000 bombs on it between 14 July and 3rd of the August. § The bombs created a “fire-storm” in which super-heated winds of hurricane force tore up trees, bowled cars over, set streets on fire and incinerated people hiding in air=raid shelters. § In addition to killing 50,000 people the bombs sent a million people fleeing from Hamburg as refugees. o The Germans bombed Britain’s ports and cities in 1943, but they id not have enough bombers to do this sort of damage. o During 1943 they dropped 2320 tones of bombs on Britain, while the RAF and the USAF dropped a hundred times more than that – a total of 207,000 tones. · Turning point of Kursk o In spite of the Sixth Army’s defeat at Stalingrad the rest of the German forces in Russia stood their ground. o In summer 1943 they prepared another great assault on the Red Army. § The soviets, however knew from their spies that the attack would be on the area around Kursk. § They were thus able to prepare the defenses, with guns, tanks and minefields. o The **Battle of Kursk** began on the 5th of July. § In a mighty, weeklong struggle, the Rd Army prevented the Germans from advancing more than 30 km. § On 12 July, 850 Soviet tanks counter-attacked in the greatest and most savage tank battle of the war. § More than 300 German tanks were destroyed before Hitler called off the assault. o The Battle of Kursk was another turning point in the war, for the Germans lost so many men and tanks that they could never again mount an offensive on the eastern front. o From then on, the Soviets were able to make continuous attacks against the Germans, slowly but steadily driving them back to the frontier. o The tide had started to turn against Germany.

Chapter 10 – Total War

· Displaced people o The war forced countless millions of people to leave their homes. § Often they left in terror, fleeing to save their lives. § Millions left their homes under compulsion. § Working for long hours in bad conditions, many died in slavery. · Concentration camps o Millions of the people forced from their homes were imprisoned in concentration camps run by Germans. · The “Final Solution” o Most prisoners in concentration camps were Jews. o Hitler and the German Nazis had started to persecute Jews as soon as they took power in 1933. § Jews were bullied, stripped of their rights, forced out of work, and many thousands were imprisoned. o After the German occupation of Poland in 1939, 3 million Polish Jews came under Nazi rule. § The Germans forced many of them to live in **ghettoes –** that is, walled off areas of town, which they were not allowed to leave. § The worst of the ghettoes was in Warsaw where half a million Jews were walled into a small area of the city and kept on starvation rations. o In 1942 the Nazis began what they called “**the final solution** of the Jewish question in Europe”. § This meant the extermination of all Jews in Europe by murdering them. § To carry out the mass murder of the Jews, five concentration camps in Poland were equipped with gas chambers in which thousands at a time were killed with poison gas. o Between 1942 and 1945 more than 5 million people from all parts of Europe were murdered in the extermination camps in Poland. o In addition, Special Action Squads of soldiers toured the areas of the USSR occupied by Germany and killed a million Soviet Jews in mass shootings and gassings. · Partisans and Resistance o In all occupied countries, civilians formed armed bands to resist the invaders. o In Yugoslavia and the Soviet union they were known as the Partisans, in France and the Low Countries, as the **Resistance.** o Both Partisans and the Resistance fought a guerilla war against the Axis. § In Yugoslavia the activities of the Partisans forced Germany to keep an occupation army of 140,000 troops in the country. § The Germans fought the Partisans with great cruelty. § In addition, the Germans often carried out reprisals against villages, which they suspected, of Partisan activity. § This usually involved the taking and killing of hostages. § Men were shot, women were sent to concentration camps and children sent to Germany and villages were razed to the ground. · Total war in unoccupied lands o Civilians in unoccupied countries escaped many of the horrors of total war, though not all. o In lands beyond the reach of bombers – for example the USA, people’s lives were changed by the economic demands of war. § With millions of men leaving their jobs to fight in the armed forces, most unemployed people found work. § The GD of the 1930s vanished as American, Canadian, British and other Allied industries expanded to provide the goods and weapons of war. o By 1943 these countries had achieved full employment of their labor forces.

Chapter 11 – Germany in Retreat, 1944

· Retreat in Italy o In January 1944 the Allies attacked the Gustav line, the German defense zone that halted their advance into Italy in 1943. o The only way through it was blocked by **Monte Cassino,** a mountain with a monastery on its summit. § The Allies bombed the monastery into rubble but could not drive out its German defenders. o Another Allied force landed at **Anazio** to attack the Gustav Line from behind but German reinforcements soon arrived and stopped then from advancing. § It was not until May 1944 that the Allies captured Monte Cassino and broke through the Gustav Line. § Even this did not lead to victory, for the Germans retreated to a second defense zone, the Gothic Line. o The Allies tried to smash their way through this in the autumn of 1944 but bad weather and fierce German resistance kept them back until April 1945. § The Italian campaign thus seemed a costly mistake. o One thing could be said in its favor however; it tied down German troops needed to defend Germany against an even greater Allied invasion – **Operation overlord,** in June 1944. · Second front in France o Operation Overlord aimed to transport an Allied army from England to France and thus open a “second front” in Europe. o It was a difficult and ambitious operation, involving a cross-Channel invasion of the heavily defended French coastline. o Operation overlord took place on 6 June 1944, code-named **D-Day**. § An assault force of ships and landing crafts sent many soldiers and their equipment across the Channel. § They were escorted by warships and protected in the air by bombers and fighter planes. § Supported by a bombardment of the German defenses, they landed on five beaches in Normandy. § After fierce battles they broke through the coast defenses and advances inland. § Between June and December, 2.1 million Allied soldiers poured into northern France. § An invasion of southern France in August, **Operation Anvil,** opened yet another front. § By September the Allies had driven the Germans out of France. · The Air War continues o Despite this Hitler refused to admit defeat. § The German army was ordered not to retreat or surrender and a new bombing offensive was launched against Britain, using **V-1** aircraft. · The V-1 was a small, pilotless plane carrying a tonne of high explosive, fired from launching ramps in France and the Low Countries. · In September V-2 rockets also hit Londoners, each carrying four tones of high explosives. § The Allies also increased their bombing attacks on Germany in 1944. · Protected by new long-range fighters, they able to hit targets in Germany, which had so far been out of their reach. § Gradually, the Allies won control of the skies over Germany during 1944. · By bombing the German oil industry from May onwards, they crippled the fuel supplies of the German armed forces. · In June they destroyed many railways in France and Belgium, making it difficult for the Germans to fight the Allied invasion of Normandy. · From September onwards they were regularly making “thousand bomber raids” on German cities and oil installations. · Battle of the Bulge o Meanwhile, the Allied armies in France prepared to invade Germany itself. o General Montgomery tried to cross the River Rhine by using parachute troops to attack Arnhem in Holland but the Germans beat them back with heavy losses. o As a result, General Eisenhower ordered a slower advance towards the Rhine. o This gave the Germans a chance to strike back. § In December 1944 they launched a major offensive through the weakly defended Ardennes mountains, driving the Allies back into a bulge shaped area of Belgium. § In the six week **Battle of the Bulge** which followed, the Allies halted the Germans and drove them back to their starting point. § Germany lost 120,000 men, 600 tanks and 1600 aircraft. § Losses of this size meant that Germany no longer had the strength to attack in the west, only to defend. · The War in the Soviet Union o 1944 also saw Germany retreat from the Soviet Union. § In January Soviet forces drove them from the Baltic are, ending the 890-day siege of Leningrad, which had killed nearly a million people through starvation, bombardment and artillery fire. § In the south, the Red Army drove the Germans out of the Ukraine and the Crimea, back into Romania. o The main Soviet attack took place in June, to coincide with the Allied attack on France § Three soviet armies overwhelmed the Germans in Belorussia, taking 200,000 prisoners. § Within six weeks they had pushed the Germans back to Warsaw, capital of Poland. o From August to the end of the year, Soviet forces advanced into the Balkans. § Faced with defeat, Romania and Bulgaria deserted Germany and joined the Allies. § Advancing into Yugoslavia, the Soviets liberated Belgrade in October. § In November they entered Greece and by Christmas had encircled Budapest, capital of Hungary. o 1944 thus ended with the Soviets poised to strike at Germany itself.

Japan in Retreat, 1943-44

· “Victory Disease” o Victory brought problems, however. § Before long the Japanese themselves were saying that they had “victory disease” – meaning that they had taken too much for their own good. § Already, in 1942, they had suffered two major defeats at sea, in the Battle of Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, threatening their control of the pacific. · “Island hopping” o In the Pacific, the Americans divided their forces into three areas of command, under Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Halsey and General MacArthur. § The three commanders carried out an “island hopping” campaign, driving the Japanese from each group of islands back towards the Philippines and the Japanese home islands. o In India, the Allies created the **South East Asia Command** under Lord Mountbatten. o His aim was to drive the Japanese from India, the most valuable part of Britain’s empire, back into Burma. · Economies at war o The Allied war against Japan was a desperate and cruel struggle in which millions lost their lives. o The two sides however, were unevenly matched. § The economic gap between the USA and Japan widened as a result of American submarine raids on Japanese shipping. § Japan had few anti-submarine vessels and did not use the convoy system to protect its ships until 1944. § As a result, the US submarines sank huge numbers of merchant ships. · Attacking in “wolf-pack” formations, they had sunk 6 million of Japan’s 7 million tones of shipping by the end of the war. · And the rate of the sinking was so fast that ten times more ships were sunk than newly built ships could be launched. o The capture of the Marianas Islands in 1944 brought the USAF within bombing range of the Japanese home islands for the first time in the war. § Flying from the air base on Saipan, US Super-Fortress bombers attacked Tokyo and other Japanese cities from November 1944 onwards. § As bombing destroyed factories and home in the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka industrial area, the production of war materials dropped still further. · No Surrender o The Japanese made up for their economic disadvantage by fighting the Allies with great bravery. § At sea they threw huge numbers of ships and aircraft into Battles with the US Navy. · In the Battle of the Philippine Sea, 435 Japanese aircraft were sent attack the American 5th Fleet in June 1944: they only called off the attack after three of their aircraft carriers and 400 planes had been destroyed. § On Land, the Japanese army fought with fanatical bravery to defend the islands, which they occupied. · On both Tarawa Atoll and on Eniwetok, not many defenders were left alive at the end of the battle. · At Saipan, nearly all 2700 Japanese soldiers were killed, with men, women and children committing suicide by leaping from sea cliffs to avoid capture. o Few Japanese were taken prisoner, for most soldiers, especially officers, thought surrender dishonorable. § Many of those who were taken prisoner were only captured because they were too badly wounded to commit //hara-kiri,// suicide by disembowelment. § Others fled to remote areas rather than surrender, and stayed there fore the rest of the war. § On Tinian island, the last solder to come out of hiding did so in 1960, fifteen years after the war ended. o In the closing stages of the **Battle of Leyte Gulf,** the largest naval battle in history, the Japanese stated to use //kamakaze// aircraft against American ships. § These were fighter planes filled with high explosive and just enough fuel for a one-way trip to the target. § The pilots, who believed that death in battle won them a place in heaven, made suicide dives onto American ships, sacrificing their lives for a certainty of a direct hit. o At the endo f 1944, then, the Japanese were in retreat from their newly-won empire, but the Allies were far from winning the war. § The more the Japanese were forced to retreat, the more fiercely they fought. § It was clear that any attack on Japan itself would lead to an even bloodier fighting. § Hat thought was to play a big part in deciding how the Allies continued the war against Japan in 1945.

Chapter 13 – Defeat of the Axis, 1945

· Victory in Europe o Germany had to fight a war on three fronts in 1945. § In the east, the Soviet army attacked in January, advancing 500 km to the River Oder by the end of the month. § In the West, Allied forces continued to advance towards the Rhine, crossing the river in March. § In Italy, the Allies broke through the Gothic Line in April and advanced into France and Austria. o While the Allied armies squeezed Germany on three sides, their air forces continued to bomb German cities. § **Operation Thunderclap** in February 1945 aimed to destroy the Germans’ will to fight with a final gigantic bomber offensive. § One of the targets was Dresden, a medieval town that had not been attacked before. · The attack created a firestorm, which destroyed the center of the city and killed at least 35,000 people. § “Thunderclap” hit Dresden so hard that not enough able-bodied survivors were left to bury the dead. o By April the Allies had destroyed nearly every city in Germany, and they called off the bomber offensive. o Even though the bombs killed many people, it had not cracked the German will to fight, it had not destroyed the German economy and it had not won the war. o That was left to the army on the ground, which now made a final attack on the shattered country. o The Allies and the Soviets advanced into the capital, Berlin. § By now, the German armed forces were close to collapse. § Everybody was ordered to help fight the Soviets. § Hitler, ill and isolated in a concrete bunker beneath the city, committed suicide on 30 April. § The next day, military leaders began to negotiate peace with the Allies. § They surrendered without conditions on 7 May. · The Defeat of Japan o The closer the Allies got to Japan, the harder the Japanese fought. § In their defense of **Luzon**, largest of the Philippine Islands, 200,000 Japanese were killed in desperate, often suicidal fighting. § At the end of the American attack on the island of **Iwo Jima,** only 200 of its 22,000 defenders were left alive. § At **Okinawa** Japan lost 107,000 against 7384 American dead. o Using the captured airfields on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the USAF mounted a new bombing campaign against Japanese cities. § From March to September 1945, incendiary bombs destroyed 275 km2 of Japanese cities. § In total, a quarter of the houses and people were made homeless. o With homelessness came hunger. § The already scarce food eventually ran out in 1945. § By searching for food in the countryside, there was absenteeism from work. o By not showing up the work, the output of Japanese industry was reduced. o Despite all of the above, the Japanese prepared in 1945 to fight to the end. § There were still 4 million men in the armed forces, for which surrender meant dishonor. § There was also a Home Army for the defense of the home islands, with 4800 //kamikazi// aircraft and 600 //kamikazi// boats. § The Americans calculated that tan invasion of Japan would result in losses like those at Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. o In the event, an invasion of Japan was not needed. o Instead, they were dropping bombs. § On 6th August 1945, an American bomber dropped the newly invented atomic bomb on the city of **Hiroshima,** killing 71,379 of its citizens and injuring 68,000 more. § Four days later, a second bombs flattened the city of **Nagasaki,** killing a further 40,000 people. § Appalled by the terrifying power of these bombs, Emperor Hirohito proposed that the armed forces should surrender. § Some military leaders refused to accept such dishonor and committed //kara-kiri.// § The majority reluctantly agreed. o On 2 September 1945 they surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur in Tokyo.

Summary:

1942 was a year of uncertainty with the war going on in Europe, Africa, the Soviet Union and the Far East. However, the turning points came in 1943 when the Casablanca Conference happened, and the Allies began to fin more and more wars. The War soon turned into a total war with not many countries but also because a lot of people were involved in this war including children and women in places that weren’t at war. The Germans and the Japanese began to retreat in 1943-1944, but the Japanese refused to surrender because they believed that it was a dishonor to surrender but they are guaranteed a place in heaven if they die in war. Soon in 1945 the Germans and the Japanese were becoming weaker and losing more battles and eventually the Germans surrendered after and big battle and the Japanese surrendered after two bombs were dropped on big Japanese cities.

Questions: 1. Why did Hitler commit suicide? 2. Why did the Americans bomb Japan instead of invading it? 3. How did WWII help overcome the Great Depression in certain countries? 4. What was D-Day? 5. How powerful was Japan during the WWII?