The Center for Military History gives overview of World War II, 7 December 1941 through 2 September 1945
Transcript
After four years of bitter combat, World War II finally came to an end 75 years ago. The war had officially been raging in Europe, Asia, and Africa since September 1939. But the United States remained neutral, serving instead as an arsenal of democracy by providing military supplies to the Allied powers. That changed on December 7th, 1941, when the Japanese empire attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor. Germany and Italy declared war on the United States four days later. During the winter and spring of 1942, isolated American garrisons in the Pacific, including the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island fell to the Japanese as America mobilized for global war. Soon after the U.S. Navy demonstrated that carriers were king with the famed Doolittle raid on Tokyo in April and with the success of victories at Coral Sea and Midway, that helped turn the tide of the war in the Pacific. In August of the same year, the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Army began a multi-year island hopping campaign at Guadalcanal. Air, naval, and ground forces pushed the Japanese back in the Pacific. During the battle of the Atlantic in 1942 and 1943, Allied naval and merchant ships fought off German submarines while bringing much needed supplies and troops to England. As the Army air forces attacked strategic targets in Europe, the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily in Italy from late 1942 to May of 1944, forced the Germans to retreat across the Mediterranean Sea and into the heart of Italy. The June 6th, 1944 D-Day landings at Normandy opened up a second front in Western Europe. This gave the Allies a firm foothold and allowed them to advance rapidly through France and Belgium. In December of 1944, the Germans launched a counter offensive through the Ardennes to break the Allied lines. Known as the battle of the bulge, it was contained, but it’s still slowed Allied progress. The winter of 1945 saw the Allies advancing to the Rhine River, finally crossing it on March 7th, after capturing an intact bridge at Remagen. The Allies swept through Germany as the Russians entered Berlin at the end of April. Hitler committed suicide on April 30th and the Germans surrendered several days later on May 7th. The horrific evidence of the Holocaust was discovered at camps all over Europe soon after. Meanwhile in the Pacific, Allied forces returned to the Philippines in October of 1944. The largest naval battle in history was fought at Leyte Gulf resulting in a significant Japanese defeat. This battle also saw the first use of kamikazes. Allied operations in the China, Burma, India theater forced the Japanese to retreat through China and opened up vital supply lines for Chinese forces. After successive victories in the battle at Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa, the Allies prepared for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. However, the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th of 1945 forced the Japanese surrender on August 15th. General MacArthur and representatives of all the Allied nations signed the surrender documents on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd, 1945, formerly bringing an end to the greatest war in human history.