The military history of the United States during World War II covers the involvement of the United States during World War II. The Empire of Japan declared war on the United States of America on 7 December 1941, immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the same day.[1] On 11 December 1941, Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States. Until that time, the United States had maintained neutrality, although it had, since March that same year, supplied the Allies with war material through the Lend-Lease Act. During the war over 16 million Americans served in the United States military.[2] Many others served with the Merchant Marine [3] and paramilitary civilian units like the WASPs.
American public opinion was hostile to Hitler's Germany, but how much aid to give the Allies was controversial. Public opinion was even more hostile to Japan, and there was little opposition to increased support for China. By 1940 the U.S., while still neutral, was becoming the "Arsenal of Democracy" for the Allies, supplying money and war materials. The sudden defeat of France in spring 1940 caused the nation to begin to greatly grow its armed forces, including the first peacetime draft. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, America began sending Lend Lease aid to Russia as well as Britain and China.[4]
In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt set up a new command structure with Admiral Ernest J. King as Chief of Naval Operations in complete control of the Navy and Marines, General George C. Marshall in charge of the Army, and in nominal control of the Air Force, which in practice was commanded by General Hap Arnold. Roosevelt formed a new body, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which made the final decisions on American military strategy. The Joint Chiefs was a White House agency chaired by Admiral William D. Leahy, who became FDR's chief military advisor.[5] As the war progressed Marshall became the dominant voice in the JCS in the shaping of strategy.[6] When dealing with Europe, the Joint Chiefs met with their British counterparts and formed the Combined Chiefs of Staff.[7] Unlike the political leaders of the other major powers, Roosevelt rarely overrode his military advisors.[8] The civilians handled the draft and procurement of men and equipment, but no civilians—not even the secretaries of War or Navy, had a voice in strategy.[9] Roosevelt avoided the State Department and conducted high level diplomacy through his aides, especially Harry Hopkins. Since Hopkins also controlled $50 billion in Lend Lease funds given to the Allies, they paid attention to him.
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The year 1940 marked a change in attitude in the United States. The German victories in France, Poland and elsewhere, combined with the Battle of Britain, led many Americans to believe that the United States would be forced to fight soon. In March 1941, the Lend-Lease program began shipping money, munitions, and food to Britain, China, and (by that fall) Russia.
By 1941 the United States was taking an active part in the war, despite its nominal neutrality. In spring U-boats began their "wolf-pack" tactics which threatened to sever the trans- Atlantic supply line; Roosevelt extended the Pan-American Security Zone east almost as far as Iceland. American warships escorting Allied convoys in the western Atlantic had several hostile encounters with U-boats. On September 4, a German U-Boat attacked the destroyer USS Greer off Iceland. A week later Roosevelt ordered American warships to shoot U-boats on sight. A U-boat shot up the USS Kearny as it escorted a British merchant convoy. The USS Reuben James was sunk by U-552 on October 31, 1941.[11]
Because of Japanese advances in French Indochina and China, the United States, in coordination with the British and Dutch, cut off all oil supplies to Japan, which had imported 90% of its oil. The oil embargo threatened to grind the Japanese military machine to a halt. Japan refused American demands to leave China and decided that war with the United States was inevitable; its only hope was to strike first. President Roosevelt had months earlier transferred the American fleet to Hawaii from California in order to deter the Japanese. The Battle of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was the worst naval defeat in American history. The fight was completely one-sided. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto argued the only way to win the war was to knock out the main American fleet immediately. His elaborately trained fleet approached within 200 miles of Hawaii without being detected. Admiral Chūichi Nagumo held tactical command. Over a five hour period his six carriers sent two waves of 360 dive-bombers, torpedo planes and fighters. They destroyed or severely damaged eight battleships, ten smaller warships, and 230 aircraft; 2,400 American soldiers and sailors were killed. Japanese losses were negligible—29 planes shot down (several American planes were also shot down by anti-aircraft fire). Commander Minoru Genda, the chief planner of the raid, begged Nagumo to strike again at the shore facilities, oil storage tanks, and submarines, and to hunt down the American carriers that were supposedly nearby. But Nagumo, having just smashed the Americans in one of the greatest victories of naval history, decided not to risk further action. Japanese success was due to courage, good equipment, excellent pilots, total surprise, and above all, a daring and imaginative plan. To even reach Pearl Harbor they had to learn how to refuel at sea (a technique the US Navy already had worked out); to sink all those ships they used their superb electric torpedoes and perfected shallow-water bombing tactics. Surprise was decisive. While everyone knew that war was imminent, no one at Pearl expected an attack. Despite later rumors, thee was no advance knowledge of the Japanese plan. The commanders had been complacent about routine defensive measures. Even if the defense had been more alert, the surprise and overwhelming power of the Japanese strike probably would have been decisive. In broader perspective, the attack was a failure. The lost battleships reflected obsolete doctrine and were not needed; the lost planes were soon replaced; the casualty list was short by World War II standards. Tokyo's calculation that the Americans would lose heart and seek a compromise peace proved wildly wrong—the "sneak attack" electrified public opinion, committing America with near unanimity to a war to the death against the Japanese Empire.[12][13]
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt officially asked for a declaration of war on Japan before a joint session of Congress on 8 December 1941. This notion passed with only one vote against in both chambers.
Within hours of Pearl harbor Japanese air forces from Formosa destroyed much of the U.S. Far East Air Force, based near Manila. The Japanese army invaded and trapped the American and Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula. Roosevelt evacuated General Douglas MacArthur and the nurses, but there was no way to save the trapped men against overwhelming Japanese naval power. MacArthur flew to Australia, vowing "I came out of Bataan and I shall return." Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright surrendered on 8 May; the prisoners died by the thousands in the Bataan Death March and in disease-ridden Japanese prison camps where food and medicine were in very short supply.[14]
The Japanese Navy seemed unstoppable as they seized the Dutch East Indies to gain its rich oil resources. The American, British, Dutch, and Australian forces were combined under the ABDA command but its fleet was quickly sunk in several naval battles around Java.
Following their rapid advance, the Japanese started the Solomon Islands Campaign from their newly conquested main base at Rabaul in January 1942. The Japanese seized several islands including Tulagi and Guadalcanal, before they were halted by further events leading to the Guadalcanal Campaign. This campaign also converged with the New Guinea campaign.
In May 1942, the United States fleet engaged the Japanese fleet during the first battle in history in which neither fleet fired directly on the other, nor did the ships of both fleets actually see each other. It was also the first time that aircraft carriers were used in battle. While indecisive, it was nevertheless a turning point because American commanders learned the tactics that would serve them later in the war.
The Battle of the Aleutian Islands was the last battle between sovereign nations to be fought on American soil. As part of a diversionary plan for the Battle of Midway, the Japanese took control of two of the Aleutian Islands. Their hope was that strong American naval forces would be drawn away from Midway, enabling a Japanese victory. Because their ciphers were broken, the American forces only drove the Japanese out after Midway.
Having learned important lessons at Coral Sea, the United States Navy was prepared when the Japanese navy under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched an offensive aimed at destroying the American Pacific Fleet at Midway Island. The Japanese hoped to embarrass the Americans after the humiliation of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Midway was a strategic island that both sides wished to use as an air base. Yamamoto hoped to achieve complete surprise and a quick capture of the island, followed by a decisive carrier battle with which he could completely destroy the American carrier fleet. Before the battle began, however, American intelligence intercepted his plan, allowing Admiral Chester Nimitz to formulate an effective defensive ambush of the Japanese fleet.[15] The battle began on 4 June 1942. By the time it was over, the Japanese had lost four carriers, as opposed to one American carrier lost. The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war in the Pacific because the United States had seized the initiative and was on the offensive for the duration of the war.
Following the resounding victory at Midway, the United States began a major land offensive. The Allies came up with a strategy known as Island hopping, or the bypassing of islands that served little or no strategic importance.[16] Because air power was crucial to any operation, only islands that could support airstrips were targeted by the Allies. The fighting for each island in the Pacific Theater would be savage, as the Americans faced a determined and battle-hardened enemy who had known little defeat on the ground.
General George Kenney, in charge of tactical air power under MacArthur, never had enough planes, pilots or supplies.[17] (He was not allowed any authority whatever over the Navy's carriers.) But the Japanese were always in worse shape—their equipment deteriorated rapidly because of poor airfields and incompetent maintenance. The Japanese had excellent planes and pilots in 1942, but ground commanders dictated their missions and ignored the need for air superiority before any other mission could be attempted. Theoretically, Japanese doctrine stressed the need to gain air superiority, but the infantry commanders repeatedly wasted air assets defending minor positions. When Arnold, echoing the official Army line, stated the Pacific was a "defensive" theater, Kenney retorted that the Japanese pilot was always on the offensive. "He attacks all the time and persists in acting that way. To defend against him you not only have to attack him but to beat him to the punch."[18]
Key to Kenney's strategy was the neutralization of bypassed Japanese strongpoints like Rabaul and Truk through repeated bombings. He said a major shortfall was "the kids coming here from the States were green as grass. They were not getting enough gunnery, acrobatics, formation flying, or night flying."[19] So he set up extensive retraining programs. The arrival of superior fighters, especially the twin-tailed Lockheed P-38 Lightning, gave the Americans an edge in range and performance. Occasionally a ripe target appeared, as in the Battle of the Bismark Sea (March 1943) when bombers sank a major convoy bringing troops and supplies to New Guinea. That success was no fluke. High-flying bombers almost never could hit moving ships. Kenney solved that weakness by teaching pilots the effective new tactic of flying in close to the water then pulling up and lobbing bombs that skipped across the water and into the target.[20]
The goal of island hopping was to build forward air fields. AAF commander General Hap Arnold correctly anticipated that he would have to build forward airfields in inhospitable places. Working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, he created Aviation Engineer Battalions that by 1945 included 118,000 men; it operated in all theatres. Runways, hangars, radar stations, power generators, barracks, gasoline storage tanks and ordnance dumps had to be built hurriedly on tiny coral islands, mud flats, featureless deserts, dense jungles, or exposed locations still under enemy artillery fire. The heavy construction gear had to be imported, along with the engineers, blueprints, steel-mesh landing mats, prefabricated hangars, aviation fuel, bombs and ammunition, and all necessary supplies. As soon as one project was finished the battalion would load up its gear and move forward to the next challenge, while headquarters inked in a new airfield on the maps. Heavy rains often reduced the capacity of old airfields, so new ones were built. Often engineers had to repair and use a captured enemy airfield. Unlike the well-built German air fields in Europe, the Japanese installations were ramshackle affairs with poor siting, poor drainage, scant protection, and narrow, bumpy runways. Engineering was a low priority for the offense-minded Japanese, who chronically lacked adequate equipment and imagination.[21]
Airmen flew far more often in the Southwest Pacific than in Europe, and although rest time in Australia was scheduled, there was no fixed number of missions that would produce transfer out of combat, as was the case in Europe. coupled with the monotonous, hot, sickly environment, the result was bad morale that jaded veterans quickly passed along to newcomers. After a few months, epidemics of combat fatigue (now called Combat stress reaction) would drastically reduce the efficiency of units. The men who had been at jungle airfields longest, the flight surgeons reported, were in bad shape:
The Marines had their own land-based aviation, built around the excellent Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, an unusually large fighter-bomber. By 1944 10,000 Marine pilots operated 126 combat squadrons. Marine Aviation originally had the mission of close support for ground troops, but it dropped that role in the 1920s and 1930s and became a junior component of naval aviation. The new mission was to protect the fleet from enemy air attacks. Marine pilots, like all aviators, fiercely believed in the prime importance of air superiority; they did not wish to be tied down to supporting ground troops. On the other hand, the ground Marines needed close air support because they lacked heavy firepower of their own. Mobility was a basic mission of Marine ground forces; they were too lightly armed to employ the sort of heavy artillery barrages and massed tank movements the Army used to clear the battlefield. The Japanese were so well dug in that Marines often needed air strikes on positions 300 to 1,500 yards ahead. In 1944, after considerable internal acrimony, Marine Aviation was forced to start helping out. At Iwo Jima ex-pilots in the air liaison party (ALP) not only requested air support, but actually directed it in tactical detail. The Marine formula increased responsiveness, reduced "friendly" casualties, and (flying weather permitting) substituted well for the missing armor and artillery. For the next half century close air support would remain central to the mission of Marine Aviation, provoking eternal jealousy from the Army which was never allowed to operate fixed-wing fighters or bombers, although the Army was allowed to have some unarmed transports and spotter planes.[23]
Guadalcanal, fought from August 1942 to February 1943, was the first major Allied offensive of the war in the Pacific Theater. This campaign pitted American air, naval and ground forces (later augmented by Australians and New Zealanders) against determined Japanese resistance. Guadalcanal was the key to control the Solomon Islands, which both sides as strategically essential. Both sides won some battles but both sides were overextended in terms of supply lines. Logistical failures in a hostile physical environment hampered everyone. As happened time and again in the Pacific, the Japanese logistical support system failed, as only 20% of the supplies dispatched from Rabaul to Guadalcanal ever reached there. Consequently the 30,000 Japanese troops lacked heavy equipment, adequate ammunition and even enough food; 10,000 were killed, 10,000 starved to death, and the remaining 10,000 were evacuated in February 1943. In the end Guadalcanal was a major American victory as the Japanese inability to keep pace with the rate of American reinforcements proved decisive. Guadalcanal is an iconic episode in the annals of American military history, underscoring heroic bravery of underequipped individuals in fierce combat with a determined foe.[24]
Marines from the 1st Marine Division and soldiers from the Army XIV Corps landed on 7 August 1942. They quickly captured Henderson Field, and prepared defenses. In the Battle of Bloody Ridge, the Americans held off wave after wave of Japanese counterattacks before charging what was left of the Japanese. After more than six months of combat the island was firmly in control of the Allies on 8 February 1943.
Meanwhile the rival navies fought seven battles, with the two sides diving the victories.[25] They were: Battle of Savo Island, Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Battle of Cape Esperance, Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Battle of Tassafaronga and Battle of Rennell Island.
Guadalcanal made it clear to the Americans that the Japanese would fight to the bitter end. After brutal fighting in which few prisoners were taken on either side, the United States and the Allies pressed on the offensive. The landings at Tarawa on 20 November 1943, by the Americans became bogged down as armor attempting to break through the Japanese lines of defense either sank, were disabled or took on too much water to be of use. The Americans were eventually able to land a limited number of tanks and drive inland. After days of fighting the Allies took control of Tarawa on 23 November. Of the original 2,600 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 17 were still alive.
In preparation of the recapture of the Philippines, the Allies started the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign to retake the Gilbert and Marshall Islands from the Japanese in summer 1943. Moving closer to Japan, the U.S. Navy decisively won the Battle of the Philippine Sea and landing forces captured the Mariana and Palau Islands in summer 1944. The goal was building airbases within range of the new B-29 bomber aimed at Japan's industrial cities.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 23–26, 1944, was a decisive American victory that sank virtually the entire remaining Japanese fleet in the largest naval battle in history. Although the Japanese came surprisingly close to inflicting a major defeat on the Americans, at the last minute the Japanese panicked and lost. The battle was a complex overlapping series of engagements fought off the Philippine island of Leyte, which the U.S. Army had just invaded. The army forces were highly vulnerable to naval attack, and the Japanese goal was to inflict massive destruction. Two American fleets were involved, the Seventh and Third, but they were independent and did not communicate well so the Japanese with a trick maneuver slipped between the two American fleets and almost reached the beaches. However the Japanese communication system was even worse, and the Japanese army and navy did not cooperate, and the three Japanese fleets were each destroyed.[26]
General MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines by landing at Leyte on 20 October 1944. The grueling re-capture of the Philippines took place from 1944 to 1945 and included the battles of Leyte, Luzon, and Mindanao.
The Americans did not bypass the small island of Iwo Jima because it wanted bases for fighter escorts; it was actually used as an emergency landing base for B-29s. The Japanese knew they could not win, but the devised a strategy to maximize American casualties. Learning from the Battle of Saipan they prepared many fortified positions on the island, including pillboxes and underground tunnels. The Marines attack began on 19 February 1945. Initially the Japanese put up not resistance, letting the Americans mass, creating more targets before the Americans took intense fire from Mount Suribachi and fought throughout the night until the hill was surrounded. Even as the Japanese were pressed into an ever shrinking pocket, they chose to fight to the end, leaving only 1,000 of the original 21,000 alive. The Marines suffered as well, losing 7,000 men. The battle became iconic in America as the epitome of heroism in desperate hand-to-hand combat.[27]
Okinawa became the last major battle of the Pacific Theater and the Second World War. The island was to become a staging area for the eventual invasion of Japan since it was just 350 miles (550 km) south of the Japanese mainland. Marines and soldiers landed unopposed on 1 April 1945, to begin an 82-day campaign which became the largest land-sea-air battle in history and was noted for the ferocity of the fighting and the high civilian casualties with over 150,000 Okinawans losing their lives. Japanese kamikaze pilots caused the largest loss of ships in U.S. naval history with the sinking of 38 and the damaging of another 368. Total U.S. casualties were over 12,500 dead and 38,000 wounded, while the Japanese lost over 110,000 men. The fierce combat and high American losses led the Navy to oppose an invasion of the main islands. An alternative strategy was chosen: using the atomic bomb to induce surrender.[28]
The flammability of Japan's large cities, and the concentration of munitions production there, made strategic bombing the favorite strategy of the Americans from 1941 onward. The first efforts were made from bases in China, where massive efforts to establish B-29 bases there and supply them over the Hump (the Himalayas) failed in 1944 the Japanese Army simply moved overland and captured the bases. Saipan and Tinian), captured by the U.S. in June 1944, gave secure bases for the very-long-range B-29. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress boasted four 2,200 horsepower Wright R-3350 supercharged engines that could lift four tons of bombs 33,000 feet (high above Japanese flak or fighters), and make 3,500 mile round trips. However, the systematic raids that began in June 1944, were unsatisfactory, because the AAF had learned too much in Europe; it overemphasized self-defense. Arnold, in personal charge of the campaign (bypassing the theater commanders) brought in a new leader, brilliant, indefatigable, hard-charging General Curtis LeMay. In early 1945, LeMay ordered a radical change in tactics: remove the machine guns and gunners, fly in low at night. (Much fuel was used to get to 30,000 feet; it could now be replaced with more bombs.) The Japanese radar, fighter, and anti-aircraft systems were so ineffective that they could not hit the bombers. Fires raged through the cities, and millions of civilians fled to the mountains.[29]
Tokyo was hit repeatedly, and suffered a fire storm in March that killed 83,000. On June 5, 51,000 buildings in four miles of Kobe were burned out by 473 B-29s; the Japanese were learning to fight back, as 11 B-29s went down and 176 were damaged.[30] Osaka, where one-sixth of the Empire's munitions were made, was hit by 1,733 tons of incendiaries dropped by 247 B-29s. A firestorm burned out 8.1 square miles, including 135,000 houses; 4,000 died.[31][32] The Japanese local officials reported:
The Japanese army, which was not based in the cities, was largely undamaged by the raids. The Army was short of food and gasoline, but, as Iwo Jima and Okinawa proved, it was capable of ferocious resistance. The Japanese also had a new tactic that it hoped would provide the bargaining power to get a satisfactory peace, the Kamikaze.
In late 1944 the Japanese invented an unexpected and highly effective new tactic, the Kamikaze suicide plane aimed like a guided missile at American ships. The attacks began in October 1944 and continued to the end of the war. Experienced pilots were used to lead a mission because they could navigate; they were not Kamikazes, and they returned to base for another mission. The Kamikaze pilots were inexperienced and had minimal training; however most were well educated and intensely committed to the Emperor.[33][34]
Kamikaze attacks were highly effective at the Battle of Okinawa as 4000 kamikaze sorties sank 38 US ships and damaged 368 more, killing 4,900 sailors.[35] Task Force 58 analyzed the Japanese technique at Okinawa in April 1945:
The Americans decided best defense against Kamikazes was to knock them out on the ground, or else in the air long before they approached the fleet. The Navy called for more fighters, and more warning, which meant combat air patrols circling the big ships, more radar picket ships (which themselves became prime targets), and more attacks on airbases and gasoline supplies. Japan suspended Kamikaze attacks in May 1945, because it was now hoarding gasoline and hiding planes in preparation for new suicide attacks if the Allies dared to invade their home islands. The Kamikaze strategy allowed the use of untrained pilots and obsolete planes, and since evasive maneuvering was dropped and there was no return trip, the scarce gasoline reserves could be stretched further. Since pilots guided their airplane like a guided missile all the way to the target, the proportion of hits was much higher than in ordinary bombing. Japan's industry was manufacturing 1,500 new planes a month in 1945. However, the quality of construction was very poor, and many new planes crashed during training or before reaching targets.
Expecting increased resistance, including far more Kamikaze attacks once the main islands of Japan were invaded, the U.S. high command rethought its strategy and used atomic bombs to end the war, hoping it would make a costly invasion unnecessary.[37]
As victory for the United States slowly approached, casualties mounted. A fear in the American high command was that an invasion of mainland Japan would lead to enormous losses on the part of the Allies, as casualty estimates for the planned Operation Downfall demonstrate. President Harry Truman gave the order to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, hoping that the destruction of the city would break Japanese resolve and end the war. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August, after it appeared that the Japanese high command was not planning to surrender. Approximately 140,000 people died in Hiroshima from the bomb and its aftereffects by the end of 1945, and approximately 74,000 in Nagasaki, in both cases mostly civilians.
15 August 1945, or V-J Day, marked the end of the United States' war with the Empire of Japan. Since Japan was the last remaining Axis Power, V-J Day also marked the end of World War II.
The United States contributed several forces to the China Burma India theater, such as a volunteer air squadron (later incorporated into the Army Air Force), and Merrill's Marauders, an infantry unit. The U.S. also had an adviser to Chiang Kai-shek, Joseph Stillwell.
On 11 December 1941, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, the same day that the United States declared war on Germany and Italy.[38]
The established grand strategy of the Allies was to defeat Germany and its allies in Europe first, and then focus could shift towards Japan in the Pacific. This was because two of the Allied capitals (London and Moscow) could be directly threatened by Germany, but none of the major Allied capitals were threatened by Japan.
The United States entered the war in the west with Operation Torch on 8 November 1942, after their Russian allies had pushed for a second front against the Germans. General Dwight Eisenhower commanded the assault on North Africa, and Major General George Patton struck at Casablanca.
The United States did not have a smooth entry into the war against Nazi Germany. Early in 1943, the U.S. Army suffered a near-disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in February. The senior Allied leadership was primarily to blame for the loss as internal bickering between American General Lloyd Fredendall and the British led to mistrust and little communication, causing inadequate troop placements.[39] The defeat could be considered a major turning point, however, because General Eisenhower replaced Fredendall with General Patton.
Slowly the Allies stopped the German advance in Tunisia and by March were pushing back. In mid April, under British General Bernard Montgomery, the Allies smashed through the Mareth Line and broke the Axis defense in North Africa. On 13 May 1943, Axis troops in North Africa surrendered, leaving behind 275,000 men. Allied efforts turned towards Sicily and Italy.
The first stepping stone for the Allied liberation of Europe was, in Prime Minister Winston Churchill's words, the "soft underbelly" of Europe on the Italian island of Sicily. Launched on 9 July 1943, Operation Husky was, at the time, the largest amphibious operation ever undertaken. The operation was a success, and on 17 August the Allies were in control of the island.
Following the Allied victory in Sicily, Italian public sentiment swung against the war and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was deposed in a coup, and the Allies struck quickly, hoping resistance would be slight. The first American troops landed on the Italian peninsula in September 1943, and Italy surrendered on 8 September. German troops in Italy were prepared, however, and took up the defensive positions. As winter approached, the Allies made slow progress against the heavily defended German Winter Line, until the victory at Monte Cassino. Rome fell to the Allies on 4 June 1944.
Numerous bombing runs were launched by the United States aimed at the industrial heart of Germany. Using the high altitude B-17, it was necessary for the raids to be conducted in daylight for the drops to be accurate. As adequate fighter escort was rarely available, the bombers would fly in tight, box formations, allowing each bomber to provide overlapping machine-gun fire for defense. The tight formations made it impossible to evade fire from Luftwaffe fighters, however, and American bomber crew losses were high. One such example was the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, which resulted in staggering loses of men and equipment. The introduction of the revered P-51 Mustang, which had enough fuel to make a round trip to Germany's heartland, helped to reduce losses later in the war.
The second European front that the Soviets had pressed for was finally opened on 6 June 1944, when the Allies attacked the heavily-fortified Atlantic Wall. Supreme Allied commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower had delayed the attack because of bad weather, but finally the largest amphibious assault in history began.
After prolonged bombing runs on the French coast by the U.S. Army Air Force, 225 U.S. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc under intense enemy fire and destroyed the German gun emplacements that could have threatened the amphibious landings.
Also prior to the main amphibious assault, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions dropped behind the beaches into Nazi-occupied France, in an effort to protect the coming landings. Many of the paratroopers had not been dropped on their intended landing zones and were scattered throughout Normandy.
As the paratroops fought their way through the hedgerows, the main amphibious landings began. The Americans came ashore at the beaches codenamed 'Omaha' and 'Utah'. The landing craft bound for Utah, as with so many other units, went off course, coming ashore two kilometers off target. The 4th Infantry Division faced weak resistance during the landings and by the afternoon were linked up with paratroopers fighting their way towards the coast.
However, at Omaha the Germans had prepared the beaches with land mines, Czech hedgehogs and Belgian Gates in anticipation of the invasion. Intelligence prior to the landings had placed the less experienced German 714th Division in charge of the defense of the beach. However, the highly trained and experienced 352nd moved in days before the invasion. As a result, the soldiers from the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions became pinned down by superior enemy fire immediately after leaving their landing craft. In some instances, entire landing craft full of men were mowed down by the well-positioned German defenses. As the casualties mounted, the soldiers formed impromptu units and advanced inland.
The small units then fought their way through the minefields that were in between the Nazi machine-gun bunkers. After squeezing through, they then attacked the bunkers from the rear, allowing more men to come safely ashore.
By the end of the day, the Americans suffered over 6,000 casualties, including killed and wounded.
After the amphibious assault, the Allied forces remained stalled in Normandy for some time, advancing much more slowly than expected with close-fought infantry battles in the dense hedgerows. However, with Operation Cobra, launched on 24 July with mostly American troops, the Allies succeeded in breaking the German lines and sweeping out into France with fast-moving armored divisions. This led to a major defeat for the Germans, with 400,000 soldiers trapped in the Falaise pocket, and the capture of Paris on 25 August.
The next major Allied operation came on 17 September. Devised by British General Bernard Montgomery, its primary objective was the capture of several bridges in the Netherlands. Fresh off of their successes in Normandy, the Allies were optimistic that an attack on the Nazi-occupied Netherlands would force open a route across the Rhine and onto the North German Plain. Such an opening would allow Allied forces to break out northward and advance toward Denmark and, ultimately, Berlin.
The plan involved a daylight drop of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. The 101st was to capture the bridges at Eindhoven, with the 82nd taking the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen. After the bridges had been captured, the ground force, also known as XXX Corps or "Garden", would drive up a single road and link up with the paratroops.
The operation failed because the Allies were unable to capture the bridge furthest to the north at Arnhem. There, the British 1st Airborne had been dropped to secure the bridges, but upon landing they discovered that a highly experienced German SS Panzer unit was garrisoning the town. The paratroopers were only lightly equipped in respect to anti-tank weaponry and quickly lost ground. Failure to quickly relieve those members of the 1st who had managed to seize the bridge at Arnhem on the part of the balance of the 6th, as well as the armored XXX Corps, meant that the Germans were able to stymie the entire operation. In the end, the operation's ambitious nature, the fickle state of war, and failures on the part of Allied intelligence (as well as tenacious German defense) can be blamed for Market-Garden's ultimate failure. This operation also signaled the last time that either the 82nd or 101st would make a combat jump during the war.
Unable to push north into the Netherlands, the Allies in western Europe were forced to consider other options to get into Germany. However, in December 1944, the Germans launched a massive attack westward in the Ardennes forest, hoping to punch a hole in the Allied lines and capture the Belgian city of Antwerp. The Allies responded slowly, allowing the German attack to create a large "bulge" in the Allied lines. In the initial stages of the offensive, American POW's from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were executed at the Malmedy massacre by Nazi SS and Fallschirmjäger.
As the Germans pushed westward, General Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne and elements of the U.S. 10th Armored Division into the road junction town of Bastogne to prepare a defense. The town quickly became cut off and surrounded. The winter weather slowed Allied air support, and the defenders were outnumbered and low on supplies. When given a request for their surrender from the Germans, General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st, replied, "Nuts!", contributing to the stubborn American defense.[40] On 19 December, General Patton told Eisenhower that he could have his army in Bastogne in 48 hours. Patton then turned his army, at the time on the front in Luxembourg, north to break through to Bastogne. Patton's armor pushed north, and by 26 December was in Bastogne, effectively ending the siege. By the time it was over, more American soldiers had served in the battle than in any engagement in American history.[41]
Following the defeat of the German army in the Ardennes, the Allies pushed back towards the Rhine and the heart of Germany. With the capture of the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945. The Americans then executed a pincer movement, setting up the Ninth Army north, and the First Army south. When the Allies closed the pincer, 300,000 Germans were captured in the Ruhr Pocket. The Americans then turned east, meeting up with the Soviets at the Elbe River in April. The Germans surrendered Berlin to the Soviets on 2 May 1945.
The war in Europe came to an official end on V-E Day, 8 May 1945.
| Battle | Campaign | Date start | Date end | Victory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack on Pearl Harbor | 7 December 1941 | 7 December 1941 | Japan | |
| United States declares war on Japan | 8 December 1941 | 15 August 1945 | ||
| Battle of Guam | 8 December 1941 | 8 December 1941 | Japan | |
| Battle of Wake Island | Pacific Ocean theater of World War II | 8 December 1941 | 23 December 1941 | Japan |
| Battle of the Philippines | South West Pacific | 8 December 1941 | 8 May 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Balikpapan | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 23 January 1942 | 24 January 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Ambon | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 30 January 1942 | 3 February 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Makassar Strait | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 4 February 1942 | 4 February 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Badung Strait | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 18 February 1942 | 19 February 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Timor | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 19 February 1942 | 10 February 1943 | Japan (tactical); Allies (strategic) |
| Battle of the Java Sea | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 27 February 1942 | 1 March 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Sunda Strait | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 28 February 1942 | 1 March 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Java | Netherlands East Indies campaign | 28 February 1942 | 12 March 1942 | Japan |
| Invasion of Tulagi | Solomon Islands campaign | 3 May 1942 | 4 May 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of the Coral Sea | New Guinea campaign | 4 May 1942 | 8 May 1942 | Japan (tactical); Allies (strategic) |
| Battle of Corregidor | 5 May 1942 | 6 May 1942 | Japan | |
| Battle of Midway | Pacific Theater of Operations | 4 June 1942 | 7 June 1942 | United States |
| Battle of the Aleutian Islands | Pacific Theater of Operations | 6 June 1942 | 15 August 1943 | Allies |
| Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo | Guadalcanal campaign | 7 August 1942 | 9 August 1942 | Allies |
| Battle of Savo Island | Guadalcanal campaign | 8 August 1942 | 9 August 1942 | Japan |
| Makin Raid | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 17 August 1942 | 18 August 1942 | United States |
| Battle of the Tenaru | Guadalcanal campaign | 21 August 1942 | 21 August 1942 | Allies |
| Battle of the Eastern Solomons | Guadalcanal campaign | 24 August 1942 | 25 August 1942 | United States |
| Battle of Milne Bay | New Guinea campaign | 25 August 1942 | 5 September 1942 | Allies |
| Battle of Edson's Ridge | Guadalcanal campaign | 12 September 1942 | 14 September 1942 | United States |
| Second Battle of the Matanikau | Guadalcanal campaign | 23 September 1942 | 27 September 1942 | Japan |
| Third Battle of the Matanikau | Guadalcanal campaign | 7 October 1942 | 9 October 1942 | United States |
| Battle of Cape Esperance | Guadalcanal campaign | 11 October 1942 | 12 October 1942 | United States |
| Battle for Henderson Field | Guadalcanal campaign | 23 October 1942 | 26 October 1942 | United States |
| Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands | Guadalcanal campaign | 25 October 1942 | 27 October 1942 | Japan |
| Naval Battle of Guadalcanal | Guadalcanal campaign | 12 November 1942 | 15 November 1942 | United States |
| Battle of Buna-Gona | New Guinea campaign | 16 November 1942 | 22 January 1943 | Allies |
| Battle of Tassafaronga | Guadalcanal campaign | 29 November 1942 | 29 November 1942 | Japan |
| Battle of Rennell Island | Guadalcanal campaign | 29 January 1943 | 30 January 1943 | Japan |
| Battle of Wau | New Guinea campaign | 29 January 1943 | 31 January 1943 | Allies |
| Battle of the Bismarck Sea | New Guinea campaign | 2 March 1943 | 4 March 1943 | Allies |
| Battle of Blackett Strait | Solomon Islands campaign | 6 March 1943 | 6 March 1943 | United States |
| Battle of the Komandorski Islands | Aleutian Islands campaign | 27 March 1943 | 27 March 1943 | Inconclusive |
| Death of Isoroku Yamamoto | Solomon Islands campaign | 18 April 1943 | 18 April 1943 | United States |
| Salamaua-Lae campaign | New Guinea campaign | 22 April 1943 | 16 September 1943 | Allies |
| Battle of New Georgia | Solomon Islands campaign | 20 June 1943 | 25 August 1943 | Allies |
| Battle of Kula Gulf | Solomon Islands campaign | 6 July 1943 | 6 July 1943 | Inconclusive |
| Battle of Kolombangara | Solomon Islands campaign | 12 July 1943 | 13 July 1943 | Japan |
| Battle of Vella Gulf | Solomon Islands campaign | 6 August 1943 | 7 August 1943 | United States |
| Battle of Vella Lavella | Solomon Islands campaign | 15 August 1943 | 9 October 1943 | Allies |
| Bombing of Wewak | New Guinea campaign | 17 August 1943 | 17 August 1943 | United States |
| Finisterre Range campaign | New Guinea campaign | 19 September 1943 | 24 April 1944 | Allies |
| Naval Battle of Vella Lavella | Solomon Islands campaign | 7 October 1943 | 7 October 1943 | Japan |
| Battle of the Treasury Islands | Solomon Islands campaign | 25 October 1943 | 12 November 1943 | Allies |
| Raid on Choiseul | Solomon Islands campaign | 28 October 1943 | 3 November 1943 | Allies |
| Bombing of Rabaul | New Guinea campaign | 1 November 1943 | 11 November 1943 | Allies |
| Bougainville campaign | New Guinea campaign | 1 November 1943 | 21 August 1945 | Allies |
| Battle of Tarawa | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 20 November 1943 | 23 November 1943 | United States |
| Battle of Makin | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 20 November 1943 | 24 November 1943 | United States |
| Battle of Cape St. George | Solomon Islands campaign | 26 November 1943 | 26 November 1943 | United States |
| New Britain Campaign | New Guinea campaign | 15 December 1943 | 21 August 1945 | Allies |
| Landing at Saidor | New Guinea campaign | 2 January 1944 | 10 February 1944 | Allies |
| Battle of Cape St. George | Solomon Islands campaign | 29 January 1944 | 27 February 1944 | Allies |
| Battle of Kwajalein | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 31 January 1944 | 3 February 1944 | United States |
| Operation Hailstone | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 17 February 1944 | 18 February 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Eniwetok | Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign | 17 February 1944 | 23 February 1944 | United States |
| Admiralty Islands campaign | New Guinea campaign | 29 February 1944 | 18 May 1944 | Allies |
| Landing on Emirau | New Guinea campaign | 20 March 1944 | 27 March 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Saipan | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 15 June 1944 | 9 July 1944 | United States |
| Battle of the Philippine Sea | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 19 June 1944 | 20 June 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Guam | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 21 July 1944 | 8 August 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Tinian | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 24 July 1944 | 1 August 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Peleliu | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 15 September 1944 | 25 November 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Angaur | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | 17 September 1944 | 30 September 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Leyte | Philippines campaign (1944–45) | 20 October 1944 | 31 December 1944 | Allies |
| Battle of Leyte Gulf | Philippines campaign | 23 October 1944 | 26 October 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Ormoc Bay | Philippines campaign | 11 November 1944 | 21 December 1944 | United States |
| Battle of Mindoro | Philippines campaign | 13 December 1944 | 16 December 1944 | United States |
| Battle for the Recapture of Bataan | Philippines campaign | 31 January 1945 | 8 February 1945 | Allies |
| Battle of Manila (1945) | Philippines campaign | 3 February 1945 | 3 March 1945 | Allies |
| Battle for the Recapture of Corregidor | Philippines campaign | 16 February 1945 | 26 February 1945 | Allies |
| Battle of Iwo Jima | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | 19 February 1945 | 16 March 1945 | United States |
| Invasion of Palawan | Philippines campaign | 28 February 1945 | 22 April 1945 | United States |
| Battle of Okinawa | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | 1 April 1945 | 21 June 1945 | Allies |
| Operation Ten-Go | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | 7 April 1945 | 7 April 1945 | United States |
| Battle of Tarakan | Borneo campaign (1945) | 1 May 1945 | 19 June 1945 | Allies |
| Battle | Campaign | Date start | Date end | Victor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nazi Germany declares war on the U.S. | 11 December 1941 | |||
| Operation Torch | North African campaign | 8 November 1942 | 10 November 1942 | Allies |
| Run for Tunis | Tunisia campaign | 10 November 1942 | 25 December 1942 | Germany |
| Battle of Sidi Bou Zid | Tunisia campaign | 14 February 1943 | 17 February 1943 | Germany |
| Battle of the Kasserine Pass | Tunisia campaign | 19 February 1943 | 25 February 1943 | Germany |
| Battle of El Guettar | Tunisia campaign | 23 March 1943 | 7 April 1943 | United States |
| Allied invasion of Sicily | Italian campaign | 9 July 1943 | 17 August 1943 | Allies |
| Allied invasion of Italy | Italian campaign | 3 September 1943 | 16 September 1943 | Allies |
| Bernhardt Line | Italian campaign | 1 December 1943 | 15 January 1944 | Allies |
| Battle of Monte Cassino | Italian campaign | 17 January 1944 | 19 May 1944 | Allies |
| Operation Shingle | Italian campaign | 22 January 1944 | 5 June 1944 | Allies |
| Battle of Normandy | Western Front | 6 June 1944 | 25 August 1944 | Allies |
| Gothic Line | Italian campaign | 25 August 1944 | 17 December 1944 | Allies |
| Operation Market Garden | Western Front | 17 September 1944 | 25 September 1944 | Germany |
| Battle of Huertgen Forest | Western Front | 19 September 1944 | 10 February 1945 | United States |
| Battle of Aachen | Western Front | 1 October 1944 | 22 October 1944 | United States |
| Operation Queen | Western Front | 16 November 1944 | 16 December 1944 | Germany |
| Battle of the Bulge | Western Front | 16 December 1944 | 25 January 1945 | Allies |
| Operation Bodenplatte | Western Front | 1 January 1945 | 1 January 1945 | Allies |
| Colmar Pocket | Western Front | 20 January 1945 | 9 February 1945 | Allies |
| Spring 1945 offensive in Italy | Italian campaign | 6 April 1945 | 2 May 1945 | Allies |
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