America's Role In World War II

The invasion of D-Day is the largest joint sea born invasion in the history of the world. Although very well planned, the amphibious landings were a gamble made by the Allied forces to gain foothold in Europe. Every American has heard about the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe on D-Day. However, how many Americans stop and think about how much planning, preparation and luck that went into making it the success that it is remembered for? I will attempt to depict what it took to conquer the Normandy beaches using historical and military facts that make it such an iconic event in the world’s history still today.

The United State’s direct involvement in World War II officially began as soon as the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Prior to that event, America had been providing arms and equipment to England but stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the Axis. The War in the Pacific was considered Asia’s War and the European War was considered a local conflict. US-Japanese relations had become strained in 1941, though America felt secure that her naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was powerful enough to discourage any aggression from Japan. On July 24, 1941, Japan occupied French Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). Two days after that, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the United States. American trade

They came, unwarned. On the 7th of December 1941, the Japanese executed a full-fledged attack on Pearl Harbor. They mercilessly created havoc, with attacks that caused the sinking of eighteen American ships, as well as 170 aircrafts. The casualties were dreadful, with 1,177 of those lost lives had been of the crewmen. The very next day, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and thus the United States’ involvement of World War II. Americans of every state were absolutely enraged and bent on their will for vengeance against the Asian country. Within the shadows of galvanized America, Robert Oppenheimer had set his infamous Manhattan Project into action. This project was so disclosed that only a limited number of men truly knew of its purpose. The clandestine project held prior securities to the point in which famous scientists had to use codenames in order to visit Los Alamos, even wives were kept in the dark, and only key scientists could bring their wives along with them. (Source D) This project had been the discreet creation of the Atomic Bombs. Time and time again, this topic had never really dissipated, its controversial who, what and whys prompting generations to debate its palpable purpose. Was the aim really focused for the “good of all?” Was it for America’s self-preservation and wish to promptly put an end to all of the suffering? Many Americans to this day still believe and argue for the usefulness of the atomic bombings, that the droppings were justified.

World War II was possibly the most significant period of the 20th century. “It brought about major developments in technology and laid the groundwork that permitted post-war social changes including the end of European colonialism, the civil rights movement in the United States, and the modern women’s rights movement, as well as the programs for exploring outer space” (History.net). On September 1st 1939, Hitler began World War II by invading Poland and on September 3rd, Britain and France declared war on Germany. America wasn’t in the involved in the war until December 7th, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

The units that were supposed to come ashore before the first wave were special tanks called DD, or Duplex Drive, tanks. These tanks, especially in the case of Omaha Beach, either sank before or were destroyed as they came ashore. The loss of these tanks meant that the troops landing on Omaha Beach would not have any close support from heavy weapons. ONce the troops began to land, this became a serious problem which the destroyers of the Allied armada solved for the troops on the beach. Destroyers would take turns cruising in as close as they could and then would proceed to provide fire support for the besieged troops by blasting machine gun and 88 mm gun emplacements with their five-inch guns. This fire support was crucial to the formation of a beachhead on Omaha Beach, in doing so, preventing the Allied invasion on Omaha Beach from being thrown back and possibly ending the invasion of France in defeat.

Rudder’s Rangers played a significant role in the D-Day invasion by storming the beach at Pointe du Hoc under constant enemy fire, scaling 100 meter cliffs with unreliable radio communications between his troops, reached and destroyed German Gun Batteries. General Omar N. Bradley the American ground commander selected Rudder’s Ranger’s, a group approximately 500 hand selected Soldiers trained by Rudder (Humanities Texas, 2011). Rudder shot twice was amongst the nearly 50 percent wounded in his battalion

Porter’s command brought down Richmond, the South’s capital. By then he had full control of the entire Mississippi. By then Rear Admiral Porter was tasked with attacking Fort Fisher. Little did he know his tactics would be the ground works for future Naval Doctrines to come. “These two thousand, the admiral said, would be the first ashore, and would secure and hold the beacon for the Army regiments that would follow then.” Amphibious landing was not heard of until then. This tactic would be used in the next century during World War II and would be adopted by the Marine Corps as one of their major

The beaches were code named Juno, Gold, Sword, Utah, and Omaha. Beaches Gold and Sword were assaulted by the British army. They met little resistance and took these beaches with relative ease, the biggest obstacles being coral reefs, shoals, and wind. These obstacles altered where the amphibious vehicles landed. The Germans fortified both of these beaches with rather light defenses, mostly obstacles, mines, and machine guns.

Nearly 73 years ago, the invasion that tore Hitler apart turned the tide of World War II substantially in America's favor; within hours of men first hitting Omaha Beach, beach landing had a new meaning. After months of meeting, planning, training, supplying, and deceiving German forces, the largest joint-invasion force humanity had ever seen shipped off for their objective. For the Americans this included conquering Omaha and Utah Beaches. (Ambrose 325) Omaha Beach stood as a significant landing site because without a landing at Omaha, Utah and Gold Beaches would have a chasm between them, exposing their flank, even though Allied planners loathed landing on Omaha (321). Omaha Beach on the coast of Normandy represents the sacrifice, horror,

Laurence Binyon said “A man is only missing if he is forgotten” in his poem For the Fallen, these words stayed with me during the entire experience at the exhibition. The exhibition is dedicated to those who did not return from World War I, it is a moving and important exhibition that commemorates those who did not return and Alabama’s part in the war. Before visiting the exhibition, I understood America’s role in the Great War, however, I did not know the role that Alabama played in the war. When America entered the Great War, Alabama had 95,000 people that were included in the military’s 4 million personnel; I found that to be a shockingly high number due to the lack of enthusiasm about the war from the south.

The Normandy Invasion may have been the single most important battle on the Western Front of World War II. Much planning went into the siege of these beaches that ensured a tough, but inevitable victory, as well as other factors, such as the exploitation of the Germans’ ignorance of the attack.

The landing scheme was a simple one, in outline at least. The 3rd Brigade's 4000 men would land as a covering force to secure a beachhead for two Australasian divisions made up of six brigades. Those 4000 would go in two waves. The first, consisting of 1500 men, were to start from three battleships — Queen, Prince of Wales and London — then be distributed between twelve tows, each made up of a steamboat, a cutter (30 men), a lifeboat (28 men) and either a launch (98 men) or a pinnace (60 men). The remaining 2500, the second wave, were to land from seven destroyers shortly afterwards. Those destroyers would wait near the island of Imbros and join the battleships, one and a half miles (about 2 km) from the mainland, at 4.15 am. The first wave

When war broke out, there was no way the world could possibly know the severity it would have taken on the people of the world. Fortunately one country saw and understood that Germany and its allies would have to be stopped. America’s Involvement in World War II not only contributed in the downfall of the insane Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich, but also came at the best time and moment. If the United States entered the war any earlier the consequences would probably have been worse.

World War 2 started after World War 1 in 1939. World War 1 was not as bad as World War 2. World War 2 was the most drastic war in history. Facts show that more than 30 countries played a part in WW2 and about an estimate of 85 million deaths resulted in the war. The War ended in 1945. Many Americans responded to the war in a rational way, benefiting them in the long run. The economy blossomed the war created new jobs, industrial productivity rose, consumer goods were produced more in America, recovery in business occurred, and technology surged from World War 2 it grew do to fear and competition. After all technology was what helped win the War all sorts of tech stuff for World War 2 were made so soldiers could use to fight with. B-17 flying

World War II was a horrible event that will be remembered as one of the darkest Points in human history. With estimates of deaths ranging from 60 to 80 million, it is unthinkable to imagine that this chaos was allowed to grow and erupt as it did. Many Americans in the United States, simply thought the madness in Europe would be contained to that continent. However, a new enemy brought the war to our shores.