End of WWII in Europe and Asia-Pacific

what are the military weaknesses of Germany?

• [x] ineffective command structure

• [x] war on two fronts

• [x] poor planning and resource management

what is the ineffective command structure of Germany

• [x] hitler made himself commander of armed forces and german commanders had to report back to him

• [x] despite inexperience, regularly intervened in military decisions and fired generals he felt were not bold or loyal enough

• [x] made several costly strategic errors against advice of more experienced generals

• [x] → battle of Britain, 1940

• [x] → battle of Stalingrad, 1942

When was Battle of Britain? What is it about

battle of Britain, 1940

• [x] what was happening:

• [x] luftwaffe was effectively attacking british royal airforce (RAF) in south of england and was close to defeating them for good

• [x] hitlers mistake:

• [x] ordered Luftwaffe to focus on bombing British cities instead to demoralise the public.

• [x] impact:

• [x] RAF able to recover and later carried out retaliatory bombing on German cities, Britain remained in the war

When was battle of stalingrad? What is it about?

battle of stalingrad, 1942

• [x] what was happening:

• [x] German forces attacking Stalingrad were met with fierce resistance, had little chance of defeating Soviet forces in street fighting.

• [x] hitlers mistake:

• [x] refused to let them withdraw even though the city was not that important strategically

• [x] impact:

• [x] German troops were surrounded and had to surrender, loss of the army was a severe blow to German military capabilities in the East.

What is the example for battle on two fronts? When was it?

operation barbarossa

• [x] hitler broke nazi soviet pact, june 1941, by attacking soviet union in operation barbarossa

• [x] germany was fighting a war on two fronts, ussr in east, britian in west

• [x] meant germany had to divide its resources, was especially challenging to supply Wehrmacht in east as they got deeper into soviet territory

• [x] also had to contend with allied bombing campaign and defend german homeland

• [x] impact → German military resources were severely stretched as the war went on, less effective, more easily defeated by the Allied forces

Give brief description of poor planning and resource management by Germany

• [x] Germany had rearmed earlier than Allies, had strong modern army at the start of the war but weaknesses in production and planning soon arose

• [x] → naval warfare

• [x] → aerial warefare

What is the naval warfare (Germany)

• [x] situation:

• [x] German U-boats very effective against Allied forces in Atlantic, sank many ships and threatened Allied supplies

• [x] mistake:

• [x] Germany chose to focus on building giant battleships instead, were easily targeted and destroyed by Allied aircraft

• [x] impact:

• [x] lead to loss of control over the Atlantic, Allied forces could transport supplies and troops into Europe unimpeded

What is the aerial warfare? (Germany)

• [x] RAF and US Airforce bombed Germany relentlessly from 1942-1945

• [x] mistake:

• [x] Germany failed to develop heavy bombers like the Allies, bombers were too small, could not inflict much damage

• [x] failed to invest in radar to detect enemy planes

• [x] impact:

• [x] Allies gained control over the airspace, especially as lack of petroleum grounded the Luftwaffe near the end of the war

• [x] meant Germany had to devote more resources to defending homeland, weakening offensive capabilities.

What are the military weaknesses of Japan?

• [x] inter-service rivalry between army and navy

• [x] overstretched empire

• [x] poor planning and resource management

What is the inter-service rivalry between army and navy? (Japan)

• [x] 1930s, army and navy had different goals and ideas on how to solve japans economic problems

• [x] during war, rivalry led to competition over resources and lack of coordination of war efforts

• [x] Army refused to provide reinforcements to the Pacific islands throughout 1943

• [x] Navy and Army could not agree on where to set Japan’s defensive perimeter in the Pacific, eventually spread their forces too thin

• [x] rivalry resulted in ineffective defense, leading to their defeat by Allied forces in key battles in the Pacific.

What is overstretched empire? (Japan)

• [x] required huge manpower such as soldiers and resources, not only did they need to defend against the Allied attacks but still had to devote resources to maintain control over occupied areas

• [x] unable to leverage resources from empire, Japanese empire was very spread out, rail and road communications were poor in many places

• [x] challenging to transport materials by sea, could not transport raw materials and workers to where they were needed quickly enough

• [x] impact: overstretched empire drained resources instead of helping japan to solve economic problems, weakening military capability & contributing to defeat by the Allies.

What is the naval warfare? (Japan)

• [x] situation:

• [x] US Navy relentlessly attacked Japanese merchant ships in the Pacific to disrupt shipping of essential supplies.

• [x] mistake:

• [x] Imperial Japanese Navy were focused on “heroic” mission to attack and sink US naval vessels and ignored Allied merchant ships

• [x] Little or no effort was made to protect own merchant ships or stop supply ships from Allied forces.

• [x] impact:

• [x] Japanese merchant fleet were decimated, unable to bring supplies from empire to where they were needed, weakening troops and morale, US troops were well-supplied and equipped.

What is the aerial warfare?

• [x] situation:

• [x] failed to appreciate importance of air power and how carrier aircraft could determine outcome of naval battles

• [x] mistake:

• [x] Did not pursue and prioritise destruction of US aircraft carriers during Pearl Harbour

• [x] built aircraft carriers but did not focus enough effort in naval pilot training

• [x] impact:

• [x] Survival of US aircraft carriers allowed them to stop Japanese advance at Battle of Midway