Battle Of Midway: An Evaluation of Whether the United States Involvement in World War II Was Necessary for the Allied Victory in Both the Europe and Pacific Theaters

Prompt: Evaluate whether the United States involvement in the practices of World War I was necessary for the Allied victory in both the Europe and Pacific theaters.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Winston Churchill proclaimed, “We’re saved!” He knew that this bombing would cause the United States to join the Allies in World War II and that this would ultimately “save” them. Churchill believed that the U.S. involvement would allow the Allies to come out as the victors of World War II, and he was correct.

Throughout the war, the U.S. involvement in ground and air warfare made a significant contribution to the war effort that ultimately resulted in the Allied victory in Europe, whereas the navy played a minor role; additionally U.S. air power and combined arms efforts were necessary for the allied victory on the Pacific front.

A very important way in which the United States contributed to the war effort in the European theater was through their support of the Allied bombing campaign.

Allied bombing prior to U.S. involvement was very weak, and instead of using precision bombing, they instead had to use “area bombing” because they had to bomb at night (which made their bombing even less accurate) so that the Germans would not be able to detect their planes. The Royal Air Force could only place about 1 out of every 10 bombs within 5 miles of their target. The United States made a few similar mistakes as the British at first, but the U.

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S. came up with better solutions to these problems which allowed the development of bombing strategies. The U.S. quickly realized the same thing as the British: that unescorted daylight bombing was impossible. The U.S. then developed their “Mustang” fighter planes by supplying them with droppable fuel-tanks, which increased their range so the bombers could be escorted. This was a great development for the Allied bombing campaign, because it prevented them from sacrificing accuracy by bombing at night in order to avoid suffering a loss. The British were previously limited to bombing in West Germany due to their short range, but after this U.S. development, every part of Germany was within range, the U.S. even set up in Northern Africa and bombed Italy in addition to Germany. Although the bombing campaign had already been moving along steadily, it was the United States’ entrance into the war that – according to James L. Stokesbury – gave the campaign the momentum it needed to allow the Allies to actually accomplish something with their bombing. During the entire war, the Allies dropped 2,700,000 tons of bombs on Germany, and nearly ¾ of that amount was dropped between July 1, 1944, and the collapse of Germany. It was toward the end of the war when the Royal Air Force and the 8th Air Force started dropping such massive amounts of bombs, and the combined effort eventually caused enough destruction to end the bombing campaign, and the war ended quickly afterwards.

The United States was also responsible for bringing an end to what would be the last great German offensive of World War II, which occurred at the Battle of the Bulge, which lasted from December 1944 to January 1945. In the 6 week war between Germany and the U.S., Hitler’s military lost 200,000 men, 600 tanks, and most of its air force. The U.S. fiercely fought off the German Reich in the last major battle that occurred on the European front of the war, a contribution that crippled the German military and subsequently made a large difference in how the war would have played out.

While the United States contributed to the Battle of the Atlantic, their naval contribution in the Atlantic and Europe was mostly insignificant. The United States began fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942, and because of this, the Germans referred to the six months thereafter as “the happy time” or “American hunting season,” because the U.S. was so unprepared for the war. Eventually the United States became more helpful in the Battle of the Atlantic, but as far as the war against Germany went, the United States involvement in Ground warfare and Air warfare was much more beneficial. The United States involvement in naval warfare in the Pacific was not necessary for the Allies to win World War II in the European theater.

The Navy played a larger role in the Allied victory in the Pacific theater than it did in the Battle of the Atlantic, but most of the United State’s success on this front came from the combined efforts of the air force and the navy. An example of this is what occurred at the Battle of Midway in June of 1942. The navy did not actually use ships to fire at other ships, in this battle. Aircrafts launched from the ships, and the U.S. was able to sink the heart of the Japanese navy with 10 well-aimed bombs in just a matter of minutes. In this battle, the United States became the first clear victor against the Japanese, and it was a turning point in the war, and from this point forward, the Japanese were set on the defensive. Thereafter, the United States began island hopping. They used submarines and air power to set up blockades and isolate Japanese island bases.

In addition to the important role it played in the Battle of Midway, the U.S. air force also played a significant part in completely bringing the war in Japan to an end. After the battle of Midway, it became clear that the United States would eventually defeat the Japanese, but there were many doubts as to how long it would take, given the Japanese culture of fighting to the death. For this reason, the United States needed to make a large offensive move so as to provoke a surrender. Their options included a full scale invasion, a bombing campaign, and using the atomic bomb. After carefully considering all of their options, the U.S. decided to use the atomic bombs, and very soon after they were dropped, the Japanese surrendered. The U.S. had actually sent air bombers into Tokyo immediately after they used the atomic bombs as well, but the Japanese surrender is attributed to the U.S. decision to use the atomic bombs. No other country was close to this development, and it was therefore necessary that the U.S. be the country to end the war in Japan, thus showing that U.S. involvement is what defeated the Japanese and resulted in the Allied victory in the Pacific.

Ground warfare was not often used alone in the Pacific front of World War II, but it still played a large role in combined arms, such as in the Battle of Okinawa. There were 4 army divisions and 2 marine divisions that fought on the island, and they were supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces. At least 150,000 people were killed by the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At Okinawa, it is estimated that up to 225,000 Japanese deaths occurred as a result of the battle (both civilian and military). The vast number of casualties inflicted by the U.S. army show the importance of their combined arms efforts. Additionally, this battle that lasted up until June of 1945 (and many other instances of “island hopping” like it) helped put the United States in the position where they knew they would eventually be able to use the atomic bomb to win the war.