During the Second World War a series of events took place. One of them was the Battle of Bataan, which took place in the island of the Philippines. Of those thousands of brave men were given duties to fulfil. The soldiers who participated in this eventful battle suffered from disease, lack of food, torture from Japanese and other challenges due to the terrein. Despite not coming out as victories these Allied soldiers taught America of the most valuable lessons. Soldiers had a job, a traumatic experience, and taught the US a valuable lesson. During the Battle of Bataan those who participated in it had various duties. Filipino volunteers were to ally with the american soldiers and fight against Japan. Their general, General MacArthur had ordered …show more content…
The battle took place in a tropical island, with less than ideal weather conditions. Soldiers had endured choking dustorms, extremely hot temperatures, and unbearable humidity. The jungle also possed other risks snakes, rats, and disease transmitting insects, which killed many troops. The Allied said had seen nothing but slaughter and they were forced to surrender. After surrendering they were taken prisoners and they were forced to march nearly 65 miles from the Bataan Peninsula to San Fernando. During this march soldiers were abused by the Japanese, they would not be allowed food or water and when they fell out of the march they were were beaten with bayonets, forced to stare directly at the sun for hours, and sometimes they would just be beheaded. Seeing all this other soldiers began to fear for their lives. On top of all that many soldiers had to watch their friends die horrific and violent deaths. Those few soldiers who survived the “death march” were taken to prisoner of war camps, where they often died of malaria and starvation. Those who were fortunate enough to have survived the march and the camps were eventually rescued and brought back to America, some of these brave soldiers died soon after, suffered from PTSD, or recovered and resumed normal lives. The Battle of Bataan was one of the goriest battles of WWII and took a toll on thousands of soldiers, but
represented a turning point in black American history. It, presented an opportunity to improve race relations at home despite the fighting abroad. How could you be racist against people whom are fighting to stabilize your freedom and the freedom of others was the mentality in the minds of black soldiers.
The Jews were ordered to get off and onto waiting trucks. There everyone was ordered to get out. They were forced to dig huge trenches. Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and off their necks. Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns (Wiesel 10).
Initially, Japanese strategists assumed that the tiny island would be overwhelmed in a matter of hours. However, they underestimated the fighting spirit of the military personnel and civilians stationed on the island. For sixteen days these brave men fought against overwhelming odds, but demonstrated both to the Japanese and to their fellow Americans back at home that the Americans could and would put up a courageous fight.
19 February 1945 marked the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. A total of 6,821 U.S. Marines had lost their lives, along with 19,217 wounded over the five-week span of the battle for Iwo Jima. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 212 were taken prisoners. “Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the overall American casualties (killed and wounded) exceeded those of the Japanese, although Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle (O'Brien, 1987).”
The Battle of Tora Bora was a successful operation that taught the United States a lot about operations in Afghanistan, dealing with Osama bin Laden and his followers and how we needed to change the way we fought as an American force. The lessoned that we learned from this operation have taught us to train our troops differently because we are fighting a new asymmetric enemy. As a country and military force, we have transformed to become a better and more complex force and continue to maintain our proficiency in being a powerful nation with the best military in the world.
There are countless depictions of The Battle of Iwo Jima from the standpoint of Veterans and military historians. All of which are vivid interpretations of how monumental this battle was for the Marine Corp and 1944 American moral. The Battle of Iwo Jima was the single most contested piece of land that the Marine Corp had ever fought. In fact, the Marines lost more soldiers in this battle than any other battle they had fought, in their 238-year history. It was tough terrain with an enemy instructed to, “Kill 10 Americans before you will be killed”. (Smith, Iwo Jima, 2008) Paying respect to the veterans, I will attempt to tell the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima. “We built strength among us. We strengthened each other. That’s how we survived”. (Smith, Iwo Jima, 2008)
“…the most important result was that it awakened in us a strong, practical sense of esprit de corps, which in the field developed into the finest thing that arose out of the war – comradeship.” (p23)
Because of the desperation felt by the Japanese forces leading up to the battle and American forces making steady advances toward Japan, the Japanese forces felt the battle could not be won. They were ordered to by time for Japan to build its defenses around the homeland. Japanese were not only dying for their county but taking their own lives as ... ... middle of paper ... ... 6 wounded.
...ings by then, whose memories, fears, and enthusiasms should not be remembered." Thus, unlike the title suggests, this remarkable war memoir is not about one soldier. Instead it refers to the entire German army who were defeated by the Allies. Although the German cause was very controversial, these gentlemen bravely fought for their country. Many men died, many were mutilated, and many more had to forever live with the atrocities they encountered. At war's end, however, they were merely "forgotten" for their failure of success. And although The Forgotten Soldier is an astonishing account of the horrors of infantry warfare, it serves a much greater purpose. It allows the historian to glance into the German experience and realize they too were young men fighting because their nation called upon them, and they deserve to be remembered for such a courageous act.
...or their heroic efforts during times of such as the 369th battalion and Doris Miller. African Americans had more of their basic rights, political voice, respect, and were able to blend into American society by the end of World War II.
World War Two was marketed to the civilians of every nation as a cataclysmic struggle requiring unprecedented public sacrifices and involvement, and in the early years of the war, the fear of defeat, invasion and scenarios all too horrific to comprehend motivated Americans to sacrifice, work hard and build the staggering infrastructure that produced the Allies to certain victory. In these early years of the War (1941-1942), propaganda did not need to be more than fear-mongering, yet America was not yet fully invested in open warfare. American airmen, sailors, Marines and soldiers were fighting and dying, but the vast majority of the American military- to say nothing of its civilian p...
Having been spread out over more land and involved more people than any other war in history, many believe World War II is also the most historic war in as well. There has never been a war of such immense importance and such a gigantic magnitude. The United States served an absolutely vital role in the outcome of this war. The U.S. was faced with the duty of taking on two different wars at the same time in two different places in the world. Something that many countries would have backed away from. The European front was without hesitation the more evident of the two considering the unquestionable mayhem and evils that were being committed by Adolf Hitler. United States involvement on the European front was unavoidable and, generally much easier for U.S. forces to get to. Having fought in Europe less than thirty years prior, the U.S. was familiar with the territory and proper strategy. The Pacific Campaign of World War II offered an incomparable test for the United States Armed Forces. U.S. Armed Forces had never fought in the South Pacific or even on terrain that resembled the conditions in which they would be faced with in the Pacific Islands. With the Army deeply involved in Europe, in December of 1941 the United States found it self stuck in a war that it was not ready for and had no idea how to fight. However, the United States Marine Corps were the ideal company for the kind of combat they would be faced with in the Pacific. Marines had adequate training for land to sea combat. The Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific gave the U.S. its only chance of being successful against the Japanese military.
..., many lives were saved and World War II ended as a result just as the United States hoped it would turn out.
“The world must know what happened, and never forget.” (World War 2) General Eisenhower reflecting upon the world war II, and acknowledging it as a pertinent event in the history of the United States of America. War is war, it is not pretty or humane, but what it is, is a diplomatic way in which to settle disputes and aggressions between countries. By analyzing these wars of the past, the people of the country can learn many things, be it mistakes made by one side, strategy from someone else or battle field etiquette. And it is through this analysis that the human race is able to further itself to not repeat the mistakes made by their ancestors. There are many lessons to be learned from looking at the seeds of, the fighting of, and the fallout of WWII.
World War 2 was a large scale war around the war that lasted 6 years. The war was devastating on all the countries involved on both sides. There was a considerable amount of death in WW2 estimated at 15,000,000 battle related deaths. There were many different battles in WW2 but today I will be report on one of the greater battles close to the end of the war. This battle is known as the Battle of the Bulge.The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16th, 1944. It started with Hitler ordering a large surprise attack on the Western Allies using his 3 armies. The Germans came out of the dense woods of the Ardennes forest in Belgium. Towards the beginning of the battle the Germans were winning due to the nature of the surprise attack and their experience level. The damage they caused was so great they created a “bulge” of sorts in the Allied front, hence the name of the battle. But we later will see the Germans progress in the beginning of the battle will be short lived.