Military history of the United States during World War II

 ( 1940s In The United States ) 

The objective of the attacking American forces was the consolidation of the US beachheads (Utah Beach and Omaha Beach) and establishment of a continuous defensive line against expected German counterattacks. The defending German force attempted to hold the city long enough to allow reinforcements en route from the south to arrive, prevent or delay the merging of the lodgments, and keep the US First Army from launching an attack towards Lessay-Périers that would cut off the Cotentin Peninsula.

Carentan was defended by two battalions of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 (6th Parachute Regiment) of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division and two Ost battalions. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered to reinforce Carentan, was delayed by transport shortages and attacks by Allied aircraft. The attacking 101st Airborne Division landed by parachute on 6 June as part of the American airborne landings in Normandy, was ordered to seize Carentan.

In the ensuing battle, the 101st forced passage across the causeway into Carentan on 10–11 June. A lack of ammunition forced the German forces to withdraw on 12 June. The 17th SS PzG Division counter-attacked the 101st Airborne on 13 June. Initially successful, its attack was thrown back by Combat Command A (CCA) of the US 2nd Armored Division

The assault was ordered by Adolf Hitler, to eliminate the gains made by the First United States Army during Operation Cobra and the subsequent weeks, and by reaching the coast in the region of Avranches at the base of the Cotentin peninsula, cut off the units of the Third United States Army which had advanced into Brittany.

The main German striking force was the XLVII Panzer Corps, with one and a half SS Panzer Divisions and two Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions. Although they made initial gains against the defending US VII Corps, they were soon halted and Allied aircraft inflicted severe losses on the attacking troops, eventually destroying nearly half of the German tanks involved in the attack.2 Although fighting continued around Mortain for six days, the American forces had regained the initiative within a day of the opening of the German attack.

The German commanders on the spot had warned Hitler in vain that there was little chance of the attack succeeding. The concentration of their armored reserves at the western end of the front in Normandy soon led to disaster, as they were outflanked to their south and the front to their east collapsed. This resulted in many of the German troops in Normandy being trapped in the Falaise Pocket.

On 8 August, the Allied ground forces commander, British General Sir Bernard Montgomery, ordered the Allied armies to converge on the Falaise–Chambois area to envelop Army Group B, the First US Army forming the southern arm, the British Second Army the base and the First Canadian Army the northern arm of the encirclement. The Germans began to withdraw on 17–19 August, and the Allies linked up in Chambois. Gaps were forced in the Allied lines by German counter-attacks, the biggest being a corridor forced past the 1st Polish Armored Division on Hill 262, a commanding position at the mouth of the pocket. By the evening of 21 August, the pocket had been sealed, with c. 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Many Germans escaped but losses in men and equipment were huge. Two days later the Allied Liberation of Paris was completed and on 30 August, the remnants of Army Group B retreated across the Seine, which ended Operation Overlord.

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 had only light 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 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 was also the last time that either the 82nd or 101st made a combat jump during the war.

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. ""NUTS!" Revisited: An Interview with Lt. General Harry W. O. Kinnard". thedropzone.org 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. "Battle of the Bulge remembered 60 years later". defenselink.mil

On 31 December, the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war on the Western Front, Operation Nordwind, in Alsace and Lorraine in northeastern France. Against weakened American forces there, the Germans were able to push the Americans back to the south bank of the Moder River on 21 January. On 25 January, Allied reinforcements from the Ardennes arrived, the German offensive was stopped and in fierce fighting the so-called Colmar Pocket was eliminated.

The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. Germany's goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in favor of the Axis powers. Once accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theater of war.

The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. The Third US Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Soviet Front to the Ardennes and transport of forces by rail to the Ardennes was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the Bletchley Park code-breaking center.

Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of a heavy overcast, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the west that they counted on for success. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German timetable behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.

With about 610,000 men committed and some 89,000 casualties, including 19,000 killed, the Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.

The war in Europe came to an end on V-E Day, 8 May 1945. However, the state of war between the United States and Germany was not officially terminated until 19 October 1951.

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 decided not to risk further action. To 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 electric torpedoes and shallow-water bombing tactics. Despite later rumors, there was no advance knowledge of the Japanese plan. The commanders had been complacent about routine defensive measures. 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.Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (1982) is one of the best of many booksAlan Zimm, The Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions (2011) covers the technical details from the Japanese side

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt officially pronounced 7 December 1941, as Infamy Speech and asked for a declaration of war on Japan before a joint session of Congress on 8 December 1941. The motion passed with only one vote against it, in both chambers. Just three days later, on 11 December 1941 Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States, and had already remarked on the evening of the date of the Japanese attack that "We can't lose the war at all. We now have an ally which has never been conquered in 3,000 years".

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.

A 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."Kenney p 112 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 Bismarck Sea (March 1943) when bombers sank a major convoy bringing troops and supplies to New Guinea. That success was no fluke. High-flying bombers seldom 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.Martin W. Bowman, B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Pacific War (2003) p. 59

:"Many have chronic dysentery or other disease, and almost all show chronic fatigue states... They appear listless, unkempt, careless, and apathetic with almost masklike facial expression. Speech is slow, thought content is poor, they complain of chronic headaches, insomnia, memory defect, feel forgotten, worry about themselves, are afraid of new assignments, have no sense of responsibility, and are hopeless about the future."Mae Mills Link and Hubert A. Coleman, Medical support of the Army Air Forces in World War II (1955) p 851

Marines from the 1st Marine Division landed on 7 August 1942, soldiers from the Army XIV Corps reinforced and eventually replaced in late-November 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 under Allied control on 8 February 1943.

Meanwhile, the rival navies fought seven battles, with the two sides dividing the victories.Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol. 5: The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943 (1949) Following the Japanese victory at the Battle of Savo Island on 8–9 August, Admiral Fletcher withdrew his ships from around Guadalcanal. A second Japanese naval force sailed south and engaged the American fleet in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24–25 August, ending in a draw but forced the Japanese naval force to retreat. On 11–12 October 1942, to disrupt Japanese attempts to reinforce and resupply their troops on Guadalcanal (nicknamed the "Tokyo Express"), a small US naval force attacked this supply line at the Battle of Cape Esperance and succeeded. In support of the Japanese ground offensive in October, Japanese naval forces engaged and hoped to decisively defeat any US naval forces in the area of operation at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 25–27 October 1942, however the Japanese failed to decisively defeat US Navy. From 12 to 15 November 1942, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place: Learning that the Japanese were trying to reinforce their troops for an attack on Henderson Field, US forces launched aircraft and warship to prevent the Japanese ground troops from reaching Guadalcanal, the US succeeded thus turning back Japan's last major attempt to dislodge Allied forces from Guadalcanal. A small US naval force attempted to surprise and destroy the Japanese Navy were attempting to deliver supplies to their forces on Guadalcanal at Battle of Tassafaronga however it wasn't successful. The final naval battle took place between 29 and 30 January 1943, known as the Battle of Rennell Island, US naval forces attempted to stop the Japanese Navy from evacuating its ground forces from Guadalcanal. However, the Japanese successfully forced the US Navy to withdraw, protecting the Japanese evacuation.Richard Overy, War in the Pacific (2010)

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.

Tokyo was hit repeatedly, and during the first massive fire raid of 9–10 March 1945 suffered a conflagration of about in area, that killed at least 83,000. On 5 June, 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.Donald L. Miller, D-days in the Pacific (2005) p. 2222 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.William W. Ralph, "Improvised Destruction: Arnold, LeMay, and the Firebombing of Japan," War in History Vol. 13, No. 4, 495–522 (2006) The Japanese local officials reported:

Although damage to big factories was slight, approximately one-fourth of some 4,000 lesser factories, which operated hand-in-hand with the big factories, were destroyed by fire... Moreover, owing to the rising fear of air attacks, workers in general were reluctant to work in the factories, and the attendance fluctuated as much as 50 percent.

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.

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.Robin L. Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships: Okinawa, 1945 (2010) Task Force 58 analyzed the Japanese technique at Okinawa in April 1945:

"Rarely have the enemy attacks been so cleverly executed and made with such reckless determination. These attacks were generally by single or few aircraft making their approaches with radical changes in course and altitude, dispersing when intercepted and using cloud cover to every advantage. They tailed our friendlies home, used decoy planes, and came in at any altitude or on the water."quoted in Norman Friedman, U.S. naval weapons: every gun, missile, mine, and torpedo used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the present day (1982) p 93

The Americans decided the 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 US high command rethought its strategy and used atomic bombs to end the war, hoping it would make a costly invasion unnecessary.John Ray Skates, The invasion of Japan: alternative to the bomb (2000) p. 241

On the afternoon of 7 December 1941, six hours after the Japanese attack, US naval commanders in the Pacific were ordered by the US Navy Chief of Staff to "execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan".Spector (1984), pp.478–479; Blair, Silent Victory, p.106; Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", PhD dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005.(page needed). This order authorized all US submarines in the Pacific to attack and sink any warship, commercial vessel, or civilian passenger ship flying the Japanese flag, without warning. The Pacific Fleet and the Asiatic Fleet Submarine Force immediately went into action to counter the Japanese offensive across the Pacific, such as in the Philippines, Indochina,Christley (2006), p.39. Dutch East Indies and Malaya.Morison (1948), p.303. The US Navy submarine force was small; less than 2%. On 7 December 1941, the US Navy had 55 fleet submarine and 18-medium-sized submarines (S-boats) in the Pacific, 38 submarines elsewhere, and 73 under construction.Morison (1949), p.188. By the war's end the US had completed 228 submarines.Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (Navies of the Second World War Series; New York: Doubleday, 1973), p.5 table.

US Navy submarines were often used for surveillance. This included reconnaissance, landing and supplying guerillas in Japanese occupied territory, and deploying commandos for missions such as the Makin Island raid. Submarines also rescued crews of aircraft which had been forced down over the ocean.

As a result of several key improvements in strategy and tactics, from 1943, Allied submarines waged a more effective campaign against Japanese merchant shipping and the IJN, in effect strangling the Japanese Empire of resources. By the end of the war in August 1945, US Navy submarines sank around 1300 Japanese merchant ships, as well as roughly 200 warships. Only 42 US submarines were sunk in the Pacific,Roscoe, Theodore. Pig Boats (Bantam Books, 1958); Blair, Silent Victory, pp.991–2. but 3,500 (22%) submariners were killed, the highest casualty rate of any American force in World War II. The force destroyed over half of all Japanese merchant ships,Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (New York, 1976), p.878. totaling well over five million tons of shipping.

V-J Day which occurred on 15 August 1945 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.

• December 7, 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor, a surprise attack that killed almost 2,500 people in the then incorporated territory of Hawaii which caused the U.S. to enter the war the next day.
• January–August 1942 – Second Happy Time, German U-boats engaged American ships off the U.S. East Coast.
• February 23, 1942 – Bombardment of Ellwood, a Japanese submarine attack on California.
• Attacks on California ships by Japanese submarines
• March 4, 1942 – Operation K, a Japanese reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor following the attack on December 7, 1941.
• June 3, 1942 – August 15, 1943 – Aleutian Islands Campaign, the battle for the then incorporated territory of Alaska.
• June 21–22, 1942 – Bombardment of Fort Stevens, the second attack on a U.S. military base in the continental U.S. in World War II.
• September 9, 1942, and September 29, 1942 – Lookout Air Raids, the only attack by enemy aircraft on the contiguous U.S. and the second enemy aircraft attack on the U.S. continent in World War II.
• November 1944–April 1945 – Fu-Go balloon bombs, over 9,300 of them were launched by Japan across the Pacific Ocean towards the U.S. to start forest fires. On May 5, 1945, six U.S. civilians were killed in Oregon when they stumbled upon a bomb and it exploded, the only deaths to occur in the U.S. as a result of an enemy balloon attack during World War II.

On the home front, Americans faced widespread rationing of goods such as gasoline, rubber, and food items to ensure that resources could be directed towards the war effort. The U.S.  government imposed restrictions on consumer goods and encouraged citizens to conserve, recycle, and reduce waste. Citizens participated in scrap drives, victory gardens, and war bond campaigns, which were heavily promoted through government propaganda to foster national unity and financial support for the war. These collective efforts helped generate the necessary resources for the war, while also contributing to a strong sense of purpose.

The war also dramatically reshaped the American workforce. With millions of men serving overseas, women entered the labor force in unprecedented numbers, taking on roles in factories, shipyards, and offices. This period gave rise to cultural icons like “Rosie the Riveter,” symbolizing the critical contributions of female workers. Additionally, minority groups, particularly African Americans and Mexican Americans, found new employment opportunities, though they often continued to face discrimination and unequal treatment.  

Through these efforts, the United States not only supplied its own armed forces but also supported Allied nations, reinforcing its strategic importance in the global conflict. The economic boom spurred by wartime production laid the foundation for the U.S.’s emergence as a dominant postwar economic power.  

• Amerika Bomber
• Project Z
• Operation PX

• Cactus Air Force
• Devil's Brigade (1st Special Service Force)
• Eagle Squadron
• Flying Tigers
• Merrill's Marauders
• Office of Strategic Services
• Tuskegee Airmen

• Social aspects, administration and structure
• Allied war crimes during World War II
• Diplomatic history of World War II
• Equipment losses in World War II
• Ethnic minorities in the U.S. armed forces during World War II
• Foreign policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration
• Foreign policy of the United States
• Greatest Generation
• History of the United States
• List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
• Military history of the United States
• Nazi foreign policy debate
• United States and the Holocaust
• United States casualties of war
• United States home front during World War II
• United States war crimes
• World War II casualties
• US Naval Advance Bases
• Wallis and Futuna during the Second World War

• Smith, Gaddis. American Diplomacy During the Second World War, 1941-1945 (1965) online

• Geoffrey Perret. Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II (1997)

• Perret, Geoffrey. There's a War to Be Won: The United States Army in World War II (1997)

• Weigley, Russell. Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaigns of France and Germany, 1944–45 (1990)

• Sherrod, Robert Lee. History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II (1987)

• Morison, Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (2007)

• James D. Hornfischer (2025). 9780553806700, Bantam Books. . ISBN 9780553806700
• James D. Hornfischer (2025). 9780553803907, Bantam Books. . ISBN 9780553803907
• James D. Hornfischer (2025). 9780553381481, Bantam Books. ISBN 9780553381481
• Parshall, Jonathan and Anthony Tully. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway (2005).
• Spector, Ronald. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan (1985)
• Tillman, Barrett. Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942–1945 (2010).
• Tillman, Barrett. Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II (2005).

• Ambrose, Stephen. The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1999) excerpt and text search
• Beschloss, Michael R. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945 (2002) excerpt and text search
• Buell, Thomas B. Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King (1995).
• Buell, Thomas. The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond Spruance. (1974).
• Burns, James MacGregor. vol. 2: Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom 1940–1945 (1970), A major interpretive scholarly biography, emphasis on politics online at ACLS e-books
• Davis, Richard G. (1997). 9780160490712, USAF. . ISBN 9780160490712
• Larrabee, Eric. Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (2004), chapters on all the key American war leaders excerpt and text search
• James, D. Clayton. The Years of MacArthur 1941–1945 (1975), vol 2. of a standard scholarly biography
• Leary, William ed. We Shall Return! MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan, 1942–1945 (1988)
• Morison, Elting E. Turmoil and Tradition: A Study of the Life and Times of Henry L. Stimson (1960)
• Pogue, Forrest. George C. Marshall: Ordeal and Hope, 1939–1942 (1999); George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945 (1999); standard scholarly biography
• Potter, E. B. Bull Halsey (1985).
• Potter, E. B. Nimitz. (1976).
• Showalter, Dennis. Patton And Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century (2006), by a leading scholar; excerpt and text search
• David J. Ulbrich (2025). 9781591149033, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781591149033

• World War II, from USHistory.com.
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• Lend-Lease Act, 11 March 1941, US Congress. (from history.navy.mil)
• Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge . United States Army in World War II Series. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1965.