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Book Title

DOLOR SET AMET

LOREM IPSUM

CHAPTER 10∏

WORLD WAR II

The destruction, death, and cruelty against mankind during WWII was something we had never seen before. In this chapter, you’re going to read about the worst tragedy in human history.

IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL...

• Read about rise of totalitarian dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini

• Learn that the seeds for World War II were planted after WWI

• See that shifting powers around the world made it a dangerous place ripe for war yet again

CHAPTER 10,SECTION 1∏

As you read through this chapter, I’m going to do my best to highlight the key battles and events that shaped the outcome of the war. I will also try to make a distinction as to what part of the world I’m referring (in bold print) to so we can avoid confusion.

I guess it would be fitting to start with a disclaimer. This chapter, at times, may make you a little bit uncomfortable. The things you will learn here might disturb you. The more I study about World War II, the more I ask myself: how did this happen? Events like the Holocaust--innocent lives being unmercifully taken away because people were of a different race, burning babies alive in furnaces, suffocating elderly people in gas chambers...how could this happen? Or the Japanese--tying farmers to posts and shot them for target practice...while they were still alive!

Why? Who, in their right mind, would ever even consider doing any of that? Were these people crazy? Or were they brainwashed into believing that they were fighting for a higher cause? In this section, my hope is to paint you a picture of how this horrible war happened. But more importantly, I want you to see that evil exists. People always ask me: why do I need to learn history? My answer is simple: we learn it so we don’t repeat it. Take these lessons and apply them to your world, and ensure that society never does anything like this again.

Although the causes of this war are many, I’m going to try and condense them into a few different categories, including:

• The post-World War I settlement (The Treaty of Versailles)

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Causes of World War II

• Shifting world powers

• The Great Depression

• The rise of dictators, specifically Adolf Hitler

Let’s start with the first cause of the war: the Treaty of Versailles. The victors of World War I were divided on how they should keep the peace in Europe. One thing they did know, however, was that Germany should be punished. President Woodrow Wilson proposed the League of Nations as an international peacekeeping organization. In that charter, Article 10 provided a mandate for collective security. That means that if one nation was attacked, the rest would have to come to their defense. Obviously, those who were members of the League at the beginning of WWII would have been required to involve themselves in fighting even if they weren’t directly attacked.

Another thing that the Treaty of Versailles did was that it made Germany take responsibility for the war. Germany was required to:

• Pay war reparations to its former enemies; a total of $33 billion (The popular saying was to “squeeze [Germany] like a lemon until they didn’t have anything left to pay.”

• Lost territory to France, Poland, and Belgium

• Have their overseas colonies given to other countries.

• Restrict their army to 100,000 men

• Get rid of tanks, aircrafts, submarines, or heavy artillery

Obviously, you can tell that the punishment the Germans took at the end of WWI would anger them. That right there was the seed which was planted for the beginning of World War II.

The second cause of WWII were shifting powers around the world. In the beginning of the 20th century, countries like Great Britain and France were world superpowers. But after WWI, they suffered great losses. Their massive colonial empires broke apart because they could no longer financially keep their colonies abroad. This caused competition (and jealousy by the mother countries) amongst new nations to gain more influence around the world. Also, with the regression of old superpowers came the emergence of new ones. Countries like the United States and the Soviet Union replaced them. Plus, you had the evolution of new countries like Italy, Germany, and Japan who were incredibly ambitious; they wanted to expand their empires.

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A third cause that ramped up the world for war was the Great Depression. Many people believe that the Great Depression was just a problem for the United States. That assumption is false. The Great Depression was a global event. Numerous countries suffered because they were dependent on the wealth of the United States. When the Depression hit, American consumers stopped buying products from abroad. Consequently, countries around the world suffered from high unemployment. U.S. banks had also lent money to war-torn countries. And when the Depression started, banks began to demand their money back so they wouldn’t be forced to shut down. When they didn’t get their money, they went bankrupt. Trading also suffered amongst other nations. With that being said, protectionism flourished, which led to growing hatred between countries.

Because countries struggled so mightily during the Depression, they resorted to taking extreme measures to regain their prosperity. In places like Germany and Japan, strong nationalistic groups (i.e. the Nazis) gained power. People were magnetized to these groups because they promised to relieve the struggles they were having. And in many cases, this did happen. But it was at the expense of other people. Often times, countries would be overtaken and resources were essentially stolen.

Last, but most definitely not least, is the last cause: the rise of totalitarian dictators.

1. First among these men was Benito Mussolini (below). He rose to power after WWI during a time of political and social unrest. Mussolini was a member of the Fascist Party. They were made up of extremists, trade unionists, anarchists, and republicans (not like the U.S. political party). In order to gain power, Mussolini marched on Rome in 1922. When he confronted the king, he was basically invited to form a new government. The king did not want to put up a fight because he wanted to avoid a civil war. By 1925, Mussolini turned Italy into a dictatorship. Although the country flourished under his rule, Italy’s prosperity was deceptive. Mussolini treated his political

opponents harshly. And his rule was weakened by political corruption. His fascist cronies seized control of local and/or national government organizations, and ruled over them with an iron fist.

2.Japan fought on the side of the Allies (Great Britain, France, U.S.) during WWI. During the

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peace process, however, they felt mistreated by the European powers. They didn’t get the respect they felt they deserved. At the Versailles Conference, their delegates were angered when the European powers refused to recognize the concept of racial equality; Europe saw them as an inferior power. In the 1930s, Japan became an increasingly militaristic nation. New leaders in Japan believed that they should assert their authority over weaker nations. One reason why the military leaders believed this was because of their lack of natural resources. Japan, like most other countries, suffered during the Depression. When they started feeling the effects of their economic crisis, they looked toward China and other Eastern Asian colonies to get the resources they needed.

3. Russia suffered the most out of all the European powers after WWI (the lost more than half of their fighting forces due to death or injury). In 1917, the country collapsed to a communist revolution at the hands of Vladimir Lenin (left) from the Bolshevik Party. Toward the end of WWI, the Russians signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This treaty gave up a large amount of their land on both the southern and western borders of the country. Fighting ensued between the communist and anti-communist forces after this treaty. The communists won this civil war,

and renamed their country the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R., a.k.a. the Soviet Union). Lenin died in 1924 and Joseph Stalin (below) took his place as the ruler of the newly-founded Soviet Union. Stalin implemented huge agricultural and industrial reforms. Millions died due to famines and purges. People who were suspected enemies of the government were executed or sent to labor camps. Often times, the labor camps were located in the northern region of Siberia in eastern Russia. (The climate in Siberia is desolate and cold; survival there without the necessities is impossible.)

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4. In 1936, Spain underwent a rapid transformation. A left-wing popular front coalition (a mixture of different political parties) rebelled and came to power. The popular front came under the leadership of General Francisco Franco (above). Franco fought a civil war in Spain until 1939, leading the Nationalists against the Republicans. Franco had anti-communist sympathies, and had a lot in common with Hitler and Mussolini. During his quest to conquer Spain, Hitler and Mussolini sent

Franco a ton of military supplies and troops. The hope was that they would gain a new ally in Spain if Franco was victorious. Franco, though,

disappointed the European dictators by keeping his country out of World War II, despite offering them his best wishes. As a result, Franco was able to maintain his power and rule as a dictator until his death in 1975.

The biggest cause of World War II,

though, was the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Hitler came to power legally through strong persuasion and making promises. He tried to show the German people that he could restore them to their former glory by giving them the economic prosperity that they were lacking. During the 1920s, Germany fell on hard times. After WWI, they evolved into a democracy which they named the Weimar Republic. The new leaders of Germany were relatively inexperienced, and all the economic hardships they were facing were easily blamed on the new democratic government (by men like Hitler, among others). They suffered from massive inflation because they printed too much money to pay for their reparations. And when the Great Depression started to have a global impact, any and all of the recovery Germany was experiencing went out the

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window. So now, Germany was ripe for another change in leadership. Hitler first came to national attention in the 1920s. He was sent to Germany (from Austria--his home nation) as an undercover agent to join a right-wing nationalist group called the German Workers’ Party. After being there for a while, he grew to like the party and decided to stay in Germany. Within a couple years, he became their president and renamed them the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (the Nazis). The Nazis were founded in the idea of nationalism. They blamed the Jews and communists for Germany’s problems after World War I, and avowed to avenge their suffering from the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles.

As I previously stated, Germany had a slow recovery in the mid-1920s. But when the Depression hit, everything changed again. And it was the Great Depression that allowed Hitler to come to power. The Nazis received over 13.7 million votes in the 1932 election because he appealed to various sections of the German population. The people of Germany believed that he could protect them from a communist revolution and breathe life into a desolate economy.

Germany’s economy did recover when Hitler came to power. He was able to lower the unemployment rate and get people back to work. These initial steps in economic recovery created a bond with the German people that Hitler quickly took advantage of. Once he assumed the position of

chancellor, he turned his radical and racist ideas into unfair laws. The Nazis took control of everything--newspapers, radio broadcasts, education, the university system...you name it, they controlled it. The German people were bombarded with Nazi propaganda. One example of this propaganda occurred in schools for young children. Often times, when they said prayers they were told to say them to Hitler instead of God. And instead of playing “Cowboys and Indians,” they played “Jews and Aryans.” Those who opposed the Nazi regime were sent to concentration camps, which were essentially a death sentence (this is probably why people neglected to oppose Hitler during the Holocaust).

Most of the things that the Nazis did had underlying meanings. The autobahn, for example, looked as though it would be great for the transportation infrastructure in Germany. In reality, it was meant to move military supplies and troops to prepare for war. Hitler’s plan for territorial domination had to start somewhere, and he needed his military to be fully equipped and have access to transportation.

Hitler bragged that the Third Reich would last for thousands of years. In order for that to happen, Hitler brainwashed the youth of Germany into believing Nazi policies. In 1936, a law was passed which stated that the entire German youth population “must [therefore] be prepared for its future duties.” Boys received military and

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fitness skills in the Hitler Youth (pictured to the left) to prepare for fighting in the army. Girls became members of the League of German Maidens and were told they needed to have as many children as possible to provide soldiers for the Nazi army.

Edmund Burke once said that, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” As these events took shape, the world was inching closer and closer to war. Countries like Great Britain and the United States (the good guys) knew that they would have to fight. Men like Hitler had to be stopped. Evil couldn’t prevail.

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Hitler (right) with Mussolini on the left

Hitler Photo Gallery


• Understand why the U.S. was reluctant to become involved in World War II


The United States (pre-WWII)

During the 1930s, the United States had a strong isolationist mentality, and we were hesitant to involve ourselves in the war. There were a few reasons for this, including:

• The memory of World War I was very fresh in people’s minds. All of the death, the failure of the League of Nations, and political strife (i.e. the Great Depression) really put a damper on our desire to help the Allied Powers.

• There was a feeling that the European countries were not grateful towards what we had done to help in World War I. The Allies (Britain and France) had not even paid off their debts back to the U.S. yet.

• The American public also suffered from a perspective problem. The population didn’t understand how our interests were at stake in World War II. How could Germany hurt us by gaining just a little more land or power?

Basically, in the mid to late 1930s, Americans were just not interested in war. In 1937, there was a public poll in the U.S. which stated that 94% of Americans thought that we should not get involved in a European war under any circumstances. As a sign of good faith to Americans, Congress passed the Neutrality Act in 1937. The purpose of this law was to prevent a series of events that would build up to war. It stated that the U.S. could not trade war materials with any belligerent nations. The only things we would trade with them would be commercial items. Plus, those items that were traded would use the cash and carry

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Initial U.S. Policy

method. Countries needed to pay cash for their products and were required to carry goods on their own ships. This was done just in case they would attack our ships; we didn’t want to put our civilian lives on the line.

Roosevelt’s policy, however, did not reflect public opinion. Remember, he was a liberal internationalist--his mindset was very similar to the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. He believed what was going on in Asia and Europe was important and that we needed to get involved.

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• Learn how WWII began

• Recognize why the policy of appeasement towards Hitler was a mistake.


Europe (1939)

As with any war, there were specific events that led to the escalation of war. One of those incidents was German expansion policies in Europe. One of the Nazi goals was to restore German pride (honor) after World War I. In an effort to do this, they desired to expand their territories as well as make themselves “one” with each other.

In March of 1938, Germany annexed Austria. Roosevelt and other leaders condemned this act, but other than verbal assaults from world leaders, they did nothing to stop Hitler. So, Hitler kept going. There was a traditional piece of land in the western part of Czechoslovakia which Hitler demanded called the Sudetenland. This land was

filled with German speaking people, and Hitler said it should be a part of his empire. Leaders of Great Britain and France didn’t want Germany to have this land; but at the same time, they didn’t want to fight the Nazis either.

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The Beginning: 1939

Leaders at the Munich Conference (L to R: Chamberlain (Britain), Daladier (France), Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), and Ciano (Italy)

This sentiment led to the Munich Conference in the fall of 1938. Leaders at this meeting decided that Germany could have the Sudetenland if Germany promised not to take any more territory. Hitler promised that he would abide by the conference’s terms. This particular incident marks the high point of the appeasement policy toward Germany. An appeasement policy is when the belligerent aggressor is just given what they want in hopes that they will stop what they are doing. However silly it may seem, leaders in Europe thought that this might actually work.

But, they were wrong. Hitler’s seemingly forgiving attitude during the Munich Conference was a facade. In the spring of 1939, Germany attacked the rest of Czechoslovakia and took them over. Then in 1939, Hitler came to the realization that Poland should also be a part of Germany (or at least a large part of it). As a way to try and take this country, and eliminate a potential enemy, the Germans signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This was a mutual, non-aggression pact which stated that the Nazis and Russians wouldn’t fight each other if a war broke out. This agreement troubled the U.S., Britain, and France. It was obvious that Germany was trying to eliminate the Soviets as a threat so that they would only have to fight a one front war. At this point, France and Britain said that if Poland was attacked, they would respond militarily.

It wouldn’t take long before Britain and France had to follow up on their promise. The Nazis attacked Poland on

September 1, 1939, officially beginning World War II. The Germans attacked Poland under false pretenses. The Nazis claimed that the Poles had attacked their territory (which was completely false). A couple days later on September 3, the British and French declared war on Germany, but only provided the Poles with minimal help. Then, on September 17, the Soviets also invaded Poland. By September 27, they were defeated and the government in Warsaw (the Polish

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Polish infantry.

German Blitzkrieg on Poland

capital) surrendered. The Germans and Soviets split Poland up amongst themselves and gained new territory. World War II was now in full swing.

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• Read about the beginning of WWII and the difficult start for the Allies.


European Theater (1940)

The first full year of World War II was very difficult for Britain and France. By the summer of 1940, Germany had basically swept over France. They controlled large portions of central and western Europe. This left Great Britain as the last fence in western Europe, and by this time, Hitler was planning an aerial assault on London. If he successfully overtook Britain, he could extend his

plan for world domination across the Atlantic and attack the United States.

In April of 1940, Germany continued its quest for world dominance by attacking Denmark and Norway. Both countries fell within a couple of months despite Allied support. Shortly after the fall of these two countries, Great Britain became discontent with their leadership by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. So, they decided to replace him with Winston Churchill in early May.

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A Harsh Beginning: 1940-1941

This video dissects the life of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

After conquering Norway and Denmark, Hitler continued his quest for Europe by planning an attack on France. On May 10, 1940, Hitler instructed his military to attack the neutral nations of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Both Belgium and Luxembourg were quickly overrun by the Nazi blitzkrieg war tactic. The French believed that they

would naturally be protected by some of their natural barriers (i.e. the Ardennes Forest region), but they were mistaken. The German armored vehicles overmatched the landscape, and by June 22, France had surrendered to the Germans and Paris was under Nazi control (the Germans also had help from the Italians attacking from the south).

After the conquering of France, Hitler publicly offered to end the war, saying that he would not destroy the British Empire. Churchill, however, would have no part of Hitler’s arrogance. Lord Halifax, a British leader, put it best when he said, “there was in his speech [Hitler] no suggestion that peace must be based on justice, no word of recognition that other nations of Europe had any right to self determination.”

In other words, Britain was not going to back down to the Nazis. Hitler took the words of Lord Halifax almost as if it were a new-found declaration of war, and began a merciless air raid, which officially started the Battle of Britain. The German Luftwaffe had one goal: to conquer the Royal Air Force (RAF). They first began their campaign by bombing coastal regions of England (i.e. Portsmouth). After that, the Luftwaffe shifted its focus to RAF air fields and other important areas of the like. Eventually, they resorted to attacking areas of political importance along with civilian targets.

The British put up a very strong fight, and thankfully, they handed Hitler his first militaristic defeat in eight years. Hitler greatly underestimated the size of the Royal Air Force, and in the end, it cost him a significant amount of men and supplies.

Besides the defeat of Hitler, another significant outcome to this war was the fact that the U.S. remained safe from Nazi invasion. Had the Germans been successful in conquering Great Britain, the Nazis and Soviets would have had control of Europe. At this point, the U.S. was not prepared for war. We were still in the midst of the Great Depression, and we did not have a wartime mentality that would have enabled us to defeat the Nazi war machine. It’s scary to think about what might have happened if England hadn’t won the Battle of Britain...

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British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

The United States (1940-1941)

In America, President Roosevelt was slowly beginning to move the United States toward war. In 1940, F.D.R. ran for reelection. This was his third attempt at winning the presidency; no other candidate had ever run for more than two terms. But with the world in crisis, and the U.S. being threatened, it made sense that we have the same leadership. Roosevelt ran against Wendell Willkie. Shortly after the election campaign began, it became obvious that Willkie didn’t have an issue to run on. The New Deal was popular, Roosevelt was a tested leader, and he was trusted by most Americans. Consequently, Roosevelt won in a landslide.

When he was inaugurated in 1941, F.D.R. was more determined than ever to lead American support for new British leader Winston Churchill. So in 1942, he showed one of his first steps of support by signing the Lend-Lease Act. This law made it easier to lend support and supplies to the British. Now, America was legally allowed to give England war materials. We essentially became a weapons storehouse for Churchill. The U.S. made supplies, sent them over to England, and they would pay us back whenever they could (or if they could). By the spring/fall of 1941, we began to offer even more help to the British. Our ships were eventually carrying supplies to them; slowly but surely, we were involving ourselves in the war.

European Theater/Russia (1941)

In June of 1941, Hitler made a fatal mistake: he broke the Nazi-Soviet Pact and attacked the Russians in a campaign called Operation Barbarossa. With Germany doing this, a message was sent that Hitler was unstoppable; he could do anything he wanted to. The Soviets joined the Allies by default. They most certainly could not be allied with the Germans after they were attacked by them.

Winston Churchill’s famous speech in which he in-forms the world that they are about to begin fighting the Nazis.

Their Finest Hour

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Operation Barbarossa was (and still is) far and away the largest land invasion ever organized in history. It involved over four million Axis soldiers; 600,000 vehicles; and 750,000 horses. Hitler believed that Great Britain’s refusal to end the war in 1940 was due to the fact that they hoped the U.S. or Soviet Union would enter the war on their behalf to

defeat Germany. As a way to neutralize this potential threat, Hitler became paranoid and began organizing his attack on the Soviet Union. Hitler’s goal was to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power. He also wanted to create more Lebensraum (living space) for the Volksreich (German people).

On the morning of June 22, 1941 the Nazis began to attack the Soviets, despite concern from some of Hitler’s military advisors. It’s important to realize that when Hitler attacked the Russians, he created a conflict known as a two-front war. This means that the Nazis had to fight enemies on both the eastern and western portions of their empire. If the British had decided to organize a campaign to the west, the Germans would have to fight both the Soviets and the British, which would spread their men and resources very thin.

When the battle in the Soviet Union first began, the Germans were very successful. For weeks, the Nazis had been amassing soldiers on the Soviet border in what looked like a preparation for battle. Stalin, though, didn’t think that Hitler would break the treaty they had signed before the war had begun. Much to his chagrin, he was wrong. So when Hitler gave the go ahead, the Soviets were caught off guard. Within a few hours, they lost 2,000 planes at the hands of the German Luftwaffe.

By July 3, things were looking bleak for the Russians. Stalin himself even said that the Soviets were “entered into a life and death struggle with [our] most wicked enemy.” But, with words of encouragement and motivation, he called on

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Panzer units move through Pruzhaney in western Be-larus in June 1941.

Operation Barbarossa

everyone to mobilize themselves to fight for Mother Russia. And his citizens took those words to heart. They were galvanized to fight for their country, and it seemed that they would do whatever it took to defeat Hitler.

Throughout most of the summer and into the fall, the Nazis were obliterating the Russians. Despite having a military force of 10 million, the Soviets just simply could not keep the Germans away. But once winter began in early October, Mother Nature tamed the Nazi war machine. Hitler originally thought that it would take three months to conquer of the Soviet Union. So when winter came, his soldiers were unprepared for -20 to -30 degree temperatures. The soldiers’ thin leather boots were causing them to be exposed to extreme temperatures, and they suffered from frostbite. Unsure of what to do, the Nazis exhausted all of their resources in an attempt to survive. They ran out of fuel because they kept their tanks running overnight fearing that they might not start in the morning. They burned petrol just to stay warm, not realizing that when it ran out, it would be nearly impossible to get it through on the treacherous, winterized roads.

As the winter dragged on, the morale of the German troops declined drastically. These men were told that they were a part of a superior race; now, all of a sudden, the thought of defeat entered their minds. They were no longer invincible. At the same time, the Soviets began to feel the complete opposite. They were used to this kind of weather, and it

didn’t even seem to affect them. Plus, with the battle being dragged out longer than expected, the Soviets were able to catch up their production for war materials. Their factories were now producing equipment at a rapid pace. Plus, they began to receive support from the British and United States.

Up to this point, the Russians had been fighting a defensive war. But, as they began to see the Germans weaken, their desire for an offensive attack became greater. Finally, in December of 1941, the Russians launched their first counteroffensive led by General Georgi Zhukov. Hitler demanded that his men stay and fight, but they were forced to retreat. Despite losing nearly four million men over the last few months, the Russians were able to force the Germans back a little bit and astound Nazi leadership. Outraged at the retreat by his soldiers, Hitler appointed himself as commander of the entire military. Having never risen past the rank of corporal in the military, he was now running a war all by himself with very little experience.

**Interesting Note: Stalin kind of shot himself in the foot with the Soviets being unprepared for the invasion by Germany. Yes, you could say it was due to the fact that he was naive enough to think that the Germans wouldn’t attack despite soldiers being equipped on their border. But, if you remember in Section 1, I talked about the purges of military leaders and soldiers that Stalin implemented at the beginning of his reign. Many of Russia’s good leaders, soldiers, and

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pilots had been killed, leaving Stalin with inexperienced fighters and poor equipment to fight the Nazis. Woops!

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• Learn about the events leading up to the attack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.


The Pacific Theater/United States (1941)

Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was historically seen as a surprise, hindsight tells us that it may not have been as big a shock as we might think. There was a series of events that led up to this attack. Tension between the United States and Japan became thick in the 1930s and Japan was becoming one of the greatest powers in the world (they were basically the Nazis in

Asia). Because of these tensions, the U.S. saw Japan as a rival in Asia, and we developed an antagonistic opinion of them.

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Pearl Harbor

Wreckage of the U.S.S. Utah

Attack on Pearl Harbor

In 1931, the Japanese attacked Manchuria. Then in 1937 they invaded China, making their way slowly down the Pacific Rim. Other than the U.S. and British verbally condemning Japan, nothing else was happening to stop them. In 1940, Japan signed a military alliance with Germany and Italy. And in July 1941, Japan attacks Indochina (which later becomes the Vietnam area). At this point, Roosevelt decided that he needed to take a stand against the Japanese in Asia. The U.S. placed an embargo on Japan, and would not send them certain items through trade (i.e. scrap iron and oil, which were needed for war). Shortly after implementing this policy, the U.S. placed also placed an oil embargo on Japan. In order for them get the oil trade restored, they would have to withdraw from Indochina and give up the rest of the territory they had taken.

Japan said they’d get out of Indochina, but they refused to give up Manchuria. During the fall of 1941, the Japanese planned an attack on the Americans. We were a threat to them militarily with our navy in the Pacific. In order to squelch that threat, they needed to confront us with force. So on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked our naval military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Around 7:02 in the morning, Private Joseph Lockhard saw something big approaching the island of Oahu on radar. At this time, radar was a newer piece of technology, and its reliability was not as good as it is now. When Lockhard

reported this to his superior officer, he was told to ignore it and move on. Then, everything changed at 7:55. The first wave of Japanese bombers reached the island. General Isoruku Yamamoto picked the right time to attack. On a Sunday morning, most men were either still sleeping, eating, or weren’t even on their posts. When the first wave of

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This clip shows the tragedy at Pearl Harbor in color. In the background, you hear F.D.R. giving his speech to Congress asking for a declaration of war against Japan.

Pearl Harbor

bombers arrived, the men were ill-prepared to defend the island.

The Japanese had rehearsed this attack for years. When they practiced it in Japan, they wanted to do so with a high accuracy rate to ensure the greatest amount of destruction imaginable. And when it was all said and done, the enemy was successful. We lost somewhere around 2,000 soldiers, with another 1,200 who were wounded. In addition, the American fleet was severely damaged; nearly 200 planes had been destroyed along with six battleships, three cruisers, and three destroyers. Following this enormous defeat, Congress declared war on Japan the following day. Just a couple days later, Hitler declared war on the United States because they vowed to protect Japan. We were now officially at war with the Axis Powers.

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• Learn about the events in the Pacific Theater in 1942-1943

• Understand how the Battle of Midway was the turning point for the Allies in the Pacific


The Pacific (1942)

The American military took a huge hit during the attack of Pearl Harbor. Most of our navy was destroyed on that fateful day, so it took a while for our country to recover. No major battles occurred in the winter of 1941, but the following May, there were significant battles in the Pacific.

The first of these fights came at the Battle of the

Coral Sea, which occurred from May 4-8, 1942. After attacking the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces continued to move southward to establish more dominance in the Pacific. The hope was that they could get their bombers close enough to Australia to launch an aerial assault. When the U.S. and Japanese engaged in battle, it became the first ever battle between two carrier fleets fought entirely in the air.

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The First Couple Years: 1942

U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Lexington explodes on 8 May 1942, several hours after being damaged by a Japanese carrier air attack. (at the Battle of the Coral Sea)

Tactically speaking, this battle ended up being a draw. Some say it might have been a Japanese victory in terms of men and materials lost. They didn’t win a total victory, though, because the Japanese advance in the Pacific had been

momentarily halted. Had they been successful, the Japanese would have been able to conquer New Guinea, and then they would have had the ability to attack Australia. Thankfully, though, the battle resulted in a strategic victory for the U.S. We put up a very strong fight, and the Japanese military abandoned their plan to attack New Guinea. From this point forward, we would slowly push the Japanese expansion upward back toward their borders.

Following the Battle of the Coral Sea, it was clear that the Japanese were going to try and attack the Americans again to avenge their loss. The Japanese also wanted to attack the U.S. because they had just recently bombed Tokyo (the capital city of Japan). With that being said, the Battle of Midway had a ton of lasting implications, and it proved to be the turning point battle in the Pacific for the Allies and the United States.

The Battle of Midway was interesting because the United States ambushed the Japanese through intelligence deception. Up to this point in the war, U.S. intelligence (along with the British) had been trying to decipher the Japanese secret communications’ code named JN-25. Come April/May 1942, intelligence sources had done a pretty good job at figuring out exactly what the code meant, except for one element: location AF. After intercepting numerous Japanese messages, it became clear to the U.S. and her allies that this location was going to be an important point of attack in the future. But the Allies had no idea where it was.

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U.S. Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers from the USS Hornet about to attack the burning Japa-nese cruiser Mikuma for the third time on 6 June 1942

Battle of Midway

Some of the higher up people in the government believed that this “location AF” was the Aleutians; others thought that it was Midway Island. But, as previously mentioned, there was no way to know which island(s) it was....until Officer Jasper Holmes came up with a deceiving plan.

One thing you need to know about Midway Island is that it has no clean drinking water. Everything is salt water. In order to make sure the soldiers had something to drink, they needed to have desalinization machines on the island to purify the water. So, knowing this, Holmes requested that the base commander at Midway send a message to Pearl Harbor saying that the water plant (desalinization machines) had broken down and that the soldiers were getting low on clean drinking water. The Midway commander sent this message in plain English, knowing that the Japanese would intercept it and understand it clearly.

Shortly thereafter, an encoded JN-25 was intercepted saying that “location AF” had water problems, and that the attack at this island should proceed accordingly. Now the Americans knew that “AF” was in fact Midway Island, and they could plan to battle the Japanese there with the upper hand. Pretty cool, huh?

The Battle of Midway itself was a decisive victory for the Americans. The Japanese lost four aircraft carriers and over 300 planes, compared to just one aircraft carrier and 125 planes for the Americans. The Japanese would be unable to replace their planes and carriers. Americans dented the

Japanese navy to the point of no return, and they struggled mightily to recover from the losses during this battle.

The United States (1942)

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans became paranoid with the Japanese. People believed that Japanese-Americans may be a threat to the United

States. As this hysteria reached a peak, President Roosevelt decided to issue Executive Order (EO) 9066 to resolve this problem. This EO declared parts of the United States as “war zones” and enabled the government to deport Japanese Americans to internment camps around the country.

(My opinion here...) This is probably one of the most embarrassing things that the United States has done that people don’t know about. When we deported Japanese-

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Americans to these camps, it wasn’t just people who might be spies. They were children, the elderly, and others who didn’t even pose a threat to national security. Our actions here were repulsive, and the only reason FDR did these things was to alleviate the paranoia that Americans felt toward Japanese Americans.

Japan (1942)

In April of 1942, the Americans decided that it was time to get revenge for the attack on Pearl Harbor. You might be thinking, “Uhh, isn’t that what we were doing by declaring war in the first place?” Well, sort of. You see, when Japan attacked us, it was literally on our home turf (at this point, Hawaii was a U.S. territory). The battles we had fought against the Japanese were on islands in the Pacific that had no significant direct connections to America. The Dolittle Raid changed that. This attack would be the first that the United States launched on the Japanese home islands (specifically the island of Honshu).

Up to this point in the war, the Japanese thought they were invincible. But after the attack on their home islands, the attitude of the people began to shift. They began to wonder if what they were being told by their leaders was true, and all of a sudden, doubt crept into their minds.

The raid itself was pretty minimal in damage. The targets that American bombers hit were either non-military, or they missed their intended areas completely. But the biggest

success in this battle was an American morale boost. Not only did we damage the psyche of the Japanese, but we had finally avenged the losses of Pearl Harbor by hitting the Japanese where it hurt.

North Africa (1942)

The fight against the Japanese toward the beginning of the war was much easier for the Americans. We had a clear cut task, and an obvious enemy. In Europe and North Africa, the story was a little bit different. Although we knew that the Nazis were our opponent, our tasks were a bit more unclear. The initial idea was to attack France and take out the Germans there. If we did that, we’d be able to open up a western front in France and then could attack the Germans from there. The problem with opening up this front would be having to perform an invasion across the English Channel into France.

After careful consideration, the invasion across the English Channel was rejected by the Allied commanders. So, they decided to open up a second front through Northern Africa. The whole reason for creating this front was to relieve pressure on the Russians. After they were attacked by the Nazis, the Soviets were essentially on their own to defend their land. And as you read in the previous section, the Nazis were very successful in the first phase of their attack on Russia. Opening up this second front would allow the British and Americans to get into Russia and prevent the conquering of Stalingrad. The task would very difficult. But

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Stalin was basically begging the U.S. for help. If he didn’t get it soon, Hitler’s empire and influence would be unmatched.

One of those battles in which the Allies had some good fortune was the Battle of El Alamein. The German focus in North Africa was to get through Egypt and cut off the Suez Canal from Allied use. By disabling the Allies use of the canal, the Germans would also be able to advance through Egypt and conquer the Middle East. Now, if you know anything about geography and natural resources, you’d know that the Germans were after one thing in the Middle East: oil. Oil, as you know, is used for gasoline and a variety of other resources necessary for war.

The British and Americans needed to stop this from happening. After about 26 days of fighting (June 1-27), the Battle of El Alamein ended up in a stalemate. But a vital goal was accomplished: the British and the Americans stopped the Germans from advancing through Egypt. And by May of 1943, the war for North Africa was all but over. The Germans were forced out of Africa up into Sicily and then into Italy.

Even by opening up a second front through southern Europe, Stalin and the Soviets were not happy with the Americans. He felt that they were not doing enough to help them. Stalin believed that the Allies were intentionally leaving the Soviets out so that they would be weakened by the Germans.

The Pacific/Solomon Islands (1942)

In August of 1942, the Allies had some deep concerns in the Pacific. Despite a loss at Midway, there was concern that Japan could still attack New Zealand and Australia from the island of Guadalcanal. If they got this island, they would be also be able to disrupt Allied supply lines between Australia and the United States.

The fighting for Guadalcanal began on August 8. General MacArthur was finally ready to go on the offensive in the Pacific Theater, knowing that the Japanese would put up a ferocious defense against American troops. Surprisingly, the Americans came onshore with very little resistance. They

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Afrika Korps tank hunters at the Battle of El Alamein

captured an airfield, which was of great significance because they would need to get supplies throughout the rest of the battle (they renamed it Henderson Field).

Throughout the course of the next couple of months (August-November), the Japanese made numerous attempts to recapture Henderson Field. But the Allies put up a great

defense. Ultimately, they were able to keep the field by using every possible resource they had. Eventually, the Japanese made one last attempt to get Henderson Field by conducting a massive naval battle in November 1942. The hope here was that they could bombard the land from the ocean, and then after softening up the American front lines, they could send their troops ashore to overtake the airfield.

By December, the Japanese had basically given up hope on the island, and the Battle of Guadalcanal went in the win column for the Americans. This victory was significant for a couple reasons.

1. The Americans prevented another advance by the Japanese in the Pacific, and an attack on mainland Australia was (at least for now) significantly hindered.

2. This loss for the Japanese was the end of their dominance in the Pacific. The Americans had gone from fighting a defensive war to an offensive one.

After victories at Midway and Guadalcanal, the Americans formulated a strategy for the Pacific campaign called island

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November 1942—United States Marines rest in the field during the Guadalcanal campaign

Guadalcanal Campaign

Douglas MacArthur

hopping. Beginning in the spring of 1943, the Allies decided that they were going to “hop” from one island to another in

the Pacific, hoping to push the Japanese back to their home islands. There would be two “thrusts” that would eventually push the Japanese back to their main islands. General Douglas MacArthur came up through the Philippines from the south, and Admiral Chester Nimitz (left) attacked through the central Pacific.

The first major victory for the Americans after implementing the island

hopping strategy came at Tarawa. This was a very important victory, and by late 1943, we were on the verge of pushing the Japanese back to the Pacific. The momentum of the war had now shifted toward the Americans, and it only seemed like a matter of time until the war was over.

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• Read about conferences that had a major impact on the outcome of the war


Africa (1943)

In the midst of the military campaigns in Africa and Europe, there were two important diplomatic conferences that had significant impact on the end of the war. The Casablanca Conference was held in Morocco in January 1943 while we were engaged in North Africa. During this meeting, Churchill and Roosevelt reached an agreement that popularly became known as

unconditional surrender. Both leaders formally declared that they would accept nothing less than total surrender from both the Nazis and Japan. Declaring unconditional surrender also made an important statement to the Soviet Union: the Allies were on their side until the very end. As previously stated, the Soviets were worried that the British and U.S. might make a pact with Germany and pull

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Conferences of 1943

FDR (left) and Winston Churchill (right) at the Casablanca Conference.

out of the war early. This conference, then, made it perfectly clear that the Allies (specifically the U.S.) were “in it to win it.”

Iran (1943)

By May of 1943, the Americans were cleared out of North Africa. At this time, we could not open up another front, so we decided to pursue the German army into Italy. In

1943, the U.S. and British forces invaded Sicily and moved up the Italian peninsula. It took nearly half a year to get halfway up Italy, but it was important that we showed the Russians that we were going to try and take out the Nazis.

At the end of 1943, the Allies took part in another meeting called the Teheran Conference. At this point, it was safe to say that the tide of the war had turned in favor of the Allies.

Stalingrad has been fought and won for the Allies, and in the Pacific, Midway was conquered along with other islands.

The conference at Teheran was important for two reasons: it was the first time that the “big three” leaders (Stalin, Churchill, and F.D.R.) had been present together at a meeting; second, all three leaders discussed what the post-war world should look like for the first time. They talked about what would happen with Germany after the war, along with how a new map would look like. Would Poland’s borders be the same? Should Germany have territory taken away?

FDR also brought up the possibility of coming up with another international organization: the United Nations (a.k.a. the UN). These post-war questions were raised at Teheran, but no important decisions were made. At this point, the war was still only halfway over (even though they didn’t know that at the time), and there were tons of differing opinions on how these questions should be answered.

One thing that did get some traction at Teheran, though, was a post-war framework called the four policeman. FDR suggested to Churchill and Stalin that after the war, there would be four great powers. These countries (the U.S., Soviet Union, Great Britain, and China), in his eyes, could create stability and peace through out the world. This idea got a lot of press coverage, but the idea was not viable. The primary reason why it wasn’t treaty seriously was because none of these four countries were equal in strength. FDR,

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Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill at Teheran

though, wasn’t necessarily trying to keep the peace as much as he was trying to prevent the Cold War. He saw that a struggle for world prominence was over the horizon. So, he wanted to try and infuse power and involve other countries in that process to avoid a Cold War. Unfortunately, that would never happen.

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• Learn about the significance of the D-Day battle at Normandy

• Read about the Battle of the Bulge, which was Hitler’s last stand.

• Comprehend the events the events at Leyte Gulf

• Understand the events surrounding FDR’s fourth election


France (1944)

In the beginning of 1944, serious plans were being made for a cross channel invasion into France. Then, on June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded Normandy under the command of General Eisenhower. There were five beach heads focused in the northern stretch of France that were attacked. Operation Overlord (also known as D-Day) was, and still is, the biggest amphibious operation in history. The Allied invasion of Europe had officially begun.

Hitler knew that the Allies were coming for

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1944

U.S. Army troops wade ashore on Omaha Beach on the morning of 6 June 1944.

D-Day Photo Gallery

Europe. But the location of that invasion was uncertain. Hitler and most of his high command believed that the invasion would take place at Calais, which was a major port (and was also only 20 miles away from the English coast). Beginning in 1943-1944, Hitler instructed his military to Calais to fortify it for an invasion.

But on June 6, the Allies sent 5,000 ships and 154,000 men to France to try and overtake the beaches of Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno, and Gold (all code-names) at Normandy. It was now, for the first time, that Hitler realized he was wrong as to the location of where the Allies would invade Europe.

Beginning in the late night and early morning of June 5-6, the Allies tried to soften the beaches for a land invasion by dropping over 5,000 tons of bombs on the coast of Normandy. There were also 12,000 paratroopers who landed in the middle of the night as well. Their job was to secure local villages and bridges to prevent the Germans from flanking the Americans. Hundreds of them were shot down before they even landed, and many more were forced to bail out at sea. Others landed in the wrong spot (remember it was the middle of the night) and were miles away from their intended targets. Those who did land in the right spot were welcomed with open arms by the locals. Their liberation had finally arrived.

The initial attack on the beaches began around 5:30a.m. on June 6. Although the beaches at Normandy were not as well-defended as those in Calais, they were still formidable.

General Erwin Rommel (the same general who had led the Afrika Korps against the Allies) was now in command at Normandy. In addition to the artillery, machine guns, mines, and barbed wire already in place, Rommel ordered new obstacles be put in the way of the Allies when they landed. So, the Germans placed explosive mines in the water which would be hidden by the high tide as the soldiers began to land. (**Interesting Note--Rommel was one of the few German commanders who had thought that the Allies would attack at Normandy, not Calais. He requested that tanks be diverted to Normandy, but was overruled. Sure glad that happened...)

Intense doesn’t even really describe the fighting that took place on the beaches. But I guess it’s the best word I can come up with. Nonetheless, the Germans were amazed at the Allied attack. Seven battleships were bombarding the Germans from miles out to sea with massive naval guns. As a whole, there were over 130

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ships bearing down on the Germans. Even more surprising to the Germans was the amount of men who were coming on land. Wave after wave of them arrived by the boatload, and within a week, over one million men would come into Europe through the beaches at Normandy.

The first half of the day was the worst, which was when the most casualties occurred. The Allied landing boats were susceptible to machine gun and artillery fire despite having rocket-firing motorboats behind them. Hundreds of soldiers were killed before even getting out of the water. Those who did make it still had a large task in front of them. They still had to avoid mines, barbed wire, and other floating obstacles in the water and on land. And if they survived that, they had to get in a defensive position with the Germans firing at them on wide-open, unprotected sand.

Utah Beach was conquered with relative ease. Only 197 men were killed out of the 23,000 that were sent onshore. But the story at Omaha Beach was the complete opposite. The German defenses survived the initial Allied attack from the sea. And when the Allies began to attack as they came closer to shore, they did so too early. Men were disembarking in water that was too deep. Their equipment was too heavy, causing many of them to drown. When the surviving men reached land, they were completely disoriented and terrified. Dead bodies surrounded them at every angle, and those who were drowned started washing onshore with the high tide.

Thankfully, Colonel George Taylor was able to get the troops organized and ready them for the task that lie ahead. He said to the men that, “Two kinds of people are staying on this beach--the dead and those who are about to die. Now, let’s get...out of here!”

Eventually, Omaha Beach was captured, despite over 4,000 casualties. The landings at the other three beaches (Gold, Juno, and Sword) were taken with relative ease. Less than 3,000 men were lost at those three beaches combined, which was significantly less than the 10,000 losses predicted by both Eisenhower and Winston Churchill.

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Colonel George Taylor, from Flat Rock, Illinois

Within a week, over one million troops were on the beaches at Normandy to prepare to overtake Europe. Victory, at this point, was almost assured because of the numbers the Allies had, as well as the force they had in France. By the end of the summer, Paris was liberated. And it September/October, the German army was pushed out of France and Belgium into their own territory.

Belgium/Germany (1944-1945)

By December 1944, the U.S. was at the German border. Suffice it to say that Hitler was becoming a bit anxious by how close the Americans were to ending his reign in Europe. So he launched a counteroffensive against the Allies in southern Belgium which came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler’s last stand against the Allies before they got to Germany. After the first 10 days of fighting, the Germans had the advantage. Using 250,00 men and more than 1,000 tanks, the Nazis swept through U.S. forces through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium in an attempt to reach the port of Antwerp. If the Germans could reach this port, they could divide the Allied lines, causing panic and confusion for the Americans.

The Germans pushed back the lines (or, put a “bulge” in them), but the Allied front did not break. The Germans got as far as the town of Bastogne before they were beaten by

the Americans. Over the next couple of weeks, the dent in the American front began to flatten out.

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American soldiers of the 117th Infantry Regiment, Tennessee National Guard, part of the 30th Infantry Division, move past a destroyed Ameri-can M5 "Stuart" tank on their march to recapture the town of St. Vith dur-ing the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945.

Battle of the Bulge

When the Battle of the Bulge failed, the Germans were quickly running out of options. The Allied line moved more quickly across the German border into the western part of the nation. The Soviet army pushed Germany into Poland. So the Nazis were now basically being squeezed into the center of Germany from both the east and the west by the Soviets and United States.

Once the Americans halted the Germans, Hitler returned to Germany and took up residence in a bunker. The Allies were inching closer to taking Berlin, and Hitler was cowering away from the fight instead of taking it head on. He spoke to the German people on January 30, 1945 for the last time. Hitler encouraged his men to fight to the end against the Russians and Americans (ironically, this was 12 years to the day that he was appointed as chancellor). He also instructed his military to implement a scorched earth policy to punish the people of Germany who had betrayed him. It was clear, now, that Hitler didn’t care about the German people anymore...he was losing his mind.

By March and April of 1945, the Americans and Soviets were closing in on Berlin. On March 7, 8,000 Allied troops broke into Germany across the Rhine River from the west. On April 21, the Soviets broke through and made their way into Berlin. At this point, most Germans (including Hitler) were living in cellars and bunkers to avoid the constant bombardment by the Allied forces. Food and water became scarce. Electricity and gas supplies were cut off and destroyed. By April 21, 500,000 Soviet troops surrounded the city of Berlin.

While all this was happening, Hitler was living in denial. He still believed that the Germans could win the war. And when Franklin Roosevelt suddenly died on April 12, 1945, he stated that the moment had finally come for a “turn in the fortunes of war.” He told the German troops that “countless

This clip reveals the Battle of the Bulge in color. From the History Channel’s “World War II in HD” series.

Battle of the Bulge

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new units [were] replacing our losses” when in fact there weren’t any new troops at all!

As the Red Army (the nickname for the Russian army) continued to march through Berlin, German troops were deserting their posts by the thousands. News of this reached German SS chief Heinrich Himmler, and he too decided that surrender was eminent. Hitler heard of this and became incensed. In his bunker, he announced that “Nothing now remains! Nothing is spared me! There is no bitterness, no betrayal that has been heaped upon me.” Wishing not to see his beloved empire fall, Hitler committed suicide on April 29, 1945. His body, along with his wife Eva Braun, were burned in the garden of the Reichschancellery (where Hitler’s bunker was located). About a week later, the government of Berlin formally surrendered on May 7, 1945. The following day, May 8, was celebrated around the world as V.E. Day (Victory in Europe). The war in Europe was now officially over.

Pacific Theater (1944)

The U.S. still had business to tend to in the Pacific. Through 1944, the Allies were led by Generals MacArthur and Nimitz through the southern Pacific. In October 1944, there was a major naval battle off the coast of the Philippines in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This was a total victory for U.S. forces. We destroyed Japan’s navy, and at this point, we were getting closer to Japan. But there were still a couple stepping stone islands in the way: Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

Back home, the war was heavy on the hearts of many Americans. Regardless of the fighting, the business of the government still had to carry on, and we needed to elect a president. FDR, who had run for three straight terms, argued that he needed to continue on as president. Changing things may alter the course of the war

in a way that we might not like. That message resonated with Americans, and Roosevelt defeated Thomas Dewey.

**Interesting Note: FDR chose Harry Truman to run with him as vice president in this election. Because of F.D.R.’s old age, many thought he wouldn’t finish his term. And in fact, after just a few weeks following his fourth inauguration, Roosevelt died and Truman finished his fourth term.

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• Learn about the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences

• Read about the death of President Roosevelt and the beginning of Truman’s presidency

• Comprehend the events surrounding the use of the atomic bombs

• Understand the ending of the war and the toll it took on the world.


Ukraine (1945)

In February 1945, a feeble President Roosevelt traveled to the Yalta Conference. Of all the major meetings between the Allied leaders during WWII, the Yalta Conference was probably the most significant. It was here where the most important decisions about the war were made. Plus, the seeds for the Cold War can be seen in the decisions made at Yalta.

While we figured that we’d win the war in the Pacific, we didn’t know how long it would take. An invasion in Japan could be very expensive and take a long time. Roosevelt wanted financial and militaristic support from the Soviets in the Pacific. But at this time, it was unclear if he would receive it.

The decisions made at Yalta were significant, and included:

• All sides agreed that there would be an international peacekeeping organization (the United Nations)

• The Allies agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation. Each power would have a zone to supervise after the war.

• The old capital of Berlin would also be divided into four zones. The divisions were to be temporary.

• The boundaries of Poland were shifted west. Its size remained mostly the same, and the Soviet Union picked up a little bit of territory.

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The End (1945)

• The landscape of Eastern Europe would change. Countries here (i.e. Romania, Bulgaria, etc...) were supposed to become economically and politically independent after the war. But the Soviet Union refused to give them up because they wanted to use those countries as a buffer zone between the motherland and Western Europe. They also wanted to

establish communist satellite governments in Eastern Europe to expand their empire.

Another bit of controversy surrounded the Yalta Conference. President Roosevelt was extremely ill during this meeting. At the time, many considered him too old and weak; some even argued that Stalin pushed him around.

Unfortunately for Roosevelt, Yalta would be last major meeting that he would participate in during his lifetime. Less than two months after returning, the president died of a brain hemorrhage on April 12, 1945. Harry Truman now became president, and his initial goal was simple: finish off the war.

The Pacific Theater: Okinawa and Iwo Jima (1945)

By April 1945, the war was all but over in Europe. But in Asia, the days dragged on. In order for the Americans to be victorious in the Pacific, they first needed to take the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted a little over a month from February 19-March 26 of 1945.

The Americans wanted to conquer the entire island of Iwo Jima from the outset. If they won the battle, they would have three airfields which they could use to launch a mainland invasion on Japan. As the battle began, the purpose of the battle became somewhat controversial. Significant casualties were incurred on both sides, and people began to wonder if the Americans could have used a

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Watch this video to learn about one of the worst bat-tles in the Pacific Theater during WWII.

Battle of Iwo Jima

smaller island to accomplish the same goals of attacking Japan.

Despite the controversy surrounding the battle, the Americans were successful in taking Iwo Jima. Even though the U.S. suffered heavy losses, the Americans basically had the battle won at the outset. They had more troops and weaponry than the Japanese, allowing them to just simply overwhelm their enemy. (**Interesting Note: This was the only battle in the Pacific Theater where the American casualty total was greater than the Japanese.)

The Battle of Okinawa followed Iwo Jima. For 82 days in April-June, the Americans fought the Japanese for control of this island.

Okinawa was important because it was going to be used to launch a mainland invasion of Japan. The Americans planned on using Okinawa for airbase operations to bomb Japan. Knowing what the Allies were planning, the Japanese fought extremely hard against the U.S. during this battle.

An estimated 12,000 troops died, and another 35,000 were wounded at Okinawa. Some 90,000 Japanese troops died, with many more wounded. These statistics illustrate just how fierce the fighting was between both sides. (**Interesting Note--The kamikaze missions were becoming popular during this time. Japanese fighter pilots would fly a plane into a ship in order to blow it up and create a ton of destruction. By the summer of 1945, 37 American ships had been sunk due to kamikaze missions. This was a desperate example of what the Japanese would do to win the war.)

Germany/U.S.A. (1945)

In July 1945, the last diplomatic conference of the war was held in Germany. The Potsdam Conference was significant because it was the first time that Truman met with Stalin and Churchill. At this conference, Stalin reaffirmed to Truman that he would help invade Japan if necessary. But,

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This picture with Marines raising the U.S. flag immortalized the Battle of Iwo Jima,

most important of all, the Allies learned that we had tested and detonated an atomic bomb.

After returning to the U.S. in 1945, Truman learns that plans to make the bomb were implemented. The Manhattan Project was in full swing, and the Japanese were warned to surrender. Pamphlets were dropped around Japan warning people to evacuate. But they didn’t listen. On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay carried the first atomic bomb and dropped it on the city of Hiroshima. An initial 35,000 people died instantly with the blast, and a total of 75,000 died after the radioactive fallout had taken full effect. After that, the Japanese refused to surrender again, and three days later on

The crew of the Enola Gay. This crew dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

Atomic Bomb Photo Gallery

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Churchill, Truman, and Stalin at Potsdam

August 9, we dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Similar casualty figures were seen here, and the devastation was horrid. And after this bomb was dropped, the Japanese began to negotiate surrender. On September 2, 1945, an agreement was signed to stop the war in the Pacific. The war was officially over.

There is a huge controversy to this day surrounding the use of the atomic bombs. Truman and his defenders say the reason he dropped the bomb was to end the war as quickly

as possible and to save American lives. There were estimates from the U.S. defense department saying that if we invaded Japan, a minimum of 200,000 American lives would be lost. Truman also said that this would ultimately save Japanese lives as well.

On the negative side, people argued that the bomb did not discriminate on the amount of lives lost. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed when the bombs were dropped. For all intents and purposes, a lot of people had a moral problem with a government using a weapon like this to wipe out civilians. There was also the problem relating to the Japanese government. Japan wasn’t a democracy. Their government was not elected by the people, so many Japanese citizens didn’t agree with their government or the war to begin with. And when we attacked them with the atomic bombs, we were basically punishing them for something they didn’t even want in the first place.

By the fall of 1945, the war was finished. A couple of conclusions can be drawn from this war. The first was obvious: the casualty statistics were staggering. They are as follows:

• United States: 300,000

• Soviet Union: 8 million

• Germany: 4 million

• Japan: 1.3 million

An informative video about the detonation of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Atomic Bombs Dropped in Japan

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• Another estimated 11 million people during the Holocaust, 6 million of which were Jews.

The reason why historians believe the Allies won World War II was the strength of the U.S. economy. We overwhelmed the enemies with ships, tanks, and planes. At many locations, we just had too much stuff, and that helped dramatically.

As a result of World War II, the global balance of power changed. There were only two major powers left in the world: the United States and the Soviet Union. The stage was set for a confrontation between a capitalist U.S.A. and a communist, totalitarian Soviet Union. In the next chapter, you’ll read about a showdown between two superpowers that shaped the latter half of the 20th century.

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• Learn about Hitler’s plan to wipe out the Jews (the Final Solution)

CHAPTER 10SECTION 10∏

Hitler’s hatred for Jews began long before the Holocaust even began. When he wrote his book Mein Kampf prior to WWI, Hitler described this epiphany that he came across saying, “I suddenly encountered a phenomenon in a long kaftan and wearing black side-locks. My first thought was: is this a Jew? They certainly did not have this appearance in Linz [Hitler’s home town]. I watched the man stealthily and cautiously, but the longer I gazed at this strange countenance and examined it section by section, the more the question shaped itself in my brain: is this man a German? I turned to books for help in removing my doubts. For the first time in my life, I bought myself some anti-semitic pamphlets for a few pence.” Since that point in time, Hitler became obsessed with wiping out the entire Jewish population in Europe. In certain cases, he was successful in wiping out entire families and villages. Thankfully, he did not kill all Jews in Europe. But, after the Holocaust was over, 11 million people were killed, including the mentally and physically disable, gypsies, and those who opposed the government. Six million were Jews. This story about one man’s hatred for a race of people is one of the most atrocious in history. Let’s start from the beginning...

When Hitler first came to power, it wasn’t immediately evident that he wanted to create an Aryan race. But those close to him knew about his racist ideals. Shortly after being appointed chancellor, he began implementing policies to discriminate against Jews. Nazi storm troopers began to enforce boycotts of Jewish shops. Then, in 1935, Hitler passed the Nuremberg Laws. Jews were now considered non-citizens and couldn’t be German. You were considered a Jew if you had at

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The Holocaust

least one Jewish grandparent (Hitler was making it sound like being Jewish was genetic, not a choice of lifestyle or faith). Jews and Aryans (non-Jews) were forbidden to marry. Those who were married were forced to separate.

Now, at this point in time, the extermination of Jews was still on the back burner. The Nazis initial aim to get rid of

the Jews was to make life miserable for them in Germany. And it worked. People began to get so frustrated that one boy, 17-year-old Hersschel Grynszpan, killed a member of the German embassy staff in Poland. This murder gave the Nazis their first excuse to kill Jews in an event which became known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).

Organized by the Nazi party, Kristallnacht was supposed to be a “spontaneous” demonstration. On that night, 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, 267 synagogues were set on fire, and 91 Jews were killed by gangs of Nazis. In addition, the Nazis ensured that special things were to be burned as well, including piles of books and Torah scrolls, which contained sacred Jewish scriptures. To make matters worse, after the Nazis destroyed all of these Jewish landmarks, people were forced into paying a one-billion Deutschmark fine to compensate for von Rath’s death. Jewish shopkeepers were also told that they had to pay for the damage done to their buildings. Unbelievable...

In the days and weeks that followed Kristallnacht, the systematic extermination of Jews continued. In 1933, 25,000 Jews were sent to the first concentration camp in Dachau. Then Hitler escalated his racist policies by banning Jews from holding their jobs as doctors, lawyers, or accountants; forbade them to have drivers licenses or owning guns, and punished them from entering public places like parks or movie theaters.

A woman on a death march. She’s about to be exe-cuted.

Holocaust Picture Gallery

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Then, in January of 1942, Hitler requested that a group of high ranking Nazi officials meet to discuss a top secret plan at the Wannsee Conference. The agenda was the Final Solution. Hitler wanted this “Jewish question” to be answered once and for all. Hitler’s deputy, Hermann Goering, was to pass on this information to the men present at the meeting. Chairing the meeting was a man named Reinhard Heydrich. Hitler himself knew how cruel Heydrich could be, telling his officials to be careful because he was “ruthless.”

When these men gathered, they couldn’t claim ignorance. Anyone in their right mind knew the atrocities they were conspiring to commit. Nonetheless, the Final Solution was to remain a state secret. Yet, those involved knew that it couldn’t possibly remain as such. The extermination of millions of people would involved thousands of soldiers, doctors, and government officials. Some officials, like Adolf Eichmann, relished in the idea of exterminating the Jews. The anti-semitic attitude that existed in Germany for awhile now was coming full-circle. Obviously, not everyone hated Jews. But for those who did, this was (in their eyes) an opportunity of a lifetime.

Prior to 1942, the Nazis had been systematically murdering Jews in Poland and the Soviet Union. After a while, though, the method of using bullets to kill Jews became...boring? (at least to executioners) So, SS leader Heinrich Himmler decided that it might be wise to come up

with other ways of slaughtering Jews (besides stripping them naked, shooting them in the back of the head, and then tossing them in mass graves). In December 1941, the first gas chamber was used to exterminate a crowd of Jews in Chelmno (a Polish village). Except, this gas chamber was a little bit different. The Jews in Chelmno were placed in vans, and the exhaust fumes were pumped back into the car, causing the people inside to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. When it was realized that killing with poison gas was so successful, the killings escalated to a horrific, unprecedented level.

Another part of the Holocaust that needs to be discussed was the use of the ghettos and concentration/death camps. These two aspects are probably the most recognizable and

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Warsaw ghetto burning with Jews marching

infamous characteristics that most people have heard of. Ghettos were places in a city where Jewish people were held captive (literally, fenced in) and forced to live under miserable conditions. The purpose of ghettos was two fold. One reason ghettos existed was to isolate Jews from their communities, as well as non-Jewish (Aryan) ones. The second reason that the Nazis created ghettos was to give them time to figure out how to kill them. Most ghettos (at least 1,000 existed) were established in German occupied areas, including Poland and the Soviet Union. After the Final Solution was implemented, life in a ghetto was short-lived for a prisoner. Often times, the ghettos were liquidated and its “residents” were shot and put into mass graves. Or, they would be shipped off to a death or concentration camp to either work or be killed.

Life in a ghetto was deplorable. Let’s take the most popular ghetto (Warsaw--in Poland) as an example. In Warsaw, 30% of the city’s population was forced to live in 2.4% of the city’s area. That ended up equaling roughly 7 people per room. Jews were not allowed out of the ghetto. If they needed food or other supplies, they had to smuggle them in. And, of course, if they were caught doing that it was grounds for death. When Jews were fed, though, it was probably worse than being in prison today. They were only given a ration of 253 calories per person for the whole day. That all being said, it’s pretty evident that starvation was common. There was also very little sanitation in the ghettos. In the

Lodz Ghetto, 95% of the apartments had no sanitation, piped water, or sewers. Thousands died from disease and hunger.

With so many Jews in ghettos, the Nazis had to do something with the ones that they decided not to kill. Often times, they would be sent to one of two places: concentration camps or extermination camps. Most people think that these

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Map from Wikipedia, courtesy of Dennis Nilsson

two places are the same, but that’s simply not true. Extermination (or death) camps were built by the Nazis as places strictly for the mass murdering of Jews. People were murdered through gas chambers, starvation, or through extreme working conditions. The most infamous of these camps was in Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is located in Poland. An estimated 1 million people were killed there. Other death camps included: Belzec, Chelmno, Jasenovac, Majdanek, Maly Trostenets, Sobibor, and Treblinka (see map on previous page).

Concentration camps were a little bit different than the death camps, but were still awful in their own right. Similar to ghettos, concentration camps were originally founded as places of incarceration (prison). But, concentration camps were not founded as death centers (even though the mortality rate of people there hovered around 50%). It’s estimated that the Germans established 15,000 camps throughout most of eastern Europe, and were in areas with large Jewish, Polish, communist, or Roma populations. When prisoners were transported to these camps, they were often times crammed into rail freight cars for days at a time. These trains didn’t stop. There were no bathrooms or food provided. If you had to go to the bathroom, often times there was a corner designated for that. And the dead bodies were just piled together somewhere else.

The Nazis were also notorious for their human experimentation for “medical” purposes. The most notorious of these physicians was a man named Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele was fascinated with children, and did the majority of his experiments at Auschwitz. He was known for putting his subject in pressure chambers, testing drugs on them, attempting to change eye color by injecting chemicals in children’s eyes, and performing amputations along with other various surgeries. Vera Alexander, a Jewish inmate at Auschwitz who was asked to look after 50 sets of Romani twins, recalls this:

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Map from Wikipedia, courtesy of Dennis Nilsson

“I remember one set of twins in particular: Guido and Ina, aged about four. One day, Mengele took them away. When they returned, they were in a terrible state: they had been sewn together, back to back, like Siamese twins. Their wounds were infected and oozing pus. They screamed day and night. Then their parents—I remember the mother's name was Stella—managed to get some morphine and they killed the children in order to end their suffering.” (from Wikipedia; originally from a book by Michael Berenbaum published in 2005)

It’s almost impossible to fathom the things that Mengele did. And the ruthlessness that Hitler had for other people is something we should hope we never see again. I started this chapter with a quote by Edmund Burke that I want to revisit. Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” As Americans, we live in a country with more freedom and liberty than anywhere else in the world. It’s hard to imagine anything like this ever happening here. And thankfully, we’ve never seen killing like this in the U.S. on such a grand scale.

But it did happen in Europe, and people all around the continent knew what was happening. People always ask me, “how come nobody tried to stop Hitler?” And my answer is one word: fear. Anyone who opposed the Nazis would have the same fate as a Jew: death. Now, there are heroic stories of women like Miep Gies (who hid Anne Frank’s family) who tried to rescue Jews. But those stories are trumped by

the silence of the millions of other people who did nothing to stop Hitler.

So why quote Burke again? My question to you is this: are you a Miep Gies, or are you one of the silent ones? If this happened in our country, would you stand up for what is right, or would you sit by and let it happen? My hope is that you learn the lessons from our past, and you strive to be like those who stood up for what was right, instead of sitting idly by while the world around you falls apart.

**The following statistics are from Lucy Dawidowicz. They show the extermination of Jewish populations throughout Europe. The first number, listed on the left, is the number of estimated Jews prior to the beginning of the war. The number to the right is those who were killed. The third number is the percentage of people who were killed out of the total pre-war Jewish population.

• Poland: 3.3 million, 3 million, 90% killed

• Baltic countries: 253,000; 228,000, 90% killed

• Germany & Austria: 240,000; 210,000, 90% killed

• Bohemia & Moravia: 90,000; 80,000, 89% killed

• Slovakia: 90,000; 75,000; 83% killed

• Greece: 70,000; 54,000; 77% killed

• Netherlands: 140,000; 105,000; 75% killed

• Hungary: 650,000; 450,000; 70% killed

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• Byelorussian SSR: 375,000; 245,000; 65% killed

• Ukranian SSR: 1.5 million, 900,000, 60% killed

• Belgium: 65,000; 40,000; 60% killed

• Yugoslavia: 43,000; 26,000; 60% killed

• Romania: 600,000; 300,000; 50% killed

• Norway: 2,173; 890; 41% killed

• France: 350,000; 90,000; 26% killed

• Bulgaria: 64,000; 14,000; 22%

• Italy: 40,000; 8,000; 20% killed

• Luxembourg: 5,000; 1,000; 20% killed

• Russian SFSR: 975,000; 107,000; 11% killed

• Denmark: 8,000; 52; less than 1% killed

In total, there were an estimated 8.861 million Jews in Europe prior to the start of World War II. Hitler was responsible for the murders of 5.933 million of them, roughly two-thirds of that total population.

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