World War II: The Entire History

By Neil Jensen

World War II is often seen as the most brutal conflict the world has ever seen. Never did so many people die because of war in such a brief period. Because the people of today owe their very existence to the people of the past, this book is dedicated to those who fought and died for our freedom.

This story begins with the rise of Hitler to chancellor in Germany and ends on 9 August 1945, the day the second atomic bomb fell on the Japanese city of Nagasaki and the Imperial Japanese forces had no other option but to surrender to the Allies.

World War II – The Entire History, gives an excellent overview of the most important battles, decisive moments and individuals that have determined the course of war.

“It is unfortunate but true that war is indiscriminate and in World War II the lines of sacrifice were obliterated with civilians suffering and dying in greater numbers than those in uniform. Tipping the scale in this tragic equation was the virulent hatred that fueled the actions of the aggressors, including acts of carnage against the innocence so repugnant that men’s concepts of cruelty and inhumanity shall forever be altered. Those left alive, many too young to understand the wise and wherefores of the nightmare they have endured, will bear scars both physical and emotional for the rest of their lives."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Neil Jensen
• Release date: Nov 17, 2018

Book preview

World War II

The Entire History

By Neil Jensen

Copyright © Neil Jensen 2018

All Rights are retained and reserved by the publisher Neil Jensen

Neil Jensen has asserted the right to be identified as the author of this e-book

Table of Contents

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Preface

World War II is often seen as the most brutal conflict the world has ever seen. Never did so many people die because of war in such a brief period. Because the people of today owe their very existence to the people of the past, this book is dedicated to those who fought and died for our freedom.

This story begins with the rise of Hitler to chancellor in Germany and ends on 9 August 1945, the day the second atomic bomb fell on the Japanese city of Nagasaki and the Imperial Japanese forces had no other option but to surrender to the Allies.

World War II – The Entire History, gives an excellent overview of the most important battles, decisive moments and individuals that have determined the course of war.

"It is unfortunate but true that war is indiscriminate and in World War II the lines of sacrifice were obliterated with civilians suffering and dying in greater numbers than those in uniform. Tipping the scale in this tragic equation was the virulent hatred that fueled the actions of the aggressors, including acts of carnage against the innocence so repugnant that men’s concepts of cruelty and inhumanity shall forever be altered. Those left alive, many too young to understand the wise and wherefores of the nightmare they have endured, will bear scars both physical and emotional for the rest of their lives.

Peace. The final shot has been fired and the final rifle laid down and the vanquished has delivered onto the victor that which is his. Those who lived through it can never be as they were. Too much has been given away both in body and spirit. Those who follow will be unable to escape its touch if for no other reason than that our understanding of human conduct, both righteous and malevolent, has been irrevocably changed. And what are the questions raised by the war? It is perhaps better left to historians to argue the fine points. For the moment, all that is certain is that there was an armed conflict that engulfed the world. That fifty million people lost their lives in the course of that struggle and that, at its end, the world was a safer and better place than when it began.

As the people of the world heave a collective sigh and turn their backs on World War II, as they prepare to rebuild their homes and lives, there is a sense that they stand at a portal in history, purged on the dividing line between one age of mankind and another. With that sense comes an exhilaration, a rush of excitement at being alive, a singular human experience. For those who stepped out of the darkness to stand squinting into the sunrise it seems certain that, despite all that has passed before and all that is sure to follow, there has never been a moment in time such as there was as the world welcomed the dawn of this new day."

Part 1

Hitler’s New Germany

30 January 1933, Berlin. President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, the leader of the National Social German Workers Party, to the position of chancellor. Hitler and the Nazi’s, as the national socialists are known, have risen to power on a platform of extreme nationalism and anticommunism, coupled with common street thug violence to silence their critics. They have succeeded largely because Germany, historically one of the world’s most powerful vibrant nations, is now largely a basket case. The worldwide economic depression has had magnified effects here because of the severe reparations forced on the German people at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended that war, led to hyperinflation and rampant unemployment. The effects of the treaty got far beyond the destruction of the German economy however. It prohibits Germany from having a strong army, bans their air force and reduces their navy to a mere shadow of the navies of other European powers.

Many Germans, unreconciled with the surrender in 1919, believe that Germany should still be the dominant power in Europe and cannot accept her subjugation to the hands of the Western Allies. Particularly galling is the humiliation of Germany by France, a long-time rival. This underlying dissatisfaction, coupled with the ineffectiveness of the current government, has created a ripe environment for the growth of ultra-nationalistic groups, bent on the destruction of Weimar Germany and the resurrection of German dominance. It is to this sentiment that Adolf Hitler is appealed. He and his followers, who began as little more than a rabble of beer hall theorists and grouses, have become the most potent political force in Germany. They have risen from the ashes of a failed coup in 1923, the so-called Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler served nine months in jail during which time he wrote a political autobiography: Mein Kampf. That screed outlines his political, social, and racial vision and is the self-described destiny of Germany and her people.

Out of jail, Hitler sought power in Germany in a seemingly legal manner. Amid the chaos enveloping the nation, the Nazi’s ability to enforce order by violence if necessary, won them the support of the military and the leaders of German industry. This support gave Hitler the legitimacy he so craved and coupled with the intimidation of his opponents, has propelled him to the chancellorship. Once in power, Hitler moves to solidify his position. On 30 June he ruthlessly eliminates all potential rivals. Within the party itself, he orders the execution of the leaders of the SA, the paramilitary group that helped him solidify his power. On 2 August 1934, President Von Hindenburg dies. Hitler declares himself Führer and Chancellor. He solidifies his position by getting the military to swear personal allegiance to him alone. In March 1935, Hitler institutes compulsory military service and re-establishes the German air force in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. The Western Allies, responsible for the enforcement of the Versailles provisions, do nothing. In March, Hitler issues the Nuremberg Decrees, greatly increasing the discrimination and prosecution of Germany’s large Jewish population. Again, the world’s reaction is muted. Emboldened, Hitler takes an even larger gamble. In March 1936, against the advice of his own generals, he sends German troops back into the Rhineland, a region historically a part of Germany that has been demilitarized as a buffer zone with France. The British and the French briefly protest the move but take no action. It is for Hitler an enormous triumph. In this single stroke he establishes his supremacy over his generals, rallies the German masses behind him, and most importantly, cows the Western Allies.

Hitler’s progressively more oppressive domestic policies coupled with his rebuilding of the German military and disregard for the Treaty of Versailles, have many in the West watching him with a wary eye. But inside Germany, he is adored. To the German people he is a hero. He has brought them from the depths of depression and subjugation to their rightful place as a dominant player in the affairs of Europe. Now Germany under the Nazis can no longer be ignored.

Chamberlain: Hitler is man of peace

February 1938, Berlin. Bolstered by his earlier foreign policy successes and impressed with his ever-increasing military power, Adolf Hitler is now setting his sights on expanding his Reich. Hitler’s Germany, Hitler has decided, should include all the German speaking people in Europe. Austria is the first country he covets for his greater German Reich. Hitler is thinking however, beyond the common ancestor and culture. Austria’s abundant iron and timber reserves are vital to the continued growth of the Nazis’ military machine. Strategically, Austria will give Hitler a land bridge, connecting him and his ally to the south, Italian dictator Mussolini, who has finally dropped his objections to Germany’s annexation of Austria.

In his efforts to get the Austrians to submit, Hitler uses many of the same tactics he used in his own rise to power. He arms pro-Nazi fractions within Austria, promoting civil unrest and political discord. Hitler then puts intense pressure on the Austrian chancellor Von Schuschnigg to allow the Germans to roll into his country unopposed. With German troops massed on the border, Schuschnigg resigns and on 11 March, Nazi Minister of the Interior Arthur Seyss-Inquart takes over as chancellor. His first act is to invite the German army into Austria. By noon of the 12th, Nazi stormtroopers are marching through the streets of Vienna. The Germans are greeted with great enthusiasm by the Austrian people, who have come to think of themselves as Germans. The streets are lined with cheering crowds, Nazi-banners, and Heil Hitlers fill the air.

The Austrian excitement is soon tempered by the brutal reality of life under the Nazi regime. Just as they have been in Germany, Austria’s Jews, communists and other so-called undesirables, become easy targets for Hitler’s minions. They disappear in large numbers to concentration camps in Germany. Once again, as in his remilitarization of the Rhineland, Hitler’s gamble pays off. The British and French protest the annexation but take no further action against him. Hitler offers repeated reassurances that his territorial ambitions have been fulfilled and that the sacrifice of Austria will guarantee peace for Europe. Even as he does this however, he is focusing his attention on Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland. The Sudetenland, on Czechoslovakia’s western border with Germany, is mainly populated by Germans. Here the Czechs have constructed an extremely well-fortified defensive line that Hitler has no wish to confront. So once again, he uses racial and bullying tactics to achieve his goal.

In mid-September, Hitler informs British Prime Minister Chamberlain. He intends to secure self-determination for the Sudeten Germans and stop what he says is ‘Czech mistreatment of the German minority’. Chamberlain, whose only priority appears to be avoiding war, convinces French Premier Eduard Daladier to go along with Hitler’s plan to annex the Sudetenland. With pressure amounting from all sides to give in to the Germans, the Prague government agrees to Hitler’s demands. Chamberlain informs the Führer of this. Hitler in return ups the ante. He now insists that some 8,000,000 Czechs relocate for the convenience of 250,000 Sudeten Germans. He also insists that they leave behind all their military and agricultural goods. Chamberlain is irate and refuses the demands. It seems that war is now inevitable. The Czechs begin to mobilize and the British fleet goes to a wartime standing.

On 19 March, Chamberlain and Daladier fly to Munich to meet with Hitler and Mussolini to try to reach a last-minute agreement and avert a war. Without a representative of the Czech government present, Chamberlain and Daladier once again give in to Hitler, believing anything is better than war. Chamberlain returns to jubilant crowds in England, declaring that the Munich Agreement means ‘Peace for our time’. While the majority of the English are thrilled that a war has been avoided, there are those who warn that appeasing Hitler is an unwise and dangerous practice. Chief among them are First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and former foreign secretary Anthony Eden. Stopping him now, they argue, will be far less costly than waiting until his military might has grown, and that giving in will only prove to Hitler that the West lacks the will to confront him.

Japan invades China

18 September 1931, Manchuria. The Japanese army, without the approval of its own government in Tokyo, pours into the northern Chinese province after the Japanese-owned railroad is sabotaged near the city of Mukden. Chinese resistance is light and disorganized. By early 1932, the Japanese are firmly in control of the province. The lack of Chinese resistance is in large part due to the bitter civil war engulfing the country. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalist forces are battling the rebelled communists led by Mao Zedong. The generalissimo is more concerned with fighting Mao than facing the Japanese forces in the North.

In February, the Japanese declare Manchuria independent and install the puppet state Manchukuo. The League of Nations condemns the move but is too weak and fractured to do anything about it. Chiang continues to direct the majority of his forces against the communists despite continued border skirmishes with the Japanese, until 7 July 1937, when Japanese forces, claiming they have been assaulted, launch an all-out offensive on Peking. Fierce battles take place, but by the 28th the enemies are in control of the ancient Chinese capital. On 13 August, Japanese land, air, and naval forces launch an assault on the vital, coastal city of Shanghai, throwing 200,000 troops against the city. The Chinese resist fiercely for nearly 3 months until 8 November, when the Japanese wrested them from their control.

Advancing inland, the Rising Sun forces quickly conquer nearby Suzhou and Hangzhou at the south. They drive up the Yangtze River toward the provincial capital Nanking. As the enemy draws near, Chiang moves the capital east to Chongqing. The Japanese air forces viciously bomb the civilian sectors of Nanking. Their army routs the undertrained, outgunned Chinese defenders. The fall of the city on 13 December sparks a wave of atrocities by the victorious Japanese. Troops rape thousands of Chinese women and force thousands more into sexual slavery. Some 40,000 Chinese civilians are tortured and killed. Women and children are buried alive. The world is outraged and condemns this Rape of Nanking. Throughout 1938 the Japanese advance continues. They drive south towards the Yellow River. In central China they drive inland up the Yangtze as far as Hankou, which they occupy on 25 October.

Although their forces are advancing with relative ease, they seldom win a decisive victory. The Chinese virtually melt away before them only to reappear as guerrilla units. By the end of 1939, Japanese leaders are beginning to realize that a quick victory will not be possible. They decide to stop their advance, offer Chiang peace terms and reap the economic rewards of the areas already under their control. Chiang flatly refuses all offers of peace. The Japanese react by enforcing a strict air and naval blockade, denying the Chinese’s badly needed supplies. Chiang, meanwhile, is condemned to sit. He is carefully watching the outside world and believes the Japanese aggression and the events in Europe will soon catapult the world into war. With that war, Chiang believes, will come the Allies he so desperately needs and a chance to truly combat the Japanese occupiers.

Hitler and Stalin deal

23 August 1939. After months of secret negotiations, the world is stunned, as Germany and Russia announce they have signed a treaty of nonaggression. The former archenemies agree not to attack one another or to support any third party that might attack the other. Although the animosity and distrust between the two still remain, Hitler and Stalin both see real advantages for themselves in the unlikely pact. For Hitler, it is the key to Poland. Having pushed Britain and France to their limit in Czechoslovakia, Hitler fears that an invasion of Poland will bring both of them into the war in Poland’s defense. This agreement assures him of the domination of Europe by avoiding Germany’s faith in World War I of a two front war. If he has to get in bed with the communists to do so, it is a small price to pay. Ensuring Russia’s neutrality in such a war would mean he could concentrate all of his newly acquired military might on Western Europe. With Britain and France under his boot it would be easy to turn his forces loose on the Bolsheviks.

Stalin, left out of the negotiations over the fate of Austria and Czechoslovakia, believes that the West is conspiring against him. The Russian dictator sees the pact with Hitler as assurance he will not have to face a united Britain, France and Germany. Though he does not trust Hitler and believes he will have to confront him eventually, he hopes this pact will buy him the time he needs to build up his armies. The leaders of the Western democracies, who would always imagine that Russia would serve as a kind of insurance policy against the Nazis, are left facing Hitler’s ever-increasing armies alone. They know they risk total defeat by declaring war in the defense of Poland, but their naive attitude about the wisdom of appeasing Hitler has faded. They believe that, with the strokes of their pens, Hitler and Stalin have signed away any hope for peace in Europe.

Hitler unleashes Blitzkrieg

1 September 1939. In the predawn hours the tenuous peace that has settled over Europe since 1919 is shattered, as German forces smash across the Polish border. The attack is in response to a supposed Polish raid into Germany. That incursion, near the town of Gleiwitz, was in fact staged by Nazi agents in Polish Army uniforms. Hitler feigns outrage and launches what is certainly the biggest counterattack in history: 53 divisions in all.

Poland is a plumb ripe for the picking. As the Polish Army is settled in the West, it is trapped between two massive German pincers to its north and south. The Polish Army, while imposing on paper, in reality stands no real chance against the German onslaught. The speed with which the German forces slice through the Polish defenses is astounding. German armored Panzer divisions smash through the Polish lines on all fronts. Close behind the tanks come armored infantry units. They exploit the massive holes the Panzers have punched in the Polish lines. Once in the rear, the Panthers fan out creating havoc, disrupting communications, and striking Polish forces from all directions. The Luftwaffe pounds the roads and railroads making reinforcement impossible.

On 2 September, Hitler is jubilant. His armies are well ahead of schedule and equally important and somewhat surprising, Britain and France have not yet honored their commitment to come to Poland’s defense. This is crucial, the Germans know, because their border with France is guarded by only ten divisions. A rapid response by France would meet essentially no resistance. On 3 September, Hitler’s war turns into a world war. At 9:00 am, the British issue an ultimatum giving the Germans until 11:00 am to begin pulling out of Poland or face war with the West. Hitler ridicules the demand and orders his forces to continue their advance.

Everywhere there are signs of the complete destruction of the Polish military. Smashed guns, dead men and horses, thousands of bewildered prisoners. On the 17th, the reeling Poles get a knife in the back. Russian premier Joseph Stalin, wanting to get his share in the spoils of Poland, sends his Red Army forces pouring across Poland’s undefended eastern border. By the 19th, Polish resistance is unorganized and sporadic. Units who stand their ground and fight are surrounded and decimated. Those who try to withdraw and regroup face elimination by the murderously effective Luftwaffe.

Desperation turns into panic as the Poles realize there is nothing the Western powers can do to protect them from the bloodthirsty dictators. By September 27th, Warsaw is forced to surrender. The Polish government in exile is formed in Paris. Western leaders, who declined to stop Hitler when he was weak, now must face the reality of Nazi-strength. It is too late for Poland. Now they must be concerned with the day they themselves will inevitably have to face the Nazi onslaught.

Hitler invades France

6 September 1939, Berlin. Hitler and the German high command are elated. In six days their Blitzkrieg tactics have sealed the fate of Poland and all but destroyed its armies. They are now free to begin moving divisions out of Poland and back to their dangerously undefended border with France. The Germans had gambled that the Western Allies would be slow to mobilize and indecisive about retaliating for the invasion of Poland. Their gamble seems to be paying off. The French, who, if they acted would have a virtually unopposed march into Germany’s industrial heartland, have inexplicably reacted only by asking the British Air Force to refrain from bombing German positions. So the French Army sits in its 500,000,000 dollar defensive position known as the Maginot Line, nervously staring across the border as the German forces increase.

The Germans, who made Blitzkrieg a household word as they streaked across Poland, have invented a new phrase for the French strategy: Sitzkrieg. The uneasy peace that results is surely temporary. While there is little visible activity at the front, in Berlin there are major changes in the longstanding plan for the invasion of France. The original plan called for the German armies to pour through Belgium, as they had in 1914. But General Fritz von Manstein puts forward a daring new plan. He calls for a diversionary attack in Belgium to be followed by the main German thrust through the heavily-wooded Ardennes, south of the French-Belgian border. Von Manstein believed that Allied armies rushing north to meet the initial threat can be cut off by the main German force and isolated.

On 10 May 1940, the plan goes into effect. Army Group B, under the command of General von Bock, plunges into Belgium and Holland. Allied troops flood north to meet the thrust. Their leaders fail to recognize the fact that the Luftwaffe, which had been so successful in cutting off reinforcements in Poland, makes little attempt to impede the progress of the British and French armor units. Meanwhile, General Gerd von Rundstedt’s Army Group A, consisting almost entirely of armor and mechanized infantry units, sweeps into the Ardennes. By the 12th, Army Group A has reached the Meuse near Dinant in the north and Sedan in the South. Believing the Germans will need five or six days to concentrate their forces for a river crossing, the French fail to recognize the grave threat to their flank. On the 13th, 1,000 Luftwaffe planes strike the French 2nd Army opposite Sedan. The diving Stukas strike terror among the French defenders who abandon their artillery positions for their trenches. With the cessation of French fire, General Hein Guderian’s mechanized infantry forces easily ford the Meuse and establish a bridgehead. On the 20th, a mere ten days from the start of the campaign, Guderian’s forces reach the English Channel at Abbeville.

The German plan has worked brilliantly. The Allied armies in the north are now surrounded on three sides with their backs to the sea at the French port of Dunkirk. With Guderian driving up the coast from the south and Army Group B pushing from the north and east, the destruction of the British Expeditionary Force and the French and Belgian units with them seems to be but of a matter of days. The English people, hearing of their armies trapped, mobilize in a last effort to save their men on the coast of France. On 1 June, a desperate flotilla of every available ship, from the largest liner to the smallest fishing boat, begins the dangerous trip across the Channel. With the RAF providing what cover they can, the ships come in as close as possible under heavy German fire. For three days, the boats cross and recross the Channel until 3 June, when all British and some French and Belgian soldiers have been rescued.

RAF frustrates Germans

13 July 1940. With most of continental Europe in his pocket, Adolf Hitler now turns his attention to Operation Sea Lion, the pending invasion of England. He issues a directive, ordering Hermann Goring’s Luftwaffe to drive the RAF from the skies, establishing the air supremacy that would be necessary for a large-scale crossing of the English Channel. Throughout July, the Luftwaffe concentrates its attacks on British shipping in the Channel. Though the attacks are destructive, there is no concerted effort to gain air superiority. On 13 August, Goring’s forces begin their all-out offensive to crush the Royal Air Force. Calling it the day of the eagle, the Germans send their bombers, escorted by Me-109’s and Me-110’s, to strike British industry and port facilities. On the first day, they fly over 1,500 sorties. The attacks continue day after day. Goring throws everything he has at the British. While the Luftwaffe does inflict enormous damage, the RAF is far from being driven from the skies. Day in and day out they get the better of Goring’s supposedly superior pilots.

The RAF has several distinct advantages over the Luftwaffe. First, they are over their own territory. Fuel reserves are nearly a concern to them. However, to the German pilots flying from the continent they are. British pilots who were shot down parachute to safety and, in many instances, are back up fighting the same afternoon, while Germans end up in POW camps. Another factor working in the RAF’s favor is their use of radar. They can see the German air fleet forming up over France and direct their forces accordingly. While the Germans understand the technical aspects of the radar system, they have yet to grasp the enormous tactical advance it should give the British. Goring personally removes British radar sites from the German target list. As the attacks continue, the British people rally behind their protectors in the RAF. On 20 August, Prime minister Churchill comments that: ‘Never in the course of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few’. Indeed, it seems the brave pilots of the RAF are doing what no one has done to date: stopping Hitler. The German attacks however, are taking their toll. Many of the British airfields are knocked out of competition and by 31 August, the RAF’s situation is critical. On 7 September, British authorities issue an invasion warning to its citizens. On the same day, the Germans, not knowing how close they are to bringing the RAF to its knees, change tactics. Instead of continuing to target airfields, the Germans decide to start bombing London and other major civilian populations. Night and day the Germans pound the cities causing enormous damage. But instead of breaking the will of people, it solidifies them. By mid-September, the RAF is recovered and is contesting the Germans fiercely. In Berlin, Hitler realizes that with winter coming on and Goring far from achieving his promised goal of air superiority, any plan for an invasion of Britain will have to wait. On 17 September, he postpones Operation Sea Lion. The Führer’s plans to invade and conquer, for the first time, have been thwarted.

America builds military

The Unites States has been, in the months leading up to Hitler’s aggression in Europe, content in its role as sleeping giant. Mired for more than a decade in a great depression, America is only now returning to a sort of normalcy. The public has no desire to get involved in the European conflict and is paying even less attention to Japanese aggression in Asia. But on 1 September 1939, the armies and air forces of Nazi-Germany sweep into Poland. Hitler’s Blitzkrieg is a wakeup call to the world and though most Americans still consider Nazis a European issue, President Roosevelt decides that the time has come for America to prepare for war.

On 5 September, two days after Britain and France declare war on Germany, Roosevelt declares a limited national emergency. He extends American naval patrols into the waters of the Caribbean and the seas around the Philippine archipelago. Ostensibly merely an enforcement of American neutrality, in fact, the added American patrols free British ships for duty closer to the front. In November, Congress, pressured by the Roosevelt Administration, grants the president the power to sell American military hardware to foreign powers on a cash and carry basis. Overnight, Great Britain becomes America’s largest customer buying 95% of America’s aircraft exports and 90% of its munitions and explosives. Roosevelt also begins a domestic program of increased production with an eye toward war. He calls for an increase in the production of aircraft to 50,000 a year. That number is so outlandish that Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, claims that Roosevelt is bluffing. The Führer even takes time from his busy schedule to pronounce FDR mentally ill. Across the full range of military hardware the factories’ output skyrockets. Production of fighter aircraft doubles in less than a year. The number of Garand-rifles, the mainstay of the infantry, rises more than 300%. Production of tanks, which would be key in any attempt to stop Hitler’s fast-moving armor columns, jumps an incredible 1300% in a single year.

This action by Roosevelt is not without political risk. 1940 is an election year and Roosevelt is running for an unprecedented third term. Opinion polling are young and inexact science shows that even after the invasion of Poland, barely 7% of American population believes it is wise for the Unites States to get involved in a war. Obvious to the president however, is the tide of conflict currently rising all around the Unites States. There seems, in the president’s view, little chance that the Unites States will be able to remain in peace while the rest of the world slips into war. In addition, Congress has moved slowly into agreement with the president. By mid-1940, Congress approves the money necessary to build 200 warships, enough to put fleets in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Finally, on 16 September 1940, Congress approves the Burk-Wadsworth Bill, the first peacetime draft in American history. Whether the public is willing to pay that price for what is still seen as a foreign conflict remains to be seen. The eventual tenor of public opinion will, in large measure, be decided by the aggressors. Their actions alone will prove whether Roosevelt’s build-up is necessary or an overreaction.

Tensions rise in Pacific

14 July 1940. For decades, a dispute has simmered between the Unites States and Japan in the Pacific. The Japanese see themselves as a superior race divinely preordained to dominate East-Asia. The Unites States, which holds as territories the islands of Hawaii and the Philippines, believes that Asia under Japanese dominance will be as closed to foreign trade as Japan historically has been.

Now, a new government is forming in Japan. The cabinet is made up of militant nationalists, interested primarily in conquest. Within weeks the cabinet sets its foreign policy goals: victory in China; expansion of the Japanese Empire southward; and a rolling back of American influence in the region. On 27 September, Japan signs what is called the tripartite pact with Nazi-Germany and Italy. The pact requires no direct assistance to Hitler’s aggression in Europe, but the Japanese hope that the threat of global war will intimidate the Unites States. What the pact does in fact, is contribute to an anti-Japan backlash in the Unites States. President Roosevelt extends loans to China so that it might more effectively fight the Japanese invaders and he makes no secret of his willingness to fight to protect American interests in the Philippines.

At the same time, in their quest for expansion the Japanese attempt to extort strategic minerals from the Dutch-East-Indies. If the East-Indies don’t pay tribute of oil and aluminum-rich bauxite, Japan will invade the islands. There are those in the Japanese government who believe that an invasion of the East-Indies might provoke an American response. The militarists in the cabinet order a large intelligence operation directed against the American Pacific fleet, designed to track ship movements and capabilities. The diplomatic impasse between the Unites States and Japan continues, and in January 1941, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Navy suggests that a pre-emptive strike on the U.S. fleet on Hawaii might be necessary. The thought of open warfare with the Unites States is chilling and emperor Hirohito, while not vetoing the suggestion, requests that efforts to resolve the nations’ differences diplomatically be stepped up.

In May 1940, Thailand signs a treaty promising not to ally with any other nation against Japan. By withdrawing as a potential bulwark against Japanese expansion, Thailand opens the door for a Japanese occupation of the adjacent southern half of Indo-China. Japan does not hesitate.

Japanese military preparations for all-out war continue through summer and fall of 1941. On 5 November, an Imperial conference decides to make a final effort to reach a diplomatic peace with America. The militarists however, insist that the negotiations not be drawn out indefinitely. If a settlement on Japanese terms is not reached by 1 December, the conference decides, Japans’ military would begin their southern push. This decision to advance toward and presumably into American-held territory, carries with it the strong implication that the Japanese will attack the Unites States closer to home: in Hawaii.

On 20 November, the Japanese ambassador in Washington presents the final Japanese peace offer. If the Unites States ends the trade embargo with Japan, frees Japanese assets in the USA, supplies the Japanese with oil, and allows the Rising Sun a free hand to conclude the war in China, the Japanese will withdraw from Indo-China and allow free trade in the Dutch-East-Indies. Though the generals in Tokyo think the proposal is reasonable, it is received in Washington with a decided lack of enthusiasm. Though the Unites States knows from decoded Japanese messages that a rejection of the offer will likely result in an early Japanese attack, the idea of actually assisting Japanese adventurism in China is sufficiently repugnant that the offer is left to languish. The Unites States introduces a counterproposal on 26 November, demanding Japanese recognition of the Chinese government of Chiang Kai-Shek. On 1 December, as the Unites States awaits a reply from the Japanese government, the Japanese embassy in Washington receives a chilling message: All diplomats are ordered to burn documents and destroy cryptographic equipment. The diplomats do as they are told, knowing full well what the orders imply about the future of American-Japanese diplomatic relations.

British Duel Desert Fox

9 December 1940. British units in Egypt launch an offensive against the Italian 10th Division. The ensuing battle is a rout. The undertrained, poorly led Italian troops are easily overrun and within a matter of hours 38,000 have been wounded, captured, or killed. English casualties number less than 700. The British continue to drive west in hot pursued of the retreating Italians. By 22 January, they take the key deepwater port of Tobruk. The Italians retreat in such disorder that they leave behind a seawater distillation plant, essential to feeding an army in the harsh Libyan desert.

Having occupied Tobruk, the English strike inland in a daring 200-mile cross-desert thrust to Beda Fomm, successfully cutting off the reeling Italian 10th Division. For England, it is a much-needed victory. After the crushing blow they sustained in Northern-France and the daily doses of devastation delivered to their cities by the Luftwaffe, they have now given the ‘invincible Axis’ a taste of its own medicine. In Berlin, Hitler is quickly becoming disgusted with his Italian counterpart Benito Mussolini. Mussolini had assured him that Italian troops could defeat the British in Egypt without help from the Wehrmacht.

Now, far from being beaten, the British are driving into central Libya threatening German plans for the invasion of Greece. The Führer tells Hermann Goring to ready his Luftwaffe for duty in North Africa and enlists the services of a young Major General who had proven so effective in Northern France: Erwin Rommel. Given command of the newly created Africa Corps, Rommel arrives in Tripoli on 12 February. He immediately begins preparations to turn the tide back in favor of the Axis. Both the German and British high commands expect Rommel to maintain a defensive position, a mere check on the British drive to the west. Rommel has other ideas. Instead of viewing the harsh Libyan desert as a hindrance to combat operations, he believes that the vast open space offers tremendous opportunities to those bold enough to take advantage of it. On 24 March, the British, who believe it would be mid-May before Rommel is in a position to strike, are caught off guard by a heavy raid near El Agheila. Rommel, sensing that this is his moment, disobeys Hitler’s orders to remain on the defensive and launches an all-out attack. Rommel’s strategy proves to be devastatingly effective. The vastness of the desert allows his Panzer units to utilize their mobility to an unprecedented degree. Supported by the Luftwaffe, the Africa Corps drives the British back in disarray.

Having surrounded Tobruk, Rommel continues driving west until mid-April, when overextended supply lines force him to hold his drive near the Egyptian border. In one month, the Desert Fox, as his opponents have begun calling him, has retaken what it took the English Army four months to gain. In mid-May, the British mount a counteroffensive designed to relieve the defenders of Tobruk, who are still surrounded by the Germans. Positioning his defenses in the Halfaya-Pass, Rommel uses 88-mm antiaircraft guns to destroy the advancing British armor before the tanks are close enough to return fire. Once again, the English taste defeat. Tobruk causes no end of grief for Rommel as well. Both he and the British realize the port is crucial to a continued German drive into Egypt. Throughout the summer, Rommel attempts to crack the city’s defensive ring, but with no success. Although the desert is ideal for Rommel’s armored warfare tactics, its hot, bare landscape makes supporting his army a nightmare. Ammunition, food and water are all in short supply. His choice is simple: Take Tobruk or withdraw. On 18 November, the British, who have been resupplied and reinforced, launch another offensive to relieve the besieged port city. The fighting is savage and the conditions are brutal. Yet despite suffering heavy losses, English forces break through the German ring and reach the city on 27 November. Rommel, realizing he cannot continue to fight without access to the sea, decides to withdraw. Although the British have secured Tobruk, they realize Rommel is far from beaten. The Desert Fox has proven himself a sly and dangerous enemy and it is obvious that his withdraw is no chaotic retreat, it is rather a tactical manoeuvre. He is merely biding his time, waiting for the right moment to renew his assault and finish the job of driving the Allies from North-Africa.

Nazis invade Russia.

22 June 1941. The roar of artillery and the rumble of tanks mark the end of the unlikely pact between Nazi-Germany and the Soviet-Union. As he has before, Adolf Hitler unleashes his Blitzkrieg on a nation with which he is supposedly at peace. Known as operation Barbarossa, the German offensive into Russia is the largest in history. 3,000,000 men pour through massive holes punched by Panzer divisions in the Russian defenses. The German offensive is divided into three wings. The main thrust of the attack is given to Field Marshal Von Bock’s Army Group Centre. They are to drive east in a giant pincers movement toward Smolensk, entrapping and crushing large elements of the Red Army. With this done, they are to push on to Moscow and raise the Nazi banner high above the walls of the Kremlin.

As in Poland and France, the German Blitzkrieg routs the Russian defenders, driving them back in utter confusion. On 29 June, Guderian’s and General Hoth’s forces lead up near Minsk, encircling more than 40 Russian divisions and taking over 300,000 prisoners. In the south, Lvov is overrun, and the first Panzer group is already making advances on Kiev. On 3 July, Stalin broadcasts a message to the entire nation. He says the current conflict is a people’s war, not just one for the Red Army. He calls for a scorched earth policy, leaving nothing for the advancing Germans. By 5 August, the Army Group Centre has encircled over 700,000 Soviet troops at Smolensk. On 12 August, Hitler issues directive 34, ordering Army Groups North and South to continue their drives to Leningrad and the Crimea. But he also orders, against the advice of his generals, that Army Group Centre holds and assists the other forces. The German generals want to continue the drive for Moscow, virtually ensuring its fall before the Russian winter sets in. Russian roads, bad enough in favorable weather, become impassable in snow. The generals realize that the key to their success is mobility. Without it, they fear, the offensive will bog down and they will find themselves fighting in an environment for which they are totally unprepared.

On 30 August, Army Group North cuts the last railroad linked between Leningrad and the rest of the Soviet-Union. The next day, they are within artillery range of the city itself. In the south, Guderian, who has driven south after the encirclement at Smolensk, joins the assault on Kiev. On 12 September, his forces link up with General Kleist’s, trapping over 600,000 Soviet troops, 100 miles west of the city. For all the good news, the German General Staff is most preoccupied with the weather as the first snow falls on the Eastern Front. On 19 September, after losing 500,000 men in its defense, the Russians are forced to cede Kiev to Army Group South. For the Germans the victory is bittersweet at best. The fierce Russian defense of the city has reduced the Nazi forces by over 100,000. One German General notes that: unlike the Poles and the French, the Russians are fighting to the last man.

On 30 September, Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Division, which has moved back north, begins the drive east for Moscow. He is joined on 2 October by the 3rd and 4th Panzer Groups and the 2nd, 4th and 9th Armies. Though the advance on Moscow continues, the closer the Germans get to the city, the tougher the fighting becomes. Accustomed to winning staggering victories at little cost, they are now bogged down and taking heavy casualties. By mid-November, with hard winter descending around them, German moral is at an all-time low. The soldiers do not have proper clothing to protect them from the cold and their equipment is becoming less and less reliable. Winter may well be Russia’s best ally. The Red Army, reeling from the speed of the German advance, now has time to regroup. They permit the Germans to advance slowly on Moscow, while building their reserve forces on the outer flanks. On 2 December, forward German units advance to within sight of the Kremlin. Their divisions are at half strength, their men are demoralized and frostbitten, and their equipment is failing miserably in the harsh Russian winter. Their long drive stalls. On 6 December, the Russian hammer drops. Along a 500-mile front around Moscow, the Soviets launch a massive counteroffensive. Devised by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the Russian plan is to cut through the Panzer groups on the wings of Army Group Centre, then isolate and destroy it. The overextended, weakened German forces crumble under the onslaught of the fresh Russian troops. Hitler, for the first time, sees his mighty Wehrmacht stagger. Facing a rejuvenated Red Army, the German high command looks forward with trepidation to the long Russian winter.

US to arm Allies

June 1940. British prime minister Winston Churchill, following massive loss of war material at Dunkirk, turns to the Unites States for assistance. The American War Department sells Britain over 43,000,000 dollars worth of supplies. Guns, planes, ammunition, trucks, all the tools of war. Under the cash and carry policy, in place since 9 November 1939, the British must pay for the goods before using them in their battle against Germany. Within a few months however, the war effort depletes the British exchequer to such a degree, that they no longer have the cash to replace the precious materials so rapidly consumed in the war. Britain’s resistance to the Nazi-plague sweeping across Europe is in danger of faltering for lack of sustenance. In his fireside chat on 17 December, President Franklin Roosevelt states his intention in the strongest terms yet: to assist Britain’s war effort. He changes the cash and carry policy to Lend-Lease, providing weapons and munitions without immediate payment. Roosevelt argues that: were his neighbors’ house on fire, he would immediately loan his garden house without demanding paying beforehand. It is not simply a matter of watching out for one’s neighbor, but preventing the spread of fire to one’s own house.

Nearly three months of heated debate in Congress follows and on 12 March, Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease proposal becomes a reality. The president now has the power to manufacture, sell, lend, transfer, lease, or exchange any war material to the government of any country whose defense the president seems vital for the defense of the Unites States. On 27 March, Congress authorizes the first appropriation for Lend-Lease, providing Britain instant access to 7,000,000,000 dollars in American goods. The British are ecstatic. Churchill proclaims Lend-Lease: an inspiring act of faith, a monument of generous and far reaching statesmanship, and the most unsordid act in history.

In the Unites States, Lend-Lease provides two enormous challenges. The first is the task of moving hundreds of thousands of tons of material across the ocean. The second and more serious challenge is in producing it. Even with factories running around the clock, not enough tanks, planes and guns can be forged to fully meet Roosevelt’s demands for both increased American strength and exports. As industry gears up, many are left wandering: if war comes to America, will America have the ability to fight?

Japan bombs Pearl Harbor

7 December 1941, South Pacific. In the predawn hours the Japanese Naval Taskforce, under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, steams 275 miles north of the Unites States’ Pacific Fleet Base at Pearl Harbor. Sailing undetected under the cover of a storm front, Nagumo is now in position to strike the first all-important blow in the Japanese plan to eliminate US power in the Pacific. As the first wave of attack planes rolls of the decks of Nagumo’s six carriers, the soldiers and sailors at Pearl Harbor are awakening to a beautiful Sunday morning. Weekend duty, playing baseball, going to church is what keeps them busy. The war in Europe is of little concern to them and Japanese aggression in China is even less a threat. They count their blessings for being stationed at Pearl and look forward to yet another day in the glorious Hawaiian sunshine. Commanders at Pearl have been warned that relations with the Japanese could quickly deteriorate into war. Fearing sabotage more than air attack, they group planes together on the runway, so they will be easier to protect. They issue a sabotage alert to the fleet, but even this leaves only one in four gunners at their positions and their ammunition is locked away. It will prove a costly mistake. At 6:45 pm, a mobile radar operator picks up the inbound Japanese planes and reports them to the duty officer. Assuming it is the flight of B-17’s expected to arrive this morning, the officer does not report the contact.

At 7:55 pm, the Japanese planes appear in the skies over Pearl Harbor. The airfields on the island are hit first. Planes grouped together for protection make easy targets for the highly skilled Japanese pilots. Most are destroyed before they ever have a chance to leave the ground. At 7:58 pm the alert is sounded: Air raid Pearl Harbor, this is no drill. As soldiers and sailors scramble to their guns, the Japanese are already raining destruction down on the ships, sitting like ducks in the harbor. Battleships are the main focus of the Japanese attack. With seven battleships lined up neatly in two rows, it is simply target practice for the Japanese. The California takes two torpedoes and begins to sink. Within minutes, she is engulfed in flames. The order is given: abandon ship. Again and again the Japanese dive on the helpless ships. The Oklahoma takes four torpedoes and capsizes. A bomb drops down the funnel of the Arizona and detonates in the forward magazine. She virtually explodes. Men, desperate to escape the doomed ship, dive over the side into the water that is covered in burning oil.

About 8:30 pm, the first wave of Japanese planes begins to retire. The rest is but brief. At 8:45, the second wave hits the already crippled fleet. They focus on the dry-dock where an eighth battleship, the Pennsylvania, sits helplessly. The Nevada, which was damaged in the first wave, has managed to get on the way and move into the Harbor but is quickly targeted and hit several times by the Japanese bombers. With the help of two tugboats, the captain runs the ship aground to keep it from sinking. As the Japanese’s second wave retires into the morning sun, the battleship row is a shambles. Three of the dreadnoughts are sunk, one is afire and sinking, another one is grounded and all the others are severely damaged. In all, 18 ships have been sunk or crippled. On the island, 188 planes have been destroyed. Over 2,400 soldiers, sailors and marines, who three short hours ago were reveling in the Hawaiian sun, have been killed in the attack. Almost half of these died when the Arizona exploded. On 8 December, President Roosevelt addresses the nation: yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the Unites States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the Unites States and his colleagues delivered to our secretary of state a formal reply to a recent American message. Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive, extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the Unites States have already formed their opinions and well-understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. With confidence in our armed forces and with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare, that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday 7 December 1941, a state of war has existed between the Unites States and the Japanese empire.

The bold and daring strike by the Japanese has earned them a glorious victory but it has also solidified the American public as no other act could have. Although there are surely dark days ahead, Americans everywhere, especially the survivors at Pearl Harbor, look forward eagerly to their day of retribution.

Soviets launch counterattack

7 December 1941, the Russian Front. As the world reels at the news of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, thousands of miles away events are unfolding that, while largely ignored by the press, are no less monumental. For the last 24 hours, the front directly to the west of Moscow, were the Germans had driven within sight of the Kremlin, has been ablaze with artillery and fire. The German commanders, who had first considered this a limited and localized action, have now begun to realize that it is much more. It is becoming clear that, despite their belief that the Red Army was too tired and their resources to depleted to mount a meaningful assault, this is the beginning of a carefully planned counteroffensive. One for which they are ill prepared and will likely be unable to repulse.

This counteroffensive is the opening move of a well-planned and perfectly timed plot, led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Joseph Stalin, to turn back the Germans and thereby saving Moscow and in fact the Soviet-Union itself. For months, Stalin has been holding men and equipment in reserve despite the devastating advances being made by the enemy. Also, when it became clear in late October that the Japanese intended to wage war in the Pacific rather than focus on their drive into China, Stalin began moving troops from Siberia to Moscow. Having gathered the necessary men and material, Zhukov and Stalin waited for the right time to launch their attack: the moment when the Nazi-troops, having advanced too quickly to establish adequate supply lines and ill-equipped for a wintered battle they were never supposed to fight, would be most vulnerable.

On 29 November, the harshest winter in years pushes temperatures to 30°C degrees below zero. German troops began freezing to death and their trucks and tanks became immobilized. A confident Zhukov reported to Stalin: the enemy has been bled white. The time had come. Now the Russian armies, directly in front and to the north and south of Moscow, are unleashing their fury and doing what no military, political, or diplomatic force has been able to do since Hitler began his rise to power in 1933: they are forcing the Nazi’s to retreat. For the first few days the battle is hard-fought and the gains are small. By 11 December, the Red Army’s progress is such that Stalin feels confident enough to announce that the German advance on Moscow has been halted. Soviet troops have taken the offensive, driving the Nazi’s back hundreds of miles at some places and liberating over 400 towns and villages in the process. For the Russian people, who have had little to celebrate since the invasion began, there is at last good news from the front. Although the Germans are not beaten, they have been driven from the steps of the Kremlin and this is enough to bolster the faith of a nation hungry for hope.

By 18 December, the offensive is played out. The Red Army, having gained all its initial objectives, now awaits reinforcements. In Berlin, the German high-command reports erroneously that the harsh winter has forced the Wehrmacht to fall back and take up defensive positions.

So while the rest of the world focuses on the Japanese attack and America’s entry into the war, they have overlooked an event of which the consequences may be no less monumental. After years of unbridled aggression and unchecked advances, the minion of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, rather than expanding, has been diminished.

Japan invades Philippines

8 December 1941, the Philippines. Only hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor a flight of Japanese bombers appears over Clark Airbase. The Japanese are able to destroy a valuable squadron of B-17’s and escape almost unscathed. Though Pearl Harbor was the first Japanese attack on the Unites States, the action in the Philippines is the real beginning of a coordinated attack on American assets in the Pacific. For the next two days Japanese naval aircraft mount hit and run attacks on American positions, targeting in particular aircraft and airbases.

To General Douglas MacArthur, the Governor General of the Philippines, it is obvious that the Japanese are preparing to invade the islands. That prospect cannot help a disturbed MacArthur, who knows that the American and Philippine forces on the islands are poorly equipped and, in many cases, badly trained. On Philippine hand, MacArthur feels virtually certain that the invasion will come along the Lingayen Gulf on northern Luzon. On 9 December however, the Japanese land an expeditionary force at Aparri in the extreme north. A second force lands at Vigan, in the northwest. The move is intended to draw American forces, limited though they are, away from Lingayen so that the real Japanese invasion will meet less resistance. MacArthur and General Johnathan Wainwright’s most experienced combat general agree that the landings at Aparri and Vigan are diversions and decide to hold their ground.

As the days pass and the Japanese continue their relentless bombing attacks, it becomes clear that the Philippines are virtually defenseless. The American high command, fearing the total destruction of air assets in the Philippines, orders the surviving bombers to pull back to the safety of Australia. On 12 December, the Japanese land a third force at Legazpi on the southeastern end of the island. It seems to many as if this must be the real invasion. Again, a call goes out for reinforcements and again MacArthur refuses to bite, ordering his troops at all invasion points to fight and fall back and delay the Japanese advance but not risk being cut off.

It is not until ten days later, on 22 December, that the main invasion force finally arrives, as predicted, in the Lingayen Gulf. The armada is larger than anyone had expected. 80 Japanese ships dropping anchor and disgorging thousands upon thousands of Japanese troops. Wainwright, the commander at Lingayen, is ordered, like other commanders facing the Japanese on the island, to fight and fall back. The plan is, for all American forces, to fall back to the Bataan peninsula, as defensible a region of Luzon as there is. The withdrawal will be tricky. MacArthur puts together an exacting schedule that prevents any forces from being cut off and then isolated. The American defenders, divided by MacArthur into two forces, fight and fall back. After only a few days of fighting, the Japanese forces have linked up and begin to drive down the 40-mile wide central valley toward the Philippine capital of Manila.

The largest of the two Japanese forces, is in the north. 28,000 men, commanded by Wainwright, face off against the main body of Japanese troops led by Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma. The American southern force, commanded by Brigadier General Albert Jones, faces off against 10,000 Japanese troops. Homma’s armies advance with a ferocity that is pushing Wainwright back well ahead of MacArthur’s exacting schedule. Wainwright knows that, if he reaches Bataan ahead of schedule, Homma’s troops will have effectively cut off Jones’ escape from the south. Jones abandons Manila after MacArthur, who has spent much of his life in the islands and declares the city open, sparing weeks of devastating bombing and house to house fighting. As Jones leaves, the Japanese choose to occupy the city, rather than pursuing the retreating Americans. This allows the orderly retreat to continue, virtually guaranteeing that the two American armies will arrive simultaneously at Bataan. What the retreating armies don’t know however, is that in the crucial days of their retreat, virtually no steps have been taken to fortify Bataan. MacArthur, for reasons unknown, has not given the order to dig trenches, repair artillery emplacements and cut supply trails. Food and supplies, which should have been concentrated behind the American fall back positions, are scattered around Luzon. As Wainwright, Jones, and their American armies fall back, they don’t realize that the safe haven of Bataan, may be anything but.

Wolfpacks stalk Allied shipping

12 December 1941. In the murky depths of the North Atlantic a German submarine commander quietly stalks his prey. Above him is a convoy of merchant ships loaded with war material bound for the British Isles. Unleashing his torpedoes, he scores three direct hits. The flimsy walls of the ship buckle with the explosions, sending their men and their precious cargo to the bottom of the sea. The sub-commander then quietly slips away to await the next target to cross his path.

For the men sailing the ships back and forward across the Atlantic, this is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. The commercial sea lanes have become the latest target in Hitler’s quest for European domination. Though the German Navy is no match for the mighty British Fleet, it has the good sense to avoid outright confrontation. Instead, they strike at the merchant ships that carry the supplies so critical to Britain’s ability to wage war. The British realize that above all they must avoid isolation. Escorting the convoys with