World War II

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World War II

written by Harlan Hogan & Richard Hawksworth presented in two parts:

Part 1 - The Road to War Chapter 1 - The Rise of Nationalism Chapter 2 - Clouds of War Chapter 3 - War Comes to Europe Chapter 4 - Path to Infamy

Part 2 - The World at War Chapter 1 - War Comes to America Chapter 2 - Achieving Victory in Europe Chapter 3 - Achieving Victory in the Pacific Chapter 4 - After the Fighting

www.mediarichlearning.com page 2 World War II !!The Road to War

INTRODUCTION

Worldwide economic hardships in the 1920’s and 30’s took a terrible toll.

After World War One, discontent among the poor and unemployed in Europe allowed compelling rulers like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini to gain enormous power. These dictators promised their people better lives and that their country would have more prominence on the world stage. All the citizens had to do—was obey.

Similarly, the nationalistic military leaders of Japan convinced their citizens that Japan should expand her territories and ultimately, rule over the entire Far East.

The resulting war would not mean better lives for the people of Europe or Asia. Instead, millions were killed and injured in battle, while millions more perished due to hunger, torture and racial and ethnic prejudice.

Initially Americans were not willing to get involved in the conﬂict overseas but ultimately, the United States would have to play a deciding role in ending, World War Two.

Chapter 1 - The Rise of Nationalism

The signing of the peace treaty at Versailles signaled the ofﬁcial end of World War One -- optimistically called, "The War to End All Wars."

But even during World War One President Woodrow Wilson had feared the war was more about power and territory than peace...

WOODROW WILSON:

"...Is the present war a struggle for a just and secure peace or only for a new balance of powers..."

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One of the goals of the treaty was to break up the four Empires of Europe. Nine countries were given new boundaries and independence.

As a result of the re-mapping, Germany lost territory to its surrounding countries. The treaty demanded Germany accept full blame for World War One and pay huge sums of money, called reparations, to the victorious nations.

Germany was also stripped of much of its military power and forced to demilitarize the area near the border of France known as the Rhineland. The intention of the treaty of Versailles was largely to punish Germany for World War One but also to create new democracies and self-determination in Europe.

But huge war debts, hunger and unemployment made it difﬁcult for some democracies to ﬂourish.

In the end the treaty that was meant to secure a lasting peace for Europe had in effect laid the groundwork for war.

In Russian, Stalin means "Man of steel." The Soviet Union’s communist leader, Josef Stalin, certainly lived up to his name.

During his rule the Soviet Union achieved unprecedented power... but at the cost of freedom for its people.

He launched a brutal transformation of Soviet agriculture through collectivization—forcibly taking over privately owned land creating a system of state-owned farms. He also took control of manufacturing and production creating huge government controlled industries.

Stalin created a police state in which anyone who disagreed with the government's policies could be arrested and sent to labor camps in Siberia.

In 1930 Stalin began the “Big Purge.” So-called "enemies of the people" were arrested and executed. Historians estimate between eight to thirteen million people were killed.

By 1939 Stalin had ﬁrmly established a totalitarian, communist government, with complete control over its citizens… all opposition was crushed.

In Italy, similar events unfolded shortly after World War One.

In 1919, Dictator Benito Mussolini, Il Dulce, or “The Chief” as he was called, began his rise to power.

Mussolini became popular because he promised Italians he would rebuild Italy and create a new Roman Empire.

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Mussolini created a political movement called Fascism and in 1921 he became a member of the Italian parliament.

In 1922, he and thousands of his Fascist supporters, known as the Blackshirts, marched into Rome demanding the Italian King give him power to lead the government. Not wanting to start a civil war, the King conceded. Mussolini was sworn in as Prime Minister in October 1922.

Like Stalin, Mussolini crushed any and all opposition to his totalitarian regime.

At the end of World War One, Adolph Hitler was just another jobless solider wandering around Germany. In 1919 He joined a small political party called, The National Socialist German Worker – The NAZI party.

Like Communists in the Soviet Union and Fascists in Italy, the Nazis practiced an extreme form of Nationalism – believing that the interests of their country were more important than any others – even more important than personal rights and freedoms.

Hitler quickly rose to power to become the NAZI party’s leader, or "Fuhrer."

In his two-volume book, Mein Kampf, "My Struggle" in English, Hitler spelled out his Nazi beliefs. He sought to unite all German-speaking people into a national state. He also maintained that the German, or "Aryan" race, was superior to all others.

Hitler thought his "Master Race" deserved more land, even if it meant taking it by force.

The economic hardships in Germany in the early nineteen thirties helped Hitler and the Nazi party gain power. In 1932 roughly six million Germans were jobless, and Hitler's promise to restore German pride and stature in the world appealed to them. As head of the NAZI Party, Hitler was appointed German chancellor in January 1933.

He quickly put an end to the faltering Weimer democracy and established his "Third Reich," a totalitarian regime with himself as dictator.

Hitler capitalized on hate and racism, blaming Jews for the economic problems plaguing Germany.

Jews were ousted from government positions and certain professions and barred from the use of public facilities.

They were isolated and forced to wear a Yellow Star of David.

The discrimination escalated in November of 1938. Rampaging mobs attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. Nearly 100 Jews were killed, more than 1,000

www.mediarichlearning.com page 5 synagogues burned and over 7000 Jewish businesses were destroyed. This came to be called Kristallnacht - or "night of broken glass"

Jewish property was seized and Jews, Gypsies, and other groups considered unﬁt for Hitler's master race were sent to concentration camps - over the course of the war, six-million Jews and ﬁve-million others were murdered by the Nazis. This became known as the Holocaust.

The extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps would not be fully realized until the war ended in 1945.

Though the young Emperor Hirohito led Japan, the true power during the 1930’s was in the hands of the Japanese military. The country was gripped in a frenzy of nationalism, and like Germany and Italy, desired more land and resources for its growing population.

In a surprise attack, September 1931, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria. Japan saw Manchuria as the ﬁrst step in its desire for domination of China.

The League of Nations, established to help keep peace after World War One, condemned Japan's invasion but did nothing to stop it. In turn, Japan simply quit the league.

By 1936 the clouds of war encircled the globe. Germany and Italy formed an alliance they described as an "Axis" around which Europe would revolve. Four years later Japan would join the axis powers and together, the three countries pledged to aid each other in the event of attack.

The extreme political philosophies that emerged during these troubled times appealed to many people worn down by economic hardship.

But the overly patriotic beliefs of nationalism…the acceptance of authoritarian control in totalitarianism… the militant and racist fascist beliefs of the Nazis… and the Communist doctrines of state-controlled property and government all contributed to a worldwide war.

Chapter 2 - THE CLOUDS OF WAR

In 1935 Benito Mussolini sought to distract the Italian people from their troubles at home by creating a war abroad.

Claiming Ethiopia as their territory, the Italian military invaded the African country. easily defeating the poorly equipped nation.

The following year, Civil war erupted in the democracy of Spain between forces loyal to the government and those supporting Fascist dictator Francisco Franco.

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The United States and the Soviet Union supported the loyalists while Germany and Italy aided the fascists.

These alliances were a preview of the coalitions that would form during World War Two.

Meanwhile, in deﬁance of the Treaty of Versailles, Adolph Hitler began to re-build the German military. He re-militarized the Rhineland with a series of defenses along the border of France.

The League of Nations did nothing to respond to Hitler’s enormous build up of military might.

Emboldened, on March 12, 1938 Hitler annexed Austria, marching over the border and occupying the country with a full-scale invasion.

He then demanded Czechoslovakia surrender control of the Sudetenland. Once part of Germany, the Sudeteland was remapped as a territory in Czechoslovakia after World War I. Hitler believed it was the right of the Germans to take this land back.

Britain and France had to respond to Hitler’s aggression, but they faced a difﬁcult decision; rather than risk another war with Germany, they signed the Munich Agreement, forcing Czechoslovakia to relinquish the Sudetenland to the Germans. In return, Hitler promised that this would be his last territorial demand.

Britain's prime minister, Neville Chamberlain felt appeasement of Hitler was a victory, and received a hero's welcome when he arrived home

NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN:

“I had another talk with the German Chancellor Herr Hitler… We regard the agreement signed last night, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples, never to go to war with one another again.”

Not all Englishmen agreed that appeasement was a victory. Winston Churchill, Chamberlain's eloquent political rival, and later Prime Minister, chastised Chamberlain and the French Prime Minister.

The policy of appeasement failed. Germany soon took over the rest of Czechoslovakia.

In August of 1939, the Nazis and the Soviets signed a non-aggression pact, vowing they would never attack each other. The pact between these two powers shocked the rest of the world.

Stalin, though he hated the Nazis signed to avoid war. But the non-aggression pact also contained a secret agreement, which allowed the Soviet Union territorial control of the eastern half of Poland and the Baltic States in the event of a war.

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Later, Stalin would learn a bitter lesson. Treaty or not, Hitler could not be trusted.

Despite the troubling hostilities across the Atlantic, most Americans remained staunchly against involvement in any overseas struggles.

Since the nineteen-twenties America had steered a course of isolationism, staying out of foreign affairs. The Great Depression and the economic, social and political turmoil it caused domestically, contributed to the belief that Americans should concentrate on solving America's problems.

In 1928, the US signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact and were eventually joined by 61 other nations in a pledge to never make war again.

By 1930, rumors spread claiming that bankers and munitions dealers anxious to turn a quick proﬁt had dragged the United States into World War One.

Congressional hearings ensued. They found that huge amounts of money had, in fact, been made by these so-called Merchants of Death.

The American public's outrage only added to the anti-war sentiment. Clearly, Americans had no taste for another war.

MAN ON STREET#1

“In the event of war in Europe, I think we should stay out of it entirely.”

MAN ON STREET#2

“All our efforts should be made to keep out of the ﬁght.”

MAN ON STREET#3

“Let Europe ﬁght their own battles, they mean nothing to us.”

MAN ON STREET#4

“This time America should keep out and I know I will!”

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was well aware of the country’s feelings. In 1935 Congress passed the Neutrality Acts, stopping the sale of arms or loans of money to nations at war.

But by 1937 Roosevelt found it increasingly difﬁcult to support isolationism.

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When Japan again invaded China in July of 1937, FDR ignored the neutrality acts, sending arms to aid China.

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

“I have been compelled to contrast our peace with very different scenes that are being enacted in other parts of the world.”

Flooded with protests accusing him of leading America into war FDR backed off, while tensions mounted in Europe and Asia.

In contrast to the turbulent events occurring overseas, America was at peace.

The country was climbing out of the Great Depression and people were beginning to again enjoy the fruits of a prosperous society.

Chapter 3 - War Comes to Europe

On September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered his troops into Poland. The German Air force, the Luftwaffe, dropped a torrent of bombs on Poland’s cities, while German tanks rolled across the countryside.

It was the ﬁrst use of the Germany military strategy called "Blitzkrieg" or lighting war – a new and devastating offensive that exploited new advances in tanks, artillery and air power.

Two days later, both Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Two weeks later, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland.

World War Two had begun.

Despite the declarations of war, the next few months saw only an ominous calm settle over the Maginot line - a labyrinth of defense fortiﬁcations along the eastern border of France. French, British and German troops waited for something to happen. Many began to call this the "Phony War." As the months passed however, the Nazis were planning their next acts of aggression.

Beginning in April of 1940 the Nazis began their conquest of Western Europe. In a massive demonstration of “Blitzkrieg” they invaded Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. The Germans ultimately set their sights on the conquest of France.

French British and Belgian troops were stationed along the entire border of France including the Maginot line, though they left one area vulnerable, the Ardennes Forest. The French military believed that the

www.mediarichlearning.com page 9 heavily wooded area would be impenetrable to German forces. They were wrong. Hitler sent his tanks smashing through the Ardennes Forest into France, effectively cutting-off opposition forces.

British and French troops were overwhelmed by the German military offensive into France and retreated to the French coastal town of Dunkirk.

Pinned to the sea, hundreds of thousands of troops were trapped. Surrounded by the Nazis, the soldiers seemed doomed.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill appealed for help.

Soon British navy and civilian boats of all sizes and shapes emerged to form a makeshift ﬂotilla. In less than a week ﬁshermen, grocers, tugboat captains - anyone with a seaworthy vessel - ferried roughly 340,000 troops to safety across the English Channel.

Their heroics saved the soldiers, but they couldn’t save Paris…

On June twenty-ﬁrst, 1940, the French capitol fell to the Nazis. Hitler dictated his terms of surrender to the French government. Germany had succeeded in conquering Western Europe. Only Great Britain remained.

The British people led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill were deﬁant.

WINSTON CHURCHILL:

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender."

Undeterred by Churchill’s rhetoric, Hitler pressed on. In the Battle of Britain the German Luftwaffe was ordered to bomb England.

Between June and September of 1940, German planes pounded British targets.

On just one evening alone in mid-August over one thousand Luftwaffe bombers invaded the skies over England. Germany soon began concentrating her air-fury on the city of London. Londoners found refuge from the blitz in air raid shelters and underground train stations. Frightened parents sent children out of the city to friends and relatives, in the countryside.

The attacks were relentless; but despite the overwhelming number of German planes, Great Britain’s Royal Air Force, the "RAF" fought back courageously.

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Using newly developed RADAR technology, the British were able to detect Luftwaffe planes coming over the English Channel. Early warning stations were set up along the English coast to detect the enemy and pin point German planes in the night sky.

On September 15, 1940 the RAF shot down the most German planes in a single day of battle. Defeated, Hitler called off his invasion, for the time being. Addressing the British people, Winston Churchill gave thanks.

WINSTON CHURCHILL:

"Never before in the ﬁeld of human conﬂict, was so much owed by so many, to so few.”

But bravery alone could not win the war. Britain was crippled with no more resources to build the planes and ships needed to withstand Germany's next attacks. Winston Churchill turned to America, and FDR, for help.

In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt was reelected to a third term as President – the only American president ever to serve more than two terms.

Roosevelt would not commit troops to the overseas battleﬁeld, but he vowed to help the British in their life-or-death struggle against Hitler's regime.

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

“I ask this congress for authority and for funds, sufﬁcient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations which are now in actual war with aggressor nations. Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an arsenal for them as well as for ourselves.”

With FDR's urging, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Plan, which allowed him to lend or lease arms and other supplies to any country whose defense was vital to the United States.

Not all Americans were united in their support of the president.

Charles Lindbergh the ﬁrst man to ﬂy solo across the Atlantic in 1927, was a staunch opponent of America’s involvement in the war.

CHARLES LINDBERGH: “We can not allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction.”

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Despite opposition from Lindbergh and others, the Lend-Lease Act was funded with seven billion dollars. By the time World War Two was over the bill would total ﬁfty billion dollars.

Two years after making a non-aggression pact with Stalin, Adolph Hitler turned his hostilities towards the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1941 he boldly ordered three million German soldiers to invade Russia.

Stalin was outraged by Hitler’s betrayal and Russia joined in the ﬁght against Hitler, becoming an ally of the west, if only for the duration of the war.

Hitler hadn't counted on the harshness of the Russian terrain and the bravery of the Russian soldiers. Military resistance and brutal winter weather took a toll on the Germans and their invasion ground to a weary halt.

America now sent Lend-Lease supplies to the Soviet Union as well as to Great Britain.

But for American aid to help either nation, shipping lines across the Atlantic Ocean had to remain open.

Hitler's submarines prowled the Atlantic in "wolf packs" torpedoing supply ships. In a ﬁve-week period German "U-boats" sank 1.2 million tons of British shipping.

FDR ordered the Navy to protect all Lend-Lease shipments and allowed American warships to attack German submarines, in self-defense.

In July 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill ﬁnally met face-to-face in Argentia Bay off Newfoundland. They agreed to issue a joint declaration on the goals of the war.

Their agreement, "The Atlantic Charter" became the basis for a new document called, "A Declaration by the United Nations" spelling out the ground rules for countries opposing the axis powers.

Twenty-six countries eventually signed on and became known collectively as, the allied powers.

Chapter 4 - A Path to Infamy

In the same month that Churchill and Roosevelt were meeting in the Atlantic the Japanese were escalating their aggressions in the Paciﬁc.

Japan seized French Indochina - causing President Roosevelt to declare an embargo on goods being sent to Japan, including oil. Japan badly needed oil to defend herself from enemies or to wage war.

Relations with Japan became even more strained. The United States demanded Japan leave the axis powers and withdraw from China and Indochina.

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Japan's military leaders assured Emperor Hirohito they would make one more attempt to avoid war with the United States. But as Japan's peace envoy Kusuru ﬂew to Washington DC for talks on November ﬁfth 1941, the Japanese navy prepared for an attack on America.

One month later, on December 6th, FDR was shown an intercepted message sent to the Japanese negotiators, telling them to reject all American peace proposals.

It was obvious; war with Japan was inevitable.

December 7th dawned bright and sunny over the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. But shortly before 8am, terror struck from the sky.

Launching a surprise attack, over 300 Japanese warplanes bombed and torpedoed the base at Pearl Harbor.

200 aircraft were destroyed and 20 ships sunk or damaged. By the time it was over, 2400 Americans were dead; over 1100 wounded; and the entire Paciﬁc ﬂeet crippled.

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

“December 7th, 1941 a day which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive, extending through out the Paciﬁc area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.”

The raid on Pearl Harbor caused more damage to the U.S. Navy in personnel and equipment than all the losses suffered during the entire ﬁrst World War.

Three days later, Germany and Italy supported Japan by declaring war on the United States.

The attack on Pearl Harbor shocked and enraged the American people.

The time for isolation was clearly over, now it was time for unity, now it was time to ﬁght.

America’s massive investment in ships, tanks and the materials of war would bring an end to the Great Depression. It would also help unify a people through patriotism and sacriﬁce.

The story of America's involvement in World War Two continues in World War II - The World at War.

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INTRODUCTION

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: “December 7th 1941, a date that will live in infamy…”

The devastating air assault on Pearl Harbor thrust the reluctant United States into a clash with the Axis Powers.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

“The militarists of Berlin and Tokyo started this war. But the massed, angered forces of common humanity will ﬁnish it.”

Battles raged around the world, in the air, on land, and at sea to preserve the ideals of democracy.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

“They know that victory for us means victory for freedom.”

The fate of the world was at stake.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL:

“If we fail, then the whole world, including the United States will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age.”

World War II was the most horriﬁc conﬂict in human history. It spanned the globe and half a decade, and sparked political, military and social repercussions that echoed throughout the 20th century and beyond.

www.mediarichlearning.com page 14 Chapter 1 – War Comes to America

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

“I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again; your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.”

In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on the promise to keep the nation out of foreign entanglements, well aware that the American voter had no taste for war. But the President and the country had cause for alarm.

With each passing month, the Axis Powers’ tide of aggression spread, threatening to engulf the world: by the fall of 1941, Adolf Hitler’s blitzkreig had crushed resistance across Europe leaving a wake of death and destruction; a Nazi invasion of Britain was stalled, but Hitler vowed to smash the island nation; half- a-world away, in the Paciﬁc, Japan’s minister of war, Hideki Tojo, forged a brutal reputation with a murderous invasion of Manchuria and attack on French Indochina.

On December 7th 1941, the foreign war came to America. In the space of two hours a Japanese air assault on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii decimated the U.S. Paciﬁc ﬂeet and killed nearly 2500 servicemen. Within three days the world was at war; the President braced the country for the challenges that lay ahead.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

“We are now in this war. We’re all in it – all the way. Every man, woman and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.”

Just two years earlier the U.S military was weak and the nation ill-prepared for battle. But as events overseas became increasingly ominous, the country began to rebuild its armed forces. December 7th shocked the nation into dramatic action.

"Remember Pearl Harbor" became America's battle cry. Eager young men anxious to fight flocked to armed services recruiting offices. Over five million volunteered for duty. Ten million more were drafted during the war. After eight weeks of basic training, these new recruits were battle-trained and ready to fight. New soldiers were given uniforms, weapons, supplies and standard haircuts; everything they needed was "Government Issue." It wasn't long before soldiers themselves were being referred to as 'Government Issue' or, "GIs."

Americans from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds signed up for the Armed Forces. Over one million African Americans served during the war – though segregation and prejudice forced them into support positions until near the end of the war. Women joined the ﬁght too. During the war, over 250,000 women served in many roles - throughout the world – such as pilots, nurses and mechanics.

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As the U.S. built its ﬁghting forces, the President called upon the nation’s manufacturing might to build the implements of war needed to ﬁght the enemy.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

“We shall need everything that we have and everything that our allies have to defeat the Nazis and the Fascists in the coming battles on the continent of Europe and the Japanese on the continent of Asia and in the islands of the Paciﬁc.”

The U.S. mobilization for war stands among the monumental achievements in American history. In record time, the U.S. economy was completely transformed from producing peacetime goods to maximum war production. FDR established the War Production Board – the WPB – to direct the effort, and he set demanding goals.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT “In this year, 1942, we shall produce 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks, 20,000 anti-aircraft guns. We shall build eight million tons of merchant ships.”

Nationwide drives were organized to collect scrap iron and tin, rags, paper - even cooking fat - to be recycled into war supplies. And metals and other raw materials were diverted for use in war production. New defense plants and shipyards sprang-up seemingly overnight and existing factories were converted to military manufacturing. Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser became a national hero as his shipyards built nearly 1500 “Liberty Ships.” Henry Ford’s massive assembly lines turned out a B-24 bomber every 63 minutes and the nation’s railroads made delivering raw materials and war supplies their top priority.

After a decade-long depression, war production revitalized the U.S. economy. Suddenly, a nation with too few jobs had to work overtime to supply the Allied effort. As the nation’s men left for the ﬁghting front, women joined the workforce to ﬁll the vacant positions. Many of them took jobs in the defense industry making "Rosie the Riveter" a legend of wartime production.

African Americans migrated from the rural south to work in the industrial centers of the north and west. Many were refused jobs because of their race – as a result President Roosevelt issued an executive order barring hiring discrimination in defense industries and the government and established the Fair Employment Practice Committee to report on unfair work practices, opening the doors of employment for more than two million African Americans. By the end of the war U.S. industry and the American worker were producing more weapons and ﬁrepower than all other nations combined.

Superior technology would prove vital to defeating the enemy. President Roosevelt established the OSRD – the Office of Scientific Research and Development - to bring America's leading scientists into the war effort. Many innovations developed or improved during World War II are still used today – like radar and sonar technology needed to spot enemy airplanes and submarines, and so called miracle drugs like penicillin - which prevented infection of battlefield wounds. Secretly, the OSRD was

www.mediarichlearning.com page 16 supervising a weapons project that would play a deciding role in the war - the creation of the ﬁrst atomic bomb.

The cost of war was staggering. To ﬁnance the effort, government advertisements encouraged citizens to “Buy War Bonds;”

“BUY WAR BONDS” PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

“Pearl Harbor…Pearl Harbor…Pearl Harbor. What do they ask of us, the heroes that we mourn? What do they ask of us, our marching sons across the seas? To stand shoulder to shoulder with them here at home – to do the job of forging the guns of vengence. Bonds are our weapons, stop on the way out. You want to say what is in your heart? Say it with bonds.”

Americans responded by investing over $185 billion dollars towards victory. Congress raised income taxes, and for the first time, deducted federal taxes from paychecks each week. To control inflation, Congress created the Office of Price Administration - the OPA - which froze the price of many goods. The OPA issued ration books – limiting the purchase of groceries, clothing and fuel and sending the badly needed surplus to supply Allied soldiers.

Americans grew “Victory Gardens” for food, they cut back on travel and car-pooled or rode bicycles to save precious gasoline – driving alone was considered unpatriotic.

The attack on Pearl Harbor uniﬁed the country in many ways, but it also stirred long-standing prejudice against Japanese immigrants in America. Bowing to political pressure, President Roosevelt ordered the immediate relocation of over 110,000 Japanese Americans to remote detention camps. They were forced to abandon or sell their homes and businesses – in some cases overnight. Many lost everything.

More than 70,000 of the relocated were Nisei - Japanese Americans born in America and citizens of the US. Despite the unfair treatment, the interned Japanese-Americans did their best to make the camps tolerable and remained loyal to the United States. Many Nisei even became US soldiers. Regrettably, more than 100,000 Japanese Americans spent the entire war in detention camps.

Chapter 2 – Achieving Victory in Europe

On December 22nd 1941 – just two weeks after Pearl Harbor - Winston Churchill arrived in Washington to meet with President Roosevelt. The British Prime Minister was grateful for a new ally in his ﬁght against the Axis – and outspoken in his opinion of the enemy.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL:

“What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?”

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FDR and Churchill met for two weeks plotting their war strategy. The leaders agreed that defeating Hitler would be their top priority. Once Europe was freed Allied forces could be re-deployed to help the U.S. defeat Japan.

The plan was set, but through the bleak months of 1942, the Nazi war machine marched on. In the Atlantic, Germany’s submarine attack groups - “wolf packs” – devastated Allied shipping. Nazi inﬂuence spread through the Mediterranean and into North Africa, threatening British colonies there. On the Eastern Front, German forces pushed deep into the Soviet Union – and descended on the city of Stalingrad. In the skies over Europe German anti-aircraft artillery exacted a heavy toll on Allied warplanes.

President Roosevelt knew the ﬁrst step toward victory in Europe was to secure the trans-Atlantic supply lines.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT “The Axis Powers can never achieve their objective of world domination unless they ﬁrst obtain control of the seas.”

To counter the U-boat menace, Allied warships began escorting supply ships across the sea in convoys. Air reconnaissance, long range torpedo bombers and the new technology of sonar helped the Allied forces spot and destroy the German subs. A major breakthrough came when the British cracked Germany’s coded communications. As a result, the Battle of the Atlantic swung in favor of the Allies and the German U-boat threat was neutralized. It was a critical turn in the war; with shipping lanes re- opened, U.S. war supplies began to ﬂow freely to Great Britain, and preparations began for the ﬁrst Allied land offensive.

It came on November 1942 as U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower - led 107,000 Allied troops ashore in Morocco and Algeria in North Africa. The British army was locked in a fierce battle with German General Erwin Rommel and his Axis forces. Eisenhower’s troops battled eastward while the British fought west, trapping the Axis army in Tunisia. Months of heavy fighting ensued and 70,000 Allied lives were lost. But the Allies prevailed and General Rommel was forced to flee to Germany - leaving his once-unstoppable Afrika Korps to surrender.

The war was far from over but British Prime Minister Churchill knew the Battle of North Africa was a deﬁning moment.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL:

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

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While the U.S. and Britain – the Western Allies – were ﬁghting in North Africa, the Soviet Red Army refused to surrender the city of Stalingrad in the face of an overwhelming German onslaught. In November 1942 the Soviets launched a heroic counter-attack. The violent struggle lasted for two months. As the bitter winter set in, the German army faced frostbite, lice, starvation and defeat.

The epic Battle of Stalingrad devastated the city and left over one million Russians dead. The Soviet army began a steady march westward – towards Germany.

By the summer of 1943, Allied warplanes were bombing German cities day and night - slowly reducing them to rubble. Most attacks were aimed at military and industrial targets – like bridges, supply depots and factories. But increasingly Allied air forces targeted civilian centers for so called “terror bombing” – designed to demoralize the German public. In one raid - on the city of Dresden - the Allies dropped tons of incendiary bombs, creating a ﬁrestorm that killed more than 100,000. Before the war’s end over 650,000 innocent Germans would perish from Allied bombing.

In July 1943, Allied troops struck off from North Africa in Operation Husky. Their mission was to invade Sicily – the steppingstone to the European continent. Within a month the Italian island was under Allied control and Italians revolted against their fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Italy’s King stripped Mussolini of power and turned his back on Hitler - quitting the Axis alliance. War-weary Italians rejoiced.

Despite the success of Operation Husky, it would take another eighteen months of bloody ﬁghting to drive the remaining Axis forces out of Italy.

In April 1945 Mussolini was captured by Italian resistance fighters while trying to flee the country. The once-pompous dictator was executed, and his body hung in Milan square. While the Soviet Army marched through Poland and the Allies pushed north through Italy, Allied leaders finalized plans for the invasion of Nazi-occupied France and the liberation of Western Europe.

The mission was code-named “Operation Overlord,” but history would remember it as D-Day. It was the largest military operation ever mounted and would deﬁne an entire generation. The Allies would mount a massive assault across the English channel – on to the Normandy coast. Over 176,000 troops and 5000 ships prepared for the operation. On June 5, 1944 Allied troops mobilized. Warplanes departed from Britain dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines, Allied bombers strafed the coastline, battleships pummeled German defenses, while amphibious landing craft crossed the English Channel towards Normandy.

At daybreak on June 6th, 1944 – D-Day - British, Canadian and American soldiers fought their way ashore. The Allies sustained heavy casualties but managed to secure their beachheads and the massive supplies needed to ﬁght the ground war came ashore. That night, President Roosevelt led the nation in prayer:

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PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

“…our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.”

Within a month there were a million Allied troops on the continent – ﬁghting their way across France. As the Allies drew near to Paris, Hitler ordered the city burned. The German commander-in-charge refused and on August 25, 1944, he surrendered the city to French resistance ﬁghters.

By September, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and much of the Netherlands were freed from Nazi control. While the Soviet Red Army closed in On Germany from the East.

By October, the Allies had captured the German city of Aachen, but Hitler ordered a counter-attack near the border with Belgium. The resulting dent in the Allied line gave the ﬁght its name – the Battle of the Bulge. The Allies were pushed back with heavy losses of men and equipment. 100,000 Nazi and 19,000 Allied soldiers were killed, but in the end, the German Army was forced to retreat. It would be their last offensive.

Hitler’s dream of a thousand year Reich was crumbling. His country was in ruin - shattered by the onslaught of bombing and shelling; over 5 million of his soldiers had surrendered to the advancing Allied armies; and the German spirit was broken.

On April 23rd, the Soviet army stormed the German capital of Berlin. In face of defeat, Adolf Hitler took his own life – rather than surrender.

BBC RADIO BROADCAST:

“Here is a news ﬂash: The German radio has just announced that Hitler is dead…”

200,000 Russian soldiers died capturing Berlin. Finally, on May 7th, 1945, the German High Command surrendered to Allied leaders. The long war in Europe was over.

There was joy in victory, but with Germany defeated, Allied troops came face-to-face with evidence of Nazi atrocities. Auschwitz. Dachau. Treblinka. Buchanwald. Concentration camps housing thousands of living corpses; countless Jews put to death in crematoriums and gas chambers; mass graves holding thousands of bodies; evidence of gruesome medical experiments conducted by the Nazis on their captives. History would reveal the true horrors of the Holocaust.

CBS Radio Broadcast “We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin from CBS World News – a press association has just announced that President Roosevelt is dead.”

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Twelve years in the White House, a great depression and the world’s greatest war had taken their toll on Franklin Roosevelt.

With the passing of America’s Commander-in-Chief, the weight of war fell to Harry S. Truman. Fighting in Europe was over, but the battle against Japan raged on. The new president would take extraordinary measures to ﬁnish the war and return the world to peace.

Chapter 3 – Achieving Victory in the Pacific

PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN:

“The Japanese people have felt the weight of our land, air and navel attacks. Our blows will not cease until the Japanese military and navel forces lay down their arms in unconditional surrender.”

By the time President Truman assumed office in April 1945, the United States was winning the war against the Japanese and moving swiftly towards a land invasion of Japan’s home islands. But over three years of fighting in the Pacific had been every bit as perilous and costly as the war in Europe.

In the months following Pearl Harbor – Japan captured the U.S. outposts of Guam and Wake Island and the British colonies of Hong Kong and Singapore. In the Philippine Islands, Supreme Allied Commander in the Paciﬁc General Douglas Macarthur, was ordered to ﬂee from a Japanese invasion – leaving behind 100,000 U.S. and Filipino troops as prisoners of war.

MacArthur vowed revenge.

U.S. GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR:

“I shall return.”

Despite the disastrous start, American spirits were lifted in April 1942. Colonel James Doolittle led a successful bombing run on Tokyo in a move designed to strike fear into the very heart of the Japanese. A month later, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, U.S. and Australian forces resisted an enemy attack, preventing a Japanese invasion of Australia.

In June 1942 the Japanese launched a secret plan to capture a U.S. military outpost at the Midway islands – a 1000 miles from Hawaii. But the U.S. intercepted a secret communication, and sent a carrier group to ambush the approaching armada. Japan struck first – waves of warplanes and fighters attacked U.S. forces on the island inflicting heavy damage.

The U.S. responded, sending torpedo planes and divebombers to attack the Imperial fleet. The first squadron met fierce resistance and suffered tremendous losses. But then, within the space of an hour,

www.mediarichlearning.com page 21 the U.S. turned the tide of battle by destroying three Japanese aircraft carriers. By late afternoon Japan was in full retreat.

Six months after Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway was a major turning point in the war with Japan. From that point forward, the United States was on the offensive.

General MacArthur devised the strategy of Island Hopping to ﬁght the Japanese in the Paciﬁc. The U.S. would “island hop” past Japan’s heavily defended islands and seize the more easily-defeated outposts. There, the United States could build landing strips and employ air power to cut Japan's supply lines.

By August 1944 the US was island hopping steadily toward Japan - capturing Guadalcanal, Saipan, Tinian and Guam. By October the US Navy reached the Philippines. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf they fought the Japanese Fleet in the one of the greatest naval operations in history. The U.S. prevailed - General MacArthur had kept his promise to return.

After the crushing defeat the desperate Japanese began using what they called the divine wind - “Kamikazes” attacks. In these suicidal maneuvers Japanese pilots dove onto ships in bomb-loaded aircraft. Kamikaze attacks destroyed 36 US warships, badly damaged 368 others, and killed over 5000 sailors, but the divine wind failed to stop the Allied advance on Japan.

President Truman set November 1945 as the date for a land invasion of Japan. But to stage the attack, the U.S. would first need to capture the heavily fortified islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Advance air and naval bombardments were meant to soften enemy defenses for an amphibious invasion, but once on shore U.S. Marines were forced to fight a terrifying war of attrition. Snipers fired on the advancing soldiers from hidden entrenchments; the Marines fought back using flamethrowers and hand grenades to destroy the underground enemy.

When the last shots were ﬁred, over 18,000 Marines had died ﬁghting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa; 90,000 Japanese soldiers were dead. Over 100,000 Okinawan citizens perished as well; many of those who survived were homeless and shell-shocked.

As the U.S. marched across the sea toward Japan, daily raids by American B-29 bombers were destroying Japanese cities and killing thousands of civilians. In a single ﬁrebomb attack on Tokyo, over 100,000 innocent Japanese were incinerated. For Japan, defeat was inevitable, but the island nation refused to surrender.

The mounting loss of life worried President Truman. Military advisors cautioned that a quarter of a million American lives could be lost invading Japan. Shortly after becoming President, Harry Truman learned of "The Manhattan Project" a code name for the best-kept secret of World War II. A nuclear weapon powerful enough to destroy an entire city. Testing in the New Mexico desert proved the atomic bomb not only worked, it was even more powerful than scientists predicted. President Truman was faced with a sobering decision: use the horrible weapon to end the war; or risk the lives of countless Allied troops in a

www.mediarichlearning.com page 22 land assault on Japan. With the urging of top aides and military advisors, Truman decided to drop the bomb on Japan.

The Allies issued a ﬁnal appeal to Japan’s military leaders to unconditionally surrender – this was known as the Potsdam Ultimatum. Still, Japan’s military leaders remained deﬁant.

At 2:45 am on August 6th 1945 a B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay headed out over the Paciﬁc towards the Japanese military center of Hiroshima. At 8:00 the atom bomb dropped clear of the plane. Forty three seconds later, the city of Hiroshima was annihilated.

That afternoon, President Truman again called for Japan to surrender. When Japan failed to respond a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, leveling half the city and killing more than 60,000. By the end of the year the death toll had reached more than 200,000 from injuries and radiation poisoning caused by the two bombs.

Finally, amid scenes of unimaginable death and destruction, Japan's Emperor Hirohito capitulated.

PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN:

“I deem this reply a full acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration where it speciﬁes the unconditional surrender of Japan.”

On September 2, 1945 Japan formally surrendered aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo bay.

U.S. GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR:

“The supreme commander of the Allied powers will now sign on behalf of all the nations at war with Japan.”

The war was ﬁnally over and the world celebrated.

Chapter 4 – After the Fighting

World War II was the deadliest conﬂict in human history. More than 50 million soldiers and civilians died during the ﬁghting, including 300,000 U.S. soldiers - the Holocaust alone claimed the lives of 11 million.

With the guns of aggression silenced, it was time to begin the long, slow task of rebuilding countries savaged by the ﬁghting.

In February 1945 - three months before the defeat of Germany – Allied leaders met at Yalta in the Soviet Union to discuss Europe’s reorganization. Other Postwar plans were laid at the conference in Potsdam,

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Germany ﬁve months later. While touring the ruins of Berlin, President Truman expressed hope for a more peaceful time ahead.

U.S. PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN:

“We’re here today to raise the ﬂag of victory over the capital of our greatest adversary. In doing that we must remember that in raising that ﬂag we are raising it in the name of the people of the United States who are looking forward to a better world, a peaceful world, a world in which all the people will have an opportunity to enjoy the goods things of life and not just a few at the top.”

Post-war Germany was divided into four zones – individually administered by the U.S., Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. However, distrust between the Soviets and the Western Allies escalated, ushering in a 50 yearlong period of icy relations that would come to be called the Cold War. In 1946, an international tribunal tried Nazi leaders in Nuremberg, Germany – the ﬁrst time in history a nation’s leaders were held accountable for war crimes.

Japanese military leaders were put on trial as well – including General Hideki Tojo – who was convicted and executed for his crimes.

The closing months of the war also saw the birth of the United Nations – an international peacekeeping organization to succeed the League of Nations.

After the war Japan was occupied by U.S. forces commanded by General MacArthur. He introduced economic reforms to the country, leading Japan’s markets to become among the world’s most powerful. And MacArthur restructured their political system as well – convincing Japan to allow suffrage for women and other basic civic freedoms.

The United States was changed as well. The weakness of war-ravaged Europe and the growing threat of the Soviet Union led the U.S. to a new role as the world’s leading economic and military power.

Before his death, President Roosevelt expressed hope that those who followed could learn from the horrors of this terrible war.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT

"We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite... and produce... and ﬁght to destroy the forces of ignorance... and intolerance... and slavery... and war."

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It would take decades to fully realize the changes wrought by World War II. But as soldiers returned home, they found their country, and themselves, fundamentally changed. And for many, a new more prosperous and more peaceful life lay ahead.

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Look for other educational documentaries from the award-winning team at Media Rich Learning:

America in the 20th Century

America Becomes a World Power

The Progressive Era

World War I

The Roaring Twenties

The Great Depression

World War II

The Post-War Years

Vietnam

Cold War

The Sixties

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