U.S. History II
Lecture 9: World War II

Within six weeks of its beginning, World War I had bogged down in the Western areas and was transformed into trench warfare. The Wehrmact was determined not to repeat this in the next war. The resulting tactics were known as Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war.”

Blitzkrieg called for a combined assault of air and army units, both moving swiftly in coordinated attacks. German tanks smashed through the Polish lines, closely supported by the Luftwaffe dive bombers. The Luftwaffe attacked communication and supply lines in addition to attacking concentrated troop units. With this combination, the Germans moved swiftly through enemy territory before opposing armies could react with reinforcements.

Poland would fall to the Germans in less than a month. Britain and France had no time whatever to do more than give moral support.

1939

Within 1 week of the invasion, the Germans were outside Warsaw. In the next 2 weeks, the Luftwaffe leveled most of Warsaw. The Poles suffered over 300,000 casualties in the first 3 weeks of war.

On 17 September, the Russians invaded Poland from the east. Before the Soviet Army met the Germans, the Soviets had taken two-thirds of the country. The Soviets massacred over 4,000 Polish military officers in the Katyn Forest region in their invasion. Stalin was determined that Poland remain Soviet indefinitely.

Poland’s troubles were just starting. Before the war ended, over 6 million Poles would die, including over 3 million Jews.

After Hitler consolidated his gains in Poland, the Wehrmact seemed to halt. Meanwhile, Stalin invaded Finland and the Baltic States. The Finns held firm until finally overwhelmed by a 50-to-1 numerical advantage on the side of the Soviets. The League of Nations had done nothing against Hitler; it now did nothing against Stalin. The Finns surrendered in March 1940; the Baltic States fell in June 1940.

After the conquest of Poland, everything seemed to settle in Western Europe. Germany did nothing, and the French sat behind the Maginot Line, an extensive fortification system built on the German border. Newspaper reporters began calling the war the “phony war.”

The Germans may have done little on land, but the German Navy was busy in the Atlantic. Hitler had done little to the navy except for give it 56 submarines, called U-boats (as in World War I). The German navy was led by Admiral Karl Doenitz, an old U-boat veteran of World War I. Doenitz immediately began operations in the Atlantic to cut Britain off from its supply lines overseas. U-boats managed to sink a British naval vessel in the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, home of the fleet that defeated the Germans at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Even worse, U-boats began unrestricted warfare on the Atlantic, sinking over 688,000 tons of shipping by the spring of 1940. By 1942, U-boats had sunk over 14 million tons of Allied shipping.

1940

The “phony war” came to an abrupt end in April 1940. Germany attacked Denmark on its way to controlling Scandanavia. The Danish king was forced to surrender only 24 hours after the invasion began. On the same day, the Luftwaffe occupied Oslo’s airport in Norway while the German navy took over Norwegian ports. Norway fell in spite of British and French troops sent to support their army, primarily because the Luftwaffe prevented reinforcements by sea. Norway’s king and government fled the nation, leaving Vidkun Quisling, a German collaborator, in control of the nation. Norway fell in June 1940, and Germany controlled Scandanavian iron ore and the Baltic Sea. (Sweden declared neutrality, as it had during World War I.)

The Germans hit Belgium and the Netherlands in May 1940. The Dutch port of Rotterdam was reduced to rubble; Amsterdam and the Belgian cities of Antwerp and Brussels were also bombed. The Dutch lost 100,000 casualties in only 5 days of fighting, forcing Queen Wilhelmina and her government to flee to Britain. More than 5 million Dutch citizens would be sent to the German labor camps during the war.

Belgium had withstood the Germans for the duration of World War I. The Wehrmacht forced the Belgians to surrender after only 1 week of fighting.

The loss of the Low Countries had another casualty: Neville Chamberlain, the erstwhile prime minister of Great Britain. Chamberlain’s name was forever linked in complete disgrace with his appeasement policies. Chamberlain was succeeded by Winston Churchill.

Churchill’s career was an unusual one. He lost his first election in 1899, but he became a hero when he escaped from the Boers in the Boer War later that year. His advocacy of the Gallipoli campaign cost him his job as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, so he did what he always did when things went wrong: Joined the army and demonstrated his bravery. In 1917, Churchill became minister of munitions and supported development of the tank. In 1924, Churchill returned to Parliament where he served until after World War II. When Chamberlain resigned in humiliation, Churchill was asked by King George VI to form a new government. Churchill was 65 years old. In a stirring speech before Parliament in May 1940, Churchill told the British people he had nothing to offer but “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”

The British had sent an expeditionary force to the Continent to support the Belgians and the French, but the fall of Belgium left the BEF caught behind German lines and surrounded by the Wehrmacht. Rather than leave the BEF to be destroyed by the German attack, the British Royal Navy decided to evacuate their troops. Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, over 900 Royal Navy and civilian craft evacuated nearly 340,000 British, French, and Belgian soldiers to Britain. Unfortunately, the BEF lost all its equipment, and the French army of 50,000 men defending the evacuation was forced to surrender.

France was next. The French had an army of 800,000 men and 5.5 million reserves, but the French had relied heavily on the Maginot Line. The Luftwaffe destroyed much of the French air force while it was on the ground. Two days after Dunkirk, 120 German divisions slammed into France, sweeping around the vaunted Maginot Line through the Ardennes Forest. (The French military command had decided that the Ardennes frontier did not require fortifications because the Germans couldn’t get their tanks through the forest.) After less than 2 weeks of fighting, the French army was in chaos, suffering more than 100,000 casualties. The French government fled Paris so the Germans wouldn’t bomb it. Mussolini invaded southern France with an army of 400,000 men. German troops paraded down the Champs Elysees after entering the city on 14 June. The French government agreed to an armistice on 22 June. Hitler forced the French to sign the armistice in Compiegne Forest — the place where the Germans signed the armistice of World War I — in the exact same railroad car used for the World War I armistice signing. The Germans hung a Nazi banner from the Eiffel Tower.

In the armistice, German took Alsace and Lorraine (again); occupied the entire northern half of France, including the Atlantic coast; and placed the occupied area under German military rule. The remaining areas of the nation were ruled from the city of Vichy (earning it the name of Vichy France) by World War I hero Henri Petain, who collaborated with the Germans down to sending French Jews to concentration camps and French laborers to German labor camps.

The French who escaped the Germans were led by General Charles de Gaulle. de Gaulle escaped to Britain, where he led the French resistance. In spite of British attempts to replace him, de Gaulle became the de facto French ruler in exile.

After the fall of France, Britain stood alone against a German military that had taken the entire western half of the Continent. On 4 June, Churchill said in a speech that even though all of Europe might fall, “... we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end ... we shall fight in the seas and oceans ... we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. ...” (World Book Encyclopedia)

In July, the Germans began sending planes across the English Channel in an attempt to destroy the Royal Air Force. The British had a secret weapon: radar, which allowed them to see the German planes coming from 75 miles away from the coast. During July, the RAF destroyed the Luftwaffe’s efforts to support an invasion, but at the cost of nearly half the RAF. Churchill said of the RAF, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” (ibid.)

When the Germans couldn’t destroy the RAF, Hitler ordered the bombing of London and other civilian targets. In what was known as the London Blitz, the Germans bombed the city for 23 days with roughly 20,000 tons of bombs. More than 30,000 people died, but the British remained steadfast in their opposition to Hitler. Churchill was everywhere in the city, even leaving his shelter during the bombings. When France asked for an armistice, Churchill had said, “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” At the end of the bombings, everyone knew the British had survived “their finest hour.”

Churchill worked relentlessly to get the Americans to recognize the danger of Hitler. Isolationism still held the day in the U.S., especially in the Congress. Most Congressmen were content to let the Europeans destroy themselves if they wished. However, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood that if totalitarianism won in Europe, the U.S. would pay a horrible price. After Dunkirk, FDR sent $43 million in surplus arms to Britain, but the Congress insisted the British pay cash for everything sent. FDR and Churchill signed a “destroyers for bases” deal that enabled him to send 51 older destroyers to Britain.

Unlike the time before World War I, FDR was convinced that America would enter the war and was just as convinced that the U.S. would be prepared for it. Before World War I, the Americans had almost no preparation for participation in a world war. This time, the U.S. would be ready if — or when — war came to America.

Roosevelt ran for his third term during 1940, leading some critics to charge he wanted to be President forever. During the election, eyes kept turning east across the Atlantic, where Britain was fighting for her existence. In September 1940, Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act, establishing America’s first peace-time draft. All men between the ages of 21 and 36 had to register for the draft. 1.2 million soldiers and 800,000 reserves would be trained for a year.

After FDR’s re-election, he gave his State of the Union Address to Congress in January 1941. In the address, FDR delivered his 4 Freedoms: Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. These freedoms would become the guiding basis for American involvement in the War.

In October 1940, the Italians invaded Greece from Albania, expecting a quick victory over the ill-equipped Greek military. Instead, the Greeks whipped the Italians back into Albania. In Africa, the Italians invaded Egypt from Libya; the British beat them back. Still, at the end of 1940, the war was going Hitler’s way everywhere he looked.

1941

In March 1941, the U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, giving FDR the authority to lease goods and services to any nation deemed vital to the American defense. Britain alone filled this definition. In August, Churchill and FDR met of the coast of Newfoundland and produced the Atlantic Charter. Among the aims of the Atlantic Charter was the destruction of “Nazi tyranny” (Churchill’s phrase) and the establishment of an international body to mediate disputes.

The year 1941 saw little action in Europe, mostly because Germany controlled Europe. There was another reason for the quiet.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler had ranked the Slavs with Jews in his order of humanity. The Russians are the largest Slavic ethnic group. Hitler’s goal was to take European Russia for the Germans and ship the Russians into Siberia.

Stalin was hoping his non-aggression treaty with Germany would postpone any attack. Stalin had good reason to hope for a delay: he had purged all his Red Army generals in the 1930’s, executing most of them.

Hitler had always planned to invade Russia; it was merely a matter of when and how. In June 1941, the Germans had 3.5 million men ready for the invasion, along with 3,350 tanks, 7,200 artillery guns, 600,000 vehicles, 625,000 horses, and 2,500 aircraft. At 3 a.m. on 22 June, Hitler launched Operation Barbarosa. The Russians were completely overwhelmed.

One German army went north toward Leningrad (old St. Petersburg); another group went to Moscow, while another army group went south toward Kiev. After only 2 weeks, the German commanders were ready to drive the Soviet Union to the Urals.

The German generals wanted to drive directly to Moscow, assuming that taking the capital would completely knock the Soviets out of the war. Hitler, however, wanted to transfer his armor from the center group to armies going to Leningrad and the southern industrial areas. This gave the Russians time to regroup.

Even worse, Hitler and the Nazis treated all Slavs as subhuman. The Ukranians and other Slavic groups — all of whom hated the Russians — greeted the Germans as liberators until the Nazis began killing and raping Slavs. Before long, no one loved the Germans; in fact, the Germans were hated worse than the Russians.

Meanwhile, Hitler changed his mind again and sent all the armor back to the Moscow group. By the time the Wehrmacht arrived at Moscow, it was October, and fall was definitely in the air. The Russians fought bravely, using British tanks. Churchill had announced to the House of Commons, “if Hitler were to invade Hell, I should find occasion to make a favorable reference to the Devil.” (Stokesbury, 159)

The Germans managed to entrap Moscow by late October, but winter came early in December 1941. It was the hardest winter in a century. The Germans had been so confident they’d have won by now, the troops still wore summer uniforms, summer equipment, and light oil in their engines. The temperature dropped overnight and kept on dropping — to 40 degrees below zero. The Germans froze, as did their engines. Then, the Russians began a surprise offensive on 6 December.

In the fall of 1941, the German and American navies began trading shots in the Atlantic. On 31 October, the U.S.S. Reuben James was sunk off the coast of Iceland. Congress responded by extending the Lend-Lease agreements to the Soviet Union.

On 7 December 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. naval base in Hawaii. The Japanese sank or damaged 8 battleships, destroyed 150 planes, and damaged another 100 planes. 4,575 Americans were killed or wounded. FDR asked for a declaration of war before Congress, calling December 7 “a day which will live in infamy.” When the U.S. declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S., which then declared war on Germany and Italy.

Churchill’s response to Pearl Harbor was characteristic: “We have won the war!” was his first thought. That night, Churchill went to bed and slept “the sleep of the saved and the thankful.” (Stokesbury, 171) It would take a while for the U.S. to get into the war, especially with the U-boats so active in the Atlantic, but Great Britain was saved.

The U.S. entered the war with 1.5 million men, most of them barely armed and trained. The Army Air Force had 1,200 combat aircraft, but of these only 150 were four-engined bombers. The U.S. Navy had 347 warships, including 17 battleships and 7 aircraft carriers. The Japanese had 2.4 million troops, a reserve of 3 million, 7,500 planes, and 230 warships.

Events of December 1941 would determine the course of the war. The Japanese had awakened the sleeping giant. No nation in the world could touch American industrial productivity; by the end of the war, the U.S. was producing planes and ships faster than the Germans or Japanese could destroy them. Furthermore, as Jerry Pournelle puts it, “The Anglo-Saxon-Scots-Irish people are the most warlike people in history, and their enemies forget it at their peril.” One reason so many Americans opposed the Treaty of Versailles was that they felt Germany had been let off too easy.

The Japanese didn’t stop with Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Within days, Guam fell. Wake Island fell on 23 December. Hong Kong surrendered to Japanese forces on Christmas Day. Singapore fell on 15 February 1942. The Dutch East Indies fell during the spring. Within a period of months, the Japanese controlled the entirety of Southeast Asia.

Things were even worse in the Philippines. The American forces there, under General Douglas MacArthur, came under heavy attack on 8 December. The Japanese attacked while the American Army Air Corps planes were still grounded. Most of the aircraft were destroyed on the ground, opening the skies and the seas to Japanese invasion.

On 22 December, 43,000 Japanese troops came ashore and started racing toward Manila. The Americans had no choice but to fall back to the Bataan peninsula and the fortress there. With the Pacific fleet at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, the Americans had no hope of reinforcements. On 12 March, MacArthur was ordered to leave the Philippines and go to Australia. He declared, “I shall return.” After his departure, the American forces surrendered. The Japanese forced the survivors onto the infamous Bataan Death March. Over 3,000 Americans — and perhaps as many as 10,000 — were killed by the Japanese on the march to prison camps.

The Japanese, whose code of honor considered surrender a shame and a prisoner as nothing, showed no mercy because they expected none themselves. The result was that the war in the Pacific became a brutal affair of attrition, with few Japanese soldiers surviving the conflict.

1942

After the British beat the Italians in North Africa, Hitler sent German reinforcements led by General Erwin Rommel. Rommel was a military genius who drove the British back almost to Alexandria before they finally dug in and held on in June 1942. At the Battle of El Alamein, the British under Field Marshal Montgomery finally defeated Rommel and began driving the Axis forces back west. The two armies seesawed for much of the year.

America’s first taste of the war came in 1942. The Americans landed armies in French colonies in North Africa, hoping the French wouldn’t fight American forces. This was a mistaken hope; Petain ordered his men to fight to the death. Instead, many defected to the American side. Still, Rommel pummeled the American army so badly in one battle that even the American cooks had to fight.

The result of the French failure in North Africa was that Hitler absorbed the Vichy Republic into occupied territory. France no longer existed as an independent nation; only the French resistance under de Gaulle stood as an independent French government.

With the British on one side and the Americans on the other, Rommel was forced to recognize the futility of fighting. Hitler recalled Rommel, and the Axis troops in North Africa surrendered in May 1943.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the Americans scored a major PR coup in April. On 18 April, 16 B-25 bombers took off from the carrier U.S.S. Hornet, headed for Japan on a one-way bombing mission. Commanded by Colonel James Doolittle, the planes bombed Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe. Although they did little damage — each plane could carry only 4 bombs — the effect on morale was dramatic. To the Americans, the Japanese had suffered a taste of their own medicine. To the Japanese, the shock was that their islands had been bombed in spite of their defensive lines. The planes themselves went down in China or the Soviet Union after they ran out of fuel. The Japanese captured few of Doolittle’s crews, but shot the ones they captured.

The Japanese had another shock waiting for them. In the south Pacific, the Japanese decided to attack New Guinea, a British colony. Instead, the American fleet operating there caught them off-guards. It seems the Americans had broken the Japanese military codes and knew where to expect the Japanese ships. In the battle of Coral Sea, neither fleet saw the other; the entire battle was fought by planes. The Japanese lost a carrier, the Americans lost a carrier and another was heavily damaged, but the Japanese withdrew.

It turns out the Japanese lost a critical advantage at Pearl Harbor: All the American carriers were out at sea that day. The Japanese didn’t know this. As a result, the American carriers survived the attack and became the core of the re-built Pacific Fleet. The Japanese decided to attack Midway Island and force the Americans from the island. Instead, the Americans moved their carriers into position and waited for the showdown. When the smoke cleared that day in June, the Japanese lost 3 of their 4 carriers, while the Americans lost only the Yorktown. The Americans forced the Japanese fleet back. Even better, the Americans could build new carriers; the Japanese could not afford the loss of both carriers and experienced pilots they suffered at Midway.

Another major battle occurred in the Pacific in 1942. After the Japanese withdrew after the Coral Sea battle, their attention turned to the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese built an airstrip there and expected to use it to hamper Allied operations between Australia and other remaining British colonies. The Americans were not disposed to allow this. On 7 August, 11,000 Marines landed on the island, faced by 2,000 Japanese. The Japanese escalated the conflict with a naval battle that destroyed 3 American carriers and damaged 2 other Allied vessels. Both sides started pouring resources into the battle. By September, the Japanese had 6,000 troops on the island. Over the months, the Japanese landed more troops, eventually outnumbering the Americans 23,0000 to 20,000. The Japanese launched a vicious attack in October, but the Marines were ready for them. In the end, in January 1943, the Americans won the island. Both sides lost major ships, but the Americans could afford it more.

The Red Army began a major offensive in the Moscow area in November 1942. Although they faced huge casualties, the Red Army launched another offensive against in February 1943. The Red Army was on the move, and the Soviets wouldn’t stop until they took Berlin.

1943

Everyone — including Hitler — knew it was only a matter of time before the Allies invaded Western Europe. No one knew where the invasion would come. The Allies decided, with Churchill’s encouragement, to invade the Continent through Italy. Hitler already mistrusted the Italians, even if he trusted Mussolini, and had sent German forces into Italy to shore up defenses there. Hitler once said, “The Italians never lose a war; no matter what happens, they always end up on the winning side.” (Stokesbury, 292)

The Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943 with more than 500,000 soldiers. By the end of the month, the Allies held Sicily. But before the Allies could cross over into the Italian mainland, Mussolini was overthrown. The Italians surrendered unconditionally in September and joined the Allies. Hitler was correct about the Italians. Still, German armies occupied much of Italy, and the fighting was fierce as the Allies drove north. Rome would not fall until 1944.

Meanwhile, the major theater of the war was in the Soviet Union. Hitler’s meddling in military affairs had led to a large German army being surrounded in Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-43. At times, the temperature was minus 49 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, the Soviets continued pouring men into the battle, and the Germans continued to lose men without reinforcements. By the time the Germans surrendered in February 1943, the 300,000-man army had been reduced to only 91,000, only 6,000 of whom would survive the war. The Russians weren’t very fond of German POW’s.

The Soviets also broke the siege of Leningrad in January 1943. Soon after, the Red Army began a surprise offensive in the area. By now, the Red Army outnumbered the Germans 4 to 1 and had immense stockpiles of American and British equipment, especially trucks.

In July 1943, the Germans counterattacked in the Kursk region. Kursk would be the greatest tank battle ever fought: 6,000 tanks between the 2 sides. The Russians won the battle and never looked back.

In the Pacific, the Americans began what was known as “island hopping.” Rather than clearing the Japanese from every island in the Pacific, the American planners decided to take only those with strategic value and bypass the rest. The Japanese troops on the bypassed islands would be left to starve.

While island-hopping sounded good in theory, in practice it pitted American Marines against Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender. Tarawa was the first island hit. Of the first 5,000 Marines to hit the shore, 1,500 were dead or wounded by the first day. After vicious fighting, only 17 of the 4,700 Japanese on the island were alive. The Marines suffered 985 dead and 2,193 wounded in the battle.

1944

1944 would be the crucial year of the War. In January 1944, the Soviets began another offensive near Leningrad. This time, the offensive took Estonia. The Soviets then struck in the south, moving men and materiel with impunity around the country. The Germans were defenseless to stop them.

The next target in the Pacific was Kwajalein. The Americans learned the lessons of Tarawa and suffered only 1,400 casualties (400 killed and 1,000 wounded) against the Japanese. Only 130 Japanese out of 8,000 survived. Kwajalein demonstrated another American advantage: Industrial power. The American fleet at this one island consisted of 12 carriers, 6 battleships, a dozen cruisers, and numerous destroyers.

In June 1944, the great invasion of Europe finally came. On the eve of D-Day on 6 June 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower told his troops, “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.”1 That day, roughly 6,000 ships ferried 176,000 soldiers across the English Channel to invade France. The liberation of Europe had begun. Once the Allies broke free of the beachhead, the French resistance began gathering and aiding the armies on their race across France.

Again, the American capacity to produce war material was at its peak. The U.S. was moving so swiftly it could replace everything lost in the invasion in less than 6 months.

While the Allies were preparing for Operation Overlord, they engaged the Germans in a strategic bombing campaign. The Allies poured 2.7 million tons of bombs on Germany, 72% of them between 1 July 1944 and May 1945. Every major German city was hit, and after the Allies ran out of major targets they began bombing minor ones. Allied bombers wiped out Hamburg beginning on 24 July and finishing 4 August. 300,000 homes were burned, 750,000 were homeless, and between 60,000 and 100,000 were dead.

The Soviets began driving through Poland in the summer. In July, Warsaw rose in revolt against the Germans, expecting the Soviets to aid them; instead, Stalin halted his forces while the Germans brutally suppressed the revolt. The more Polish partisans killed, the less opposition to the Soviets, he figured.

The German generals realized that Hitler had destroyed the nation. In July, they staged an assassination attempt on the Fuhrer. Hitler survived, but the plotters didn’t.

The Soviets crossed into native German territory in December 1944. In the south, the Soviets had joined with the Yugoslav partisans and cleared Belgrade; a good chunk of Hungary and eastern Czechoslovakia was now in Soviet hands.

In December 1944, the Germans staged their last offensive in the west, in the Ardennes Forest. The Battle of the Bulge commenced under cloudy skies, so the Allied planes were grounded. The Germans drove deeply into American lines, but the Americans held. At Bastogne, when the 101st Airborne Division was offered surrender terms, General MacAuliffe replied with one word: “Nuts!” The Americans survived. Once the skies cleared, the battle was over. The Germans lost 200,000 men and 600 tanks, along with most of its remaining aircraft.

In the Marianas, the islands of Saipan and Tinian fell to the Americans. The Japanese Navy decided to attack the American fleet while it was split apart during the operations. Unknown to the Japanese, the U.S. Navy had submarines shadowing the Japanese ships. When the Japanese attacked, they faced the fury of a combined fleet of 109 ships and 956 planes. The battle became what the Americans called the “Marianas Turkey Shoot.” The Japanese lost 3 carriers and 480 airplanes.

The Americans continued their relentless campaign. Guam fell in August. The battle for the Philippines began on 20 October, supported with 750 ships and the largest landing force ever assembled in the Pacific. The Japanese launched a desperate naval attack, but the Battle of Leyte Gulf ended the Japanese naval activity for the war. The Japanese lost 3 battleships, 4 carriers, 10 cruisers, and 9 destroyers. The only Japanese weapon left was the kamikaze, or suicide pilots who flew their planes into American ships. MacArthur returned to the Philippines. The Japanese lost 350,000 men in the Philippine campaign, while the Americans lost 62,000 casualties, including 14,000 killed.

1945: The Final Year

1945 began with the Third Reich reeling on both sides. France was free, the Soviets occupied Poland, and the Germans were in full retreat. The Allies crossed the Rhine in March. Mussolini was summarily executed in April, along with his mistress; the Italians hung him by his heels from a lamppost in front of a Milan gas station. The final Italian opposition to the Allies surrendered on 2 May.

The Soviets took Berlin on 2 May. Hitler and his mistress had committed suicide the previous day, on the first. Hitler had appointed Admiral Doenitz as his successor. Doenitz surrendered unconditionally on 8 May 1945. For Europe, World War II was over.

In the Pacific, the Americans began bombing the Japanese islands in preparation for invasion. B-29 Superfortress bombers, based on Guam and Saipan, hit Tokyo throughout the winter. By the end of March, more than 3 million Japanese in Tokyo alone were homeless.

The Americans decided to take the island of Iwo Jima to shorten the bomber flights. Marines landed on 19 February and attacked the 21,000 Japanese troops there. After a month of fighting and 25,000 American casualties, Iwo Jima belonged to the U.S.

Okinawa was attacked in April. The Japanese responded with massive waves of kamikaze fighters that sunk at least 30 ships and damaged another 350. The Americans suffered 50,000 casualties; at least 110,000 Japanese died, including many civilians who committed suicide rather than be captured by the American troops. The Japanese also lost their superbattleship the Yamato, which Admiral Seiichi Ito sailed from Japan on a one-way trip to engage the Americans.

The Americans now began bombing the Japanese cities even more fiercely. B-29’s bombed with impunity since the Japanese had no fighter aircraft to stop them.

The Allies began planning an invasion of Japan for 1946. Both the British and Russians wanted to participate, but other affairs intervened.

The U.S. suffered a major loss on 29 March 1945: Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia. He was succeeded by Harry Truman, a Missourian who had no idea what all he inherited. It turned out he inherited one of the trump cards of the American military: the atomic bomb. The problem is, the U.S. had only 3 of them, and one of them was used as a test. Truman signed the order to drop the other 2 bombs on Japanese cities.

On 6 August 1945, the B-29 named Enola Gay dropped a single bomb on Hiroshima. In one second, 4 square miles of Hiroshima disappeared, taking 80,000 people with it. Temperatures of 7,000 degrees and winds of 980 mph devastated the city. Counting the radiation deaths, roughly 200,000 people would die from the bomb. When the Japanese government refused to surrender, another B-29 dropped the last bomb on Nagasaki (which was the second target; Tokyo was first but was spared by fog). The Japanese were finished.

On 2 September, a Sunday, the Japanese government signed its official unconditional surrender on the decks of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The casualties of the war can only be estimated. Roughly 70 million men fought in the war; 17 million of them died, and at least 20 million civilians may have died.

Germany lost 3.25 million dead, and 7.25 wounded. Over 1 million German soldiers went “missing,” with no accounting for their disappearance.

The Italians lost fighting for both sides, suffering roughly 300,000 casualties.

The French lost roughly 250,000 deaths and 500,000 wounded or missing, along with 500,000 civilians shipped to Germany or shot (30,000 French were shot by firing squads).

Britain suffered 250,000 dead, 400,000 wounded or missing, and would eventually lose her empire.

The Soviets lost 6 million soldiers dead, more than 14 million wounded or missing, and anywhere from 10 million to 20 million civilians killed. More Soviets died at Stalingrad than all the American casualties combined.

The Americans lost 400,000 dead and more than 500,000 wounded. More than 16 million Americans served at some point in the war.

The Japanese lost 2 million dead and 140,000 wounded. In addition, over 500,000 civilians died in Allied bombings, with another 600,000 wounded.

After the war, the world awoke to the worst casualties of all: The Germans’ Final Solution. Hitler’s Nazis had executed over 6 million Jews in death camps in Germany and Poland. The Holocaust was the greatest act of genocide known to man.