Supplementary source: James Stokesbury, A Short History of World War II (New York: HarperCollins, 1980, reprint Perennial, 2001).

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.

The next day, 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. In the next few months, the Japanese attacked the Americans in the Philippines, the British in Hong Kong and Burma, and the Dutch in Indonesia. In a short time, the Japanese faced no Allied opposition in the Pacific outside Australia.

When FDR asked for his declaration of war before Congress, he called 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 is that they felt Germany had been let off too easy.

The Allies had to determine their strategy for defeating the Axis powers. The U.S. government had already decided that Germany had to fall first, then Japan. Churchill and FDR met off the coast of Newfoundland in 1941. The Atlantic Charter they announced included what FDR called the “four freedoms:” freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. Churchill also included a statement that the freedoms would exist only when the Nazis were defeated.

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.

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.

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.

In June 1944, the great invasion 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.

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.

The U.S. would continue to fight the Japanese until August. Two atomic bombs — the only two the U.S. had — would end the war in Japan in August 1945.

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.

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.