World War II: 70 Years Later

We witness more than 70 years since the end of World War II. WWII changed the world politically,
economically, technologically, and socially. We learn a lot of lessons from that war from how cruel humanity
can be and how courageous humans can be as well. Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents were
veterans of WWII. A lot of people love to research information about World War 2 too. Tons of books,
documentaries, and speeches have been made about this brutal war. Now, with events going on in
America, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, and China, we must reflect on WWII in a higher level. This
war involved more than 100 million people and from over 30 countries. I’m very glad that the Nazis
were defeated after WWII. The war was the deadliest conflict in human history with about 50-85 million
human beings who died from the conflict. It was the first war where 2 nuclear weapons were used in overt
combat. It lasted from 1939 to 1945. WW2 like WW1 was the result of capitalist imperialism. Yet, the war
originated from events long before 1939. After WWI, Germany had to pay huge reparations. Germany was
defeated in WWI along with the Ottoman Empire. In essence, WWI caused Germany to be defeated not only
politically, but economically. The Young Plan forced Germany to pay U.S. $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a
period of 58.5 years. It replaced the earlier Dawes Plan. This caused an economic collapse in Germany with
high inflation.
The League of Nations failed, because the League had lax enforcement and the world was divided on its
portions and other parts of its rules. By 1929, the Great Depression existed in America with the Wall Street
Crash. The Wall Street Crash, the economic crisis, and imperialist rivalry over the domination of colonies and
markets of the Earth drove the world to war. The defeated imperialists in WW1 wouldn’t accept the
“settlement” imposed on them via the Treaty of Versailles. As history has shown us, when markets are
glutted, war and destruction become a highly profitable capitalist enterprise.

To know about World War II, there should be information about the famous personages involved in it. Here
are the following people that were involved in World War II. This list doesn't show everyone involved in
WWII, but it outlines many of the famous people that scholars have wrote about for decades. Here are these
people:

Allied People:
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: He was the 32nd President of the United States of America during
the war. He has shown great leadership, and he passed the progressive New Deal. Also, he allowed many
strategies that would cause the victory of the Allied powers. He passed away in April of 1945.

Winston Churchill: He was the famous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was more aggressive in
trying to allow America to join the Allied cause. He was successful. He agreed with FDR on most issues, but
they had disagreements on the Atlantic Charter, on imperialism, and on the Soviet Union. After the war,
Churchill would be a great enemy of the Soviet Union and communism in general. His Iron Curtain speech in
Missouri would outline his disdain for Communism. Churchill won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his
many books on England and world history.

President Harry Truman: During the war, he was Vice President at first. Later, he became President after
Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away. As the 33rd President of the United States of America, he would
be very aggressive towards the Soviets and he would support the Cold War ideal of containment.

Joseph Stalin: He was the famous, controversial leader of the Soviet Union. He wasn’t perfect, but he
courageously led Soviet armies to defeat the evil Nazi Empire. During World War II, he allied with Roosevelt
and Churchill. He was friendlier with Roosevelt than with Churchill. He passed away in 1953.

Vyacheslav Molotov: He was a Soviet politician who worked with Stalin on various agreements with the
Allied Powers.

General Georgi Konstantionovich Zhukov: He was one of the greatest and courageous Soviet generals
during World War II. He was very successful in his military actions against the evil Nazi Empire. He was one
of the greatest war generals in history.
General George Patton: He was a famous General who led invasions of Sicily and Western Europe. He
passed away in December 21, 1945 after he had an automobile accident. We know about books and other
historians like Robert Wilcox who say that the OSS was involved in the accident, which caused General
George Patton to pass away.

Chiang Kai-Shek: He was the Chinese leader of the National Party of the Republic of China or KMT
(Kuomintang). He was the disciple and brother in law of the nationalist Sun Yat-sen. His forces engaged the
Japanese occupiers in China. After WWII, he was involved in a civil war with Mao’s Communist forces. The
Communists won the civil war and Chiang including his followers went into Taiwan where he called himself
President of Taiwan. He passed away in 1975.

Charles de Gaulle: He was a French general and he fought the Vichy government. He worked with the
French resistance movement and he was the President of the provisional government from October 1945
and he resigned in January 1946. He would serve as Premier of France after the War.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower: He was the famous U.S. Army General who held the position of the
Supreme Allied commander in Europe among many others. He planned the Operation Overload, which
related to the Allied invasion of Europe or D-Day. After WWII, Eisenhower became even more popular in
America. He was elected to two terms as U.S. President. He took office in 1953 and he became a
Republican President.

General Montgomery: He was the Commander of the British Eighth Army in the North African campaign.
He defeated Erwin Rommel’s forces and Erwin was forced to retreat from Egypt after the Second Battle of El
Alamein. Under Eisenhower’s command, he successfully led the Allied invasion of Sicily of 1943. He was
involved in commanding the ground forces during the Normandy landings.

General Douglas MacArthur: He was the famous American general who had a leading role in Asia during
and after World War II. He was the son of General Arthur MacArthur, who was involved in the Civil War.
Douglas MacArthur took back the Philippines from Japan forces in October 1944. After WWII, he led an UN
coalition to fight North Korea during the Korean War. He was fired by Harry Truman since MacArthur wanted
to attack China as a way to end the war more quickly, but Truman feared that this action would cause
WWIII. MacArthur would speak and continue to work his private life until his passing in 1964.

Admiral Chester Nimitz: He was the famous Commander in Chief of the Pacific Forces of the United
States and the Allied Forces during World War II. He hauled down his flag at Pearl Harbor on November 26,
1945. He passed away on February 20, 1966.

General Curtis LeMay: He was the commander of the U.S. Air Force’s 21st Bomber Command in the
Pacific Theater during WWII. He was known for creating the strategy of using massive incendiary bomb
attacks on Japanese cities in order to break the Japanese will near the end of the war. Civilians died by his
attacks and he was a notorious war criminal and reactionary.
Axis People:
Adolf Hitler: He was the evil Fuhrer or leader of Nazi Germany. He was complicit in so many evils and he
was a liar, a racist, and a murderer. He was very successful during the beginning of the war, but he was
ultimately defeated. He committed suicide.

General Hideki Tojo: He was the Prime Minister of Japan from October 1941 to July of 1944. Tojo was an
aggressive General. He tried to improve relations between Japan and America, but he failed. He ordered the
attack on Pearl Harbor. Tojo resigned when he knew that Japan was going to lose the war. Tojo was
executed after the war for his responsibility in Japan’s war crimes.

Benito Mussolini: Being the prime Minister of Italy from 1922, he was a dictator. He was a fascist and he
was a member of the Axis Powers. He hated socialism and communism. He wanted strict nationalism and
he executed aggressive militarism. He was overthrown in 1943 and in April of 1945, Communist Resistance
units executed Mussolini.

Hermann Goering: He was the commander of the Luftwaffe or the German Air Force. He was an early
member of the Nazi party.

Heinrich Himmler: He was the leader of the SS or the Schutzstaffel. The SS was Hitler’s personal
bodyguard group. Himmler caused the SS to be the paramilitary group of the Third Reich. He was a racist
and he died by suicide.

Karl Doenitz: He was the leader of the German U-Boat campaign during World War II.

Iosroku Yamamoto: He was the Japanese Navy admiral who planned the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
in 1941 and the attack on Midway on 1942.
The Beginning and Invasions
The start of World War II existed via international events. The rise of Hitler was filled with evil and deception.
There was the German Thule Society, which was a secret society that influenced the Nazis. It was founded in
1918 and ended just before 1930. Its founder was Rudolf von Sebottendorf. It was sponsored by the DAP (or the
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). The DAP was reorganized by Adolf Hitler into the National Socialist German Workers’
Party of the NSDAP (which was the Nazi Party). According to author Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Hans Frank
and Rudolf Hess had been Thule members while other leading Nazis were only invited to speak at Thule
meetings or were totally unconnected with it. The Thule Society was a racist, crypto-fascist organization who
demonized Jewish people, foreigners, and Bolsheviks. Before the Thule Society existed, Walter Nauhaus formed
the Germaneorden group to promote the myth of Aryan supremacy. The Thule Society wanted members to have
no Jewish or heritage that was from a person of color. Thule is an old word that describes the Northern region of
Europe. This Thule society had about 250 members in Munich and 1,500 elsewhere in Bavaria. Sebottendorff
planned but failed to kidnap Bavarian socialist Prime Minister Kurt Eisner in December 1918. During the Bavarian
revolution of April 1919, Thulists were accused of trying to infiltrate its government and of attempting a coup. On
April 26, the Communist government in Munich raided the Society's premises and took seven of its members into
custody, executing them on 30 April. Amongst them were Walter Nauhaus and four well-known aristocrats,
including Countess Heila von Westarp who functioned as the group's secretary and Taxis who was related to
several European royal families. From the 1920’s to 1939, many British, French, and U.S. imperialists hoped that
Germany would destroy the USSR. That is why Neville Chamberlain followed the Munich Agreement with the
Nazis. Today, the U.S. Britain, and the EU support fascists in Ukraine today.
In 1918, the Thule Society bought a local weekly newspaper, the Münchener Beobachter (Munich Observer), and
changed its name to Münchener Beobachter und Sportblatt (Munich Observer and Sports Paper) in an attempt to
improve its circulation. The Münchener Beobachter later became the Völkischer Beobachter (German): People's
Observer), the main Nazi newspaper. It was edited by Karl Harrer. The DAP established links with the Thule
Society via Anton Drexler. Sebottendorff left the Thule Society. Hitler would later criticize occultism and secret
societies (as he felt that groups like the Freemasons were agents of Jewish people). The Nazis claimed that high-
degree Masons were willing members of the Jewish conspiracy and that Freemasonry was one of the causes of
Germany's defeat in World War I. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote that Freemasonry has succumbed to the
Jewish people and has become an excellent instrument to fight for their aims and to use their strings to pull the
upper strata of society into their designs. Hitler gave a speech in Nuremberg on September 6, 1938 showing his
disapproval of occultism. Freemasonic concentration camp inmates were graded as political prisoners, and wore
an inverted (point down) red triangle. I don’t agree with Freemasonry ideologically, but Freemasons should never
be harassed, assaulted, placed in concentration camps and killed because of their views.

Ideological freedom without tyranny must be established throughout the Earth. The evil of Hitler is truly
abominable. Hitler was a very evil man. Likewise, Heinrich Himmler was interested in mysticism and the occult.
Himmler emulated the structure of Ignatius Loyola’s Jesuit order in the Schutzstaffel or the SS according to Hone.
Historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's 1985 book, entitled, "The Occult Roots of Nazism" has great research
on this issue. Many SS members were definitely interested in mysticism like SS officer Ernst Schafer (who was
involved in the 1938-1939 German expedition to Tibet). In order words, the Thule Society must be studied in order
to understand information about the viciously racist and evil Nazi Party.

Adolf Hitler would be the leader of the National Socialist or Nazi Party in July 1921. The Nazi Party had nothing to
do with socialism as the Nazis hated socialists and killed them. The Nazis hated labor rights and promoted anti-
worker policies. On early November 1921, Hitler was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch. This was when Hitler and
the Nazis tried to overthrow the German government. They had a shootout with the German police and Hitler’s
bodyguard Ulrich Graf saved his life by shielding Hitler with his body. Hitler left the Nazis behind. He hid in the
Hanfstaengls’ attic. The police arrested Hitler and they arrested Ludendorff too. Hitler and others were later
placed into jail. This was a huge blow to the Nazi movement, but the Nazis made a serious comeback. Hitler’s evil
book Mein Kampf or “My Struggle” was published in July 18, 1925. Anti-Semitism, racism, and other lies are
found in that despicable book. Also, Mussolini of Italy grew in power by the 1920's. Historian Neil Gregor, in his
introduction to a discussion of Nazism which includes many experts, says:

“As with other fascist ideologies and movements it subscribed to an ideology of national renewal, rebirth, and
rejuvenation manifesting itself in extreme populist radical nationalism, militarism, and – in contradistinction to
many other forms of fascism, extreme biological racism…the movement understood itself to be, and indeed was,
a new form of political movement…the anti-Socialist, anti-liberal, and radical nationalist tenets of Nazi ideology
applied particularly to the sentiments of a middle class disorientated by the domestic and international upheavals
in the inter-war period.” (Neil Gregor, Nazism, Oxford, 2000 p 4-5.)

In 1929, the Papacy signed the Lateran Treaty with Benito Mussolini. It recognized the Vatican as an independent
state, with Prime Minister Benito Mussolini agreeing to give the church financial support in return for public
support from the pope at the time. Under the Lateran Pact, Vatican City was granted independent statehood and
placed under Church law—rather than Italian law—and the Catholic religion was recognized as Italy's state
religion. The Catholic Church also regained authority over marriage, Catholicism could be taught in all secondary
schools, birth control and Freemasonry were banned, and the clergy received subsidies from the state, and was
exempted from taxation. Pope Pius XI praised Mussolini, and the official Catholic newspaper pronounced: "Italy
has been given back to God and God to Italy."

The Japanese Empire wanted control over resources in other nations. In September 18, 1931, the Japanese
Empire staged a false flag bombing against a Japanese owned railroad in the Chinese region of Manchuria
blaming Chinese dissidents for the attack (which wasn’t the case). This was the Mukden Incident. Later, the
Japanese invaded Manchuria. This started the trend towards WWII. In other words, invasions would cause a
domino effect of more conflicts until international war develops. During this time from 1932 to 1933, the
Soviet Union experienced a famine. The Japanese Empire soon conquered China. First, they ruled Manchuria
and created a puppet state called Manchukuo. The Japanese Empire followed autocratic fascism like Franco did
in Spain.

Mussolini and the Catholic Church would have more disagreements as time went on. He or Mussolini would
confiscate Catholic newspapers. Mussolini publicly reconciled with the Pope Pius XI in 1932. In 1938, he again
expressed anti-clericalism. In July 1938, Mussolini introduced the Charter of Race. This policy took away the
Italian Jewish people the right of Italian nationality. Italian Jewish people were not allowed to teach, they were not
allowed to have state jobs, they were not allowed to be in the Fascist Party (though a number had since 1922)
and no Jewish person could work for a bank or insurance company. Jewish human beings were forbidden from
marrying non-Jewish Italians and they were not allowed to join the army. These laws were so unpopular that the
Pope sent a letter of protest to Mussolini. Throughout his life, the dictator Mussolini would never have complete
agreement with the Papacy on all issues.

Germany, by the 1930's, was desperate for solutions. In Germany in 1932, Paul von Hindenburg was reelected
President of Germany. He defeated Adolf Hitler (who was in WWI) in a runoff election. This happened in April 10,
1932. Later, on May 30, Chancellor of Germany Heinrich Bruning resigned. Bruning faced a massive economic
recession in Germany. The problem with Heinrich Bruning was that he responded to the Depression in Germany
with the tightening of credit and a rollback of all salary and wage increases. This increased unemployment, a loss
of tax revenue, and it caused him to be very unpopular. He instituted presidential emergency decrees without
approval of the Reichstag. Heinrich Bruning resigned, because of the austerity policies that he made.
President von Hindenburg asked Franz von Papen (who was a Knight of Malta) to form a new government.
Hermann Goring was elected chairman of the German Senate in August 30. Paul von Hindenburg talked to Hitler
(he was anti-socialist and anti- communist. One common definition of fascists is their hatred of socialists and
communists. The Nazis were anti-union too) about forming a new government and he named Kurt von
Schleicher to be Chancellor of Germany. Germany has a massive recession, people are desperate for resources,
and there is massive suffering. Unfortunately, the Nazis exploited the economic turmoil in Germany as an excuse
for them to promote anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry. In 1933, Japan continued to
invade China. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg.
On February 27, 1933, the Berlin Reichstag fire came about. The fire started in the Session Chamber of the
Reichstag building or the assembly location of the German Parliament. There was an alarm call that the building
was on fire at 21:25. When the police and the firemen arrived, the main Chamber of Deputies was engulfed in
flames.

It is important to note that Hitler and the Nazis weren’t socialists. Richard Evans, in his magisterial three
volume history of Nazi Germany, is quite clear on whether Hitler was a socialist: “…it would be wrong to see
Nazism as a form of, or an outgrowth of, socialism.” (The Coming of the Third Reich, Evans, p. 173). Hitler
and the Nazis weren’t socialists because of the following reasons:

1. Hitler himself hated socialism and communism by his own words and actions.

2. Nazism is an ideologically built on the falsehood of promoting white Aryan racial superiority while
socialism deals with class analysis. Hitler was a racist and socialism is antithetical to racism. Nazism is
founded on many nationalist principles while socialism abhors nationalism and promotes international
workers’ solidarity. Socialism is defined by class war in that the proletariat wins over the ruling class.

3. Hitler and the Nazis fought against trade unions while socialists are in favor of trade unions. Hitler worked
with leading industrialists to militarize Germany, which socialists abhor. Hitler publicly campaigned against
Bolshevism (which won him support of many of the middle class people, industrialists, and many foreign
conservatives in Germany and in other parts of Europe).

4. The Nazis arrested and murdered socialists and communists.

5. The Nazis privatized many industries in Germany like some steelworks, 4 major banks, and the railways.
The profit generated almost 1.4 per cent of the state's income from 1934-38. Socialism is against the
privatization of public resources.
*So, Adolf Hitler was a right wing dictator and the Nazis movement was a reactionary movement.
This is what Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf on criticizing Marxism in racist terms:

"The Jewish doctrine of Marxism rejects the aristocratic principle of Nature and replaces the eternal privilege
of power and strength by the mass of numbers and their dead weight. Thus it denies the value of personality
in man, contests the significance of nationality and race, and thereby withdraws from humanity the premise
of its existence and its culture. As a foundation of the universe, this doctrine would bring about the end of
any order intellectually conceivable to man. And as, in this greatest of all recognizable organisms, the result
of an application of such a law could only be chaos, on earth it could only be destruction for the inhabitants
of this planet."

The Reichstag was the seat of the German Parliament. The Dutch person Marinus van der Lubbe (who was
mentally disturbed and he was an unemployed bricklayer) was arrested at the scene of the crime. Lubbe was
classified as the sole culprit by the Nazis. Immediately, the Nazis blamed the KPD or the German Communist
Party of doing the arson, which is totally false. In February 28, 1933 alone, just one day after the fire, thousands
of persons active in, or allied with, the workers movement were arrested. The first to be arrested also included
writers Egon Erwin Kisch, Ludwig Renn and Carl von Ossietzky, later murdered by the Nazis in a concentration
camp. The Nazis slandered the progressives in Germany as responsible for the fire. We know that fascists hate
progressives then and now. Historians and scholars recently believe that the Nazis had involvement in the
Reichstag fire as a false flag operation in order for the Nazis to gain power in Germany. In The Rise and Fall of
the Third Reich, William L. Shirer wrote that at Nuremberg, General Franz Halder stated in an affidavit, that
Hermann Göring boasted about setting the fire. Many German civil liberties are gone via the Reichstag Fire
Decree.

On March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as President of the United States of America.
Dachau or the first concentration camp of Germany was concentration would be created in the same year. Adolf
Hitler becomes dictator of Germany in March 23, 1933 and he passed the Enabling Act which further violated
human civil liberties. Jewish people boycotted German goods in response to the racism of Nazi Germany. Hitler
outlaws trade unions on May 2. All non-Nazi parties are banned in Germany by June 21.
One of the most controversial events in human history was when the Papacy signed a concordat (or
Reichshonkordat) in July 20, 1933. It was signed between Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII)
and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen. Pacelli acted on behalf of Pope Pius XI and von Papen acted on behalf of
President Paul von Hindenburg and the German government. It was ratified on September 10, 1933. The treaty
guarantees the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. When bishops take office Article 16 states
they're required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German established according to the
Constitution. The treaty also requires all clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. The Nazis
obviously broke the agreement. Pope Pius XI outlined his encyclical from 1937 called Mit brenneder Sorge which
condemned the breaches of the 1933 Reichskonkordat agreement signed between the German Reich and the
Papacy. There have been historical debates on whether the Papacy supported the Nazis or not. The truth is in the
between the two extremes. Many Catholics opposed the Nazis and were killed by the Nazis, but many Roman
Catholics were involved in the Ratlines (like Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović) which allowed Nazis and other
fascists to escape justice by some people sending them to South America, the USA, the Middle East, etc.

By the end of 1933, Jewish people, the homeless, alcoholics, and the unemployed were sent to Nazi
concentration camps. 1934 saw the growth of these events. Germany and Poland signed a 10 year German-
Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Heinrich Himmler is made leader of all German police forces by March 20. The Nazi
SS and the Gestapo use the Night of Long Knives in Germany (back in June 30, 1934) to kill potential rivals within
the Nazi Party like SA leader Ernst Rohm and many prominent anti-Nazi conservatives. President Paul von
Hindenburg died and Adolf Hitler makes himself Fuhrer of Germany. Hitler was the head of the State and the
Chancellor by August 2, 1934.

The Growth of Fascism

The growth of fascism came about by many factors. Fascism is against human freedom and human justice.
Fascism is about a system that allows policies to benefit select businesses and the rich elites. In
essence, fascism is a form of totalitarian government with extreme nationalist tendencies whereby the
government is controlled and operated for the benefit of a few elite. Fascism includes extreme
exploitation, unbridled corporatism, the use of violence to maintain power, a cult like leader, extreme anti-
socialism, extreme anti-communism, racism, and other anti-progressive views. Japan grew because of
massive industrialization and the Emperor of Japan wanted the Empire of Japan to expand into Asia (thereby
promoting the myth of Japanese racial superiority). Mussolini made no bones about his hatred of socialism and
communism by his own words. Throughout the early 20th century, Mussolini fought socialist and communist
groups all over Italy. So, Mussolini was a dedicated member of the reactionary fascist movement. The fascist
Adolf Hitler exploited the economic turmoil in Europe as a means for him and his Nazi group to advance
militarism, racism, anti-Semitism, and imperialism (in violation of international law).

In August 8, 1934, people from the Wehrmacht swore a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler instead of to the German
constitution. Then, there was the Abyssinia Crisis. This started in December of 1934 when the imperialist Italians
and the Ethiopian troops fought each other on the border of Ethiopia. America signed the Neutrality Act of 1935
that has a general embargo on trading in arms and war. It declared that American citizens traveling on ships of
warring nations traveled at their own risk. In September 1935, the Reichstag passed the Nuremberg Laws. These
laws introduce anti-Semitism in German legislation. On October 2, 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, which started the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Ethiopia was soon occupied fully by May 5, 1936. Ethiopia would not gain
independence until February 10, 1947. In 1936, Hitler promoted lies. He said to Arnold J. Toynbee that he just
wanted limited expansionism of a greater German nation. In actuality, Hitler wanted to rule Europe, exterminate
the Jewish people of Europe, and conquer the Earth. Germany hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics too. Hitler
violated the Treaty of Versailles in March 7, 1936 by remilitarizing the Rhineland. Hitler grew the military of
German by allowing Herman Goring to head the German Four Year Plan, which desired German self-sufficiency
and increase armaments. Stalin on October of 1937 made the big mistake by executing the Great Purge,
which was about the widespread suppression of suspected opponents of his regime. That purge also
caused the death and the imprisonment of military of forces too, which weakened the Soviet Armed Forces ahead
of WWII.

Germany hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin on August 1. The Brother Jesse Owens won the 100 m
race, which refuted the myth of white racial superiority. The Suiyan Campaign in November 14, 1936 was about
Japanese-backed Mongolian troops attack the Chinese garrison at Hongort. Germany and the Japanese sign the
Anti-Comintern Pact. This agreement from November 25, 1936 desired to attack the Soviets if the Soviets attack
Germany of Japan. Hitler forced all males from 10 to 18 to join the Hitler Youth. In December 1, 1936, the
Chinese Civil War ends temporarily, so the Chinese can fight the Japanese. During the late 1930’s, the Spanish
Civil War continues. This war was about progressive forces (of Spain. Many liberals came to Spain to fight with
the progressives) fighting the more fascist, nationalist forces of Spain. On September 1938, France and Britain
concluded the Munich Agreement. The Munich Agreement allowed the Nazis to get control of Czechoslovakia
and Britain ordered Czechoslovakia to not seek Soviet help.
Isolationism

Throughout the 1930’s and during the early 1940’s, isolationism was strong in America. This isolationist
movement was diverse back then. They were made up of pacifists, reactionary politicians, some progressives,
conservative activists, and racists (like members of the American Bund). The isolationist movement radically
decreased in their influence after the attack on Pearl Harbor during December 7, 1941. The isolationist
movement grew after the Great Depression and the destruction caused by WWI. Americans didn’t want
another war let alone a war with such viciousness and destruction of human life like WWI was. Isolationists
didn’t want any direct or indirect involvement in European and Asian conflicts during the 1930’s and during
the 1940’s. These activists took inspiration from the Farewell Address made by President George Washington
who didn’t want involvement in European wars and politics. This sentiment has been expressed by the
Monroe Doctrine. So, the isolationist movement was made up of sincere human beings with real concerns
and it was made up of others were outright extremists and racists.
We do know that many Western capitalists aided the Third Reich economically. As one article
from Edwin Black has mentioned:

"...Among the decisions made in America beginning in about 1935 was the one transferring to Germany the
technology to produce the modern gasoline additive tetraethyl lead, commonly called “ethyl,” or leaded
gasoline. This allowed the Reich to boost octane that provided better automotive performance by eliminating
disruptive engine pings and jolts. Better performance meant a faster and more mobile fighting force — just
what the Reich would ultimately need for its swift and mobile Blitzkrieg. As early as 1934, however,
America’s War Department was apprehensive about the transfer of such proprietary chemical processes. In
late December 1934, as GM was considering building leaded gasoline plants for Hitler, DuPont Company
board director Irenee du Pont wrote to Sloan: “Of course, we in the DuPont Company have always
recognized the propriety and desirability of closely cooperating with the War Department of the United
States. …In any case, I know that word has gone to the War Department and have the impression that they
would be adverse to disclosure of knowledge which would aid Germany in preparing that chemical.” The
profits were simply not worth it, argued du Pont.

Sloan had already bluntly told du Pont, “I do not agree with your reasoning to this question.” Days later,
Sloan appended that GM’s commercial rights were “far more fundamental… than the question of making a
little money out of lead in Germany.” GM moved quickly — in conjunction with its close ally Standard Oil.
Each company took a one-quarter share of the Reich ethyl operation, while I.G. Farben, the giant German
chemical conglomerate, controlled the remaining 50 percent. The plants were built. The Americans supplied
the technical know-how. Captured German records reviewed decades later by a U.S. Senate investigating
committee found this wartime admission by the Nazis: “Without lead-tetraethyl, the present method of
warfare would be unthinkable.” Years after the war, Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer told a congressional
investigator that Germany could not have attempted its September 1939 Blitzkrieg of Poland without the
performance-boosting additive... Ironically, while GM’s Opel was a deferential corporate citizen in Nazi
Germany, going the extra mile to comply with Reich requirements and making no waves, Sloan helped
foment unrest at home as part of the company’s efforts to undermine the Roosevelt administration. For
example, the GM president was one of the central behind-the-scenes founders of the American Liberty
League, a racist, anti-Semitic, pro-big business group bent on rallying Southern votes against Roosevelt to
defeat him in the 1936 election. The American Liberty League arose out of a series of private gatherings
organized in July 1934 by Sloan, du Pont and other businessmen. Some of those meetings were even held at
GM’s office in New York.

The businessmen sought to create a well-financed, seemingly grass-roots coalition that du Pont declared
should “include all property owners… the American Legion and even the Ku Klux Klan.” Sloan served on
the American Liberty League’s national advisory board and was one of a number of wealthy businessmen
who each quietly donated $10,000 to its activities. The American Liberty League, which raised more money
in 1935 than the National Democratic Party, in turn, funded an array of even more fanatical, racist and anti-
Jewish groups..." (Edwin Black's “Hitler’s Carmaker: The Inside Story of How General Motors Helped
Mobilize the Third Reich”)

One such person who allowed the publication of anti-Semite views and was an isolationist himself was of
course Henry Ford. During the 1920’s, Ford sponsored a weekly newspaper called the Dearborn Independent
that published strongly anti-anti-Semitic views. The Dearborn Independent published the “The Protocols of
the Elders of Zion,” which accused Jewish people of being involved in a worldwide conspiracy to take over
the world, which is false. The Ford publication of “The International Jew, the World’s Foremost Problem”
further spread anti-Semitic lies. Yes, his views were loved by Heinrich Himmler and other Nazis. Adolf Hitler
praised Ford. Ford apologized in 1927. Ironically, he did hired black workers, Jewish workers, women, and
handicapped men at a time when that was very taboo to do. Henry Ford was a 33rd Degree Freemason and
he did business with Nazi Germany. Ford-Werke was a company which was under control of the Ford Motor
Company. This company violated Article 31 of the 1929 Geneva Convention when they allowed 100 and 200
French POWs to work as slave laborers in 1940.

By 1941, Ford supported the Allied side of the war effort. According to Pool and Pool (1978), Ford's
retraction and apology (which were written by others) were not even truly signed by him (rather, his
signature was forged by Harry Bennett), and Ford never privately recanted his anti-Semitic views, stating in
1940, "I hope to republish The International Jew again some time." In July 1938, before the outbreak of war,
the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of the Grand Cross of the
German Eagle, the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner. Henry Ford by January 7, 1942
wrote a letter to Sigmund Livingston as the Founder and National Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League.
The purpose of the letter was to clarify some general misconceptions that he subscribed or supported
directly or indirectly, “any agitation which would promote antagonism toward my Jewish fellow citizens.” He
concluded the letter with “My sincere hope that now in this country and throughout the world when
the war is finished, hatred of the Jews and hatred against any other racial or religious groups shall
cease for all time.” Charles Lindbergh was another famous isolationist. He was a reactionary and he was a
racist who believed in white supremacy, eugenics, anti-communism, and many abhorrent views about Jewish
people (during the 1930’s). After Pearl Harbor, he supported the Allies and he supported environmental
causes after the war. Henry Stimson promoted the Stimson Doctrine which was about the United States
refusing to recognize the territory gained by aggression and in violation of international agreements (which
Japan and Germany were doing back during the 1930’s). Even Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his early
terms campaigned on isolationist rhetoric since most Americans didn’t want to use military forces in Europe
or Asia. Leading isolationists in Congress were Senators Hiram Johnson of California, William Borah of Idaho,
and Robert La Follette of Wisconsin. They disagreed with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1933 proposal to grant
him the right to consult with other nations in placing pressure on aggressors in international conflicts. FDR
hated the Neutrality Acts, but he reluctantly acquiesced since he wanted his New Deal policies to be passed
by Congress. The Neutrality Acts prevented Americans ships and citizens from becoming entangled in
outside conflicts.

American fascists were common in America during the 1930’s and the 1940’s too. There was the German
American Bund parading in New York City in 1939, which were filled with racists and anti-Semites. These
fascists were of course anti-labor as the labor movement has grown massively during the New Deal and
during WWII. By the late 1930’s, there was a backlash against the progressive labor movement. Many of the
lovers of the backlash included fascists who supported Hitler and Franco. Arnie Bernstein's new book,
entitled, "Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund," is a vividly
written account of the best known and organized fascist group of their era. On George Washington’s
birthday on February 1939, over 20,000 Bund members and their supporters took over Madison Square
Garden in Manhattan, NYC. They held a Nuremberg-style Nazi rally. Outside the garden, there were 100,000
to 200,000 anti-Nazi demonstrators. It was a shocking event for these racists to be bold to spew their anti-
Semitism in the center of America’s largest city (which has a huge Jewish population). The evil, racist rally
made the front page news worldwide. Fritz Kuhn was the Bund’s leader. Kuhn was involved in the Germany
army as a machine gunner during WWI. He was a member of the Nazi Party. He came into America in 1928.
Kuhn was member of the Friends of the New Germany and rose to prominence in Detroit and the Midwest.
After the Berlin government declared that no German citizen could be a member of the Friends, Kuhn
reorganized the group as the German-American Bund. Kuhn became a U.S. citizen in 1934. Many people
resisted the evil Bund via protests and physical force. Kuhn supported Adolf Hitler. Anti-Nazis included
Manhattan District Attorney Thomas Dewey, whose prosecutorial skills put Kuhn in jail; New York Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia; the American Legion; the residents of Southbury, Conn.; and even, right-wing Texas
Congressman Martin Dies. “Father” Charles Coughlin spoke in favor of fascism too. His influenced was more
widespread than Fritz Kuhn. The American Legion was made up of strikebreakers and xenophobes. The
Communist Party, the socialists, progressives, and other activists used their members and supporters to fight
back against fascism in America.

In 1937, FDR condemned the Second Sino-Japanese War as he compared international aggression to a
disease that other nations must work to guarantee. Ironically, the internationalists included Henry Luce and
other establishment figures. The Neutrality Act of 1939 changed the game. This allowed belligerents to
purchase war materiel from America but only on a cash and carry basis. Churchill wanted FDR to continue
with the Land-Lease program to supply the allies to support the Allied forces. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
agreed with this plan, but he acted smoothly to not arise suspicion among the isolationists. Lend Lease was
supported by President Franklin Roosevelt on December 17, 1940. The United States would lend supplies to
the British deferring payment until later on. The noninterventionist American First Committee in 1940 and in
1941 existed, but they failed to stop the Roosevelt administration’s Lend-Lease program. Franklin Roosevelt
by 1940 and 1941 directly give supplies to the Allied powers short of a declaration of war (which most
Americans opposed even as late as 1941). Lend Lease was proposed in the form of the bill H.R. 1776 in
January of 1941. After vigorous debate, it was passed in March 11, 1941. This ended with the attack on Pearl
Harbor which caused America to declare war on Japan, Germany, and the rest of the Axis Powers.
1939

1939 was the year when World War II came about in Europe. That year represented a new era of human
world history. On January 30, 1939, Hitler threatened Jewish people during his Reichstag speech. Hitler’s
empire grows. On March 15, Czechoslovakia surrenders after Hitler annexes the country into the Third Reich.
The Czechs at first warmly welcome the Germans when they entered the Sudetenland (which has a strong
German speaking population) months earlier, but they stood silently in despair when the Nazis entered
Prague. On March 28, 1939, the Spanish war ended with the fascists winning. On August 23, 1939, the
Nazis and the Soviets signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, which wanted both nations to not
attack each other in the case of war. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and German Foreign Minister Von
Ribbentrop signed the agreement. Joseph Stalin looks on. Many people criticize the agreement as giving
Nazi Germany carte banche power to invade Europe. The pact ironically gave the USSR a vital 2 years to
prepare for the coming war, because even after the pact was signed both the Soviets and the Nazis knew
that they could fight each other sooner or later. The German, Japanese, and Axis Powers wanted a bigger
share of the resources of the world. Imperialists readily use world war as a means to fight for world
domination.

Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty on August 25, 1939. That means that if one or both
nations are attacked, then both nations will come to their aide. The British fleet mobilizes and civilian
evacuations begin in London. In the late 1930's, there was a little known conflict between the Soviet Union
and Japan. This was part of border conflict which occurred in Mongolia. The Battle of Khalkhin Gol,
sometimes spelled Halhin Gol or Khalkin Gol after the Halha River passing through the battlefield and known
in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident (after a nearby village on the border between Mongolia and Manchuria).
General Zhukov of Soviet Union used a military maneuver to defeat the Japanese in this battle. Afterwards,
the Soviets and the Japanese sign the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of 1941.

2 weeks before WWII in 1939, Stalin offered Britain and France assistance if the Nazis attacked Western
Europe. Soviet Defense Minister Voroshilov met with British Admiral Drax. The USSR pledged 120 divisions of
19,000 troops (or 2.28 million infantry human beings), 16 Cavalry divisions, 5,000 artillery pieces, 9,500 tanks,
and 5,500 fighters to be placed on Germany’s borders. Britain and France rejected the USSR offer. They were
not interested in a pact with the Soviet Union during that time.
On August 31, 1939, Hitler signs the order for an assault on Poland. The Germans staged a phony raid on a
Gleiwitz radio station. They blamed the Polish people for the “unprovoked attack” when he Nazis were
responsible for the attack. Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. The Nazis use the Luftwaffe
to attack various targets in Poland. The Luftwaffe use air attacks in Krakow, Lodz, and Warsaw. The Germany
military of Wehrmacht attack near the Polish town of Mokra. The UK and the French give an ultimatum to
Germany to stop invading Polish territory or Germany will face war. The British pass the National Service
Armed Forces Act of 1939, which conscripts all males between 18 and 41. Immediately, Britain, France,
Australia, and New Zealand declared on Nazi Germany by September 3, 1939. Many nations remain neutral
like Switzerland, the United States of America, etc. Soon, the Nazis conquer Poland. Canada declares war on
Germany by September 10, 1939.

The Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17. Warsaw quickly surrendered to the Nazis. The Polish
government forces fled to Romania. Reinhard Heydrich became the leader of the new Reich Main Security
Office or the RSHA. The British strike the Germans first of the Allied forces when they launched a raid via the
Royal Air Force on the German fleet in the Heligoland Bight. Japan was at first neutral too. The French
attacked German territory too in September 7. Once Poland surrendered in September 27, both Germany
and Russia partition Poland. Russia wanted more resources, so Russia invaded the Baltic States. The Nazis
started euthanasia on the sick and the disabled in Germany on October. The Germans experience a blockade
by the British and the Nazis strike UK cruisers South Hampton and Edinburgh and the destroyer Mohawk on
October 16, 1939.

The British government in October released a report on the concentration camps being built by the Nazis to
be used against Jewish people and anti-Nazis. The Japanese continue to fight the Chinese. The Japanese
captured Nanning in Southern China by November 1939. The Soviets annexes the eastern parts of Poland.
The League of Nations expels the Soviet Union for its aggression against Finland on November 14. When
negotiations fail between the Soviets and the Finns, the Soviet Union invaded Finland on November 30,
1939, which was called the Winter War. The Finnish forces have great successes during the beginning of this
war with capturing men and vehicles. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede the northern shores of
Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union by March 12, 1940. By the
end of 1939, Canadian troops come to Europe, and Indian troops arrive in France.
Early WWII Battles

1940 would be the year of massive invasions by the Axis Powers. Nazi Germany executed swift blitzkrieg
attacks all over Europe during that year. The Japanese troops launched a counter-attack in eastern Shanxi
Province in China in an attempt to relieve the nearly surrounded Japanese 36th Division. In the beginning of
1940 in January, the UK had rationing in order for them to handle WWII. On March 12, 1940, Finland signed
a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. The Nazis would continue to strike. They bomb the Scapa Flow naval
base near Scotland. The Nazis U-boats attacked Greek and British ships during the end of January of 1940
too. Hitler decided to invade Northern Europe on April 9th, 1940 when the Nazis invaded Denmark and
Norway. Norway falls quicker than Denmark. At the end of March 1940, the Japanese formed a puppet
regime in Nanking, China under Wang Jingwei. The Japanese committed massive war crimes in Nanking like
the rape and murder of civilians. The Nazis formed puppet regime in Norway under Vidkun Quisling, who
was a former minister of defense. In April of 1940, the British forces executed a surprise attack against a
larger German naval force in the first battle of Narvik on April 11 and a second attack on April 13 would be a
British success. The blitzkrieg actions of the Nazis were brutal. Tanks, air bombings, and troop attacks would
begin by the Nazis against France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands by May 10, 1940.
Winston Churchill was elected Prime Minister of Britain (after Neville Chamberlain resigned) too on May
10th. Churchill immediately wanted U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to give aid for the Allied cause. The U.S.
would do this via the Land-Lease program. France and Britain agreed to fight the Nazis and never seek a
separate peace with the Nazis. Holland surrendered on May 15. The Allied troops evacuate from Dunkirk. By
May 28, Belgium surrendered to the Nazis forces. The Nazis’ power was great, but the power of goodness
would be greater. The German forces would bomb Paris on June 3. The British evacuated more than 338,000
soldiers from France when they left weapons and supplies at Dunkirk. Norway would surrender on June 10
and Italy declared war on Britain and France on the same day. On June 11, 1940, the UK, France, Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, India, and South Africa declared war on Italy. General Hering of France wanted to
prevent its destruction, so he declared Paris an open city. The Nazis marched into Paris on June 14, 1940. The
French resistance movement forms and they would have many leaders. One would be General De Gaulle of
the Free French movement. On June 16, the puppet leader of France Marshal Petain is made Prime Minister.
The puppet regime in France is called the Vichy regime (which was pro-Nazi).
 The Vichy government was the Nazi puppet state in France. The courageous French resistance
movement fought for years to defeat the Vichy regime. People are still fighting against Islamophobia,
anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and racism, and other anti-civil liberty policies in France (and throughout
the Earth).

On June 22, 1940, France signed an armistice with Nazi Germany. The Axis and Allied convoy fight near
Crete. The Nazis soon attacked British, Scotland, and Ireland. The Battle of Britain begins in July 10, 1940. The
Nazis attack airfields and factories in England. Nazis air raids happen during the day and night. Hitler
declares a blockade of the British Isles by August 17, 1940. The British retaliated with an air raid in Berlin on
August 25-26. The Nazis used the Blitz campaign by September. London, Southampton, Bristol, and Cardiff
were attacked by German air raids. The British would not be defeated and many people unfortunately died
as a result of the evil Nazi raids. On September 22, 1940, the Japanese Empire conquered Indochina and
supports a puppet French rulership there. By September 25, the Japanese 5th Division would march into
Hanoi, North Vietnam. The official Tripartite Axis Pact would be signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan on
September 27, 1940. Italy invaded Egypt and Greece by the fall too. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini would
meet at the Brenner Pass to discuss the prospects of the war on October 4, 1940. In October, Hungary,
Romania, and the Slovak Republic would sign the Tripartite Pact, which meant that these nations would ally
with the Axis Powers in essence. Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be re-elected as U.S. President on
November 5, 1940. The Nazis would invade Romania on October. Hungary joins the Axis powers. The Greeks
defeated the Italian 9th Army on November 22, 1940. The British would fight the Italians in North Africa
while the Nazi air raids in the UK (with one damaging St. Paul’s Cathedral in London) would continue both in
December of 1940.

The Axis Powers Advance and they attack the Soviet Union

In December 1940, British Commonwealth forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt
and Italian East Africa. The offensive in North Africa was successful. Tobruk in North Africa falls to the British
and the Australians by January 22, 1941. By early February of 1941, Italy lost control of eastern Libya and
large number of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. British troops advance also into Italian Somaliland in
East Africa. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats with the Royal Navy suffering significant
victories. The Royal Navy put three Italian battleships out of commission by a carrier attack at Taranto and
neutralizing several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan. This is why the Germans soon intervened
to assist Italy. Hitler sent German forces to Libya in February of 1941. German General Erwin Rommel arrived
in Tripoli, North Africa on February 12th in order for the help the Nazis. The first units of the German “Afrika
Korps” arrive in North Africa too. By the end of March, they launched an offensive which drove back the
Commonwealth forces which had been weakened to support Greece. In under a month, Commonwealth
forces were pushed back into Egypt with the exception of the besieged port of Tobruk.

The Commonwealth tried to dislodge Axis forces in May and again in June, but they failed on both
occasions. In later March of 1941, after Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact, the Germans were in a position to
go into Greece. Plans were change, because of developments going on in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav
government had signed the Tripartite Pact in March 25. Only to be overthrown 2 days later by a British-
encouraged coup. Hitler viewed the new regime hostile and immediately decided to eliminate it. In April 3,
1941, a pro-Axis regime is set up in Iraq. So, on April 6, 1941, Germany simultaneously invaded both
Yugoslavia and Greece. They made quick progress and forced both nations to surrender within the month.
The British were driven from the Balkans after Germany conquered the Greek island of Crete by the end of
May.

The Axis victory was swift, but there would be partisan warfare breaking out against the Axis occupation of
Yugoslavia which continued until the end of the war. Rommel attacked Tobruk in April 14, 1941. The Allies
did have some successes in the Middle East though at this time. Commonwealth forces first quashed an
uprising in Iraq, which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria. The
Free French movement aided the Allies to invade Syria and Lebanon to prevent further such occurrences. The
Nazis made huge gains in Europe and Asia; the Germans had their sights on the Soviet Union. There was the
Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of April 1941. By May 1, 1941, the German attack on Tobruk was repulsed.
Yet, the Nazis made preparations to attack the Soviet Union as they were massing forces on the Soviet
border. Hitler thought that the British refusal to end the war was because the British hoped for America and
the Soviet Union to enter the war against Germany sooner or later. So, he decided to at first strengthen
Germany’s relations with the Soviets and then attacking them.

Negotiations to make the Soviet Union to join the Tripartite Pact failed as the Soviets wanted concessions
from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan. By December 18, 1940, Hitler issued the directive to prepare for an
invasion of the Soviet Union. In June of 1941, the Nazi SS-Einsatzgruppen begins mass murder. On June
22, 1941, there was Operation Barbarossa or the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Germany invaded
the Soviet Union with help from Italy and Romania. Finland and Hungary joined in the invasion too. They
targeted Moscow and the Ukraine. They or the Nazis wanted to conquer territory from the Caspian to the
White Seas. Hitler’s plans were to end the Soviet Union as a military power, end Communism, and generate
Lebensraum (or living space) by dispossessing the native population. In that sense, he wanted access to the
strategic resources needed to defeat Germany rivals. The Red Army was preparing for strategic counter of
offensive before the war. Many Western powers predicted Soviet defeat in 6 weeks. They were wrong. The
Red Army defeated the myth of Nazi invincibility. Operation Barbarossa started and the Axis made huge
gains in Soviet territory. Many Soviets died from the Nazi offensive. In the middle of August, the Germany
Army High Command suspended the offensive of a considerably depleted Army Group Center. They diverted
the 2nd Panzer Group to reinforce troops advancing towards central Ukraine and Leningrad. The Kiev
Offensive caused the Nazis to encircle and eliminate four Soviet armies and made further advance into
Crimea including industrially developed Eastern Ukraine.

The first battle of Kharkov existed. There was the diversion of three
quarters of the Axis troops and the majority of their air forces from
France and central Mediterranean to the Eastern Front. This was a
huge error of the Axis Powers. The UK soon formed a military alliance
with the Soviets against Germany. The British and the Soviets invaded
Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and Iran’s oil fields. The Atlantic
Charter was jointly issued by the United States and the UK in August
14, 1941. Jewish people are ordered to wear yellow stars on
September 1, 1941. When the Nazis took Kiev in September 19, 1941,
and then later they murdered 33,771 Jewish people on September
This image shows a view of London 29th. In October, the Axis troops were fighting in Leningrad and
after the German Blitz as found on Sevastopol. They or the Nazis take Odessa, Kharkov, by October 24.
December 29, 1940. They reached Sevastopol on October 30th. They were conquering
territories in the Ukraine and the Baltic region. The Nazis renewed an
offensive against Moscow. After two months of fighting fierce battles in increasingly harsh weather, the
German army almost reached the outer suburbs of Moscow. Yet, the Nazis troops were exhausted. So, the
Nazis ended their offensive. The Axis made huge territorial gains. Yet, they failed to get two key cities in the
Soviet Union and the Soviet capability to resist wasn’t broken. The Soviet Union retained a large part of its
military potential. The blitzkrieg phase of the war in Europe ended. In early December 1941, the Soviets grew
their mobilized reserves. This caused the Soviets to have numerical parity with the Axis troops. Even a
minimal number of Soviet troops in the East would be enough to deter any attack by the Japanese Kwantung
Army. The Soviet therefore began a massive counter offensive on December 5, 1941, along the front and
push German troops 62-155 miles west. Rommel begins a retreat to El Agheila in North Africa in December
16, 1941 and Hitler controlled the Germany Army in December 19th.

In Japan, there was an U.S. aviation gasoline ban in July 1940. Japan was under massive economic pressure.
Japan used its first attack against Changsha. Changsha was a strategically important Chinese city, but it was
repulsed by late September. By 1940, there was a stalemate between China and Japan. Japan occupied
Northern Vietnam. Then, the USA embargoed iron, steel, and mechanical parts against Japan. More sanctions
against Japan came later. Chinese communist led an offensive in August of 1940 and Japan used harsh
measures in occupied areas to reduce human and material sources for the communists. Both Chinese
communists and nationalist forces would clash in January of 1941, which ending their co-operation. In early
1941, the USA and Japan at first had negotiations to try to improve their strained relations and end the war
in China. America rejected the Japanese proposals as inadequate. There were Western secret discussions to
joint defense of their territories if Japan attacked any of them. Roosevelt reinforced the Philippines, which
was an American protectorate scheduled for independence in 1946. FDR warned Japan that the U.S. would
react to Japanese attack against any “neighboring countries.” When Japan sent troops to southern Vietnam
in June of 1941, the US, UK, and other Western governments reacted to this move with a freeze on Japanese
assets and a total oil embargo. Japan prepared for war after a lack of progress and the American-British-
Dutch sanctions.

On November 20, 1941, Japan presented an interim proposal as its final offer. It called for the end of
American aid to China and the supply of oil and other resources to Japan. In exchange they promised not to
launch any attacks in Southeast Asia and to withdraw their forces from their threatening positions in
southern Indochina. The American counter-proposal of November 26 required that Japan evacuate all of
China without conditions and conclude non-aggression pacts with all Pacific powers. Japan rejected this offer
and its officials consider the oil embargo as an unspoken declaration of war. The Japan wanted to seize
European colonies in Asia to create a large defensive perimeter around the Pacific. This would allow Japan to
gain vast resources of Southeast Asia while the Allies would be over stretched. They wanted to neutralize the
United States Pacific Fleet and the American military presence in the Philippines from the outset. So, on the
December 7, 1941, Japan attacked not only Pearl Harbor, but British holdings in Southeast Asia including the
Central Pacific (like landings in Thailand and Malaya. There was the battle of Hong Kong too).

This is Hitler shaking hands with Ante Pavelic.

The Ustashi terrorists

The Ustashi are some of the most vicious terrorists of World War II. The movement existed from Croatian
fascists who had a hatred of those who didn’t follow their fascist, ultranationalist, and theocratic movement.
It was active from 1929 to 1945. The Ustasha were Croatian Roman Catholics who killed thousands of
Serbian people, Jewish people, and Roma (or Gypsies) in Yugoslavia during World War II. The Ustashi’s
philosophy combined fascism, Roman Catholicism, and Croatian nationalism. These terrorists believed that
they wanted a racially so-called “pure” Croatia and promoted genocide against Serbs, Jewish people, and the
Romani people including the persecution of Croatian dissidents. The Ustasha were fiercely Catholic and
followed Croatian nationalism. They also allied with Muslims who allied with them as Croatian Ustasha
people. They supported the Islam of the Bosniaks as keeping the Croats cohesive. It is true that some Muslim
radicals (not all Muslims) collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. By 1930, these terrorists formed
the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Organization (Croatian: Ustaša – Hrvatska revolucionarna organizacija). It
was a nationalist organization that wanted an independent Croatian state. The Ustashi’s Seventeen Principles
of 1933 wanted to promote Catholicism, and tighten laws against blasphemy. Later, the Ustasha were
supporters of Mussolini and Hitler. In April of 1941, the Ustashi was appointed to rule the Axis-occupied
Yugoslavia as the independent State of Croatia or the NDH. The NDH worked with the Italian and German
occupation forces in Yugoslavia. Ante Pavelic was the leader of the Ustashi.
Pavelic marched with Mussolini and he shook hands with Adolf Hitler. The Ustashi forcibly converted many
Serbs, Jewish people, etc. into Roman Catholicism (which is a violation of democratic freedoms and religious
liberty rights). The Axis Powers invaded Yugoslavia in April 6, 1941. On April 16, Pavelic declared himself as
“Poglavnik” or the Croatian term of “Fuhrer.” In April 27, 1941, a newly formed unit of the Ustashi army killed
members of the largely Serbian community of Gudovac near Bjelovar. The Ustasha militia murdered people.
Pavelic met Adolf Hitler first on June 6, 1941. Mile Budak, then a minister in Pavelić's government, publicly
proclaimed the violent racial policy of the state on 22 July 1941. Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić, a chief of the
secret police, started building concentration camps in the summer of the same year. Ustaše activities in
villages across the Dinaric Alps led to the Italians and the Germans expressing disquiet. The crimes of the
Ustashi terrorists were brutal. They hacked Serbian and Jewish men, women, and children to death according
to the historian Jonathan Steiberg. Ustashi soldiers sawed the head of Branko Junic, who was an ethnic Serb
from the village of Grabovac. The Ustasha gouged eyes out, mutilated women, and killed children in graphic
ways that I can’t mention here. The Ustasha brigades were large. There were many concentration camps in
Yugoslavia. There was Danica, Jadovno, Loborgrad, and Lepoglava prison. Many former priests, most
Franciscans took part in the atrocities.

Miroslav Filipović was a Franciscan friar (from the Petrićevac monastery) who allegedly joined the Ustaša as
chaplain and, on February 7, 1942, joined in the massacre of roughly 2,730 Serbs of the nearby villages,
including some 500 children. He was allegedly subsequently dismissed from his order and defrocked,
although he wore his clerical garb when he was hanged for war crimes. Miroslav Filipović was a murderer
and a war criminal. He became Chief Guard of Jasenovac concentration camp where he was nicknamed "Fra
Sotona" by fellow Croats.

The Ustaše enacted race laws patterned after those of the Third Reich, which were aimed against Jews and
Romani and Serbs, who were collectively declared enemies of the Croatian people. Serbs, Jewish people,
Roma, and Croatian dissidents, including Communists, were interned in concentration camps (and killed), the
largest of which was Jasenovac. The exact number of victims is not known. By the end of war, the Ustaše,
under Pavelic's leadership, exterminated 30,000 Jewish people, about 29,000 Gypsies, and between 300,000
and 600,000 Serbs.

By 1944, there were 100,000 Ustashi soldiers. The Partisan resistant movement in Yugoslavia defeated the
Ustashis in 1945. Fighting continued for a short while after the formal surrender of German Army Group E on
May 9, 1945, as Pavelić ordered the NDH forces to attempt to escape to Austria, together with a large
number of civilians. The Battle, between a mixed German and Ustaše column and a Partisan force, was the
last battle of World War II on European soil. Pavelic left Yugoslavia, He went into Austria, Rome, and the
Catholic clergy helped him to flee to Argentina. It is important to note that the Serbian people, many
Croatians, many Jewish people, and many Romani fought against the Ustasha and the pro-fascists factions in
Yugoslavia, so I want to make that point perfectly clear.

Many of the Ustashi fled into countries like Canada, America, Germany, and South America via the help of
Roman Catholic churches and their own grassroots supporters. The Ustashis were war criminals and
murderers. After the Gilma Massacre (which was about the killings of Serb peasants in the town of Glina in
the Independent State of Croatia or the NDH that occurred between May and August 1941, during World
War II. About 2,000 to 2,400 people were murdered by the NDH. One of the Ustashi murderers was
Vjekoslav Luburić), Stepinac condemned racial persecution in the date of Sunday May 24, 1942. One of the
most disgraceful parts of world history was when a controversial clergyman named Stepinac (who privately
condemned the Ustashi massacres, but he gave Ustashi members communion. He also is pictured shook the
hand of the enemy Ante Pavelic) was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998. It’s a known historical fact that
the Vatican established concordats with Germany, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia, and other places during the early
20th century. Even though I am not a Catholic, I do realize that not every Catholic was involved in these evils.

These are the vicious Ustashi marching with nuns.

The Vatican kept up full diplomatic relationship with the Ustasha state (even granting Pavelic an audience)
with its papal nuncio in Zagreb or the Croatian capital city. The Ustaše regime had sent large amounts of
gold plundered from Serbs and Jewish people during World War II into Swiss bank accounts. Of a total of
350 million Swiss francs, about 150 million was seized by British, however, the remaining 200 million (ca. 47
million dollars) reached the Vatican. In October of 1946, the American intelligence agency SSU alleged that
these funds were still held in the Vatican Bank. This issue is the theme of a class action suit against the
Vatican Bank and others (see Alperin v. Vatican Bank). Mark Aarons and John Loftus’ “Unholy Trinity: The
Vatican, the Nazis, and the Swiss Bank” has great research on this issue too. The courageous Jonathan Levy
has been involved in the Alperin v. Vatican Bank case as well as a co-lead counsel for plaintiffs. Therefore, we
will always remember the Serbs, the Croats, the Jewish people, the Roma, and others were died at the hands
of the Ustashi enemy. We believe in religious freedom. We believe in tolerance and we reject bigotry. We
believe in justice.
Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor has a history filled with war and failure for two imperial power (of America and Japan) to come
to an agreement. The expansion of the Japanese Empire started with the Meiji Restoration when Japan
expanded militarily and economically during the late 19th century. They defeated Russia and fought Korea
too during the early 20th century. Japan also worked with many European powers in the Boxers Rebellion
(which was about Chinese activists trying to free themselves from European imperialism, but Western powers
defeated this Chinese rebellion. Japan worked with the West to end the Chinese Boxer Rebellion). Japan
lacked oil and other mineral resources. This was one of the reasons whey Japan invaded Manchuria and the
rest of China during the 1930’s. America didn’t want Japan to fight China and they definitely didn’t want
Japan to conquer Indochina or Vietnam (which they did temporarily). So, Japan and America were in
negotiations before Pearl Harbor in order to solve the diplomatic dispute.

Japan wanted the oil, rubber, and mineral wealth of the Pacific Ocean region including parts of Southeast
Asia (like oil from Borneo and Brunei, rubber including tin in Malaya, etc.) while America wanted Japan to
withdraw from Indochina and China. America allied the Chinese, who fought against the Japanese. In early
1941, President Franklin Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii and he ordered a military buildup in the
Philippines in order to discourage Japanese aggression in Asia. After Japan took over Indochina (or Vietnam)
and after the fall of France to the Nazis, the U.S. ceased oil exports to Japan in July 1941. Japan was restricted
in their retrieval of resources. They could either withdrawal from China or fight America. FDR in August 17
warned Japan that more steps would be taken against Japan if it attacked “neighboring countries.”

Japan offered to withdraw from most of China and Indochina when peace was made with the Nationalist
government, adopt an independent interpretation of the Tripartite Pact, and not to discriminate in trade
provided all other countries reciprocated. Washington rejected these proposals. Japanese Prime Minister
Konoye then offered to personally meet with Roosevelt, but Roosevelt insisted on coming to an agreement
before any meeting. In November 1941, both sides would negotiate for solutions (Japan offered to
withdrawal from southern Indochina and not attack anywhere in Southwest Asia while the U.S., the UK, and
the Netherlands stopped aiding China including lifting their sanctions against Japan. The Americans wanted
Japan to withdrawal from all China without conditions and conclude non-aggression pacts with Pacific
powers), but it failed. On November 26, in Japan, the main Japanese attack fleet left port for Pearl Harbor.
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (on December 6th, 1941) made a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for
peace. There is no reply. Later on that same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part
Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the President and Secretary of State.
The Americans believe that a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia.

Japanese training against Pearl Harbor was done in early 1941 under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He then
commanded Japan’s Combined Fleet. Emperor Hirohito never approved the attack plan until November 5,
1941. Many U.S. officials believed that the Philippines would be attacked first not Pearl Harbor. Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor since they wanted to stop the Pacific Fleet from interfering with the Japanese
conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. They wanted to increase their military strength and defeat
American morale, which they didn’t accomplish. There were multiple waves of attacks in Pearl Harbor. This
first wave was made up of 183 planes led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida. They approached to the north of
Oahu. The first wave’s planes shot down several U.S. aircraft as they approach Oahu. Later, bombs exploded
and U.S military forces have to wake up in order to defend the harbor.

On December 7, 1941 (on 733 hours), U.S. code breakers, though stymied by Japanese naval codes, have
cracked the Japanese diplomatic code. From a Tokyo-to-Washington message, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Gen. George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, learned that Japanese negotiators in
Washington have been told to break off talks. Believing this may mean war; Marshall sends a warning to Lt.
Gen. Walter C. Short, commander of U.S. Army forces in Hawaii. The first Japanese assault wave was in 7:53
am. There was an assault with 51 Val dive bombers, 40 Kate torpedo bombers, 50 high level bombers and 43
Zero fighters. Flight Commander Mitsuo Fuchida sounded the battle cry: “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (which means
Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!). The Americans in Pearl Harbor were taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave
targets airfields and battleships. The second wave came about being commanded by Lieutenant-
Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki. The Japanese in the second wave attack had 171 planes: 54 B5Ns, 81
D3As, and 36 A6Ms. These forces attacked Pearl Harbor too.

This is the M1 Garand, .30-06 Caliber, semi-auto rifle. Rifles like these were used heavily during WWII.

The second wave targeted other ships and shipyard facilities. Eight battleships are damaged, with five sunk.
Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels are lost along with 188 aircraft. The Japanese
would lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch
torpedoes. The entire attack lasted for 90 minutes. The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. The total assault, which
lasted less than two hours, claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people, wounded 1,000 more and
damaged or destroyed 18 American ships and nearly 300 airplanes. Almost half of the casualties at
Pearl Harbor occurred on the naval battleship USS Arizona, which was hit four times by Japanese
bombers 18 ships were sunk or run aground including five battleships. Escaping damage from the
attack are the prime targets, the three U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, Lexington, Enterprise and Saratoga,
which were not in the port. Also escaping damage are the base fuel tanks. The United States and Britain
declared war on Japan (on December 8, 1941) with President Roosevelt calling December 7, "a date which
will live in infamy..." Both senior commanders at Pearl Harbor; Navy Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, and Army
Lt. General Walter C. Short, were relieved of their duties following the attack. Subsequent investigations will
fault the men for failing to adopt adequate defense measures. In December 17, 1941, Admiral Chester W.
Nimitz becomes the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. After Pearl Harbor, World War II would be
changed forever.
America Responds (and the War on the Pacific)

After Pearl Harbor, America, Britain, China, Australia, and other several states formally declared war on Japan.
The Soviet Union maintained its neutrality agreement with Japan back in 1941, but they fought against
European Axis countries. Germany and other Axis states declared war on the United States in solidarity with
Japan. The Axis cited the American attacks on German submarines and merchant ships that had been
ordered by Roosevelt. The Declaration by the United Nations was made in January 1942 (by the United
States, Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and 22 smaller or exiled governments). This agreement affirmed the
Atlantic Charter and they agreed to not to sign separate peace treaties with the Axis Powers. Afterwards, the
German Nazis begin a U-boat offensive along the east coast of the United States of America. There was the
Chinese victory against the Japanese at Changsha in January 1942. Also, in North Africa, the Germans
launched an offensive in January 21, 1942. This offensive pushed the British back to positions at the Gazala
Line by early February. The Axis forces are stopped at El Alamein. The first American forces arrive in Great
Britain by January 26, 1942. During April, German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain. February
1, 1942 was the date when the first U.S. aircraft carrier offensive of the war came about when the
YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE conducted air raids on Japanese military bases in the Gilbert and Marshall
Islands. The May 8, 1942 German offensive begins in the Crimea. SS Leader Heydrich was attacked in Prague
in May 1942 and he died of his wounds on June 4, 1942. In early 1942, the Allied forces debated on how to
respond militarily against the Axis Powers. All of them wanted to defeat Germany as the primary objective.
The Americans wanted the large scale attack on Germany via France.

The Soviet Union wanted a second front established on Western Europe, so the Soviets can be reduced of
the burden of fighting the Nazis (since the Soviets were carrying most of the burden of fighting the Nazis in
Europe). The British wanted military operations to target peripheral areas to cause a ring around Germany, so
Germany can be defeated via resistance forces. The British convinced the Americans to not land in France in
1942 as infeasible. So, the U.S. forces fought against the Axis first in North Africa. The British and the
Americans agreed to press the initiative in North Africa, then the Mediterranean by invading Sicily. The
Japanese Empire reached its peak by 1942. By the end of April 1942, Japan and its ally Thailand had almost
fully conquered Burma, Malay, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, and Rabaul. Allied forces suffered massive
losses and there were a large number of prisoners taken. There were brave resistance by the Filipino and U.S.
forces, but the Philippine Commonwealth was captured in May of 1942 by Japanese forces. The government
of the Philippine Commonwealth was forced into exile. On April 16, in Burma, there were 7,000 British
soldiers being encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division during the Battle of Yenangyaung and they were
rescued by the Chinese 38th Division. Japanese forces had more naval victories in the South China Sea, Java
Sea, and in the Indian Ocean. They bombed the Allied naval base in Darwin, Australia.

On April 9, 1942, U.S. forces on Bataan surrender unconditionally to the Japanese. The next day, the Bataan
Death March begins when 76,000 Allied POWs including 12,000 Americans are forced to walk 60 miles under
a blazing sun without food or water towards a new POW camp. This caused over 5,000 Americans to die. The
U.S. Doolittle B-25 air raid from the HORNET against Tokyo boost Allied moral in April 18th. In April and May
of 1942, the Japanese take central Burma, Mandalay, the Solomon Islands, and they prepare to invade
Midway and the Aleutian Islands. The Japanese suffers its first defeat of the war during the Battle of the Coral
Sea off the New Guinea, which is the first time in history that two opposing carrier forces fought only using
aircraft without opposing ships ever sighting each other.

Vice President Henry A. Wallace gave an eloquent speech on May 8, 1942 about the Four Freedoms. On
that day, he gave the following words: "...The people, in their millennial and revolutionary march toward
manifesting here on earth the dignity that is in every human soul, hold as their credo the Four Freedoms
enunciated by President Roosevelt in his message to Congress on January 6, 1941. These four freedoms are
the very core of the revolution for which the United Nations have taken their stand. We who live in the
United States may think there is nothing very revolutionary about freedom of religion, freedom of
expression, and freedom from the fear of secret police. But when we begin to think about the significance of
freedom from want for the average man, then we know that the revolution of the past one hundred and fifty
years has not been completed, either here in the United States or in any other nation in the world. We know
that this revolution can not stop until freedom from want has actually been attained. And now, as we move
forward toward realizing the Four Freedoms of this people's revolution, I would like to speak about four
duties. It is my belief that every freedom, every right, every privilege has its price, its corresponding duty
without which it can not be enjoyed..."
In June of 1942, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands. On August 7, 1942, there was the first U.S.
amphibious landing of the Pacific War occurs as 1st Marine Division invades Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands. A day later, the U.S. Marines take the unfinished airfield on Guadalcanal and name it
Henderson Field after Major Loften Henderson, who was a hero of Midway. The battle of Guadalcanal was a
long battle, which lasted from August 7, 1942 until February 9, 1943. By the end of 1942, the Japanese used
air raids on Calcutta, India in December 20-24, 1942.

In August of 1942, Churchill, Harriman, and others met with Joseph Stalin including Molotov in Moscow
(inside of the Kremlin) as a way for them to discuss the future of the war. Stalin wanted Churchill and Harriman
to use US/UK forces to attack Western Europe, so the Soviets can be eased of the military burden on the Eastern
front. The Western front will never be opened in a massive level until 1944. Churchill (who was bellicose against
workers’ rights) never trusted the Soviets (who liberated many Nazi concentration camps. The Red Army
liberated Auschwitz). Even weeks before the end of WWII, Churchill advanced a contingency plan (called
Operation Unthinkable) to attack the Soviet troops in Europe (via U.S, British, and German troops) as a way to
end Soviet advance in Europe. British military leader Alan Brooke opposed this plan as extreme and he said that
the Soviets were very powerful militarily back then (which was true). Operation Unthinkable was later not
followed.

In August of 1942, the Allies succeeded in repelled a second attack against El Alamein. Months later, the
Allies commenced an attack of their own in Egypt. This caused the Axis forces to retreat and they drive west
across Libya. There were the Anglo-American landings in French North Africa. The American invasion of
North Africa officially started with Operation Torch in November 8, 1942. The U.S. invaded North
Africa. At the same time, the Nazis and the Italians invaded unoccupied Vichy France.
The Soviet Union's Heroic Stand against the Nazis

The Soviets fight back against the Nazis in the historic Battle of Stalingrad on July 17, 1942. February 1943
was the time when the Nazis surrendered after the Battle of Stalingrad. The Nazis lost 1.5 million people,
they lost 3,500 tanks, 12,000 guns, and 3,000 aircraft in the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Soviet Union fought back against the Nazis courageously. The Axis suffered massively loses. In early
1942, Germany and its allies stopped a major Soviet offensive in central and southern Russia. They kept most
of their territorial gains they had achieved during the previous year. In May of 1942, the Germans defeated
the Soviet offensives in the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkiv. The Nazis then launched their main summer
offensive against southern Russia in June for 1942 to try to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus and occupy
the Kuban steppe. The Nazis wanted to maintain positions in the northern and central areas of the front. So,
the Germans split the Army Group South into two groups. One group called Army Group A advanced to the
lower Don River and struck the southeast to the Caucasus. Army Group B went to the Volga River. The
Soviets decided to make their stand at Stalingrad on the Volga River. By mid-November, the Germans nearly
took Stalingrad in bitter street fighting when the Soviets began their second winter counter offensive. The
Soviets started to encircle the German forces at Stalingrad and assaulted on the Rzhev salient near Moscow.
By early February 1943, the German Army had taken tremendous losses and German troops at Stalingrad
were forced to surrender. The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943.
Marked by fierce close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, it is often regarded
as one of the single largest (nearly 2.2 million personnel) and bloodiest (1.7–2 million killed, wounded
or captured) battles in the history of warfare.

The front line had been pushed back beyond its position before the summer offensive. In mid-February, after
the Soviet push had tapered off, the Germans executed another attack on Kharkiv. This created a salient in
their front line around the Russian city of Kursk. The Soviets were victorious in the Battle of Kursk. Red Army
troops defeated via soldiers, T-34 tanks, etc.

*The Battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, Leningrad, and Berlin are battles of WWII that will
be remembered forever. Germany lost 10 million men or 80% of its losses fighting the USSR. The
Soviet forces have shown great courage in their defeat of the Nazi enemy.
The Allies Gain Momentum

The Allies gained momentum during 1943-44. In January of 1943, Allied forces take Buna in New Guinea.
After the Guadalcanal Campaign (which the Allies were victorious), the Allies started more operations against
Japan in the Pacific. On April 18, 1943 - U.S. code breakers pinpoint the location of Japanese Admiral
Yamamoto flying in a Japanese bomber near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Eighteen P-38 fighters
then locate and shoot down Yamamoto. In May of 1943, Allied forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces
from the Aleutians. They also began major operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands and
to breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. By March of 1944, the
Allies completed both of those objectives. The Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands was neutralized.

In April, the Allies then launched an operation to retake Western New Guinea. In the Soviet Union, both the
Germans and the Soviets spent the spring and the early summer of 1943 to make preparations for large
offensives in central Russia. In the Atlantic Ocean, the Allies were defeating German submarines massively by
May of 1943. On July 4, 1943, Germany attacked Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge. In a week, the
German forces had exhausted themselves against the Soviets’ deeply echeloned and well-constructed
defenses. For the first time of the war, Hitler cancelled the operation before it has achieved tactical or
operational success. That decision was influenced by the Western Allies’ invasion of Sicily (which was
launched on July 9th). Later, Mussolini and ousted and arrested later that month. In July of 1943 also, the
British firebombed Hamburg, which killed over 40,000 people. That firebombing was an outright war crime.
July 12, 1943 was when the Soviets launched their own counter offensives. This ended the hopes of the Nazis
to have victory or stalemate in the Eastern front.

The Soviet victory at Kursk marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi Germany Empire. The Soviets
continued onward eastward from Moscow to Berlin by 1945. The Nazis tried to fortify the Panther-Wotan
line, but the Soviets broke through it at Smolensk and by the Lower Dnieper Offensives. From August 1-2,
1943, a group of 15 U.S. PT-boats attempt to block Japanese convoys south of Kolombangra Island in the
Solomon Islands. PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, is rammed and sunk by the Japanese Cruiser
AMAGIRI, killing two and badly injuring others. The crew survives as Kennedy aids one badly injured man by
towing him to a nearby atoll. On September 3, 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland after an
Italian armistice with the Allies. Germany responded to this by disarming Italian forces and seizing military
control of Italian areas. The Germany formed defensive lines. German Special Forces rescued Mussolini and
there was the Italian Social Republic formed in German occupied Italy. This resulted in an Italian civil war. In
October 1943, Japanese troops executed about 100 American POWs in Wake Island. The Western Allies
fought through many lines until reaching the main German defense line in mid-November. This caused a
temporary halt of German Atlantic naval actions.

In November 1943, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met with Chiang Kai-shek including
Madame Chiang Soong May-ling in Cairo (to talk about the return of Japanese territory to the Chinese, etc.
in the future post-war period) and then with Joseph Stalin in Tehran (to agree that the Soviet Union would
declare war on Japan within three months of Germany’s defeat and for the Western Allies to invade Europe
in 1944). The seven week Battle of Changde came about in November 1943, which forced the Japanese to
fight a costly war of attribution while awaiting Allied relief. The Allies attacked Italy in January of 1944. They
fought against the line at Monte Cassino and attempted to outflank it with landings at Anzio. By the end of
January, a major Soviet offensive expelled the German forces from the Leningrad region. This ended the
longest and most lethal siege in history. The next Soviet offensive was stopped temporarily on the prewar
Estonian border by the German Army Group North aided by Estonians hoping to re-establish national
independence. This delay slowed future Soviet operations in the Baltic region.
 This image shows the Soviets Union courageously defeating the Nazis. They or the Soviets pushed the Axis
Powers back from the Soviet Union to Eastern Europe, which was near Germany’s door step by 1944.

In late May 1944, the Soviets liberated Crimea from the Axis. The Axis forces were largely expelled from
Ukraine. The Soviets made incursions into Romania, which were repulsed by Axis troops. The Allied forces
were successful in their offensive of Italy. Many German divisions retreated and on June 4, 1944, Rome was
captured. The Allies experienced mixed results in mainland Asia. By March of 1944, the Japanese launched
the first of two invasions. This was an operation against the British positions in Assam, India. They soon
besieged Commonwealth positions at Imphal and Kohima. The British mounted a counter offensive in May
of 1944 to drive the Japanese troops back to Burma. The Chinese forces, that had invaded northern Burma in
late 1943, besieged Japanese troops in Myitkyina. The second Japanese invasion of China tried to destroy
China’s main fighting forces, secure railways between Japanese held territories and capture Allied airfields. In
June of 1944, the Japanese had conquered the province of Henan and started to have another attack against
Changsha in the Hunan province.
This image shows the Theater of the Pacific in World War II by the
beginning of 1943.

This image shows the Theater of Europe in World War II by the

beginning of 1943.
 Some Major Events of World War II

The event of the top left is about soldiers from the British
Commonwealth forces from the Australian Army’s 9th Division during
the Siege of Tobruk in North Africa on August 1941. The image of the
top right shows Soviet civilians in Leningrad leaving destroyed houses
after Germans bombed the city. This took place during the Battle of
Leningrad on December 10, 1942. The image in the middle left shows
the Casablanca Conference on January 1943 with U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The
picture on the middle right shows U.S. Marines during the Guadalcanal
Campaign in the Pacific theater on 1942. The image on the bottom
shows Red Army soldiers executing a counterattack during the Battle
of Stalingrad on February 1943.

This ends Part 1.

By Timothy