Topic 8

America and World War II

A. The Fascist Dictatorships – Italy and Germany

1. Definition: An ideology that teaches five things:

– The individual exists to serve the state and must give total obedience.

– The state must control all of the means of production, businesses, factories, and farms.

– The natural superiority of some and the natural inferiority of others. The idea of human equality is ridiculous. Some are naturally superior, some inferior, and the superior must rule even if that means eliminating the inferior.

– Glorification of the military and the military life of discipline and obedience – In a fascist state the military is not only the symbol of authority; military conquest is the means by which national greatness is achieved.

– Glorification of war: war is one of mankind’s highest endeavors. It brings great glory to those who have the courage to face it.

2. Its appeal: Both Italy and Germany faced huge economic problems, such as widespread unemployment and skyrocketing inflation. When their democratic governments could not solve these problems many turned to the fascist parties in their countries.

– Benito Mussolini – 1922

– Adolph Hitler – 1933 Nationalsozialist Party or Nazi Party

– Both crushed all other political parties and established one-party fascist dictatorships.

B. Japan and Manchuria

1. Meanwhile, military leaders with views similar to those of European fascists took over the Japanese government. They were convinced that Japan could overcome its economic problems and achieve greatness only by bringing as much of Southeast Asia as possible under Japanese control.

2. September 1931 – Japanese, seeking raw materials and areas for settlement, invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria

– China asks the League of Nations for support

– Response of the League was weak, at best

3. Early 1933 – League report said Japanese guilty of Manchuria and asked the Japanese to withdraw. Japanese withdrew from the League instead.

4. American response – Just as weak. The Hoover-Stimson Doctrine said our government would not recognize changes brought about through the use of force. Japanese did not care!

5. To sum up the importance of the Manchurian crisis: it convinced the dictators of Europe that they had little, if anything, to fear from the western democracies.

C. Early Italian and German aggression

1. Italy – In October, 1935 invaded and conquered and the League did nothing, for all intents and purposes, and neither did the U.S.

2. Hitler watched and began making his first moves:

– Sent the Germany army into the Rhineland – March 1936

– Germany and Italy signed a military alliance in October 1936

– November 1936 Japan entered into an agreement with Germany and Italy to oppose the spread of communism and Japan began to move into the camp of the Axis powers.

– Germany occupied Austria early in 1938 without firing a shot.

– Next turned to Czechoslovakia and demanded the right to occupy the Sudetenland area.

– Munich Conference – September 1938 – Agreed that Germany could occupy the Sudetenland area. Within a few months the Germans occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia.

D. Poland: Where World War II Began

1. First, arrangements had to be made with the Soviet Union to avoid war with the Soviets – Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, August 1939. Germans western 2/3, Soviets, eastern 1/3 of Poland.

2. Hitler demanded that the Polish Corridor be destroyed and control of the city of Danzig be given back to Germany. The Poles refused.

3. France and England realizing they could not “buy off” Hitler and the Germans prepared for war.

4. Germans invaded Poland in September 1, 1939 and World War II begins.

5. Soviets invaded from the east and by the end of September 1939 Poland, for the time being, no longer existed as a nation. (Movie suggestion: The Pianist)

E. The American response: isolationism to Lend-Lease to war

1. Isolationism – The word that summarizes the American mood and American policy after World War I

– Following the end of the war, gradually millions of Americans concluded: 1. No American interests had really been involved in the war; 2. The Wilson administration had been pressured into going to war by selfish financial interests (bankers and munitions manufacturers) who would make huge profits from American involvement.

– These feelings, especially the second, were reinforced by a U.S. Senate investigation of the munitions industry. April 1934 the Senate established a special committee headed by Sen. Gerald Nye of N.D. Nye Committee. Worked from 1934 into 1936, and its investigation revealed to the public the huge profits made by American bankers and munitions manufacturers during World War I. Was never able to prove that these special interests had pressured the Wilson administration into war, but the investigation which highlighted these huge profits reinforced the mood of isolationism in the U.S.

– So, most favored isolationism: we should take care of our affairs and stay out of the difficulties of the rest of the world.

– How? How do you create distance between American affairs and the affairs of the rest of the world and keep us out of their problems, and especially their wars?

– To many it seemed the best way to stay out of future wars was to create an economic gap, a gap that would separate our economy from the economy of nations at war. In other words, if our economy was not closely connected with the economies of nations that were at war, then hopefully we would not be drawn by economic ties into a war against our will.

– So, isolationism and this determination to stay out of the troubles of the rest of the world and future wars led to the passage of the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. The basic idea behind these laws was to separate our economy from the economies of nations at war and keep us out of their wars.

2. Neutrality Act of 1935 – Americans could not:

– Travel on ships of nations at war

– Sell arms to nations at war

3. Neutrality Act of 1936 – Renewed terms of act of 1935 and also said Americans could not extend loans to nations at war.

4. Neutrality Act of 1937 – First two laws had prohibited the sale of arms, but what about non-military goods such as food and raw materials? Congress did not want to be drawn into any wars, but also did not want to hurt the American economy by cutting off all sales to warring nations. So this law said that non-military goods could be sold to nations that were at war, but only on a cash-and-carry. Pay cash-and-carry away in your own ships.

5. Roosevelt at first did not object but as conditions in Europe grew worse, he had serious second thoughts. The Neutrality Acts really worked in favor of aggressor nations. How?

– Began asking Congress to revise the Neutrality Act. Not an easy sell; isolationist sentiment very strong in Congress but finally in November 1939 Congress passed the

6. Neutrality Act of 1939 - American arms could be sold to nations that were at war, but only on a cash-and-carry basis.

7. Meanwhile, the war in Europe had reached a lull. Nothing was happening. Isolationists talked about the “phony war.” But this ended in the spring of 1940.

– Germans overran Norway, then Holland and Belgium and from there moved into France. France surrendered in June 1940.

8. Meanwhile, in this country it was election time: Americans were getting ready for the election of 1940.

– Republicans nominated – Wendell Willkie a former Democrat.

– The great question was what would FDR do? After a long period of waffling back and forth said he would accept the nomination if the party wanted him to run. VP John Nance Garner stomped out of Washington and never came back. Henry Wallace ran as VP candidate.

– The Republicans attacked FDR for violating the no-third term tradition but did little good.

– FDR – 27 million and 449 electoral votes

– Willkie – 22 million and 82 electoral votes.

– Tells us that in a time a great crisis, Americans preferred experience over tradition.

9. Aid for England: The Lend-Lease Act

– FDR soon received a message from Prime Minister Winston Churchill: England was running out of money!

– FDR’s idea: we could lend military supplies to those nations opposing aggression.

– March 1941 – Lend-Lease Act – The president could lend or lease military supplies to those nations whose defense was vital to the defense of the U.S. U.S. gave $50 billion in military goods to our allies in World War II.

– But passage of the law created a huge problem, and solving that problem made war between the U.S. and Germany just about inevitable.

10. The problem: guaranteeing the delivery of the Lend-Lease goods.

– German U-boats patrolling the North Atlantic; sinking about ½ million tons of shipping every month and if something not done to guarantee delivery, much of this equipment would end up at the bottom of the Atlantic.

– The U-boats often operated in groups known as wolf packs, and these boats were extremely lethal. These were the killers of the deep. FDR would call them the “rattlesnakes of the Atlantic.”

– Steps taken by FDR to guarantee delivery of lend-lease goods:

• April 1941 – FDR ordered the Navy to begin patrolling as far to the east as Greenland and to radio to the British the locations of any U-boats that they saw.

• Next in July 1941 an agreement worked out with the government of Iceland that permitted the U.S. to station American military forces on Iceland.

• September 1941 that FDR announced that he had decided to allow British ships to join the American naval convoys carrying supplies to our forces in Iceland.

– Soon incidents involving the American and German navies began occurring:

• September 4, 1941 – U-boat attacked the U.S.S. Greer

• September 11, 1941 – FDR issues shoot-to-kill order

• Mid-October 1941 – U-boat attacked a U.S. destroyer – Kearny – 11 crewmembers killed. (Had been tracking and had dropped four depth charges.)

• End of October 1941 a U-boat attacked and sank the Reuben James – 115 crewmembers died (attack unprovoked).

– As of late 1941, war between the U.S. and Germany virtually inevitable but the event that brought the U.S. into the war occurred in the Pacific, not the Atlantic.

F. Japan, China, and Pearl Harbor

1. At the heart of American-Japanese relations was the China question: from Manchuria they had moved into interior of China, trying to bring as much as China and its resources as possible under Japanese control.

2. What the Japanese wanted from the U.S. was American recognition of their right to control China and wanted the U.S. to continue to sell Japan resources it needed: oil, iron ore, copper ore, scrap iron etc.

3. What we wanted from Japan was for the Japanese to withdraw from China and Manchuria and leave its neighbors alone. Millions of Americans at that time considered China to be our friend and the Roosevelt administration had no intention of allowing Japan to overrun China. And if we did, would only be a matter of time until they tried to overrun and control other areas of Asia. No more willing to accept Japanese domination of Asia than we would have been willing to allow Saddam Hussein to control all the oil of the Middle East.

4. Roosevelt administration tried to put economic pressure on Japan to get Japan to withdraw from China – put economic pressure on by gradually limiting sale of such things as oil and scrap iron to the Japanese. 1940-41.

5. But it did not work; Japan refused to back down and in September 1940 entered into a full-scale military alliance with Germany and Italy. Tripartite Pact. Did not cause the U.S. to back down, and for the next year the on-and-off talks produced no settlement on the China question.

6. Finally in November, 1941, Japanese leaders decided to conduct one final round of talks with the Roosevelt administration. At the same time would prepare for war in case the talks produced no settlement.

7. The U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code, Purple Code. Did not say where they were going to attack. We had not broken the top level Army and Navy codes.

8. Meanwhile, the talks produced no settlement. Both sides kept demanding the same things.

9. November 25, 1941. Task force made up of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 2 cruisers and 9 destroyers set said. Avoided the main sea lanes and maintained radio silence. December 1 – Climb Mt. Niitaka.

– December 7 – two waves. 7:55 and ended about 9:45. 2 battleships destroyed; Arizona and Oklahoma; 6 others heavily damaged. 2,300 killed; another 1,100 wounded. 300 aircraft destroyed, mostly on the ground.

– Japanese lost 29 of the 360 aircraft involved in the attack.

– Couple of mistakes: Japanese did not attack the ship repair facilities or the oil storage facilities.

– One stroke of American luck: all the aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet were at sea and escaped damage. Provided a nucleus around which to rebuild the Navy in the Pacific.

10. December 8, FDR described December 7 as the “day that will live in infamy” and Congress immediately declared war; Germany declared war on U.S.

War: North Africa and Europe, 1942-1945

A. Operation Torch: The North African Invasion

1. British and American military representatives met in Washington and agree to concentrate on the defeat of Germany first and on the defeat of Japan second. This decision was given the code name ABC-1.

2. The Doolittle Raid – April 18, 1942 – A group of 16 B-25 bombers launched from the carrier U.S.S. Hornet carried out a raid on Tokyo and four other Japanese cities. Planes then flew on to China. Did minimal damage but was a blow to Japanese morale and lifted morale in the U.S.

3. First blow against the Germans was the North African campaign. The campaign was called Operation Torch and was commanded by General Dwight Eisenhower.

4. November 1942 – 110,000 American, British and Canadian: Casablanca, Oran, and Tangiers. British Eighth Army pushed westward from Egypt. Caught in a huge vice.

5. By this time, in violation of the Non-Aggression Pact, Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, and the demands made on German resources by the Soviet campaign, made it almost impossible to send reinforcements. Surrendered May 1943. Churchill called the victory in North Africa “The end of the beginning.”

6. Meanwhile, the Soviets in February 1943 finally won the long and bloody battle of Stalingrad. More Russians died than the U.S. lost in the entire war. This was the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front; from this point the German armies retreated slowly back toward Germany during the remainder of the war.

7. From these two points, the Allied forces began pushing the German empire back toward the German homeland.

B. Sicily and Italy

1. Next in the Mediterranean was the invasion of Sicily, July-August 1943. This move was called Operation Husky. Eisenhower again in command. Would help protect Allied shipping in the Mediterranean and serve as a springboard for the invasion of Italy.

2. Once Sicily was secured the Allies next invaded Italy. This invasion was Operation Baytown. When the invasion began on September 3, 1943, Italy surrendered. But the Germans committed 20 divisions, and bitter fighting continued for the rest of the war.

C. Operation Overlord, the Battle of the Bulge and the collapse of Nazi Germany

1. Plans proceeding for the invasion of France; Operation Overlord. Commanded by Eisenhower. Everything was in place by June 1944. The one thing Eisenhower and his fellow planners could not control was the weather!

2. To create havoc behind the German lines, and also to secure control of crucial roads and towns, on the night of June 5-6: three airborne divisions dropped behind German lines: British 6th and the American 82nd and 101st. Went through hell to get to their drop zones and through more hell after they landed in France!

3. June 6, 1944. Some of the bloodiest fighting took place on Omaha beach where the American 1^st Division took very heavy casualties.

4. The German resistance could have been much worse except that the Germans had been fooled by what we called Operation Fortitude. Involved sending radio messages that we knew the Germans could decode saying the main attack was coming in the Calais area of France, at the narrowest point of the English Channel. Trick worked and the Germans kept almost 200,000 of their best troops in reserve, thinking the Normandy invasion was not the “real thing.”

5. By the end of the first day, Allies had landed about 156,000 troops and within five days controlled a stretch of territory about 60 miles long and 15 miles deep.

6. Pushed gradually to the south and then swung east toward the German homeland.

7. Mid-December – Germans launched a huge counterattack (Wacht am Rhine) - Battle of the Bulge. Ended by early January 1945. Tremendous losses suffered by the Germans, and they could not replace these losses. We could, they could not!

8. Pushed the Germans back toward Berlin; in the East, the Soviet Army also pushing the Germans back. Captured Berlin on May 2, 1945. May 8, Germany surrendered.

9. FDR did not live to see the German surrender. Died on April 12, 1945, and his death elevated Harry Truman to the presidency. Truman would then preside over the conclusion of the war.

D. The Holocaust – As American, British, and Soviet forces overran the areas that had been occupied by the Germans, they began to uncover the horrors of the Holocaust.

1. The word is used to describe Hitler's treatment of the Jews (and other “undesireables”) from 1942 on. The Nazis called this mass killing “the final solution,” and the decision to carry out this final solution was made at the Wansee Conference in January 1942.

2. At first victims were shot, but this activity sometimes had a negative effect on German troops who were given this task. Other means were soon adopted, especially the gassing of victims using carbon monoxide and Zyklon B, a cyanide based insecticide.

3. While most of the victims were Jews, others were also executed by the Nazis: Soviet POWs, gypsies, Africans, Asians, the mentally ill, the physically disabled, and male homosexuals (who were sometimes used for target practice by German troops).

4. Some of the camps established by the Nazis were extermination camps where prisoners were executed continually. Others were sent to slave labor camps where they often were worked to death in industries that supported the German war effort.

5. Some scholars who have studied the Holocaust believe that when you total both Jewish and non-Jewish victims, perhaps as many as 11 million people were systematically killed by the Germans. And usually no mercy was shown to young children; they were often the first to be executed as they had no value as laborers.

The War in the Pacific

A. On the home front – Japanese internment

1. FDR issued Executive Order 9066 (February 19, 1942) which authorized military commanders to create exclusion zones from which people could be excluded. Under this order all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the west coast and about 110,000 were resettled in “War Relocation Centers” located in some of the more remote parts to the country.

2. The Supreme Court in 1944 upheld the relocation program on the grounds that civil rights of a racial group could be limited when there was a “pressing public necessity.”

3. Despite the Supreme Court’s approval, those who were interned demanded repayment from the U.S. government, and in 1988 President Reagan signed legislation apologizing for the internment. And in 1990 the government began paying reparations to surviving internees.

B. Early Victories

1. Battle of the Coral Sea – May 7-8, 1942 – Port Moresby, New Guinea – Ended the Japanese threat to Australia. Demonstrated role that air power would play in the Pacific war. Fleets never saw each other. Lost the aircraft carrier Lexington. Most of crew rescued.

2. Midway – June 3-6, 1942 – The Japanese objective was attack and capture Midway and lure what was left of the American fleet to Midway and destroy it. America would then sign a peace treaty.

– Our problem: figuring out where the Japanese were going to attack. AF – water supply running low. Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers. We lost one, the Yorktown. From this point on, the Japanese Navy was on the defensive.

3. Guadalcanal – August 1942. February 1943. 25,000 Japanese died; 1,400 Americans.

C. The Vice Closes on Japan

1. Began rolling the Japanese empire back and by late 1944 and early 1945 we were carrying out daily bombing raids on the Japanese home islands.

2. As our bombers carried out daily raids, U.S. forces attacked two major Japanese outposts in 1945: Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

– Iwo Jima – February-May 1945. Japan’s unsinkable aircraft carrier. Served as a radar and fighter base for the Japanese. Radar gave advance warning and fighters attacked our B-29s.

• Invasion began on February 19 at south end of the island and gradually the Japanese were pushed northward. Flag raised on Mt. Suribachi on February 26. By the end of March large-scale Japanese resistance ended but scattered fighting went on until the end of May 1945.

• In addition to knocking out Japanese air bases and radar installations, the island served as an emergency landing field for B-29s damaged in bombing raids over Japan. Approximately 2200 emergency landings and lives of over 20,000 airmen saved!

– Okinawa – April-July 1945. Gateway to Japan, 360 miles southwest of the home islands. Jumping off point to carry out Operation Olympic, the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Kyushu

• Landing began on April 1 and troops encountered no resistance. But that was deceptive; Japanese waiting in a maze of cave defenses in the mountains in the southern portion of the island. Weeks of bitter fighting followed when our forces reached the cave defenses, and by the time the battle ended an estimated 100,000 Japanese troops had been killed. Slightly over 11,000 Americans died. Gave a strong indication of how bitter the fighting would be on the home islands.

• Off the coast, Japanese launched wave after wave of kamikaze attack