Russian Campaign Summer 1942
After the winter hiatus, Hitler’s generals wanted to focus their attack on Moscow again; however, Hitler decided that his forces would launch a full-scale offensive only in the south, toward the Don River, Stalingrad (now Volgograd), and the Caucasus oilfields. Hitler’s plan was to concentrate all available forces in the southern flank of the long […]
The Battle of Stalingrad: One of the bloodiest battles ever; and, the German army’s greatest defeat.
Stalingrad was an urban stretch along the west bank of the Volga River. It was a strategic location because it was a gateway to the Crimea and the rich oil fields of the Caucasus. The German attack began on June 28, 1942. On August 23, 1942, the German 6th army reached the Volga just north […]
Mediterranean Campaign and Invasion of Italy
To alleviate the stresses on his forces in the east, Stalin had been pressing the Americans and the British to open a second front against the Axis forces. Believing that an invasion of France was impractical at that time, Churchill and Roosevelt decided to do this in North Africa, with the goal of invading Italy […]
The Normandy Landings, D-Day – “Operation Overlord.”
On June 6, 1944, “D-Day”, the Allied forces made their long-awaited invasion of Europe, under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied commander in Europe. The invasion took place on beaches in Normandy, France. It was called “Operation Overlord.” http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/dday/overlord.aspx; https://www.britannica.com/event/Normandy-Invasion) The location was a big surprise to the Germans, who were expecting the invasion […]
The Battle of the Bulge
The Allies had greatly weakened the Luftwaffe and dominated the skies over Europe in the later part of 1944 and 1945. Hitler decided to make one last-ditch offensive effort to reverse the Allied momentum. Shortly before Christmas 1944, the Germans massed 250,000 men at the Allied lines in the Belgian forest of the Ardennes. They […]
The Holocaust
The Nazis did not wait until the war to start their program of persecution of hated groups; nor did they limit that persecution to the Jewish people. Beginning in 1933 and until 1941, Hitler ordered the jailing and later systematic extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, other “inferior races,” homosexuals, mentally retarded, and anyone who was […]
The Nuremberg Trials
In late 1945 and 1946 (and through 1949), post-war justice was in the news due to the Nuremberg Trials, a series of two sets of trials of Nazis involved in the Holocaust and World War II. The first, and most famous, which tried the 21 most significant leaders of Nazi Germany, began on November 20, […]
The Pacific Theatre – Island hopping
In the first few months after Pearl Harbor American forces continued to suffer setbacks at Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines. But, six months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S., initiating an “Island hopping” or leapfrogging tactic intended to cutoff Japanese supply routes, began to regain naval superiority in the central Pacific and halt Japanese progress. In […]
Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the End of the War in the Pacific
There were a number of factors that led to the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945. Among those factors were the U.S. insistence on Japan’s unconditional surrender; the fact that the Japanese, who venerated the Emperor as a god, would not allow him to admit defeat; and, the knowledge that to a […]
War Time Production
It was primarily up to the United States to supply the allied war effort. America became “The Arsenal of Democracy.” American wartime production is reflected in the following statistics: In between July 1940 and July 1945 America built 296,429 bombers 71,062 naval ships 5,425 cargo ships (one every 17 days) 372, 431 pieces of artillery […]