World War 2: The Most Important Events Of World War II
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Using a method not yet officially adopted into war strategy, both Germany and the USSR took the ruined city of Stalingrad to their advantage, making defensive fortifications out of the city’s destroyed buildings and rubble. In a brutal and intense form of street fighting that the Germans called Rattenkrieg, or “Rat’s War,” the opposing forces broke into teams of eight or ten strong, fighting individually for every square inch of territory. Another devastating aspect of this street fighting was the new technology developed to comply with the street tactics, which included a German machine gun that could shoot blindly around corners, and a small Russian plane that could swoop low and quiet over German positions at night, dropping bombs without any warning. Before long, both sides were running low on water, food, medical supplies, and sleep. With each side suffering from endless casualties, tens of thousands perished every day. Then, when the cruelty of this war had finally reached its climax, the weather turned for the worst, leaving the Germans especially suffering from their greater lack of supplies and reinforcements. The war had reached a stalemate, and it would take a serious offensive to end the horrors of this terrible battle once and for all.
On November 19, the Soviets did just that. Beginning with a massive artillery bombardment, the Soviets launched a considerable counteroffensive against the Germans out of the rubble of Stalingrad. Led by General Zhukov and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, after whom the city was named, the Soviets’ attack was far greater than the Germans expected at such a late stage in battle, especially considering their own weakened position. Quickly overwhelming the Sixth Army with their offensive, which included 500,000 Soviet troops, 900 tanks, and 1,400 aircraft, the Soviets were able to surround the entire remaining German force, which at that point amounted to about 200,000 men. The Germans were defenseless and out of options, but still the Italian and Romanian troops at Stalingrad were the only ones to surrender. While the Germans waited for reinforcements and received limited supplies by air, Hitler demanded that they hold their position, saying, “The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round.” In order to ensure that his orders were followed, Hitler promoted Von Paulus to field marshal, knowing that no Nazi field marshal had ever surrendered and to do so would be a disgrace to the title. As the Russian winter descended and the Germans began to starve, more and more Germans were lost to frostbite, hypothermia, and starvation, which took as many lives as the ruthless Soviet troops. Finally, on January 21, 1943, the last of Germany’s conquered airports fell to the Soviets, which meant that the Germans were officially on their own. There would be no reinforcements, there would be no more supplies, and finally, the Germans decided it was time to surrender. On the 31st of January, 1943, the southern sector of German forces surrendered, led by Von Paulus himself. By February 2nd, the rest of the troops surrendered. This ended one of the most pivotal battles in the history of World War II, and unofficially ended the battle on the European front. It was only a matter of time before the Second World War would have to come to an end.
Though Hitler was enraged that Von Paulus had chosen to surrender instead of committing an honorable suicide like he had been expected to do, there was not much Hitler could do. By the end of the war, Von Paulus had repaid Hitler by selling out to the Soviets, joining the National Committee for Free Germany, and encouraging other German troops to surrender to the USSR. Meanwhile, of more than the 280,000 men under Paulus’ command, only half were still alive by the time of surrender, with 35,000 soldiers evacuated from the front and the rest, about 91,000 soldiers, hauled off to Soviet prisoner of war camps. Unfortunately, only 5,000 of those troops would make it back to Germany after spending the rest of the war in the Soviet POW camps.
Hiroshima Bomb
In spite of the inevitable surrender of the German army and end to war on the European front, the Japanese had other plans. With a culture of honor and reward that hinged on success in battle, it was considered more honorable in Japanese culture for a soldier to give his life for the cause than to surrender. Thus, it was not an option for Japan to surrender with the Germans. In fact, to do so would be considered cowardly and would bring dishonor to the nation. Instead, they promised to fight until the very last; determined that fighting, even if it was fighting to their death, was the only option in war. Unfortunately, that also meant that the U.S. army and the Allies would suffer from severe casualties with the continuation of war, which is ultimately what led the U.S. leaders to make an unthinkable decision; to end the war, once and for all, by dropping an atomic bomb on Japan.
Even before the outbreak of war in 1939, several American scientists, many of whom were international immigrants and refugees from war, became fearful of Nazi Germany’s research into nuclear weaponry. Determined not to be caught unawares by these new developments, the scientists approached the U.S. government in the hopes of beginning funding for a nuclear warfare program. In 1940, the U.S government agreed and began funding for a program to research and develop its own atomic weapons, which was under the joint responsibility of the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the War Department, due to the U.S.’s entry into World War II. Later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spearheaded the construction of massive facilities for “The Manhattan Project,” which was named for the engineering corps’ Manhattan district and was a codename referring to the top-secret atomic weapons program. Following the development of the program, the scientists began research to produce key materials for nuclear fission; uranium-235 and plutonium (Pu-239). Once they discovered the materials they needed for creating nuclear fission, the scientists sent their research to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where a team led by J. Robert Oppenheimer worked to make an atomic bomb out of those materials. On the morning of July 16, 1945, at the Trinity test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, the Manhattan Project managed its first successful test of an atomic weapon, a plutonium bomb. The atomic weapons project was a success, and it was only a matter of time before the scientists created a devastating atomic bomb of epic proportions that would wreak havoc on its target.
Meanwhile, Japan was holding strong to its belief in fighting to the death, refusing to admit defeat even while Axis forces in Europe surrendered. Even though Japan suffered severe casualties from war and American forces threatened closer to their homeland than ever before, they would not surrender. Then, between mid-April and mid-July of 1945, Japan inflicted serious damage on Allied forces, with casualties totaling nearly half of those suffered in three years of war in the Pacific. Unfortunately, Japan had only become more deadly in defeat, since its soldiers lost any hope of living through the war and willingly sacrificed themselves in suicide missions and bombing efforts. With this insane new level of violence, leaders in the U.S. deliberated the wisdom of continuing war with the Japanese, certain that Japan would cause unspeakable damage before the war was over. Additionally, even when the U.S. threatened to promptly and utterly destroy the Japanese if they refused to surrender, which was written and given to them in the Potsdam Declaration, Japan refused. Though some U.S. officials, like General Douglas MacArthur, believed that going through with “Operation Downfall,” which was a considerable operation that would continue conventional bombing of Japan with a massive invasion following, other advisors believed that it was too late for conventional warfare tactics with the Japanese. If the U.S. hoped to defeat Japan without incurring the incredible casualties that typical warfare would inflict, which they tallied at about 1 million, then the U.S. would need to refer to an alternative option. Under this advising, newly-elected President Harry Truman decided, in spite of the moral reservations of Secretary of War Henry Stimson, General Dwight Eisenhower and a number of the Manhattan Project scientists, that it was time to put their nuclear developments to use. The decision made, Truman gave the order to drop the nation’s newly-developed atomic bomb on Japan, and with that decision, determined the course of the end of World War II and postwar political dynamics.
On August 6th, 1945, a 9,000-pound uranium-235 bom
b was loaded aboard a modified B-29 bomber at the U.S. base on the Pacific island of Tinian. The plane, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets and named Enola Gay after the pilot’s mother, was headed for the U.S.’s number one target; Hiroshima. Chosen for its status as a manufacturing center with around 350,000 people and its location, which was about 500 miles away from Tokyo, Hiroshima was the ideal target for severely crippling Japan, as well as undermining the nation’s morale.
The first atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy,” was dropped by parachute at 08.15 over Hiroshima the morning of August 6th. Exploding about 2,000 feet above Hiroshima with a blast that equaled 12-15,000 tons of TNT, “Little Boy” destroyed five square miles of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people, though thousands more would die from radiation exposure. In spite of this massive destruction, the bombing of Hiroshima failed to produce the response in the Japanese that it intended, and the nation refused to surrender. Thus, another atomic bomb was prepared to launch just three days later, Major Charles Sweeney dropped the second bomb, “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki. Though the original target was supposed to be Kokura, thick clouds obscured Sweeney’s view and he headed to Nagasaki instead, unloading “Fat Man” at 11.02 on the morning of the 9th. “Fat Man,” weighing in at nearly 10,000 pounds and built to produce a 22-kiloton blast, was much larger than “Little Boy,” though Nagasaki’s topography limited the bomb’s effect to a mere 2.6 square miles. While this bomb only killed 39,000 civilians, it was finally enough to convince Japan to unconditionally surrender. On August 15, 1942, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito officially broadcasted Japan’s surrender over the radio, citing the U.S.’s “new and most cruel bomb” as the cause, and effectively putting an end to World War II at last. This day would be forever consider “V-J Day,” or the day that the Allied powers officially gained “Victory over Japan.” It would be another few weeks, however, before Japan’s formal surrender agreement was signed.
Conclusion
World War II lasted from September 1, 1939 until September 2, 1945, causing around 50-80 million deaths over the course of the war’s six years. With the advance of western technology and weaponry, war had gained an unprecedented level of violence and death, and over 27,000 people were killed daily from start to finish. Sadly, 6 million of those deaths were Jewish civilians who died in the Holocaust during World War II. Because Hitler’s plans for an Aryan race excluded the Jews, his anti-Semitic views led to the development of several concentration camps, with the main camps located at Dachau, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald. These camps put the Jews through excruciating torture and killed millions through inhumane means, which included death by gas showers, furnaces, medical experimentation, starvation, intense manual labor, firing squad, and many others. These unnecessary cruel tactics and the resulting devastation of the Jewish population is perhaps the greatest casualty that resulted from the Second World War.
Overall, this global war was fought between the Allied and Axis powers, with several nations representing each side. The Allied powers consisted of the U.S., led by Franklin D. Roosevelt; Russia, led by Joseph Stalin; Britain, led by Winston Churchill; China, led by Chiang Kai-shek; and France, led by Charles de Gaulle. The Axis powers included Germany, led by Adolf Hitler; Japan, led by Hirohito; and Italy, led by Benito Mussolini. The war began when Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles and invaded Poland, forcing France and Great Britain to officially declare war. It did not end until after Japan surrendered, though Germany unconditionally surrendered on May 7th, 1945, a week after Hitler committed suicide. Japan did not officially surrender until their formal surrender agreement was signed on September 2, aboard the U.S. battleship, Missouri.
Though the war was officially over on September 2nd, it took several more years for the world to recover from the casualties and damage caused by the war. Many soldiers suffered from PTSD or were plagued by injuries that they would have for the rest of their lives, and several cities faced years of rebuilding and economic downturn. Memorials would also be established in locations around the world, celebrating the lives of those who bravely served their country and gave their lives for the cause. Politically, the United States and the USSR emerged from the war as global superpowers, which eventually pit them against each other in what would later become the Cold War.
While Adolf Hitler’s leadership has been cited as the number one cause for World War II, it would be foolish to ignore the several other events which increased tensions and invited a return to war. Imperialist Japan was particularly guilty of increasing hostilities in Asia, since the nation invaded several areas of Asia and ultimately intended to assert its influence on the world. Additionally, mounting political unrest in Russia caused several civil wars, and the Communist party’s eventual control of the nation led to later issues with the U.S. and other anti-Communist countries. Overall, it was the combination of several issues that led to World War II, which enforces the belief that there was no chance of avoiding another war.
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