The Second World War in 100 Facts

by Clive Pearson

  They were most certainly heroes!

  87. AMERICAN ISLAND-HOPPING KEEPS THE JAPANESE ON THE HOP

  By the end of 1942 the Americans had achieved significant naval victories over the Japanese, but the war was far from over. The most direct route to the Japanese homeland lay in attacking across the Pacific where the enemy were firmly entrenched on countless islands. Taking every heavily fortified island fortress could be costly and time-consuming, so in 1943 the USA came up with a cunning policy of ‘island-hopping’, which meant seizing strategically important islands and bypassing those that were deemed of little significance. In their relentless advance towards Japan they kept the enemy guessing when and where the next assault would come.

  By October 1944 ‘island-hopping’ was in full swing. Although the Americans were able to deploy overwhelming numbers of men, planes and ships, this did not guarantee them any easy victories. With the deteriorating situation the Japanese became evermore desperate in defence of their positions; for example, in the naval Battle of Leyte, off the Philippines, they threw in everything including, for the first time, kamikaze fighter planes. Leyte has gone down as the largest naval battle in history and left the Japanese fleet seriously depleted. The American fleet was virtually unscathed but the battle to control the Philippines continued unabated as enemy ground troops fought with suicidal fanaticism. In November, the Americans attacked Luzon in the north of the Philippines when the enemy also fielded kaiten, which were suicide torpedo craft. The battle for the Philippines raged on until mid-1945 and resulted in the loss of around 200,000 Japanese and 10,000 American lives.

  Meanwhile, the tiny island of Iwo Jima was already in Uncle Sam’s sights. Since the end of 1944 American bombers had been making 3,000-mile round trips to Japan from the Mariana Islands. If they could seize the island they would be only 760 miles away, allowing the bombers fighter escorts. The battle there raged for a whole month between February and March 1945, leaving 20,000 Japanese dead. Such was the ferocity of the conflict that only 212 men or 1 per cent of the garrison surrendered. The engagement is remembered in history by the iconic photograph of American marines raising the stars and stripes over Mount Suribachi (although it was, in fact, the second one raised there that day!).

  Okinawa was just 350 miles from the southern Japanese island of Kyushu and its capture would mark the final stage before invasion. In April the Americans fielded half a million men and 1,300 ships for the epic engagement. The Japanese defended with 120,000 men and 10,000 planes (many of these were kamikaze) and a new desperate weapon dubbed the baka. This was a rocket-powered glider whose nose was charged with 1 ton of explosive and was guided to its target by a lone pilot. Although several American ships succumbed to these desperado tactics, the result was not in doubt and of the Japanese defenders a mere 7,000 survived.

  The American leadership now pondered the likely cost of invading mainland Japan.

  88. ARNHEM WAS A BRIDGE TOO FAR

  After the liberation of Paris in August the Allies had made rapid progress across France and within a month they were on the borders of Hitler’s Germany. The mood in the Allied camp was one of euphoria and many believed that the war would be over by Christmas. Front line officers, however, noted that German resistance was stiffening as they approached the Reich.

  General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike), the Supreme Commander of Allied forces, had insisted that all the armies under his control would advance on a broad front across France. However, the British General Montgomery (Monty) was contemptuous of this approach. In forthright fashion he told the American that the war could be finished quickly if he, Monty, could be allowed to cross into Germany alone and push his armies all the way to Berlin. Inexplicably, Ike agreed.

  The operation was named Market Garden and was set for 17 September. From its inception it was badly planned and the British general seemed to cast aside all the caution for which he was famed. The scheme envisaged mainly British forces seizing the bridge at Arnhem in Holland and thereby avoiding having to directly attack across the Rhine. The Allied armies were still 65 miles south of Arnhem, so American airborne forces would be required to seize bridges at Eindhoven, Grave and Nijmegen allowing the British XXX Corps to make a speedy dash up the narrow road. Their task was to reach Arnhem within forty-eight hours and link up with the Ist British Airborne Division, which, in the meantime, would be dropped in the vicinity of the bridge and would hold it until the Corps’ arrival. The astute reader will immediately be aware that the whole plan was fraught with risk.

  Monty exuded optimism about the operation despite warnings that there were definite sightings of an SS Panzer Division refitting near Arnhem. On the morning of 17 September elements of the British airborne unit landed by glider 8 miles from Arnhem. Immediately, they encountered fierce German resistance but were unable to report back as all the radios failed to function. However, by dusk one battalion of paratroopers was holding the north end of the bridge but could advance no further. It all now depended on XXX Corps.

  Alas, this relief unit was making disappointingly slow progress due to ferocious German defence of the canal and river crossings. A further problem was that the corps was unable to operate off the narrow road due to the streams and dykes on either side. However, by the evening of 20 September Nijmegen was cleared. They were now only 10 miles from Arnhem. But it was all too late. The next morning the single battalion holding the bridge was overwhelmed by two SS Panzer divisions. A few days later, in the dead of night, 2,500 paratroopers managed to slip south over the River Nederrijin, but 3,800 fell into German hands.

  Monty immediately claimed 90 per cent success but it was clearly a failure. He had had his chance and blown it. The ‘broad front’ strategy was reinstated.

  89. THE WARSAW UPRISING IS ANOTHER POLISH TRAGEDY

  The story of the Polish people in the Second World War is one of endless and terrible suffering. From the very beginning of the war their country had been divided up and occupied by two of the nastiest dictatorships of the twentieth century – Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Hitler’s creed was that Slavic people were an inferior race and so the Poles were subjected to a regime of heinous brutality. Polish Jews were forced to live in a ghetto in Warsaw and a rising there in 1943 was crushed ruthlessly by the SS. By the autumn of 1944, however, the Germans were in full retreat and the Polish people at last saw a chance to liberate themselves.

  For the Russians 1944 had turned into something of an annus mirabilis. Stalin had launched Operation Bagration in June and it had resulted in the virtual destruction of Hitler’s Army Group Centre with nearly a million men killed, wounded or captured. Such a hole had been punched in the German front line that the way was now clear for Soviet armies to enter parts of Germany itself in the north and Poland in the centre. By the end of July Russian forces were already approaching the River Vistula, which bordered Poland.

  It was at this very moment that the Polish resistance in Warsaw decided to rise up against Nazi occupation. Timing was crucial as the Soviet dictator had his own government, composed of Polish communists, ready and waiting to be installed in the capital. Those in Warsaw saw a chance to set up their own provisional government prior to the Soviet arrival. Many Polish soldiers and airmen had fought alongside Britain in the hope that the Allies would help in establishing such an outcome.

  On 1 August 1944 the Polish Home Army began their revolt. It was expected that the Germans would soon abandon Warsaw, especially as Soviet armies were a short distance away. However, they soon showed their intent on mercilessly crushing the uprising. Meanwhile, Soviet forces watched and did nothing to help the beleaguered Poles.

  The Home Army fought valiantly but they were ill-equipped with only 14 per cent of them armed. They were facing the might of elite Waffen SS troops as well as Stuka dive bombers and tanks. At one point 1,500 defenders were trapped in the old town but managed to escape down manholes into the city sewers. Amazingly the resistance held out for sixty-three days but the end was ne
ver in doubt. Around 15,000 Poles died in the battle with a similar number of Germans killed. Himmler’s revenge was to send 154,000 Polish men women and children to concentration camps before razing the city to the ground.

  The Soviets always claimed that their troops needed resting and their supply and communications systems were overstretched. Whatever the truth of the situation, it suited Stalin to see the Polish Home Army eradicated. When the Russian steamroller moved forward in January 1945 a communist system was quickly established.

  90. A BULGE SUDDENLY APPEARS … THEN EQUALLY RAPIDLY DISAPPEARS

  The dear reader should be forgiven for thinking that I inexplicably want to write about an excellent new dieting plan I have discovered. However, the so-called Battle of the Bulge does not relate to any excessive intake of calories but rather to Hitler’s ill-advised scheme to inflict a massive defeat on the Allies in the West who were now lined up on the German frontier. The plan was to attack through the Ardennes forest (just as in 1940) and to drive a wedge between the British in the north and the Americans to the south. The objective was the Belgian port of Antwerp, which brought in vital supplies for the Allied armies.

  The dictator’s own generals advised against it as if it failed there would be fewer forces to take on the fearsome Soviet forces in the east. There were two other problems. Although Hitler could still muster an impressive number of men and tanks, the Allies still controlled the air, making movement during the day impossible. In addition, the Reich was rapidly running out of fuel, meaning that German tanks would be reliant on seizing Allied supply dumps.

  Preparations for the offensive went well. Tanks and men were moved around at night and there was complete radio silence during the build-up. Indeed, the Allies had no inkling that an attack was imminent, the assumption being that the German Army was a spent force. When the offensive came, then, surprise was total.

  On 16 December 1944 200,000 men and 1,400 tanks poured forth into Allied positions. At first all went well. The weather was ideal as the ground was shrouded in fog, thereby nullifying Allied air activity. Those troops facing the initial onslaught were American units that were either resting up after heavy fighting or were completely green. Thirty-two English-speaking German soldiers dressed in American uniforms also caused some initial confusion. Although the US 106th and 28th Divisions were decimated (with 8,000 of the former taken prisoner), other units to the north and south held their positions, creating a bulge shape on the map.

  Allied forces did not collapse as Hitler had expected. In one famous incident 18,000 Americans were surrounded at Bastogne and when asked to surrender, their commander, Brigadier-General A. J. McAuliffe, replied ‘Nuts!’

  To the north of the pocket British general Montgomery acted decisively to block the German advance. In the south General Patton turned his armies round 90 degrees to hit the Germans in the flank. After four days the skies cleared, allowing Allied planes to strike German Panzer forces, which in any case had failed to reach their objectives and had run out fuel. Bastogne was relieved by Patton’s forces on Boxing Day and by 9 January the offensive had lost all its momentum. By 16 January the British and American armies linked up and soon after the bulge had disappeared completely.

  German casualties were nearly 100,000 while the Allies suffered 81,000 with 700 tanks lost on both sides. The enemy could not recover from these huge losses and Hitler had hastened his own demise.

  91. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ATTENDS HIS FINAL CONFERENCE

  Franklin D. Roosevelt was America’s longest-serving president. He was elected for four terms from 1933 to 1945, which was some achievement given that he had been crippled by polio and was confined to a wheelchair for much of the time. Roosevelt was a charming and charismatic figure and despite his limited success in dealing with the Depression in the 1930s he remained massively popular with many ordinary Americans. When the war came he transformed America into a huge military machine that fought enemies on two fronts: Europe and the Far East.

  At various intervals during the war it became necessary for all three of the Allied leaders – Churchill, Roosevelt and the Soviet leader, Josef Stalin – to meet together to discuss overall strategy. From the very beginning of the conflict the American leader had, of course, already developed a close working relationship with his British counterpart. This is hardly surprising as both Churchill and Roosevelt shared a common language (mostly!) and both were leaders of Western democracies. They also enjoyed each other’s company and would indulge in dinner parties at the White House, which involved smoking and drinking together late into the night. They were apparently the best of friends. Stalin, however, was a very different proposition. As we have seen he was a secretive and paranoid leader of a brutal communist regime and so working with him might be rather difficult.

  The first meeting of the Big Three had taken place in Tehran, the Iranian capital, at the end of 1943. To Churchill’s surprise and disappointment Roosevelt had gone out of his way to charm the Soviet leader, calling him ‘Uncle Joe’, and even made jokes at the British leader’s expense. Churchill was forced to ditch his Mediterranean strategy in favour of a direct cross-Channel invasion provisionally set for 1 May 1944. This pleased Stalin, who had been pressing for a second front for some time.

  By the time of the next conference of Yalta (February 1945) in the Crimea the American President was clearly a sick man. Pale and gaunt, he was nevertheless prepared to fly halfway round the world to keep the wartime alliance together. Again Churchill was somewhat side-lined. Roosevelt was delighted that Stalin accepted his United Nations project and all sides agreed that Germany would be divided up temporarily between the Big Three and France. A contentious point was Poland, which had recently been overrun by Soviet forces. Rather than being confrontational Roosevelt accepted the ‘concession’ from the Soviet leader that free and fair elections would be held there. Both Western leaders expressed confidence that Stalin would keep to his promises. It soon became evident that he would not, but there was little that the Western powers could do with millions of Soviet forces occupying Eastern Europe.

  Roosevelt died on 12 April 1945. He had been a great president but had shown himself strangely naïve when dealing with the wily Russian leader. Churchill felt the American leader had betrayed their friendship and later failed to attend his funeral.

  92. CROSSING THE RHINE IS A MIGHTY OPERATION

  After Hitler’s failed Ardennes offensive German forces in the West were depleted but still represented a powerful force. In order to break through into Germany proper the Allies still faced a challenging task. First of all they had to overcome the Siegfried Line that lay west of the River Rhine, after which they had to cross the great river itself. It was not going to be easy as the enemy were expected to fight ferociously to defend their homeland.

  It was decided to take on the defenders German opposite the northern sector, which lay mainly under Montgomery’s control. The Siegfried Line was composed of tank traps, ditches and concrete emplacements but did not offer an insuperable obstruction. Operation Veritable was a two-pronged attack with the British beginning their assault from the north and the Americans from the south. The campaign opened on 5 February 1945 with a 1,000-piece artillery bombardment that lasted for five hours and represented the largest artillery barrage of the Second World War. The next day 200,000 British and Canadians moved forward and, as expected, met stubborn resistance, ultimately causing the loss of 15,000 lives. However, by 5 March they had linked up with the Americans.

  The main thrust of the Allied campaign continued in the northern sector opposite the Ruhr, which was Germany’s main industrial area. Again Montgomery was given American forces in order to help him force a crossing of the Rhine. The British general set about planning everything meticulously.

  Ironically, it was the Americans in the south who made a breakthrough first. Famously, the bridge at Remagen was seized intact on 7 March and elsewhere Patton was itching to lead his armies into the Reich. However, Eisenhower in
sisted they wait until Monty was ready in keeping with the ‘broad front’ strategy.

  Operation ‘Plunder’, the code name for the crossing of the Rhine, would be second only to Normandy in its size and complexity. In total 250,000 British and American troops were massed along a 30-kilometre front and Churchill flew over to be there for such a momentous event. On the night of 23 March hostilities began with a massive barrage. In the initial attack men were then ferried across the Rhine on ‘buffaloes’, which were armoured amphibious troop carriers, while others moved across on special floating DD tanks.

  This was followed in the morning by the largest single airborne assault in history. As on D-Day paratroopers and gliders were deployed behind German lines and some 16,000 men were involved. Three columns of planes and gliders, each around 150 miles in length, took two hours to pass and undoubtedly had a demoralising impact on already hard-pressed enemy troops.

  Within four days Montgomery had thrown bridges across the river and was able to move in his armoured divisions. Now all along the Rhine Allied forces were crossing the great river and breaking through. The British general headed off north while the Americans soon enveloped a huge army of 300,000 German soldiers in the Ruhr.

  It was the beginning of the end.

  93. STALIN ORGANISES A RACE

  The Soviet leader had been surprised by the rapid advance of the British and Americans in the West. He had anticipated much slower progress giving him plenty of time to take the German capital. He distrusted his erstwhile allies and feared that they would seize Berlin before him and negotiate a separate surrender with the Germans. However, this was far from being in the mind of Eisenhower, who was intent on keeping to the agreed lines of occupation and was expecting to meet Soviet forces halfway across Germany. There seemed to be no sense in losing Allied lives for a city that was clearly in the Soviet zone.