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Archive for June, 2009

What if WWII Happened Today

30 Jun

A Fresh Look at History from a Curious Perspective
By Dane Schad

A few nights ago I saw the movie Valkyrie, which is very closely based on a a real attempt by German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler. As usual I immediately researched the actual events and surrounding history after the movie ended, because as you may know I am fascinated by that stuff.

Of course, understanding a historical event requires an observer to look at the surrounding history because people act and react based on what has happened previously, especially in their lifetime. The usual method of exploring history is for the observer to go back in time to the events to witness them. But this method fails to (or at least half-assed) let the observer see the effects of previous events on the event he happens to be focusing on, thus giving a tunnel-vision impression of an event. So I propose to bring history to the observer, allowing the observer’s own experiences coupled with his concept of passage of time to more fully understand how shit went down.

What I have done is not very complicated (writing this note took much more time) but hopefully at least a little creative. I took the major events leading to World War II and shifted the dates to modern times. I would rather have done this experiment from a German’s perspective, since his was surely more surreal, but since we are more familiar with American events I stuck with events from an American’s perspective. To maximize the “recent event” effect, I chose the Invasion of Normandy (aka D-Day) as the current event. And so, I need you to pretend. But don’t go back in time. Today is today, and you are you. Instead, pretend we are at war with the Nazis and today is (for posterity) June 30, 2009 (so basically, today).

***T H E N E W Y O R K T I M E S***
June 30, 2009
Massive Military Offensive in Europe

London –Today American and British troops ended their nearly month long execution of a massive military offensive on the beaches of Normandy, France. It would appear that the Allies now have a good footing in continental Europe for future progress on the Western Front. It is too early to give reliable final casualty estimates at this time. For the rest of the story, see page 3.
* * *

What’s your opinion on the situation? Are you tired of war yet? Are you too young to have an opinion about war? Do your parents have an opinion? Here are the dates of some recent history to help you decide. Pay particular attention to how old you, your parents, and your grandparents were at the time, or if you were even alive yet. Read them slowly, and let each event and date become reality:

The American Civil War started in 1926 and ended in 1930.
Slavery was subsequently abolished on Dec 6, 1930.
Blacks gained the right to vote on Feb 3, 1935.
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1954.
The United States fought the Spanish in the Spanish-American War from April 25 to August 12, 1963. (we won, and gained the right to fight the Philippines).
The Philippine-American War began June 2, 1964 and officially ended July 4, 1967.
The Titanic sank on April 15, 1977.
The United States ended its occupation of the Philippines in 1978.
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, beginning World War I on June 28, 1979.
Germans sank the American passenger ship Lusitaniaon May 7, 1980. The U.S. remained neutral.
Germany solicited Mexico’s help and future war vs. U.S., so U.S. entered World War I on April 6, 1982.
Prohibition (no booze) began Jan 16, 1984.
World War I ended on June 28, 1984.
The Nazi Party was created sometime in 1984.
Women gained the right to vote on Aug 18, 1985.
The stock market crashed on Oct 29, 1994.
The Great Depression began roughly around 1995.
Prohibition ended on Dec 5, 1998.
Germany invaded Poland on Sept 1, 2004, beginning World War II.
That was almost 5 years ago.
The Great Depression ended essentially sometime in 2006.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 2006. (Hawaii is not a state)
The U.S. declared war against Japan and entered World War II on Dec 8, 2006.
That was two and a half years ago.
The Battle of Midway may have given us an advantage over Japan on June 4 – June 7, 2007.
That was two years ago.
And today, American and British forces ended a massive offensive against Germany.

Now to repeat the questions:

What’s your opinion on the situation? Are you tired of war yet? Are you too young to have an opinion about war? Do your parents have an opinion?

And yet to come….

We don’t know it yet, but the first German forces will surrender on April 29, 2010.
Adolf Hitler will commit suicide on April 30, 2010.
We will be dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 2010, and Nagasaki on Aug 9, 2010.
The war will end when Japan surrenders on Aug 15, 2010.

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Bittersweet Reunion Pt 2 of 2

26 Jun

Bittersweet Reunion, Part 2 of 2

MacArthur embraces the freed Wainwright, 30 Aug 1945

On 20 Aug 1945, as Russian troops liberated a Japanese prisoners of war camp in Manchuria in northeastern China, Jonathan Wainwright found himself a free man for the first time in more than three years. The Japanese treated the defeated general of the Philippine Islands with typical coldness, and he suffered. What got him going through the years was the news of Douglas MacArthur’s advance across the islands of the Pacific. News, especially that of the enemy’s successful campaigns, were hard to come by in a Japanese prisoners of war camp, but they meant so much to Wainwright that he was willing to trade whatever he had for them. Pens or wrist watches, whatever personal effects he was able to keep as a prisoner of an officer rank were traded away to anyone with the latest information on his friend and former commanding officer MacArthur. There was one thing he kept near him at all times, however, never willing to give away: a walking cane. It was given to him by MacArthur, originally intended to be something of a swagger stick, but now he needed it. It helped him to move around physically, for his health deteriorated rapidly in the camp; it also helped him spiritually for it connected him to MacArthur, who was miles upon miles away.

In Japan, MacArthur arrived to begin arranging the formal surrender. On the second evening, 30 August 1945, he dined at the New Grand Hotel in Yokohama. He was not aware that he would have a visitor until the visitor was standing outside the door. When his aide announced that Wainwright had arrived, MacArthur, usually calm and collected, practically jumped up from his chair. The general recalled:

I rose and started for the lobby, but before I could reach it,
the door swung open and there was Wainwright. He was
haggard and aged…. He walked with difficulty and with the
help of a cane. His eyes were sunken and there were pits in
his cheeks. His hair was snow white and his skin looked like
old shoe leather. He made a brave effort to smile as I took
him in my arms, but when he tried to talk his voice wouldn’t
come. For three years he had imagined himself in disgrace for
having surrendered Corregidor. He believed he would never
again be given an active command. This shocked me. “Why,
Jim,’ I said, ‘your old corps is yours when you want it.”

“General…”, Wainwright responded, and that was all he could say. The men stood arm-in-arm.

It was not until after the two men had parted when MacArthur realized that the cane that the emaciated Wainwright used to support himself was his pre-war gift, and MacArthur was hit emotionally a second time.

Old friends were now reunited, however bittersweet.

This two-part guest blog is written by C. Peter Chen. He is the Founder and Managing Editor of the World War II Database, and is also a staff member at the Imperial Japanese Navy Page.

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Posted in Asian Theater, Facts, Media, Other, Pacific Theater

P-51 Mustang Slide

25 Jun

P-51 Mustang Slide Image

P-51 Mustang – B&W Slide

See more WW2 fighter and bomber slide images.

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Posted in Air, Media

Bittersweet Reunion Pt 1 of 2

25 Jun

Bittersweet Reunion, Part 1 of 2

Wainwright and MacArthur, date unknown

“Drained of the confidence he had always shown”, journalist Clark Lee of the Associated Press noted when he saw Douglas MacArthur in March of 1942. Lee had no idea why, for the reason for MacArthur’s sadness was classified: he had just been ordered to evacuate the Philippine Islands. He was given the impression that a significant Allied force would soon very be gathered in Australia, to be placed under his command for a return to the Philippines. He was evacuated during the night of 11 March 1942, and made an emotional farewell to his right hand man and friend Jonathan Wainwright.

“Goodbye, Jonathan,” the general said, the choice of words reflecting his guilt for leaving his friend behind, for he rarely addresses anyone, especially not comrades in the Army, by the first name. “When I get back, if you’re still on Bataan, I’ll make you a lieutenant general”, he promised, perhaps hoping to lighten up the mood.

“I’ll be Bataan if I’m alive”, responded Wainwright, dutifully, ignoring the promise of promotion.

After MacArthur’s evacuation, the self-titled “battling bastards of Bataan” fought the defensive campaign on their own, completely cut-off from the outside. “No papa, no mama, no Uncle Sam”, they joked bitterly. These “bastards” fought until the first week of May, 1942. They were defeated militarily as well as spiritually. On 6 May, Wainwright formally surrendered to the Japanese.

As the Japanese escorted Wainwright to a prisoners of war camp, he wondered if his defeat was regarded with shame back home.

This two-part guest blog is written by C. Peter Chen. He is the Founder and Managing Editor of the World War II Database, and is also a staff member at the Imperial Japanese Navy Page.

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Posted in Asian Theater, Facts, Other, Pacific Theater, Sea

The Pacific Trailer

22 Jun

The Pacific – HBO Mini Series (2010)

For all those that liked HBO’s “Band of Brothers”, a new 10-part HBO mini-series is on the way from from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The Pacific tells the intertwined stories of three Marines during America’s battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II. See some of the exciting footage in the trailer!

Trailer for “The Pacific”

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Posted in Media, News, Other, Pacific Theater, Podcast

Operation A

19 Jun

Operation A

Operation A – Japanese naval counteroffensive (19/20 June 1944) planned after the US capture of the Marshall Islands between 20 November 1943 and 23 February 1944, the Japanese high command having appreciated that the next forward move would take the Americans to the Marianas Islands on the Japanese home islands’ strategic doorstep and this able to strike at Japan, Iwo Jima, the Ryukyus (Okinawa) and Formosa, so severing the Japanese maritime links to the Philippines, South-East Asia, and all their raw materials. Operation ‘A’ called for the American invasion force off the Marianas to be attacked by powerful surface forces moving in from the south-west, where they were based close to vital oil supplies.

Under the command of Vice Admiral Ozawa, the 1st Mobile Fleet from Tawitawi was supported by Vice Admiral Ugaki’s Southern Force from Batjan, the two forces rendezvousing east of the Philippines on 16 June 1944, one day after the US forces landed on Saipan in the Marianas. The rendezvous gave Ozawa a fleet of 5 fleet and 5 light aircraft carriers (carrying only very poor aircrew and obsolescent aircraft), 5 battleships, 11 heavy and 2 light cruisers, and 28 destroyers; Vice Admiral Mitscher’s TF58 comprised 7 heavy and 8 light aircraft carriers (with experienced aircrew and modern aircraft), 7 battleships, 8 heavy and 13 light cruisers, and 69 destroyers. The Japanese plan became apparent to Mitscher after the Japanese rendezvous was spotted by US patrol submarines, and the scene was thus set for the climactic Battle of the Philippine Sea (also known as The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot) on 19/20 June 1944, which resulted in the utter decimation of the Japanese carrier strength, especially in the Imperial Japanese Navy’s last reserve of combat-experiences aircrew.

Ozawa launched a first air strike early on 19 June, bu the radar-warned Americans intercepted this initial wave 50 miles short of the US force, shooting down more than 200 Japanese aircraft. US submarines had meanwhile attacked Ozawa’s force, torpedoing the carriers Taiho and Shokaku, both of which sank. The Japanese second strike, launched at 14:00, was intercepted on its way to Guam and again the Japanese aircraft were decimated, some 100 aircraft being lost. Thus Ozawa had by the end of the first day lost 2 carriers and more than 300 aircraft, whereas the Americans’ losses were come 35 aircraft and slight damage to one battleship.

Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers Zuikaku (foreground) and Kaga (background) head for Pearl Harbor in November 1941 prior to the initiation of the Pacific War.

It was now the turn of the Americans, and Mitscher launched his aircraft from 16:24 on 20 June as TF58 pursued the Japanese fleet that was withdrawing to the north-west to refuel. The American strike sank two tankers and the carrier Hiyo, damaged the carriers Zuikaku, Junyo and Chiyoda and the heavy cruiser Maya, and destroyed another 65 Japanese aircraft, for the lost of 20 of their own aircraft. It was night by the time the American aircraft headed for their parent carriers, which Mitscher ordered to turn on their lights as an aid to the pilots. Nevertheless some 80 US aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched, most of their crews being saved. Operation ‘A’ and the resultant Battle of the Philippine Sea or “Marianas Turkey Shoot” may thus be seen as marking the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s air arm as an effective weapon.

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Posted in Asian Theater, Media, Pacific Theater, Sea, Today

World War II History for June 19

19 Jun

Today in WWII History

World War II History for June 19

19 June 1942 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, DC, to discuss the invasion of North Africa with U.S. President Roosevelt.

19 June 1944 - The U.S. won the battle of the Philippine Sea against the Imperial Japanese fleet.

In what would become known as the “Marianas Turkey Shoot,” U.S. carrier-based fighters decimate the Japanese Fleet with only a minimum of losses in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

USS Lexington during Battle of the Philippine Sea

An F6F-3 “Hellcat” fighter lands aboard USS Lexington (CV-16) during the “Marianas Turkey Shoot” phase of the battle, 19 June 1944. Note manned 40mm guns in the foreground, and 20mm guns along the starboard side of the flight deck.

The security of the Marianas Islands, in the western Pacific, were vital to Japan, which had air bases on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. U.S. troops were already battling the Japanese on Saipan, having landed there on the 15th. Any further intrusion would leave the Philippine Islands, and Japan itself, vulnerable to U.S. attack. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance, was on its way west from the Marshall Islands as backup for the invasion of Saipan and the rest of the Marianas.

IJN Zuikaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea 1944

Mobilized to repel the Allied invasions the Japanese launched Operation ‘A’ sending two task forces into the Marianas area. But Japanese Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo decided to challenge the American fleet, ordering 430 of his planes, launched from aircraft carriers, to attack. In what became the greatest carrier battle of the war, the United States, having already picked up the Japanese craft on radar, proceeded to shoot down more than 300 aircraft and sink two Japanese aircraft carriers, losing only 29 of their own planes in the process. It was a described in the aftermath as a “turkey shoot.”

Admiral Ozawa, believing his missing planes had landed at their Guam air base, maintained his position in the Philippine Sea, allowing for a second attack of U.S. carrier-based fighter planes, this time commanded by Admiral Mitscher, to shoot down an additional 65 Japanese planes and sink another carrier. In total, the Japanese lost 480 aircraft, three-quarters of its total, not to mention most of its crews. American domination of the Marianas was now a foregone conclusion.

Not long after this battle at sea, U.S. Marine divisions penetrated farther into the island of Saipan. Two Japanese commanders on the island, Admiral Nagumo and General Saito, both committed suicide in an attempt to rally the remaining Japanese forces. It succeeded: Those forces also committed a virtual suicide as they attacked the Americans’ lines, losing 26,000 men compared with 3,500 lost by the United States. Within another month, the islands of Tinian and Guam were also captured by the United States.

The Japanese government of Premier Hideki Tojo resigned in disgrace at this stunning defeat, in what many have described as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.[1]

[1] “United States scores major victory against Japanese in Battle of the Philippine Sea,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6491 (accessed Jun 19, 2009).

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Posted in Country - USA, Media, News, Pacific Theater, Sea

Quote of the Day – B-17 Gunner

19 Jun

Quote of the Day

“Those were great days, though,” he added. “We lived only one day at a time, of course. We didn’t know whether you were going to live tomorrow or not. We flew constantly. I had 500 hours in that ball, right there.” — Glenn Simms B-17 Gunner

Plano resident Glenn Simms, 89, flew 500 hours in 38 missions in the ball turret – suicide seat – of a B-17 bomber while an 8th Air Force staff sergeant and gunner in World War II.

‘Belle’ and the ball, Friday, June 19, 2009 – By Jo Ann Hustis – jhustis@morrisdailyherald.com

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Posted in Air, Country - USA, Media, News, Other

World War II History for June 18

18 Jun

Today in WWII History

World War II History for June 18

18 June 1940 - Benito Mussolini arrived in Munich to meet with Adolf Hitler. Mussolini’s foreign minister, Count Ciano, recorded in his diary that Mussolini left the meeting “very much embarrassed,” and feeling “that his role is secondary.”

Hitler and Mussolini

18 June 1940 - The Soviet Union began its occupation of the Baltic States.

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Posted in Country - Germany, Europe Theater, Media, Today

The Red Orchestra

18 Jun

The Little Known Impact of the Red Orchestra

The Red Orchestra, or Die Rote Kapelle, was the name given by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, to different espionage groups existing in Germany, Switzerland, and the Soviet Union during WWII. These groups were opposed to the ideals which the Nazi party stood for and therefore attempted to sway the German public to counteract the Nazi party and rise up against them. While they never fully succeeded in gaining a heavy following, the different groups did serve to get out information of the atrocities going on within the cities.

The three major groups to take part in this larger organization were the Trepper Group, the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack Group, and The Red Three. While the majority of the individuals in these groups numbered about 100, they still participated in one of the most daring attempts to counter the Third Reich in the most terrifying years, and many gave their lives to their beliefs. There were such few citizens who questioned the authority of Hitler during WWII, and the few who did paid for it with their life. These citizens did more than simply go against his principles, but additionally attempted to get news out of the country and to the Allies. Libertas Schulze-Boysen even succeeded in taking photographs of the Nazi atrocities in an attempt to one day prove Germany’s war crimes, although both her and her husband were caught and sentenced to death before the war ended.

Many of these groups attempted to contact the British and American forces but were met with a myopic lack of interest by both parties at the time which in hindsight was a grave error for the Allies. If many of these documents had been intercepted earlier, the war would have been over much sooner and the Holocaust would not have been as awful as it was. These different groups additionally created an Underground Railroad of sorts and assisted many people who were targeted by Nazis to get away to safety before they were sent away to the many camps. However, even after the war ended, many of the Allied countries still did not openly welcome the members of these groups because of their name (Red Orchestra was misconstrued with Communist leanings) and their ties with the Soviets to begin with. It wasn’t until the fall of the Berlin Wall that these individuals were recognized for everything they did to combat the Nazi regime and how they stood up in the face of Totalitarianism.

This post was contributed by Meredith Walker, who writes about the bachelors degree. She welcomes your feedback at MeredithWalker1983 at gmail.com

Claire Jaspar-Legrand (pictured) aged 65 who had been arrested with her husband Jules Jaspar in Marseilles on 30th November 1942 by the Gestapo. They were suspected members of the “Red Orchestra” spy group .