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World War 2 Facts
* The
first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937)
* The first American
serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940).
* 80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't
survive World War 2
* The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the
US Army Air Corps.
* Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An average
of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.
* 12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2
* 2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed
* 3 or 4 ground
men were wounded for each killed
* 6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded
* Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe
* There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded
during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death
* From 6 June 1944 to
8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded
* The youngest US serviceman
was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His
benefits were later restored by act of Congress).
* At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command
was called CINCUS (pronounced "sink us"), the shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry division was the
swastika, and Hitler's private train was named "Amerika". All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
* Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat
* 40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2;
30,000 never returned
* More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing
the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%. Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs
and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.
* Germany's power grid was much more vulnerable than realized. One estimate is that if just 1% of
the bombs dropped on German industry had instead been dropped on power plants, German industry would have collapsed.
* Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance,
Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.
* It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th found with a tracer round to aid in aiming. That was a mistake.
The tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target, 80% of your rounds were missing.
Worse yet, the tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice
of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. That was definitely not something
you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go
down.
* When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty
universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed
in the act).
* German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn't worth
the effort.
* A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized
aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!)
* Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World
War 2 to accidents
* The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair (they
also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them). "It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army".
- Joseph Stalin
* The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times
* The US Army had more ships that the US Navy.
* The German Air Force had 22 infantry divisions, 2
armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions. None of them were capable of airborne operations. The German Army had paratroops
who WERE capable of airborne operations.
* When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment
brought ashore were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.
* 84 German Generals were executed by Hitler
* Among the first "Germans" captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced
to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they
were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army.
* The Graf Spee never sank, The scuttling attempt failed and the ship was bought by the British. On board was Germany's
newest radar system.
* One of Japan's methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery
shell with on ly the nose exposed. When a tank came near the enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. "Lack
of weapons is no excuse for defeat." - Lt. Gen. Mataguchi
* Following a massive naval bombardment,
35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would have been worse if
there had been Japanese on the island.
* The MISS ME was an unarmed Piper Cub. While spotting for
US artillery her pilot saw a similar German plane doing the same thing. He dove on the German plane and he and his co-pilot
fired their pistols damaging the German plane enough that it had to make a forced landing. Whereupon they landed and took
the Germans prisoner. It is unknown where they put them since the MISS ME only had two seats.
* Most
members of the Waffen SS were not German.
* Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths
* By D-Day, the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000 freight cars and used 29,000
per day
* The only nation that Germany declared war on was the USA.
* During
the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer's
mess. No enlisted men allowed!
* By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once,
11% twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times
* Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr was
rescued in the nick of time from German occupied Denmark. While Danish resistance fighters provided covering fire he ran out
the back door of his home stopping momentarily to grab a beer bottle full of precious "heavy water". He finally
reached England still clutching the bottle, which contained beer. Perhaps some German drank the heavy water...
* Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks
DocumentsOnline allows you access to The National
Archives' collection of digitised public records, including both academic and family history sources. Searching the index
is free, and costs £3.50 to download an image
Were you an evacuee during the Second World War?
The British evacuation of its civilians, especially
children, during the Second World War is recognized as having been the greatest social and family upheaval ever experienced
in this country.
The evacuation virtually emptied many towns and cities of their children. Schools closed, families
were divided; streets and playgrounds were silenced. In the reception areas populations doubled or even trebled overnight.
Women veterans
Welcome to the home
of the skeptical, irascible, doubting, iconoclastic Captain Critical, aka Captain Barb, whose pontificating will try to amuse,
bemuse, irritate and generally annoy anyone bold enough to stay long enough to read the ramblings of a self appointed distaff
critic who will continue to remind you that women are veterans too!
Did you know
that there are almost two million women veterans? From the American Revolution to Panama, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and
Iraq , women have served in some way in every conflict. Not that they were legal in the early days. History tells us that
thirty three thousand women served in World War One and almost 500,000 took part in World War Two. During the Korean era 120,000
women were in uniform and seven thousand were deployed in theater during Viet Nam. During Desert Storm seven per cent of the
total U.S. forces deployed were women - over forty thousand of them. On these pages you will find the history and accomplishments
of those women who have served this country - voluntarily - since it's beginning.
What was SOE ?
S.O.E., the Special Operations Executive, was a
British secret service formed in July 1940 - soon after the fall of France - to foster resistance among the civil population
in Nazi-occupied Europe and to promote sabotage and subversion. Winston Churchill inspired the formation of S.O.E. and continued
to support it until it was dissolved in 1946, its wartime task completed.
The Womens Land Army was established during the
First World War, with huge numbers of men volunteering to fight, the country was desperately short of labour.
During
the fist six months of the Second World War, over thirty thousand men previously working in agriculture had joined the forces.
The government re-formed The Women's Land army and by 1944 there were 80,000 women volunteers working on the land. About
a third of the volunteers moved to the countryside from Britain's industrial cities.
Robert (Bob) Banbury married Joyce Pound on 2nd
July 1941 at St Michaels Church, Albert Road, Stoke, Devonport, Plymouth. The ceremony took place in what had been the church
hall. The church itself was destroyed by bombing on 21st April 1941 one of the heaviest air raids of the Plymouth Blitz. The
hall was consecrated as a church and remained so until the church was rebuilt in 1953. Bob and Joyce should have been married
in May 1941 but Bob was very badly injured in the air raid of 21st April and was too ill for the marriage to take place. He
was fire fighting in the Dockyard that night (his night-time job during the day he was a civil servant in the Dockyard) when
a bomb fell in the area where he was operating. Of the 20 men in that area only Bob survived. If you look carefully at the
photograph you can see that he has his left arm in a sling and his left hand in a splint. What you cant see is the plaster
cast that encased his body from chest to hips or the huge bandaging on his left leg. He returned to hospital immediately after
the wedding. He carried the scars of that night for the rest of his life. He had little use of his left hand and arm. There
were large chunks of muscle missing from his left arm and leg. His left hand (minus its little finger) had no feeling in it
and to protect it from damage and the cold he always wore a specially made glove. He had small pieces of shrapnel from the
bomb embedded all over his body. He used to amuse the children by hanging magnets from various locations on his body. It was
a sort of magic party trick.
Most of us are not aware of it today, but the word
gung ho has been in English only since 1942 and is one of the many words that entered the language as a result of World War
II. It comes from Mandarin Chinese gnghé,to work together, which was used as a motto by the Chinese Industrial Cooperative
Society. Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson (1896 1947) borrowed the motto as a moniker for meetings in which problems were
discussed and worked out; the motto caught on among his Marines (the famous Carlson's Raiders), who began calling themselves
the Gung Ho Battalion. From there eager individuals began to be referred to as gung ho. Other words and expressions that entered
English during World War II include flak, gizmo, task force, black market, and hit the sack.
Everyone used torches in the blackout as the only
light we ever saw outside at night was moonlight, so a lot of the time everywhere was black, if we had a long way to walk
at night we would shine the torch on the ground several yards in front and as we walked we would switch the torch on and off
every five seconds or so, this was supposed to make the battery last longer. We arrived at the shelter, mom and us kids scrambled
inside and made ourselves comfortable, all the dads in the street, that were not away at the war, bravely stood outside at
the front of the shelter, smoking and chatting to each other across the garden fences. After this first night we spent many
nights down the shelter, we could hear distant explosions but that was all, eventually it would go quiet and the long continuous
sound of the all clear would wail out, Gerry has gone, mom would say then we would go back to our beds. After the war ended
the shelters were sold to the tenants for the princely sum of One Pound each. People dug them up and re-erected them on top
of the ground, fitted them with proper wooden doors and used them as workshops or garden sheds. They lasted for decades after
the war ended. The concrete interior was left in the ground intact, we filled it with water once again and used it as a paddling
pool.
This site is dedicated to our aviation pioneers,
pilots,
aircrew, ground crew, and general airforce personnel
Our group consists of ex WW2 and Korea personnel,
RNZAF, RAAF, RAF, Fleet Air Arm
and US Airforce (trained) pilots and aircrew, ground crew, administration guys and gals,
Aero Club trained pilots and the topdressing folk.
These service personnel have served everywhere on the globe.
Name any part of the world, and we have, amongst our group, someone who has been there,
done a job, and tried
out the local "hops".
Underground kent is...
A site dedicated to the many underground features
that can be found not just in Kent but in other areas. They are mostly military fortifications that have been built over
the last three centuries, but other features that included tunnels can also be found here. All sites are man made, or in
the case of mines, heavily influenced by industrial usage. The aim is to provide a glimpse into the rarely seen and often
ignored world that exists beneath our feet.
Here you will find information on tunnels in Dover, Medway, Sheppey, Thanet,
Grain and other areas.
The women's Land Army
During World War II, the British secret service
hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes.
The original notion was simple enough: Find a way to sneak useful items into
prison camps in an unassuming form. But the idea to use Monopoly came from a series of happy coincidences, all of which started
with maps.
Read more here
How well I remember Deliverance Day in 1944
This was the beginning of the end of our six year war.
Many nations took part in this exceptional historic day
To help bring back justice and take tyranny away.
I watched with baited breath as our planes filled the sky
Many
would be wounded and many would also die.
What a lot we owe to all who took part in that historical day
They gave
us back our freedom and banished evil away.
We should never forget those who fought for us to survive
Just Thank
God they gave you freedom and you are still alive.
I was 9 (Freda Hughes) living in Dyke Road, Folkestone
and coming up from the harbour in 1942 near the railway. The troops used to come up there throwing foreign coins to the kids.
I used to take my year old nephew out in the pram. Across the other side of the railway there was a sweet shop. There
were dummy bars of chocolate in the window (so they wouldn't melt) and the window was broken so I was taking them to play
shops with. I heard a noise, I though it was a tank. It was a German plane machine gunning the railway line.
I just
let go of the pram. A neighbour came out and took me and the pram in. My mum said had I gone across the crossing to get home
I'd have been killed.
I was frightened, the noise was dreadful. When the siren for all clear sounded, the neighbours
took me home. My mother always said, "God doesn't pay his debts in money", so I thought I was being paid back
for stealing. I'd never steal again it's learnt me a good lesson!
During the final year of my training as a nurse,
there was an outbreak of Typhoid Fever in Farnworth, amongst those affected was the parish priest. A ward was opened specially
to admit these cases. This was real nursing care. The patients were very ill, with high temperatures, diarrhoea consisting
of green pea soup like stools. The rash was nothing like I had seen before, a pale rose coloured spot. Doctor drew a ring
round the spots on one of the patients to illustrate to me how in a couple of days they had moved out of the ring a little.
I was the only non Roman Catholic nurse on the ward, and had never spoken to a priest before. At first I was
in awe of him, however he was very easy to like. It always seemed to be my task to bed bath him and take his temperature,
take specimens of both faeces and urine. He was nursed in the side ward and I remember on one occasion he asked me to describe
the view out of his window, he was unable to see the outside from his bed. The view was quite pleasant but not much to see.
I told him about the walnut tree, not far away. I described the old house and the lake. The second time he asked me to tell
him what was happening outside, there was very little activity, so I invented some things, and I wonder if he knew?
My first memory as an eight year old boy at home
in Hawkhurst in the Weald of Kent is of Sunday 3rd September 1939. It was a glorious hot sunny day and I was playing in the
garden but was aware that something of great importance was taking place as my parents and our neighbours were gathered together
listening to the radio. I then remember hearing the announcement by Neville Chamberlain that we were at war with Germany.
Soon afterwards the air raid siren in the village sounded and my father called me indoors.After a while whilst we were all
waiting for something to happen the All Clear sounded!
Either just before or just after the declaration of war, I cannot
remember which, we had a visit from some officials who wanted to see the top room in our house. It was an end of terrace,
three storeys and a semi basement house half way up the hill into the village. As the view from the attic room was so extensive
we were told it might be used as an observation post or to house a machine gun if necessary. In the surrounding countryside
concrete blocks were erected some 3 foot cubed in lines across fields which were to hinder tanks in the event of an invasion.Outside
of our home two large concrete blocks some 8 foot high and 4 foot square base were erected, one each side of the street. There
were holes in these block into which girders spanning the road could be inserted. JOHN CORSCADEN
JOIN THE AVIATION DIRECTORY! Do you own an aviation-related website? Want to have
it shown in our ranked directory? Don't hesitate to take a free TGPLANES ACCOUNT to add it immediatly in our DIRECTORY!
Other way, u can find there a lot of interesting websites, all of them are related to Aviation in general.
War and Military Technology
War Without End Forum
The
global war against terror from a British (aka American) perspective
A Collection of WWII Letters
To and
From The Home Front.
In this section you will find a whole host of great
World War 2 films that have graced our cinema's and TV screens over the past 70 years. Some of those reviewed here were
made during World War 2 for civilian consumption. Most however are big name epics of the 40's, 50's, 60's and
70's, featuring such stars as John Wayne, Richard Burton, Steve McQueen and many more. We also have some of the latest
special effect masterpieces of the last decade. The list of films here is by no means complete and will be added to over the
coming weeks.
TENNESSEE MUSEUM OF AVIATION
Collected here are documents from the 23 volume,
40 part, 25,000 page report of HEARINGS BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK CONGRESS
OF THE UNITED STATES SEVENTY-NINTH CONGRESS which was released on July 20, 1946.
An entirely new and must-see attraction, this national
museum presents Canada's military past and how it shaped the country. Its outstanding exhibitions explain Canada s rich
military history from earliest times to the present, featuring the experiences of people on the battlefields and at home
World War II
Living History & Re-enacting Information
I was 18 years old in February 1937 and was considering
my future which was not promising as there was so little choice of employment in those days in the North-East of England,
in particular West Hartlepool. I was working as a spare hand at the local steelworks which involved relieving machine operators
as required. The talk was that war was inevitable and I decided that I would join the army and choose my regiment rather than
wait for call-up. I would do a few years in the forces and if war did not come, I would enter the police force perhaps.
I joined the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards at the cavalry barracks in Colinton, Edinburgh and in September 1938 was detached
from my regiment to a motorised squadron attached to the Scots Greys in Palestine and served there until December 1939 when
we were recalled to Britain for service in the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in France. I was there for the period known
as the phony war when nothing seemed to be happening. I was home on leave when the balloon went up with the invasion of Belgium
by the Germans. Returning to France, things seemed rather chaotic and I did not reach my regiment before Dunkirk was cut off,
and after a few false alarms, we were instructed to get out of France as quickly as possible. The roads were packed with refugees
and were constantly being attacked by enemy aircraft. We could not get to any channel port and finished up at St Malo on the
west coast and were taken off by a former holiday steamer and reached Southampton without being attacked.
In all the
confusion, it transpired that my mum and my dad had been informed that I was missing, believed killed. Fortunately, I was
allowed a telegram when I landed to inform them that I was okay so their agony was short-lived, thankfully.
In the 1825 address he delivered at the laying of
the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill Monument, Daniel Webster made no effort to hide how moved he was by the sight of the Revolutionary
War veterans at the head of the crowd of fifteen thousand, which, after a procession through the streets of Boston, gathered
at Bunker Hill. It was fifty years to the day since the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, and the aging Revolutionary War
veterans, including the frail Marquis de Lafayette, nearing the end of his farewell tour of America, had made an enormous
effort to be present for the ceremony.
The keynote of Webster's speech was America's progress, but two
centuries later what is most memorable about his speech is its poignancy. Time and again Webster voiced his concern that the
Revolutionary War veterans, most of them in their seventies and eighties, were a vanishing generation. "Those who established
our liberty and our government are daily dropping from among us," he observed. "The great trust now descends to
new hands." Behind Webster's description of the disappearing Revolutionary War generation was not just sadness, but
generational envy, a belief that the "venerable men" whom the Bunker Hill Monument honored were superior to those
of his own time. "We can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all."
Webster concluded his speech by declaring, "Our proper business is improvement."
This information service is a labour of love, maintained
by (not so surprisingly) a history buff. I have always been interested in military history, and particularly so World War
II, and wanted to be able to see all the latest WWII-related news at one glance without wasting hours browsing around or reading
miserable auto-generated news alerts.
I try to bring out different sides and views, like for example showing both
dreadful and humorous aspects of the war, or using both left and right wing sources. All within reason, of course. It is easy
to see that there are four topics that dominate this particular battlefield: World War II, Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler and
German militaria -- hence in fact the url and the website title "Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News".
Some topics are on the other hand very infrequently visited, simply because there just isn't that much media coverage
on them -- for example, WWII campaigns in China do not get all that much attention in the English speaking world.
Since the World War II database here currently has tens of thousands of news reviews, it is inevitable -- but unfortunate
-- that some of the older links are no longer working, no matter how often the database is manually purged by fixing, removing
or disabling dead links. In fact, as many online newspapers only allow free access to their articles for a week or two, in
order to avoid disappointments it is essential to visit us often to get the 'history' while it is still available.
Although Germans introduced "Blitzkrieg"
tactics, to a great extent they themselves evolved the tactical countermeasures to this form of attack. The Russians, who
have fought two major defensive campaigns, have been quick to seize, adapt, and even improve on the defensive tactics employed
by the Germans in the winter of 1941-42.
The Imperial War Museum is unique in its coverage
of conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. It seeks
to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and war-time experience. It is
proud to be regarded as one of the essential sights of London.
This page is intended to honor the wartime experiences
of my dad, Ronald Arthur Tee, and to offer information on his division and regiment. He served in the 56th Reconnaissance
Regiment, 78th "Battleaxe" Division of the British 1st, (later the 8th), Army from 1941 to 1946.
Our family
still listens with rapt attention to his accounts of the war, and the part he played in it.
His family are all very
proud and thankful to him, and all the other soldiers of WWII, - those who came back, and those who didn't. They have
ensured our freedom for all the years since the war.
Explore this section to gain a fascinating
insight into the work we do to commemorate the war dead from the building and maintenance of our cemeteries and memorials
to the establishment and preservation of our records EXCITING NEW WAR GRAVES EDUCATION WEBSITE LAUNCHED
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
today unveiled its innovative online education resource and visitor guide, to help children and adults alike better understand
the sacrifice made by millions of servicemen and women during the two world wars.
FROMELLES WEBSITE LAUNCH
A
new website has been launched to provide information about the Fromelles project and update the public on its progress.
.
The modern world is still living with the consequences
of World War 2, the most titanic conflict in history. Just over 67 years ago on September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland
without warning. By the evening of September 3rd, Britain and France were at war with Germany and within a week, Australia,
New Zealand, Canada and South Africa had also joined the war. The world had been plunged into its second world war in 25 years.
Six long and bloody years of total war, fought over many thousand of square kilometres followed. From the Hedgerows of Normandy
to the streets of Stalingrad, the icy mountains of Norway to the sweltering deserts of Libya, the insect infested jungles
of Burma to the coral reefed islands of the pacific. On land, sea and in the air, Poles fought Germans, Italians fought Americans
and Japanese fought Australians in a conflict which was finally settled with the use of nuclear weapons. World War 2 involved
every major world power in a war for global domination and at its end, more than 60 million people had lost their lives and
most of Europe and large parts of Asia lay in ruins.
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I
think I've had a lot of striking experiences over the course of my life that have served as defining moments. I didn't
emerge into this world with character fully formed but rather acquired bits here and there that have defined who I am.
My family was very poor but then so was everyone else during WWII. All-in-all, I had a very happy childhood but big
things began to happen in the fifties. I joined the Navy at 17, married at 19 and my first child was born and I became an
air crewman in these:
One outstanding experience for me was my first flight
after air crew school. The seating in these old fighters was side-by-side, the pilot on the left and I, the radar operator,
on the right. An old (in his thirties at least!) pilot took me up and shortly after takeoff, asked me how I was doing. "Just
great!", I replied. "Just relax, I'm going to do a slow roll" he said. He did eight slow rolls and
apparently enjoyed my obvious delight. Then he did every aerobatic maneuver in his repertoire which I thoroughly enjoyed.
A defining moment? Yes, I think so in that I discovered that anything was possible for a farm boy if I went after
it. It's amazing what doors can open when approached with confidence. with thanks to Timetrvlr
WAR, WOMEN, AND OPPORTUNITY
World War II opened a new chapter in the
lives of Depression-weary Americans. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific,
millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men
in peacetime.
For female journalists, World War II offered new professional opportunities.
Talented and determined, dozens of women fought for--and won--the right to cover the biggest story of their lives. By war's
end, at least 127 American women had secured official military accreditation as war correspondents, if not actual front-line
assignments. Other women journalists remained on the home front to document the ways in which the country changed dramatically
under wartime conditions.
In the Pacific, war was not formally declared between
the belligerents until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. (See: Greater East Asia War). However,
there was active fighting dating back to the 1930s, the cause of which can be seen in the political fragmentation and weakness
of China combined with a strong Japan with a militaristic and expansionist ideology.
In the 1920s, China fragmented
into warlordism in which there was a weak central government, and Japan was able gain influence in China by imposing unequal
treaties with what remained of the central government. This situation was unstable in that if China dissolved into total anarchy
these agreements would be unenforceable while if China was able to strength, the strong China would be able to abrogate those
agreements.
In 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek and the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang led the Northern Expedition.
Chiang was able to militarily defeat the warlords in southern and central China, and was in the process of securing the nominal
allegiance of the warlords in northern China. Fearing that Zhang Xueliang (the warlord controlling Manchuria) was about to
declare his allegiance for Chiang, the Japanese intervened and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo.
There is no
evidence that Japan ever intended to directly administer China or that Japan's actions in China were part of a program
of world domination. Rather, Japan's goals in China were strongly influenced by 19th century European colonialism and
were to maintain a secure supply of natural resources and to have friendly and pliable governments in China that would not
act against Japanese interests.
Although Japanese actions would not have seemed out of place among European colonial
powers in the 19th century, by 1930, notions of Wilsonian self-determination meant that raw military force in support of colonialism
was no longer seen as appropriate behavior by the international community. Japanese actions were therefore roundly criticized
and led to Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations. During the 1930s, China and Japan reached a stalemate with Chiang
focusing his efforts at eliminating the Communists whom Chiang considered to be a more fundamental danger than the Japanese.
The influence of Chinese nationalism on opinion both in the political elite and the general population rendered this strategy
increasingly untenable.
Meanwhile in Japan, a policy of assassination by secret societies and the effects of the
Great Depression had caused the civilian government to lose control of the military. In addition, the military high command
had limited control over the field armies who acted on their own interest, often in contradiction to the overall national
interest. There was also an upsurge in nationalism and anti-European feeling and the belief that Japanese policies in China
could be justified by racial theories. One popular belief with similarities to the Identity movement was that Japan and not
China was the true heir of classical Chinese civilization.
In 1937, Chiang was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang in the
Xian Incident. As condition of his release, Chiang promised to united with the Communists and fight the Japanese. In response
to this, officers of the Kwangtung Army without knowledge of the high command in Tokyo decided to manufacture the Battle of
Lugou Bridge, also known as the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge, by which they succeeded in their intention of provoking
a conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, the Sino-Japanese War).
In 1939 Japanese forces
tried to push into the Soviet far east from Manchuria. They were soundly defeated by a mixed Soviet and Mongolian force led
by Georgi Zhukov. This stopped Japanese expansion to the North and Japan and the Soviet Union kept un uneasy peace until 1945.
Japan's policies in the 1930s are remarkable for their disastrously self-defeating nature. Japan's grand strategy
was based on the premise that it could not survive a war against the European powers without secure sources of natural resources,
yet to secure those resources it decided to undertake the war that it knew it could not win in the first place. Moreover actions
such as its brutality in China, and its practice of first setting up, and then undermining, puppet governments in China were
clearly antithetical to Japan's overall goals, and yet it continued to persist in them anyway. Finally, this march to
self-destruction is remarkable in that many individuals within the Japanese political and military elite realized these self-destructive
consequences, but were unable to do anything about the situation. Also, there appears to have been no debate over policy alternatives
which might have enabled Japan to further its goals in China.
'The Shetland Bus'
Welcome to what is thought to be the only
website specifically commemorating what became known as 'The Shetland Bus', a Shetland based boat operation to and
from Norway, that took place during the Second World War (1939 - 1945).
During late 1939 and the early 1940s, we in Birmingham
were to suffer from quite a few air raids. It is somewhat difficult to set down here all the experiences we encountered at
this particular time. We became accustomed to spending many long hours in the Anderson shelter at the bottom of the garden.
This was a wooden construction with a corrugated iron cover, most of the structure being deep in the ground with about a fifth
above the ground. It had a wooden door, which we bolted by means of a wooden bar fixed into two grooves either side of it.
Inside there were two long benches at either side and in between these we had room for a small table on which we stood a small
oil lamp. The benches were wide enough to sit upon and also had some space underneath for various provisions. The entire area
of the shelter smelled dank and very earthy and at first it was unpleasant but gradually our nostrils became used to the odour
and we even associated this smell with safety, as this was the place where we could have some hope of escaping death or injury.
Of course, a direct hit was a disaster we did not care to contemplate.
These pages are intended to be a general World War
Two resource, providing background information and useful and interesting facts. Hopefully this will be a useful aid to those
studying the history of World War II.
Welcome To My WW2 Home Front Pages
Welcome to my web site. My name is Gordon Tumber
and I spent 28 years in all in the Catering Department.
I graduated, or was let out on fairly good behaviour, from the
Gravesend Sea School in January 1952. Some time before it went all posh and called itself a College. We called it many things
but College was not among them.
My memories of this are of hunger, hairy blankets and the cold wind of change. Especially
on the Thames in December. All cheerfully accepted as you lay awake at night listening to the busy tugs manoeuvering those
beautiful Ocean Liners that sailed in and out of Tilbury Docks every week. Adventure was waiting patiently in the wings.
I was born in a quiet and rather sad town that was
Derry before 1939. In the 1930s unemployment was high, money was scarce and our sole industry, shirt making, employed mainly
women, so that many men were forced to seek work in places like London and Manchester. Along the wide river the docks lay
idle as mercantile trade focused on Belfast. Yet, despite the lean times, there was little crime and my siblings and I passed
our early years in a safe and secure little world.
Then on 3rd September, 1939, our peaceful existence ended.
War was declared. Grown ups greeted the announcement with horror and dismay, yet the news scarcely caused a ripple in my little
circle of friends. We knew that wars were fought in far off lands, nothing to do with us in Derry. Everything would go on
as usual boring old school and homework lightened only by weekends and holidays. Halloween was just round the corner
and then Christmas. However, we were soon to be disillusioned as events unfolded that would change everything familiar and
control life to a degree hither unknown. Patricia McAdams
BOMBER COMMAND
HERITAGE is a voluntary not-for-profit
organization.
Doing what they can in the 21st Century to remember all those that
gave so much for the British and Commonwealth effort during World War II
We are
on a journey of discovery (often rediscovery) into all aspects related to the RAF Bomber Command story.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, conquering
it in six weeks, as the Soviets invaded the eastern areas. During the German occupation, there were two distinct civilian
uprisings in Warsaw, one in 1943, the other in 1944. The first took place in an entity, less than two square miles in area,
which the Germans carved out of the city and called "Ghetto Warschau." Into the thus created Ghetto, around which
they built high walls, the Germans crowded 550,000 Polish Jews, many from the Polish provinces. At first, people were able
to go in and out of the Ghetto, but soon the Ghetto's border became an "iron curtain." Unless on official business,
Jews could not leave it, and non-Jews, including Germans, could not enter. Entry points were guarded by German soldiers. Because
of extreme conditions and hunger, mortality in the Ghetto was high. Additionally, in 1942, the Germans moved 400,000 to Treblinka
where they were gassed on arrival. When, on April 19, 1943, the Ghetto Uprising commenced, the population of the Ghetto had
dwindled to 60,000 individuals. In the following three weeks, virtually all died as the Germans fought to put down the uprising
and systematically destroyed the buildings in the Ghetto.
Established by Royal Charter in 1917, the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission pays tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars.
It is a non-profit-making organisation that was founded by Sir Fabian Ware.
Since its inception, the Commission has
constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots, erecting headstones over graves and, in instances where the remains are missing,
inscribing the names of the dead on permanent memorials. Over one million casualties are now commemorated at military and
civil sites in some 150 countries.
Participate in our WW 1939-1945 Forum, for detailed
study of the war, and is especially useful to the reader seeking to put a given subject or campaign into wider historical
context.
"Auschwitz is unique," explains series
producer and writer Lawrence Rees. "It has a physical beginning in May 1940 and physical ending in January 1945, and
is the site of the single largest mass murder in the history of humanity." Like the series, this website uses Auschwitz
as a prism to try and understand something of the extermination process and of the mentality of the people who committed the
crime. Rational, sane people sat down in various stages and made key decisions that ended in the killing of over six million
women, men and children.
Rose Palmer
London
When war broke
out, I was evacuated to Kent. We were taken to church by coach, the sirens went and we were put back on the coach to our houses.
Nothing happened, I stayed till January 1940 and when I was fourteen my family brought me back to work. I got a job in Knightsbridge
earning seven and six pence a week. Then it closed down.
I went to Berkeley Square to a boutique and had an exciting
time. Film stars like Vivien Leigh, Beatrice Lily, Kay Kendal, and Lily Palmer. Lady Winterbottom never wore any knickers,
and we used to have to grab the clothes and hang them on the line because they stank!
When we couldnt get the material
from the pattern swatch, I used to take them home and make colourful underwear and blouses and people used to admire my washing
as I was living in a mews flat. After our house was bombed, I only had the clothes I had on.
When the forces came from
overseas, I had a wonderful time. I was hostess at Hans Crescent American Club and danced all night but I was never late for
work. I made all my own clothes, mostly from blackout material. I used to spend time with my friend at the switchboard where
she worked. One night a heavy air raid was on and the engineer rang and offered to take us home. We walked through Green Park
and watched the dog fights of the planes caught in the searchlights. I was seventeen; he was eighteen, my blind date. He was
called up into the navy and went all over the world, fought at D-Day and in many battles. We married January 1st 1944. Our
daughter was born April 4th 1945
My boy friend asked me to marry him because hed been issued with all the tropical gear
and was being posted to the east. I said, I cant, Ive only got ten coupons. Ten coupons was a years worth of coupons. So the
operator said Terminate your call, your time is up, I said please dont cut us off, this is important, he said are you going
to marry him or arent you? So I said yes, he said do you love him or dont you? So I said yes.Anyway, youre not supposed to
be listening. He came home. We married but he never went to the Far East, it was all to fool the enemy!
Then
he came home with oiled stockings, warm clothing, weatherproof coats, big boots he was nearly in tears because he hated the
cold. Hed been told he was to go to Russia. He didnt go there either! Again, to fool the army. He was at the D-Day battle
where he hurt his head under fire, stitched up and hat put back on, and put back on duty on the gun. The ship was a floating
dock.
With my ten coupons, I made a sage green dress and jacket, made a nightdress and a padded bedjacket out
of some turquoise satin which I bought in Petticoat Lane, and brown shoes. Net wasnt rationed so I made a pretty hat with
two brown birds and net. My mother screamed and told me that birds were unlucky and that my wedding wouldnt last we were married
48 years and he died on 9th May, 1991.
These
pages catalogue the official reports of the most important event in Royal Air Force history, the Battle
fought over Britain between the 10th July and 31st October 1940. For the first time, the complete Fighter
Command Operational Diaries for the period have been published in full, day by day over the whole
period the Battle. Supporting this official text are a series of pages detailing such facets of the Battle as
the Commanders, the Aircraft and the changes in Tactics on both sides as the situation developed.
Although some of the Fighter Command claims of the time (I.e. numbers of German aircraft shot down etc.) have
since been provd to be greatly exagerated on some days, it nevertheless does give a unique
insight into the RAF's perspective of the Battle of Britain.
Clothes were severely rationed, so everyone improvised
wherever possible and the slogan 'Make do and mend' was designed to encourage people to do just that. I remember my
delight in coming across a dress which, the shop-owner assured me, required no coupons at all - although this was reflected
in the price. It was only when I got it home I realised it was made from dyed hessian.
Shoes were made with wooden
soles because that way they required fewer clothing coupons. There was quite an art in walking in them - a rocking step needed
to be developed. Later, hinges were added, but these were unsuccessful as small stones became wedged in the hinge and the
wearer was left having to hobble on the toe section until the offending object could be removed. The clatter they made was
overcome by attaching an extra sole cut from an old bicycle tyre.
Barrage balloon material made good waterproof
macs so when a damaged one came down it quickly went missing. Silk parachutes, which were constructed from triangles of material,
could be unpicked, re-stitched into rectangles and re-cut to make luxurious underwear. Consequently, when an airman was seen
to bail out there was frequently a race between the authorities and civilians to recover the parachute, while sometimes a
portion could be bought on the black market.
Anne Butcher
World War Two required a massive outpouring of manufacturing
capabilities, giving rise to one of the world's largest in the form of the United States of America.
World War II
THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
Allied Warships
Australian warship listing
Welcome to NavWeaps Naval Weapons
World's Armed Forces Forum
Memorable Photos of WWII
Introduction to WWII German Weapons
During the final year of my training as a nurse,
there was an outbreak of Typhoid Fever in Farnworth, amongst those affected was the parish priest. A ward was opened specially
to admit these cases. This was real nursing care. The patients were very ill, with high temperatures, diarrhoea consisting
of green pea soup like stools. The rash was nothing like I had seen before, a pale rose coloured spot. Doctor drew a ring
round the spots on one of the patients to illustrate to me how in a couple of days they had moved out of the ring a little.
I was the only non Roman Catholic nurse on the ward, and had never spoken to a priest before. At first I was
in awe of him, however he was very easy to like. It always seemed to be my task to bed bath him and take his temperature,
take specimens of both faeces and urine. He was nursed in the side ward and I remember on one occasion he asked me to describe
the view out of his window, he was unable to see the outside from his bed. The view was quite pleasant but not much to see.
I told him about the walnut tree, not far away. I described the old house and the lake. The second time he asked me to tell
him what was happening outside, there was very little activity, so I invented some things, and I wonder if he knew?
The Lancaster and Spitfires
Paul Reed's Battlefields of WW2
The flight to the European Theater of Operations
These pages catalogue
the official reports of the most important event in Royal Air Force history, the Battle fought over Britain between the 10th
July and 31st October 1940. For the first time, the complete Fighter Command Operational Diaries for the period have been
published in full, day by day over the whole period the Battle. Supporting this official text are a series of pages detailing
such facets of the Battle as the Commanders, the Aircraft and the changes in Tactics on both sides as the situation developed.
Although some of the Fighter Command claims of the time (I.e. numbers of German aircraft shot down etc.) have since been proved
to be greatly exagerated on some days, it nevertheless does give a unique insight into the RAF's perspective of the Battle
of Britain.
Shattered World is a series of online alternate
history books, authored by Bobby Hardenbrook in serial fashion, that tell the story of an alternate Second World War. The
books are written in the form of a detailed timeline, though there are also short stories included in many of the chapters.
Shattered World has a relatively small but active Online Community
"Those who go to war at the request of their
nation do not know the fate that lies in store for them. This was a war of such overwhelming sound, fury and unrelenting horror
that few combatants could remain unaffected," said Minister Duhamel. "While we cannot relive those awful years of
a nation at peril in total war, and although the culture of that time is subsequently too distant for us to comprehend fully,
we can give these 23 soldiers a dignity that is their due, and provide closure to their families."
In 1940 a network of
defenses was hastily built all over the British Isles to prevent an anticipated German invasion. The most common of these
defenses were called pillboxes, squat concrete forts that were sited at road junctions, canals and other strategic points.
With the passage of time it is estimated that less than 6,000 of a total of 28,000
pillboxes built still survive. They remain as permanent monuments and a silent tribute to the courage and tenacity of the
British people during the dark days of 1940 when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany.
The Battle of Britain was the aerial conflict
between British and German air forces in the skies over the United Kingdom in the summer and autumn of 1940. It was one of
the most important moments in Britain's twentieth century history and a decisive turning point of the Second World War.
Royal Air Force Fighter Command defeated the Luftwaffe's attempt to gain air supremacy over southern England and saved
Britain from German invasion and conquest.
Dr. Stephen Ambrose,
University of New Orleans Boyd Professor of History, founded The National World War II Museum Foundation in New Orleans in
1991. The Museum, which opened on June 6, 2000, is the only museum in the United States that addresses all of the amphibious
invasions or "D-days" of World War II, paying tribute to the more than one million Americans who took part.
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