Kaiser of Arabia
06-07-2005, 03:12
(ok I had to write an essay on WWII, 3 major battles, 3 heros and villains, new technologies, how it started, and it's results. so here it is. Mex American war is next post, then Ill post US Civ war when im done. please tell me what you think)
Conflict Focus Sheet
World War Two
Scott Piazza
World War Two was the largest war of the twentieth century, spanning six years and about fifty-five million casualties. Starting in 1939, the war lasted from the Nazi invasion of Poland to the surrender of Japan in August of 1945. The war pitted the Germans, beaten and bloodied after World War One, and oppressed by the terms in the Treaty of Versailles, and the Italians under the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, and the Empire of Japan; against the British Empire, France, the Soviet Union, Poland, Canada, Australia, and later the United States.
In 1932, Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NAZI), took power in Germany, being elected Chancellor. He quickly began building up the German military, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. He quickly reoccupied the Rhineland, the area between the French boarder and the Rhine River, again, in violation of the Versailles treaty. By 1938, Germany had the largest and most powerful military in the world. With the aid of Heinz Guderian, Hitler invented a military doctrine he called the Blitzkrieg, which means Lightning War. Then, in 1938, Hitler ordered prisoners, dressed in Polish Uniforms, shot near the polish boarder. He then used this action to claim that the Polish had attacked Germany, and therefore, with the support of the German people, invaded Poland.
With the help of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany crushes Poland. Meanwhile, Hitler orders his army to invade France, marching through Belgium and capturing Paris. In a mere six weeks, France was firmly under Hitler’s control. Also capturing the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway, and with the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, the vast majority of Europe was under Nazi Germany or Nazi Friendly nations (such as Italy and Slovakia). The Italian army in North Africa was fighting the British army, and was soon crushed by the British. The Germans sent the elite Afrika Corps to aid them, under the command of General Erwin Rommel.
America was Neuteral at this time, although they did secretly supply the English with weapons and ships. However, on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese changed that. Striking the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese won a crushing blow against the Americans. The next day, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president of the United States, declared war on Japan. Germany, in turn, declared war on the United States. The United States struck back at the Japanes quickly, and also sent men to aid the British army in Egypt against Rommel. Earlier that year, the Soviet Union had declared war on the Germans, and the full scale of World War Two was about to be seen.
In World War II, many new technologies were employed by the military forces of the world. One of the most important and evident technologies first used in World War Two was the Atomic bomb. First developed by American scientists in the 1940s, it was first used in conventional warfare in August of 1945, when the first bomb used on a civilian target was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. However, previous to that, the United States military tested them in the Nevada and New Mexican desert. After World War II, nuclear weaponry was never used in war again.
Another new technology used in World War II was the semi-automatic and automatic (assault) rifles. Used widely by the Americans in the form of the M1 Garand and M1A1 Carbine, almost every nation envolved used some form of Automatic or semi-automatic rifle. The Germans, having invented the first Assault rifle in the form of the Stg-44, distributed them in small amounts to their elite Waffen-SS and Falschirmjaeger divisions. The Germans also had several semi-automatic rifles, including the Gewehr 43. However, the vast majority of rifles used in WWII were bolt action rifles, the same that were used in the First world war. An example of these rifles were the Mauser K98, Lee-Enfeild No4, Springfield 1903, and the Mosin Nagant 1891.
One of the first major conflicts of the war was Fall Weiß, the German invasion of Poland in September, 1939. German strategists came up with the plan consisting of three attacks; the main attack from the German heartland into mainland Poland, a smaller attack from Eastern Prussia, and yet a smaller attack by Slovak allies from the south. All three assaults were to converge on the Polish capital city of Warsaw, and the Polish army was to be encircled and destroyed on the Vistula.
On August 31st, 1939, Operation Himmler, a German propaganda stunt to gain a Cassus Belli on Poland, took place. Under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich, several convicts were taken to a radio station near the Polish border and shot. Then, the Nazi’s broadcast that the Polish army had attacked the German borders. Even though none of the convicts were wearing Polish military uniforms, the German populace believed the Nazi’s, and the next day, September 1st, 1939, the attack on Poland began.
Fifty-six German divisions, numbering 1.8 million men, stormed across the border. The smaller polish force was forced to withdraw from the borders, after heavy fighting. After a crushing defeat at the Bzura River, the Polish army began to withdraw torwards Warsaw. They were expecting an allied counterattack to relieve them. However, on September 17th, 1939, the Russian Red Army invaded the easternmost regions of Poland. Many Polish soldiers tried to evacuate to neutral Romania, where they planned to regroup. Two Polish armies were crippled at the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski from the 17th to the 20th of September. The city of Lwów fell on September 22nd.Warsaw finally fell on September 28th, and by October 1st, Poland was firmly in German and Soviet hands.
Poland had lost over 65,000 men fighting, and 640,000 Polish soldiers were captured by the Germans or the Soviets. 120,000 Polish soldiers were able to withdraw to Romania and Hungary, and around 20,000 escaped to Latvia and Lithuania. The majority of these men regrouped in France. The aftermath of the conquest was much more brutal. The fighting destroyed major Polish urban areas, and following massacres took the lives of 6 million poles, over one-fifth of the country’s population. The soviets also killed up to 1.8 million Polish citizens, often sending them to forced labor camps, imprisoned, or simply murdered (ex. The Katyn Massacre).
Shortly after Operation Fall Weiß, Operation Fall Gelb took place. About 5 months after the fall of Poland in the east, 141 German divisions, along with 7,378 guns, 2,445 tanks, and 5,446 aircraft, number 3,350,000 men, attacked France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This invasion, starting in April of 1940, was to be a monumental German success.
The French high command expected a recreation of the German plan in World War I. They fortified their borders, known as the Mangiot Line. To counter this, the German high command came up with a plan that rested on the conquest of the Netherlands and Belgium. However, when a German transport crashed in Belgium and the plan was captured, the German high command decided to scrap it. The final invasion plan, Fall Gelb, was suggested by General Erich von Manstein. His plan was to break through the Ardennes, the center of the French and Allied Lines (numbering 2,862,000 men, including 13,974 guns, 3,384 tanks, and 3,099 aircraft).
On May 10th, 1940, Germany launched Fall Gelb. During the night, German Forces occupied Luxemburg and in the morning, Army Group B (Consisting of 29 ½ divisions, including 3 armored) launched a feint offensive into Belgium and the Netherlands. Fallschirmjäger from the 7th Fleiger and 22nd Air Landing divisions captured both Fort Eben-Emael and the major road to Rotterdam. The allied command fell for it, and sent many of their men to reinforce the Belgians and Dutch.
Soon the Luftwaffe gained Air Superiority over the Allies, and the Germans were able to capture 7 major airfields around Rotterdam. Their attempts to capture the Hague ended in complete failure, and on May 10th, the airfields were recaptured by the two Dutch reserve infantry divisions. The French army tried to meet up with the remnants of the Dutch forces, however, not understanding the German’s intention, failed to prevent the 9th Panzer division from capturing Rotterdam on May 14th.
By May 13th, Army Group A had smashed through the Ardennes line and had captured river crossings as far south as Sedan on the Meusse River. The German’s carpet bombed a small corridor where the French army was located. The French Infantry there (from the 55th Infantry Division) were completely routed.
On May 16th, both General Erwin Rommel and General Heinz Guderian (often hailed as the best generals of the war), in an act of open insubordination, charged their panzer divisions in an act often hailed as the first use of the Blitzkreig. Guderian was able to push 80 kilometers west of Sedan, while Rommel was able to move about 100 kilometers west of his bridgehead at Dinant. Rommel was nowhere to be found at this point in time, however, General von Kliest visited Guderian the next day, and in a fit of rage relieved him of his duties. However, this push had surprised the French, and now their government was taken over by a wave of defeatism.
On the 18th, Rommel was able to capture Cambrai by merely feinting an armored attack. On the 19th, the German high command was very confident of their victory, and the next day they were able to capture the Somme River at Abbeville, isolating the allied forces to the north. By the 20th, the 2nd Panzer division was within eyesight of the Channel.
On the 21st of May, British Expeditionary forces attacked the German Panzer divisions in the Battle of Arres. The Panzer’s could not withstand the heavily armored British Matilda tanks, and the British were able to halt the German offensive. The next day, however, German reinforcements were able to press the British back to the Vimy ridge.
On May 26th, the remnants of the British army were evacuated at Dunkirk, leaving the French to fend for themselves. Belgium surrendered on May 28th. On June 10th, the French government evacuated Paris, and relocated in Bordeaux. Finally on June 25th, the French officially surrendered to the Germans.
The German army lost about 27,074 men to death, with slightly over 110,000 wounded, and 18,000 missing. Allied casualties were 290,000 French killed and wounded, and 68,111 British, 23,350 Belgian, 9,779 Dutch and 6,092 Poles killed or wounded. Total allied losses including the capture of the French army amounted to 2,292,000.
After securing France and Poland, Hitler turned his sights on his former ally, the Soviet Union. In June of 1941, in quite possibly the worst military blunder in the history of mankind, Hitler sent 3.2 million men across the Soviet border in a daring plan known as Unternehmen Barbarossa (Operation Barbarossa). The German forces pushed to the Volga river, where they met the soviets at one decisive battle: Stalingrad.
In late August, 1942, Heersgruppe Süd reached the Volga river to the north of the city of Stalingrad, bearing the name of the head of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin. On August 23rd, a German firebombing campaign of the city left thousands of civilians dead and the city in ruins. The Soviet 62nd army formed defensive positions amongst the rubble. The Germans attacked. Fighting in the city was brutal. Every inch of ground gained by either side was heavily paid for in gallons of blood. The average life expectancy of a newly arrived soviet soldier during this phase of the battle was a mere few hours.
The fighting continued. The Mamayev Kurgan, a prominent hill above the city, was bitterly contested. It changed hands several times. Thousands of men died trying to take it. In fact, in one day alone, the soviets lost an entire division of 10,000 men attacking the hill. A soviet platoon under the command of Yakov Pavlov fortified a large apartment in the middle of the city. This apartment building is known as Pavlov’s house. The soviets fought off several German attacks on the building using their heavy fortifications. After three months of this fighting, the Germans pushed the Soviets back to the Volga River, capturing eighty percent of the city. However, the battles for the Mamayev Kurgan and Red October factory continued fiercely as ever, although hope of relief for the soviet forces was slim.
On November 19th, 1942, the Soviet counterattack began. They attacked the Romanian forces to the north of the city, shattering them in a day. The next day, another Soviet counterattack began to the south of Stalingrad crushed another Romanian army there. The Soviet forces surrounded the city of Stalingrad, trapping 250,000 German, Romanian, Hungarian, and Italian soldiers in the city. About 50,000 German soldiers were able to escape the encirclement. After a failed attempt to supply the troops trapped in Stalingrad, the German high command realized that the soldiers trapped in the city would never leave Stalingrad alive. The Soviets began an attack on the city, trying to shrink the pocket. A Soviet attack on the German forces near Rostov forced General von Manstein to withdraw out of the caucuses, sealing the fates of the men at Stalingrad.
The German Commander at Stalingrad, Generalfeldmarschal Paulus, surrendered after long and brutal urban combat. Only 91,000 men of the 500,000 Germans were left alive to surrender. And of those men, only 6,000, including Paulus, ever saw Germany again. The rest of them died in the Soviet gulags. Axis losses, including those killed in the battles around the city, totaled 850,000, although only 400,000 of those were German. Soviet losses are estimated to be as low as 790,000 but as high as 1,750,000, including the many civilians killed in the fierce street fighting of the battle. This defeat, although a pyrrhic victory for the Soviets, marked the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
After the battle of Stalingrad, it was apparent to the Germans that the Soviets were a clear and present threat. After decimating the German field army at Stalingrad, the Soviets pushed westwards, and eventually captured the city of Kursk. This created a bulge of approximately 150km in the German line, and the German high command wanted to eliminate this threat. Meanwhile, Stalin would be willing to do anything to crush the Fascist invaders, and he would attempt to do so on Hell’s Battlefield: Kursk.
The German high command came up with Operation Citadel, for an attack on the city of Kursk. Kursk was at the center of the bulge, and simply put, Hitler wanted it. The attack was originally planned for May, but due to several setbacks the attack happened on July 4th, 1943. The German army, consisting of 800,000 men (including 3 brand new SS-Panzer divisions; 1st SS Leibstandardt- Adolf Hitler, 2nd SS Panzer Das Reich, and the 3rd SS Panzer Der Totenkopf), began an attack on Soviet entrenchments in an action that demonstrated the folly of modern warfare. The attack plan called for two large attack forces to attack the north and south ends of the Kursk Bulge, and for around 7 divisions to assault the center. 28 divisions would be held in reserve. The soviet defenses, consisting of well over one million men, had dug fortifications and had placed hundreds of anti-tank guns behind them.
On July 5th, the real battle began. In the early hours of the morning a massive Soviet Artillery barrage began, with hundreds of guns firing at the German positions, and also many of “Stalin’s Organs” field rocket launchers. The Soviet Air Force attempted to destroy the Luftwaffe on the ground, but failed miserably. The German attack began shortly after, and the German tanks were able to maul the inferior Soviet T-34s at a distance. The soviet anti-tank guns began to destroy German tanks, which became mobile crematoriums for their highly trained crews (thanks to Brigadier Shelford Bidwell for that quote). On July 15th, the attack on Orel began, and the Soviet army pushed the Germans back to the Hegan line. The Soviets soon attacked and took Kharkov as well, and by August 20th, all German forces in the area were forced to withdraw.
By August 22nd, all fighting drew to a close. The German casualties numbered some 198,000 men, and approximately 300 tanks. The Soviets lost up to 862,000 men in the battle, and 330 tanks. Although taking far more casualties, this was a soviet victory, as the German forces were pushed from two major cities along the Eastern Front.
World War Two was definitely a war of heroes and villains, but exactly who were the heroes and who were the villains is hard to define. One of the known villains of the war is definitely Josef Stalin. His brutal tactics led to the deaths of 27 million Russians during the Second World War. His ego also sacrificed over a million men to die at Stalingrad, simply because the city bore his name. He was also guilty of war crimes, too many to count. Amongst these is the Katyn Massacre, where 22,000 Poles were taken into the Katyn Forest and executed. Also, he allowed the mass rapes and pillaging in captured German cities to continue. There is no way this man was a hero of the war, although he arguably won it for the Allies.
Another obvious villain would be Gregorai Zhukov. A distinguished soviet general, he also had a hand to play in the brutal tactics at battles such as Stalingrad. He once said “If we come across a minefield, our infantry attacks exactly as if it weren’t there.” It’s obvious that this man is deranged. Such tactics cost the lives of countless soviet soldiers, men that need not have died. He also was the commander that was in control of the Soviet forces when they captured Berlin, brutally pillaging and raping the entire city.
Another person widely viewed as a villain of World War Two is Josef Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda minister. Although he did very little personally, his speeches inspired the followers of the Nazi party into giving their lives to defend the Fatherland. He was a fanatical supporter of Hitler, and was also a brilliant manufacturer of propaganda. In the last days of the war, he had his children poisoned and then ordered his SS Guards to execute him. He was then cremated, his charred remains found by Soviet forces when they captured Hitler’s bunker.
One of the definite heroes of the war was Generalfeldmarschal Erwin Rommel. He is often hailed as the last of the knights, and was one of the most chivalrous and brilliant commanders the world has ever seen. A veteran of World War One, Erwin Rommel was given command of a Panzer Division during the invasion of France, in which he proved himself as an excellent commander. Soon after, he was given command of the Deutsche Afrika Corps. Although he initially led them to victory, he was defeated by superior British and American forces at El Alamein. Becoming ill, he retired to Germany. After losing the battle for Normandy, and being discovered as a member of the conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler (he was really just someone who knew about it, he didn’t actually take part in it) he was forced to commit suicide. Even his enemies honored him, and often viewed him as a great man, if not only a great commander. He is known for his humane treatment of Prisoners of War and of his own men. He is one of the greatest men to fight during the war, maybe even in history.
Heinz Guderian was a military theorist and general for the German army during World War Two. Although not as chivalrous as Rommel, he is often hailed as one of the greatest military minds of the war. He is credited with the Blitzkrieg, and the German armor doctrine was based totally on his works, most notably Achtung Panzer. He was also one of the few German commanders not charged with any war crimes. A great mind, he is one of the main reasons for Germany’s initial successes in World War Two.
Another hero of the war was General George Patton, Jr. A brilliant American commander, he led to the ultimate defeat of Germany in France. Although some of his methods were a bit unorthodox, he was respected by almost everyone he met, and was an accomplished military commander. It is widely believed that if the Allied High command had listened to him and pressed towards Moscow immediately after the fall of Berlin, the Cold War could have been prevented. Instead, he was killed by a drunk driver in Berlin in 1945.Probably the best American commander of the war, Patton is one of the most respected military minds of our age.
The Axis powers lost the war, and much all of the Prussian and Silesian lands were given to Soviet Poland. Also, German was split in half, a result of the Soviet occupation of East Germany. Heavy restrictions were placed on all the nations in the axis powers, including military restrictions that exist to this day. Another side effect of the war was the cold war, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. This included the Korean and Vietnam wars, ultimately claiming the lives of millions of people.
As a result of the war, America became the recognized superpower of the world. Not only did it’s military aid save the Allied Forces, but the financial aid paid to rebuild Europe was instrumental in the rebuilding of Germany and France after the war. Also, this led to friction with the Soviet Union, which led to the ultimate downfall of the Soviet union later in the 20th century.
World War Two was the biggest, and arguably the worst war ever fought. It is living proof of the folly of modern warfare, and it shows the destruction and devastation that war can cause. A generation of people was lost to the war, and much of Europe has never recovered from the war. Even to this day, the scars left by the Nazi party are still deep within Germany, and many Europeans try to forget their past; making it destined to happen again. The fighting was fierce, and often led to many civilians casualties, it truly was as Rommel once said, “In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.” This war marked the last great war ever fought, no war reached it’s sheer magnitude ever again, and with the deaths of over 55 million people, it may be good that no war has, and that most likely, no war shall.
Conflict Focus Sheet
World War Two
Scott Piazza
World War Two was the largest war of the twentieth century, spanning six years and about fifty-five million casualties. Starting in 1939, the war lasted from the Nazi invasion of Poland to the surrender of Japan in August of 1945. The war pitted the Germans, beaten and bloodied after World War One, and oppressed by the terms in the Treaty of Versailles, and the Italians under the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, and the Empire of Japan; against the British Empire, France, the Soviet Union, Poland, Canada, Australia, and later the United States.
In 1932, Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NAZI), took power in Germany, being elected Chancellor. He quickly began building up the German military, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. He quickly reoccupied the Rhineland, the area between the French boarder and the Rhine River, again, in violation of the Versailles treaty. By 1938, Germany had the largest and most powerful military in the world. With the aid of Heinz Guderian, Hitler invented a military doctrine he called the Blitzkrieg, which means Lightning War. Then, in 1938, Hitler ordered prisoners, dressed in Polish Uniforms, shot near the polish boarder. He then used this action to claim that the Polish had attacked Germany, and therefore, with the support of the German people, invaded Poland.
With the help of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany crushes Poland. Meanwhile, Hitler orders his army to invade France, marching through Belgium and capturing Paris. In a mere six weeks, France was firmly under Hitler’s control. Also capturing the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway, and with the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, the vast majority of Europe was under Nazi Germany or Nazi Friendly nations (such as Italy and Slovakia). The Italian army in North Africa was fighting the British army, and was soon crushed by the British. The Germans sent the elite Afrika Corps to aid them, under the command of General Erwin Rommel.
America was Neuteral at this time, although they did secretly supply the English with weapons and ships. However, on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese changed that. Striking the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese won a crushing blow against the Americans. The next day, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president of the United States, declared war on Japan. Germany, in turn, declared war on the United States. The United States struck back at the Japanes quickly, and also sent men to aid the British army in Egypt against Rommel. Earlier that year, the Soviet Union had declared war on the Germans, and the full scale of World War Two was about to be seen.
In World War II, many new technologies were employed by the military forces of the world. One of the most important and evident technologies first used in World War Two was the Atomic bomb. First developed by American scientists in the 1940s, it was first used in conventional warfare in August of 1945, when the first bomb used on a civilian target was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. However, previous to that, the United States military tested them in the Nevada and New Mexican desert. After World War II, nuclear weaponry was never used in war again.
Another new technology used in World War II was the semi-automatic and automatic (assault) rifles. Used widely by the Americans in the form of the M1 Garand and M1A1 Carbine, almost every nation envolved used some form of Automatic or semi-automatic rifle. The Germans, having invented the first Assault rifle in the form of the Stg-44, distributed them in small amounts to their elite Waffen-SS and Falschirmjaeger divisions. The Germans also had several semi-automatic rifles, including the Gewehr 43. However, the vast majority of rifles used in WWII were bolt action rifles, the same that were used in the First world war. An example of these rifles were the Mauser K98, Lee-Enfeild No4, Springfield 1903, and the Mosin Nagant 1891.
One of the first major conflicts of the war was Fall Weiß, the German invasion of Poland in September, 1939. German strategists came up with the plan consisting of three attacks; the main attack from the German heartland into mainland Poland, a smaller attack from Eastern Prussia, and yet a smaller attack by Slovak allies from the south. All three assaults were to converge on the Polish capital city of Warsaw, and the Polish army was to be encircled and destroyed on the Vistula.
On August 31st, 1939, Operation Himmler, a German propaganda stunt to gain a Cassus Belli on Poland, took place. Under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich, several convicts were taken to a radio station near the Polish border and shot. Then, the Nazi’s broadcast that the Polish army had attacked the German borders. Even though none of the convicts were wearing Polish military uniforms, the German populace believed the Nazi’s, and the next day, September 1st, 1939, the attack on Poland began.
Fifty-six German divisions, numbering 1.8 million men, stormed across the border. The smaller polish force was forced to withdraw from the borders, after heavy fighting. After a crushing defeat at the Bzura River, the Polish army began to withdraw torwards Warsaw. They were expecting an allied counterattack to relieve them. However, on September 17th, 1939, the Russian Red Army invaded the easternmost regions of Poland. Many Polish soldiers tried to evacuate to neutral Romania, where they planned to regroup. Two Polish armies were crippled at the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski from the 17th to the 20th of September. The city of Lwów fell on September 22nd.Warsaw finally fell on September 28th, and by October 1st, Poland was firmly in German and Soviet hands.
Poland had lost over 65,000 men fighting, and 640,000 Polish soldiers were captured by the Germans or the Soviets. 120,000 Polish soldiers were able to withdraw to Romania and Hungary, and around 20,000 escaped to Latvia and Lithuania. The majority of these men regrouped in France. The aftermath of the conquest was much more brutal. The fighting destroyed major Polish urban areas, and following massacres took the lives of 6 million poles, over one-fifth of the country’s population. The soviets also killed up to 1.8 million Polish citizens, often sending them to forced labor camps, imprisoned, or simply murdered (ex. The Katyn Massacre).
Shortly after Operation Fall Weiß, Operation Fall Gelb took place. About 5 months after the fall of Poland in the east, 141 German divisions, along with 7,378 guns, 2,445 tanks, and 5,446 aircraft, number 3,350,000 men, attacked France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This invasion, starting in April of 1940, was to be a monumental German success.
The French high command expected a recreation of the German plan in World War I. They fortified their borders, known as the Mangiot Line. To counter this, the German high command came up with a plan that rested on the conquest of the Netherlands and Belgium. However, when a German transport crashed in Belgium and the plan was captured, the German high command decided to scrap it. The final invasion plan, Fall Gelb, was suggested by General Erich von Manstein. His plan was to break through the Ardennes, the center of the French and Allied Lines (numbering 2,862,000 men, including 13,974 guns, 3,384 tanks, and 3,099 aircraft).
On May 10th, 1940, Germany launched Fall Gelb. During the night, German Forces occupied Luxemburg and in the morning, Army Group B (Consisting of 29 ½ divisions, including 3 armored) launched a feint offensive into Belgium and the Netherlands. Fallschirmjäger from the 7th Fleiger and 22nd Air Landing divisions captured both Fort Eben-Emael and the major road to Rotterdam. The allied command fell for it, and sent many of their men to reinforce the Belgians and Dutch.
Soon the Luftwaffe gained Air Superiority over the Allies, and the Germans were able to capture 7 major airfields around Rotterdam. Their attempts to capture the Hague ended in complete failure, and on May 10th, the airfields were recaptured by the two Dutch reserve infantry divisions. The French army tried to meet up with the remnants of the Dutch forces, however, not understanding the German’s intention, failed to prevent the 9th Panzer division from capturing Rotterdam on May 14th.
By May 13th, Army Group A had smashed through the Ardennes line and had captured river crossings as far south as Sedan on the Meusse River. The German’s carpet bombed a small corridor where the French army was located. The French Infantry there (from the 55th Infantry Division) were completely routed.
On May 16th, both General Erwin Rommel and General Heinz Guderian (often hailed as the best generals of the war), in an act of open insubordination, charged their panzer divisions in an act often hailed as the first use of the Blitzkreig. Guderian was able to push 80 kilometers west of Sedan, while Rommel was able to move about 100 kilometers west of his bridgehead at Dinant. Rommel was nowhere to be found at this point in time, however, General von Kliest visited Guderian the next day, and in a fit of rage relieved him of his duties. However, this push had surprised the French, and now their government was taken over by a wave of defeatism.
On the 18th, Rommel was able to capture Cambrai by merely feinting an armored attack. On the 19th, the German high command was very confident of their victory, and the next day they were able to capture the Somme River at Abbeville, isolating the allied forces to the north. By the 20th, the 2nd Panzer division was within eyesight of the Channel.
On the 21st of May, British Expeditionary forces attacked the German Panzer divisions in the Battle of Arres. The Panzer’s could not withstand the heavily armored British Matilda tanks, and the British were able to halt the German offensive. The next day, however, German reinforcements were able to press the British back to the Vimy ridge.
On May 26th, the remnants of the British army were evacuated at Dunkirk, leaving the French to fend for themselves. Belgium surrendered on May 28th. On June 10th, the French government evacuated Paris, and relocated in Bordeaux. Finally on June 25th, the French officially surrendered to the Germans.
The German army lost about 27,074 men to death, with slightly over 110,000 wounded, and 18,000 missing. Allied casualties were 290,000 French killed and wounded, and 68,111 British, 23,350 Belgian, 9,779 Dutch and 6,092 Poles killed or wounded. Total allied losses including the capture of the French army amounted to 2,292,000.
After securing France and Poland, Hitler turned his sights on his former ally, the Soviet Union. In June of 1941, in quite possibly the worst military blunder in the history of mankind, Hitler sent 3.2 million men across the Soviet border in a daring plan known as Unternehmen Barbarossa (Operation Barbarossa). The German forces pushed to the Volga river, where they met the soviets at one decisive battle: Stalingrad.
In late August, 1942, Heersgruppe Süd reached the Volga river to the north of the city of Stalingrad, bearing the name of the head of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin. On August 23rd, a German firebombing campaign of the city left thousands of civilians dead and the city in ruins. The Soviet 62nd army formed defensive positions amongst the rubble. The Germans attacked. Fighting in the city was brutal. Every inch of ground gained by either side was heavily paid for in gallons of blood. The average life expectancy of a newly arrived soviet soldier during this phase of the battle was a mere few hours.
The fighting continued. The Mamayev Kurgan, a prominent hill above the city, was bitterly contested. It changed hands several times. Thousands of men died trying to take it. In fact, in one day alone, the soviets lost an entire division of 10,000 men attacking the hill. A soviet platoon under the command of Yakov Pavlov fortified a large apartment in the middle of the city. This apartment building is known as Pavlov’s house. The soviets fought off several German attacks on the building using their heavy fortifications. After three months of this fighting, the Germans pushed the Soviets back to the Volga River, capturing eighty percent of the city. However, the battles for the Mamayev Kurgan and Red October factory continued fiercely as ever, although hope of relief for the soviet forces was slim.
On November 19th, 1942, the Soviet counterattack began. They attacked the Romanian forces to the north of the city, shattering them in a day. The next day, another Soviet counterattack began to the south of Stalingrad crushed another Romanian army there. The Soviet forces surrounded the city of Stalingrad, trapping 250,000 German, Romanian, Hungarian, and Italian soldiers in the city. About 50,000 German soldiers were able to escape the encirclement. After a failed attempt to supply the troops trapped in Stalingrad, the German high command realized that the soldiers trapped in the city would never leave Stalingrad alive. The Soviets began an attack on the city, trying to shrink the pocket. A Soviet attack on the German forces near Rostov forced General von Manstein to withdraw out of the caucuses, sealing the fates of the men at Stalingrad.
The German Commander at Stalingrad, Generalfeldmarschal Paulus, surrendered after long and brutal urban combat. Only 91,000 men of the 500,000 Germans were left alive to surrender. And of those men, only 6,000, including Paulus, ever saw Germany again. The rest of them died in the Soviet gulags. Axis losses, including those killed in the battles around the city, totaled 850,000, although only 400,000 of those were German. Soviet losses are estimated to be as low as 790,000 but as high as 1,750,000, including the many civilians killed in the fierce street fighting of the battle. This defeat, although a pyrrhic victory for the Soviets, marked the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
After the battle of Stalingrad, it was apparent to the Germans that the Soviets were a clear and present threat. After decimating the German field army at Stalingrad, the Soviets pushed westwards, and eventually captured the city of Kursk. This created a bulge of approximately 150km in the German line, and the German high command wanted to eliminate this threat. Meanwhile, Stalin would be willing to do anything to crush the Fascist invaders, and he would attempt to do so on Hell’s Battlefield: Kursk.
The German high command came up with Operation Citadel, for an attack on the city of Kursk. Kursk was at the center of the bulge, and simply put, Hitler wanted it. The attack was originally planned for May, but due to several setbacks the attack happened on July 4th, 1943. The German army, consisting of 800,000 men (including 3 brand new SS-Panzer divisions; 1st SS Leibstandardt- Adolf Hitler, 2nd SS Panzer Das Reich, and the 3rd SS Panzer Der Totenkopf), began an attack on Soviet entrenchments in an action that demonstrated the folly of modern warfare. The attack plan called for two large attack forces to attack the north and south ends of the Kursk Bulge, and for around 7 divisions to assault the center. 28 divisions would be held in reserve. The soviet defenses, consisting of well over one million men, had dug fortifications and had placed hundreds of anti-tank guns behind them.
On July 5th, the real battle began. In the early hours of the morning a massive Soviet Artillery barrage began, with hundreds of guns firing at the German positions, and also many of “Stalin’s Organs” field rocket launchers. The Soviet Air Force attempted to destroy the Luftwaffe on the ground, but failed miserably. The German attack began shortly after, and the German tanks were able to maul the inferior Soviet T-34s at a distance. The soviet anti-tank guns began to destroy German tanks, which became mobile crematoriums for their highly trained crews (thanks to Brigadier Shelford Bidwell for that quote). On July 15th, the attack on Orel began, and the Soviet army pushed the Germans back to the Hegan line. The Soviets soon attacked and took Kharkov as well, and by August 20th, all German forces in the area were forced to withdraw.
By August 22nd, all fighting drew to a close. The German casualties numbered some 198,000 men, and approximately 300 tanks. The Soviets lost up to 862,000 men in the battle, and 330 tanks. Although taking far more casualties, this was a soviet victory, as the German forces were pushed from two major cities along the Eastern Front.
World War Two was definitely a war of heroes and villains, but exactly who were the heroes and who were the villains is hard to define. One of the known villains of the war is definitely Josef Stalin. His brutal tactics led to the deaths of 27 million Russians during the Second World War. His ego also sacrificed over a million men to die at Stalingrad, simply because the city bore his name. He was also guilty of war crimes, too many to count. Amongst these is the Katyn Massacre, where 22,000 Poles were taken into the Katyn Forest and executed. Also, he allowed the mass rapes and pillaging in captured German cities to continue. There is no way this man was a hero of the war, although he arguably won it for the Allies.
Another obvious villain would be Gregorai Zhukov. A distinguished soviet general, he also had a hand to play in the brutal tactics at battles such as Stalingrad. He once said “If we come across a minefield, our infantry attacks exactly as if it weren’t there.” It’s obvious that this man is deranged. Such tactics cost the lives of countless soviet soldiers, men that need not have died. He also was the commander that was in control of the Soviet forces when they captured Berlin, brutally pillaging and raping the entire city.
Another person widely viewed as a villain of World War Two is Josef Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda minister. Although he did very little personally, his speeches inspired the followers of the Nazi party into giving their lives to defend the Fatherland. He was a fanatical supporter of Hitler, and was also a brilliant manufacturer of propaganda. In the last days of the war, he had his children poisoned and then ordered his SS Guards to execute him. He was then cremated, his charred remains found by Soviet forces when they captured Hitler’s bunker.
One of the definite heroes of the war was Generalfeldmarschal Erwin Rommel. He is often hailed as the last of the knights, and was one of the most chivalrous and brilliant commanders the world has ever seen. A veteran of World War One, Erwin Rommel was given command of a Panzer Division during the invasion of France, in which he proved himself as an excellent commander. Soon after, he was given command of the Deutsche Afrika Corps. Although he initially led them to victory, he was defeated by superior British and American forces at El Alamein. Becoming ill, he retired to Germany. After losing the battle for Normandy, and being discovered as a member of the conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler (he was really just someone who knew about it, he didn’t actually take part in it) he was forced to commit suicide. Even his enemies honored him, and often viewed him as a great man, if not only a great commander. He is known for his humane treatment of Prisoners of War and of his own men. He is one of the greatest men to fight during the war, maybe even in history.
Heinz Guderian was a military theorist and general for the German army during World War Two. Although not as chivalrous as Rommel, he is often hailed as one of the greatest military minds of the war. He is credited with the Blitzkrieg, and the German armor doctrine was based totally on his works, most notably Achtung Panzer. He was also one of the few German commanders not charged with any war crimes. A great mind, he is one of the main reasons for Germany’s initial successes in World War Two.
Another hero of the war was General George Patton, Jr. A brilliant American commander, he led to the ultimate defeat of Germany in France. Although some of his methods were a bit unorthodox, he was respected by almost everyone he met, and was an accomplished military commander. It is widely believed that if the Allied High command had listened to him and pressed towards Moscow immediately after the fall of Berlin, the Cold War could have been prevented. Instead, he was killed by a drunk driver in Berlin in 1945.Probably the best American commander of the war, Patton is one of the most respected military minds of our age.
The Axis powers lost the war, and much all of the Prussian and Silesian lands were given to Soviet Poland. Also, German was split in half, a result of the Soviet occupation of East Germany. Heavy restrictions were placed on all the nations in the axis powers, including military restrictions that exist to this day. Another side effect of the war was the cold war, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. This included the Korean and Vietnam wars, ultimately claiming the lives of millions of people.
As a result of the war, America became the recognized superpower of the world. Not only did it’s military aid save the Allied Forces, but the financial aid paid to rebuild Europe was instrumental in the rebuilding of Germany and France after the war. Also, this led to friction with the Soviet Union, which led to the ultimate downfall of the Soviet union later in the 20th century.
World War Two was the biggest, and arguably the worst war ever fought. It is living proof of the folly of modern warfare, and it shows the destruction and devastation that war can cause. A generation of people was lost to the war, and much of Europe has never recovered from the war. Even to this day, the scars left by the Nazi party are still deep within Germany, and many Europeans try to forget their past; making it destined to happen again. The fighting was fierce, and often led to many civilians casualties, it truly was as Rommel once said, “In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.” This war marked the last great war ever fought, no war reached it’s sheer magnitude ever again, and with the deaths of over 55 million people, it may be good that no war has, and that most likely, no war shall.