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War ravaging the East since 1937 and Japan's invasion of China reached Europe on the 1st of September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland. It became global on the 7th of December 1941 when Japanese aircraft attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. It ended with a new weapon for a new age. This is the history of the greatest of all man-made events. These men are part of that history. They are eyewitnesses to the triumphs and tragedies of the war wherever it was fought.
Their testimony is part of the story of how our world was made by those who could pay and those who could no longer meet In the last episode of the price of empire, the allies opened the second front in Europe. Now they will break out of the Normandy beach head and begin their drive on the Rine. The Red Army will launch its summer offensive, Operation Bration, the start of its drive on Berlin. In the east, the invasion of the Philippines will bring the Allies a step closer to Japan's home islands. Everywhere, the Axis nations will be fighting opponents whose terms are unconditional surrender.
The Japanese foreign minister Shigamitsu may have spoken for the axis when he said, "Hell is on us. In November 1942, Hitler had given the German people their first hint that the fortunes of war would be turned their way by Veel Tugvan revenge weapons. and spy the V2. They caused more than 30,000 casualties, but wonder weapons were not to influence the outcome of the war. They were too late and offered too little return for an enormous investment that might have been better placed. The armies that invaded Normandy were fully mechanized. The Vmar still relied on 1 and a4 million horses. In 1944, a very different weapon might have altered the course of the conflict, but it misfired.
German army officers have revolted against Hitler, but they failed in the attempt to blow him up. There had been at least 10 attempts on Hitler's life during his rise to power and almost 20 more since he had become furer. A couple had got close, most had not. But Operation Valkyrie was different. It was not the work of the resistance of communists or of Cranks. It was a plot hatched within and to be executed by the military. Some of the most senior and most aristocratic men in the military who paid with their lives for a mismanaged plot. What more than anything else had turned them against Hitler was Stalingrad, evidence to them that the war was being ineptly run. With Hitler both physically and
psychologically damaged by the near escape at the Vulchansa, his East Prussian headquarters, Germany's future was in shaky hands when on the Eastern front in Western Europe and in Italy, a firm hand was desperately needed. In Italy, a campaign that had taken months to grind its way north had at last got beyond Rome and faced the next German defensive barrier, the Gothic line, where things did not get any easier. Seasoned Allied units were withdrawn to prepare for the planned invasion of southern France and were replaced by 25,000 Brazilian troops. Brazil having declared war on the Axis in August of 42 and by the US 92nd Division, the only Africanamean division to see
active service in Europe, the Buffalo Division. Before turning to the fortunes of the Italian campaign, we must look at the campaign that had taken the best of the American and free French troops away from Italy. Dragoon was a clear demonstration of which ally was the senior partner. Churchill did not agree with it. Neither did his service chiefs. But Roosevelt wanted it and so did his top brass. Most of all, they wanted Marseilles as a port that could land supplies for the invading army. Churchill's concern was not military. It was political. To him, weakening the Italian campaign, which promised to drive up into central Europe, was tantamount to abandoning Eastern
Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, even the Balkans, to the advancing Soviet army, and so to the Soviet Union. Stalin predictably approved Roosevelt's decision, but Churchill, a published historian, knew his history. Officials Zarist war aims in 1914 had envisaged a Russo-German border on the line Odin Misa and is what Soviet Russia was to achieve in 1945. Operation Dragoon delayed until mid August for want of landing craft was irrelevant to the geopolitical reality. The opposition encountered in the south was very swiftly overcome by the airborne troops and by the seaborn
forces who went into land under cover of a naval bombardment. And this is it. The opening of the fourth front. The third piercing thrust at Nazi held France. Within a couple of days, the Allies were breaking out of their Cop Dazura beach heads as German forces began to withdraw. In a campaign of barely four weeks, Dragoon evicted German forces, but was unable to keep pace with their retreat. Just over 2,000 Allied and 7,000 German lives were lost in a campaign that came too late to make a significant difference to the support and supply of events in Normandy.
Churchill's fears were to be justified. The Allied failure to beat the Russians to or at least meet the Russians in Central Europe shaped world politics for half a century. It was, according to American General Mark Clark, the outstanding political mistake of the war. The speed with which the American 7th Army moved following its landings in the south of France was not matched by Mark Clark's Fifth Army. On Italy's Adriatic coast, the British 8th Army faced the Gothic line where it turned at a right angle to follow the Aenine Mountain chain, Italy's spine. The US fifth was on the Mediterranean side of Italy, driving towards Bologna.
The British began their advance at the end of August. The US offensive began on September 12th. Within 10 days, the Americans had penetrated the Gothic line, but the weather and the terrain made progress painful. By late October, still in the mountains and short of Bologna, Clark was forced to close down his offensive. He had suffered almost 16,000 casualties, losses greater than the replacement rate. I asked this kid in Pisa what that big hole was and it was all wood there. He says the Germans would get all these old people and they would throw them in there and they would burn them. That's what the kid told me. You know, I said, "What
a terrible thing." You know, the British closed down their Italian offensive at the end of December. They had crossed the river Conquer, the Marchio, the Rubicon, the Savvio, the Ronco, the river Lemon, and still faced several river obstacles before even reaching the Poe. Italy is a difficult place to fight a war. Although victory in Italy had not come in 1944, significant German forces had been tied up. These were forces that could have made a difference to Germany's efforts on the second front or on the Eastern front. But Germany was an empire suffering from what historian Paul Kennedy termed imperial overstretch.
It had to fiercely defend gains in east and west. Using the shrinking resources of an embattled domestic base, Germany's ally in Asia reacted to the same peril by going on the attack. Japan launched a massive offensive in China. Operation Ichigo, operation number one. 510,000 Japanese military personnel, a force vastly greater than Japanese land forces in any other theater, embarked on an offensive with two ambitions. to open a land and therefore supply route to Indochina and to capture the air bases from which American bombers were launching attacks on the Japanese home islands and on shipping.
Marching songs were a part of Japanese military culture. For the Ishigo offensive, a new song was written and learned. And as they marched, the Japanese sang. Taking care of trees and grass, the Japanese troops marched through Hunan Province. How kind their hearts are. Our enemies are Anglo Americans. White-faced demons. These pictures of the evacuation of Quailin might equally well be any one of a thousand other places in war ravaged China. Almost the only transport was the single track railway and Qualin station was soon packed with about 20,000
wouldbe passengers. The offensive achieved its aims of reaching Indo-China and of eliminating bases from which US aircraft could operate. The kindhearted Japanese inflicted about 300,000 casualties on the Chinese, taking 100,000 casualties themselves. But it was all to precious little purpose. Events elsewhere were moving inexurably against the Japanese whose empire was being squeezed in the Pacific. American bombers resumed their offensive against Japan from bases in the newly captured Marianas. As Ichigo was driving into China, the
Americans were starting their campaign to recover the Philippines. Softening up air attacks began in mid-occtober. And on the 14th, the invasion force sailed. MacArthur's fleet comprised 420 transports and 157 warships manned by 50,000 sailors and transporting 165,000 troops. The first landing by US Rangers occurred on October the 17th. On October the 20th, the main landing went in on a 25 km front. A substantial beach head was established with 100,000 men landed in the first assault at a cost of 49 American dead. Famously, MacArthur to keep the promise he had made in 1942 had returned.
It was indeed a great moment for the general going ashore with his men. famously to publicize his return, MacArthur waited ashore for the news reel cameras and to the inconvenience of his retinue. Incidentally, it's reported that shortly after this picture was taken, bullets from a jab plane missed him by inches. The Imperial Army responded to the invasion by joining air and naval power to the defense. It shipped in reinforcements and it bombed American troops. But American air superiority countered one threat and in the greatest naval action in history, American naval strength decisively defeated the other.
The second battle of the Philippine Sea lasted from the 23rd to the 26th of October. It was the last naval battle between battleships. There were moves and false moves as naval forces divided between islands were lost to sight in narrow channels, turned to counter landing forces on the one hand 80% of the vessels that Japan dispatched to Lee Gulf had been sunk. The Japanese fleet now had no carriers at all. With the fight for Lee over, the fight for the Philippines was effectively decided. Although the Japanese still had 250,000 troops on Luzon, they had lost more than 50% of their air strength, 26 major warships,
60,000 men killed, and a further 10,000 drowned when their transports were sunk. You Victory was getting closer in the Pacific. In Europe, it was within reach. 4 days after the Normandy landings, the Red Army had resumed the Winter War, intending to drive Finland and Axis partner, out of the conflict. The 21st Army of the Leningrad front began the attack. The Curelian front joined the offensive 10 days later. On both fronts, the Fins, armed by the Germans and supported by one German division, were driven back. Then the day after the Caribbean front
had moved. It was June the 22nd, the 3rd anniversary of the German invasion of Russia. The Soviets had lined up 300 guns per kilometer on a 560 km front from Smolinsk through to Minsk in Bellarussia. 11 Soviet fronts began their surge and they surged irresistibly for 10 weeks. The first Baltic front, General Bramian and the third Bellarussian front, Chernyakovski opened the Vitans Cora offensive. by the 27th. Viteps had fallen and a complete German army corps. The Third Pansa army was lost. On the 24th, Roasovski's first Bellarussian front joined the attack. It would swing up towards Minsk.
Churnyakovski swinging down to beat him. Second fellow Russian front General Zakarov crossed the river Dunipa aiming directly for Minsk. Third fellow Russian front reached and crossed the river Berina the next day. Army Group Cent's 37 divisions were pulverized by 166 Soviet divisions supported by 2,700 tanks and 1,300 assault guns. In 2 weeks, Operation Bration had penetrated 160 km on a 400 km front. Seven of Army Group Cent's generals had been killed in action. Second Bellar Russian front. The Mogil offensive continued its advance forcing opposing troops back on the Berina where they would be trapped.
The third part of the initial offensive, the Bobriusk offensive went for the German 9inth Army on the southern flank of Army Group Center. Roasovvski's forces broke through the supposedly impossible Crypet marshes, his engineers having crossed them with wooden causeways. By June 27th, he had encircled two German core east of Bobio, which was liberated on June 29th. For the duration of the operation, German casualties in the east outstripped those being taken in the west by 4 to one.
90% of all Germans killed in combat died on the Eastern Front more between July 1944 and May 1945 than in the preceding 5 years. Fifth Panser division was rushed forward to plug approaches to the city. But on July the 3rd, the second guard's tanks core of the Red Army broke into the city. By the end of the fourth, the city had fallen. 40,000 of its encircled 105,000 troops were dead and army group center had been destroyed. In less than two weeks, the Vey marked had lost the equivalent of 25 divisions.
The way to Poland and to Lithuania was open. By July the 11th, Germany had lost 28 divisions. More than 30 generals had been killed or captured. and the Red Army had advanced 650 kilometers. Roasovski's forces reached the river book, the original Polish border. They reached the eastern banks of the Vistula on the 25th and turned to threaten Warsaw. On August the 1st, the Polish home army in occupied Warsaw rose to link with the oncoming Russians and expel the Germans from their city and their country. But the Russians did not come on. They ignored the Polish uprising.
Churchill, without Soviet or American approval, sent the RAF on more than 200 supply drops. Hitler commanded Himmler to deal with the Poles. 200,000 citizens and 10,000 partisan fighters were killed. On August 20th, Russian forces entered Romania where King Michael had his pro-German prime minister, Yon Antlescu, arrested. He was later executed by firing squad. To judge by the pictures, you'd think Romania had always been fighting on the side of the Allies and that the country was now celebrating its liberation. None of us, however, can really blame the people of Bucharest for being delighted to see the Germans go out and the Russians come in.
In a reprise of the Stalingrad humiliation, German prisoners from Minsk were marched through Moscow, 20 breast and marched briskly. It took the parade 90 minutes to pass. And after the parade had passed theatrically, the streets were disinfected. The climax of Operation Bration coincided with the breakout from Normandy. 180,000 had come ashore on D-Day. by any measure, a successful amphibious operation, but only the beginning of an invasion. By the end of the first day, the Allied position all along the line was shy of its targets. The most talked about stumbling block in the first days and weeks was the city of K.
Planning had it in Allied hands by the end of D-Day. It finally fell 6 weeks later and arguments and fingerpointing continue. But there can be no argument that a most influential factor in the delay was the sternness of the defense. The third Canadian division assaulted can on D-Day + 1, June the 7th, and was repelled by a German division that launched numerous fanatical counterattacks. It was for those German defenders their first day under fire. The 20,000 troops had never been in action before. They were the 12th SS Panser Division, Hitler Yugand, Hitler Youth.
These soldiers had been seven when Hitler took power. They were products of an educational system that had been an early and important priority of the Third Reich. Baldor of von Shiraak appointed to head the Hitler Youth wrote special prayers which these young soldiers had in fervently. Adolf Hitler, they prayed, you are our great fur. Thy name makes the enemy tremble. Thy will alone is law upon the earth.
Let us hear daily thy voice. Order us by thy leadership. For we will obey to the end. And even with our lives, we praise thee. Hail Hitler. By the end of the campaign, the Hitler Youth Division would have suffered 42% casualties. The quality of the opposition was one reason for the delays at Can. Another was the problem of the boage. Sun sunken country lanes hemmed in by tall hedros. its difficulties, for all of the detailed planning that went into Operation Overlord seemed to have escaped everyone's attention. But the Allies were steadily building
superiority in numbers of men and all arms. Omaha and Utah beaches had linked up by June 12th, and the Americans turned to cut across the Cotton Peninsula. General Friedrich Dolman commanding the seventh army which was facing the brunt of the invasion said that his troops on the cotton tan were stretched like a bow at breaking point. On June the 18th, the US 7th core reached Barnavville, cutting the Kotantan. The great objective now at the tip of the Kotant was the port of Sherborg. It fell to a sustained American assault on June 27th, but the dockyard installations had been destroyed and it would be some weeks before the port could be used for supply.
It was now second SS Panser core recently deployed that turned back a renewed British attempt at can the corn battle one of the biggest tank battle in Normandy. I was sitting on the top of my tank and an air burst shell went off above my head and a bit of shrapnel came down literally between my legs and hit the gunner down below in the turret and killed him. Uh so I was only about 6 in away from being killed. The first United States Army began its push towards Salo at the start of July when Hitler made his last public speech. Hardly any applause, noted Albert Spear.
The difficulty was that the Germans didn't have all that number of tanks, but they did have much better tanks than we had. Particularly the Panther and the Tiger, of course, there were very few Tigers, fortunately. They were impenetrable to us. With a tiger around, you just really had to avoid it. It was no good trying to knock it out. Impossible. We had a very sharp battle in during which we lost all the tanks. If you're a commander and your own tank get damaged, you swap and go into another tank and carry on there. So, I swapped about three times. For some reason, they thought that was
worth giving me a medal. RAF Bomber Command hit KN in earnest and Operation Charmwood gained some ground but failed to take the town. Montgomery ordered operations to move east of K, taking the pressure off the advancing Bradley. Following more heavy bombing, the Canadians finally took can at the same time. The Americans were in sandlow. As the battle sweeps southward, every one of us will agree wholeheartedly with General Montgomery when he says, "And so to every Allied soldier in Normandy, I say, well done. Well done indeed."
The Allies, now balanced in strength and coordinating their actions, began to press east and towards the breakout. They had landed 1,450,000 men and more than 4,000 tanks. On the 25th of July, Operation Cobra was launched. Charwood had advanced the line south of the beaches. Cobra, the US 7th Corps in the Vanguard, broke the German line. By the end of July, Avanch had fallen. Operation Blue Coat alongside Cobra and thrusting towards Via helped straighten the line. "This thing has busted wide open," said General Leland Hobbes, commanding the US 30th Infantry Division. By the end of July, the advance was still short of the
target, but the invader was ascendant everywhere. Late July, German forces had been reduced by 113,000 men and 2,117 tanks. 10,000 men and 17 tanks had been sent to replace them. At the end of August, the Allies took a significant step. The invasion force broke out of Normandy and began the liberation of France. The month of August of 1944, I was with General Patton. We wore ties. We're all saying, "Well, if we die, at least we look nice." Patton's Third Army was activated at the beginning of August.
Its offensive into Britany followed four lines of advance towards the significant naval base at Breast, the port at Laurian, the city of Ren, and south to the river L and N. We were going along the Britany coast and liberating all these little towns. We got the one town and there's this guy shooting the church steeple at us. So I pull the thing back for a 50 caliber. Don't work. Oh [__] So I jumped over and get on a jeep. That's most telling experience that I had. most scary. By the sixth, Laurian had been reached, but the city, which Hitler had designated as one of his fortresses, would hold out until the end of the war.
On the 7th, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ike, the Allied Supreme Commander, established his command post in Normandy. By August 25th, Patton's third army was less than 100 kilometers from the German border. And yet, nine months of fierce fighting lay ahead on both the western and the eastern fronts before the Third Reich collapsed in flames. On the 8th of August, the Germans had launched a counterattack which created a salient that became known as the file pocket. On the night of the 7th 8th, the Canadian first army launched operation totalize aimed at closing the file pocket and cutting off the German 7th army. the fierce resistance to totalize included the tenacious 12th SS Pansa Hitler Youth Division.
Valz did not fall until the 16th, the day after Operation Dragoon, the Allied landing in the south of France. only. Sure. The resolute action of the Pansa Hitler Youth Division in holding open the neck of the pocket allowed the escape of 300,000 soldiers and 25,000 of their vehicles. Hitler said that August the 18th was the worst day of my life. On August the 19th, the French forces of the interior, an alliance of resistance groups rose in Paris.
The US 79th division crossed the Sen and Polish and American forces linked up at Mo or Mill. On the 21st, the File's pocket was finally closed. the cigar The allies wheeling east crossed the sen and Hitler ordered General Dietri Von Kolitz, governor of the city to raise Paris to the ground. "The city must not fall into the enemy's hand," Hitler said, "except lying in complete rubble." Fonolitz, who had taken up his position only two weeks earlier, chose instead to negotiate a ceasefire with the French, who outnumbered his 17,000man garrison.
On August 23rd, Von Kolitz surrendered Paris. Two days later, Sha de Gaulle walked triumphantly down the Shamziliz. Flags flew. Everyone cheered. Although some unfortunate women had their heads shaved, no one, it seemed, had been in the paramilitary militia. The milis Franc says responsible for the deaths of many resistance fighters and the deportation of the French Jews. No one else had collaborated. In September, as the allies first set foot on German soil, Churchill and a by now very ill Roosevelt met for the second Quebec conference. It was the prime minister's wife who told the world why they were meeting.
The British people have gone through grim times. They know now that they are climbing to the top of the hill. But with all the just pride they feel in the great victories in Europe, they never forget the score they have to settle with Japan. That is the meaning of this Quebec conference. Churchill traveled from Quebec to Moscow for talks with Stalin. What he and Roosevelt wanted was an undertaking from the Soviet leader that as soon as Hitler was defeated, the Red Army would be turned against Japan. Stalin agreed to go to war with Japan within two weeks of the end of the war in Europe. And in a notorious episode, Churchill sought to sweeten the dictator and sort out the postwar world by scribbling what he himself called a
naughty document which proposed percentile distribution of influence in Europe. Churchill passed the note to Stalin and after a little finessing both men signed.
