Quick History of World War Two - European Theater

The War's beginning?to death.
Some would say that World War Two began withRussians Counter Attack at Moscow
Germany's Invasion of Poland on the 1st SeptemberStupidly on the 11th day of December 1941 Germany
1939 and the ultimatum of Britain that without adeclared war on the USA (After Pearl Harbour 7th
German withdrawal a State of War would exist.December 1941). Unofficially the nations had already
Needless to say there was no German withdrawalbeen at war with the USA supplying arms to Britain
and WWII began, Britain, France, Australia and Newand USSR and US destroyers battling U-Boats in the
Zealand declaring war on the 3rd of September 1939Atlantic. However for Hitler to formalise it with a
Others would argue that world war two was simplydeclaration of war was stupidity personified.
the second round of world war one. Although theA second throw of the dice.
major powers had yet to realise it the continuance ofAfter the failure to succeed at Moscow or to take
the war between the Axis and Allies would result inLeningrad and link up with the Finn.s Hitler had a throw
the end of European dominance of the world and theat Stalingrad and the oil fields of the Caucasus on the
destruction of their colonial empires. By renewing the22nd August 1942. At first once again Bitzkrieg tactics
fight they only ensured their own demise no matterrained supreme with the Germans reaching Stalingrad
who won the outcome.on the 8th of September. Once again Hitler failed by
Some have claimed that the Treaty of Versailles wasallowing his army to get into an urban fire fight for
'harsh and unreasonable' and therefore was the seedwhich they were unsuited, allowing the Russians to
which guaranteed the second world war. Germanyspring a giant trap and destroyed an entire army
would seek to redress this wrong. In truth the Treaty(surrendering on 31st January 1943), this combined with
of Versailles was no harsher than the very terms thatthe Allied success in North Africa which resulted in the
the Germans had sought to impose on the Russians indestruction another German army lead to the
1917/18 with Russia forced to secede large tracts ofirreversible change in the course of the war with
territory and pay large indemnities in the Treaty ofGerman doomed to destruction.
Brest-Litovsk.The Allies fight back.
In truth the greater cause of the second world warWith growing success in the battle of the Atlantic, and
was the belief by many Germans that they had neverthe victory at El Alamein on the 4th of November 1942
lost the first world war. German territory had not beenthe allies began to swing into the offensive, with
invaded, the troops felt they had never lost. In realityoperation torch begun on the 8th of November 1942,
the army had to return to Germany to preserve thethe allies began to sqeeze the Germans out of North
state from social meltdown, as Germany was inAfrica. Next they invaded Italy, starting with the
greater danger from internal enemies than the threatinvasion of Sicily on the 10th of July 1943. They
posed by the allies. Hence the belief that Germany hadcontinued onto the boot of Italy however this proved
only lost the war due to a stab in the back at home.to be a costly exercise due to terrain favouring the
This breakdown however was the result of a statedefender, Rome not being liberated until 4th June 1944.
put under immense pressure and succumbing toThe real end game began with the invasion of
economic pressure and political facture, in order to winNormandy on the 6th June 1944 (D-Day). With the
a modern war, victory in the field is no longer enough,success of the invasion and breakout of the bocage.
victory must be obtained over the whole system ofSuccess at the Falaise pocket and Kursk confirmed
the other nation. (i.e. destroy its will to fight). GermanyGermany's fates.
had lost the strategic battle, its system had collapsedThe End Game
and hence it lost the war. The British Navy hadDespite Hitlers gamble at the Battle of the Bulge (Dec.
succeeded in its blockade of the Germany economy1944) the end was already on the way with the Allies
and had thus brought about its ruin and defeat, (even iflaying waste to Germany from the air and the
the Navy hadn't proven itself in open battle).Russians laying waste with massed artillery and troops.
Germany had lost its allies, Turkey and Austria, andThe destruction of Berlin and the death of Hitler (30th
had failed in production with less airplanes, few tanksApril 1945) confirmed to the die hards it was over, V-E
and had run out of manpower. Although Germany hadday being 8th May, the Germans having surrendered
not lost the battle, it had lost the war.the day before.
Nevertheless this myth of not having been reallyWhy Germany lost the War.
defeated lead to resentment at being labelled theIt failed the Diplomatic battle - it failed to convince
losers. Soon every problem in Germany was relatedSpain another fascist nation to join in the cause. It failed
to past wrongs. The great depression was the finalto turn occupied countries into allies. It failed to have a
straw. Mass unemployment and hyperinflation left aunified plan with its allies. Imagine if Japan had been
perfect environment for an extremist political party toconvinced to invade Russia instead of bombing Pearl
gain enough support to take centre stage. In this caseHarbour. Imagine if the USA had been encouraged to
the Nazi's with a combination of nationalism, racism,stay out of the war for another year. In other words
authoritarism, and the promise of better times gainedGermany failed to win hearts and minds, by the
enough political power to begin the takeover andoppressive actions of the SS and others in Poland and
change a democracy into dictatorship. Careful stagedRussia, instead of winning over many who would have
events such as the burning of the Reichstag andgladly joined in the overthrow of Stalinism and helped
downright bully boy tactics led to complete dictatorship.guarantee German victory. Nazism with its German
In order to continue to deliver on promises Hitler whonationalist roots and outright racism just didn't offer
was the embodiment of the state had continue toanything to non-Germans.
expand, first via appeasement and then outright war.It failed the Technological battle - although Germany
The killer blow was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pactproduced new amazing technological advances in
signed on the 23rd of August 1939, in which Hitler wasrockets and the like, it either failed to produce the really
free to carve up Poland with the acquience of theimportant technology early enough, i.e. radar, nuclear
USSR.weapons, or failed to recognise and exploit to their full
Thanks to the Bitzkrieg tactics and superior ordanancepotential advances that really made a difference i.e.
the German army quickly overcome Poland. WithJet power.
France and Britain disgracing themselves by doingIt failed to adopt Total War. Until late in the war when
nothing on the Western front.Albert Speer took over the economy German hadn't
Once Poland was over Germany cemented itsfully exploited available resources. The Nazi philosophy
position by invading Denmark and Norway on the 9thregarding women had prevented full labour and military
of April 1940, guaranteeing its access to Swedish ironuse. Whilst the Russians had no such qualms with
ore and opening up the North Atlantic. The invasion offemales even serving in active front line units. In
France began on the 10th of May 1940, it also includedslaughtering the Jews and others deemed unwanted
a co-ordinated invasion of the Netherlands,the Nazi's wasted valuable military resources and
Luxembourg and Belgium with careful German planningvaluable human resources which could have been
producing brilliant results, France failed before it hadapplied in more useful purposes. German relied on
even begun. A lack of will only quicken the defeat. Theslave labour to make up the gap, whilst Britain and the
beginning of Germany's ultimate defeat though hadUSA had an army of willing labourers in "Rosie the
already been sown with the failure to destroy theRiveter." German further wasted resources in futile
British at Dunkirk (which began to evacute on the 26thprojects such as the Atlantic wall (which didn't even
May 1940), and by failing to seize the French Navy.succeed in stopping the Allies for one day) and
This combined with oppressive occupations producedanti-aircraft guns which absorbed thousands of guns
stiffening resolve. Victory had gained Italy as a partner,would have been more useful on the front as anti-tank
but it was to prove a fatal marriage with Italy beingbatteries and the men in manpower it took to operate
more of a hindrance than a help. However for nowthem. It also diverted resources to unnecessary battles
the third Reich rejoiced at France's demise and thesuch as Greece and North Africa. It believed its own
French signed the armistice on the 22nd June 1940. Inpropaganda and thus made Fatal mistakes. Some of
less than two months since beginning its offensivethese fatal mistakes included failing to realise that the
Germany had defeated all its enemies bar the Britishenigma machine had been compromised. The Nazi's
Empire.believed it was "unbreakable", thus would not realise
Turning East:-how intell was leaking. Further fatal mistakes including
It has become clear from historical records thatfailing to succeed in the intellegience war, apart a
Germany did not have the capability to invade Britainnotable success in compromising the Dutch resistance
nor did Hitler have the patience to take the timemost German intellegience activities paled into
neccessary to allow his current superior position toinsignificance when compared to British Intell. That's not
pay dividends to secure the situation and to build upto say British intell was perfect but Churchill summed it
the necessary naval superiority and required landingup best with "in war the truth is so precious it must be
craft to invade Britain. Nor build the heavy bomberswrapped in a tissue of lies". Hitler was sold on the Pas
required to seriously bomb Britain into oblivion. This lackde Calais being the true invasion point. Further by
of patience and overconfidence from what hadcentering all its confidence in the Fuhrer it lead to the
already been achieved lead to the fateful decision todisaster of Stalingrad, etc. Hitler may have thought he
turn east and invade Russia.was a Military Genius, but after the conclusion of the
This plan was further doomed by the unnecessaryinvasion of France he made few successful
invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece on the 6th Aprilcontributions. One might asked what would have
1941, brought about by Italy's failure and Germany'shappened if the German Generals had been allowed
rescue to later be repeated in North Africa. The delayto run the show?
to Operation Babarossa would be costly.I believe if the German economy had been fully
Operation Babarossa began on 22 June 1941. Threegeared up for the war from the beginning and if it had
German army groups, an Axis force of over fouraddressed some of these factors above there would
million men lay in wait to invade Russia and Comradehave been every likely hood that they would have
Stalin was 'asleep at the wheel' having ignore Britishsucceeded. We should not think that the outcome of
intelligence about Hitler's invasion plans.World War II was guarantee, it was only with much
German success was doomed within sight of thesacrifice by the allies that final victory was achieved.
Kremlin with the onset of winter and the confirmationThis article is dedicated to all those who fought in
to Stalin that Japan had no intention to invade, thusdestroying the evils of Nazism. In particular to my
freeing up the Siberian Army to be transferred to theGreat Uncle Ivan HARRIS who died on Wednesday
defence of Moscow and the winter offensive in which22nd July 1942 fighting in North Africa fighting for New
the Russians began a counterattack on the 5th ofZealand.
December 1941. The unprepared German army froze