United States President Barack Obama's Asian team is embarking on an effort to realign political forces in North Asia, draw Japan and South Korea closer to the United States, and undercut Chinese and Russian influence by exploiting North Korea's posturing. Washington's primary regional asset is also its weakest link: Japan. The North Korean crisis represents a collision of two anachronisms: the world's last Stalinist state versus a fading Cold War alliance ill-equipped to face the challenge of China, a burgeoning regional power determined to expand its influence through investment, trade and diplomacy and avoid confrontation.
on the United States' primary terms of advantage: military power. The outlines of the dilemma are becoming clearer as the White House belatedly cobbles together its East Asian policy team. On June 10, Kurt Campbell appeared before the East Asian sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for confirmation hearings to take over Christopher Hill's old job: assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Campbell frankly described the US military presence in Asia as America's "ticket to the big game" and gave the highest priority to relations with Japan and South Korea as a counterweight to China. The main venue for demonstrating enhanced US-Japanese cooperation as a viable alternative to Chinese diplomatic suzerainty over North Asia is North Korea. The North Korea crisis has provided the Obama administration a useful opportunity to correct some problems of the George W Bush years and reaffirm the alliance with Asian democracies. In this process, Kim Jong-il has played the role of useful idiot: provoking a security crisis and providing a readymade justification for the United States to play to its primary geopolitical strength, as the world's pre-eminent military power, and discount the value of China's growing economic weight. At the end of 2008, North Korea concluded a cycle of deal-breaking and finger-pointing on all sides by repudiating the six-party talks that involve it, the US, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. Since then it has embarked on a series of provocations - nuclear tests, missile launches, apocalyptic rhetoric and the arrest of two American journalists - intended to draw the US into direct negotiations. The Obama administration has refused to take the bait. Instead, it is exploiting North Korea's belligerence to leverage its primary remaining advantage in Asian power politics - America's overwhelming military superiority - and assert America's continued relevance in North Asia. The Obama administration's approach is welcome news to Japan and South Korea, which are relieved at the US desire to make common cause with the region's democracies and not sacrifice their interests for the sake of security and economic cooperation with China. This approach, though placing the US in more comfortable alignment with its allies in the near term, does little to address the long-term challenge to American influence in Asia: the rise of China. And it does nothing to relieve the plight of the immiserated people of North Korea. The Obama administration has made the determination that Pyongyang would never abandon its nukes, virtually the sole internationally recognized achievement and asset of the regime. It also realized that the ascendancy of conservative governments in Seoul and Tokyo made possible a cohesive anti-North Korean bloc. Therefore, Washington declared itself unwilling to engage in another round of ritualized atomic extortion with Kim Jong-il's regime. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates put it, "I'm tired of buying the same horse twice." Instead, the Obama administration meticulously cultivated the powers that the Bush administration or North Korea had either insulted or disregarded at various junctures, taking special care to reach out to China. The result was the relatively amicable passage of a new United Nations Security Council resolution repurposing two instruments of the Bush administration that China detested - the Proliferation Security Initiative and financial sanctions - in order to construct a sanctions regime that everybody could agree with: non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) material. Regime change is apparently off the table and denuclearization (at least of North Korea's weapons program; it would appear that any deal with North Korea would remove nuclear weapons from the peninsula but allow the north to achieve parity in civilian nuclear power privileges with the South) has receded to a distant if ultimate goal. The near-term purpose of the resolution seemed to be to put Pyongyang on notice that the US would not fall for North Korea's exercises in nuclear blackmail or attempts at divide and conquer. For the time being, Pyongyang could engage in inflammatory rhetoric and engage in nuclear brinksmanship without serious consequences; but once it crossed the red line of WMD proliferation, it would face genuinely united opposition, including that of China and Russia. Having undone some of the diplomatic damage of the George W Bush years and restored a measure of stability and civility to its relations with South Korea, Japan and China, the Obama administration appears to be cautiously exploiting the North Korean crisis and the renewed unity among Asian democracies to gain some incremental advantage over China. Campbell, the nominee for assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is the founder of one of the premier Washington Democratic-tilting policy shops, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Presumably in coordination with his confirmation testimony, on June 11, CNAS released a study by Abraham Denmark and Nirav Patel entitled "No Illusions: Regaining the Strategic Initiative with North Korea". [1] As for achieving something tangible in negotiations with North Korea, the paper holds out hope for little more than interminable discussions backed by incremental sanctions, a perpetually modulated if pessimistic pounding of North Korea like a hopelessly tough and inedible steak. Its prescriptions for the realignment of forces in North Asia are more significant. The CNAS report unequivocally states that strengthening the US commitment to its North Asian allies should be Washington's primary short- to medium-term priority:
It is crucial to US interests and regional stability that Japan and South Korea feel secure in the reliability and efficacy of the US extended deterrent. Japan and South Korea not only form the core of the US alliance system in Asia - they are also the two countries most directly threatened by North Korean aggression. Thus, the United States must assure its allies of its continued commitment to their security, allaying concerns that have been spurred by the rise of China and intensified recently by American efforts to negotiate further nuclear reduction agreements with Russia.Indeed, the United States reaffirmed that its extended deterrent covered Japan when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Tokyo in January, and covered South Korea during President Lee Myung-bak's recent visit to Washington, eliciting indignant yelping from North Korea. As for what negotiations will look like once the United States, South Korea and Japan are comfortably on the same page, the report offers an interesting proposal.
North Korea's departure from the six-party talks should not be allowed to derail the positive benefits of engaging in regional security discussions in Northeast Asia. The US government should therefore continue to engage with its regional partners through the development of a five-party dialogue. In order to clearly differentiate the five-party process from the existing six-party framework, the group should consider meeting in a new location outside of the immediate region, such as in Europe or Southeast Asia.The missing party in this shift from "six-party talks" to "five-party dialogue" is North Korea, which would serve as subject of the talks and object of the five parties' demands, instead of a participant. Presumably, actual negotiation with North Korea would occur somewhere in the remote, infinitely receding long term. But perhaps beyond dealing with the ostensible North Korean threat, the CNAS paper has other objectives - objectives that are furthered, not hindered, by the irritating presence of Kim Jong-il's regime. One intention of this proposal appears to be to strip China of the prestige and function of serving as a mediator between the US-led democracies and North Korea.
American strategy should not wait on Beijing or make itself dependent on China's decision-making. The strategic management approach outlined above will be strengthened by Beijing's cooperation, but it will also place the US in an improved strategic position, even if Beijing is unable, or unwilling, to hold North Korea accountable for its actions.By moving the talks "outside of the immediate region", the phrase "under China's aegis", which is so aggravating to the US and worrying to its allies, could be banished from the lexicon of North Korean diplomacy: instead, the five-party talks could turn into a forum for pressuring China into conforming to the US bloc's definition of "responsible stakeholder" as a precondition for doing anything on North Korea. The main argument to persuade China to accept the diminution of its role in the North Korean situation is the threat that conservative forces in South Korea and Japan are prepared to trigger a conventional and nuclear arms race, thereby destabilizing the region and challenging China's influence, if Beijing doesn't join a united front to make the North Korean threat go away. However, this argument is unlikely to intimidate or convince China, since a militarily resurgent Japan is anathema to Washington as well as to Beijing. Japan, as the world's second-largest economy, a democracy and host to America's primary military presence in Asia, is central to any US strategy. In his US Senate testimony, Campbell described America's strong partnership with Japan as "non-negotiable". The first head of state to meet with Obama was Prime Minister Taro Aso. The first overseas visit for Clinton was Japan. Japan's current Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government is equally eager to present itself as America's enthusiastic ally. In the all-import economic field, Japan's finance minister differentiated himself from the no-goodniks in Beijing who were questioning the viability of the US economy and dollar and who were reconsidering purchases of US bonds - and signaled his support for the Obama administration's number one priority of finding a welcome home for hundreds of billions of dollars of US government debt - by declaring
"... our trust in US Treasuries is absolutely unshakable. We have complete faith in US economic and fiscal policy," said Yosano, who is also the minister in charge of Japan's banking sector and economic policy. "The US dollar's position as the world's reserve currency isn't under threat." [2] In security affairs, the Japanese government resumed its quasi-military operations (which had been discontinued at the end of the Bush administration) supporting the US effort in Afghanistan. The antics of Kim Jong-il have offered a welcome opportunity for Tokyo and Washington to demonstrate their unity of purpose and strategic convergence on the issue of North Korea's denuclearization. However, the North Asian security crisis is only temporarily obscuring a profound problem at the heart of the US-Japanese alliance: how to maintain the relevance of a military security alliance when Asia's socialist and capitalist industrializing economies have opted for economic integration instead. The US-Japan security relationship - forged in the fires of the Korean War and founded on the Cold War strategy of containment of hostile communist powers - is experiencing its last Indian summer as the two allies confront the anachronistic challenge of the world's last Stalinist state, North Korea. Japan's conservatives appear determined to draw the wrong lesson from the North Korean crisis: that projection of military power in coordination with the US is a necessary and viable means of competing with China for regional influence. After taking office, Taro Aso, a long-time proponent of an expanded international role for the Japanese military, made an abortive attempt to assert Japan's right to "collective self-defense", that is, military intervention on behalf of allies outside of Japan and outside the framework of the United Nations. This doctrine was packaged in part as a reasonable effort to remove the apparent legal obstacles to Japan shooting down North Korean (or Chinese) missiles transiting its airspace to US or other targets. The effort collapsed disastrously when General Toshio Tamogami, the Air Self-Defense Force (SDF) chief of staff, single-handedly justified China and the region's oft-derided fears that Japanese militarism was merely hibernating during the last 50 years.
In an essay supporting "collective self-defense", Tamogami asserted that Japan should be allowed to exercise the right to collective self-defense and possess "offensive weaponry", and denied Japan's aggression against other Asian countries during World War II. Tamogami said that it was "false" to accuse Japan of having been an aggressor nation before and during World War II. Japan had been drawn into the Sino-Japanese war by then-Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, who headed the Chinese Nationalist Party, said the general, referring to Japan as "a victim" in the essay entitled "Was Japan an Aggressor Nation?"
It is safe to say that, with attitudes like this at the most senior level of the Japanese military, no Asian nation is going to be very comfortable with the idea of unleashing the SDF for security operations outside Japan. A more assertive SDF is not favored by the United States either. Beyond the obvious regional difficulties of an unpopular revival of Japanese militarism, America's franchise as the security arbiter of Asian affairs would be undermined if Japan - the only Asian democracy capable of projecting significant power in the region - emerged with its own offensive forces and a competing doctrine. The US presence derives its regional credibility and popularity from its perceived role as an external honest broker, an alternative.
to the rapacious Japanese and Chinese militaries, its effectiveness assured by America's near-monopoly on nuclear deterrence and its insistence on coordinated command of allied forces. These assurances are undercut by Japan's well-advertised interest in a more assertive military role. Beyond incensing Asian countries, there is absolutely no strategic fit between the US vision for the region and an independent Japanese military presence. CNAS's 2009 Asian policy review [3], which Campbell co-chaired, offered Japan a good deal of hortatory if markedly condescending rhetoric but absolutely no encouragement for its emergence in a regional military role or any freedom of action in the name of "collective self defense". Instead, there was a lot of talk involving boring second-tier humanitarian activities that will not make Tomogami's heart beat faster.
As has been repeated throughout this report, the US-Japan relationship remains the starting point for any assessment of US engagement with Asia. Despite repeated assurances that the US remains committed to the alliance and that Japanese fears of "passing" are unfounded, anxieties in Tokyo continue to rise. Enough! Our first recommendation for Japan is that it ends the hand wringing and introspection and instead focus on the assets it can and should contribute to the alliance. One way to do that is to develop a national security strategy. As Japan charts novel political terrain, it is more important than ever that Tokyo articulate a vision for the country that commands a national consensus. Japan can be more creative in identifying ways it can contribute to the alliance and ensure that those contributions are commensurate with its capabilities and responsibilities. There are many ways in which Japan can contribute to regional security outside a strictly military context, such as in promoting maritime safety and security, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, development aid, or through national capacity-building in a broad array of fields ranging from export controls to product safety. Japan has particularly advanced capabilities in the fields of energy conservation and efficiency as well as "green" technologies and environmental protection. Japan should exploit its advantages in these areas to contribute to regional security as well as develop a higher regional profile. The CNAS paper is a strong indication that the US prefers a non-nuclear SDF whose operations are closely coordinated under American command and under the US nuclear umbrella. In other words, a militarily strong Japan is not only destabilizing for the region and a flashpoint for disagreements between China and the United States; it undercuts American power and prestige in the region. But the fundamental problem for the US is not keeping a lid on unhealthy Japanese proclivities toward regional militarism and preserving the American pre-eminence in Asian security. If, as expected, the LDP is crushed in the next Japanese general election and the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan takes power, conservative dreams of a regionally resurgent Japanese military will fade even further. The problem is finding a useful and effective role for Japan in meeting the most significant challenge to US influence and Japanese ascendancy. That challenge is not military adventurism from North Korea; it's the growing economic integration between China and South Korea, which Japan apparently lacks the structural and geopolitical tools to reverse. In his June 10 testimony, Campbell acknowledged that China's rise had implications "difficult for our Japanese friends". Nevertheless, he averred that the trilateral relationship between Washington, Beijing and Tokyo should not be a "zero-sum game" and said hopefully that there are "signs that [China and Japan] need each other". Unfortunately, in reality, the signs all seem to be pointing in the other direction. Japan doesn't only see difficulties from a rising China. It's got problems with a rising South Korea as well. The unanswerable challenges it faces in the region are economic, not military. Taking advantage of the furor over North Korea to jump on the US military bandwagon - and hoping that Chinese overreach in its military posture will derail its economic juggernaut - is not the solution to Japan's long-term problems. Japan's failure to achieve a free-trade agreement with South Korea - and its inability to come to terms with South Korea's enthusiasm for a China-Japan-Korea free-trade grouping with regional heft equivalent to the Eurozone - is indicative of the zero-sum relationship between the Tokyo and both its industrializing competitors in North Asia. The mainland financial news website China Stakes provided the perspective from China:
South Korea President Lee Myung-bak said during a visit to Japan that he was in favor of the establishment of a China-Japan-Korea free-trade zone, as it would help all three countries maintain competitiveness in the global market. Kim says that Lee, a former Hyundai president, is very sensitive to the market economy. Lee has always emphasized that economic development is most important to the country. Some Japanese regard China, with its rapid economic growth, as Japan's most dangerous potential rival. There is worry that the establishment of free-trade zone may lead to industry transfer or even hollowing-out, and they have become increasingly reluctant on this issue. "Many common Japanese see China as a threat, and this will certainly affect Japan's foreign policies and its attitude towards a free trade zone," said Feng Zhaokui. Add to that a graying population, a debilitating recession and a prime minister with popularity in the single digits, Japan's pessimism about its ability to retain its place at the center of Asian affairs is understandable. Throwing its military weight around in coordination with the United States may provide psychological reassurance but do little to reverse long-term trends. And those economic trends include an unexpected but inevitable factor: North Korea's economic opening. Japan's - and America's - dilemma is neatly illustrated by its response to the North Korean situation. While the People's Republic of China unceasingly calls for non-military and diplomatic measures to defuse the crisis, Japan continually invokes the North Korean bogeyman to lift its military profile and solidify its security alliance with the US. This year, Prime Minister Aso exploited North Korea's antics to argue [4] for enshrining "pre-emptive capabilities", ie attacks on North Korean facilities threatening Japan in Japan's National Defense Program Guidelines, eliciting the objection of China's ambassador. In the wake of the new UN Security Council sanctions targeting North Korea's WMD-related exports, Japan went the extra step and banned all exports [5] to North Korea. This largely symbolic gesture (Japan's exports to North Korea in 2008 totaled little more than US$8 million) ended all direct economic relations between the two countries. Japan's willingness to completely sever economic relations with North Korea and offer itself as America's sheriff in North Asia is at the heart of Tokyo's - and Washington's - problems in the region. The United States may be perversely grateful that North Korean bellicosity provides a justification for America's continued relevance in the region. However, this convenient crisis isn't going to last forever. North Korea is going to open up someday. Probably not through reform, regime change or collapse, or through the application of American or Japanese military force. But it will open up. There is too much money and strategic advantage at stake for the interested nations of North Asia to stand idly by and simply watch North Korea disintegrate. Maybe change will come by means of a controlled implosion, jointly managed by China and South Korea, the two neighboring regimes that covet North Korea's cheap labor, resources and markets, and abhor the consequences of Pyongyang's chaotic disintegration in equal and extreme degree. If and when that happens, Chinese and South Korean businesses will flood into North Korea and the entire Korean Peninsula will become part of the zero-sum equation bedeviling Tokyo. Japan may find itself on the outside looking in at North Asia's burgeoning new economic frontier ... together with the United States. Unfortunately, Japan in 2009 doesn't look much like a resolute and powerful ally of the United States. It looks more like a client state at the end of its rope that sees no recourse other than to seek the protection of its patron - a burden and not an asset. Using the threat of North Korea to strengthen the alliance with Japan may do little more than tie the United States to a sunset nation unable to project meaningful economic and military influence in Asia on America's behalf. Note 1. To view the report, click here.2. Yosano Says Japan's Trust in Treasuries 'Unshakable'. Bloomberg, June 12, 2009. 3. To view the review, click here.4. See Pushback on preemption, June 8, 2009. 5. Japan to ban exports to North Korea after nuclear test, Reuters, June15, 2009.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Iraq War
The Iraq War, also known as the Second Persian Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq,[36] or Operation Iraqi Freedom,[37] is an ongoing[38][39] military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.[40]
Prior to the war, the governments of the U.S. and the UK claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed an imminent threat to their security and that of their coalition allies.[41][42][43] United Nations weapons inspectors found no evidence of WMD, giving support to earlier criticism of poor intelligence on the subject.[44][45][46][47] After the invasion, the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its WMD programs in 1991 and had no active programs at the time of the invasion, but that they intended to resume production if the Iraq sanctions were lifted.[48] Although some degraded remnants of misplaced or abandoned chemical weapons from before 1991 were found, they were not the weapons for which the coalition invaded.[49] Some U.S. officials also accused Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting Al-Qaeda,[50] but no evidence of any collaborative relationship was ever found.[51][52] Other reasons for the invasion stated by U.S. officials included Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers,[53] Iraqi government human rights abuses,[54] and an effort on the part of the coalition forces to spread democracy in the country and region.[55] Some officials said Iraq's oil reserves were a factor in the decision to invade,[56][57][58][59][60] but other officials denied this.[61][62]
The invasion of Iraq led to an occupation and the eventual capture of Saddam Hussein, who was later executed by the Iraqi Government. Violence against coalition forces and among various sectarian groups soon led to asymmetric warfare with the Iraqi insurgency, strife between many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.[63][64] The number of Iraqis killed through 2007 ranges from "a conservative cautious minimum" of more than 85,000 civilians[65][66] to a survey estimate of more than 1,000,000 citizens.[32] UNHCR estimates the war uprooted 4.7 million Iraqis through April 2008 (about 16% of the population of Iraq), two million of whom had fled to neighbouring countries[67] fleeing a humanitarian situation that the Red Cross described in March 2008 as "among the most critical in the world".[68] In June 2008, U.S. defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and fragile gains.[69] In August 2008, Iraq was fifth on the Failed States Index.[70]
Member nations of the Coalition withdrew their forces as public opinion favoring troop withdrawals increased and as Iraqi forces began to take responsibility for security.[71][72] In late 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through January 1, 2012.[73] The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with the U.S.,[74] aimed at ensuring international cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education,[75] energy development, and other areas.[76] In late February 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for "combat forces", leaving behind 30,000 to 50,000 troops "to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance".[77][78] General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said he believes all U.S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011,[79] while British forces ended combat operations on April 30, 2009.[80] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he supports the accelerated pullout of U.S. forces.[81]
Prior to the war, the governments of the U.S. and the UK claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed an imminent threat to their security and that of their coalition allies.[41][42][43] United Nations weapons inspectors found no evidence of WMD, giving support to earlier criticism of poor intelligence on the subject.[44][45][46][47] After the invasion, the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its WMD programs in 1991 and had no active programs at the time of the invasion, but that they intended to resume production if the Iraq sanctions were lifted.[48] Although some degraded remnants of misplaced or abandoned chemical weapons from before 1991 were found, they were not the weapons for which the coalition invaded.[49] Some U.S. officials also accused Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting Al-Qaeda,[50] but no evidence of any collaborative relationship was ever found.[51][52] Other reasons for the invasion stated by U.S. officials included Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers,[53] Iraqi government human rights abuses,[54] and an effort on the part of the coalition forces to spread democracy in the country and region.[55] Some officials said Iraq's oil reserves were a factor in the decision to invade,[56][57][58][59][60] but other officials denied this.[61][62]
The invasion of Iraq led to an occupation and the eventual capture of Saddam Hussein, who was later executed by the Iraqi Government. Violence against coalition forces and among various sectarian groups soon led to asymmetric warfare with the Iraqi insurgency, strife between many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.[63][64] The number of Iraqis killed through 2007 ranges from "a conservative cautious minimum" of more than 85,000 civilians[65][66] to a survey estimate of more than 1,000,000 citizens.[32] UNHCR estimates the war uprooted 4.7 million Iraqis through April 2008 (about 16% of the population of Iraq), two million of whom had fled to neighbouring countries[67] fleeing a humanitarian situation that the Red Cross described in March 2008 as "among the most critical in the world".[68] In June 2008, U.S. defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and fragile gains.[69] In August 2008, Iraq was fifth on the Failed States Index.[70]
Member nations of the Coalition withdrew their forces as public opinion favoring troop withdrawals increased and as Iraqi forces began to take responsibility for security.[71][72] In late 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through January 1, 2012.[73] The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with the U.S.,[74] aimed at ensuring international cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education,[75] energy development, and other areas.[76] In late February 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for "combat forces", leaving behind 30,000 to 50,000 troops "to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance".[77][78] General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said he believes all U.S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011,[79] while British forces ended combat operations on April 30, 2009.[80] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he supports the accelerated pullout of U.S. forces.[81]
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Israel is losing the PR war so badly that even evangelical support is eroding
The war that Israel keeps losing is the war of world opinion, the war for individual hearts and minds. Consider recent stumbles.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza should have been named "8,000 is enough!" This would have communicated a determination to stop the barrage of missiles from Hamas, using surgical precision to destroy its arsenal, but destroying all of it, not just a part. Enough was enough: 8,000 missiles launched on the nation's civilian population would no longer be tolerated.
Unfortunately the operation was dubbed, "Cast Lead." The resulting image in the English-speaking world was not helpful. Lead is a soft metal associated with poison. The implication, then, was an unprofessional plan with ambivalent determination, biased motives and toxic methods.
Which is exactly how governments and media judge "the Gaza war." Israel and her defenders respond by arguing, "Israel has the right to defend herself." This is true, but flawed. Why? Limiting Israel's self-defense to a right makes it an option. Little wonder, then, that Israel's enemies portray her as a ruthless bully. In the matter of Gaza, for example, she could have chosen to refrain.
In fact, Israel has more than a right to defend her citizens and existence. Along with every sovereign state, she has a mandate to defend against invaders, murderers, thieves, poverty and disease. And from enemies who declare war and wage it.
The Hamas unamended charter of 1988 is a declaration of war. It explicitly calls for destruction of the Jewish state of Israel through jihad - against Jews and Christians (Article 13). Any member who abandons this struggle is guilty of "high treason and cursed" (Article 32). Accordingly, any "initiatives... so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to [these] principles" (Article 13).
In fact, Israel has more than a right to defend her citizens and existence. Along with every sovereign state, she has a mandate to defend against invaders, murderers, thieves, poverty and disease. And from enemies who declare war and wage it.
The Hamas unamended charter of 1988 is a declaration of war. It explicitly calls for destruction of the Jewish state of Israel through jihad - against Jews and Christians (Article 13). Any member who abandons this struggle is guilty of "high treason and cursed" (Article 32). Accordingly, any "initiatives... so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to [these] principles" (Article 13).
Even so, the United States is on the verge of engaging Hamas as entity that is on par with Israel. No, not on par: morally superior. Consider the recent image splashed across America by political cartoonist, Pat Oliphant, portraying Israel as a headless, heartless, jack-booted Nazi devouring helpless, little Gaza.
Where did that idea come from? Look at Article 20 of Hamas's 1988 charter and see who is winning the PR war.
Of course it is more than public opinion that is being lost; it is the death of common sense; it is defeat in the war for truth.
Where did that idea come from? Look at Article 20 of Hamas's 1988 charter and see who is winning the PR war.
Of course it is more than public opinion that is being lost; it is the death of common sense; it is defeat in the war for truth.
EVEN EVANGELICAL SUPPORT is eroding. A vocal minority remain effusive on Israel's behalf. But the broader community is not monolithic. Many of its members are hungry for change, not unlike the political appetite that won Barack Hussein Obama the presidency. Among evangelicals the religious equivalent is a movement led by people like Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian; Stephen Sizer, a pastor who has gained popularity by condemning "Christian Zionism"; and, of course, Jimmy Carter, who accuses Israel of committing a "holocaust." How widespread is the erosion of evangelical support for Israel? Google this: "Letter to President Bush from Evangelical Leaders." Look at those who signed it - and the organizations they represent. Their claim to "represent large numbers of evangelicals" is true.
And behind it all? A resurgence of replacement theology, an ideology that, for almost 1700 years, has been used to ignite atrocities against Jewish communities.
So what can Israel do to win its global PR war, a war for truth?
One of Judaism's greatest traits is that, while the rest of world talks, it acts. The government of Israel has beefed up media relations and lobbying efforts to Western countries. It makes a special effort to reach Christians through its Tourism Ministry and the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus.
Religious Israeli organizations do a first-rate job in taking their case to gentiles. And a host of secular entities, most of them nonprofits, are second to none in telling the truth about Israel and exposing its enemies' lies.
But it is not enough. What else can be done? How can Israel be a more effective light that draws the nations to her?
First, recruit the world of commerce. Independent, for-profit media companies must present the broad canvas of Israeli news. Expanded investments in Israeli technologies will yield medical breakthroughs, unleash alternative energy sources and provide water and food for the world's population.
Second, aim directly to inform the potential "grassroot" supporters of the Jewish state. Bring Israel to them and they will come to Israel, both as tourists and supporters of the state.
Yes, methods include the Internet and its social networking tools. Still, there is nothing more effective than firsthand encounters.
So. Sponsor events. Send invitations to others instead of seeking invitations from others.
Deploy first-class conventions and shows and fairs, events hosted on civic platforms around the world. Get endorsements from influential people to market these events. Use them to showcase Israel, not defame it.
Begin these tours where demographic support is strong. Respect religious sensibilities. But use secular venues so that people from different backgrounds will feel comfortable and welcome. Participants with a variety of interests - business, social, political and religious - will enhance grassroot support for Israel and her people.
Most importantly, seek wisdom from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Listen for the whisper of His counsel. He alone is God of all the nations. Under the banner of His leadership, Israel will win.
And behind it all? A resurgence of replacement theology, an ideology that, for almost 1700 years, has been used to ignite atrocities against Jewish communities.
So what can Israel do to win its global PR war, a war for truth?
One of Judaism's greatest traits is that, while the rest of world talks, it acts. The government of Israel has beefed up media relations and lobbying efforts to Western countries. It makes a special effort to reach Christians through its Tourism Ministry and the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus.
Religious Israeli organizations do a first-rate job in taking their case to gentiles. And a host of secular entities, most of them nonprofits, are second to none in telling the truth about Israel and exposing its enemies' lies.
But it is not enough. What else can be done? How can Israel be a more effective light that draws the nations to her?
First, recruit the world of commerce. Independent, for-profit media companies must present the broad canvas of Israeli news. Expanded investments in Israeli technologies will yield medical breakthroughs, unleash alternative energy sources and provide water and food for the world's population.
Second, aim directly to inform the potential "grassroot" supporters of the Jewish state. Bring Israel to them and they will come to Israel, both as tourists and supporters of the state.
Yes, methods include the Internet and its social networking tools. Still, there is nothing more effective than firsthand encounters.
So. Sponsor events. Send invitations to others instead of seeking invitations from others.
Deploy first-class conventions and shows and fairs, events hosted on civic platforms around the world. Get endorsements from influential people to market these events. Use them to showcase Israel, not defame it.
Begin these tours where demographic support is strong. Respect religious sensibilities. But use secular venues so that people from different backgrounds will feel comfortable and welcome. Participants with a variety of interests - business, social, political and religious - will enhance grassroot support for Israel and her people.
Most importantly, seek wisdom from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Listen for the whisper of His counsel. He alone is God of all the nations. Under the banner of His leadership, Israel will win.
Friday, June 12, 2009
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001 as the U.S. military operation Operation Enduring Freedom, was launched by the United States with the United Kingdom, and Nato-led, UN authorized ISAF in response to the September 11 attacks. The aim of the invasion was to find the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and other high-ranking al-Qaeda members and put them on trial, to destroy the whole organization of al-Qaeda, and to remove the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbor to al-Qaeda. The United States' Bush Doctrine stated that, as policy, it would not distinguish between al-Qaeda and nations that harbor them.
Two military operations in Afghanistan are fighting for control over the country. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is a United States combat operation involving some coalition partners and currently operating primarily in the eastern and southern parts of the country along the Pakistan border. Approximately 28,300 U.S. troops are in OEF.[2][5][6] The second operation is the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was established by the UN Security Council at the end of December 2001 to secure Kabul and the surrounding areas. NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003. By January 12, 2009, ISAF had around 55,100 troops from 41 countries, with NATO members providing the core of the force. The United States has approximately 23,300 troops in ISAF.[2]
The U.S. and the UK led the aerial bombing campaign, with ground forces supplied primarily by the Afghan Northern Alliance. In 2002, American, British and Canadian infantry were committed, along with special forces from several allied nations including Australia. Later, NATO troops were added.
The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength.[20] The war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement than anticipated.[21] Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production,[22][23] and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul.[24] As of end 2008, the war has been unsuccessful in its primary purpose of capturing Osama bin Laden, while tensions have grown between the USA and Pakistan due to incidents of coalition troops crossing the Pakistan border while pursuing Taliban fighters.
Two military operations in Afghanistan are fighting for control over the country. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is a United States combat operation involving some coalition partners and currently operating primarily in the eastern and southern parts of the country along the Pakistan border. Approximately 28,300 U.S. troops are in OEF.[2][5][6] The second operation is the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was established by the UN Security Council at the end of December 2001 to secure Kabul and the surrounding areas. NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003. By January 12, 2009, ISAF had around 55,100 troops from 41 countries, with NATO members providing the core of the force. The United States has approximately 23,300 troops in ISAF.[2]
The U.S. and the UK led the aerial bombing campaign, with ground forces supplied primarily by the Afghan Northern Alliance. In 2002, American, British and Canadian infantry were committed, along with special forces from several allied nations including Australia. Later, NATO troops were added.
The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength.[20] The war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement than anticipated.[21] Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production,[22][23] and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul.[24] As of end 2008, the war has been unsuccessful in its primary purpose of capturing Osama bin Laden, while tensions have grown between the USA and Pakistan due to incidents of coalition troops crossing the Pakistan border while pursuing Taliban fighters.
Monday, June 8, 2009
European Theatre of World War II
Preceding events
After Germany was defeated in the World War I, the Treaty of Versailles placed punitive conditions on the country, including significant financial reparations, the loss of territory (some only temporarily), war guilt, military weakening and limitation, and economic weakening. Germany was humiliated in front of the world and had to pay very large war reparations. Many Germans blamed their country's post-war economic collapse and hyperinflation on the treaty's conditions. These resentments contributed to the political instability which made it possible for Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party to come to power, with Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany.
Meanwhile, in Italy, fascist party leader Benito Mussolini came to power as Prime Minister of Italy in 1923, after the March on Rome had turned the country into a fascist state and overthrew the government. Both leaders and parties had a strong sense of nationalism with them, and turned their respective countries into totalitarian and repressive states.
After Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations, Mussolini and Hitler formed the Rome-Berlin axis, under a treaty known as the Pact of Steel. Later, Japan would also join as an Axis power under the command of Tojo. Japan and Germany had already signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939, to counter the Soviet Union's communism "threat". Other smaller powers also later joined the Axis through pacts and agreements.
Meanwhile, in Italy, fascist party leader Benito Mussolini came to power as Prime Minister of Italy in 1923, after the March on Rome had turned the country into a fascist state and overthrew the government. Both leaders and parties had a strong sense of nationalism with them, and turned their respective countries into totalitarian and repressive states.
After Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations, Mussolini and Hitler formed the Rome-Berlin axis, under a treaty known as the Pact of Steel. Later, Japan would also join as an Axis power under the command of Tojo. Japan and Germany had already signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939, to counter the Soviet Union's communism "threat". Other smaller powers also later joined the Axis through pacts and agreements.
Outbreak of war in Europe
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were sworn enemies, but following the Munich Agreement, which effectively handed over Czechoslovakia (a French and Soviet ally, and the only remaining presidential democracy in Central Europe) to Germany, political realities allowed the Soviet Union to sign a non-aggression pact (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) including a secret clause partitioning Poland, the Baltic Republics and Finland between the two spheres of interests.
Full-scale war in Europe began at dawn on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany used her newly formed Blitzkrieg tactics and military strength to invade Poland, to which both Britain and France had pledged protection and independence guarantees. On September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany and British troops were sent to France, however neither French nor British troops gave any significant assistance to the Poles during the entire invasion, and the German-French border, expecting the Saar Offensive, remained mostly calm.
On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east and hours after that, the Polish government evacuated the country for Romania. Poland fell within five weeks, with her last large operational units surrendering on October 5 after the Battle of Kock. As the Polish September Campaign ended, Hitler offered to Britain and France peace on the basis of recognition of German European continental dominance. On October 12, the United Kingdom formally refused.
Poland however had not capitulated and the Polish government-in-exile continued to command a large army and the world's largest resistance network, and the Polish contribution to World War II aided in the defeat of Nazi Germany and the retaking of Poland.
Despite the quick campaign in the east, along the Franco-German frontier the war settled into a quiet period. This relatively non-confrontational and mostly non-fighting period between the major powers lasted until May 10, 1940, and was known as the Phoney War
Full-scale war in Europe began at dawn on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany used her newly formed Blitzkrieg tactics and military strength to invade Poland, to which both Britain and France had pledged protection and independence guarantees. On September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany and British troops were sent to France, however neither French nor British troops gave any significant assistance to the Poles during the entire invasion, and the German-French border, expecting the Saar Offensive, remained mostly calm.
On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east and hours after that, the Polish government evacuated the country for Romania. Poland fell within five weeks, with her last large operational units surrendering on October 5 after the Battle of Kock. As the Polish September Campaign ended, Hitler offered to Britain and France peace on the basis of recognition of German European continental dominance. On October 12, the United Kingdom formally refused.
Poland however had not capitulated and the Polish government-in-exile continued to command a large army and the world's largest resistance network, and the Polish contribution to World War II aided in the defeat of Nazi Germany and the retaking of Poland.
Despite the quick campaign in the east, along the Franco-German frontier the war settled into a quiet period. This relatively non-confrontational and mostly non-fighting period between the major powers lasted until May 10, 1940, and was known as the Phoney War
Germany assumes dominance in northern Europe
Several other countries, however, were drawn into the conflict at this time. By September 28, 1939, the three Baltic Republics felt they had no choice but to permit Soviet bases and troops on their territory. The Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940, and finally annexed to the Soviet Union in August 1940.
The Soviet Union wanted to annex Finland and offered a union agreement, but Finland rejected it and was invaded by the Soviets on November 30. This began the Winter War. After over three months of hard fighting, and heavy losses, the Soviet Union gave up the attempted invasion. In the Moscow Peace Treaty, March 12, 1940, Finland ceded 10% of her territory. The Finns were embittered over having lost more land in the peace than on the battle fields, and over the perceived lack of world sympathy.
On April 9 1940 Germany commenced Operation Weserübung to seize and occupy Denmark and Norway, ostensibly as a defensive maneuver against a planned (and openly discussed) Franco-British occupation of those countries aimed at controlling export of Swedish iron ore and the Northern Atlantic. After the failed British campaign in Norway, Finland and Sweden were physically cut off from the West. As a consequence, Germany put pressure on neutral Sweden to permit transition of military goods and soldiers on leave. Germany's presence proximate to northernmost Finland, and its nickel mines, were perceived as an improvement of the strategic situation by the Finns.
The Soviet Union wanted to annex Finland and offered a union agreement, but Finland rejected it and was invaded by the Soviets on November 30. This began the Winter War. After over three months of hard fighting, and heavy losses, the Soviet Union gave up the attempted invasion. In the Moscow Peace Treaty, March 12, 1940, Finland ceded 10% of her territory. The Finns were embittered over having lost more land in the peace than on the battle fields, and over the perceived lack of world sympathy.
On April 9 1940 Germany commenced Operation Weserübung to seize and occupy Denmark and Norway, ostensibly as a defensive maneuver against a planned (and openly discussed) Franco-British occupation of those countries aimed at controlling export of Swedish iron ore and the Northern Atlantic. After the failed British campaign in Norway, Finland and Sweden were physically cut off from the West. As a consequence, Germany put pressure on neutral Sweden to permit transition of military goods and soldiers on leave. Germany's presence proximate to northernmost Finland, and its nickel mines, were perceived as an improvement of the strategic situation by the Finns.
War comes to the west
On May 10 the Phony War ended with a sweeping German invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and French Third Republic that bypassed French fortifications along the Maginot Line. After overrunning Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, Germany turned against France, entering the country through the Ardennes on May 13—the French had made the fatal mistake of leaving this area almost totally undefended, believing its terrain to be impassable for tanks and other vehicles. Most Allied forces were in Flanders, anticipating a re-run of the World War I Schlieffen Plan, and were cut off from the French mainland. As a result of this, and also the superior German communications and tactics, the Battle of France was shorter than virtually all prewar Allied thought could have conceived. It lasted six weeks, including the Luftwaffe bombing of Paris June 3, after which France surrendered on June 22. In order to further the humiliation of the French people and the country itself, Hitler arranged for the surrender document to be signed in the same railway coach where the German surrender had been signed in 1918. The surrender divided France into two parts; the Northern part occupied by Nazi Germany, and a southern part under French control, based at Vichy and referred to as Vichy France, a rump state allied and friendly to Germany. Many French soldiers, as well as those of other occupied countries, escaped to Britain. The General de Gaulle proclaimed himself the legitimate leader of the Free French orgianization and vowed to continue to fight. On June 10 Italy declared war on both France and the United Kingdom.
Vyacheslav Molotov, the Foreign Policy Minister of the U.S.S.R., which was tied with Soviet-German non-aggression treaty, congratulated the Germans: "We hand over the most cordial congratulations by the Soviet government on the occasion of splendid success of German Wehrmacht. Guderian's tanks broke through to the sea near Abbeville, powered by Soviet fuel, the German bombs, that razed Rotterdam to the ground, were filled with Soviet pyroxylin, and bullet cases, which hit the British soldiers retreating from Dunkirk, were cast of Soviet cupronickel alloy..." [1]
Later, on April 24, 1941, the U.S.S.R. gave full diplomatic recognition to the Vichy government situated in the non-occupied zone in France.[1]
Thus, the fall of France left Britain and its Empire to stand alone. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, resigned during the battle and was replaced by Winston Churchill. Fortunately for Britain, much of its army escaped capture from the northern French port of Dunkirk, where hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny civilian boats were used to ferry troops from the beaches to the waiting warships. There is much debate over whether German Panzer divisions could have defeated these soldiers alone if they had pressed forward, since the tank divisions were overextended and would require extensive refitting; in any case, Hitler elected to follow the advice of the leader of German air forces Hermann Göring and allow the Luftwaffe alone to attack the Allied forces until German infantry was able to advance, giving the British a window for the evacuation. Later, many of the evacuated troops would form an important part and the center of the army that landed at Normandy on D-Day.
The British rejected several covert German attempts to negotiate a peace. Germany massed their air force in northern German-occupied France to prepare the way for a possible invasion, codenamed Operation Seelöwe (Sea Lion), deeming that air superiority was essential for the invasion. The operations of the Luftwaffe against the Royal Air Force became known as the Battle of Britain. Initially the Luftwaffe concentrated on destroying the R.A.F. on the ground and in the air. They later switched to bombing major and large industrial British cities in the Blitz, in an attempt to draw R.A.F. fighters out and defeat them completely. Neither approach was successful in reducing the R.A.F. to the point where air superiority could be obtained, and plans for an invasion were suspended by September 1940.
During the Blitz, all of Britain's major industrial, cathderal, and political cites were heavily bombed. London suffered particularly, being bombed each night for several months. Other targets included Birmingham and Coventry, and strategically important cities, such as the naval base at Plymouth and the port of Kingston upon Hull. With no land forces in direct conflict in Europe, the war in the air attracted worldwide attention even as sea units fought the Battle of the Atlantic and a number of British commando raids hit targets in occupied Europe. Churchill famously said of the R.A.F. personnel who fought in the battle: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few".
Vyacheslav Molotov, the Foreign Policy Minister of the U.S.S.R., which was tied with Soviet-German non-aggression treaty, congratulated the Germans: "We hand over the most cordial congratulations by the Soviet government on the occasion of splendid success of German Wehrmacht. Guderian's tanks broke through to the sea near Abbeville, powered by Soviet fuel, the German bombs, that razed Rotterdam to the ground, were filled with Soviet pyroxylin, and bullet cases, which hit the British soldiers retreating from Dunkirk, were cast of Soviet cupronickel alloy..." [1]
Later, on April 24, 1941, the U.S.S.R. gave full diplomatic recognition to the Vichy government situated in the non-occupied zone in France.[1]
Thus, the fall of France left Britain and its Empire to stand alone. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, resigned during the battle and was replaced by Winston Churchill. Fortunately for Britain, much of its army escaped capture from the northern French port of Dunkirk, where hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny civilian boats were used to ferry troops from the beaches to the waiting warships. There is much debate over whether German Panzer divisions could have defeated these soldiers alone if they had pressed forward, since the tank divisions were overextended and would require extensive refitting; in any case, Hitler elected to follow the advice of the leader of German air forces Hermann Göring and allow the Luftwaffe alone to attack the Allied forces until German infantry was able to advance, giving the British a window for the evacuation. Later, many of the evacuated troops would form an important part and the center of the army that landed at Normandy on D-Day.
The British rejected several covert German attempts to negotiate a peace. Germany massed their air force in northern German-occupied France to prepare the way for a possible invasion, codenamed Operation Seelöwe (Sea Lion), deeming that air superiority was essential for the invasion. The operations of the Luftwaffe against the Royal Air Force became known as the Battle of Britain. Initially the Luftwaffe concentrated on destroying the R.A.F. on the ground and in the air. They later switched to bombing major and large industrial British cities in the Blitz, in an attempt to draw R.A.F. fighters out and defeat them completely. Neither approach was successful in reducing the R.A.F. to the point where air superiority could be obtained, and plans for an invasion were suspended by September 1940.
During the Blitz, all of Britain's major industrial, cathderal, and political cites were heavily bombed. London suffered particularly, being bombed each night for several months. Other targets included Birmingham and Coventry, and strategically important cities, such as the naval base at Plymouth and the port of Kingston upon Hull. With no land forces in direct conflict in Europe, the war in the air attracted worldwide attention even as sea units fought the Battle of the Atlantic and a number of British commando raids hit targets in occupied Europe. Churchill famously said of the R.A.F. personnel who fought in the battle: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few".
The war in the air
The air war in the European Theatre generally dates from 1939, but - for the United States - it dates from July 4, 1942 when the U.S. deployed U.S. Army Air Forces units to England to join the assault on Germany. The Air offensive officially came to an end on June 5, 1944, and was replaced by aerial participation in the ground offensives that started on June 6, 1944. From that day forward, all aerial offensives for U.S.A.A.F. units were coordinated with the ground offensives.
Prewar doctrine had held that waves of bombers hitting enemy cities would cause mass panic and the rapid collapse of the enemy. As a result, the Royal Air Force had built up a large strategic bomber force. By way of contrast, Nazi German air force doctrine was almost totally dedicated to supporting the army. Therefore, German bombers were smaller than their British equivalents, and Germany never developed a fully successful four engined heavy bomber equivalent to the Lancaster, B-17 or B-24.
The main concentration of German raids on British cities was from September 7, 1940 until May 10, 1941. After that most of the strength of the Luftwaffe was diverted to the war against the Soviet Union. German raids continued on a smaller and less destructive scale for the rest of the war, and later the V1 Flying Bomb and V-2 ballistic missile were both used against Britain. However, the balance of bomb tonnage being dropped shifted greatly in favour of the RAF as Bomber Command gained in strength. By 1942, Bomber Command could put 1,000 bombers over one German city. From 1942 onwards, the efforts of Bomber Command were supplemented by the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces. Bomber Command raided by night and the US forces by day. On February 14, 1945, a raid on Dresden produced one of the most devastating fires in history. A firestorm was created in the city, and between 25,000 to 35,000 people were killed. Only the raids on Hamburg (July 24, 1943 – July 29, 1943), the firebombing of Tokyo and the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) killed more people through a single attack.
Prewar doctrine had held that waves of bombers hitting enemy cities would cause mass panic and the rapid collapse of the enemy. As a result, the Royal Air Force had built up a large strategic bomber force. By way of contrast, Nazi German air force doctrine was almost totally dedicated to supporting the army. Therefore, German bombers were smaller than their British equivalents, and Germany never developed a fully successful four engined heavy bomber equivalent to the Lancaster, B-17 or B-24.
The main concentration of German raids on British cities was from September 7, 1940 until May 10, 1941. After that most of the strength of the Luftwaffe was diverted to the war against the Soviet Union. German raids continued on a smaller and less destructive scale for the rest of the war, and later the V1 Flying Bomb and V-2 ballistic missile were both used against Britain. However, the balance of bomb tonnage being dropped shifted greatly in favour of the RAF as Bomber Command gained in strength. By 1942, Bomber Command could put 1,000 bombers over one German city. From 1942 onwards, the efforts of Bomber Command were supplemented by the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces. Bomber Command raided by night and the US forces by day. On February 14, 1945, a raid on Dresden produced one of the most devastating fires in history. A firestorm was created in the city, and between 25,000 to 35,000 people were killed. Only the raids on Hamburg (July 24, 1943 – July 29, 1943), the firebombing of Tokyo and the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) killed more people through a single attack.
The Mediterranean and Balkans
Italy had invaded Albania on April 7, 1939 and had officially annexed it. Mussolini's regime declared war on Britain and France on June 10, 1940, and invaded Greece on October 28. However, Italian forces were unable to match the Nazi successes in northwest Europe.
The Italian Regia Aeronautica began the long and unsuccessful siege of Malta on June 12. Even the surrender of France did not greatly assist the Axis forces. The naval Battle of the Mediterranean was a disaster for the Italian Regia Marina and the Vichy French navy, which were effectively destroyed as fighting forces by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy during 1940, most notably in the attack on Mers-el-Kebir (July 3) and the Battle of Taranto (November 11).
Not only did the Italians fail to conquer Greece, but under the supervision of Greece's dictator, Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, the Greeks successfully counterattacked into Albania, from November 14.
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was lacking true leadership of a king and instead ruled by a regency headed by Prince Pavle Karađorđević, signed the Tripartite Treaty on March 25, 1941. The regency did this because they were promised by Hitler that if they joined and let the Axis attack Greece through their territory Yugoslavia would be given areas of Northern Greece including Salonika. However, soon afterwards, after public demonstrations, a March 27 coup d'état was made by Army General Dušan Simović which took control away from the regency and distanced Yugoslavia from the fascists.
The imminent Greek victory over Italy prompted German intervention. On April 6, 1941 German forces, supported by the Italians, Hungarians and the Bulgarians, engaged in combat with the Greeks and simultaneously invaded Yugoslavia. British, Australian and New Zealand forces were hastily dispatched from Egypt to Greece, but the Allies lacked a co-ordinated strategy, were comprehensively beaten and evacuated to Crete. Advancing rapidly, Axis forces captured Athens, Greece's capital on April 27, 1941 effectively placing most of the country under occupation.
After the mainland was conquered, Germany invaded Crete in what is known as the Battle of Crete (May 20, 1941 – June 1, 1941). Instead of an amphibious assault as expected, the Germans mounted a large airborne invasion. The paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) suffered severe losses and large scale airborne operations were given up after that. However, the Germans eventually prevailed on Crete. Most of the Allied forces were evacuated to Egypt — joining King George II of Greece and the exiled Greek government of Emmanouil Tsouderos — on June 1, 1941.
Once the Balkans were secure, the largest land operation in history was launched, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The Balkans campaign delayed the invasion[citation needed], and subsequent resistance movements in Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece tied up valuable Axis forces[citation needed]. This provided much needed and possibly decisive relief for the Soviets.
The Italian Regia Aeronautica began the long and unsuccessful siege of Malta on June 12. Even the surrender of France did not greatly assist the Axis forces. The naval Battle of the Mediterranean was a disaster for the Italian Regia Marina and the Vichy French navy, which were effectively destroyed as fighting forces by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy during 1940, most notably in the attack on Mers-el-Kebir (July 3) and the Battle of Taranto (November 11).
Not only did the Italians fail to conquer Greece, but under the supervision of Greece's dictator, Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, the Greeks successfully counterattacked into Albania, from November 14.
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was lacking true leadership of a king and instead ruled by a regency headed by Prince Pavle Karađorđević, signed the Tripartite Treaty on March 25, 1941. The regency did this because they were promised by Hitler that if they joined and let the Axis attack Greece through their territory Yugoslavia would be given areas of Northern Greece including Salonika. However, soon afterwards, after public demonstrations, a March 27 coup d'état was made by Army General Dušan Simović which took control away from the regency and distanced Yugoslavia from the fascists.
The imminent Greek victory over Italy prompted German intervention. On April 6, 1941 German forces, supported by the Italians, Hungarians and the Bulgarians, engaged in combat with the Greeks and simultaneously invaded Yugoslavia. British, Australian and New Zealand forces were hastily dispatched from Egypt to Greece, but the Allies lacked a co-ordinated strategy, were comprehensively beaten and evacuated to Crete. Advancing rapidly, Axis forces captured Athens, Greece's capital on April 27, 1941 effectively placing most of the country under occupation.
After the mainland was conquered, Germany invaded Crete in what is known as the Battle of Crete (May 20, 1941 – June 1, 1941). Instead of an amphibious assault as expected, the Germans mounted a large airborne invasion. The paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) suffered severe losses and large scale airborne operations were given up after that. However, the Germans eventually prevailed on Crete. Most of the Allied forces were evacuated to Egypt — joining King George II of Greece and the exiled Greek government of Emmanouil Tsouderos — on June 1, 1941.
Once the Balkans were secure, the largest land operation in history was launched, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The Balkans campaign delayed the invasion[citation needed], and subsequent resistance movements in Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece tied up valuable Axis forces[citation needed]. This provided much needed and possibly decisive relief for the Soviets.
The Eastern Front
On June 22, 1941, Germany launched an invasion against the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa[2]. This invasion, the biggest in recorded history, started the most bloody conflict the world has ever seen; the Axis-Soviet War. The Eastern Front was by far the largest and bloodiest theatre of World War II. It is generally accepted as being the costliest conflict in human history, with over 30 million dead as a result. It involved more land combat than all other World War II theatres combined. The distinctly brutal nature of warfare on the Eastern Front was exemplified by an often wilful disregard for human life by both sides.
The leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, had been warned repeatedly by outside sources and his own intelligence network of the impending invasion, but he ignored the warnings due to conflicting information presented to him by the Soviet intelligence[citation needed]. Moreover, on the very night of the invasion Soviet troops received a directive undersigned by Marshal Timoshenko and General of the Army Georgi Zhukov that commanded: "do not answer to any provocations" and "do not undertake any actions without specific orders". The early weeks of the invasion were devastating for the Soviet Army. Enormous numbers of Soviet troops were encircled in pockets and fell into Nazi German hands. In addition to German troops, a few Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops were also involved in the campaign. Finland also sent troops, but oddly, the Finns initially declared neutrality, however with both German and Soviet troops on her soil, Finland was well prepared to join forces with Nazi Germany when the Soviet Union attacked on June 25. The following conflict from 1941–1944 is sometimes referred to as the Continuation War, as in the continuation of the Winter War.
Operation Barbarossa suffered from several fundamental flaws. The most serious of these was the logistical situation of the attack. The sheer vastness of the distances in the Soviet Union meant that Nazi Germany could only advance so far before outrunning their supply chains. By the time the German attack froze to a halt before Moscow on December 5, 1941, it literally could not go any further. There simply were not enough supplies reaching the front to conduct proper defensive operations, let alone a proper offense. The timetable that Barbarossa was planned to assumed that the Soviets would collapse before the Russian winter hit. The failure of that to happen also fatally affected Nazi German plans. Had Hitler not invaded Greece and Yugoslavia earlier in the year, the invasion would have proceeded at that time[citation needed], and the Soviet Union might have collapsed.
During their long retreat, the Soviets employed a scorched earth policy. They burnt crops and destroyed utilities as they withdrew before Germany. That helped to contribute to the logistical problems that Germany experienced. More importantly for them, the Soviets also succeeded in a massive and unprecedented removal of their industry from the threatened war zone to protected areas in the East.
The extension of the campaign beyond the length that Germany expected meant that the German Army suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties in the bitter cold of the Russian winter, and from the counterattacks of Soviet units.
Even with their advance having ground to a halt due to a lack of supplies and the onset of winter, Germany had conquered a vast amount of territory, including two-fifths of the Soviet economy. Dislodging them proved difficult and eventually cost the Soviet Union dearly.
A few months after the invasion began, German troops laid siege to Leningrad (known as the Siege of Leningrad) from the North by Finnish forces, and from the South by the German Wehrmacht. Finland's C-in-C Mannerheim had halted at the River Svir and refrained from attacking the city. Hitler had ordered that the city of Leningrad must "vanish from the surface of the earth", with its entire population exterminated. Rather than storming the city, the Wehrmacht was ordered to blockade Leningrad so as to starve the city to death, while attacking it with bombers and artillery. About one million civilians died in the Leningrad siege - 800,000 by starvation. It lasted 506 days. During the winter, the only way into the city was across Lake Ladoga, between the German and Finnish lines.
The "Big Three" Allied leaders. From left to right: Winston Churchill (UK), Franklin Roosevelt (USA), and Joseph Stalin (USSR).
After enduring the winter of 1941-1942, the German army prepared for further offensive operations. One of the major problems faced by the Nazi war machine in World War II was a shortage of oil. For this reason, Germany decided to give up on Moscow for the time being, and the summer offensive of 1942 decided to focus on the war in the south, with the target being the oil fields of the Caucasus. In a major blunder, Hitler split Army Group South into two subgroups, Army Group A which would attack the Caucasus and army group B which would advance towards the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd).
Indecision by Hitler, dissent among the higher ranked Nazi German officers, and extended supply lines combined in a prolonged battle in the streets of Stalingrad. Germany eventually occupied over 90% of the city, but in an attempt to defeat the remaining Soviet defenders almost all German soldiers in the area were funnelled into the ruins of the city. Months of bitter hand-to-hand combat in the ruins of the city depleted the German forces, leaving only weak Romanian and Hungarian forces to guard the flanks of the Stalingrad army group. In Operation Uranus, the Soviets easily defeated these minor axis forces as they performed an encirclement operation. The German troops remaining in the city were trapped - cut off from their supply lines and starving, they were ordered by Hitler to fight to the last man, and they displayed incredible fortitude and bravery under unbearable conditions.
Starved of food, fuel, ammunition, and clothes, the pocket was gradually reduced, with the last portion surrendering on February 2, 1943. In a cynical attempt to prevent the surrender, Hitler promoted Friedrich Paulus, Commander of 6th Army to Field Marshal, because no German of that rank had ever surrendered. Heavy losses affected both sides in the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles in history. An estimated 1.5 million people perished in this battle, including 100,000 civilians in the city.
After Stalingrad, the initiative had passed from Germany but had not yet been seized by the Soviets. A desperate counterattack in the spring of 1943 by the forces of von Manstein temporarily halted the Soviet advance, and lead to the largest tank battle in history, at Kursk. Kursk was the last major offensive by the German Army on the eastern front. The Soviets had intelligence of what was to come and prepared massive defences in huge depth in the Kursk salient. They stopped the German armoured thrusts after a maximum penetration of 17 miles (27 km). After Kursk the Red Army never ceased being on the offensive until Berlin was captured in May 1945.
The Soviets bore the brunt of World War II; the second front in Europe did not begin until D-Day, apart from the invasion of Italy. More Soviet citizens died during World War II than those of all other countries combined. Approximately 27 million Soviets, among them more than 20 million civilians in Soviet cities and areas, were killed in the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Civilians were rounded up and burned alive or shot in squads in many cities conquered, occupied, and presenced by the Nazis. Since the Nazis considered Slavs to be "subhuman", this was ethnically targeted mass murder.
At least seven million Red Army troops died facing the Germans and their allies in the Eastern Front. The Axis forces themselves suffered over six million soldier deaths, whether by combat or by wounds, disease, starvation or exposure; another several hundred thousand[citation needed] were seized as POWs and over half died in Soviet gulags because of disease, starvation, or shortage of supplies[citation needed].
Lend-Lease supplies from the United Kingdom and the United States made very important impact for Soviet military forces. Supply convoys sailed to Soviet ports that were patrolled by Nazi U-boats. Allied activities before D-Day may have tied up only a few divisions in actual fighting, but many more were forced to guard lonely coasts against raids that never came or to man antiaircraft guns throughout Europe.
The leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, had been warned repeatedly by outside sources and his own intelligence network of the impending invasion, but he ignored the warnings due to conflicting information presented to him by the Soviet intelligence[citation needed]. Moreover, on the very night of the invasion Soviet troops received a directive undersigned by Marshal Timoshenko and General of the Army Georgi Zhukov that commanded: "do not answer to any provocations" and "do not undertake any actions without specific orders". The early weeks of the invasion were devastating for the Soviet Army. Enormous numbers of Soviet troops were encircled in pockets and fell into Nazi German hands. In addition to German troops, a few Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops were also involved in the campaign. Finland also sent troops, but oddly, the Finns initially declared neutrality, however with both German and Soviet troops on her soil, Finland was well prepared to join forces with Nazi Germany when the Soviet Union attacked on June 25. The following conflict from 1941–1944 is sometimes referred to as the Continuation War, as in the continuation of the Winter War.
Operation Barbarossa suffered from several fundamental flaws. The most serious of these was the logistical situation of the attack. The sheer vastness of the distances in the Soviet Union meant that Nazi Germany could only advance so far before outrunning their supply chains. By the time the German attack froze to a halt before Moscow on December 5, 1941, it literally could not go any further. There simply were not enough supplies reaching the front to conduct proper defensive operations, let alone a proper offense. The timetable that Barbarossa was planned to assumed that the Soviets would collapse before the Russian winter hit. The failure of that to happen also fatally affected Nazi German plans. Had Hitler not invaded Greece and Yugoslavia earlier in the year, the invasion would have proceeded at that time[citation needed], and the Soviet Union might have collapsed.
During their long retreat, the Soviets employed a scorched earth policy. They burnt crops and destroyed utilities as they withdrew before Germany. That helped to contribute to the logistical problems that Germany experienced. More importantly for them, the Soviets also succeeded in a massive and unprecedented removal of their industry from the threatened war zone to protected areas in the East.
The extension of the campaign beyond the length that Germany expected meant that the German Army suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties in the bitter cold of the Russian winter, and from the counterattacks of Soviet units.
Even with their advance having ground to a halt due to a lack of supplies and the onset of winter, Germany had conquered a vast amount of territory, including two-fifths of the Soviet economy. Dislodging them proved difficult and eventually cost the Soviet Union dearly.
A few months after the invasion began, German troops laid siege to Leningrad (known as the Siege of Leningrad) from the North by Finnish forces, and from the South by the German Wehrmacht. Finland's C-in-C Mannerheim had halted at the River Svir and refrained from attacking the city. Hitler had ordered that the city of Leningrad must "vanish from the surface of the earth", with its entire population exterminated. Rather than storming the city, the Wehrmacht was ordered to blockade Leningrad so as to starve the city to death, while attacking it with bombers and artillery. About one million civilians died in the Leningrad siege - 800,000 by starvation. It lasted 506 days. During the winter, the only way into the city was across Lake Ladoga, between the German and Finnish lines.
The "Big Three" Allied leaders. From left to right: Winston Churchill (UK), Franklin Roosevelt (USA), and Joseph Stalin (USSR).
After enduring the winter of 1941-1942, the German army prepared for further offensive operations. One of the major problems faced by the Nazi war machine in World War II was a shortage of oil. For this reason, Germany decided to give up on Moscow for the time being, and the summer offensive of 1942 decided to focus on the war in the south, with the target being the oil fields of the Caucasus. In a major blunder, Hitler split Army Group South into two subgroups, Army Group A which would attack the Caucasus and army group B which would advance towards the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd).
Indecision by Hitler, dissent among the higher ranked Nazi German officers, and extended supply lines combined in a prolonged battle in the streets of Stalingrad. Germany eventually occupied over 90% of the city, but in an attempt to defeat the remaining Soviet defenders almost all German soldiers in the area were funnelled into the ruins of the city. Months of bitter hand-to-hand combat in the ruins of the city depleted the German forces, leaving only weak Romanian and Hungarian forces to guard the flanks of the Stalingrad army group. In Operation Uranus, the Soviets easily defeated these minor axis forces as they performed an encirclement operation. The German troops remaining in the city were trapped - cut off from their supply lines and starving, they were ordered by Hitler to fight to the last man, and they displayed incredible fortitude and bravery under unbearable conditions.
Starved of food, fuel, ammunition, and clothes, the pocket was gradually reduced, with the last portion surrendering on February 2, 1943. In a cynical attempt to prevent the surrender, Hitler promoted Friedrich Paulus, Commander of 6th Army to Field Marshal, because no German of that rank had ever surrendered. Heavy losses affected both sides in the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles in history. An estimated 1.5 million people perished in this battle, including 100,000 civilians in the city.
After Stalingrad, the initiative had passed from Germany but had not yet been seized by the Soviets. A desperate counterattack in the spring of 1943 by the forces of von Manstein temporarily halted the Soviet advance, and lead to the largest tank battle in history, at Kursk. Kursk was the last major offensive by the German Army on the eastern front. The Soviets had intelligence of what was to come and prepared massive defences in huge depth in the Kursk salient. They stopped the German armoured thrusts after a maximum penetration of 17 miles (27 km). After Kursk the Red Army never ceased being on the offensive until Berlin was captured in May 1945.
The Soviets bore the brunt of World War II; the second front in Europe did not begin until D-Day, apart from the invasion of Italy. More Soviet citizens died during World War II than those of all other countries combined. Approximately 27 million Soviets, among them more than 20 million civilians in Soviet cities and areas, were killed in the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Civilians were rounded up and burned alive or shot in squads in many cities conquered, occupied, and presenced by the Nazis. Since the Nazis considered Slavs to be "subhuman", this was ethnically targeted mass murder.
At least seven million Red Army troops died facing the Germans and their allies in the Eastern Front. The Axis forces themselves suffered over six million soldier deaths, whether by combat or by wounds, disease, starvation or exposure; another several hundred thousand[citation needed] were seized as POWs and over half died in Soviet gulags because of disease, starvation, or shortage of supplies[citation needed].
Lend-Lease supplies from the United Kingdom and the United States made very important impact for Soviet military forces. Supply convoys sailed to Soviet ports that were patrolled by Nazi U-boats. Allied activities before D-Day may have tied up only a few divisions in actual fighting, but many more were forced to guard lonely coasts against raids that never came or to man antiaircraft guns throughout Europe.
Allied invasion of Italy
Successes in the North African desert left the Allies in complete control of the Mediterranean's southern shore and using this as a springboard Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ started to plan an attack into what Winston Churchill referred to as the "soft underbelly" of Europe.
The Allies first action was the capture of the island of Sicily, called Operation Husky, on July 10, 1943. This brought to the fore a growing dissatisfaction with Mussolini. On July 29, 1943, the King of Italy fired Mussolini, and placed him under house arrest in an isolated mountain resort. His replacement, General Pietro Badoglio, negotiated an armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943. Nazi Germany moved quickly into the confused situation, disarming Italian formations, taking military control of Italian areas, and preparing to defend Italy on her own.
Allied troops landed on mainland southwestern Italy on September 3, 1943, crossing from Sicily. Further landings were made at Salerno and Taranto on September 9. For more information see: Allied invasion of Italy. This led to Italy, already angry at their former leader Mussolini, to join the Western Allies.
A German commando raid Operation Eiche, which was led by Otto Skorzeny rescued the imprisoned Mussolini. The Germans installed him as the "Head of State" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" of a Nazi puppet state in northern Italy called the Italian Social Republic.
Germany had built a number of defensive lines through the mountains; the main one was called the Winter Line. The Allies came up against this in the winter of 1943 and were unable to break through. Amphibious landings at Anzio were made in an attempt to bypass the line: however the landing forces were contained by the Germans, and the Gustav Line (the core part of the Winter Line defences) remained intact. Finally the line was broken in May 1944 in the fourth major attempt in four months to open the road to Rome dominated by strategically positioned historic Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino.
The Allies finally liberated Rome on June 4, 1944, two days before the landings in Normandy. Germany made a fighting withdrawal to the Gothic Line north of Florence. From September 10, 1944 till the end of the year Allied forces attacked the line and in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, broke the Gothic defences but failed to break through to the Lombardy Plain. The offensive by Allied and some Italian forces resumed when the weather permitted in early April 1945 and continued until Germany surrendered in Italy on April 29, 1945 two days after Mussolini's Allied capture and one day before Hitler's succeeding suicide.
[edit] Allied invasion of occupied France
Main article: Western Front (World War II)
Simultaneously with the fall of Rome came the long-awaited invasion of France. Operation Overlord put 3 million troops ashore in Normandy on June 6, 1944. A long grinding campaign two months long followed as American, British, Australian and Canadian forces were slowly built up in the bridgehead, and German forces slowly worn down. When the breakout finally did come it was spectacular, with American forces under Patton racing across France to Nazi Germany's border. The German forces that had been fighting in Normandy were trapped in the Falaise pocket.
General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French in opposition to Pétain's Vichy regime.
Incessant bombing of Germany's infrastructure and cities caused tremendous casualties and disruption. Internally, Hitler survived a number of Nazi inner assassination attempts. The most serious was the July 20 Plot, occurring on July 20, 1944. Orchestrated by Claus von Stauffenberg and involving among others Erwin Rommel and Alfred Delp, the plot had intended to place a time bomb in a position to kill Hitler but a number of unscheduled factors and operation failures led to its failure. Hitler was only slightly injured.
Operation Overlord was complemented by an invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944 codenamed Operation Dragoon. By September 1944 three Allied Army Groups were in line against German formations in the west. There was optimism that the war in Europe might be over by the end of 1944.
An attempt was made to force the situation with Operation Market Garden (September 17, 1944 – September 24, 1944). The Allies attempted to capture bridges with an airborne assault, to open the way into Nazi Germany and liberate the northern Netherlands. Since heavier German forces than intelligence had predicted were present, the British 1st Airborne Division was almost completely destroyed.
The weather of 1944 combined with a poor situation for the Allies led to a stagnant situation on the western front. The Americans continued to grind away at the defenders in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest (September 13, 1944 - February 10, 1945). As long as Germany stayed on the defence, the Allies were hard-pressed to advance rapidly.
That changed when Germany mounted a major counteroffensive on December 16, 1944. The Ardennes offensive, also called the Battle of the Bulge, drove back and surrounded some small American units. The Allied forces were eventually successful in driving back Germany, in what turned out to be their last major advance of the war. The battle officially ended on January 27, 1945.
The final obstacle to the Allies was the Rhine. It was crossed in March 1945, and the way lay open to the center of the Nazi Germany. The last major German forces in the west were encircled and trapped in the Ruhr.
The Allies first action was the capture of the island of Sicily, called Operation Husky, on July 10, 1943. This brought to the fore a growing dissatisfaction with Mussolini. On July 29, 1943, the King of Italy fired Mussolini, and placed him under house arrest in an isolated mountain resort. His replacement, General Pietro Badoglio, negotiated an armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943. Nazi Germany moved quickly into the confused situation, disarming Italian formations, taking military control of Italian areas, and preparing to defend Italy on her own.
Allied troops landed on mainland southwestern Italy on September 3, 1943, crossing from Sicily. Further landings were made at Salerno and Taranto on September 9. For more information see: Allied invasion of Italy. This led to Italy, already angry at their former leader Mussolini, to join the Western Allies.
A German commando raid Operation Eiche, which was led by Otto Skorzeny rescued the imprisoned Mussolini. The Germans installed him as the "Head of State" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" of a Nazi puppet state in northern Italy called the Italian Social Republic.
Germany had built a number of defensive lines through the mountains; the main one was called the Winter Line. The Allies came up against this in the winter of 1943 and were unable to break through. Amphibious landings at Anzio were made in an attempt to bypass the line: however the landing forces were contained by the Germans, and the Gustav Line (the core part of the Winter Line defences) remained intact. Finally the line was broken in May 1944 in the fourth major attempt in four months to open the road to Rome dominated by strategically positioned historic Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino.
The Allies finally liberated Rome on June 4, 1944, two days before the landings in Normandy. Germany made a fighting withdrawal to the Gothic Line north of Florence. From September 10, 1944 till the end of the year Allied forces attacked the line and in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, broke the Gothic defences but failed to break through to the Lombardy Plain. The offensive by Allied and some Italian forces resumed when the weather permitted in early April 1945 and continued until Germany surrendered in Italy on April 29, 1945 two days after Mussolini's Allied capture and one day before Hitler's succeeding suicide.
[edit] Allied invasion of occupied France
Main article: Western Front (World War II)
Simultaneously with the fall of Rome came the long-awaited invasion of France. Operation Overlord put 3 million troops ashore in Normandy on June 6, 1944. A long grinding campaign two months long followed as American, British, Australian and Canadian forces were slowly built up in the bridgehead, and German forces slowly worn down. When the breakout finally did come it was spectacular, with American forces under Patton racing across France to Nazi Germany's border. The German forces that had been fighting in Normandy were trapped in the Falaise pocket.
General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French in opposition to Pétain's Vichy regime.
Incessant bombing of Germany's infrastructure and cities caused tremendous casualties and disruption. Internally, Hitler survived a number of Nazi inner assassination attempts. The most serious was the July 20 Plot, occurring on July 20, 1944. Orchestrated by Claus von Stauffenberg and involving among others Erwin Rommel and Alfred Delp, the plot had intended to place a time bomb in a position to kill Hitler but a number of unscheduled factors and operation failures led to its failure. Hitler was only slightly injured.
Operation Overlord was complemented by an invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944 codenamed Operation Dragoon. By September 1944 three Allied Army Groups were in line against German formations in the west. There was optimism that the war in Europe might be over by the end of 1944.
An attempt was made to force the situation with Operation Market Garden (September 17, 1944 – September 24, 1944). The Allies attempted to capture bridges with an airborne assault, to open the way into Nazi Germany and liberate the northern Netherlands. Since heavier German forces than intelligence had predicted were present, the British 1st Airborne Division was almost completely destroyed.
The weather of 1944 combined with a poor situation for the Allies led to a stagnant situation on the western front. The Americans continued to grind away at the defenders in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest (September 13, 1944 - February 10, 1945). As long as Germany stayed on the defence, the Allies were hard-pressed to advance rapidly.
That changed when Germany mounted a major counteroffensive on December 16, 1944. The Ardennes offensive, also called the Battle of the Bulge, drove back and surrounded some small American units. The Allied forces were eventually successful in driving back Germany, in what turned out to be their last major advance of the war. The battle officially ended on January 27, 1945.
The final obstacle to the Allies was the Rhine. It was crossed in March 1945, and the way lay open to the center of the Nazi Germany. The last major German forces in the west were encircled and trapped in the Ruhr.
End of the war in Europe
On April 27, 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Mussolini was captured by Italian Partisans. He was trying to flee Italy to Switzerland and was travelling with a German anti-air battalion. On April 28, Mussolini and several of the other Fascists captured with him were taken to Dongo and executed by squad shooting. The bodies were then taken to Milan and unceremoniously strung up in front of a filling station.
Hitler, learning of Mussolini's death, realised that the end had finally come. He remained in Berlin, the last Nazi held city and the crumbling Nazi Empire's capital, even as the city was encircled and trapped by the Soviets and the Battle of Berlin raged. On April 30, Adolf Hitler, with his wife of one day and his life-long love, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his bunker to avoid capture by Soviet troops. In his last will and testament, Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as the new German leader. But Nazi Germany lasted only 7 days longer under the "Flensburg government" of Dönitz. He surrendered unconditionally to the Americans, British, and Soviets on May 8, 1945 ("VE Day").
In late July and August 1945 the Potsdam Conference finally disbanded, denazified and demilitarized the former Nazi German state and reversed all German annexations and occupied territories.
Hitler, learning of Mussolini's death, realised that the end had finally come. He remained in Berlin, the last Nazi held city and the crumbling Nazi Empire's capital, even as the city was encircled and trapped by the Soviets and the Battle of Berlin raged. On April 30, Adolf Hitler, with his wife of one day and his life-long love, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his bunker to avoid capture by Soviet troops. In his last will and testament, Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as the new German leader. But Nazi Germany lasted only 7 days longer under the "Flensburg government" of Dönitz. He surrendered unconditionally to the Americans, British, and Soviets on May 8, 1945 ("VE Day").
In late July and August 1945 the Potsdam Conference finally disbanded, denazified and demilitarized the former Nazi German state and reversed all German annexations and occupied territories.
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