1001 Things Everyone Should Know About World War II
Frank E. Vandiver
Language: English
Pages: 280
ISBN: 2:00197350
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
For the millions who want to know more about “The Greatest Generation” and the global struggle they fought and won, an essential work of popular reference.
World War II was the most complex, geographically extensive, and momentous global conflict in human history–a subject uniquely suited to the time-tested formula of the acclaimed 1001 series. From the rise of Hitler and Germany’s military resurgence to Japan’s surrender to the United States, esteemed historian Frank Vandiver presents hundreds of key facts about the war that defined the twentieth century and shaped the world to this day. Organized chronologically, 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About World War II looks at the war with a truly global perspective, covering all the warring nations and examining not only the crucial battlefields but also the strategy, the technology, and the cultural forces that influenced the war. Informed, concise, and accessible, this book will delight both the uninitiated and the hardcore buff with its detailed and freshly presented information on a war we can’t seem to–and don’t want to–forget.
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the German Eighteenth Army’s front, and sought to trap it between his men and Gen. Kirill A. Meretskov’s Volkhov front. Swift German reaction saved their army as thawing weather aided in the reestablishment of their line. These northern operations were mere opening skirmishes. The main offensive was launched in the south against Manstein’s AG South. This massive drive isolated two Nazi corps. Manstein ordered them to break out, which most of them did, leaving behind the wounded and heavy
there for nearly two years, now a new Japanese ground offensive was ordered to capture these airfields and protect the home islands. Allied activity in India and Burma also focused Imperial General Headquarters’ attention there; orders went to the Burma command to stabilize the area. 839 War news also forced a change in government. Bad news coming from Guadalcanal, northern New Guinea, the Solomons, Rabaul, and Truk had shaken Tojo and his government. When Tojo made himself army chief of staff
a British air raid on Berlin and retaliated by shifting Göring’s target to London on September 7. For twenty-three days German bombers struck London—terrible fires were started, swaths of buildings vanished, thousands of civilians were killed or wounded, and many people lived their nights in the underground tunnels of the city’s extensive “tube” (subway) system. Despite this, they worked on in factories, offices, fought fires, and tended wounded, all in good spirits. And they loved Churchill for
some air support arrived on August 20 as Henderson Field became partly operational. Japanese reinforcements came ashore in bits and brigades from all parts of the sprawling new empire, and the Japanese commander happily underestimated U.S. strength—by the twentieth of August there were 3,700 Japanese on the island against 10,000 Americans; on September 11, 9,000 Japanese were ashore, while U.S. strength reached 11,000. 445 Feeling the security of superior numbers, the Japanese commander
worried Royal Navy gave some antisubmarine warfare (ASW) escorts to the U.S. fleet. U.S. warships did begin coastal convoying by May 1942, but U-boats, shifting to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, claimed 160 more ships. Between May and September 1942, more than a million tons of Allied shipping went to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. 462 What U-boat commanders called another Happy Time—the days of limitless targets and limited opposition—lingered throughout 1942, but wide
