"The Destruction of Fascism: 22 Historical Close-ups of World War II"
[English] Edited by Catherine Marsh
Translated by Wang Xiaoou
Published by China Pictorial Press
The Second World War has left a legacy in almost every corner and every family in the world It was the second war on a global scale that was fought between the three fascist axis countries of Germany, Italy and Japan and the slave countries and the anti-fascist forces around the world.
You will learn in this book how Japan invaded other countries' territories and then provoked a war with the United States; how the technological innovations and tactics resulting from large-scale, multi-front operations, as well as brutal battles, completely changed war. What it meant to the military, government agencies, and people; and how this war completely destroyed the Euro-centered international political landscape and continues to have an impact on the world today.
Selected Readings
Endgame: The End of the Third Reich
The Battle of Berlin between Germany and the Soviet Union was one of the bloodiest showdowns in history, causing shock waves that reverberated for decades...
In October 1941, in Four months after the Nazi German Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler stood in front of a packed auditorium at Berlin's Sports Palace, with about 14,000 spectators. This is the largest conference hall in the city, decorated with a Nazi "swastika" flag. A striking, bright, 20-meter-wide "golden eagle" further "Nazified" the conference hall. It hovers above the Führer, looking majestic and holy. This is the "temple" of Hitler , where he made the following speech:
"Today, I can say that the enemy has been defeated and will never rise again! Their forces have been gathered to fight Europe. We This danger was averted thanks to the heroism, endurance and sacrifice of the German soldiers!" His dramatic account of the incident drew wild applause. However, his enemy was far from defeated.
By May 1945, the "Sieg Heils" that originally echoed here had been replaced by the shouts of Soviet infantry. They rushed into Hitler's "temple" and stood on the podium where he once "preached." They shouted "Ula!" as they hunted down the last of Hitler's followers in the building.
For Soviet soldiers, this podium was even more of a symbol of Nazi power than the Reichstag . Occupying it would mean not only the end of the war but also the demise of National Socialism. National socialism resulted in the massacre of 27 million Soviet citizens. However, for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin the real reward was the capture of the prestigious German capital itself.
In early 1945, the Soviet Union's idea of occupying Berlin and ending the war in Europe had obvious feasibility. The success of the Soviet offensive in January enabled them to break through 500 kilometers of German-occupied territory in just 20 days. On February 5, the Soviet army began to cross the Oder River - the last natural barrier before entering Berlin. However, the Soviet troops stopped as soon as they reached the other side of the river, which was only 60 kilometers away from Hitler's capital.
The Soviet attack was so rapid and the fighting was so fierce. However, the victory also left the Soviet army facing shortages of ammunition and fuel. They would need more than two months of supplies and reinforcements before preparing for the final battle.
The pause in large-scale offensives also gave the Nazis time to reintegrate. The Nazi reserve army was cobbled together from the remaining troops, and any civilian could be forcibly conscripted. Wounded soldiers were ordered to return to the battlefield from their hospital beds, military clerks were ordered to go to combat units, and men as young as 60 and boys as young as 13 were recruited by the newly formed Volkssturm militia. Anyone who refused was executed.
In the end, the Nazi High Command finally succeeded in gathering approximately 760,000 troops. Many were sent to join the 9th Army at Seelow Heights, east of Berlin, where they helped build complex fortifications. On the plains ahead where they worked, the Soviet Union assembled a team of 2.5 million people, more than 6,000 tanks and 40,000 artillery pieces. The clock is ticking for what will be one of the bloodiest showdowns in history. When Berlin fell, a hundred thousand people would die.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also wanted to take advantage of this brief pause. He believed that this was a good opportunity for the West to seize the initiative and occupy Berlin. By the end of March, the Western allies had crossed the Rhine River and were only 100 kilometers away from the city. Churchill warned U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt on April 1: "If the Soviets capture Berlin, will there not be serious and terrible difficulties in the future?"
As would later happen, Churchill was very concerned about the future, and What the map of Europe looked like after the war. He urged the Americans to occupy the city. However, the U.S. High Command under General Dwight D. Eisenhower was not keen. That winter, as Hitler launched his final counteroffensive in the west, Eisenhower's troops suffered heavy losses during the Tank Battle, alarming Churchill. When Eisenhower asked, “How many casualties would there be if we attacked Berlin?” one of his generals told him, “100,000.” That was an incredible number. If it had happened, it would have accounted for one-fifth of all U.S. casualties in the entire war. Instead, Eisenhower listened to Stalin . Stalin told him that Berlin was not strategically important and that he would be better off focusing on trying to prevent the Nazis from regrouping in the south. This was advice that Eisenhower was happy to accept.
However, neither Stalin nor Churchill could be honest with each other. At the Yalta Conference in February, a consensus had been reached that when the Nazi regime collapsed, the Soviet Union and Britain would occupy Berlin in partitions. So why did Churchill care so much about who captured the city first? Likewise, if Berlin was not strategically important, why was Stalin so eager for the Soviet Union to capture it single-handedly and with such huge casualties? After all, before "D日", he spent a lot of time lambasting his allies, accusing them of not providing sufficient military support when the Soviet Union was bleeding like a river. Is it time for them to make up for this loss in this common anti-fascist war? Because at this time, the ready-made pincer offensive will save one party from surrounding the city alone. The answer to these questions lies in the fact that a huge chess game seemed to be playing out between Churchill and Stalin.
html In early April, Churchill ordered the drafting of the "Operation Unbelievable" plan. Documents declassified in 1998 revealed that Churchill was planning a war against the Soviet Union a month before the end of hostilities in Europe. In his secret plan, 47 British and American divisions would raid the Soviet Union on July 1, 1945. In addition, the offensive would be supported by 10 German divisions. The purpose was not just to drive the Soviets out of Eastern Europe, but to invade the Soviet Union itself. According to official documents, it was necessary to occupy "vast areas of Soviet metropolitan areas so that that country would no longer have combat capabilities."Did Stalin know what Churchill was doing? He almost certainly knew. By 1945, the Soviets had successfully infiltrated the British intelligence system, and double agents such as Kim Phoebe and Guy Burgess had been feeding the Kremlin for years. This also explains why Stalin was eager to flood Berlin and surrounding areas with his troops. As Karl Marx once pointed out: Control Berlin and you control all of Europe.
Anyone in Joseph Stalin's shoes would have wanted to carve out large tracts of territory between the borders and the newly drawn battle lines. Whatever the truth, there is no doubt that Roosevelt's sudden death on April 12 prompted Stalin to launch his final offensive. In the Roosevelt era, Stalin had a trusted ally. Yet Roosevelt's successor, Harry Truman, offered no similar assurances and acted decisively rather than wait for potential enemies to stab him in the back. Four days later, the Battle of Berlin began.
Author: Catherine Marsh
Editor: Jin Jiuchao
