How would I describe the fighting
during WW2 and how it affected
the soldiers and civilians in
different parts of the world?
How and why has it been
interpreted and represented?
Edward Prew History
Assessment- May/June 2012
What am I trying to find out?
In this Assessment I am going to use several
resources as well as my own knowledge to help
me find out about a range of aspects in World
War Two, what it was like in different places and
how destructive it was overall. I will also look at
how we look at WW2 in the modern day and
how that is different to the late 1940s and the
1950s. I will look at how WW2 veterans and how
modern day film makers describe the fighting to
give me a broad comparison about the diversity
of the most destructive war to date.
How destructive was WW2?
WW2 was the most widely fought war that there has ever been, many countries
were involved in WW2, including most of Europe, Northern Africa, Asia,
North America and Australia (as you can see on the map above). This
resulted in about 70 million deaths overall, considering that there were less
than 1 billion people alive before WW2, this means that about 7.5% of the
population died, today that’s an equivalent of 490,000,000! That’s more than
all of USA, Canada and Russia’ population combined. Not to mention all the
buildings damaged during bombing and military equipment. So obviously it
was hugely destructive! Although there were more deaths in action in WW1,
this was less destructive because there was a higher population then and
also there were very few civilian deaths, which there were in WW2, also in
WW1 there was less infrastructure damaged.
Why was it so destructive?
WW2 was so completely destructive because
of the technological advancements and
change in political ideology since WW1.
One of the greatest advancement in
technology which led to massive
destruction was the radio. In WW1 there
were no portable radios which meant that
there could be very limited communication
between ground troops, artillery and tanks.
In WW2 there were radios which could be
carried on soldiers backs, allowing them to
tell artillery where to aim and when to fire.
This meant shots were deadly accurate
and it took only a few shots to perfectly get
the correct target leaving little time for
people to escape. Another massive
technical advancement was the weapons
used which were much more deadly and
also much more accurate, many new
weapons were made including new
incendiary bombs, planes (such as the
Spitfire) and the nuclear bomb. However
new technology also helped to prevent
deaths, for example the radar helped to
locate enemy fighters and tell people when
to go in shelters.
Watch the following clip from
chapter 2, 3:55- 4:15.
The Fallen (2004)
As you can see it shows how ground troops
were now able to request artillery when
they were under a large amount of
resistance.
Why was WW2 so destructive
(continued)
Another reason why WW2 was so
destructive was because there
was a lot of racism and anger,
leading to no respect in the way
people fought and the way
people refused to surrender. The
Nazis had very racist ideas,
leading to concentration camps
for Jews, Slavs and other political
parties. And since communism
was becoming popular it was
easy to see why many countries
were scared of one another and
therefore became racist. WW2
was also very damaging because
of the determination not to lose
the war so sometimes suicidal
tactics were used (as you can
see on the clip to the right).
How similar or different was WW2
in different parts of the world?
There were 3 main different places were
WW2 took place: Western Europe,
Eastern Europe and The Pacific,. The
fighting styles in each of these places
were quite different as you can see in the
next few slides…
The Far East…
Please follow hyperlink…
http://ww2history.com/videos/Pacific/Japane
se_1942_defeat_of_the_allies
As you can see battles in the Far East were fought with a lot of violence and
fire was used a lot because the jungle would burn quickly and buildings
were made mostly out of wood. Because of the thick jungle there were only
animal tracks, it was hot and humid with bogs everywhere and tropical
rainstorms.
There were animal noises rustling in the trees which could easily be mistaken
for the enemy. There were also poisonous snakes in the grassland which
injured many soldiers and foxholes which the enemy sometimes hid in.
Because of the amount of thick jungle, to kill an enemy you had to get right
up to them and kill them in a battle, which was usually very bloody.
The Japanese believed in “The Cult of Bushido” which meant
that they didn’t respect weakness and therefore didn’t
surrender, so they treated the few POWs they kept alive very
badly. They would often starve them or work them to death,
and if they refused to comply then they would be left to die.
Prisoners were crept in extremely cramped bamboo huts which leaked so
malaria and mosquitoes flourished and many went blind. There were 60,000
POWs, in which 15,000 died!
Also as near the end of the war Allied troops were very tired and wanted the
war to end quickly, and because the Americans were still seething from the
surprise Pearl Harbor attack, the Geneva Convention was often forgotten
with surrenders’ getting murdered. Because of the anger and impatience, in
the end an atomic bomb was dropped.
An example of the Japanese
using suicidal tactics to defeat
Allied forces.
Day of the Kamikaze
In the end to finish the Pacific war
the Allies dropped the Atomic Bomb
as the following video explains
http://ww2history.com/videos/Pacific/The_de
cision_to_drop_the_bomb
The Eastern Europe
What was the fighting like
in the Soviet Union?
Click here to
learn more about
the fighting
Fighting in the Far East and the Soviet Union were quite different, however they did have a few
similarities. For example in both places the environments and weathers were extreme. This gave
the people fighting on home turf a massive advantage over their enemies, in the Far East the
Allies struggled to fight in the jungle as the Nazis tanks didn’t work in the freezing Russian snow.
Although, unlike the Far East, the fighting was fought in wide open grassland meaning that you
could spot the enemy from a great distance so there was a massive use for artillery.
The attack was so unexpected that people had to be trained in a matter of weeks how to become
soldiers: shooting, throwing grenades, street fighting, digging trenches and crawling. It was much
more like WW1 in the way they fought. Children were signed up for auxiliary work. There was no
respect between the Soviets and Nazis because the Nazis were so determined to abolish
communism.
The disrespect led to anger, so the Nazis bombed Russia heavily to finish the battle (and then
probably war) quickly. The temperature was freezing and people fighting on both sides were dying
because of severe hyperthermia, because people would get so hungry they would steal a dead
friend ration card for extra food. In great contrast, in summer it could get very hot, like in the Far
East!
Russian citizens were told to fight if the Nazis invaded their villages. They were called Partisans.
When Nazis invaded villages they would sometimes murder, rape and rob towns and then burn
them down afterwards. Infact 25,000 citizens were killed in 2 days of the war because of this!
Unlike the Far East they wouldn’t take POWs and hung anyone who surrendered and the few
prisoners who were taken were abused and often beaten to death, starved, or sent to labor
camps.
Fighting in Western Europe
What happened in Eastern
Europe?
1939…
Great Britain and France declare war on Germany because of the invasion of Poland, which meant that Hitler was
not able to invade Russia.
1940…
Hitler took the 1st front of France and troops retreated to Britain during Dunkirk.
The Battle of Britain began shortly after this, Hitler intended to finish the battle quickly and continue with his plan of
invading Russia. However Britain didn’t give in despite 18 months of bombing, and the advantage began to shift
towards the Allies.
1941…
Hitler turned back towards the Eastern Front and the Western Front had time to prepare an attack.
1943…
Britain bombs Germany more heavily reducing the Luftwaffe and the German defence.
1944…
D-Day- After months and years of fighting and preparations, the western allies were finally ready for their decisive
move of invading Western Europe in order to occupy Germany from West to match the Russian advance from the
East. D-Day, the invasion of France, did not change the outcome of the war, as Germany was already losing it, but
it marked the long awaited beginning of the last chapter of the war. The war ended a year after D-Day .
What was bombing like?
I am now going to compare the bombing in
different places in the world. Bombing
accounted for most of the deaths during
WW2 so obviously it was hugely
important! I will compare the bombing in
Great Britain, Germany, Japan and
Russia.
Bombing in Britain
In Great Britain innocent civilians were involved, however they and the Government tried
to keep moral up by putting up posters saying “Britain can take it!" or “Keep calm and
carry on!” Citizens knew that Britain would fight back soon and make the Nazis pay
for all their bombing and that they were holding up Hitler's war effort, because of this
unbeatens some people took shelter under churches because they thought that God
would protect them. Infact because of the happiness the Germans thought that the
bombing campaign wasn’t working!
However, despite desperately trying to be happy it was hard to ignore the fact that they
were bombed 57 days in a row and 60,000 people were killed (40,000 of which were
in London), in the capital 30,000 tones of bombs were dropped. If a bomb was
dropped near you then you could be thrown back because of the impact.
Because of incendiary bombs there were fires leading to the stench of burning flesh or
limbs which had been separated from the body! The Nazis aimed bombs at the UKs
historic places such as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral or Buckingham
Palace.
Eventually anger grew in London which was at Hitler, but also at the Prime Minister
because he wasn’t doing everything he said he’d do, also there was much bitterness,
especially in the East end.
Bombing in Germany
Although 60,000 people died in Great Britain, the casualties were much
greater in Germany. One night in Hamburg more bombs were
dropped then in 11 months of the London Blitz and 5000 bombs
were dropped in 3 days! This resulted in 50,000 civilian deaths.
Hundreds of planes would fly above Germany in formation during day
and night, and machine guns would be constantly firing at them, this
sound turned some people insane because of the fear they were
going to die. In Dresden there was fire bombing which meant that
massive infernos of fire consumed cities, infrastructure and people
with temperatures reaching 1000°C.
Like the Germans, Britain aimed to take German morale so that citizens
would turn against the Nazis. This worked as many Germans
persevered the Nazis to be ‘murdering’ them and their families.
Infact some Nazi officials were attacked on the streets!
Bombing in Russia
Hitler bombed Russia very heavily because
he wanted to defeat them in a surprise
attack. The Nazis dropped 1000 tones of
bombs in 1 night. Fire bombing was used
leading to infernos of fire that could be
seen 3500m into the sky! This lead to
thousands of deaths and lots of rubble and
shrapnel in the cities.
Bombing in Japan
Japan was arguably the worst bombed country of all because
raids were unexpected and happened in a matter of seconds,
once again fire bombing was used, but in Japan the
destruction was amplified because building were made of
wood which burned easily. People burned to death or
suffocated to death with ash rain coming down after bomb
raids.
600,000 people died because of fire bombing 100,000 were
killed in March 1945, which was more than the nuclear bombs
put together! 60 Japanese cities were bombed and 64% of all
bombs dropped were incendiaries. In Tokyo there were 65
raids resulting in 137,582 deaths, infact on the 9th-10th March
1945 an estimated 20% of Tokyo's war industries and 60% of
businesses were destroyed. In the end 10 million people
moved away from cities!
Why has WW2 been seen in
different ways at different times?
Click on several of the film
clips below…
WW2 Films…
During WW2
During the Cold war
After the Cold War
DDay - The Sixth of June (1956)
Guadalcanal Diary (1943)
Bataan (1943)
Objective Burma (1945)
The Longest Day (1962)
Cross of Iron (1976)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Fallen (2004)
Days of Glory (2006)
What do the films tell us about
peoples’ presentation of the war?
In the pre 1950 films whilst the war was still being fought, the films implied that the
Allies were winning the war very quickly with very few casualties. They also
made out that the enemies were cowards and that the Allies weren’t doing
anything wrong. It also didn’t show any blood. This was probably to put families
back home at ease that troops were quite safe, and that if they did die then they
would die painlessly and with pride.
In the films made in the time of the Cold War it shows a lot of enemy deaths, which
are made to look quite easy. Whereas when an Allied soldier dies he is made to
look like a hero who has served his country (like at the end of the DDay- the 6th
of June clip). This was probably done to encourage people to join the army
because of the threat of a war with Russia. They wanted to show that if you
fought then you were a hero.
After the Cold War when they did not need people to join the army so much, films
became more realistic with less propaganda. Blood was shown and films were
much more gory. It showed what truly happened in the war with people from
both sides dying and committing war crimes. This was probably done to show
the horrors of war, and educate young people about why wars can’t be used to
solve future struggles.
What do modern film makers think
about WW2 compared to WW2
veterans?
What was the overall impact of
WW2?
From the years 1939- 1945 everyone was part of the war. Even if
countries weren’t officially in the war (like Switzerland) they were still
greatly affected. The fighting in WW2 was completely different to
fighting of any other style because of the huge technological
advances and the change in tactics which had been used in WW1
and were invented by the Ancient Greeks.
It was the first time a battle had been fought in many places at once
with so many new political, social and economic ideas trying to take
over the world. The Geneva Convention was often forgotten about
as hundreds of war crimes were committed, and, unlike WW1
civilians were hugely affected and were killed more frequently then
soldiers were. It has also been documented in many different styles
which affected that era, whether it was sending out messages for
people to recruit in the Cold War, or to try and get peace in the
modern day.