World War II
The Third and Fourth Year
The third year of the war opens with a quick victory for the British in Operation Compass. This operation
was aimed at Italian holdings in North Africa. British and Australian troops were able to push the Italians out of
parts of North Africa and eventually able to take hold of the strategic city of Tobruk in Libya by January of 1941.
At the same time this was going on, the Soviet minister, Molotov, met with German ambassadors to see about
joining the Axis powers, however Germany had not yet given an answer. The Soviets joining the Italians and
Germans would give the Axis powers a massive advantage against the British, but Hitler had other plans, and
wanted no part of a military alliance with the Soviet Union.
With Italy failing to secure military aims in Greece and North Africa, the Germans sent in forces to take
over military operations. When Nazi forces began arriving in Greece, the Greeks were pushed back. In North
Africa, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel led the Afrika Korps, a large German military force sent to aid the Italians
in North Africa, which became successful at taking back some early British gains. By the end of March, the British
had been pushed back into Egypt and out of Libya. Meanwhile the Italian forces in Ethiopia were being defeated by
British forces.
The United States of America would remain neutral through this period, however, a deal between Franklin
D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill would make the U.S. and “arsenal of democracy.” The Lend-Lease Act was
passed by Congress to begin weapons and arms building programs that would be “lent” to the British then they
could pay back (or give back) at a later time. The Japanese who had early hopes of invading the Soviet Union
formed a neutrality pact with the Soviets around this time as well. This pact remains throughout almost all of the
rest of the war, as the Soviets don’t attack Japan even after eventually Germany invades.
In May some continued heavy fighting in the Atlantic continued. The Germans relied heavily on their Uboats to sink British shipping, both military and trade ships. The super-battleship, Bismarck, was the pride of the
German navy. It began to carry out search and destroy missions on British trade ships in the North Atlantic. During
its first voyage it was spotted by British aircraft, and was engaged by the HMS Hood, British battle-cruiser, and the
HMS Prince of Wales, a British battleship. The Hood suffered a catastrophic hit in the ensuing battle, as one salvo
(shot) from the Bismarck hit the magazine (where they store the ammo) and nearly the entire ship blew apart. Of the
nearly 1500 sailors aboard the Hood, only 3 survived, and the Hood sank in less than 3 minutes. The Prince of
Wales suffered a malfunction in her main armaments and had to call off the engagement, cowering in retreat. Three
days later though, the HMS Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier, launched planes against the Bismarck, and after numerous
hits, and Churchill’s call to sink the Bismarck at all costs, the Bismarck was finally sunk. (FS – Battleships)
By June The Blitz against England by the German Luftwaffe was not much more than some cursory strikes.
Much of Hitler’s forces had turned east in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet
Union. The invasion called for a three pronged invasion, one prong north toward Leningrad, another to the northeast
in Moscow, and a final southern prong toward the Caucasus oil fields. Romania also aided the Germans in the
invasion of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, in the Pacific the US began to seize Japanese holdings, and they cut off
completely the oil supply to the Japanese in response to the actions of Japan to take French Indochina. By August,
Roosevelt has met and formed the Atlantic Charter with Winston Churchill. This was an agreement made by the
two leaders, of what to do after the war has concluded. This strengthened ties between the two countries, but the
U.S. was still unwilling to declare war. Even after more than 100 US Navy sailors are killed after the destruction of
the USS Reuben James from the torpedoes of a German U-boat, the US still remains officially neutral.
By November, the year is slowly winding down, and the Axis had made significant gains. Germans had
repulsed Operations Battleaxe and Crusader in North Africa. Both of these operations were British Operations to
gain ground into Libya or to kick out the German Afrika Korps from Egypt. The German Wehrmacht has stormed
into the Soviet Union, and was laying siege to Leningrad and Moscow, and gaining ground in the south further into
the heart of the Soviet Union. The HMS Ark Royal, which was the British ship that sank the Bismarck was sunk by
a German U-boat. However, December would bring even a greater military urgency to the World War.
On November 26, 1941, 33 Japanese warships, including 6 aircraft carriers set sail from northern Japan.
Their destination was the Hawaiian Islands. The commander of the Japanese Imperial Navy, Isoroku Yamamoto,
put together an attack plan that was designed to take the American navy out of the war. This plan would rely on
stealth, secrecy, and surprise. On December 7 th, 1941, about 350 Japanese carrier based aircraft stormed the
American Naval base at Pearl Harbor. They unleashed the most decisive defeat in American Naval history on that
day as 8 American battleship were sunk or damaged, 9 cruisers and destroyers and other ships were heavily
damaged, 188 American airplanes destroyed along with 159 other aircraft damaged, and 2400 Americans dead,
another 1250 wounded. The Japanese suffered only 29 aircraft destroyed, and 65 total Japanese killed. In a speech
given to Congress in Washington D.C. the very next day, Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, a “date which will
live in infamy.” The United States declared war on Japan, and within the next few days also declared war on
Germany and Italy. Hawaii was not the only place though that the Japanese struck. Japan also coordinated attacks
on the U.S. held Philippines, and several British holdings in the western Pacific. The Aleutian Islands were also
invaded by the Japanese as well. (FS – Pearl Harbor)
By 1942, the Axis powers had continued to secure more territory and major victories. However, this year
would be seen as the year for turning points, both in the Pacific and European Theaters. Once the U.S. had entered
the war, the three major Allied powers were now Great Britain, the Soviet Union (who allied with the British after
Germany invaded), and now the United States. The three leaders would meet and correspond often throughout the
war. Twenty-six nations in total on January 1st, 1942, signed the Declaration of the United Nations.
In April, of 1942, while the Japanese were pushing into the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Solomon
Islands, a little victory is scored for the Allies in the Pacific. James Doolittle, an American army officer, planned
and designed an operation to strike Tokyo with land based bombers. These land based bombers would takeoff from
an aircraft carrier, however. The USS Hornet sped across the Pacific and launched the bombers far from Tokyo and
the raid was a minimal success, but it heavily aided in morale for the Allied powers. When asked where the
American land based bombers had come from, as there was no known American air base within range of the
Japanese Islands, President Roosevelt said that they came from the secret US base at “Shangri-La.” No such place
existed, but the Japanese now knew that the Americans still had fight in them.
By the next month, another bitter victory would befall the Americans at the Battle of the Coral Sea. This
battle was the first in history in which the ships that fought each other never directly saw one another. Instead the
planes from each sides’ carriers did all the fighting. The American carriers, USS Lexington and Yorktown,
intercepted the Japanese invasion force on its way to Australia. Although outnumbered, the Americans were still
able to destroy one Japanese carrier, and damage another one heavily. Both American carriers were heavily
damaged though, the USS Lexington was so damaged that the commander, Frank Jack Fletcher, decided she had
to be scuttled (purposefully sunk) so that the Japanese would not capture her. The USS Yorktown would be able to
return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. The battle was a tactical defeat for the Americans, because they could not trade
carrier for carrier, as the Japanese had more carriers at the time.
The only other major good news that happened for the Allied powers up to this point was the continued
reinforcement of Malta by the British, and then eventually the Americans. Malta was a key strategic island in the
Mediterranean Sea that was held by the British throughout continued bombing by the Italians and Germans. The
holding of this island eventually led to the Allied powers having air superiority in the North African Campaign that
up to this point was being successfully won by the German commander, Rommel who had by now been named “The
Desert Fox.” Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, the Soviets had continued to put up a strong defense with a “bend but
don’t break” type mentality in the defense of Mother Russia.
By June, 1942, the Axis was still firmly leading in the war. But, soon the first great turning point in the
war would happen.
Remember: Battles/Ops, Terms/Ideas, People