Introduction

More than any other war in human history, the Second World War was a war of advancing technology. Incredible advances changed the very nature of the warfare forever.

The 1930’s was a period of military and technological stagnation due to the reduced budgets brought on by the depression. Many nations, especially Germany, developed plans in secret that represented radical departures from traditional military thinking.

Unlike the American Army, the German Wehrmacht had a long standing professional officer corps that had experience going back to the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. While many American career officers had seen action in World War I, the vast majority of Americans entered combat for the first time.

Secretly, the Nazis built the 100,000 men allowed under the Versailles Treaty — for internal security — into a highly trained officer corps. The Night of Long Knives in 1934 ensured Army loyalty by removing the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm.

The Red Army Offensive in the spring of 1944 reached Warsaw by the late summer. Poland had suffered for five years under Nazi occupation, and the Government-in-Exile in London kept the focus of the Polish cause.

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War crimes trials begin in Tokyo and all over the Pacific. 1946-1948. Movie

The American public largely ignored the war crimes trials in Tokyo and throughout Asia in 1946-1948. Unlike the charismatic Nazi leadership, who were infamous throughout Europe, the Japanese leadership was not well known. That was due in part to the Allied propaganda, which did not want to criminalize the Emperor. If the Allied public saw him as a criminal, they would demand his removal, which would have prolonged the war.

Wake Island has the distinction of being the only time defenders were able to prevent a landing during World War II. The marines and naval personnel on Wake, a refueling station for the Pan American Clipper, would become heroes to the American public starved for good news as the Japanese advanced across the Pacific.

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Former Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew talks about the neccessity of an Allied victory. Movie

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US submariners, while better fed and equipped than their Axis counterparts, still suffer high casualties while sinking more ships than any other weapons system. Movie

The Soviet Union had fought with Japan over the Manchurian border. An uneasy truce had existed since September 1939, when, in 1941, both nations realized that the coming war in Europe would mean that they would have to protect their interests elsewhere. Still, both nations had significant forces in Northern China in case the other attacked.

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Seebees (CB's - Construction Battalions) build airfields and fight battles. Movie