World War II : 1939-1945
The facts :
1/ Political context
Germany had lost the 1914-18 World War and since 1933 was ruled by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Other dictators were heads of governments in Europe : Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union , Benito Mussolini in Italy and Francisco Franco in Spain.
2/ Belligerents and their leaders
a) The Allies
France (Pétain and Charles de Gaulle *) , United Kingdom (George VI and Winston Churchill), USA (Franklin D. Roosevelt) , Canada (William Lyon MacKenzie King), Belgium (Leopold III), Brazil (Getulio Vergas), Australia (Robert Menzies and then John Curtin) and China (Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedonf)
This is only a shorten list as every continent has been part of this conflict somehow and at some point.
(*) de Gaulle was the leader of « Free France » from London and from June 1940 and Pétain in Vichy until 1944.
b) The Axis
Germany (Hitler), Italy (Victor Emmanuel III and Mussolini) and Japan (Hirohito and Fumimaro Konoe).
Here again there were more countries involved and from every continent. One’s shouldn’t forget that during this period there were empires on each side.
3/ What happened
Germany and Italy wanted to gain more territories. France and Britain actually conceded Austria and Sudetenland( some regions of Czechoslovakia) in the hope that Hitler wouldn’t go any further. Well, on 1st September 1939 German troops started to invade Poland and so GB and F. declared war on Germany.
From then on followed different battles on various fronts. For details please refer to your history books.
The Nazis not only wanted to increase their empire. They had a cynical and machiavellian plan : to eliminate people who – in their view – were « unworthy of life ». Populations in their target were : Jews, ethnic Poles, disabled and mentally ill, Soviet POW’s, homosexuals, Freemasons, Jehova’s Witnesses and the Roma. Approximately 12 million people were deported and then killed in concentration camps.
France, thanks to his official ruler Pétain, helped out Hitler to gather and send people into camps.
On the other hand de Gaulle from London organised networks of fighters against partial occupation of France by the Germans. Because I forgot to tell you the deal concluded in 1940 between Pétain and Hitler : France was to surrender its northen parts so that the German soldiers wouldn’t go further south. The new french government took its Head Quarters in Vichy.
Meanwhile there were conflicts in the South East as well. In December 1941 Japan attacked British, Dutch and American military bases and particularly in Pearl Harbor. That’s when the U.S.A. , along with other Western Allies and China ,decided to declare war against Japan. In the following years more and more battles were won by the Allies in different parts of the world.
On June 6, 1944 (D-Day) the Western Allies invaded northern France to liberate the country from German occupation. And it worked.
It’s actually in Japan that the World War II ended on August 15 1945 when Japan surrended after the USA dropped atomic bombs on the japonese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
4/ What happaned to the leaders
During the year 1944 : President Roosvelt (USA) died and Harry Truman took his vacant seat.
Mussolini (Italy) was killed by Italians partisans.
Hitler commited suicide.
Pétain was taken to court and emprisoned for life and de Gaulle became president.
5/ Family anecdotes
First of all I have to point out that – still to this day – memories of the war are very difficult to deal with. During this period people were either gaining from the black market, participating in some ways to Hitler’s evil plot or being involved in underground networks managed by de Gaulle from London.
On my father’s side my grand father was a volonteer amateur journalist. He was among the last people to cross the river Loire before the bridge was bombed by the Allies. His wife and 2 chidren fled by car to Bordeaux during the Exodus. On my mother’s side the 3 generations – my great grand mother, grand mother & mother - went on their bikes. I can’t remember how far they went but I do know the following story :
On their 1st stop overnight, in a town called Issoudun, my great grand mother went straight to seek help from the bishop. Claiming that her grand daughter was poorly (nothing really serious, just one of those infant illness) she actually got the bishop’s own bed for my future mother !
And then I know very little about what my grand parents did or not to give a hand to Free France Forces. One of my grand mother’s was a school teacher in a catholic school. She hosted Jewish children under false names in her classroom. Her husband was in the Air Force and when German soldiers occupied their house she managed to get respect from them thanks to the photo of my grand-father-to-be in his uniform. He was a prisoner of war for a while but went back to his home safe and sound.
Posts
