On December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbour. At the same time, they landed in the Philippines and southern Thailand. The next day, Canada, the Netherlands East Indies [Indonesia], Canada, Guatemala and Haiti declared war on Japan together with the USA.
On December 11, Germany, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria declared war on the United States. This is viewed as a major blunder. The United States, which was still neutral in the European theatre, was now involved in a two front war. President Roosevelt now had a reason to open hostilities with Germany and send troops over to the U.K.
This is the German statement: “Although Germany on her part has strictly adhered to the rules of international law in her relations with the United States during every period of the present war, the Government of the United States from initial violations of neutrality has finally proceeded to open acts of war against Germany. The Government of the United States has thereby virtually created a state of war.[6]
“The German Government; consequently, discontinues diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declares that under these circumstances brought about by President Roosevelt Germany too, as from today, considers herself as being in a state of war with the United States of America.”
This statement was true but misleading. Not a shred of evidence exists to prove that Germany provoked a war with the USA. In fact, the U.S. Government had ordered any German vessel to be shot in September 1941. However, that did not constitute a state of war, and neither was it overly provocative.
With the entry of the United States of America and Japan into the war, Germany would lose the war by sheer numbers because:
(where x is the existing disparity between the Allies and Axis.)
Germany could only have a chance to win the war if the simple equation was false. Otherwise, it would lose by the sheer weight of numbers. In fact, at the time of Pearl Harbour, the USA produced four times as much as tanks and artillery, eleven times as much ships, and five times as much aircraft than Japan.[7] We shall probe more into the imbalance in the next part of the book.
The entry of the United States of America into the European theatre of World War II greatly disrupted the material balance between the Allies and the Axis. If Germany could not win the war against Russia by 1943 or latest 1944, when America would be armed, it could not win the war at all.
When late spring 1942 came, the German front was strengthened, and the Russians had to halt their counterattack. Now it was Hitler’s turn to resume the offensive. He and his generals, as usual were arguing over the choice of targets—his generals wanted a bold, hard blow against Moscow and Leningrad. There, they argued, lay the main strength of the Red Army; if it were wiped out, Soviet morale would be damaged beyond repair. Hitler, however, wanted a thrust into the Caucasus to seize its oil. Just a few hundred miles away lay Maikop, a major oil producing town, and almost a thousand miles away lay Baku, a city literally floating on oil. Hitler, as usual (being dictator of Germany), overruled his generals and ordered them to start planning.
On 5 April, Hitler came up with a plan: a general attack in the south to capture the rich oil fields of the Caucasus. At the same time the Soviet Union would be deprived of its main supply. In his directive, Hitler ordered his troops to mop up what remained of their reserves.
Army Group B would capture Stalingrad and march on to Astrakhan while Army Group B would capture Rostov on Don, cross the Caucasus Mountains, and eventually capture Baku. The purpose of Army Group B was to cut of all communications between Moscow and the Caucasus.
Also, Hitler planned to transfer the divisions now besieging Sevastopol to capture Leningrad once the Crimean city had fallen. The city had bravely resisted heavy German attacks, and would only surrender in July.
The plan was met with lukewarm response from Hitler’s staff. Some thought that it would effectively finish the war, but some thought that it was too ambitious and grandiose and unrealistic.
The operation was scheduled for May 8, 1942. Hitler expected the Russians to be finished in weeks, or at most months.
In spring 1942, German strength on the eastern front was 184 divisions, excluding 65 other Axis divisions contributed mainly by Italy, Hungary, and Romania. [The Germans considered 3 divisions contributed by their allies to be the equivalent of 2 German divisions.] The Germans had cut down on the number of divisions in the West and the Balkans despite increasing opposition from the Resistance in these two areas, diverting them to Scandinavia and the Eastern Front. The Soviet strength was estimated at a massive 360 divisions.
On the evening of May 8, the Germans assaulted the Soviet positions at Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula, the two remaining areas of the Crimea under enemy control. Feinting a frontal attack aided by dive-bombers, the Germans cleverly disguised the main attack by assault ships coming from the south of the Kerch Peninsula. In Sevastopol, the Germans added to the artillery bombardment, but the garrison would only surrender two months later in July 3, resisting for 247 days. The city was awarded the Hero City title.
On May 12, the Russians launched an attack south of Kharkov. This attack had limited success, though they failed to liberate the city itself. Anti-Nazi elements in Warsaw exaggerated the success of the attack, claiming that Smolensk and Kharkov had been recaptured and liberation would come soon.
On May 17, the Germans launched an attack on the whole southern line. The next day, Izyum fell with 214,000 soldiers trapped inside. Germany was repeating its campaign of 1941—and still capturing troops along the way. It was clear that the Red Army had not learnt from its experiences in 1941. Stalin, taking the German advance as an diversionary attack meant to deflect the main weight of the Red Army away from Moscow and Leningrad, ignoring the threat—brushing aside obvious pieces of evidence—A German plane crashing behind his lines carrying full details of the plan, coupled with the many warnings Churchill sent to him proved that in effect Stalin was no blinder than in 1941.
Meanwhile, deep inside the Reich’s frontiers, British and American bombers had launched several raids in Germany and occupied France in early May. German morale was affected. In the Baltic city of Rostock, bombers damaged 70% of the whole city.
From May 24, the Germans launched yet another operation to destroy partisan units, their numbers estimated at 20,000. It was a cause for concern. In fact, the Germans deployed two divisions of panzer and SS men.
Meanwhile, German troops were advancing, taking many villages but no major towns since Izyum. Their Hungarian allies, however, did so with the greatest difficulty.
The German advance into the Caucasus was unstoppable—or was it? Only time would tell.
On June 26, the Germans attacked Rostov-on-Don, the city which they had lost the previous winter. Pushing back the Russians throughout the south, the Germans assaulted Voronezh, capturing it on July 7 after a two-week delay by Hitler on whether to attack it frontally or by a pincer movement. Hitler finally decided on a pincer movement after two weeks, but plans seeped out and a good deal of Russians escaped.
The Germans were now advancing continuously throughout the whole southern front. For instance, the Russians abandoned the Voronezh-Rostov railway on July 15.
The next day, Hitler moved his HQ from Rastenburg to Vinnitsa, thinking that victory over the USSR would come soon. To him and his staff it was apparent-German forces were already on the thresholds of the Caucasus.
On July 23, Rostov-on-Don fell for the second time. This time, few Russians were captured. Hitler now ordered the oil supplies at Maikop, Grozny and Baku to be captured. A defensive line was to be established on the River Don.[9] Only then would Leningrad be captured.
Four days later, Stalin issued his historic order, No. 227 ‘Not one step backwards!’ The order said that any soldier retreating was a traitor and would be ‘dealt with accordingly’. That meant shooting. That same day, the Germans crossed the Don River.
On August 4, the German Sixth Army, led by General Paulus, took Kalach on the Don River. Stalin, now clear about the German plan of action, and seeing that Stalingrad was obviously threatened, ordered his two armies defending the city, the 62nd and the 64th to stand fast.
On August 6, a Dutch volunteer unit serving in the East captured 1,000 prisoners. Several officers in the regiment were awarded the Iron Cross.
Now however, even though the Germans were advancing rapidly, almost no prisoners were taken—a major difference from 1941 (with the exception of Rostov and Sevastopol).
When German forces reached Maikop on August 9, they found the oil wells there burning, having being set ablaze by the retreating Soviet soldiers. The same happened at Krasnodar. Hitler tried to salvage the situation. A month or two later, several oil experts were brought to Maikop to assess the situation. Unfortunately for the Germans, they were killed at night by Russian partisans. Hitler could only squeeze out a measly 70 barrels a day on the average during the town’s occupation. What was the Caucasus, this land of oil, which was supposed to produce more than the rest of Europe combined?
Even though German forces had reached the Caucasus, the distance between Baku and beyond was still great—not even considering the fact that the Caucasus Mountains had to be crossed.
In the middle of August, Churchill flew to Moscow to personally explain that there could not be an invasion of France to relieve the Soviet Union anytime in 1942. Stalin replied, “Why are you so afraid of the Germans?” But somehow, Stalin was persuaded of Churchill’s plan ‘Operation Torch to invade North Africa, thus threatening Italy, the ‘belly of Hitler’s Europe.’
German troops captured Elista on August 14. The fall of this town was of strategic importance. Firstly it became clear to Stalin that Stalingrad was now threatened. Secondly, it signified that the Germans were only 250 km away from the Caspian Sea, which incidentally is the world’s largest lake.
On August 23, tanks of the 16th Panzer Division made their final thrust toward the city of Stalingrad, only 60km away. They had crossed the Don River and were heading east.
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