All language subtitles for The U-Boat Battles Of The Atlantic In 3 Hours (1080p_25fps_H264-128kbit_AAC).inglês

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on the evening of 3rd September 1939 the

very day that Neville Chamberlain

announced that a state of War existed

between Germany and Great Britain the

passenger ship SS athenia suffered a

devastating explosion on her port side

she had been attacked by the German

submarine u30 the German Navy had fired

the first shot in the battle of the

Atlantic and Britain and her allies were

at war with the

ubo the vast Battlefield was to be the

sight of the longest continual Battle of

the second world war the conflict was

not simply a duel between ships and

submarines aircraft were also to play a

vital role the battle was to enter a new

Tactical Arena initiate huge technical

advances and redefine the rules of Naval

Warfare

as an island nation Great Britain had

always relied on Merchant shipping for

trade and supplies a fact that her

enemies had long

recognized it was no different in 1939

and Merchant ships Bound for British

ports became targets for the

uots Germany's aim was to devastate

British Supply routs in order to bring

Britain to her

knees Germany's clandestine NewBo

building program in direct contention of

the treat of versailes had given Admiral

Carl dernitz chief of the German

submarine force a fleet of some 57

vessels at the outbreak of War while not

sufficient amount of wide ranging attack

it was more than adequate to inflict

significant losses on British Merchant

shipping in the early stages of the war

a clever tactician dernitz constantly

developed his strategy to maximize his

small forces operational

effectiveness as more uots came out of

the Yards deris was able to expand his

field of operations and range far

further than British Coastal

Waters submarines are by Nature lone

hunters and initially dernitz used them

to act independently in areas where

Allied Shipping was bound to turn up in

the early stages of the war these tended

to be the Western approaches to the

United Kingdom or in the North Sea as

Allied responses became more successful

and as more uots became available dnets

moved them further west and deeper into

the

Atlantic after the fall of France when

the ports of the French Atlantic Coast

became available he pushed this boundary

much further west by that stage uots

could operate almost to the North

American

Coastline when the United States entered

the war submarines were deployed as far

south as the Caribbean with notable

success but to remain effective for long

periods OTS operating in these distant

Waters had to be resupplied regularly

initially this was achieved by the use

of disguised Merchant ships thank thanks

to good intelligence the Allies soon

located and destroyed these hidden

enemies derit then had to turn to the

milch cow Supply submarines for

replenishing

supplies durit claimed that the tactic

of the wolf pack was his own invention

but in fact such methods had been used

to attack Allied Shipping in the first

world war however dernitz developed the

concept much further especially when he

was able to deploy over 40 uots into the

Atlantic at any one time

in practice this meant intelligent

sources would identify a convoy of

Allied Merchant ships and its track

could be assessed dnets would then order

as many uots as practical to lie in its

path this could be as many as 12

submarines or even more this force or

wolf pack would be given a code name and

a commander would be chosen if the plan

worked as it did on many occasions then

the Convoy would be attacked as it

entered the area with the sheer number

of OTs overwhelming the

escorts uots proved most effective when

attacking at night during daylight they

shadowed the Convoy on the surface as

Darkness descended the submarine would

submerge and find a suitable position

for the attack braver commanders would

go within the Convoy

itself ideally a commander would find a

position from which a salvo of torpedoes

could be launched at a cluster of

targets should one of the Salvo miss its

first Target there would be a reasonable

chance that it would hit a second or

even third this firing solution was very

hard to create and usually a commander

would have to be content with firing at

one target then changing position before

the escort could react he might have

time to launch a second spread at

another Target or part of the

Convoy using these techniques a ubo

could hit two or three targets before

the attack had to be

abandoned in effect the Germans simply

used their uots as torpedo boats which

could only submerge for short

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periods the main objective of the Allies

in the battle of the Atlantic was to get

Merchant ships into British ports

unscathed if Merchant ships were to sail

alone they would be easy prey for German

submarines even if ships were armed they

would would be able to do little against

a torpedo attack from a submerged uboat

the only ships that could sail alone

were the large passenger liners like the

two Cunard Queens which relied on their

speed for

protection other Merchant ships were

grouped together into a

convoy a convoy could consist of 60

ships although most were about 40 strong

they were either fast at about 15 knots

or slow at perhaps 10 knots convoys were

ident identified by a code that was

based on their destination or origin for

example in the early days OA coded

convoys sailed from the south coast

ports OB from Liverpool OG convoys went

to

jalter later the coding system was

changed to make life more difficult for

the Germans and to reflect the much more

complex pattern of Convoy use ideally

convoys would be escorted but such was

the shortage of escorts at the start of

the war that most convoys could be given

Naval protection as far as 12° West

before and after that line they were on

their own even if they did have an

escort it would probably be an armed

Merchant Cruiser plus perhaps one or two

destroyers or trollers as more escorts

became available the limit of protection

was moved further west until it reached

the North American Coastline by late

1941 a convoy could expect to have

perhaps four or even six escort vessels

by 1943 enough vessels existed for some

of them to be formed into escort groups

that would roam the North Atlantic ready

to reinforce the escorts of convoys

under attack or even go hunting OTS at

will a convoy could also have one or two

rescue ships attached to it to release

escorts or Merchant ships from the

obligation of rescuing survivors from

ships that had

sunk if an escorted Convoy came under

attack the escort ships would attempt to

find and destroy the submarine OTS could

be located using asdic apparatus and

attacked using depth charges that is

bombs set to explode at preset depths

underwater using pressure

detonators the escort would try to sail

over the submarine and drop its charges

over the stern onto the

target later depth charge throwers were

fitted to ships that enabled them to use

a wider pattern of charges the depth

charges could damage the submarine

enough for it to be forced to the

surface and be sunk by gunfire or even

by ramming this latter was discouraged

as it often put the escort out of action

as well and on one occasion the ramming

ship an American Destroyer was sunk with

all the crew on

board a well- aimed depth charge could

sink a ubot underwater although the

preferred effect was to explode a charge

on either side of the submarine thus

crushing its Hull in

between if an aircraft were to find a

uboat on the surface it would try to

force the submarine to dive and drop its

depth charges just just as the ubot slid

beneath the surface when it was at its

most vulnerable such was the success

rate that dnets ordered ubot commanders

to remain on the surface and engage the

attacking aircraft using their

anti-aircraft guns some even managed to

shoot down their asants but this was

rare most OTS lost and derit soon

changed his

mind H

good good

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both sides soon realized that

intelligence was critical to the battle

the Allies needed to know where the OTS

were and the Germans had to know the

roots of the convoys both sides began

with little

intelligence the admiralty turned to the

use of signals intelligence for this it

needed an efficient intelligence

gathering Center and an organization

that could process the information

quickly and send it to where it was

needed the government code and Cipher

school at Bletchley Park was already

using intercepts from OTS and ubot HQ to

work out the location of enemy

submarines this information was passed

to the naval intelligence division's

submarine tracking room where senior

commanders were advised on where and

when convoys should be

re-rooted the only problem was that

Bletchley Park could not instantly

decode information without access to the

German codes and the Enigma machine

which coded and decoded the

information to solve this problem the

admiralty Inc Ed Allied ship's Crews to

try and capture an Enigma

machine in May 1941 Convoy OB 318 was

attacked seven OTS were involved

including U 110 commanded by Julius LMP

the man who had sunk the

athenia during the attack U10 was badly

damaged and surfaced LMP ordered the

crew to abandon the ship and Scuttle the

submarine but the scuttling did not go

according to plan and the ubot did

didn't sink immediately a British

boarding party from HMS Bulldog went on

board and discovered that neither the

Enigma machine nor its code books had

been

destroyed when these were removed and

sent to the UK the admiralty was

overjoyed by a clever use of subterfuge

the British also managed to convince the

Germans that U10 had sunk taking all her

secrets with

her when this information was combined

with improvements in Direction finding

techniques such as high frequency

systems hfdf known as huu it gave the

British a significant Advantage but the

Allies still had one problem they needed

to train people to use the technology

and to interpret it this took time time

that the Allies did not have there was

also the Temptation with the Enigma

information to use it immediately to

hunt ubot while this could have saved

ships and lives it would surely have

told the Germans that the codes had been

cracked the information had to be used

used very

carefully once the Allies ability to

read ubot signals became known the

Germans added a fourth rotor to their

Enigma machines it took until the 13th

of December 1942 before Bletchley Park

managed to break the new system although

it was still to be some time before the

Allies were confident that the

information they were getting was

accurate the Germans had their

equivalent in intelligence gathering but

it never quite matched the successes of

the Allies their radio observ service

known as B de managed to gather

significant successes in the early

stages of the war by using Allied radio

traffic interception to identify the

nature and whereabouts of Allied

convoys the Germans cracked Allied codes

this was most notable in the case of the

admiralties naval Cipher number three

which B broke in early

1942 this enabled the Germans to read

some 80% of signals sent using this code

it was early in 1943 before the Allies

realized this had happened and a new

Naval Cipher number five was introduced

the Germans never succeeded in Breaking

this the battle of the Atlantic had

begun with the sinking of the

athenia a month later the full potential

of the ubot was revealed on the 13th of

October Gunter pin in u47 entered the

naval base of Scara Flo in the ory and

sank the battleship Royal Oak while she

lay at anchor 786 British Sailors

died in that first Autumn of the war

German submarines also sank the aircraft

carrier HMS courageous and attacked the

battleships Nelson and Rodney and the

battle cruiser Hood Pride of the royal

Navy yet dernitz knew right from the

start that he did did not have the

resources he needed to conduct an

effective submarine war in the North

Atlantic by the 3rd of September 1939 he

had 57 OTS at his disposal not enough to

be effective he also had other problems

Hitler was initially reluctant to

introduce unrestricted submarine warfare

as he feared the impact it would have

amongst neutral countries Hitler also

insisted that German submarines follow

the prize rules whereby the submarine

Commander had to confirm the that the

target was a legitimate one before it

could be sunk or captured the problem

with this approach was that the

submarine would have to surface and make

itself more vulnerable to

Counterattack dernitz was also far from

convinced that the Torpedoes the uots

carried were reliable enough this was

borne out when Torpedoes failed to

explode or went astray as happened when

HMS Hood was

attacked but one thing his experience of

the first world war had taught derit was

that all that mattered was

tonnage his submarines needed to sink

Allied Merchant ships at a greater rate

than they could be replaced by new ones

if this happened then Britain could be

starved into surrender if it didn't

happen then Britain could only be

defeated by

Invasion successes against large

warships like the Royal Oak and the

courageous were excellent advertisements

for the potential of the ubot but derit

argued that the real campaign should be

against the merchant ships which kept

Britain fed and fueled and able to

fight dernitz convinced his

commander-in-chief Grand Admiral Rita

that 300 uots were needed to guarantee

success Hitler appreciated the argument

but stopped short of giving the ubot

force his top priority the German Army

still lay at the root of Hitler's belief

in Victory and guring argued

convincingly for more resources for his

Air Force so it was well into 1940

before dernitz even began to receive new

submarines in the numbers he needed

but this didn't stop him from beginning

an aggressive campaign immediately and

once more using his World War I

experience he lost no time in

introducing his Wolfpack tactics in the

meantime the British introduced the

convoy system that had turned the

campaign in the Allies favor 22 years

earlier this was largely forced on the

British who believed the sinking of the

ler athenia heralded an early return to

unrestricted submarine warfare but the

British were short of escort ships

suitable aircraft and modern technology

such as AIC and radar it also took time

to put the convoys together and while

the convoys were being organized the

uots pounced on unescorted Merchant

ships British anti-submarine tactics

were also confused the Royal Navy's

natural philosophy was to attack the

enemy not defend convoys so escort

groups were formed to go out and fight

OTS the British had neither the ships

nor the training and experience to do

this and in the beginning even used

large Fleet aircraft carriers as part of

these groups the loss of HMS courageous

while on an anti-submarine Patrol helped

convince the admiralty that this tactic

was suicidal the groups were also

rediscovering how elusive submarines can

be as mile upon mile of ocean was

examined with little success the Royal

Navy soon reverted to providing Convoy

escort w s so quite early in the

campaign the battle between the Wolfpack

and the Convoy was joined durit his

first effort was not a success however

he had hoped to bring together nine

boats to concentrate on an attack

against a convoy in October

1939 but unserviceability enemy action

and other priorities reduced this to

three when Convoy hg3 was cited on the

17th only three Merchant ships were lost

before the uots were forced to withdraw

dernitz realized that his force would

have to be significantly bigger if the

tactic was to succeed he released his

submarines so they could return to

Independent

operations but by this time he had

achieved one success he had persuaded

Hitler to relax the prize rules so ships

could be attacked at will however Hitler

would still not allocate the resources

derit needed for his 300 boat

fleet the first phase of the battle of

the Atlantic was

inconclusive the Germans did not have

enough submarines to be truly effective

and the British lacked the numbers of

escorts but both sides were active

German submarine production was

increasing although initially not fast

enough to provide replacements for uots

lost they were also working hard to

improve the reliability of their

Torpedoes and the British were busy

converting old warships and suitable

Merchant ships into escorts as well as

ordering new

ones both sides claimed successes but if

anything it was the British who had won

the first round by a very narrow margin

17 U boats had been sunk and the convoys

were getting through mostly

unscathed this situation was not to

last the capture of the French ports

following the fall of France was vital

to the ubot campaign

on the 23rd of June 1940 a convoy of

trucks left vilhelm shavan loaded with

submarine spares weapons and equipment

they were Bound for lauron in southern

Britany where the first French ubo base

was being established shortly afterwards

dnit commandeered a villa in nearby

kival this became his headquarters and

from here he and his staff directed the

ubo

war bases were also set up at breast

sanaz and laal

now uots could sail straight into the

Atlantic without the long Voyage from

their bases in Germany it meant

submarines were able to stay on patrol

for longer and more submarines were

available at any one time soon massive

concrete pens were built to protect OTS

from aerial bombing while they were

undergoing maintenance in Port the

failure of the RAF to bomb such bases

while the pens were being built was to

prove a costly

mistake using his new geographical

advantages dur returned to his idea of

using submarines in a pack six Boats

were placed under the command of G PR

the man who sank the Royal Oak and five

Boats were assigned to H rosing the

concept was good but still there were

problems of communications and both the

target convoys arrived at their

destinations

unscathed derit then decided to attack

independent ships and during June 19140

his uots sank 58 victims only a fifth of

them were in Convoy

the British were worried by summer 1940

the fear of invasion was diverting

escorts into the areas around the

English Channel this meant that Convoy

Escorts were reduced in some cases to

just one ship the fall of France had

also enabled German longrange bombers to

attack British shipping in the southwest

approaches where a combination of uots

and aircraft sank the liner Empress of

Britain so the British moved their

Convoy routes to the

Northwest this however made them

vulnerable to short range OTS operating

from bases in

Norway the British did have one

advantage although not of their making

continued rivalry between dernitz and

guring meant that there were never

enough German long-range aircraft

available to provide reconnaissance

patrols the LT vaffa was heavily engaged

in the Battle of Britain and guring had

little time for the Atlantic Campaign

which he brushed off as merely a

sideshow most of the cards however still

lay with the Germans you boats based in

France could Now operate as far west as

25° West British escorts could only

reach 17° and Coastal commands

Sunderland could only provide cover out

to

15° the British had to find an

answer one solution was to increase the

number of escorts in the long term they

could be built but in the short term

Churchill would have to persuade

Roosevelt to lend Britain 40 Old

destroyers they were ill equipped

possessed poor seeke keeping qualities

and they need need to be adapted for

anti-submarine

operations but they

came throughout the Autumn of 1940 the

OTS gained the upper hand attacking on

the surface at night they started to

cause losses which the British found

hard to sustain escort tactics were poor

and the Germans were learning quickly

convoys were attacked at night the uots

would Shadow by day and attack again the

next night some very successful ubot

commanders such as PR and Otto ketchman

became house sold names back in Germany

and were recorded the status of Aces

this was very much part of Dern's astute

public relations campaign that is

convince the public of the ubot success

and the Nazi leadership will have to

give the force more

[Music]

resources in October 19 1940 Convoy sc7

left Halifax for Liverpool it lost 17

ships out of

35 in the same month Convoy HX 79 lost

14 ships and HX 79a lost seven in the

space of less than a week 38 Merchant

ships had been sunk by

uots no wonder the Germans called this

period the Happy

Time Britain responded in three ways

escorts were released from

anti-submarine duties they were given

radar and more aircraft were provided as

older bombers replaced by newer models

in bomber command were released to

Coastal command tactically there were

changes as escorts were told not to

leave the convoys unescorted as they

chased contacts often spurious all over

the seas the Convoy was never to be left

unprotected slowly these measures began

to take effect and there were successes

for the escorts but the reduction in

losses to ubot attack in the late 1940

was more due to submarine

unserviceability and bad weather than

new British

tactics to compensate for the bad

weather the uots moved South where they

found Rich pickings in the shipping off

the West African Coast where escorts

were

non-existent during the winter of

1940-41 the Allies started to fight back

the big reorganization in the command

and control structure which saw the

creation of new partly unified commands

and the better use of joint intelligence

started to have an impact losses were

still happening but proportionately they

were less than in the desperate Autumn

of 1940 even the aces began to encounter

more Resolute defenses as they attacked

in March 1942 PR himself was lost when

attacking Convoy OB 293 kretchma

surrendered after being forced to

surface and Scuttle

u99 a third Ace yakim shpi was crushed

between the bow of HMS vanok and his own

Periscope as his Yu Bo was rammed and

sunk these losses were a serious blow to

derit especially as they meant that five

OTS had been lost in three weeks for the

exchange rate of 15 Allied Merchant

ships this loss rate was unsustainable

and duret was still suffering from a

lack of available submarines he decided

to change tactics

in April 1941 dernitz decided to move

his nine operational deep sea uots

further west to establish a patrol line

at

30° this soon reaped dividends when

Convoy sc26 lost 11 ships the cost of

the Germans was one

uboat this forced the British to develop

further the facilities on Iceland

particularly the airfields Sunderland

and Hudsons were sent to the island and

helped to push the prote ction screen

further west but the problem remained

that there were not enough escorts or

longrange aircraft available to provide

the necessary cover the capture of the

Enigma machine offered the Allies some

respite but again it was to be some time

before the full impact of the capture

could be assessed and the information it

released used this and other technical

advances needed time operators and

assessors had to be trained and

experience had to be

gained however one advantage to the

British was now beginning to produce

results the increasingly obvious support

for the British by the Americans had not

only led to the lease of the 40 Old

destroyers but also to the Americans

themselves becoming more involved as

early as October 1939 the Americans had

declared a security Zone around the

coastline of the United States this

meant that British shipping was safe

from Attack while in the

Zone on the 10th of April 1941 President

Roosevelt said that the safety zone

would be moved from 60° West to 26° West

at the same time he announced that

British warships could be repaired and

refitted in American

dockyards this blatant abuse of the

neutrality rules meant that the security

zone now stretched 2,300 nautical miles

across the Atlantic and included the

azors it was inevitable that OTS would

become more and more confused about

where they could operate and who the

enemy was especially when American

warships were seen to be escorting

British convoys within the neutrality

Zone mistakes occurred American warships

were attacked and one the USS Ruben

James was sunk with heavy loss of life

more American Merchant ships were also

being attacked usually by accident but

in some cases deliberately Hitler had to

issue a direct command to stop German

OTS targeting Americans he was still

desperately worried about provoking the

United States into

war things were getting bad for the

Germans and durit was infuriated at what

he saw as blatant interference by a

neutral state by the summer of 1941 he

was also concerned at increasing losses

amongst the German Supply ships which

were maintaining and resupplying

submarines in the more distant Waters

these losses were the first tangible

benefits of the cracking of the German

codes by Bletchley

Park in June things became even worse

for the Germans as President Roosevelt

ordered American forces to occupy

Iceland within a few months the had

become a very well equipped and

well-defended Allied base instead of

merely being the home to a few RAF

Coastal command squadrons but still

Hitler refused to react and in August

1941 a ubo was actually captured almost

fully intact by a combination of surface

escorts and RAF Coastal command aircraft

based in Iceland unfortunately the crew

of u57 managed to destroy their secret

equipment and documents before their

ship was boarded after being thorough

already examined the ubo was taken into

the Royal Navy and named HMS

graph by the end of 1941 the situation

was improving significantly for the

British dnets were still chronically

short of uots Allied anti-submarine

Equipment and experience were improving

and the growing American involvement was

having an effect at the same time Hitler

ordered dernitz to send his valuable

submarines to support the campaigns

against the Russians and in the

Mediterranean in the mediter Ian some

very visible successes were achieved the

legendary aircraft carrier Arc Royal was

sunk and the old Battleship baram was

destroyed most spectacularly by

u331 but dnit knew that these would not

win the

[Music]

war the Japanese attacked the US Pacific

Fleet base at Pearl Harbor in the

Hawaiian Islands on the 7th of December

1941 but the United States had been in

conflict with Germany for some time

before Germany officially declared war

on the 11th of December the chief of

Naval operations Admiral Harold Stark

admitted this when he said we are at war

in October 1941 following the sinking of

the Reuben

James following the official declaration

however the situation in the North

Atlantic became much clearer and dnit

who knew the implications of us entry

could at least recognize who the enemy

was but he realized that in the long

term American war production would be

crucial to his idea of a tonnage War he

calculated that just over 800,000 tons

would have to be sunk each month if his

campaign was to

succeed the figures for the last 6

months of 1941 did not give him much

cause for optimism only 120,000 was

being sunk each month

at last uboat production was beginning

to pick up dernitz had 91 uots available

in January 1942 by July this had

increased to

138 this still meant he had nowhere near

enough many boats would be in

maintenance on training duties or still

working up to operational Fitness so on

the 1st of January 1942 dernitz was only

able to deploy six boats against the

United States this did not stop him he

began the campaign almost immediately he

called it operation pcan schlag or

operation drum beat he told the six

commanders to avoid convoys and operate

independently attempts were made to

track the submarines but bad weather and

operational difficulties meant that the

information available to the Allies was

inconclusive on the 12th of January u123

found the first victim in all the

operation accounted for 41 Merchant

ships for no German losses it was the

second happy

time the Americans despite their already

significant experience were totally

unprepared many of their escorts had

been sent to the Pacific the ones that

remained were poorly equipped and manned

by inexperienced Crews ironically the

best antisubmarine units available were

seven US Coast Guard Cutters it was

perhaps now a source of regret that many

of the ships the Americans could have

used had already been sent to Britain

under lend leas

Arrangements Admiral king would not

produced convoys until he had the ships

to escort them this was against all the

advice of the British who had

experienced similar problems themselves

2 years earlier but King refused to

accept British advice nor did the

American Eastern Sea Frontier command

have the aircraft it needed these had

been succed to Fleet protection and in

any case many of them were under the

control of the Army Air Force with whom

the Navy did not work well to help the

British temporally lent the Americans 10

Corvettes and 24 troll

until US forces became

available the Americans realized quickly

that things would have to improve and

set about producing new command and

control systems to enable all the

parties to work together more closely at

last they began to learn the lessons of

the British experience they also began a

huge construction

program but the uots continued their

deadly work they moved South into the

Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico they

even surfaced and used their deck guns

to Shell Oil installations ashore the

American reaction was poor even when OTS

were located inexperienced escort crews

lost them or failed to press home their

attacks on one occasion a merchant ship

opened fire on an American Destroyer

believing her to be a ubot the

destroyer's captain and two Sailors were

killed the British tried and tried to

convince Admiral King to introduce

convoys but still he refused believing

that a convoy not escorted properly

would be a bigger liability than

Merchant ships sailing

individually the British also tried to

get the Americans to shift priorities

from the Pacific to the Atlantic while

this was going on the Germans continued

to exact a heavy toll off the Eastern

Seaboard of the United States where

ships were often sunk within visual

distance of the coast no blackout had

been introduced this made spotting

Merchant ships much easier for the UB

boats as they were silhouetted against

the lights of the

cities by March things were beginning to

improve as new escorts began to arrive

but it was still May 1942 before the

Americans began to Convoy ships down the

east coast and into the Gulf once this

happened the number of easy targets for

the uots began to decline and so dernitz

turned his attention back to the North

Atlantic convoys and reintroduced his

wolf packs he still had to attain his

required number of sinkings to keep his

tonnage war on

track despite improvements to the

American anti an submarine capability

the demands of the Pacific Drew more and

more resources into it leaving the

battle of the Atlantic to the British

and the Canadians a mid ocean escort

force was formed based in Newland which

would take convoys straight from Newland

to the coast of Ireland more new escorts

were entering service including the

first of the new purpose-built super

Corvettes which became known as

frigs but as new ships entered The Fray

their lack of experience became critical

this was especially true in the case of

the Royal Canadian Navy that had

expanded from almost nothing to provide

33% of the escort vessels in a matter of

18 months it was not surprising that the

Canadians were not as competent as they

were expected to be the Convoy battle

was rejoined with a new fervor and the

Atlantic war was about to reach its most

critical phase

the climax of The Battle of the Atlantic

was reached in the early spring of

1943 but there were already signs that

the campaign was entering its most

crucial phase as soon as the German OTS

rejoined the battle against the North

Atlantic convoys in the summer of

1942 Admiral pound the first Sea Lord

realized that dnets would have to put

almost all his effort into the North

Atlantic if he was to

win at the beginning of this phase the

British were still suffering from a

shortage of escorts not helped by the

dispatch of two escort groups to the

United States

waters Admiral pound's belief that this

was leaving the North Atlantic 2 exposed

seemed to be confirmed in July when

Convoy

o113 encountered a large force of uots

in the ensuing battle a uboat was sunk

and the rest driven off thanks to a

well-coordinated

defense however three Merchant ships

were

lost the determination and tactics of

the defense ing forces moved durit to

broadcast to the German people telling

them to prepare for heavy losses in

early August he sent a pack in to attack

Convoy SC 94 two UB boots were sunk but

not before a third of the Convoy had

been destroyed the Allies realized that

there had to be a change of tactics the

first of these was the creation of the

escort support group a squadron of fast

escorts which could go to the aid of a

convoy under threat the first of them

the 20th was commanded by Commander EF

Johnny Walker a name which became

synonymous with the victory in the

Atlantic as did that of his Flagship the

Sloop HMS Starling like all good ideas

however it took some time to reach

fruition and the escort groups were not

to be effective for some six months the

continuing problem of air cover was also

being addressed both by increasing the

number of very longrange aircraft

available and by providing ships which

could carry short range aircraft the mac

and the escort carrier

a further change in Allied tactics made

possible by the number of longrange

aircraft was taking the battle to the

enemy attacking the submarines while

they were on Transit into or out of

their secure bases on the west coast of

France air mounted Radars and the Le

light made this possible even at

night early successes in the battle of

the bay were encouraging not many UB

Boats were sunk but submarine commanders

realized they were vulnerable at night

and so had to Transit the Bay of bisc

underwater adding to their patrol times

this also had the KnockOn effect of the

Germans allocating long range ju88

fighters to the west of France hoping to

shoot down the Allied anti-submarine

aircraft the British reply to introduce

the long-range bow fighter into the

campaign proved more than a match for

the

Germans the war against the convoys

continued Convoy on s154 sailed into a

force of 20 uots in December 1942

14 Merchant ships were lost for one

ubo tm1 a tanker Convoy left Trinidad

Bound for Gibralter it lost 77% of its

ships without sinking even one

ubo these losses forced Churchill and

Roosevelt to make the battle of the

Atlantic their priority although the

torch Landings in North Africa had been

a success the real Victory would involve

a landing in Europe for this to be

successful vast amounts of men and

Munitions would have to be masked in

Britain prior to the invasion much of

these would have to come across the

Atlantic and if they were to do so

successfully disasters like on1 154 and

tm1 had to be

avoided the appalling weather of January

1943 gave the convoys some respite from

attack but it was short in February

sc118 lost 13 ships at a cost of the

Germans of three ubot sunk and four

badly damaged in the same month Convoy

on n166 was attacked by 21 ubot 14

Merchant ships were lost two ubot sunk

but the Allies were

learning the climax of The Battle of the

Atlantic revolved around four convoys

sc121 SC1 122 HX 228 and HX

229 sc121 was attacked by two packs

totaling 24 submarines the Convoy's

escort was weak and 13 ships were lost

as a result HX 228 which sailed a few

days later was ordered to move South

although it was spotted it had a heavy

escort which included an escort carrier

USS Bogue the battle was chaotic but

only four Merchant ships and one

Destroyer had been sunk two uots were

also

lost the other two convoys sc22 and HX

229 were attacked almost simultaneously

and suffered severe losses

they were only saved from catastrophe by

the arrival of coastal command aircraft

but still 22 ships were sunk for the

loss of one ubot dernitz was jubilant

and the Allies desperate for the first

time it seemed that Communications

between North America and Great Britain

could be

severed but actually the lessons of

these four convoys on deeper analysis

revealed that at last the Allied effort

in providing more escorts and long-range

aircraft were beginning to work the

number of uots used was huge and

proportionately the Allied losses were

not that high it was difficult to

understand this when the North Atlantic

seemed full of sinking ships but the

operational analysis teams were far from

pessimistic they believed the Allies

were on the verge of

success between the 4th and 7th of April

an attack took place against Convoy HX

231 three ships were sunk but two uots

were destroyed and another four badly

damaged

on the 29th of April Convoy on5 ran into

the largest wolf pack of the war 40 uots

one ship was sunk that night on the 4th

of May six ships were sunk the following

day seven more but the uots were

decimated eight were sunk and five very

badly damaged dnets called off the

attack losses on this scale were

unbearable 2 weeks later he tried

again on the 16th of May Convoy HX 237

made it to Liverpool having lost just

three Merchant ships three uots had been

sunk Convoy sc130 whose escort was

commanded by Commander Peter greton who

was due to get married at the end of The

Voyage ran into 33 OTS in the ensuing

battle not one merchant ship was sunk

but five OTS had been destroyed one

containing leftenant Peter durit the

commander-in-chief's son gret got

married

at last all the Allied assets land sea

air intelligence technology and training

had come together the result had been

the destruction of 31 uots in little

over a month on the 24th of May dernitz

ordered his boats out of the North

Atlantic he assured them that this was a

temporary setback but he like most of

his Crews suspected the battle was

lost in May 1943 the OTS were beaten but

the B ATT did not end nor was it to do

so until the last day of the war but

they were never to threaten the North

Atlantic in the same way again from now

on they would deploy singly and attack

targets of opportunity as such they were

constantly a threat to Allied operations

and were sinking Allied ships right up

until the end of the war but the

existing submarines had been outpaced by

technology by the middle of 1943 the

type 7even and nine OTS were no match

for the combination of ships aircraft

detection systems and weapons the Allies

were putting into service by the time

the new technology OTS were entering the

conflict in late 1944 the war was all

but over by 1944 also many OTS were

being destroyed before they could enter

service as Allied bombers attacked the

shipyards the Allies continued to hunt

and Destroy submarines wherever possible

but after the spring of 1943 it became a

battle of aggression not of Defense new

longrange air craft protected by

long-range Fighters took the fight deep

into the Bay of bisque and on the 20th

of June Captain Walker took his escort

group into the bay to work with the

aircraft his primary target was the

supply of milch cow submarines which

were enabling OTS to operate in many

areas away from the North Atlantic

together they sank two within a few

months almost all the milch cows had

been

destroyed unfortunately Walker himself

died shortly afterwards the victim of a

heart attack

durit grasped at the new technologies

available to him he was particularly

impressed by the Gat homing torpedo

which had some success against convoys

as early as September

1943 they were particularly effective

against escorts until the Allies worked

out deception and decoy

techniques dnets continued to deploy

submarines against convoys but the loss

rates were heavy and the effect

decreasing intelligence re-rooted

convoys and by October uots were

struggling to find Targets

on the 16th of November dnit withdrew

the OTS for a second time from then

until the end of the war the German

submarine became an irritant rather than

a

threat in November and December 1943 72

convoys reached their destinations

without the loss of a single ship to

submarine attack American shipyards were

completing new cargo ships at the rate

of one a day a 10,000 ton Liberty ship

could be welded together in 10 days one

was even built in four the first ones

were unreliable and could even break in

half in rough weather the later ones

brought the Munitions the fuel the food

and the weapons that the Allies needed

for the invasion of

Europe today the shipyards of North

America sound their answer in the clang

of hammers new ships to release British

merchantmen for service in the

Atlantic and along Canada's coasts and

rivers the Corvettes take the water to

help Britain's hardpressed destroyers

keep that vital supply line open already

the tide of battle may be turning

already the wide Atlantic is becoming a

graveyard for the Raiders

[Music]

themselves yet the final answer lies not

alone in ships Hitler himself has said

it is not arms that decide but the men

behind them and Behind these men of

Churchill's Island lies a thousand years

of the sea in peace and War in calm and

storm because of them the convoys plow

on and Britain's Lifeline

[Music]

holds the tonnage War had been lost

within a year the bases in France were

being evacuated and the losses of uots

and their accompanying vessels in this

operation was little better than Carnage

in their last operations in the Baltic

the situation was even worse 83 uots

were sunk in the last 5 weeks of the war

almost all to

aircraft on the 4th of May the second

furer of Nazi Germany Grand Admiral Carl

dernitz ordered all the remaining OTS to

cease

operations 3 days later the war against

Germany forly ended Ed the surrender was

signed by Carl

[Music]

derit despite the Great Hopes of dnit

the uots did not win the war for the

Germans there were never enough uots for

the battle dernitz and Rita had agreed

that the German Navy would need 300

submarines by the time they had that

number it was too late and the battle

was

lost the successes of the large packs

however at the height of the campaign

demonstrated what could have been

achieved if the numbers had been there

the escorts could have been completely

swamped the ability of the Allies to

build new escorts and Merchant ships to

replace those sunk had been

underestimated the Germans might have

succeeded if the Americans had stayed

out of the war but as soon as they

entered and the Liberty ships came

rolling down the slipways the tonnage

war was doomed

the Allies also were able to use

advances in technology much more quickly

they introduced radar new detection

devices longrange aircraft better

weapons and better

intelligence the Third Reich built

1,162 uots 830 took part in operations

784 were lost of the 41,000 men who

manned them almost 26,000 were killed

5,000 the lucky ones were captured

2,828 Allied and neutral Merchant ships

were sunk almost 15 million tons how

many died in them will never be known

30,000 British Merchant Sailors were

killed in the battle of the Atlantic the

Royal Navy lost 175 warships trying to

protect them

5,880 Airmen and 2,000 Canadians died in

the same

cause it was vital to the Allies that

they w won it if they hadn't Britain may

not have survived to continue the war

against the

aggressor many of the battle's victims

have no known grave no headstone to

commemorate their last resting place but

they cannot be forgotten

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

in December

1941 Japan went to war with the United

States by launching a surprise attack

against the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl

Harbor in the Hawaiian

island in the following months the

Japanese ruthlessly overran American and

Allied possessions in the Far East and

Pacific

Ocean yet by the spring of 1945 the tide

of War had turned a seemingly

Unstoppable American Military Whirlwind

was thundering across the Pacific Ocean

towards the shores of the Japanese home

Islands threatening total

defeat there was a lot to lose Japan had

never been defeated in over a thousand

years and believed itself mandated by

heaven to be a great power failure was

incomprehensible despite the desperation

of their position Japan's leaders

resolved to stop the American Colossus

at the gates

on the rugged Island Backwater of

Okinawa many believed that the superior

will of Japanese soldiers Sailors and

Airmen would triumph over American

materialism and save

Japan as the last major fight against

the Americans Okinawa was as costly and

as Savage as the Japanese had intended

yet the outcome of the battle and its

consequences for Japan were to be far

more catastrophic than her leaders could

ever have imagined

on the 20th of November 1943 US Marine

and army forces under the Strategic

direction of Admiral Chester Nimitz

invaded the outermost point of the

Japanese defensive perimeter in the

Pacific the invasion of the Gilbert

Islands was the first of the big

American amphibious assaults in the

Pacific the bloody fighting on trawa

demonstrated the ability of new American

Naval Air and ground forces to attack

and overwhelm almost at will any part

part of the Japanese defense

[Music]

line the invasion of the Gilberts was

the opening blow in what became a

Relentless drive by US forces across the

Central

Pacific in January and February 1944 the

Marshall Islands were secured

in June American forces leapt forwards

nearly a th000 miles to secure sipan

tinan and Guam in the

Marianas in the South Pacific forces

under general Douglas MacArthur

completed the liberation of New

Guinea in October 1944 Nimitz and

MacArthur's forces combined to begin the

invasion of the Philippines with

Landings at late Gulf

[Music]

once the initial objectives of this

campaign were secured Nimitz turned his

attention to the final approaches to

[Music]

Japan Formosa now known as Taiwan had

been the intended objective of the next

phase of the American Advance not

Okinawa a number of considerations led

the Americans to cancel the foros

invasion in preference for an attack

against Okinawa and the rukuu islands

Army and Navy planners began to realize

that with no immediate Prospect of troop

reinforcements from the European War

existing Pacific Theater forces were

inadequate for invading such a large and

well-defended Island as

Formosa on occupying the Marianas in

July 1944 us planners realized these

islands lacked adequate Harbor and base

facilities to support the immense Naval

and amphibious forces needed for the for

Moser operation

although it took time for commanders in

the Pacific to convince Washington that

the Formosa operation should be canceled

in favor of Okinawa by early October

Nimitz had received orders to plan an

invasion codenamed Iceberg the invasion

was scheduled for the 1st of March 1945

[Music]

prior to launching operation Iceberg the

tiny island of eward gima was to be

secured to protect the right flank and

lines of communications of those forces

involved the Marines landed on iima on

the 19th of February but the fanatical

Last Stand of the 26,000 man Garrison on

this 8 square m Island proved harder to

overcome than

anticipated in the end the 6 weeks of

bloody fighting it took to secure the

island as well as delays in available

shipping prompted the invasion of

Okinawa to be rescheduled for the 1st of

April

1945 ominously American casualties on

iima had totaled over 6,000 dead and

20,000 wounded only a th000 Japanese too

wounded to commit suicide had been

captured it seemed that despite their

desperate situation the Japanese will to

resist was

unbroken although the loss of iima

represented a major breach of the

Japanese High command's final inner

Defense Zone for the home Islands it was

only one part of a total collapse of

Japan's strategic position across the

Far East in the opening months of

1945 Japanese forces had been routed and

driven from Burma by revitalized British

Imperial

[Music]

forces in the Philippines only small and

Scattered Japanese resistance

remained in January 1945 US Navy carrier

aircraft began regular large-scale

strikes against Targets in the Japanese

home Islands

themselves in March P-51 Mustang fighter

bombers from eim joined this aerial

assault that same month longrange b29

super Fortress bombers based in the

Marianas began devastating Japanese

cities with incendiary

attacks at Sea American submarines and

aircraft inflicted Savage losses upon

Japan's Merchant

Navy the imminent collapse of imports of

raw materials threatened Japan's ability

to continue the war by denying her the

weapons to fight even more ominous with

the resulting shortages in food

stuffs Japan's leaders were acutely

aware that by 1946 domestic food stocks

would be exhausted faced with starvation

there was a very real possibility that

the traditional social and political

order of Japan would be turned upside

down

in the face of this National collapse

Imperial General headquarters in Tokyo

believed that only a decisive Victory on

Japanese soil could save the nation what

they needed was time to organize their

remaining resources for the final

decisive battle the forces on Okinawa

would be sacrificed to win time to

organize the defense of the home

Islands Okinawa would decide more than

just the fate of a single Island it

would decide the fate of Japan her

culture and her

people in the struggle for Okinawa the

Americans relied upon a number of

experienced Naval and army officers many

of these senior commanders had served in

the hard campaigns of the early years of

the war when the Japanese had been in

the

ascendant the overall planning and

conduct of the okanawa campaign was

under the command of Admiral Chester

Nimitz commander of the United States

Pacific Fleet and forces of the Pacific

Ocean

areas after the devastation of Pearl

Harbor in December 1941 nimit took

control of a demoralized Pacific Fleet

this modest outwardly relaxed man from

the Texan Hill Country soon set about

establishing his reputation as a Humane

inspirational and aggressive

leader arriving at Pearl Harbor Nimitz

rejected demands for a Witch Hunt of the

fleet's Personnel instead he chose to

heal the fleet's wounds and restore

morale by immediately taking the war to

the Japanese

[Music]

in early 1942 us carrier forces attacked

Targets in the Central Pacific and most

impressively

[Music]

Tokyo at the Coral Sea and Midway the US

Navy halted Japanese expansion in the

Pacific in just 6 months the quied

Admiral had put a shattered Navy on the

road to Victory

[Music]

a Submariner by trade who never

qualified to fly or command carriers

Nimitz developed a sound understanding

of the critical role of aviation in

Modern Warfare he fully supported the

creation of the fast carrier groups that

became the main Attack Force of the

Pacific

Fleet by 1944 nimitz's revitalized Fleet

boldly drove across the Pacific

inflicting crushing defeats on the

Japanese combined Fleet at the battles

of the Philippines C and L

Gulf Nimitz never commanded at Sea

during the war preferring to devolve

command to trusted subordinates a sound

judge of character he had a talent for

selecting the right man for a job when

questions were raised about a

Commander's performance in action he

chose to make his own inquiries rather

than trust the opinions of

[Music]

others or although he commanded far from

the battlefronts Chester Nimitz was not

a cold-hearted Commander acutely aware

of the human dimension of War he

regularly visited Frontline positions to

talk to soldiers Sailors and

Airmen one of the most capable and

trusted of nimitz's subordinates was

59-year-old vice admiral Raymond spru

for the okanawa campaign spru was placed

in overall command of the fifth Fleet

and the Central Pacific task

forces an odd man outwardly cold and

something of a hypochondriac spru had a

reputation for cool and detailed

thinking originally a surface ship

commander on the outbreak of War he

found himself thrown into the new

concept of carrier Warfare he swiftly

demonstrated his abilities achieving

great

success in June 1942 he commanded the

American Carrier Force the defeated the

Japanese at the Battle of Midway he then

served as nimitz's chief of operations

before returning to C command In late

1943 he oversaw the invasions of the

Gilbert Marshall and Mariana Island

chains but his failure to annihilate the

Japanese Fleet at the Battle of the

Philippine Sea in June 1944 attracted

bitter criticism faced with a complex

situation spru fought with masterly

logic destroying the entire Japanese

Fleet air support in one

day those spru shunned emotion and

bombast by 1945 in private he Fred and

worried in letters to his wife he

confessed to sleeping badly the strain

of almost 18 months of conducting or

planning operations punctuated by

infrequent periods of Home leave was

taking its toll on the auster master of

detail

the driving force propelling spu's Fleet

for The okanawa Invasion with a fast

carriers of task force 58 commanded by

vice admiral Mark

mitcher these two commanders from

different parts of the Navy developed a

close and harmonious relationship over

the course of the war it had not always

been so unimpressed by Mitch's poor

handling of the car Hornet at Midway

spruance strongly opposed nimitz's

decision to promote his colleague to

commander of the new Fast carrier Force

In late

1943 as the war progressed however

mitcher proved his critics wrong winning

even spu's

admiration Mitch's aggressive courageous

and carefully calculated tactics smashed

the Japanese in the Central Pacific and

at the Battle of the Philippine

Sea by 194 45 the man nicknamed bald

eagle for his beaky whizzed face and

intense watery blue eyes was the

preeminent carrier commander of the

Pacific

War mitcher was a demanding Battle

Commander he instilled his carrier

groups with an alert and Keen Edge by

insisting that they always operate as if

battle were

imminent despite his slavish attention

to detail mitcher gave his carrier

commanders extensive scope to use their

initiative setting the highest standards

for himself he expected the same in

others the bald eagle was a commander

who needed to feel the pulse of action

At Close Quarters in the end the strain

he placed on his slight body during the

war killed him in 1947 he was just 60

years old

if mitcher was spu's right-hand man then

equally Inseparable from the US Navy's

success was the less attractive figure

of vice admiral Richmond Kelly

Turner commander of the joint

expeditionary task force Turner was

responsible for planning and conducting

the initial amphibious assault landing

on

Okinawa having overseen most of the

previous Landings in the Central Pacific

Turner was a Natural

Choice commanding the US 10th army

during the okanawa invasion was

Lieutenant General Simon bolivard

Buckner his subsequent conduct of the

campaign generated strong criticism from

contemporary marine and naval

officers born in Kentucky in 1886 he

passed out middle of his West Point

class in 1908 his pre-war experience

involved training as a pilot and two

appointments at West Point the last as

commandant of

cadets in 1940 he was promoted to

Brigadier and sent to Alaska where he

was responsible for directing operations

in the harsh conditions of the uan

islands campaign in May 1943 he was sent

to Hawaii to organize the 10th

Army Keen to be seen by his men Buckner

regularly went forwards to observe the

fighting during one of these visits on

the 18th of June he was

killed in 1954 he was postumus promoted

to full

General the Japanese commanders who

struggled to save Okinawa and Japan in

1945 were motivated by seemingly

contradictory

factors they were professional officers

utterly devoted to the service of

Emperor Hirohito imbued with the ancient

samurai code of Bushido many preferred

death at their own hands to the disgrace

of

capture they fought fanatically to save

Japan yet all but the most deluded

harbored no doubts about the eventual

outcome of the battle for Okinawa and

the war as a whole in a sense they

fought because they understood nothing

else 58 year- old Lieutenant General

mitsura USI Jima was given command of

the 32nd Army on Okinawa in August 1944

in the early stages of the war he had

commanded troops in

Burma he then spent several years as

head of the Japanese military academy

before receiving his appointment on

Okinawa on taking up his post on Okinawa

USI Jima immediately set about preparing

the Island's defense and improving his

troops morale his calm manner integrity

and quiet confidence earned him the

admiration of his

subordinates second in command of the

32nd Army was Major General isamu Cho a

hard-headed and aggressive officer in

the 1930s Cho had been associated with

extremist officers who advocated setting

up a military dictatorship in the name

of the emperor although arrested he was

soon released and his career

prospered as an officer in the quantong

Army and Korea CH had been intimately

involved in provoking war with China in

the

1930s he reportedly took a leading role

in organizing the mass killing of over a

quarter of a million Chinese civilians

at Nang King in

1938 during the war he held a number of

Staff appointments in China Burma and

Malaya he came to okanawa from the

military Affairs Bureau of the war

department one of the brightest staff

officers produced by the Imperial

Japanese Army was 42-year-old Colonel

hiromichi Yahara in the 1930s he spent

two years as an exchange officer in

America giving him a unique insight into

the nature and strength of his future

enemy his modest but fiercely

intellectual nature often brought him

into conflict with more senior officers

who wanted obedience not questions from

their subordinance

Admiral suu Toyota led the Imperial

Japanese Navy to a series of

overwhelming defeats at the Philippine

Sea and off the late

Gulf by 1945 he seemed to lose

confidence in his decision-

making in a divided Navy opinions on

Toyota's abilities varied greatly some

considered him a brilliant man broken by

insurmountable problems his detractors

thought him lacking in intelligence and

ability at Okawa however he fatefully

ordered the battleship Yamato to attack

us shipping off the island in the

knowledge that she was

doomed even more reprehensible was the

fact that in order to carry out the

attack one month's oil supply had to be

requisitioned from the Merchant Navy at

a time when Japan's people were

desperate for imported food such callous

decisions were spurred not by military

realism but Toyota's belief that it

would dishonor the Imperial Navy if a

ship bearing Japan's ancient spiritual

name was surrendered to the

enemy Toyota's decision typifies the

conceit of a Navy that placed its own

warped idea of Honor above the needs of

the people it was supposed to serve

[Music]

the plan for operation Iceberg was drawn

up between September 1944 and February

1945 it was the most audacious and

complex amphibious operation to be

undertaken by US forces in the Pacific

War the basic aim was to seize Okinawa

in order to develop bases there to

support the future invasion of

Japan icebergs objectives were only

achievable by accumulating vast numbers

of men and

resources it required the complex

cooperation of Naval and amphibious

forces from nimitz's command as well as

close coordination with army and Air

Force units in neighboring

theaters Iceberg was to be the ultimate

test of lessons learned by American

forces during their Advance across the

Pacific The Invasion was directly

controlled by vice admiral spu's Central

Pacific task force spu's plan of attack

was initially conceived in four phases

phase one was to be conducted by vice

admiral Mitch's fast carriers of task

force 58 and b29 super Fortress heavy

bombers of General L's 21st bomber

command attacks by these forces were

intended to isolate Okinawa by

neutralizing Japanese air power in the

rukuu Japanese home islands and

Formosa once this was completed mit's

fast carriers were to take Station East

of Okinawa and provide support to the

other phases of Iceberg mitcher was also

responsible for eliminating any enemy

surface

threat joining American Naval forces for

the first time would be the British

Pacific Fleet commanded by vice admiral

sard Rings the British carriers of task

force 57 were assigned to protect the

Left Flank of the invasion by mounting

strikes against Japanese air Assets in

the sakishima islands and

[Music]

Formosa in phase two vice admiral

Turner's joint expeditionary force was

to support Landings by the 24th Army and

third amphibious core of Lieutenant

General Simon Buckner's 10th

Army these forces were initially

assigned to secure the kesma and kirama

group Islands west of Okinawa the main

Landings would then take place on the

haushi beaches along the center of

okinawa's West

Coast the second phase would end with

the securing of the southern part of the

island in phase three the remainder of

the island would be occupied along with

the eshma in and off the northwest

coast Iceberg was larger than any other

operation of the Pacific

War

183,000 troops and 747 th000 tons of

supplies were loaded into over 430

assault vessels and Landing ships at 11

different ports from Seattle on the west

coast of the United States to late in

the

Philippines a further 100 15,000 service

troops would land once Okinawa was

secured to begin developing port and

base facilities and

airfields including Naval forces by the

end of the campaign 548 th000 Personnel

participated in the

campaign they were supported by 318

combat vessels and

1,139 auxilary

ships during the campaign 60 carriers

were available to provide air cover

of these 26 were Fleet and light the

remainder escort

carriers 18 battleships and over 200

destroyers were

used during operations between March and

June 1945 spu's fifth Fleet consumed

more fuel than Japan imported in 1944

from September 1943 the ruuuu islands

assumed increasing importance in

Japanese plans although little was

immediately done to develop their

defenses when the loss of the Marianas

in June 1944 made a Thrust against the

rukuu a real possibility reinforcements

for lieutenant general mitsura USI

jima's 32nd Army began pouring in to

defend these

islands despite these initial measures

by January 1945 the Army and Navy were

split over whether the decisive battle

should be waged on Okinawa or the

Japanese home

Islands the Navy hoped to secure a

victory off Japan and resolved to commit

the bulk of its air power at Okinawa in

contrast the arm was convinced that

Japan was the best place to defeat the

Americans accordingly troops were

steadily withdrawn from Okinawa and

promised reinforcements never

materialized this interservice quarrel

gradually made it clear to USI Jima that

his forces were going to be

sacrificed he abandoned his existing

plans to defeat an American Invasion at

the

shoreline the new new plan was based

upon sound arguments from Colonel

hiromichi

[Music]

Yahara aware of the overwhelming

Firepower available to the Americans

Yahara decided to concentrate 30C Army's

main strength in the South around the

ancient capital of shuri the 62nd

Infantry Division would defend three

lines in this area while the 24th

Infantry Division covered potential

Landing sites around minoga on the

Southeast

coast each division would be used to

reinforce the other depending on the

direction of the main us attack only

elements of the 44th independent mix

Brigade and a few service troops were

deployed in the center and north of

Okinawa these were ordered to harass And

Delay the Americans as best they

[Music]

could Yahara intended to fight a long

and bloody Battle of attrition Okinawa

was riddled by Steep escarpments and

Ravines eastwest limestone plau and

ridges formed natural and mutually

supporting lines of Defense natural

caves and burial tombs were easily

converted into strong underground

positions largely invulnerable to enemy

air and artillery

fire to man these defenses 32nd Army had

65,000 regular troops and 8,800 Naval

Personnel 20,000 residents had formed a

militia at Okinawa America would be

battered by the greatest concentration

of artillery encountered by US forces in

the Pacific

War by doggedly holding their fortified

positions The Defenders of Okinawa would

have to be blasted out position by

position at a heavy cost in American

[Music]

lives as the forces on Okinawa prepared

to sacrifice themselves Imperial General

headquarters prepared to implement its

tenan Ichigo plan

this involved the concentration of Army

and Navy aircraft on Formosa kushu and

around

Tokyo with the Navy providing the bulk

of these forces army air units were

placed under Direct Control of the

commander of the combined Fleet Admiral

Toyota The Dilemma confronting Toyota

was how to use these forces in the face

of American quantitative and qualitative

Superior II

ority although the battle for Okinawa

was ultimately decided on land the most

original tactical and technological

developments were in the air and at sea

by 1945 the quality of Japanese Pilots

had slumped the Imperial Navy was all

but irrelevant as a fighting

force as a result the Japanese High

command decided on the widespread

adoption of new forms of the kamikazi

tactic suicide attacks were not new

throughout the war Japanese Pilots had

demonstrated their willingness to crash

into Allied vessels

however during the fighting off the

Philippines in 1944 what had once been a

random act of self-sacrifice was

converted into a formal and lethal

method of attack by the Imperial

Navy the reason for this was simple the

only way that the Japanese could replace

their huge air crew losses was to cut

back training

programs by late 1944 Japanese Pilots

had an average of only 2 or 3 months

training

rival US Navy pilot had two years

training and often the chance to acquire

combat experience in minor

actions the resulting quality gap meant

that Japanese air formations were

regularly annihilated in combat to

overcome the lack of training and Allied

air defenses during the battle for late

in 1944 vice admiral onishi instructed

his Pilots to deliberately Ram their

planes into Allied

warships as Japan's situation

deteriorated by 1945 greater Reliance

was placed upon the use of what were now

termed special attack core or too to

compensate for Japanese

inferiority special attack units

comprised three kamikazi supported by an

observer aircraft and a

fighter this tactical formation was

intended to maximize success by

delivering a coordinated attack the

kamikazes were armed with conventional

bombs or Torpedoes to increase their

destructive

power to avoid errors in the attack the

bombs were already fused as the weight

of the payloads often made the aircraft

less maneuverable and consequently more

vulnerable to Allied fighter planes

sophisticated tactics were replaced by a

fast Sprint towards the target

[Music]

during the approach to the Target

special attack groups learned to confuse

American radar operators by following

returning US Air groups closely enough

to mingle with their radar

Echoes they sent out false signals to

mimic the transmitters on US aircraft

that identified them as friends to

shipborne

radar to further baffle enemy radar the

kamikazes approached erratically

constantly changing altitude in the hope

of breaking contact

[Music]

in the final assault a number of planes

would Mass against a single ship

attacking from several directions in

order to overwhelm its anti-aircraft

defenses uniquely in the Okinawa

campaign Imperial General headquarters

decided to launch a series of special

attack missions called kikuu these

consisted of up to several 100 aircraft

supported by conventional attack

aircraft after seeing off any Allied

Fighters the massed planes of the

kikusui would swoop on exposed Allied

vessels overwhelming them by sheer

weight of numbers and will

to achieve maximum effect in these

attacks the Japanese developed a series

of specialized weapons and deployed

their most advanced

warship the Imperial Navy began to

design a specialized aircraft to carry

out kamikazi attacks instead of relying

on less devastating and more vulnerable

conventional aircraft

[Music]

the most radical design was that of enen

mitsuo OT for a rocket propelled attack

plane the result was the Yokosuka mxy7

Oka meaning cherry blossom built partly

of wood the Oka was carried underneath a

g4m Betty medium bomber and released

about 50 mi from the target the pilot

then held a fast Glide at about 290 mph

[Music]

when the target was in sight a rocket

was ignited while the aircraft was

pushed over into a steep dive for the

last 30 seconds its 800 kg Warhead would

smash into the victim at over 400 mph

causing massive

damage the critical weakness of the Oka

was the slow and cumbersome parent

aircraft needed to deliver it on

numerous occasions in the battle for

Okinawa us Fighters intercepted the ERS

during their approach shredding them out

of the Skies us Pilots mockingly dubbed

the plane Baka meaning

[Music]

[Music]

Fool by 1945 Allied action had reduced

the Japanese submarine Fleet to a shadow

of its former self to stem the tide of

American Naval power the Navy diverted

research and materials into more

economical submersible

[Music]

weapons the kai 10 or Divine fate was

developed by Li tenants hirisi kuruki

and sakio nishina it was based upon the

highly effective long Lance type 93

oxygen propelled shipborne torpedo the

pilot occupied a tiny cockpit equipped

with a small Periscope on top of the

torpedo powered by a hydrogen peroxide

engine the kiten had an attack speed of

40 knots delivering a 1 and 1/2 ton

Warhead the short range of the weapon

meant it had to be delivered strapped to

the deck of a conventional seagoing

submarine this made launching the kiten

a clumsy and risky Affair having reached

the target area the parent submarine had

to surface to enable the kiten pilots to

board their boats at a word from the

pilots the parent boat submerged casting

off the shackles holding the four

kiten throughout this procedure the

parent submarine was exposed to

detection and attack from radar equipped

enemy air and surface

units the Shinu known as ocean Shaker

was a suicide attack motorboat made of

plywood the boats were about 18 ft long

and powered by a six-cylinder Chevrolet

car engine that gave them a top speed of

about 20 knots in one version two

charges each weighing 264 lb were

carried on a rack behind the

pilot the tactic was for three boats to

attack simultaneously each seeking a

vital spot alongside the enemy vessel

before releasing their charges a Stern a

5-second delay on the fuse was intended

to give the vessel time to withdraw in

reality however the fragile boats stood

little chance of surviving the blast

waves consequently Pilots were promoted

to grades and received preferential

treatment on completion of the attack

they received promotion to second

leftenant most of these promotions were

postumus another variant of the Shinu

was fitted with bow charges this was a

dedicated suicide weapon designed to be

rammed at high speed into the side of an

enemy vessel there was a facility for

locking the wheel during the Final

Approach in case the Pilot's courage

failed at the last

moment over 350 Shino Boats were hidden

around

Okinawa during the interwar years the

Japanese Navy tried to match the US

Navy's growing strength

battleships Yamato and moushi their

General design was approved in July 1936

and at 69,000 tons they were nearly

twice the size of any other Battleship

afloat despite their bulk they were

capable of an impressive 27 knots and at

the start of the war their turning

abilities were Superior to any other

capital ship at the heart of their

design were nine 18.1 in guns the most

powerful guns ever placed aboard a

battleship the guns were housed in three

turrets each heavier than a destroyer

each shell weighed 1 and 1/2 tons and

the designated rate of fire was over 1

and 1/2 rounds per

minute the Yamato class were also

designed to absorb merciless punishment

their armor was capable of withstanding

hits from the most powerful Torpedoes

and from shells fired 20,000 M away

built under the strictest secrecy the

Yamato and moushi entered service in

1941 and 42 respectively security

surrounding the two ships was so

effective that until the end of the war

Allied Intelligence on their

capabilities was

minimal generally held in reserve Yamato

and moushi saw relatively little action

until the late stages of the war even

then they never engaged in the

ship-to-ship gun duel they'd been

designed to fight as the carrier

superseded the battleship as the

standard of Naval

power Central to the American fleet's

combat power were aircraft

carriers the heavy and light carriers

made up the main battle forces of vice

admiral Mitch's task force 58 often

called the fast Carrier Group because of

the high speed of its capital

ships the main stay of the fast Carrier

Group were the heavy or Fleet carriers

of the Essex class big and fast these

ships displaced over 27,000 tons and

were capable of a maximum speed just in

excess of 32 knots

the size and Armament of the Essex

carriers enabled them to withstand and

inflict heavy

punishment by late 1944 camikazi attacks

prompted the US Navy to look at the

defenses of its

carriers there was only one way to stop

a kamikazi total disintegration and

there were only 20 seconds to do so once

it came within range of the ship's

guns the Americans strengthened the

essex's anti-aircraft defenses by adding

more guns to create a literal wall of

fire around the

ship extra 40 mm guns were fitted they

also counted 12 lethal 5-in guns and

over 60 smaller 20 mm weapons amongst

their

armament great use was made of VT or

proximity fuses installed in

anti-aircraft shells before VT fuses

were introduced anti-aircraft fire

required the shell to be delivered near

the Target and its detonation by a timer

fuse set to the right distance the VT

fuse made destroying enemy aircraft

Easier by deciding the distance from the

target via electrical waves reflected

off the surface of the

target the combination of radar

inexperienced Japanese air crew and

their aircraft's lack of armor

transformed the VT fuse into a lethal

weapon against Japanese air

attacks Okinawa was the first time that

British carrier forces had operated in

the Western Pacific the four Fleet

carriers of the British task force had

several features that made them less

vulnerable to serious damage from aerial

attack than their americ

cousins designed to operate in the

narrow Seas of Europe in range of

landbased aircraft British carriers were

shaped by passive defense steel decks

and armored hangers gave their carriers

greater strength especially when under

kamikazi

attack in contrast the wooden decks of

the American carriers were easily

penetrated by kamikazi that exploded

amongst the aircraft and combustible

materials on the hanger deck below

despite greater resilience to direct

hits British carriers inflicted far less

damage than their American

counterparts armored hangers reduced the

number of aircraft that could be carried

this made it difficult to deploy strong

fighter cover over the British

Fleet in offensive operations lack of

numbers meant that enemy ground defenses

could not be saturated consequently

during the Okinawa campaign the British

suff had proportionately higher rates of

loss than American Air

groups Central to improving the

carrier's defenses and protecting

Invasion shipping against kamikazi

attacks was the quality of the fighter

aircraft the most impressive carrier

born aircraft available during the

Okinawa campaign was the Vault f6f

Corsair

[Music]

generally recognized as the finest

fighter of the second world war

development of the coars air began as

early as 1938 the first production model

didn't make its initial flight until the

25th of June

[Music]

1942 in order to enable the combat Air

Patrol or cap to intercept kamikazi a

greater speed and rate of climb than the

Hellcat was needed

with a top speed of 440 mph the Co Air

was around 60 M an hour faster than its

rival it also out climbed the Hellcat by

800 ft per second these Superior

characteristics were enhanced by a

standard Armament of 6 half- in machine

guns and the corsair's ability to double

as a ground attack aircraft carrying two

1,000 lb bombs or 8 5-in Rockets

by mid 1943 with increasing production

of Fleet and light carriers the number

of available task groups Rose

dramatically to coordinate these groups

in late 1943 Admiral Nimitz formed the

fast carrier Force the fast carrier

Force had a complement of just under a

th000 craft and comprised four task

groups operating in close proximity for

better

coordination allowing for ships away in

dock each group consisted of two Fleet

and two light carriers with a battleship

or Heavy Cruiser and several destroyers

in

support its strength was the high speed

of its heavy ships the battleships could

keep station at 27 knots while the

carriers could maintain 30 knots for

several hours

supporting the fast carrier force was an

impressive logistic train a fleet Oiler

and transport carrier group of 24 Oilers

provided Fuel and replacement aircraft

additional support came from the fleet

train that for the okanawa campaign

consisted of 206 support

ships these included repair ships

floating dry docks Hospital ships

Salvage vessels ammunition vling and

store

ships two impressive features operations

in 1945 were first the ability to re

ammunition heavy ships at Sea second the

rotation of air Crews between sea

operations and rest

ashore during the okanawa campaign these

factors enabled the fast carrier Force

to maintain a high level of combat

Effectiveness over 92 days of action

without it ever having to return to

Port no Fleet in history has ever

sustained combat operations for so long

at such intensity so far from its home

Shore the ability of the fast carriers

to provide timely and effective

protection relied upon advanced warning

of enemy

aircraft this task was given to the

Destroyer radar pickets and fighter

Direction ships 15 radar pickets were

deployed to cover all points of the

compass 50 to 70 mi from the main Fleet

Anchorage of Western Okinawa picket

ships were concentrated in the north and

Northwest areas considered the most

likely approaches for Japanese

attacks six headquarter ships and 19

fighter Direction ships were responsible

for processing reports from the radar

pickets and sending appropriate numbers

of fighter aircraft to meet the

threats the whole line of picket ships

controlled 8 to 16 fighter aircraft that

could be rapidly reinforced by more

aircraft on The Fast and escort carrier

groups once The Landings were

successfully underway it was planned to

install two radar stations ashore to

relieve the exposed

picket landbased fighter aircraft would

also be available to support the combat

Air

[Music]

Patrol there was some difference of

opinion amongst senior naval officers

about the role of radar

pickets vice admiral Turner stressed

that their primary Duty was to report

Air Raids leaving destruction of enemy

aircraft to the cap and anti-aircraft

fire

[Music]

Turner's replacement in miday vice

admiral Hill considered reporting

secondary to the destruction of enemy

aircraft and breaking up their

formations despite this confusion the

radar pickets played a vital role in

protecting The Invasion Fleet Mast off

Okinawa unfortunately their exposed

positions and lack of defensive

Firepower against multiple attacks meant

that they suffered heavy

losses five were sunk and 16 were

damaged

[Music]

for

[Music]

on the morning of the 14th of March 1945

the fleet carrier Bunker Hill maneuvered

its great bulk through the narrow exit

channel from the ulthi atal some 1100

mil southeast of

[Music]

Okinawa sat on the flag bridge vice

admiral Mark miter watched as the vast

Armada of the fast carrier Force sorted

in a single column emerging into the

deep Pacific Ocean the force deployed

into a cruising formation of four groups

task force 58 total 10 Fleet and six

light carriers supported by eight fast

battleships and 80 other combat vessels

bristling with anti-aircraft guns to

defend their more fragile

cousins Mitch's forces were to prepare

the way for the invasion Fleet now

massing from across the Pacific by

neutralizing enemy air power in southern

Japan

after replenishing at Sea on the 16th

the task groups began a high-speed run

in towards

kushu at first light on the 18th of

March just 90 mi from the Japanese Coast

mitcher signaled his carriers to turn

into the wind and commence launching

their powerful air

groups the first strike waves commenced

attacks against 45 airfields around 5:40

a.m. with devastating

results bombing and strafing attacks

reduced buildings to Ash and Rubble

cratered runways and destroyed

aircraft during these operations the US

carrier groups came under attack from

the fifth air fleet on kushu vice

admiral ugaki had initially been ordered

to disperse his aircraft and avoid

attacking the Americans in order to

conserve his strength for the coming

battle of

Okinawa alerted that task force 58 had

sorted from Oli he knew it would be

impossible to preserve his forces

against four enemy task

groups locating the Americans late on

the 17th the following day ugaki

launched a dawn attack against rear

Admiral radford's task group despite

intensive defensive fire and fighter

cover ugi's men pressed home their

attacks against the

carriers the Enterprise had a lucky

Escape when a bomb failed to explode

Intrepid was damaged by a near Mist that

started fires killing two and wounding

43 of her crew York town took a bomb

through her deck the resulting explosion

blew two holes through her

Hull the deadly duel continued the

following day as task force 58's

aircraft struck further north at

Japanese Merchant and warships at kuray

and Kobe

[Music]

ugaki counterattacked again this time

concentrating against rear Admiral

Davidson's

carriers luck was with the Japanese

Pilots that day alone aircraft managed

to slip through American defenses

scoring a direct hit on the WASP causing

internal fires on five decks however

expert American firefighting and damage

control quickly brought the situation

under control and within an hour boss

was recovering aircraft casualties were

high with over 100 dead and 269

wounded the heaviest damage and loss of

life was suffered by Davidson's Flagship

the Franklin in the process of launching

her second wave of aircraft a lone

Japanese plane flew low right down the

flight deck dropping two bombs

explosions erupted on the hanger and

flight decks bombs and Rockets aboard

the American aircraft went off causing

further damage

with the Franklin in flames and listing

heavily Davidson transferred to the

cruiser Santa Fe who came alongside to

take off survivors and turn her hoses on

the Franklin's roaring

fires after 3 hours the Franklin was

brought under toe by the cruiser

Pittsburgh in an incredible feat by the

morning of the 20th the Franklin was

able to make way under her own power at

15 knots casualties were extreme over a

third of her crew were killed or wounded

eventually the most heavily damaged

aircraft carrier in the world sailed

12,000 m to the Brooklyn Naval Yard New

York but before the Franklin was safe

she had to get out of reach of the

enemy's

aircraft determined to bring the damaged

carrier home vice admiral mitcher

ordered his forces to retire slowly and

provide cover

[Music]

on the afternoon of the 20th of March

ukari sensing the chance to finish off

the crippled American ship attacked

again us fighter sweeps over Japanese

Airfield prevented any major attacks

being launched and consequently only the

Destroyer Hy Powell was hit Enterprise

again escaped to near misses only to

receive damage from us guns when other

ships trying to knock down an enemy

plane aimed too low and hit her

[Music]

both sides disputed the degree of damage

inflicted by task force 58's attacks us

Pilots claimed to have destroyed 528

aircraft the Japanese admitted to 163

lost what is clear is that us carrier

attacks against airfields on kushu

followed a week later by intensive

bombardment of the same targets by b29

heavy bombers prevented the Japanese

mounting any effective Air Raids Against

The Invasion forces of Okinawa until the

6th of

April it will be too late to strike

before or during the preliminary and

Main Landings

on the 24th of March the first ships of

the invasion Fleet arrived these were

the mine sweepers designated to sweep

the approaches to Okinawa and the

surrounding Islands their slogan of no

sweep no Invasion highlights their

importance to the campaign during which

they swept over 3,000 square miles of

sea to ensure the safety of invasion

shipping although the Japanese had not

carried out extensive mining operations

they proved enough devices to make

trouble once swept channels were open on

the 24th of March mitcher detached six

fast battleships to bombard the beaches

around minoga on Okinawa as part of the

plan to deceive the Japanese about the

exact location of the

invasion the following day Mitch's

battleships were reinforced by the

appearance of Admiral Duran's 18 escort

carriers a force of light Cruisers and

destroyers started softening up the Kama

Islands to the west of Okinawa in prepar

for the arrival of the 77th

division surface bombardment of intended

Landing SES began in Earnest on the 26th

of March with the arrival of the main

body of the gunfire and covering Force

task force

54 steaming in four close columns

through a 10m swept Channel between the

Camas and okanawa task force 54 was an

impressive sight

from the 26th of March to the main

Landings on the 1st of April task force

54 pounded known and suspected Japanese

positions in total

5,162 tons of ammunition were expended

over 27,000 rounds greater than 5 in in

caliber most impressive to observers

were the flames and Rubble thrown up by

the 14 and 16in guns of 10 old

battleships five of these battle wagons

have been sunk or damaged at Harbor in

1941 it was perhaps fitting that they

took part in the US Navy's final

campaign of the

war at 8:01 a.m. on the 26th of March

the ground campaign erupted when four

battalions of the 77th division began

landing on the Kurama

Islands these small land masses were

unsuitable for airfields and could not

support large concentrations of troops

but the road step between the islands

offered anchorages for fleet supply and

repair vessels mine sweepers and their

tenders Landing crafts and boat pools a

base for flying boats responsible for

anti-submarine patrols could also be

established once secured the kramas

would become a forward Fleet base and

provide a springboard for securing the

tiny islands of kesma 6 to 8 mi from the

southern coast of Okinawa

[Music]

not expecting an attack against the

kramas the Japanese defenses were weak

and poorly manned resistance on Guma

consisted only of longrange sniper fire

whilst tokaji was secured without a

[Applause]

[Music]

fight by early afternoon yakabi was

secured over the next 2 days Japanese

troops had to be rooted out of hills and

caves on the AKA and zamami Islands the

largest island toos Shiki was quickly

secured except for the continued

resistance of the Garrison in the

Hills by the 29th of March all the

islands were secured followed by the

kesar 2 Days

Later casualties were surprisingly low

with 31 killed and 84 wounded over 121

Japanese had been taken prisoner

offering hope to us commanders that

Okinawa may be as easy to subdue

at dawn on Easter Sunday the 1st of

April over 1,300 American ships packed

the waters around

[Music]

Okinawa just after 4:00 a.m. thousands

of Marines and soldiers began climbing

down scrambling Nets into landing craft

alongside their transports specialized

tank Landing ships spread their yawning

bow doors and launched a wave of

amphibious M4 A4 Sherman

tanks behind them five to seven waves of

amtr formed up 4,000 yards from the

beaches these armored troop carriers

were designed to take the Infantry

safely to the shore and then over the

exposed beaches

as hundreds of assault craft moved into

position warships and other fire support

craft continued to saturate the beaches

with the heaviest pre-invasion

bombardment of the war over 44,000

shells of between 5 and 16 in in caliber

were fired to prepare the way for the

landing

[Music]

forces at 8:00 a.m. command ships dipped

their signal p and along an 8mile front

the waves of assault craft carrying men

of the first and sixth marine and 7th

and 96th Army divisions began the Final

Approach to

Okinawa ahead of them smaller artillery

and Rocket armed monitors raced forwards

to deliver point blank salvos in the

final moments before landing at 8:42

a.m. the first wave hit the haushi

beaches throughout the day this

choreographed Landing procedure

continued as successive waves formed on

the the departure line and then made for

the shore in the first hour 16,000

troops were landed by Nightfall 60,000

troops with stores vehicles and

artillery were secured in a large Bridge

head the opening day of operation

Iceberg had surpassed all expectations

airfields at yontan and Cadena were

secured at a cost of relatively few

casualties the night however was eerily

quiet us commanders were puzzled why

hadn't the anticipated Japanese

retaliation started where was the

enemy leftenant General usima and most

of the 32nd Army were as planned dug in

far to the South during the 1 of April

ushijima and his staff had observed the

US operations from The High Ground near

shuri unable to obtain accurate

intelligence about the location of the

main Japanese positions the seasoned

troops of the third amphibious and 24th

Army Corp continued to push quickly in

land against sporadic enemy resistance

with the eastern coast reached by the

3rd of April the center of Okinawa was

under Us control liutenant General

Buckner decided to accelerate his plans

originally third amphibious cause strike

North was scheduled for phase three of

the

operation these forces were ordered to

proceed and take the mobo peninsula

simultaneously with 24th Army cores

thrust

south over the next 2 weeks the Marines

of Major General Roy giger's third

amphibious core made rapid progress in

clearing Northern

Okinawa apart from crushing two small

pockets of Japanese troops the only

obstacle facing the Marines was the

rugged terrain as they pushed forwards

service and engineer troops repaired

roads and built Bridges to support the

speed of operations

on the 7th of April the only substantial

Japanese forces facing giger's Marines

had been sealed into the matobo

peninsula 6 days later tank infantry

teams of the sixth Marine Division

reached the northern tip of the

island third amphibious core began

preparations to Stamp Out the isolated

Japanese being so ahead of schedule the

Marines had reason to be confident of a

swift end to the campaign

hopes of a swift land Victory were

extinguished as the 7th and 96th

divisions of 24th Army Corps reached the

outer positions of oosi jima's shuri

Defense

barrier near aruchi was a 450 ft Ridge

nicknamed The Pinnacle because of a 30ft

coral Spike on its

Summit on the the fifth of April Seventh

division tried to take this position but

was driven back the Japanese defenses on

this Ridge were a taster of what lay in

store along the main defensive line

further

south the Pinnacle was defended by a

company of 120 Japanese of the 14th

independent Battalion led by first

lieutenant saiji tagawa the ridge was

honeycombed with trenches pits and

underground passages with all the main

approaches mined and covered with barbed

wire the base of the hill was defended

by 10 light and heavy machine guns

supported by 7 50mm mortars from these

positions the Japanese could Shelter

From the initial enemy artillery barrage

when the barrage lifted The Defenders

could emerge unscathed to concentrate

fire on us infantry struggling over the

wire and

mines on the 6th of April fresh attempts

were made to overrun tagawa position

under cover of a short Preparatory

artillery barrage B company started to

make Swift progress but as the US troops

neared the top they came under intense

Small Arms fire from Japanese troops

who'd rushed from the caves they' taken

cover in during the

barrage B company desperately held on to

its gains for a quarter of an hour

before being forced to retire when the

attack was renewed an hour later the

Japanese raced from their caves some

actually running through the artillery

fire to push the Americans back again

soon afterwards tagawa directing the

battle from the Pinnacle was ready for B

company's third attack seen massic

below so concerned was tagawa in dealing

with the threat from his front that he

completely missed sea companies attack

from the flank until it was too

late the US troops swarmed over the

ridge systematically wiping the enemy

Out With Grenades and flamethrowers the

fighting at the Pinnacle established a

pattern in which the Japanese proved

extremely effective at dealing with

frontal attacks but very poor at

responding to flanking

movements as the fight for the Pinnacle

raged on further west the 96th division

had been heavily engaged around the

feature dubbed Cactus

Ridge this position caused considerable

problems because of its anti-tank moat

and mined approaches that again

restricted the direction of the US

attack consequently the American

officers assigned a take the ridge

decided that a standup frontal charge

was the only option over the next 24

hours several such American bansai

charges placed the ridge in their

hands the battle for Okinawa was to see

a combination of the subtle tactics at

the Pinnacle and the direct assault used

at Cactus

[Music]

Ridge over the next few days hodi's

divisions continued their increasingly

slow move South against the outer works

of 32nd Army's main line around

shuri during fighting for the tomb and

triangulation Hills the seventh division

ran into crippling Japanese artillery

[Music]

fire The Barrage devastated the American

tactic of using infantry Tank teams by

driving the Infantry back and disabling

the tanks whose trapped Crews were then

bayoneted by the 8th of April a series

of bloody assaults secured the Japanese

positions soon afterwards an attempt to

outflank the next Japan ja positions was

repulsed by undetected enemy positions

to the

rear the discovery of these supporting

positions in depth convinced seventh

division's commanders that they had

reached the main enemy defense line a

similar conclusion was drawn by the 96

division who had just received a costly

repulse at the foot of the formidable

defenses around the kazak

ridge after a week of confusion and

suspicion Lieutenant General Buckner

finally located the enemy

but with so many lives already lost this

discovery offered little

[Music]

Comfort while the US 10th Army probed

towards the main Japanese positions on

Okinawa the vast Armada of ships

continued to unload troops and

supplies although Imperial General

headquarters had authorized its

operation Teno defense plan for okanawa

on the 25th of March the destruction

caused by US air strikes against kushu

prevented any Air Raids until the 6th of

April that day Admiral Toyota launched

the first kikusui attack of over 900

aircraft 355 of them

kamikazi the first US vessels to suffer

were the exposed radar pickets but

Nightfall three had been

lost eight destroyers were also damaged

and two ammunition ships and a transport

also

sunk the following day Toyota threw in

another massive attack a camikazi

penetrated the defense screen of haushi

beaches crashing into the battleship

Maryland inflicting over 50 casualties a

group of 20 aircraft approaching the

transport area failed to score any

successes losing 12 to fighter an

anti-air craft fire once again the radar

pickets suffered at the hands of

overwhelming enemy numbers the Destroyer

Escort USS Weston was hit by a kamikazi

that thundered out of the clouds while

her guns were firing on three sides

fires ripped through her decks and power

was lost but managing the damage brought

the situation under control and she was

able to make her way to

kma taking advantage of the absence of

the strike groups from the carriers of

task force 58 Toyota mounted a series of

powerful attacks against the

carriers on Okinawa as Buckner prepared

for a major attack on the main Japanese

defenses in the South final plans to

secure the north of the island were made

these involved simultaneous attacks

against the mobu peninsula and the

nearby island of

isima the center of Japanese resistance

on the mobu Peninsular was the yayak

Hill Mass which was defended by Colonel

Udo and 2,000

troops initially the six Marine

division's operations were hampered by

low cloud cover and dense vegetation

preventing aerial reconnaissance from

locating udo's main position snipers

added to the confusion drawing the

Marines in the wrong

direction in the end the chance capture

of an enemy map on the 13th of April

Finally Revealed udo's position and the

Marines immediately positioned four

battalions around yayak for an

assault on the 16th of April as the two

battalions pressured the Japanese from

the East two battalions of the fourth

Marine regiment moved to seize the crest

from the north aided by a Thrust by the

first Battalion fourth Marine regiment

from the south in the face of heavy

mortar and Small Arms fire this

concentric assault managed to secure the

crest of the position in a series of

charges but this still left the Marines

with the task of securing the rest of

udo's positions in the

area a determined and well planned

attack on the 17th of April routed the

remaining Japanese troops from the yake

position left liutenant Colonel John

moro's first Battalion 29th Marine

regiment carried out a skillful

deception plan that distracted the enemy

from his main force and scaling the

almost sheer Cliffs on the south side of

the main

Peak by evening two companies held the

summit at the same time the fourth

Marines moved rapidly North through

enemy positions killing 700 Japanese

counter gorilla operations against

remaining small pockets of Japanese

continued well into May when the sixth

Marine Division was shifted South to the

main

battle as the Marines cleared the main

land the 77th division disembarked to

secure aishima the island was an ideal

location for an early warning radar and

its three airfields would provide much

needed air support for operations ashore

and at

[Music]

Sea assuming the best beaches would be

heavily defended the division landed

under Naval gunfire at a less favorable

Landing site catching the Japanese by

surprise but the advantage was

shortlived the main Japanese defenses

were located around the town of e and

The Ridges approaching the steep slopes

of Mount igugu the main barrier to an

advance against the defenses on Mount

igugu was a height soon dubbed bloody

Ridge by the Americans at the summit of

bloody Ridge was a concrete building

which the 77th division called

Government Hill House defending these

positions were 2,000 troops and

civilians including women carrying

wooden

Spears despite the unopposed landings of

the 16th of April over the next 2 days

the Americans failed to secure bloody

Ridge in the face of powerful Japanese

counterattacks Major General Andrew

Bruce commanding 77th division was

forced to review his plans and prepare a

series of fresh and ultimately

successful

attacks the 305th and 307th regiments

renewed a slow Advance through the town

and West onto bloody Ridge the main

attack by the 306th regimental combat

team fell from the north government

house was secured by the 307th regiment

and then held in the face of ferocious

enemy

counterattacks G company second

Battalion counted 280 Japanese bodies in

front of its

positions with government house and EA

secured the Americans moved swiftly

against the last positions on Mount

augu the peak was finally captured just

before 2:00 when the American flag was

raised many Japanese and civilians still

remained in the caves and on the 22nd of

April they mounted a futile

attack at the end over 4,700 Japanese

including 1500 civilians have been

killed us losses totaled 172 dead and

over 900

wounded the cost was worth it for

possession of airfields that by the end

of the month provided vital cover to

shipping of the hauchi and recently

secured nakagusuku beaches

[Music]

having spent several days bringing up

fresh aircraft to replace the heavy

losses from earlier attacks Admiral

Toyota's forces struck again at spru

and's Fleet clustered around Okinawa

three KIU attacks were mounted between

the 11th and the 16th of

April warned about the first of these

attacks by a TOA of Japanese prisoner

mitcha canel plans for air support over

Okinawa and readied task force 58 for

imminent

attack the British Pacific Fleet moved

to strike airfields on Formosa to lessen

the threat from spu's Left Flank the

gunfire support group was reduced to the

bare minimum for Shore support so that

most of its vessels could cruise at in a

tight formation for maximum

defense on the 11th of April the Allies

met the Resolute attacks of 185 kamakazi

and 45 torpedo

bombers in line with Japanese planning

150 Fighters were armed to sweep aside

enemy cap for the attack

aircraft this proved a complete failure

north of Okinawa us Fighters outgunned

their less experi exped opponents in a

series of fierce skirmishes that cost

the Japanese nearly a quarter of their

aircraft this pattern of events was

repeated the following day and again on

the 16th of April with the radar pickets

once more bearing the brunt of the

attacks one of these the Destroyer lafy

might have been excused from thinking

that it was the sole aim of the attacks

on the 16th of April in 80 minutes she

suffered 22 separate attacks hit by four

bombs and six kamikazi only brilliant

ship handling damage control and The

Bravery of her Gunners saved

her over this 3-day aerial assault two

destroyers were sunk and 10 were

damaged eight other vessels were hit

including the carriers Essex Enterprise

Intrepid and the battleship Tennessee

the next Kiyu raids were not mounted

until the 28th and 29th of April while

the Japanese replenished their exhausted

air

units even so every day throughout April

the US Navy and the British Pacific

Fleet were attacked by up to 20 planes

that exacted a small but steady toll

as the Marines secured Northern Okinawa

and vice admiral spu's fifth Fleet rode

out the mass kamakazi attacks 10th US

Army maneuvered into position for a

major assault against the first of USI

Jima defense lines in front of

shuri the 7th and 96th divisions spent

the 14th to the 19th of April

reconnoitering enemy positions and

mounting limited attacks to secure

jumping off points for a major

offensive to ensure the maximum chance

of success against what were clearly

strong enemy positions leftenant General

Buckner landed the 27th division to

reinforce the assault scheduled for the

19th of April

facing the Americans were a series of

heavily fortified ridges running east

west across the 4 Mile isas on the

American right the 27th division was

faced by a river crossing followed by an

advance over rice fields all under

observation from enemy positions on Kaku

Ridge in the center the 96th division

faced the modest but well-defended

Tombstone Nishi baru and tanaru features

on the far right the seventh division

was opposed by Hill 178 in the town of

Uki behind the forward positions ran the

200t high urasoe mura escarment followed

by rough ground up to the Japanese inner

defense ring around shuri and Lieutenant

General USI jima's headquarters

defending the Japanese positions were

veteran troops of the 62nd division it

would take over 5 days of heavy and

often confused Close Quarter fighting

for Buckner's men to break what they

named the machinato line

the Advance on the 19th of April was

preceded by a tremendous artillery

barrage Buckner massed the greatest

concentration of ground artillery in the

Pacific War assisted by warships and

hundreds of aircraft strafing rocketing

bombing and nap arming enemy

positions the Japanese hidden deep

within their shelters waited until the

fire finished and then rushed to their

positions before the American assault

infantry could overrun

them once again US troops were

confronted by well fortified and

skillfully linked underground and

reverse slope positions backed by a

range of

artillery these were in turn reinforced

with Savage often suicidal

counterattacks very quickly the three

division attack collapsed into a series

of individual battles

after conducting a skilled river

crossing outflanking the kazak ridge to

the West 27th division was halted at the

Western end of The uru mura Ridge in the

center 96 division struggled to gain a

series of toe holds on the Nishi baru

Ridge to the east the seventh division

made no progress

over the next few days some of the

bitterest and most chaotic fighting

centered around a Salient on the Kaku

Ridge with the flanks of the 27th and

96th divisions threatened Japanese

positions had to be

reduced moving methodically west to east

elements of the 27th division had nearly

cleared the ridge by the afternoon of

the 20th of

April however the desperate fighting on

the urura muru ridge required forces to

be diverted away from

Kaku the aggressive Japanese Defenders

immediately rushed more troops and

mortars back onto the

ridge with enemy troops in its rear and

no reserves 27th division was in a

dangerous

position only by borrowing troops from

other formations did it finally encircle

Kaku Ridge on the 24th of April Bradford

Force equipped with tanks armored

flamethrowers and self-propelled

artillery attacked to wipe out the

Japanese only to find they had escaped

from under their

noses the central position of the Nishi

baru Ridge made 96 divisions Advance

difficult fire from flanking positions

and massed artillery took a heavy toll

amongst the advancing

troops the Japanese waged a ferocious

defense mounting local counterattacks at

every opportunity to drive off the

tenuous American gain

tanks and armored flamethrowers were

delayed by the need to build Crossing

points across a nearby

Gorge although these vehicles subjected

the Nishu tanaru escarpments to severe

attack the Japanese retained the reverse

slope like the rest of the machinato

line the Nishi baru position finally

fell with relative Ease on the 24th of

April as 32nd Japanese Army withdrew to

the inner shuri defense

line Bui jima's reason for this decision

was the realization that the Americans

were on the verge of penetrating his

outer defensive

ring rather than allowing the Americans

to seize the initiative and fight a

fluid battle in the open where their

Firepower would devastate Japanese

forces USI Jima decided to force them to

fight another costly frontal battle

against well prepared defenses

despite swiftly following up 302nd

Army's retirement in the last days of

April The Battered and exhausted 24th US

Army Corp made little Headway against

the inner shuy defense line facing the

strongest Japanese defenses in the

Pacific War liutenant General Buckner

decided to relieve the 27th and 96th

divisions by sending third amphibious

core

South Buckler's actions sparked

controversy the senior marine officer

Major General Roy Giger argued for using

his forces in an outflanking operation

with Landings on the minoga beaches once

aore the Marines could collapse the

expose Japanese defenses from the rear

with relative ease

while there were strong Arguments for

the Marines amphibious maneuver planners

of the Navy and of 10th Army had

legitimate reservations the troops of

24th core were close to collapse this

would have left only two divisions of

third amphibious Corp for Landings

against the strongly defended beaches

around

minoga above all it was the naval

commanders whose opinion counted most

they were adamant that in the face of

heavy enemy air attacks they could not

spare the covering forces necessary to

protect another Transport Group off

Okinawa

in an ironic twist unknown to the

Americans USI Jima had already moved the

24th division from the minoga sector to

reinforce The Battered 62nd division

before

shuri by the start of May Buckner's

forces had completed their

reorganization with the first marine and

77th divisions moving into the line for

another three division

assault by this time us intelligence and

front commanders had dismissed the

possibility of large-scale Japanese

counterattacks on the 4th of May their

confidence was rudely

shattered ever since the American

Landings Imperial General headquarters

and more aggressive members of 32nd Army

staff had been advocating a more

positive strategy Major General isamu

Cho had been cajoling ISU Jima to mount

an attack in early

April Colonel Yahara had opposed this

shift from his original defensive

Concept in the second week of May Yahara

again found himself strongly opposing

Cho's demand for a major counter

offensive to Yahara any attack was

futile and would only weaken 30-second

Army's ability to prolong the

battle under the cover of an artillery

barrage the assault regiments aimed to

overrun the American artillery lines

before the guns could

respond amphibious raids were to attack

the enemy from both flanks along the

coast within hours yara's predictions

came true all along the line the

offensive was an abject failure us

casualties were 649 dead they counted

over

6,237 Japanese bodies in front of their

positions the failure of USI jima's

Counterattack did not prevent his troops

from putting up a strong resistance

against 24th ca's subsequent attempts to

secure jumping off positions for a

general assault on the inner shy line

these positions were finally secured at

Great

cost Buckner then reinforced his front

with the sixth Marine Division and

replaced seventh division with the 96th

orders were issued for an attack to

envelop the shy line from east and west

on the 11th of

May by now US forces had adapted their

tactics to the unique situation on

Okinawa General artillery bares were

rejected in favor of pinpoint fire

against specific

targets VT proximity shells that burst

directly over enemy trenches showering

them with lethal splinters were also

rushed to

Okinawa infantry Tank teams were

extensively deployed where ground

permitted most effective was the

combination of small arms fire to

neutralize enemy positions so that

infantry teams using flamethrowers and

demolition charges

could destroy the enemy in what Buckner

termed blowtorch and cork screw

tactics at first the new American

tactics achieved little as 10th Army's

attack broke down into a series of

individual pitched battles in the west

the two Marine divisions pushed slowly

South towards the asato river behind the

shy Heights from where the Japanese

poured in constant harassing fire

the hinge of the enemy positions in this

sector was a complex of Three

Hills one of these the Sugarloaf proved

the six Marin toughest fight of the

campaign despite tank artillery and

Naval gunfire the six Marines repeatedly

failed to move over the crest against

Japanese rear slope

positions it took four days of bitter

fighting before Sugarloaf

fell it cost the Marines

2,662 casualties and significantly a

further 1,6 62 from combat

fatigue there was little respite for the

Marines who now had to batter their way

through an equally strong defense

complex around horseshoe and Crescent

Hills the first marine and 77th

divisions experienced equally tough

opposition yet in an attack on the dasi

ridge the Marines demonstrated that they

were learning how to deal more

effectively with Japanese

tactics on the 11th of May a force of

Tanks was infiltrated behind the DHI

Ridge there they fired on Japanese

troops running from their sheltered

reverse slope positions to drive off the

anticipated frontal attack after a

preliminary artillery

barrage Marines were then able to move

forwards and clear the remaining enemy

positions the 10th Army's decisive

breakthrough during the 10-day Battle

Before the shy line came unexpectedly in

the east from 96 division the key to the

Japanese defenses in this sector was

conical

Hill the core and divisional commanders

believed that only an attack from the

West could succeed because of enemy

positions on High Ground dominating the

Eastern approaches to the

position in the end conle Hill was taken

from the East two platoon commanders

chose to surprise the enemy by attacking

through a stronger natural position

which they correctly guessed was only

lightly defended

with conical Hill taken US forces were

in a position to race into the Japanese

rear and envelop

shy it seemed to all at 10th Army

Headquarters that the final destruction

of 32nd Japanese Army was imminent

in miday it became clear to liutenant

General usima that American forces were

close to achieving a breakthrough of his

last defensive

line ignoring the advice of Major

General Cho and his staff for a last

ditch defense centered on shuri usima

ordered a withdrawal to Fresh positions

in the south

when us 10th Army Headquarters realized

the Japanese were withdrawing rather

than preparing for a last standard shy

it ordered a general Advance although

the skeleton Japanese forces still

covering shuri were quickly overcome

lack of intelligence and the arrival of

torrential rains prevented Buckner's

forces from turning USI jima's Retreat

into a route

Buckner's optimism that the Japanese

would not be able to establish another

strong defense line was quickly proved

wrong the few days preparation afforded

to the Japanese by the slow American

Pursuit enabled them to move into

position on a massive escarment

comprising two formations yadake and yau

Dake by this stage of the campaign 32nd

Army had only 14,000 troops orbe it with

substantial fire support to defend this

formidable position with its 100t

northern Cliff

face despite the futility of their

position and the horrendous losses they

had suffered USI jima's men were still

ready to obey orders to fight to the

death on the 6th of June US forces began

their final offensive of the Okinawa

campaign in the west first Marine

Division began a gruelling Six-Day

battle on the oruk Peninsula to

eliminate the naval Defense Force which

had chosen to die on its own rather than

with the

Army in the center Fierce fighting

pushed the US 96 division to take a low

Ridge below the main USA yaizu escarment

which was needed as a jumping off point

for the main

assault one company of the 381st

regiment suffered over 50% casualties

trying to cross open ground from

pre-registered enemy guns before being

forced to retire over 5 days the

American Division made only marginal

gains fighting for the yua yaizu

position and supporting position of

Kishi Ridge to the West lasted until the

17th of June when an exhausted Japanese

defense finally collapsed under

unremitting American

pressure Japanese resistance continued

over the next week but with the last

major defensive positions in American

hands opposition usually consisted of

small isolated pockets holding out

against well organized combat units with

tank

support only 24th Japanese division held

out to the end as an organized Force at

madira for the rest of the time the

battle became a Manhunt with USI jima's

disorganized forces fleeing before guns

and flamethrowers or surrendering in

Rising numbers

[Music]

Okinawa was officially declared secure

on the 22nd of June

1945 neither of the two land commanders

lived to witness the American victory

usima took his own life by ritual

suicide rather than endure the dishonor

of

[Music]

surrender the Americans paid a high

price for Success on Okinawa over

7,213 soldiers and Marines were killed

and another 31,000

wounded at Sea the American and the

small Allied Force lost 36 ships with

368 damaged

Japanese losses dwarfed those of the

Americans around 110,000 men lost their

lives and 7,400 were taken

prisoner over 7,800 planes were lost to

just 773 American

[Music]

aircraft Yamato the largest battleship

ever built had also been ruthlessly

crushed under American Naval Air

[Music]

power as the bitter campaign for Okinawa

was fought out from April to June

1945 Japanese and American planners

prepared for the final battle on the

Japanese home Islands Japan's plight in

late 1945 was obvious to her leaders but

the question of unconditional surrender

and the desire for assurances about the

continuance of The Emperor's rule

prevented them from Making

Peace us leaders shocked by the

casualties and the Hopeless suicidal

seemingly fanatical nature of Japanese

resistance on Okinawa looked for another

way of ending the war without resorting

to a costly and protracted

invasion in defending the home Islands

Imperial General headquarters faced The

Dilemma that it could not adopt the p

massive tactics utilized on Okinawa

Japan could only be saved by defeating

an American Invasion at the wat's edge

or through large counterattacks further

in

land the problem was that as the

Americans had shown on Okinawa Japanese

forces advancing in the open would be

annihilated by vastly Superior us

Firepower and for the invasion of Japan

American planners were mustering the

most powerful amphibious force of the

war as a result us planners estimated

their casualties for the decisive phase

of the invasion at

126,000 heavy as the figure may seem it

was no greater than many other battles

of the second world

war yet the cost of Okinawa continued to

haunt many American

leaders after the successful detonation

of an atomic device on the 16th of July

they had a new and more powerful weapon

with which to break Japanese resolve in

a series of shock

attacks consequently on the 6th of

August at Hiroshima the first atomic

bomb was

dropped and on the 9th of August

Nagasaki was destroyed by a second

Atomic

[Music]

weapon the effect of these events

finally convinced Emperor Hirohito to

instruct his divided cabinet to end the

war on the 15th of August Hirohito

personally informed a stunned nation

that as the war was not progressing in

Japan's favor they must bear the

unbearable on the 2nd of September

aboard the Battleship Missouri Japan

officially surrendered to the Allied

powers

[Music]

the collapse of the German campaign in

Russia leading to the occupation of much

of Eastern Europe and the Balkans by

Soviet forces in 1945 had its roots in

events occurring some years earlier

[Music]

Hitler had studied his history even

though he was inclined to draw fatally

unbalanced conclusions from what he

read in the end it was his intuitive

rather than educated guidance of German

strategy that lost him the

war he had long known that the bulans

had always spelt trouble and initially

held back from involvement in that glue

pot in 1939 after the conquest and

dismemberment of Poland he entered into

the infamous pact with Stalin and turned

his attention to France and Britain his

enemies in the

west by Midsummer of 1940 it seemed that

Nazi Germany had all but won the war and

achieved all Hitler's strategic

objectives the swastika flag flew from

the North Cape to the Spanish border and

the axis of Germany Italy and Japan

appeared firmly in the ascendant

[Music]

but even as he received the rapturous

plaudits of the crowds in Berlin

following the defeat of France Belgium

and Holland and the expulsion of the

British expeditionary force from the

continent Hitler was already nursing his

wish to exterminate the forces of

bolshevism and the only way to do that

was to conquer the Soviet

Union once this had been achieved by the

destruction of the Red Army Germany

would have achieved a long-cherished

ambition the acquisition of vast tracts

of territory that could be colonized by

Germans who would work the land and

develop its industrial and economic

potential using masses of slave labor

provided by the Russian rural

masses for this Hitler needed a secure

Southern flank as well as the oil

resources of Romania and Hungary

initially good German diplomacy seemed

to be securing the alliances in

southeast Europe that would guarantee a

bloodless campaign whereby German

influence could be firmly secured in the

Balkans but when musolini hoping to

match the success of the German March

into Czechoslovakia in 1939 sent his

army across the Albanian border into

Greece in October 1940 Hitler's plans

collapsed the Italians were

ignominiously hurled back and British

ground and Air elements arrived in

Mainland Greece cre and the aian islands

within weeks to support the Greeks

British bombers on Greek air Fields were

now within range of the vast Romanian

oil fields and refineries at plesi one

of Hitler's main strategic

objectives something had to be

done a furious Hitler gave orders for

German forces to invade Greece this was

impossible in the face of approaching

winter so Hitler had to turn to

emergency diplomacy to buy time as his

forces redeployed to southern Europe for

a campaign in the spring of

1941 Hungary and Romania were signed up

as members of the axis in November

1940 Bulgaria took more persuasion being

that much closer to the Soviet Union

already rumbling menacingly at the

threat of an axis Bull workk on its

Southwestern

approaches German patients paid off and

the bug Arians agreed to the entry of

German support troops during the winter

months their Engineers were busily

preparing assembly areas in southern

Bulgaria from which the Greek Invasion

would be

[Music]

launched as spring approached numerous

military Bridges were thrown across the

danu and Bulgaria finally signed into

the axis on the 1st of March 1941 as

German combat troops entered the country

across the Romanian border formed up in

their deployment areas and awaited the

order to advance into

Greece until now Yugoslavia had remained

neutral and outside the axis although

its large Catholic croat population was

inclined to be pro-german

up to a point Hitler accepted its

government stance but demanded unlimited

use by the verar of the key strategic

Rail Link from Belgrade to salonica

a reluctant Yugoslav government signed

into the axis on the 25th of March but a

few days later a coup by officers

sympathetic to the Allies forced the pro

German Regent Prince Paul into Exile and

placed the 18-year-old King Peter II on

the throne declaring him to be of

age the new prime minister General

simovich refused to ratify the signature

of his predecessor on the axis treaty

and a furious Hitler announced on the

27th of March that he would destroy

Yugoslavia as both military power and

sovereign

state simovich called on Russia

traditional protector of the slaves for

help but received only a bland Assurance

of friendship and non-aggression

[Music]

on the 6th of April the Germans

simultaneously invaded Greece and

Yugoslavia which from the start was a

divided

nation the Orthodox serbs loathed the

Catholic croats and both detested the

Muslim

bosnians once the country had been

occupied by the Germans these age-old

hatreds continued to affect the

subsequent Guerilla campaign making it

extremely difficult for the

Special Operations executive in London

to determine which faction whether

royalist liberal Democrat or communist

was actually fighting the Germans and

which was preparing to seize political

power once the war had

ended the German Blitz Creek

devastatingly supported from the air

quickly overwhelmed

Yugoslavia pro-german cowat units of the

royal Yugoslav Army mutinied at once and

some actually began to fight servs an

Armistice was signed on the 17th of

April the Germans had conquered

Yugoslavia for the loss of less than 500

men King Peter and his supporters fled

into Exile from which they emerged

briefly in 1945 only to be expelled Once

More by Tito's communist

government the exhausted Greek army that

had fought so valiantly against the

attan Ian was forced to capitulate

within days of the German intervention

and the British and Empire troops sent

to its Aid were forced out of Mainland

Greece then cre with heavy losses of men

ships and

material German troops entered Athens on

the 27th of

April Hitler had now secured his

Southern flank but the delay caused by

the need to invade Yugoslavia and then

Greece had fatally interfered with the

timetable for invading Russia the

brilliant staff work for which the

German Army had long been famous was not

in itself enough to beat the

clock the invasion of Russia began on

the 21st of June following the major

redeployment of forces necessary to

bring the conquerors of the Balkans up

to the Soviet

border the events of the following 3

years were to prove that Hitler's

judgment in launching his forces against

the Soviet Union at least a month after

they would have stood a good chance of

forcing their way through to Moscow in

the summer of 1941 proved his and his

country's

downfall as it was the German Army came

within an case of taking Moscow but they

arrived on the outskirts of the

sprawling city as the grip of winter

seized the

[Music]

land they had not bargained for a winter

campaign and their clothing and

Equipment were nowhere near adequate for

the savagery of the

climate Hitler remarked Winston

Churchill had failed to notice that

Russia had a

winter by 1944 it was clear that Germany

could not hope to win the war the

seemingly Limitless Manpower and

Industrial resources of the Soviet Union

aided by Massive support from the

Western allies the United States in

particular had ground down the Nazi war

machine within Germany itself the

adverse trend of the war was beginning

to make itself felt one German

eyewitness described a typical scene on

a Mainline railway station as the troops

left for the Netherlands Belgium and

France carrying cheerful drafts back

from home leave and others departed

Bound for the Eastern

front for those leaving on the westbound

trains there was laughter affectionate

farewells instructions as to what gifts

were to be brought back from Paris on

the next

leave for the men departing for the

Eastern Front there was a tense silence

and an aura of Gloom and for boing as

wives mothers and sweethearts bade

tearful farewells to Men Who felt there

was scant chance of return

those left at home faced increasing

shortages from mid1 1944 as the copia

supplies from Normandy and the low

countries dried up with a steady Allied

advance from the Normandy Beach

heads by night the RAF pursued its

inexorable bombing campaign against the

German cities and by day massed

formations of American bombers pounded

away at pinpoint targets aiming to

destroy the transport and Industrial

infrastructure of the Third

Reich until early in 1944 the LT buffer

Fighters had been able to shoot down

hundreds of American bombers but with

the introduction of the long-range

Mustang air superiority fighter whose

drop tanks rolls Packard engine and

Powerful Armament enabled it to

accompany the lumbering bomber

formations into the very heart of the

Third Reich the German Fighters were

outclassed and driven from the

sky but although the Allied proponents

of this remorseless bombardment claimed

that it would result in a collapse of

German National morale nothing of the

sort happened a weary populace dug

itself out of the ruins every morning

and continued to obey the will of the

furer whose Ambitions had created this

dire

situation as the Allies rested Mastery

of the air from the LT buffer the

bombing offensive intensified it was not

directed solely at the German cities

battered as these had become by

1943 other important strategic targets

competed for

attention prominent among the with the

enormous Refinery and oil well complexes

around the town of plesi in Romania upon

which much of the German war economy

depended Germany had no oil supplies of

its own and was reliant on what could be

obtained from Russia and the occupied

territories particularly

Romania these provided a third of

Germany's oil requirements even when

running at half capacity of a million

refined tons a month

their sheer area posed a problem for

they could not be destroyed in a single

attack but had to be totally flattened

and put permanently out of commission as

the Allied Airmen discovered to their

cost this was virtually

impossible bombing attacks as early as

1942 had been ineffectual and it was not

until the following year that a

considerable force of long-range heavy

bombers was available to prosecute a

major attack

on the 1st of August 1943 a force of B24

liberators based in North Africa took

off for

plesi this was a heavily defended Target

surrounded by batteries of guns and

protected aoft by four groups of me 109

Fighters some 200 Italian Fighters were

based on airfields as stride the likely

bommer roots to and from the target

[Music]

casualties reduced the force as it flew

towards Romania poor navigation led many

aircraft to drift and one formation is

said to have flown low over the capital

Bucharest one bomber flying low up the

city's main

thoroughfare chaos rained over the

target as different bomber groups tried

desperately to avoid midair

collisions the anti-aircraft defenses

were alert and ready and a tornado of

fire greeted the lumbering bombers as

they they fought their way into the

refinery

area many flying at maximum speed no

more than 30 ft above the ground were

brought down by other aircraft's Delayed

Action

bombs harried by Fighters and riddled

with shot bombers crashed in all

directions five congressional Medals of

Honor were awarded to air crew in this

desperate attempt to destroy the plesi

complex of the original force over 57

were shot down and another 11 had to

turn back without

bombing little lasting damage was done

to the

refineries the Allied air commanders

meeting in 1944 had tabulated their list

of bombing priorities in order to give

maximum support for Overlord the

invasion of the

continent the prime target here remained

plesi as the single largest source of

oil fuels the task was assigned to the

American 15th Air Force which reopened

the plesi attacks in April

1944 after Berlin and the RAR this was

the most heavily defended Target in

Europe and became known as the graveyard

of the 15th whose Crews bravely went

back again and again despite appalling

losses four times in April and May the

bombers struck in broad daylight great

damage was

done persistence paid off plesi was

subjected to further raids through the

summer and finally after four huge

attacks in August each by more than a

thousand bombers the defenses were

overwhelmed and production of refined

fuels

ended over 300 heavy bombers had been

lost together with their 10-man crews in

the end sheer weight of numbers the

presence of P-51 Mustang fighter escorts

and the waning power of the LT Buffer's

depleted fighter Force enabled the

Americans to win this desperate aerial

battle from now on Germany had to rely

on its synthetic oil plants the raf's

bomber command turned its attention to

these small targets difficult enough to

hit by day even more so at

night despite heavy casualties for the

air defenses over Germany were still as

formidable as ever these attacks were

continued to the end of the

war the winter of 1943 44 had seen a

series of defeats for the

verar having been driven Out of Africa

it was fighting a dogged rear guard

action up the spine of Italy where

musolini had been ousted following

Italy's capitulation on the 8th of

September 1943 but where a prompt

reaction by the Germans had seen their

forces occupying most of the country

within hours of the Italian

defection on the Eastern Front a series

of devastating thrusts by the Red Army

following the their destruction of the

German fourth and Ninth Panzer armies in

the gigantic battle around kusk in July

1943 had steadily forced the Germans

back despite Hitler's insistence that

every bit of Russian soil must be held

and no retreat

permitted ksk was a landmark probably

the greatest tank battle of all time and

the last great effort by the Germans to

break the Soviets by means of massed

armored formations in setpiece

battles at the same time Hitler faced

with Allied Landings in Sicily then

Italy found that the nightmare of War on

several fronts was a reality furthermore

the impending threat of an Allied

invasion of Europe the second front was

tying down yet more

troops high quality divisions had been

moved to southern Europe to fight the

campaign in Italy and more forces were

deployed in Scandinavia the low

countries and the Balkans on occupation

duties that frequently involved pitched

battles with ever increasing numbers of

assorted partisans and

[Music]

guerillas in spite of this drain on

their resources the German Generals in

the East continued to fight with great

skill inflicting heavy losses on their

opponents as they slowly yielded ground

but even after the Allied invasion of

France in June 194 4 and the subsequent

Advance towards the Rind Hitler was

curiously

undismayed he sensed that the Western

allies were finding it hard to agree on

the terms demanded in the event of a

final victory that now seemed

increasingly

certain in January 1943 an

anglo-american Summit conference had

been held at Casablanca where Churchill

and Roosevelt had declared themselves in

favor of unconditional surrender by

Germany and its then allies Italy and

Japan although this kept Stalin the

Soviet leader happy he repeatedly voiced

his anger that the promised

anglo-american Landings in France had

not taken place by the end of

1943 he had grounds for this the Red

Army was undeniably bearing the brunt of

the war

on the Eastern Front the numerical odds

now favored the Russians three German

Army groups were confronted by eight

Russian fronts each more or less the

equivalent of an army

group the earlier superiority in

equipment enjoyed by the Germans had

gone the Soviet t34 tank mass produced

was designed for operation by h L

trained Cruise simple in construction it

combined armored protection with high

mobility and

Firepower its original 76 mm gun had

been replaced in later marks by a potent

85 mm

Cannon although the German tiger tank

was heavier and carried an even bigger

88 mm gun it was heavily outnumbered and

prone to Mechanical breakdown although

nowhere near to the extent that

unreliability was to dog the lighter and

more mobile Panther which entered

service from

1943 the earlier German Mark III and

four tanks were now no match for the

t34 the German military logistic system

its Achilles heel much of it being still

horsedrawn was under extreme strain

operating over extended distances on

primitive roads that readily broke up

turning into deeply rutted quog Meyers

in the

Thor these roads and the rickety rail

system in the USSR were also under

constant risk of attack from partisan

forces operating deep in the German rear

areas the Russian pressure was

maintained on all sectors of the huge

Eastern front in January 1944 Leningrad

was finally relieved a great

psychological as well as military

Triumph for

Moscow there was to be no letup in the

face of remorseless pressure the whole

of the German Army Group North fell back

along the Baltic

Coast Hitler alarmed by the turn of

events and desperate to keep a hold on

the Baltic training ground for the new

generation of OTS and their Crews sacked

and replaced the northern Army group's

Commander General

KLA his successor Field Marshal valta

mle had begun his campaigning in Russia

in 1941 as a divisional Commander but

had gained accelerated promotion through

personal bravery professional competence

and loyalty to his

[Music]

furer although he had experienced

serious reverses notably at kusk in 1943

his reputation as the fur's fireman and

shield and sword still held good and he

enjoyed the confidence of the troops

under his command thanks to his efforts

the Soviet Advance was stemmed at least

temporarily on the Polish border giving

time for the Germans to

regroup at the same time in the South

the Russian first and second Ukrainian

fronts broke out across the river denipa

to Savage manstein Army group South

further south with its right flank on

the Black Sea K's Army group a was

assailed by the second third and fourth

Ukrainian front under the formidable

Marshals KF malinowski and

[Music]

tobkin Odessa fell on the 10th of April

1944 the Russians were now ready to

cross into Poland and were already deep

into

Romania the last Germans were ejected

from the Crimea and sevastopol fell on

the 12th of

May field Marshals manstein and K who

had conducted brilliant fighting

withdrawals were sacked in March 1944

for their pains by an infuriated

Hitler in the case of Eric Von manstein

Hitler made a potentially fatal error

the Germans now reorganized their forces

in the southern fronts into Army groups

North and South Ukraine under the

respective commands of field Marshals

myrdle and shaer both regarded as safe

Nazi

Apostles neither however was in the

class of manstein whose ability amounted

to genius as with depleted forces he had

fought the road back from Stalingrad in

inting devastating losses on his

numerically superior but professionally

inferior

opponents three Hammer blows delivered

by the Russians in 1943 had not only

cost the Germans huge losses of tanks

and other military equipment but had

seriously eroded the morale of their

troops the incidence of self-inflicted

wounds and of what is now known as

post-traumatic stress Rose alarmingly

despite Draconian disciplinary measures

imposed on Hitler's personal orders such

as drumhead courts Marshal with

mandatory death

sentences curiously there is little

evidence to show that Russian soldiers

were similarly affected it seems that

they and their officers were more

frightened of the consequences of

failure than of the

enemy the German General von meltin

attributed this to a mixture of iron

discipline ruthlessly enforced by

officers and political

commissars one cause of the loss of

German morale was the self-evident fact

that the Soviets appeared to have

inexhaustible Manpower resources coupled

with the ability to mass produce

Munitions of War particularly tanks

aircraft and artillery the factories and

arsenals producing them were far to the

east far beyond the range of any German

bomber in many cases behind the Ural

Mountains where they had been relocated

shortly after the German invasion of

1941 of the Soviet artillery weapons the

most feared were the katuska multiple

rocket launcher or Stalin organ and the

widespread use of mortars one German

Soldier describing what it was like to

come under Fire from a Stalin organ said

that it started with the Roar of an

infuriated beast in the distance a dull

groaning noise unlike anything else in

the world then came the creaking of a

badly tuned organ paralysis descended on

the front line and the rattle of machine

guns fell silent then hell was let loose

as nearly a 100 shells burst in the

trees or on the ground creating a

deafening Thunder Flames gunpowder and

pieces of copper as big as a

fist Hitler's obsession over not

yielding ground had now cost his country

dear instead of using the spring of 1944

to disengage from the Russians and fall

well back to a shorter prepared

defensive line buying time whilst his

array of war-winning secret Weaponry

came online he persisted in issuing

directives denying his able generals the

chance to use their Superior tactical

skills time and time again the superior

fighting skills of the Germans defeated

the stolidly executed attacks of the

Soviet armor and Infantry whose tactics

were consistently predictable being the

result of training based on a largely

semi- literate peasantry incapable of

mastering complex tactical Doctrine and

limited by the need to follow easily

assimilated

drills the new weapons on which Hitler

now placed his faith were were indeed

formidable at least on

paper the V1 pilotless aircraft V2

ballistic rocket jet fighter aircraft

and a new generation of fast uots would

have created immense problems for the

Allies had they entered service in

quantity in

1944 as it was delays caused by Hitler's

personal intervention in their design

and deployment Prov proved fatal for

[Music]

Germany one example is that of the meas

SMI 262 the first operational jet

fighter in the world an outstanding

potential Interceptor vastly Superior in

speed to the American P-51 Mustang it

offered a last minute reprieve in the

air defense of Germany but Hitler's

insistence that it be redesigned for the

light bomber rooll led to many months of

delay in its entry into service once

launched at the American bomber

formations it performed sensationally in

the hands of Aces such as Colonel galand

who describing the new sensation of

flying with jet propulsion felt it was

as though Angels were

pushing galand who was one of the

outstanding fighter pilots of all time

and subsequently staunch friend of many

against whom he had flown flew the me262

successfully against the American

bombers but it was too late by the

spring of 194 45 the LT buffa's fuel

supplies were virtually exhausted and

even though the Jets could fly on

inferior fuel similar to diesel there

was a Dar of even that in any case the

short range and endurance of the me262

rendered it useless for support of the

army above the battlefield and in this

respect the Soviets had long held the

upper hand

the summer of 1944 saw no easing of the

red Army's

pressure on the 6th of June the British

and Americans had landed in Normandy

drawing further ver marked resources

Westward the 1200 mile Frontage in the

East was now held by dangerously thinned

out forces and at the end of June the

Russians resumed the

offensive Hitler continued to ignore the

generals who advised a retirement that

would enable the Germans to hold a

shorter and stronger

line General Bush of army group Center

faced the assault of no less than three

Soviet fronts under command of the

Soviet Deputy Supreme Commander Marshall

zukov on a frontage of some 350

mi in order to achieve overwhelming

Firepower at the main points of attack

the Russians had masked a staggering 400

guns per mile of

front behind the German forward

positions thousands of guerillas

attacked administrative units

headquarters and

airfields not all of these were fighting

for Stalin and communism there were

numerous bands of dissident Russians

ukrainians Red Army deserters and cacs

who had initially greeted the Germans

invasion of 1941 as a Liberation but who

had rapidly become disillusioned by The

conqueror's Savage treatment of the

Civil

population to one such band of guerillas

fell the Soviet Marshall vatutin

mortally wounded in an ambush when in

command of the first Ukrainian front

[Music]

the LT buffer now short of aircraft

trained air crew and aviation fuel was

shot out of the sky by overwhelming

numbers of Russian fighter

aircraft advancing Red Army troops were

closely supported by masses of fighter

bombers operating as flying artillery to

overwhelm any points of

resistance the eluan il2 known as the

stor ofic was one of the most

significant war planes to emerge in

World War II heavily armored against

ground fire and with a two-man crew it

could carry a formidable War load of

Cannon rockets and bombs almost 25,000

of them were built and by sheer weight

of numbers they swamped the German

Ground Forces when Unleashed against

them formerly the LT vaffa had enjoyed

air superiority destroying hundreds of

stor ofs the tables had been turned

earlier in the campaign yuna's 87

stooker dive bombers fitted with

powerful Cannon had wrought great

execution on Soviet tanks by attacking

their vulnerable upper surface armor

with cannon

fire but the cumbersome stokers needed

conditions of air superiority and

plentiful fighter cover in which to

operate lacking the close protection of

their escorting Fighters they vanished

from above the troops who had relied on

their support

at the end of August zukov was within

easy reach of Warsaw on the central

front where the Polish home Army loyal

to the government in Exile in London

Rose against the German occupiers in the

mistaken belief that the Russians were

about to

arrive elsewhere in Poland this 300,000

strong Army well organized had been

fighting earlier in the year in support

of the Russian

Advance its Commander General Bor

komarovski issued a proclamation on the

1st of August copies of which were

printed by the

Thousand addressing the people as

soldiers of the city he issued orders

for everyone to fight against the German

Invader to take up arms openly to

restore the freedom of their country and

to punish the German criminals for the

terror and bestiality they had committed

within their

Frontiers he did so in the belief that

the Russians already within field

artillery range would join in the fight

and help in the liberation of the

capital it would have been easy for them

to do so for the Germans in Warsaw were

initially taken by surprise and the home

Army captured many key

buildings instead in an act of cynical

treachery almost beyond belief the

Russians halted before the gates of the

Polish Capital ostensibly to replenish

as the SS and gestapo went into Warsaw

to settle with B komarov's Gallant

citizen soldiers who as non-communists

were left to fight to the

death General bour had provisioned for

no more than a week's fighting on the

assumption that once it started the

Russians would come to his

rescue there is abundant evidence that

whilst the fighting in Warsaw went on a

degree of anization existed between

German units defending the line of the

river Vistula and the Russians on the

far

Bank it should also be borne in mind

that the latter were exhausted by

several months of unremitting combat had

greatly overstretched their Logistics

system and needed up to a month's resite

in which to service worn out equipment

obtain badly needed reinforcements and

rehearse the inevitable River crossings

that lay ahead

in warsa itself the battle reached new

levels of savagery when it became clear

to the polls that their allies were not

going to help

them the German officer in charge of the

ruthless Street clearing operation Gren

fura Eric Von deach zesi of the SS had

his orders the polls were to be

exterminated offers by the British and

Americans to fly supplies to the bed po

were refused by the Soviets who denied

the RAF and the US Air Force the use of

airfields on which to

refuel balesi assumed command when the

warsa Rebellion had been underway for

nearly a week and the poles were almost

it seemed on the point of vanquishing

the German

Garrison so confident indeed that the

various political factions within the

home Army gleefully using much captured

German equipment were already beginning

to fight each

other the decision to deploy the SS was

a conscious one it freed conventional

Army units to deploy on the line of the

Vistula to face the impending Russian

assault and it was an ominous sign that

No Quarter was to be given to bore

komarov's

Army baral's SS men were an unsavory mix

of Russian ex prisoners and other turn

coats and convicts from German jails

taking the chance of winning remission

through Good Conduct in battle they

pitched into the home army with

merciless

Gusto the hellish battle took place in

the midst of the luckless civilian

population who had been unable to Escape

From the City atrocities sanctioned

personally by Hinrich himler were

committed freely against any pole

unlucky enough to get in the

way even so the SS found the going tough

the poles had already been supplied with

British weapons and ammunition air

dropped earlier in the year and they now

had much captured German

equipment despite the Russians

bloody-minded refusal to Grant refueling

facilities a few RAF aircraft managed to

reach warsa with small loads and dropped

them by night to the

poles as the battle continued reports of

the atrocious behavior of the SS was

circulating in the general

[Applause]

staff s senior generals notably Hein

garan actually remonstrated to the furer

in itself an act of moral

courage even baresi was uneasy over the

barbarism of some of his subordinates

well may he have been for it was Dawning

on many of his kind that the Allies were

going to win and would be calling to

account any German officers who had been

involved with offenses against the rules

of

War he therefore agreed to meet general

b and a truce was agreed the fighting

had lasted for 2 months in addition to

15,000 home Army dead at least 200,000

civilians had

perished on surrendering the surviving

Poes were strangely enough granted

prisoner of war status by the Germans

and marched off into prison camps that

all too soon would be in Russian hands

and from which only a handful would

emerge alive

as the poles fought in vain for their

Capital the Russian Advance continued to

the South until the beginning of August

1944 the German Army group South Ukraine

had been granted a quiet son

it was however only a shadow of its

former strength five armored and four

infantry divisions had been transferred

elsewhere and the remainder had been

badly affected by casualties to men and

material to make matters worse Germany's

weaker Partners in the axis were

beginning to

fall the Romanians were contemplating

changing sides joining the Russians and

suing the Allies for acceptable peace

terms

on the 20th of August the storm broke

the Russian second Ukrainian front

struck South as the fourth Ukrainian

front headed west from its Bridge heads

on the river denista near

[Music]

kishinev the first and fourth Ukrainian

fronts drove West towards the river

Vistula which they reached at the end of

the month halting on its banks as their

logistic tail left far behind in the

precipitate Advance caught up

the rest fite offered little Comfort to

what remained of army group Center

defending the river line behind them lay

250 Mi of the Plains of Poland offering

little or no Comfort to The Defenders

but ideal country for the advancing

Russians where massed formations of

armored vehicles could range freely

the next River defense line available to

the Germans was that of the odor and

behind that a bare 50 m distant Berlin

itself the German Army was now a shadow

of its former self in dead wounded sick

and captured it was to suffer almost 2

million casualties in the year ending

December 1944 and the supply of fit men

to replace these seasoned troops had

dried

up whole divisions had actually

disappeared from the German Army order

of battle but Hitler who refused to

acknowledge facts that displeased him

insisted that newly raised divisions of

so-called people's grenadiers bore the

designations of those that had been

effectively destroyed mostly in the

East the new formations lacking heavy

weapons or armor and well below the

Manning levels of the those they

replaced were assigned to the German

home Army under command of Hinrich

himler chief of the Gestapo or secret

police and now minister of the Interior

to which post he was appointed after the

failure of the assassination attempt on

Hitler in July

1944 after his narrow escape from the

bomb placed under the conference table

at rastenberg Hitler became even more

paranoid insisting that only the Nazi

salute was to be given and the old one

abolished

despite their growing unease at the way

in which the war was being directed by

the furer and his Close Associates the

general staff including Germany's proven

soldiers like Garian manstein and their

contemporaries

conformed they were warned of The Perils

of doing otherwise by the fate of field

Marshal wiwin romal who suspected of

implication in the assassination attempt

was given the choice of facing a

People's Court and a degrading execution

or suicide and a soldier's funeral

he took the

latter Hitler still relied for military

advice on field Marshals kitle and yodel

respectively Chief and Chief of Staff of

the German armed forces or

okw these lacking were despised by the

rest of the general staff whose

allegiance to the Nazi party had long

been questionable but whose failure to

curb Hitler and the Nazi party in the

1930s remains one of the Prime causes of

what befell their nation and the rest of

Europe in the years that followed

[Music]

as the certainty of eventual German

defeat became clear Hitler's Bulan

allies shakily held together by the

tripartite pacts of 1940 and 1941

faltered the Romanians were the first to

crack between the wars they had appeared

to be under French influence but the

increasing strength of Neo military

far-right parties shifted the allegiance

towards

Germany King Carol was deposed in 1940

and power was seized by the pro-german

Marshall an tcue who took his country

into war against Russia in 1941 and

continued unlike some of the other axis

Allied Leaders to enjoy the confidence

even respect of Hitler to the

[Music]

end Romania's contribution in the

Eastern campaign exceeded those of

Germany's other Southern satellites

Hungary and

Bulgaria Romanian casualties were

enormous particularly in the Stalingrad

operations where the Germans cynically

used them as Cannon f

of the 600,000 Romanians who served in

the axis Armed Forces over half were

killed by Midsummer 1944 the survivors

had been forced back to their own

Eastern Frontier and at the beginning of

August the Russians were pouring into

their

country on the 23rd of August a coup led

by Prince Michael who assumed the crown

overthrew antonescu who was subsequently

executed by the Russians and Romania

immediately changed

[Music]

sides the LT vaffa bombed Bucharest on

the following day as the remnants of the

Romanian Army invaded Hungary in order

to recover Transylvanian territory lost

in 1940 as the result of the tripartite

PCT a total of 14 Romanian divisions in

varying states of military Effectiveness

were now placed at the disposal of the

Russians who formed two further

divisions from their Romanian prisoners

and used them much as had the Germans as

cannon fodder for their Advance into the

German

[Applause]

Heartland the Russian army entered

Bucharest in Triumph on the 30th of

August

1944 the Romanians were allowed to

retain Transylvania but had to give the

Russians back the provinces of B Arabia

and bavina given to them as part of the

German Russian pact of

1939 as a result of these Balan

convulsions all German forces in that

theater were now placed at risk

especially those comprising the

garrisons of Greece and Yugoslavia whose

Escape Routes back to Germany were

increasingly under attack by partisan

forces

[Music]

[Applause]

the bulgarians were the next German Ally

to fall they had not as good slaves

actually fought against the Russians but

had allowed the Germans to use their

country as a staging area for operations

elsewhere in the Balkans and against

Russia their new provisional government

asked Russia for terms in September

declared war on Germany and a left-wing

Fatherland front seized power

power the Red Army marched into Sophia

on the 18th of

October the hitherto inactive Bulgarian

Army now deployed in the field alongside

the Red Army as it headed off into

Yugoslavia whose capital Belgrade was

liberated on the 20th of October

[Applause]

[Music]

Hungary had been ruled by an

authoritarian conservative regime under

the Regent Admiral hay since

1920 having commanded the old ostroh

Hungarian Navy in World War I he was

naturally inclined towards Germany and

had readily allowed Hitler's troops into

his country on their way to attack

Yugoslavia in

1941 thus committed to the axis cause he

agreed to send an initially small

Detachment to fight the IET Union when

Hitler invaded the USSR in June that

year it was not long before Hitler

demanded further Hungarian

troops these were forthcoming but lacked

experience and Equipment the hungarians

suffered heavily at vorv in 1943 and

further semi-trained levies were

dispatched to the

slaughter almost half the 350,000

Hungarian troops committed to the

Eastern Front were killed

[Music]

oh

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